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Post by paltogue on Aug 21, 2016 16:31:11 GMT
That's great, paltogue; any news about your blog? I have been thinking about getting it going again, but I'm just so busy these days with work, family and other things that's a struggle to find the time to put real thought into it. But I'd like to! I want to finish my geography of Khul series (looking at SW and NE Khul) and so forth, and plenty of other ideas if I'd all the time in the world.
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Post by deadshadowrunner on Aug 21, 2016 22:59:29 GMT
That's great, paltogue; any news about your blog? I have been thinking about getting it going again, but I'm just so busy these days with work, family and other things that's a struggle to find the time to put real thought into it. But I'd like to! I want to finish my geography of Khul series (looking at SW and NE Khul) and so forth, and plenty of other ideas if I'd all the time in the world. Looking forward to it, but if you don't have the time then don't force yourself, work, family, and other things always comes first
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on May 12, 2017 13:11:40 GMT
I need a new project. I am satisfied with my 7/14/7 Night Of The Necromancer solution as I cannot find any other way to rationalize or streamline. My contenders are Stormslayer and Howl Of The Werewolf. The latter seems to have a fairly convincing solution already. This leaves Stormslayer which seems a juicy target. The only problem is the structure is so open it is like a game of chess after snakes and ladders.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on May 18, 2017 22:25:10 GMT
I have been hunting for the rereleases and The Book Depository has Warlock, Citadel, Forest, City and House as the books to be released in 2017. We can only pray they release the rarities next year.
How about we offer our services to 'fix' the 'broken' entries. We would need a small group and a 'diagnosis' phase followed by a 'prescription' phase. We might have to have a voting system. The first fix would be adding the surrender option to the 'correct' path in Spellbreaker. Second making sure the Wizard 1 fix is inserted into Creature Of Havoc. Maybe making most of the additions in Crypt into attack strength bonuses. If this means an attack strength of 18 at the end then so be it considering what we have had to suffer all these years. In a similar vein altering the last entries in House to be attack strength bonuses.
My instinct is to leave a book very hard if that is what it is eg the stupid rolls in Crypt and Spellbreaker but to make the fights vaguely fair.
I am sure there are loads of other ones such as Revenge with the gold.
The incorrect entries should be changed. There is one in Night(near Shield?) and most of these are well known.
It becomes difficult when a book is altered eg Wizard Spellbreaker. Is this 'right' or not? There might have to be a vote and then a project leader vote if there is dissent so a 'compromise' position is reached.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on May 19, 2017 4:25:30 GMT
I have been hunting for the rereleases and The Book Depository has Warlock, Citadel, Forest, City and House as the books to be released in 2017. We can only pray they release the rarities next year. How about we offer our services to 'fix' the 'broken' entries. We would need a small group and a 'diagnosis' phase followed by a 'prescription' phase. We might have to have a voting system. The first fix would be adding the surrender option to the 'correct' path in Spellbreaker. Second making sure the Wizard 1 fix is inserted into Creature Of Havoc. Maybe making most of the additions in Crypt into attack strength bonuses. If this means an attack strength of 18 at the end then so be it considering what we have had to suffer all these years. In a similar vein altering the last entries in House to be attack strength bonuses. My instinct is to leave a book very hard if that is what it is eg the stupid rolls in Crypt and Spellbreaker but to make the fights vaguely fair. I am sure there are loads of other ones such as Revenge with the gold. The incorrect entries should be changed. There is one in Night(near Shield?) and most of these are well known. It becomes difficult when a book is altered eg Wizard Spellbreaker. Is this 'right' or not? There might have to be a vote and then a project leader vote if there is dissent so a 'compromise' position is reached. Well, given that Jon Green himself made those changes to Spellbreaker and Curse of the Mummy, I think most people count them as 'right'. Scholastic are not likely to consult. But I'll make enquiries. An announcement involving titles/covers/etc. is due late May/early June.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,547
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on May 19, 2017 9:05:20 GMT
Well, given that Jon Green himself made those changes to Spellbreaker and Curse of the Mummy, I think most people count them as 'right'. I seem to remember at the time Spellbreaker and Curse were to be rereleased for the first time, a few members of the official forum were against the idea of tinkering with the books beyond fixing obvious errors. Personally I'm all for making them a bit fairer.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on May 31, 2017 20:29:59 GMT
The hardback version of The Port Of Peril will be £35.
I fear we are going to be bitterly disappointed with an effort where there are 1000 items to be collected yet useless along with a necessary skill of 150 and an unreachable paragraph 400.
The lean deliverer of City Of Thieves and Deathtrap Dungeon seems to be lost in time. Is this an analogue of George Lucas?
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Post by a moderator on May 31, 2017 22:25:21 GMT
Not even Littlebig is Jar-Jar Binks bad.
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Post by philsadler on Jun 1, 2017 6:10:32 GMT
The hardback version of The Port Of Peril will be £35. I fear we are going to be bitterly disappointed with an effort where there are 1000 items to be collected yet useless along with a necessary skill of 150 and an unreachable paragraph 400. The lean deliverer of City Of Thieves and Deathtrap Dungeon seems to be lost in time. Is this an analogue of George Lucas? 1.) It will be poorly written. 2.) Will have poor decisions 3.) Many, many instant deaths 4.) Unbeatable final boss 5.) Mandatory skill 11/12 enemies (as well as worthless skill 6 idiots) 6.) Roll or die mechanics 7.) Shopping list of items 8.) Linear beyond belief 9.) A stupid companion who will die within 5 paragraphs of meeting them 10.) Will require perfect stats to beat (but almost no one will beat it legitimately because of the 'roll or die' mechanics above). 11.) Stupid, stupid plot 12.) Imaginative enemies such as orcs, goblins, hobgoblins and dwarves
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Post by JMISBEST on Jun 4, 2017 21:05:42 GMT
List your 5 top favourite Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks and why
Forest Of Doom. Both the 1st I read and 1st I owned
Robot Commando. Similarities to both Transformers and The Autobots Dinobots
Appointment With Fear. A gamebook were you play a superhero
Rings of Kether. The chance to play a narcotics cop, which at the time was what I wanted to be.
Legend of Zagor. Only book starring my favourite villain in the series I beat without a guide or cheating
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Jun 29, 2017 12:49:09 GMT
What is the going rate for Howl Of The Werewolf?
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Post by a moderator on Jun 29, 2017 14:38:17 GMT
On eBay it's between £3.59 and £90. The cheapest copy on Amazon is £87.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Jun 29, 2017 20:18:18 GMT
On eBay it's between £3.59 and £90. The cheapest copy on Amazon is £87. Baffling economics in other words. Another question namely what is the safest way to sell a book. I suppose person to person? Otherwise is there a safe way to sell say on here or elsewhere?
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Post by offm on Jun 29, 2017 21:58:09 GMT
To sell the most reputed place would be eBay because there you make a direct sell on Amazon they give you pennies for the book and don't know what they do with the books. Edit : there is also the buy and sell group on Facebook, www.facebook.com/groups/fightingfantasybuysell/
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Jul 12, 2017 13:08:45 GMT
Is anyone looking forward to The Port Of Peril or is it more a matter of hoping he does not ruin the greatness of The City Of Thieves?
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Post by philsadler on Jul 12, 2017 13:12:04 GMT
Judging by his last two: Blood of the Zombies and Eye of the Dragon?
No.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Jul 17, 2017 12:52:40 GMT
This might be teaching grandma how to suck eggs but can we have possibly two threads about POP? One factual about errors and gameplay structure while the other could be value based on aesthetic factors eg readability, atmosphere, enjoyable, fairness etc? The reason for this is I will not buy immediately so I do not want to be spoiled.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jul 18, 2017 0:24:24 GMT
This might be teaching grandma how to suck eggs but can we have possibly two threads about POP? One factual about errors and gameplay structure while the other could be value based on aesthetic factors eg readability, atmosphere, enjoyable, fairness etc? The reason for this is I will not buy immediately so I do not want to be spoiled. I imagine if you started a pair of threads giving that reasoning no one would object. The alternative would be to have one thread and ask people to use the spoiler tags religiously. Obviously that would need more trust in everyone taking care.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Aug 1, 2017 18:05:06 GMT
I felt we were missing a thread on this. Obviously there's been some discussion of all the covers on the Port of Peril cover thread and Port of Peril itself deserves its own thread but there should be more to talk about. Ian's obvious enthusiasm on Twitter is quite infectious.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,744
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Aug 1, 2017 19:08:03 GMT
I was honestly surprised with the relaunch. I thought FF was done, yet again. I'm glad it's not.
I wasn't sure about the covers at first but I am starting to really like them. The quality of the internals and the paper they're printed on though is disappointing. I wish the went with a different company as Scholastic just makes us feel like we've been short changed.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Aug 4, 2017 21:34:31 GMT
Does anyone know if they will release every gamebook?
Is there any possibility we could 'engineer' some rational changes in the books which are broken? I realise there would need to be a 'structure' for this? Can I ask to be a 'House Of Lords' in this structure i.e I will send back any changes on the books I own for a second reading.
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Post by a moderator on Aug 4, 2017 22:50:43 GMT
Unless they've managed to agree terms with every author, there's no chance of a re-release of the entire range. I'll be pleasantly surprised if they manage more than Wizard did.
A reissue of Spellbreaker that puts the surrender option in the right place would be welcome. And if it becomes possible to visit the healing well after checking out the market stalls, so much the better.
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Post by philsadler on Aug 5, 2017 5:36:47 GMT
Does anyone know if they will release every gamebook? Is there any possibility we could 'engineer' some rational changes in the books which are broken? I realise there would need to be a 'structure' for this? Can I ask to be a 'House Of Lords' in this structure i.e I will send back any changes on the books I own for a second reading. They will never release the full range because people will get sick and tired of the same old crap. They will also never fix any of the broken rubbish because the only author to have done that in the past 35 years is Johnathon Green. In short, they are only interested in money and absolutely nothing else.
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Post by The Editor (Alex B) on Aug 5, 2017 19:27:17 GMT
They will never release the full range because people will get sick and tired of the same old crap. They will also never fix any of the broken rubbish because the only author to have done that in the past 35 years is Johnathon Green. In short, they are only interested in money and absolutely nothing else. Part of the reason Icon/Wizard made almost no changes to the books with their reprints is they were reproducing the text layout of Puffin editions rather than go to the expense of transcribing and resetting the layout of the text (Hence the only changes Jon Green could make to the likes of Spellbreaker were small ones that kept the shape/layout of the text the same.) The new books from Scholastic have had their text formatted from the ground up, so changes could be easily accommodated if the will is there to do it.
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Post by philsadler on Aug 6, 2017 8:51:25 GMT
Thanks Alex B. It would be nice if some of the less fair fights simply had a change in skill and what have you. Even that would be something.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Aug 7, 2017 15:42:54 GMT
I was honestly surprised with the relaunch. I thought FF was done, yet again. I'm glad it's not. I wasn't sure about the covers at first but I am starting to really like them. The quality of the internals and the paper they're printed on though is disappointing. I wish the went with a different company as Scholastic just makes us feel like we've been short changed. I'm yet to hold a copy of PoP (I have now ordered one). It's unfortunate if the quality of the paper isn't up to much. That said these are quite cheap, as in affordable, books. The face value of £7 is only double what it was a quarter of a century ago. I think the equivalent cost today if they'd kept up with inflation would be closer to £10. Hopefully it will help them sell enough copies for them to get a toehold in the playground.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Aug 7, 2017 15:44:25 GMT
Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson signing new books at Forbidden Planet Also, an article in the Times Literary Supplement : Orcs and Oulipo (mild spoilers about PoP) '“It’s like sprinkling petals towards quicksand”, is how Livingstone described the process when I spoke with him recently. “I really enjoy that”.'
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Post by lordomnibok on Aug 7, 2017 16:48:48 GMT
Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson signing new books at Forbidden Planet Also, an article in the Times Literary Supplement : Orcs and Oulipo (mild spoilers about PoP) '“It’s like sprinkling petals towards quicksand”, is how Livingstone described the process when I spoke with him recently. “I really enjoy that”.' Nice little article. I'm not sure why they put the spoiler in there though. Tut tut.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Aug 8, 2017 14:21:35 GMT
A little ad on Twitter for PoP
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Aug 11, 2017 14:13:38 GMT
Ian Livingstone is doing a talk and a Q & A session at the Cardiff Book Festival, talking about 35 years of Fighting Fantasy. 23rd September, 2.30pm - tickets £7 Cardiff Book FestivalFacebook post
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