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Post by Jon on Jul 29, 2017 16:20:43 GMT
A good point. In fact, if you fix the grenade rule and pretend Boris gives you a special machine gun which deals 2d6+10 damage in battles with zombies, rats and dogs, then you ought to be able to win easily even without any body armour. It would have been much more playable if written for a player character starting out with hi-tec weaponry.
For those who want a guaranteed win without importing new, superior weapons I recommend:
1) Fixing the grenade rule as I described above.
2) Starting with 2d6+50 stamina points.
3) Making the med kits restore twice as much stamina as the text says they do - thus the regular med kits would restore 8 stamina and the mini med kits 4 stamina.
This way you ought to win, but it will probably be a narrow win with only a few stamina points left at the end.
Another point where the text is ambiguous - In the final showdown with Yurr, the text says that he is also "fighting barehanded" but it does not clarify what the rules for this combat are. Is it unique in that he is the only enemy to deal 1d6-3 stamina points in combat, or is it just saying that he fights like an ordinary zombie with no weapon? In the app version, he has seven stamina and for every round the player fails to kill him, he automatically claws at them for -1 stamina damage like most of the zombies do.
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Post by philsadler on Jan 4, 2018 12:16:25 GMT
Do you mean to tell me that even with 220 stamina you still only have a 3/4 chance of winning?
Jesus Christ.
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Post by champskees on Jan 4, 2018 21:17:08 GMT
Do you mean to tell me that even with 220 stamina you still only have a 3/4 chance of winning? Jesus Christ. A character with infinite stamina would only have 75% chance of winning due to a roll you are required to make after acquiring the crowbar (50/50 followed by another 50/50, 1 in 4 chance of death).
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Post by philsadler on Jan 11, 2018 7:45:42 GMT
Also, according to the original rules of 32 starting stamina, you have literally no chance of winning? Is nobody else slightly disgusted at this?
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Post by lordomnibok on Jan 11, 2018 11:07:25 GMT
Also, according to the original rules of 32 starting stamina, you have literally no chance of winning? Is nobody else slightly disgusted at this? I wouldn't say i was disgusted, more disappointed. This was my least favourite book of the lot, by a long way. Fighting Fantasy has given me so many gems that I usually focus on the many glowing titles for which I am grateful. However, you are right to voice your exasperation; forums like these are effectively free Focus Groups packed with the thoughts of a niche target audience; as long as concerns are constructive and not nasty then they should be heeded. They are lucky to have this resource. Valid concerns such as play testing etc should absolutely be taken seriously. High standards = happy customers = higher sales = more ff.
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vagsancho
Knight
Posts: 809
Favourite Gamebook Series: CRYPT OF THE SORCERER
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Post by vagsancho on Jan 11, 2018 11:22:46 GMT
No book could be worse than Appointment with FEAR.
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Post by lordomnibok on Jan 11, 2018 11:26:39 GMT
No book could be worse than Appointment with FEAR. Haha! But I thought you loved that book Vag! 😂
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Post by offm on Jan 13, 2018 23:43:19 GMT
Also, according to the original rules of 32 starting stamina, you have literally no chance of winning? Is nobody else slightly disgusted at this? I wouldn't say i was disgusted, more disappointed. This was my least favourite book of the lot, by a long way. Fighting Fantasy has given me so many gems that I usually focus on the many glowing titles for which I am grateful. However, you are right to voice your exasperation; forums like these are effectively free Focus Groups packed with the thoughts of a niche target audience; as long as concerns are constructive and not nasty then they should be heeded. They are lucky to have this resource. Valid concerns such as play testing etc should absolutely be taken seriously. High standards = happy customers = higher sales = more ff. Contrary of many popular belief at some point, zombies never seduced me at all. ,I toughtly prefer a seven headed Medusa to zombies. Sent from my SUNSET2 using proboards
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Post by twillight on Apr 22, 2019 19:41:32 GMT
I counted all HP-losses,and there IS a chance to win, even in the first edition, although very-very low. But if you start with maximum HP, use the above mentioned "grenade rule" (which turns out not even demanded), and you roll every time optimal, you'll still have 12 HP left at The End. My suggestion would be though to just make grenades do maximum damage always, and only be ableto throw them when the text offers. Those times though it happens in Turn 0, aka. the zombies can't strike back. Otherwise yes, a boost of HP would help.
Also, from #162 you missed 6 box of ammo for pistol and shotgun. It is where youget the key1-8, prise the lock.Along themedikit you find the ammo.
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Post by champskees on May 5, 2019 4:41:30 GMT
I counted all HP-losses,and there IS a chance to win, even in the first edition, although very-very low. But if you start with maximum HP, use the above mentioned "grenade rule" (which turns out not even demanded), and you roll every time optimal, you'll still have 12 HP left at The End. My suggestion would be though to just make grenades do maximum damage always, and only be ableto throw them when the text offers. Those times though it happens in Turn 0, aka. the zombies can't strike back. Otherwise yes, a boost of HP would help.
Also, from #162 you missed 6 box of ammo for pistol and shotgun. It is where youget the key1-8, prise the lock.Along themedikit you find the ammo.
That chance would be microscopic. At 32 starting stamina, I could not get a single win after 10 million plays. I think it's a 1 in 9 million chance of getting struck by lightning twice to give a comparison. I added the extra pistol and shotgun ammo, they are useless at that point, but the main reason I didn't add them in originally was that Livingstone is pretty lazy in this paragraph, he doesn't even separate the two categories i.e. Bullet Boxes & Shotgun Cartridges.
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Post by twillight on May 10, 2019 10:30:56 GMT
Sure, the chance is microscopic, like 10e-27. I think the original plan was to deal fixed damage with everything.
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Post by marblefigure on May 13, 2019 17:30:55 GMT
Is Livingstone completely innumerate, or what? What did he mean by it?
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Post by peasantscribbler on Oct 24, 2020 19:33:43 GMT
I can't believe I couldn't win this in super-cheat mode (i.e. not tracking stamina loss). I couldn't get the zombie kill number right. Section 45 threw me off because near the beginning it says "A pack of nineteen zombies is heading towards you, led by someone you recognize". I took this to mean a total of 19 zombies, not 19 zombies plus the leader. Somehow I overlooked the end of the section that says "You have no choice but to fight him and the other nineteen zombies behind him". Anyways, thanks for the solution.
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Post by Hanky on Oct 27, 2020 10:31:48 GMT
I like Zombie theme, so I was willing to give this book a fair chance. Silly me. I have a very very high suspension of disbelief, but not high enough apparently. The fact that your character must be weakened to be turned as a zombie by blood. Fine I can buy it ... but the rest of the world is in good health, mostly. So ... unless everyone is willing to starve before the zombie invasion, there will be a lot of death, but not a lot of turning. So the zombie army won't replenish itself much. And once the army will be there, poor zombie will be just shooting targets. It is ludicrous that if you killed 332 zombies, the world is still doomed by just one tiny zombie that can't contaminate and can be killed in two punches. Of course, that is if you can finish the book ... Or maybe you don't need to be weakened for turning ... But in that case, the beginning of the book is completly stupid ... well more stupid anyway : Someone can live 3 days without drinking and 30 days without eating. Yet, prisonners are fed daily ... Otto, why don't you just gave them only stale water to make them weak faster ?? IT MAKES NO SENSE ! And Amy ... Look at me, I'm an evil guy that want to conquer the world with a zombie army. What should I do? Oh yes, hire an american cook and let them communicate with her aunt! OF COURSE! And Boris and his pal, seeling you stuff at the beginning. No ... It is stupid ... though to be honest it was one passage I liked : I don't know if it is the French translation or if it is in the original book, but when showed the list of things you can buy, the hero though : 'This list has a lot of weird stuff in it, what could be useful among those items ? You feel like you are Pip from the Grail Quest.' But it doesn't help the story is ... there is no story, it's the equivalent of a very basic Hack&Slash, the combat rules are OK as long as you are not fighting 15-25 monsters at a time. So of course, you are. At least this book make 'Crypt of the Sorcerer' looks like a fair and balanced book.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Oct 27, 2020 19:37:49 GMT
For me, Blood of the Zombies is a unplaytested shoot-em-up game for an 8-bit computer out of the 1980's which has somehow morphed into book form.
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vagsancho
Knight
Posts: 809
Favourite Gamebook Series: CRYPT OF THE SORCERER
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Post by vagsancho on Oct 27, 2020 22:15:02 GMT
Never played this book. But for what ive read here is clearly worse than sky lord, or in my case, than appointment with fear.
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Post by firebead on Dec 12, 2021 23:18:07 GMT
Within the Blood of the Zombie app version by Tin Man Games there is a just a bit "fairer" version compared to the paper one, with these changes: - Your Initial STAMINA is 2d6+40 instead of 2d6+20; - 78: you find 3 grenades instead of 2; - 90: you find 2 Med Kits and 4 grenades instead of 1 Med Kit and 2 grenades; - 162: you find 2 standard Med Kits (+4 STAMINA) instead of 2 Mini Med Kits (2 STAMINA); - 178: you find 20 dollars instead of 15; - 181: you find 2 grenades instead of 1; - 208: you find 2 Med Kits instead of 1; - 222: you find 2 Med Kits instead of 1; - 235: you find 2 Med Kits instead of 1; - 272: you find 2 Med Kits instead of 1; - 329: you can buy a Med Kit for 3 dollars; - 351: you find 3 Med Kits instead of 2; - 380: you only need 99 dollars instead of 100. In the app version, you can use the grenades in every fight (if you have them, obv), except against Zombie Kong and Yurr. (But it must be said that the app version doesn't use grenades correctly, since after using one the enemy hits you like in any normal round of combat!!! This means that, after having found the best weapon - which does more damage than a grenade, grenades become useless... Obviously grenades are instead supposed to be used as a "free" attack by the player). But it must be said that, if in the book it isn't explicitly stated that you can't go above your Initial STAMINA, the app makes your Initial STAMINA your STAMINA cap (like in every other FF, basically). All said and done, these changes are not really useful, and to win you'll still need an absurd amount of lucky rolls.
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