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Post by champskees on Nov 15, 2017 5:14:37 GMT
I must admit my autistic self with strict categorical thinking can only take things so far. My main thinking has been about Night Of The Necromancer and to a lesser extent Stormslayer. I can take things so far and then I need a break. My guess is it is best to attack in chucks as you are doing and then have a rest. I think most of the hard work has been done. The 'chess like' number of moves in Night Of The Necromancer meant I attacked for a time and then took a rest followed by more attack. I am all attacked out at the moment. In about 2 years time(?) when you reach my hobby horse I am 'sweating' if the probabilities prove me 'wrong' in some deep sense. Will it be possible to write a program to explore all the possibilities or is it too complicated? Anything is possible with code. I actually reckon you should learn how to code - it's easier than you think and it is very rewarding. But then I reckon everyone should learn how to code. Look into python.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Nov 15, 2017 13:57:39 GMT
I interpreted your post as look into Monty Python but I presume it is a programming language suitable for cascade choices and can iterate to generate the percentages. I not sure if this is a bit advanced for me as like Woody Allen's Dad in Hannah and her Sisters I do not know how the can opener works(from memory I think he has just been asked why were there Nazis)
I will ask when you have done the next chuck?/chunk of updates with percentages to tell us here(?)I will have a look in the evenings.
The only other book I made a significant effort with is Scorpion Swamp. Again I am 'sweating' so at this rate I will be on Valium.
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Post by offm on Nov 16, 2017 17:57:57 GMT
For you own motivational inspiration you should try math exercises firt.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Nov 16, 2017 18:13:33 GMT
For you own motivational inspiration you should try math exercises firt. When I did GCSE Mathematics in 1988 and achieved a B grade I think it was the limit of my mathematical ability.
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Post by offm on Nov 22, 2017 17:53:06 GMT
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Post by hynreck on Nov 22, 2017 19:38:32 GMT
You've drawn a blank.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 23, 2017 13:10:34 GMT
Cool If you mean you can't see the tweet, here it is (from Charlie Higson): "Hurrah! Just delivered the 1st draft of Gates of Death to Scholastic. My 1st foray into #FightingFantasy. Big shout out to @jonathangreen for guiding me through the world of Allansia."
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Post by hynreck on Nov 23, 2017 13:25:04 GMT
Weird that nothing is showing up on my side. In any case, thank you!
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vagsancho
Knight
Posts: 810
Favourite Gamebook Series: CRYPT OF THE SORCERER
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Post by vagsancho on Nov 25, 2017 0:32:01 GMT
How much time do you need to read from the begining to the end a fighting fantasy book, like for example deathtrap dungeon or caverns of the snow witch? I am asking in average, and i am asking for an answer in hours.
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Post by lordomnibok on Nov 25, 2017 11:43:03 GMT
How much time do you need to read from the begining to the end a fighting fantasy book, like for example deathtrap dungeon or caverns of the snow witch? I am asking in average, and i am asking for an answer in hours. Quite a few variables in there vag, but maybe I'll time myself when I read the next one. I can say though that if I'm reading a tropical Gamebook, I'll try to read it in a summer heatwave, or if it is a cold gloomy Gamebook that is in a rain swept region, I'll read it in the winter months. It adds to the immersive quality. Also, if a Gamebook is set over a longer time period I will try to read it in smaller chunks over a longer period so that I get more of a real-time sense of the scale of the adventure. That may seem a little obsessive, but I have a passion for this genre, so why not.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,547
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Nov 28, 2017 14:17:25 GMT
How much time do you need to read from the begining to the end a fighting fantasy book, like for example deathtrap dungeon or caverns of the snow witch? I am asking in average, and i am asking for an answer in hours. Think it varies a lot (Starship Traveller would take me about 30 mins, Legend of Zagor about 4 hours) but I'd say 90 mins - 2 hours is about average for me.
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Post by lordomnibok on Nov 30, 2017 14:37:47 GMT
How much time do you need to read from the begining to the end a fighting fantasy book, like for example deathtrap dungeon or caverns of the snow witch? I am asking in average, and i am asking for an answer in hours. Think it varies a lot (Starship Traveller would take me about 30 mins, Legend of Zagor about 4 hours) but I'd say 90 mins - 2 hours is about average for me. This is interesting. Just to confirm, is that when you are taking the optimal path but still rolling the dice and fighting as per the rules?
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,547
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Nov 30, 2017 16:48:53 GMT
Think it varies a lot (Starship Traveller would take me about 30 mins, Legend of Zagor about 4 hours) but I'd say 90 mins - 2 hours is about average for me. This is interesting. Just to confirm, is that when you are taking the optimal path but still rolling the dice and fighting as per the rules? Well probably not the optimal path. Especially in books like Legend of Zagor and other hub-and-spoke type books where I tend to forget which encounters are best avoided so end up running into most of them! But yes, that includes fighting as per the rules.
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Post by unknown on Dec 18, 2017 5:34:07 GMT
How much time do you need to read from the begining to the end a fighting fantasy book, like for example deathtrap dungeon or caverns of the snow witch? I am asking in average, and i am asking for an answer in hours. It took me four months to complete Crypt of the Sorcerer.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Dec 21, 2017 13:33:33 GMT
It has been a delight reading Champskees solutions for Island and the 3 Scorpion options. The idea to not fight for the keys in the aforementioned is probably right.
The Selator solution is compelling. I never thought to use a luck spell immediately which simplifies things. The Poomchukker solution is more direct but I always thought giving a sort of cursed item was something of an Indian gift.
The only solution I am not sure about is the Grimslade solution. I would have thought a single luck roll is not very significant though the failure is absolute in a sense.
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Post by ed on Dec 21, 2017 13:58:38 GMT
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Post by champskees on Dec 21, 2017 23:57:38 GMT
It has been a delight reading Champskees solutions for Island and the 3 Scorpion options. The idea to not fight for the keys in the aforementioned is probably right. The Selator solution is compelling. I never thought to use a luck spell immediately which simplifies things. The Poomchukker solution is more direct but I always thought giving a sort of cursed item was something of an Indian gift. The only solution I am not sure about is the Grimslade solution. I would have thought a single luck roll is not very significant though the failure is absolute in a sense. Hi John, Yes going for the Iron Keys turned out to be an across the board bad decision - the percentiles jumped after avoiding the test of luck and the consequent fights. The Grimslade one is interesting. I actually programmed your solution line for line and the results were across the board much lower, even for high luck characters. The reason I think is because of the Swamp Orcs. You have to lose a Skill point then fight two orcs simultaneously, and that is if you cast Fear on them. The result is that you end up with a combat that is pretty much as dangerous as the Master of Wolves combat when you also factor in the Crab Grass combat. Except you only have one Stamina spell to heal you. Then you have to make a successful luck roll and cast an illusion spell for the Frog Amulet. You also cannot use luck in the Master of Spiders combat because you must save it for the Toad luck test. One interesting consideration I did have was to grab the Golden Magnet and then get shot by the swamp orcs. Sounds counter-intuitive but instead of losing 1 Skill point you get to test your luck, success = 1 Damage, Fail = 5 Damage. Couldn't put it to any meaningful use though.
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Klea
Wanderer
Writing Lyssia Ulmer's marriage for Camp NaNoWriMo (based on King's Heir: Rise to the Throne)
Posts: 57
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy (Sorcery!)
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Post by Klea on Dec 26, 2017 11:18:04 GMT
Please forgive if this has been asked before, but has anyone ever made a map of the Dwarven city of Stonebridge?
As some of you know, I've been working on a fanfic project to novelize some of the gamebooks. I finished my first draft of Caverns of the Snow Witch and have started on Forest of Doom (since they seem to connect up nicely, if a little rewrite is done to compensate for the reverse order of their publication). I wanted to have some new filler material take place in Stonebridge (considering the Caverns of the Snow Witch adventurer's friendship with Stubb), and I've been making up stuff off the top of my head and finding it much more difficult than I'd anticipated and am probably getting dozens of details either wrong or twisted into a pretzel mess.
If someone has made a map or done any sort of writeup about Stonebridge, I would appreciate being pointed in right direction.
Thanks!
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Jan 3, 2018 14:25:28 GMT
Can I ask Champskees to tell us when a new solution is ready especially if the new ones are going to be non-sequential?
Do we have to vote on what we want?
I vote Night simply from a selfish point of view.
A secondary vote will be for Crypt for the obsessive desire to know the percentages.
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Post by champskees on Jan 3, 2018 21:37:17 GMT
Can I ask Champskees to tell us when a new solution is ready especially if the new ones are going to be non-sequential? Do we have to vote on what we want? I vote Night simply from a selfish point of view. A secondary vote will be for Crypt for the obsessive desire to know the percentages. Good idea. The books I choose are likely going to be the harder ones but i'll run your Night solution in the ten too. Any requests, send them through, might be an entry I didn't think about. Bear in mind that programming is boring and so to maintain my interest I want to mix it up a bit so I may deviate and do one at random. Did Blood of the Zombies. Seems 32 stamina is not enough, literally impossible to complete based on current rules. Don't know if I would call this the hardest FF adventure though, maybe just the most unplayable. Linked for your viewing pleasure. fightingfantazine.proboards.com/thread/356/65-blood-zombies-solution
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vagsancho
Knight
Posts: 810
Favourite Gamebook Series: CRYPT OF THE SORCERER
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Post by vagsancho on Jan 8, 2018 23:36:58 GMT
Ive won trial of champions today. Ive felt it. Very good book. It is not magical anymore, though.
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Post by unknown on Jan 18, 2018 7:02:05 GMT
It took me four months to complete Crypt of the Sorcerer. Are you saying you legitimately completed Crypt of the Sorcerer? Without cheating? You should get a medal for that. If I had a medal, I know exactly where I'd stick it.
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Post by offm on Jan 19, 2018 0:16:26 GMT
Never substimate a good arena fights they're pure action, and I hate lord carnuss by the way.
Sent from my SUNSET2 using proboards
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Jan 22, 2018 20:38:49 GMT
Have you seen on a certain site that is a river the title Night Dragon is £799.00? I know certain titles are desirable but that is for professional collectors only?
I have a copy of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and I am offering it for only £500.00 as I know the market.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Jan 23, 2018 5:15:07 GMT
Have you seen on a certain site that is a river the title Night Dragon is £799.00? I know certain titles are desirable but that is for professional collectors only? I have a copy of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and I am offering it for only £500.00 as I know the market. I don't think it's an option on the site which is a river, but if you want to get a clearer idea of the worth of anything like this on, um, the site that is a Yorkshireman's muttered consideration of a cove, it's best to look up the completed listings to see whether people seal the deal or not. From time to time you'll have seen the tabloids here run with a story like... 'Is the 50p in your pocket worth £umpteen squillion?' The answer is pretty much always 'No', but I suppose it makes a better headline than... 'Someone has put 50p up for auction for £umpteen squillion. Zero bids so far.'
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Post by paltogue on Feb 21, 2018 20:07:29 GMT
I'm considering doing a play-through of the FF books, but implementing some 'house rules' to make the experience more pleasurable and to allow my attempts to ultimately succeed (purists may not like such an approach, but I'm not a purist). If I have time to do this, I may even blog the results. Here are some thoughts I'm having, and some questions which I wouldn't mind your opinions on:
- Use pre-defined stats rather than relying on the dice; not 12 24 12, but not 7 14 4 either. Maybe picks something like 10 18-20 10 (likewise for other stats). - Skill increases as Attack Strength increases where appropriate (how do I decide which ones though?). - Here's another one I could do with some help with. It would be nice to make minor adjustments to some of the adventures to correct any errors (e.g. in Revenge of the Vampire), and to make the most difficult adventures possible (e.g. the Mudworm). It would be nice to have not only a list of errors for each book (which I think should be on Titannica), but also a list of (little) things which could be tweaked in adventures which would make them playable rather than basically impossible (e.g. what tweaks does Crypt of the Sorcerer need to make it winnable?). How easy would it be to compile a list of such tweaks for each adventure that could do with them? - An ‘Oops!’ option, whereby on turning to an option which leads immediately to a disastrous result, I can go back to the last paragraph and choose again. - 'Save Points' at various points in the adventures so that if I fail I can start again at a convenient earlier point rather than having to start the whole adventure over again. I'd have to decide where in each adventure these should be, perhaps obvious bottle-necks would be good places.
Another question is what order I should play the books in. An obvious choice is numerical/publishing sequence. Or a random order. Or whichever one takes my fancy. What do you think?
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Feb 21, 2018 20:52:24 GMT
I would suggest doing some challenges if you are basically modifying gamebooks for an experience.
Others could try your challenges and feedback whether it worked wonderfully or created Top Gear like disasters.
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Post by offm on Feb 21, 2018 23:14:03 GMT
The save points idea is a good one to add to an adventure sheet, like for example you're feeling you are in a good path, I also like the idea of strengthen the character without relying on item picks.
Sent from my SUNSET2 using proboards
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Post by philsadler on Feb 22, 2018 19:08:49 GMT
I think that 9/18/9 for skill/stamina/luck is better because it's the direct average of the dice rolls (as much as random rolls can be 'average'). Don't agree with 'oops' or save points at all.
As for making COTS doable ... I'm not sure. Get rid of all of the 'roll or die' mechanics. Change Razaak to skill 9 stamina 8 and get rid of his instant death ability? Mind you the book is so broken that even that may not help.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Feb 22, 2018 23:02:26 GMT
Ian has tweeted out the covers for the next batch of FF books to be released by Scholastic in April:
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