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Post by tyrion on Jul 14, 2020 14:52:54 GMT
Last round island of the lizard king was eliminated, with scorpion swamp just scraping through. Anybody like it enough for it to be saved this round?
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Post by daredevil123 on Jul 14, 2020 15:20:09 GMT
I like Scorpion Swamp more than City of Thieves, hang me. While I enjoy COT a lot, I think the unavoidable Skill 11 Moon Dog and the random choice of ingredients at the end are major flaws. Ultimately, I prefer the free roaming approach of SS to the linearity and lack of replayability of COT.
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Post by Law on Jul 14, 2020 16:54:26 GMT
House of Hell. Great unique atmosphere to the range but a short, narrow golden path that must bypass most memorable encounters. Plus there's ludo narrative dissonance with a 9to5 desk jocky being able to use bladed weapons so easily, even if they are in a do-or-die scenario.
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Post by tyrion on Jul 14, 2020 17:30:08 GMT
I do like scorpion swamp but it has to be my least favourite here. I had a look at the map I drew and it is surprisingly small. I think the illustrations let it down here as well - competing with Russ Nicholson and Iain McCaig isn't an easy task - although I do like the swamp orcs and the men in tights. Also, is the river flowing the wrong way in the book (not the fault of the book though)?
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Post by dragonwarrior8 on Jul 14, 2020 17:47:15 GMT
House of Hell. Great unique atmosphere to the range but a short, narrow golden path that must bypass most memorable encounters. Plus there's ludo narrative dissonance with a 9to5 desk jocky being able to use bladed weapons so easily, even if they are in a do-or-die scenario. I dont believe it says anywhere what the character does though just that he has an appointment? He could be an MI6 agent.
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Post by Law on Jul 14, 2020 18:09:30 GMT
House of Hell. Great unique atmosphere to the range but a short, narrow golden path that must bypass most memorable encounters. Plus there's ludo narrative dissonance with a 9to5 desk jocky being able to use bladed weapons so easily, even if they are in a do-or-die scenario. I dont believe it says anywhere what the character does though just that he has an appointment? He could be an MI6 agent. An MI6 agent who accepts a dinner invitation and unguarded drinks from a dodgy rural aristocrat?
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Post by stevendoig on Jul 14, 2020 18:15:40 GMT
Trickier, I like all these books!
But yes, City of Thieves has it's Moon Dog problems so I voted for that.
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Post by dragonwarrior8 on Jul 14, 2020 18:31:22 GMT
I dont believe it says anywhere what the character does though just that he has an appointment? He could be an MI6 agent. An MI6 agent who accepts a dinner invitation and unguarded drinks from a dodgy rural aristocrat? I was just saying that there is no background info on the character given so he could be anybody really.
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Post by philsadler on Jul 14, 2020 19:07:05 GMT
Easy one here. They are all classics apart from Scorpion Swamp, which is not a classic.
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Post by Law on Jul 14, 2020 20:49:05 GMT
An MI6 agent who accepts a dinner invitation and unguarded drinks from a dodgy rural aristocrat? I was just saying that there is no background info on the character given so he could be anybody really. Reads like an Everyman to me!
What I want to know is how an FF Ghoul and Zombie wound up in Drumer's house...
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Post by a moderator on Jul 14, 2020 21:32:49 GMT
What I want to know is how an FF Ghoul and Zombie wound up in Drumer's house... They came through the hole left by the Hell Demon that migrated from the House of Hell reality to Allansia for Eye of the Dragon.
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Post by Law on Jul 14, 2020 21:42:39 GMT
What I want to know is how an FF Ghoul and Zombie wound up in Drumer's house... They came through the hole left by the Hell Demon that migrated from the House of Hell reality to Allansia for Eye of the Dragon. Huh... That's neat. You mean you encounter Franklins / The Master in EoTD before he's canonically dispatched in the dining room?
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Post by a moderator on Jul 14, 2020 21:54:22 GMT
It's possible to kill the Hell Demon that's in Eye, so they can't be the same one. Maybe they were brothers in the house of Drumer way back when, but then one of them got jealous of the other's friendship with Kelnor, and relocated to under Darkwood Forest for a sulk.
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Post by peasantscribbler on Jul 14, 2020 22:31:11 GMT
I do like scorpion swamp but it has to be my least favourite here. I had a look at the map I drew and it is surprisingly small. I'm voting for Scorpion Swamp mostly because I prefer the lengthier, singular adventures of the other remaining books in this bracket over the chance to play multiple short adventures on the same small map. I actually like playing the different characters in Legend of Zagor on the same map because the map is huge. To be fair, Citadel of Chaos only seems like a lengthy adventure if you spend a lot of time on the wrong path before finding the true path.
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Post by The Count on Jul 15, 2020 4:36:40 GMT
Scorpion Swamp is my favourite out of the list, and they all have something I dislike:
Citadel of Chaos never feels like an army is massing, and the best encounters are off the true path. It is enjoyable until the point you are able to steal the fleece though. City of Thieves has that ridiculous tattoo and yankee game but is otherwise enjoyable. House of Hell has the nonsense with the vital skill bonus that you can't use. Deathtrap Dungeon has such blatantly obvious wrong paths towards the end and the forced friendship that the true path seems very artificial.
Opting for the latter as there are 5 people apparently able to wander round the place with impunity, and a teleporting ninja.
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Post by Wilf on Jul 15, 2020 8:31:26 GMT
Two thoughts:
First, have I missed something - why does he need to have teleported to be ahead of you? He enters the dungeon before you, and if you encounter the chest with the jewel-less medallion, it's clear that he's still ahead of you.
Second, although you never get the chance to find it in DD, it's not unknown for Baron Sukumvit to incorporate teleport rooms into his Deathtrap Dungeons... (cf. Trial Of Champions). Where could such a room be? Further up the corridor from the Skeleton Warrior's room, I guess. A ninja would be more likely to spot the tripwire and not set off the boulder trap, and therefore be able to explore that corridor further and find another room further up it.
Or else he had some red dust in his possessions when he entered.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,458
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jul 15, 2020 8:48:28 GMT
it's not unknown for Baron Sukumvit to incorporate teleport rooms into his Deathtrap Dungeons... (cf. Trial Of Champions). Where could such a room be? Further up the corridor from the Skeleton Warrior's room, I guess. A teleporter there would explain why the goblins are still alive. Both the elf and ninja should still be ahead of you at this stage and it seems unlikely they could have opened the trapdoor without the goblins noticing. On the other hand, maybe the goblins were out on patrol when they passed through their room.
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Post by vastariner on Jul 15, 2020 9:00:21 GMT
it's not unknown for Baron Sukumvit to incorporate teleport rooms into his Deathtrap Dungeons... (cf. Trial Of Champions). Where could such a room be? Further up the corridor from the Skeleton Warrior's room, I guess. A teleporter there would explain why the goblins are still alive. Both the elf and ninja should still be ahead of you at this stage and it seems unlikely they could have opened the trapdoor without the goblins noticing. On the other hand, maybe the goblins were out on patrol when they passed through their room. The elf could have used elven magic. The ninja...well, ninjas are mammals.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Jul 15, 2020 18:01:48 GMT
The Goblin guards are likely not the only ones in the dungeons. If they die, or when they change shifts, they could be replaced by others. Goblins (and the Trialmasters) are known to use secret passageways so a teleporter isn't always necessary. Dead bodies could be disposed off this way and appear to have just disappeared. It is also possible that the ninja and the elf both found one such secret passage to stay ahead of you since you did not come across it, but in doing so missed opportunities to find the required winning items.
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Post by The Count on Jul 16, 2020 21:48:51 GMT
Two thoughts:
First, have I missed something - why does he need to have teleported to be ahead of you? He enters the dungeon before you, and if you encounter the chest with the jewel-less medallion, it's clear that he's still ahead of you.
Second, although you never get the chance to find it in DD, it's not unknown for Baron Sukumvit to incorporate teleport rooms into his Deathtrap Dungeons... (cf. Trial Of Champions). Where could such a room be? Further up the corridor from the Skeleton Warrior's room, I guess. A ninja would be more likely to spot the tripwire and not set off the boulder trap, and therefore be able to explore that corridor further and find another room further up it.
Or else he had some red dust in his possessions when he entered.
Being ahead isn't the problem, it's that he just happened to randomly appear between the two most difficult encounters having bypassed them both - and everything else apart from that one room. If he had an opal or something else that suggested he was playing the game and isn't just a plot coupon forcing you to go through the pit fiend, it might have worked better. Or put the jewel in that pit so that you have to go through it.
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Post by a moderator on Jul 17, 2020 0:31:11 GMT
You can bypass the Pit Fiend (subject to having suitable equipment), so why shouldn't the Ninja be able to as well?
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