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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 30, 2022 23:04:17 GMT
😂 Ruby is just as much of a swindler as the Find the Lady tent’s card sharp. You end up spending 1 or 3 Gold Pieces to get 1 or 2 Fake Rubies which you can then sell for a couple of Copper Pieces. (Though I’m not sure of the Gold Piece/Copper Piece exchange rate in Hamelin.) Ah, that explains things. I never got the chance to sell the ruby in my one (successful) full playthrough. You can imagine my bafflement. I noticed whilst the correct answer to the original riddle appeared to be 25 , and that paid out, that you got two rubies if you turned to 16 making it seemingly somehow the better answer to the original riddle than the right one. It was only then that I noticed you got another shot at getting rubies if you failed the first riddle, and that even if you failed both you still got a reward. That seemed incomprehensibly generous for an IL book. Sometimes Ian favours the more intelligent option over the dumber; sometimes the dumber over the more intelligent. Sometimes he favours neither, but never both. Now I realise that the consolation ruby was just another way to ensure you got your hopes up before getting them dashed, which is much more Livingstonian.
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Post by pip on Dec 1, 2022 17:29:40 GMT
That seemed incomprehensibly generous for an IL book. Sometimes Ian favours the more intelligent option over the dumber; sometimes the dumber over the more intelligent. Sometimes he favours neither, but never both. Now I realise that the consolation ruby was just another way to ensure you got your hopes up before getting them dashed, which is much more Livingstonian. There are some red herrings in this book indeed, and a lot of fairly random choices that may or may not be beneficial to you. But it is still, by far, the easiest IL gamebook since Forest of Doom (when it comes to dice rolls). Even choosing poorly in the aforementioned random choices will typically punish you with stat penalties instead of instant death. It really is a generous book by previously established IL standards.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Dec 1, 2022 23:15:03 GMT
That seemed incomprehensibly generous for an IL book. Sometimes Ian favours the more intelligent option over the dumber; sometimes the dumber over the more intelligent. Sometimes he favours neither, but never both. Now I realise that the consolation ruby was just another way to ensure you got your hopes up before getting them dashed, which is much more Livingstonian. There are some red herrings in this book indeed, and a lot of fairly random choices that may or may not be beneficial to you. But it is still, by far, the easiest IL gamebook since Forest of Doom (when it comes to dice rolls). Even choosing poorly in the aforementioned random choices will typically punish you with stat penalties instead of instant death. It really is a generous book by previously established IL standards. Oh I agree – I completed it on my first proper playthrough on the fortieth challenge (a SKILL of 12 helped, and I happened to be Lucky every time my LUCK was tested despite starting on 9).
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Post by alziel on Dec 22, 2023 13:02:50 GMT
Gosh!!
I just finished this on my 3rd attempt!!
I had a Skill of 9!!
I came across not one, but TWO thrones - and I sat on them both without dying horribly!!! (Quite the opposite, in fact!)
What's going on? Is this REALLY an Ian Livingstone book??
(I did enjoy it, though! Seems to be that it's forgiving enough to try taking a different route through to the end, so I'm sure I'll replay this one)
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