FF Poll

[King Gillibran]

The poll is to choose your Five Favourite Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks. I will do the same for Gamebooks 21-40, 41-60 and so on the five top will go into another poll of 20 and then eventually down to one. I will end some time after Christmas. Enjoy!

[CharlesX]

Favourite as distinct from best means gamebooks which I often enjoy lose out to gamebooks which I love when I play. We argued in another thread about Sword Of The Samurai being illogical (I was one of its apparently few defenders) but I think its original and amazing regardless of that so I've given it a thumbs up. Interesting how many classic Livingstone works are on the list.

[King Gillibran]

Dec 12, 2022 13:59:20 GMT CharlesX said:

Favourite as distinct from best means gamebooks which I often enjoy lose out to gamebooks which I love when I play. We argued in another thread about Sword Of The Samurai being illogical (I was one of its apparently few defenders) but I think its original and amazing regardless of that so I've given it a thumbs up. Interesting how many classic Livingstone works are on the list.

I specifically put favourite as I want to see what people would say are the most memorable ones not how possible they are to play. So if you like an adventure but it is impossible to complete still put it on. I for one really enjoy the storys and encounters of most of Livintsone ones. I also like any adventure in Allansia (except Gates of Death)

[CharlesX]

So, interesting Space Assassin has the Andrew Chapman vote so far - it's definitely well-written but not half as ambitious as the other Chapman books here. It probably owes something not just to the amazing skill of its author, but as well to its accessibility in gameplay terms; one of the other two is hard while the other is deeply hard.

[scouserob]

This’ll be my main voting section as I’ve not yet had the pleasure of the books between Creature of Havoc and Blood of the Zombies. 🧟‍♀️
Not sure if I should be voting in further sections that include books I’ve not read so I’ll be watching with interest and supporting my favourites from the sidelines after this. 🤞🏻

[trialmaster]

Tough to pick top 5 especially with so many classics from books 1 to 10 but it's done. Would probably change if I did it again tomorrow!

[kieran]

Bit surprised Temple of Terror is doing so well - is it a lot of people's 5th choice perhaps? And also surprised Talisman of Death doesn't look to be in contention to get to the next round.

[King Gillibran]

Wow this is extremely popular! 22 voters! I was expecting around 10. I am surprised City of Thieves is so high up when ones like Deathtrap, House and others came far higher in the poll. I am secretly very glad for two things. 1 Deathtrap Dungeon will probably get through. 2 Starship Traveller and many other Space ones won't.

Should I start books 21-40 now or wait for this to close?

[King Gillibran]

If anyone wishes to know my votes and when I chose them where.

1 Deathtrap

2 Island

3 Temple

4 Citadel

5 Caverns

If there is a tie for last place (currently Citadel Temple and Sword) should I make another poll and choose your favourites of those.

[CharlesX]

I agree this poll has been a fantastic success, maybe you could roll out the next few polls up until end of year? My only disappointment is Seas Of Blood hasn't got one vote - I would have voted for it over Space Assassin any day, but maybe its too difficult to be someone's favourite. Unfortunately, it didn't make my top five, and I won't be voting tactically or anything like that.
   For last place - I think just including all of them is out as an option, especially since there might be more than two as you point out, so you could either do a separate poll for each 1-20 where the gamebooks in last place compete again (boring) or an arena of death where all gamebooks from last place in any 1-20 poll compete (suggested option  ).

[King Gillibran]

Dec 13, 2022 12:31:50 GMT CharlesX said:

I agree this poll has been a fantastic success, maybe you could roll out the next few polls up until end of year? My only disappointment is Seas Of Blood hasn't got one vote - I would have voted for it over Space Assassin any day, but maybe its too difficult to be someone's favourite. Unfortunately, it didn't make my top five, and I won't be voting tactically or anything like that.
   For last place - I think just including all of them is out as an option, especially since there might be more than two as you point out, so you could either do a separate poll for each 1-20 where the gamebooks in last place compete again (boring) or an arena of death where all gamebooks from last place in any 1-20 poll compete (suggested option  ).

I don't quite understand your other Arena of Death Idea but I think I will post the 21-40 today.

[scouserob]

I think Charles X is suggesting putting all the gamebooks from each poll that get the lowest (or equal lowest) number of votes into a final, best of the worst, poll.

So at the moment Starship Traveller, Freeway Fighter, Rings of Kether and Seas of Blood would all qualify for having the least number of votes (0) in this first poll.

Though perhaps many of the books would still get 0 votes in that.

Completely got the wrong end of the stick. 😬🤦🏻‍♂️

[CharlesX]

What I had in mind was that there should be a single poll for all the gamebooks which very nearly qualify (so Citadel Temple and Sword would represent this round if the tie mentioned by King Gillibran continued), as opposed to just a re-poll for each round.
   When I wrote "last place" what I meant was, in cases where there's a tie to sneak qualifying (fifth) place, rather than gamebooks with no or few votes\lowest ranking. 
Edit: All this confusion - from King Gillibran and Scouserob - is my fault for not specifying what I meant.

[pip]

Deathtrap Dungeon and House of Hell are definitely my two favourites here. I did vote for three runner-ups, but those are more debatable.

[scouserob]

Citadel of Chaos, City of Thieves and Deathtrap Dungeon got a pick for being both damn good and an absolute pleasure to replay.

Warlock of Firetop Mountain just had to be in my favourites.
I even learned Python by creating a faithful adaptation so I never have to pick up the dice again.

If we were choosing the best rather than favourites, or I had been asked 6 months back then House of Hell would have strolled into the 5 but…

At the moment if I’m casually after a quick game then Scorpion Swamp can give me a good challenge no matter what I roll for my starting stats.

[adrius]

I think by showing the results before voting has in some way ruined the suspense ... my vote on Deathtrap Dungeon feels really reluctant. Appointment of F.E.A.R. (despite the obvious Cold War-esque background) is a well-written one in its own unique setting so it has my vote too.

Also seems that I'm the first to vote for Starship Traveller. Wonder why isn't this adventure particularly well-liked..

[King Gillibran]

Dec 16, 2022 8:39:03 GMT adrius said:

I think by showing the results before voting has in some way ruined the suspense ... my vote on Deathtrap Dungeon feels really reluctant. Appointment of F.E.A.R. (despite the obvious Cold War-esque background) is a well-written one in its own unique setting so it has my vote too.

Also seems that I'm the first to vote for Starship Traveller. Wonder why isn't this adventure particularly well-liked..

Is there a setting where I could see it but no one else? Maybe then I could do it.

I dislike Starship Traveller because I hate Sci Fi and it is not even 400+ paragraphs.

[CharlesX]

Dec 16, 2022 8:39:03 GMT adrius said:

Also seems that I'm the first to vote for Starship Traveller. Wonder why isn't this adventure particularly well-liked..

Partly just because Steve Jackson is normally a very good writer - even when he's doing stuff set on Earth such as House Of Hell or Appointment with F.E.A.R.

There are several more pertinent reasons though, in no particuar order:

Sci-fi FF struggles to be as exciting as sword & sorcery FF, Starship Traveller seems to be worst than most in this regard. Maybe tying it into a semi Star Trek universe wasn't as brilliant as it may have at first appeared.

The execution is (i would say) terrible, whether or not the concept is a good one - most planets and encounters aren't particularly memorable or innovative. It could have been better than it was, but seems to be a rushed job.

The gamebook is much shorter than most published FF books - meaning characters and encounters aren't fleshed out.

You never have to roll dice after determining your starting stats on the true path. Even though it takes ages determining the statistics not only of yourself but your entire crew.

There is a strong sense of disappointment and frustration, that while some other sci-fi FF is good, or at least worthy, Starship Traveller is a missed opportunity or misfire.

You don't have a particularly big threat, boss, or epic feel throughout the gamebook. I like this sort of thing, even though its a cliche.

Artwork and cover are nothing special.

There might be a sense its a rip-off of Star Trek. It doesn't run risks or do new things with the genre.

It wasn't exactly original or daring even in its time, and it hasn't aged well because of its simplicity and brevity.

[scouserob]

Dec 16, 2022 8:39:03 GMT adrius said:

Also seems that I'm the first to vote for Starship Traveller. Wonder why isn't this adventure particularly well-liked..

Glad to see it has got a vote. 😀

I like quite a few things about Starship Traveller.
The episodic Star Trek Original Series structure, choosing your away teams, the mass brawls, repeated surrendering if you are rubbish at fist fighting 😂, the phaser battles, testing against other crew members' Skills in various situations, regaining some Stamina when you beam up to the Traveller.

Some reasons I don't like it as much as my favourite 5 on this list:
Overall it feels to me like a failed experiment, or perhaps an unfinished and rushed out project.
There are a couple of errors with the results of Skill rolls being flipped, which irks me.
The space battles against the Ganzigites are a chore to get through when they should be epic centrepieces.
It has practically no replay value once you've completed it due to the lack of risk and action on the true path.
Your large crew, that you spend a lot of prep time rolling stats for, barely register as characters at all.
Using extra paragraphs to flesh them out, after checking if they are alive and in the party, would have been welcome.
(It doesn't take that much time and space to do this, a few sentences here and there make you care about the fate of Throm.)

[misomiso]

Wow my picks were literally the top 5 here.

[petch]

Out of interest, what are you intending to do if there is a tie for fifth place King Gillibran? Several of these polls are extremely tight.

[CharlesX]

Glad to see a number of votes for Seas Of Blood - most things about it are amazing, just not the difficulty level. It kind of reminds me of those Elite games for computers.

[King Gillibran]

I am going to lock this poll and put Temple, Talisman, Khare, Crown and Citadel in a fifth place poll.

[King Gillibran]

One of my favourite Gamebooks got into this and two into the Fifth place poll. That isn't too bad.