tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36409295545039650052024-03-14T18:48:58.592+00:00MALthus Dire's Fighting Fantasy PageMALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-27693058499402105032022-07-31T13:25:00.000+01:002022-07-31T13:25:44.961+01:00Vengeance At Midnight<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMLL-FqueP3l0R_d_9y-ZrKVUc0kIxYoOvv9VtVofiP73JcIm3NZPy49n4RovJOemhLf4KUTsiizN05PRrvuUNprOYP_yI7jQpM3mpt5P7nsEDr1_CJ58SlysxKtZkLR34yF_Nxl51ZRdEzc7X87AUoK1Tpt_rYNDD4wdc7PSVr9vWyopcF288LVIvA/s788/Capture3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="557" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMLL-FqueP3l0R_d_9y-ZrKVUc0kIxYoOvv9VtVofiP73JcIm3NZPy49n4RovJOemhLf4KUTsiizN05PRrvuUNprOYP_yI7jQpM3mpt5P7nsEDr1_CJ58SlysxKtZkLR34yF_Nxl51ZRdEzc7X87AUoK1Tpt_rYNDD4wdc7PSVr9vWyopcF288LVIvA/s320/Capture3.PNG" width="226" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">VENGEANCE AT MIDNIGHT<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Alexander Ballingall<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Let’s get
something very clear from the start here: I do not like the Silver Crusader
concept. I hated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Appointment With FEAR</i>
and could do little more than tolerate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deadline
To Destruction</i>. It’s not that I don’t like superhero stuff generally, I
just found <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AwF</i> a gimmicky empty
playing experience. For me, it’s one of the very worst FF books play-wise so
the idea of there being a third instalment of something that I could happily
have lived without the first part of was far from inspiring. But, like it or
not, we find ourselves back in Titan City and donning the costume of the Silver
Crusader, alter-ego of Jean Lafayette, once again in this 269-section piece
from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i> Issue 8. The
fact that all three parts are written by different people also amplifies the
sound of the bottom of the barrel being scraped as Steve Jackson evidently only
intended for there to be one of these otherwise he would have expanded the
concept himself (and it would have made a far better RPG if you ask me although
the thematic similarity to Games Workshop’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Golden
Heroes</i> may have prevented that from happening).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Time has
passed since Jean’s last run-in with a major superbaddie (The Dynamo from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DtD</i>) and there are a couple of neat
little bits of story arc advancement here where you now have a girlfriend
called Helen and your relationship with your boss seems to have improved a lot
as you are no longer constantly showing up late for work due to your
crime-fighting commitments. But of course sooner or later Titan City would be threatened
by another lunatic in a silly costume and you have started hearing rumours of a
journalist having disappeared and the possibility of a new nutter hatching a
nefarious plot against everybody. So off you go to save the day, starting with
a run-in in a warehouse, the discovery of a consignment of teddy bears, and
then the whole saga unfolds before you. As with the previous two adventures, a
lot of the actual content involves choosing various places to visit as you try
and gather intelligence to crack the case, a lot of these choices being potentially
somewhat uninformed and random. There is a path to follow though based on key
bits of information but unravelling it is tricky and the true path itself is
very tight, something which brings me to the first big issue with this mini-FF:
it is unreasonably difficult. There are several moments where you have to fight
a catalogue of opponents and death by Stamina loss is a frequent problem. That
said, if you choose the Super Strength Superpower and thus have a default Skill
of 13 this becomes a more realistic proposition, something which is so fundamental
to victory that it can effectively render the other three Superpower options pretty
redundant. These lengthy fights also usually require you to
track combat rounds as this can affect how the fight plays out so there is some
bookkeeping to do in amongst all the dice rolling (and dying and having to
start over) too. Furthermore, the majority of the fights that are with just one
or two opponents are usually against very strong foes (both in Skill and
Stamina) as they are supervillains which also means a very high Skill on your
part is vital, plus a high Stamina too if you are going to have any hope of
staying alive. If this isn’t imbalanced enough there are only two opportunities
to restore Stamina (both by 6 points when you wake up the next morning) which
is hardly fair. Similarly, there are a lot of Luck tests (especially on the
true path) and, again, very few chances to restore Luck, so a high Luck is also
vital. There is one particularly irrational moment where you have to pass a
sequence of three Luck tests and two Skill tests – fail any and you miss a
vital password that you cannot win without knowing. This is frankly ridiculous.
Furthermore, there are a lot of letter-to-number conversions to find hidden
sections which, whilst I like this mechanic as it is an excellent cheatproofer,
can be taxing plus one of them is calculated incorrectly and leads you to the
wrong section so, unless you have a solution, errata list, or can be bothered
to sift through each section until you find the right one, the game is broken
and cannot be completed “properly” (although with the crazy stat issues you could
argue it is broken anyway).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One feature that
sent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AwF</i>’s difficulty into the stratosphere
that I am glad to say has not been carried over from the first Silver Crusader
outing is the annoying reliance on arbitrary guesswork to find hidden sections
and this was the main thing that made me hate the original book so much. As a
concept and rules-wise though, the same structure that existed in the previous
two instalments is all here again: you have a choice from four Superpowers and
the list is the same in all three adventures; you can gain Hero Points as you
go along based on how heroic or otherwise your actions are; you get three Clues
from the outset; the whole thing plays out over a few days; the usual umpteen
jokes and riffs on popular culture are here again; and you are not supposed to
kill opponents in combat (instead they surrender once their Stamina is reduced
to 1 or 2) as you are a good guy. There are a few variations on some of these
this time around though as the Clues basically do nothing other than just give
you abstract information that you then ignore as everything you need to know to
actually finish the adventure is told to you in the course of the story. Rather
more problematically the Superpowers also have no influence on how the plot
actually plays out. A great feature of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AwF</i>
was that it was basically four adventures in one (albeit all very frustratingly
short ones) so had huge replay value. Not so the case there as each Superpower
just subtly nuances events and how you negotiate certain moments to ultimately
lead to the same point either way. This is rather sloppy design and creates the
illusion of something that just is not there: choice of how your superhero
functions and the ability to affect the game as a result. Obviously this makes
replayability limited but the fact that you are going to die in almost every
attempt might be enough to compel repeat attempts. Hero Points are handled very
differently here as you start with 3 rather than 0. This is because should your
HP ever drop to zero you have to turn to section 99 and suffer the consequences
when the Federation Of Ultrapeople (The Avengers? Justice League? The X-Men?) send
Lady Chartreuse (“a drink so good they named a colour after it” to quote a
certain Tarantino movie) to deal with you which is survivable although you
cannot accrue any further Hero Points after this which does make you rather
less heroic. Also, there are several different “scales” of victory where,
whilst the true path is very tight and linear, you can reach the win section
having tied up various loose ends along the way and finish with more Hero
Points (in the previous two Hero Points were purely for you to measure an extra
success aspect and try to finish the book with more of them and thus more
heroically on subsequent playthroughs) so for the first time in a Silver Crusader
adventure Hero Points actually have an in-game purpose which is good to see.
The biggest problem here system-wise though has already been raised which is that,
unless you choose the Super Strength Superpower and start with Skill 13 you
simply will not be able to finish this due to the scale and number of fights
you are faced with which is a big own goal for a concept based on variable
superpowers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Without labouring
a point too much when it comes to the fights you are expected to deal with, it
has to be said that the very first one in the warehouse at the beginning seems
especially unfair as you can die or reduce your Stamina dangerously low before
you have even done anything of any consequence and there is no reward for
surviving it other than not being dead. There is also a key fight with Volt
Head that is effectively broken for various reasons and the same fight seems a
bit unsavoury as you are trying to save a female hostage whilst you fight Volt
Head but the chance of her not dying in the course of events is incredibly low –
this just seems odd and very unheroic to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Which brings
us neatly to the subject of the key villain of the piece who is called Volt
Head (and we see him on the cover of this issue of the ‘zine in fact). In a nice
element of continuity/lore he is the brother of The Dynamo from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DtD</i> so he does presumably have a
personal beef with you to add some colour. Indeed this adventure is crawling
with FF-related Easter Eggs, far more so than either of the previous two
gamebooks, and is a dream for fanboys. Amongst others we have the link between
Volt Head and The Dynamo, Wolmaran Apartments, a villain called The Warlock,
the Owl and Weasel pub which is next door to the Black Lobster restaurant, and there
is a copy of the unpublished <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Saga Of The
Stormchaser</i> in Cottonworths (so it comes out eventually then lol). A couple
of nice little general popular culture references that I personally found more amusing
than the usual ones these Silver Crusader adventures are filled with are Ben
Seven, Karl Marks, and Da Femme who “wears a form-fitting dark yellow suit” (so
that’s literally an analogue of The Bride from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kill Bill</i> in her figure-hugging yellow jumpsuit then). What did
annoy me a bit though is that the elusive and essential password (the one you
get in return for somehow beating the interminable odds and passing three Luck
and two Skill tests in succession) is “Voldemort” – this is possibly a bridge
too far for me, is too literal, and it isn’t even trying to be a clever take on
something like the naming conventions and characters in these Silver Crusader
adventures otherwise are. Why did the author do this?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The author
himself is Alex Ballingall (Editor of the ‘zine) and he does write very well
with a lot of atmosphere and detail to bring his adventure to life. Most of the
game sections are relatively long but there is often a lot of dialogue to
accommodate (essential to get that comic book feel) and variances with
Superpower prompts that need to be factored in (not that they make much
difference in the long run). Each key character (ie YOU, the supervillians, and
the cops) is written in such a way that they have obvious personality and
traits and this does add a lot of depth to the proceedings. The lengthy sections
may look off-putting on first sight but they do work well in context and AB has
done a good job of putting his take on Titan City across. I wish I could say
the same for his art which “graces” this adventure as it is best described as “rough”
and looks incomplete and amateurish (the teddy bear fillustrations are
particularly awful) but it is better than what he did for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Resurrection Of The Dead</i> in the first issue of the ‘zine and he
does a good job of emulating the comic book panelled look that Declan Considine
produced for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AwF</i> and this is a clever
visual that suits the concept. The colour cover for this one is also by AB and,
again, looks rough and incomplete and is certainly not of a good enough quality
to be on a cover especially as most ‘zine covers have been really good
professional pieces of fantasy art. I do wonder if they were struggling for
contributors art-wise for this Issue?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are a
few interesting design points that I feel are worth bringing up with this adventure,
the most apparent being that section 1 is a normal game section rather than the
beginning and the introduction gives you options sending you to other
paragraphs to start the game. This in real terms is a pretty minor thing but I do
find it interesting and I always like to see gamebooks having functions like this
that subvert expectations in how they should be designed and these are always
an unexpected surprise that makes them feel a little bit different when the
author has taken the time to think to do this. There is also, more
conventionally, an open ending where you meet the Titanium Cyborg again in prison
and it is suggested that a fourth part is on the cards. I read a thread in the
Fantazine discussion group suggesting that the Helen character (who, incidentally,
does nothing other than get mentioned at the start as existing, have a shower
at one point in the book, and show up again right at the end, so including her
was not really worth it as she serves no purpose other than to expand your
character’s history a little bit) might turn bad in a potential fourth part of
the saga. In many ways I hope there will not be a fourth because three is more
than I ever really wanted!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So then, is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vengeance At Midnight </i>worth staying up
late to experience? I’ll be honest and say I did actually quite enjoy it. The
idea of the exploding teddy bears triggered by a signal from a computer is a
fun 1960s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Batman</i> type silly way to
bring about the apocalypse and the supervillains seem less crappy in this one
than the previous two. The fact that Hero Points finally serve some sort of (albeit
limited) useful purpose is good to see. The usual in-jokes are everywhere (I
can take or leave these as they are a bit too knowing) but the FF Easter Eggs
are a nice inclusion. It is way too hard though (to the point of being unfair),
the requirement to get the password is insane, there is no way you can get
anywhere without maxed-out stats, the Superpower choices are rendered useless,
and the art is terrible. But of the three Silver Crusader efforts this is still
less annoying to me than <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AwF</i> but is
not as conventional as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DtD</i> so it does
have some merit to recommend it. Yes, it’s nothing special but it is certainly
worth giving a go even if the odds are hugely stacked against you and it is
absolutely broken due to an adding error by the author. <o:p></o:p></span></p>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-10314251743922249182022-07-27T18:18:00.000+01:002022-07-27T18:18:07.576+01:00Ascent Of Darkness<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7KRusdFMSbb0nxPtZk2CNCVwhDoEkwRDZ7MNPx3R6qG_ynilxo_vGzQg2NTRUzhs7WQ0froo-hv2VQp6Jp5RVqNUUofSPuiX7bhMqMydBD2Q58etVxuoMneNOqOUgSB4nGpS1bfJVpSQ-f-XL2FUgj_Ujcn-yil-CzoJ4EbA433QDwiVQw8bUrJiufg/s787/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="556" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7KRusdFMSbb0nxPtZk2CNCVwhDoEkwRDZ7MNPx3R6qG_ynilxo_vGzQg2NTRUzhs7WQ0froo-hv2VQp6Jp5RVqNUUofSPuiX7bhMqMydBD2Q58etVxuoMneNOqOUgSB4nGpS1bfJVpSQ-f-XL2FUgj_Ujcn-yil-CzoJ4EbA433QDwiVQw8bUrJiufg/s320/Capture.PNG" width="226" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">ASCENT OF DARKNESS<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Stuart Lloyd<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Stuart Lloyd
is very prolific in the world of writing amateur fan FFs (and AFF modules) as
well as being a regular fixture in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting
Fantazine </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so it was fairly
inevitable that a short FF of his would appear in that same publication sooner
or later and Issue 11 brought us this interesting adventure. I say it is
interesting because of the very original idea of creating here what is
effectively a classical Greek epic in FF form. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">YOU play a
heroic figure, the son of a King, and the leader of an army of men engaged in
an ongoing war with the Caarth. You receive a letter from your mother and
return home to find that your father is gone and the evil cult of Elim is
threatening everyone’s existence. Cue an eventual trip to Fire Island to get to
the bottom of the problem and resolve it. The story arc takes you from the
Desert of Skulls/Karnath Tor (where you are fighting the Caarth) to Carsepolis
(your home) via one of three different terrains (mountains, forest, coast),
then on a sea voyage in a tireme to Fire Island. A point to note here is that
Carsepolis is the ancient city upon which’s ruins Port Blacksand was built and
this is the first “official” trip to classical Port Blacksand that we have had
from FF. Kudos for this then. As this is an adventure cut from the cloth of
Homer, your character comes replete with several suitable traits. You start
with a sword, a spear, and a steel helmet, but no armour (very Greek!), and
have 50 Gold Pieces to your name. YOU also have to choose from one Heroic Power
and one Heroic Flaw: the Powers are basically boosters to your attributes but
the Flaws are more subtle and affect the path itself, sometimes giving alternative
approaches and sometimes forcing you down certain routes. The Flaws also give
some balance to avoid you being excessively strong (although you should be
anyway given the context) and the descriptions of the Powers in the
Introduction are very detailed and colourful with some nice legendary context
to what you have done in the past. You also get Heroic Stunts that you can use
in battle (a lot) which can swing things in your favour if the dice (ie the
Gods) are on your side. There is also an unusual approach to rolling up your
Skill, Stamina, and Luck here where you can only have each stat be rolled up to
a certain level but then your chosen Power will boost one of these to a
potentially powerful amount. Again, this suits the concept. This kind of idea
is a trademark of SL’s amateur FFs so it is good to see it applied to this
offering too. There is a neat little heroic touch too where if you do anything particularly unheroic you will lose Luck points - this is clever.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The initial
battle with the Caarth is a good opener as you are straight into the action and
have a few strategic decisions to make but the end result is basically the same.
An amusing little inclusion is that there are only 300 of your army left after
the battle which is a nice nod to The 300 Spartans of classical legend, but
there are a lot of possibly overly Greek references along the way including the
codewords (Perseus, Heracles, and Odysseus) and the fact that your father is
called Agamemnon. This does create a bit of disconnect from FF as these names
are just too well-known and too associated with Greek legends. The idea of the
Achilles Heel Flaw is just about ignorable as it has become a euphemism but it
is still directly related to Achilles so throws another Greek non-FF trope into
the mix. What SL has managed to do in terms of encounters though is get a good
mix of FF and Greek material, with all the Greek encounters being equally FF
encounters as they are already lifted from classics and established as FF lore:
harpies, the mermaid,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the hydra in
particular. What is very apparent in the combat encounters is that almost all
of your opponents have stats in double figures and are equally as legendarily
powerful as YOU. Indeed we see some very high Staminas in this adventure (many
of the fights are multiple foes fought as one), but for once this is actually
offset against your potentially being a bit over-powered too so there is some
balance here. Some foes can even use Stunts against you which make those fights
particularly varied (and dangerous). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
lot of fights have adjustors to shave extra Stamina points from you under
certain conditions which does add to the realism of fighting several foes as
one. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">With very
strong enemies to fight and your Power and Flaws offsetting each other, the
question of difficulty arises quickly but because of the balancing factors you
can get through with average stats (or as average as you can have here) plus
there is no optimum choice of Powers or Flaws to scupper you from the outset.
The Powers do not really affect the actual adventure itself all that much (bar
in combat) but the flaws certainly do and the Achilles Heel is just that and
does make the adventure rather harder if you choose this Flaw. It is also
theoretically possible to have two Powers by acquiring the Strength Of Telak
from a bronze apple so if you start with this Power that can be a bit of a
sucker punch (or a big plus if you started with one of the other two!) So
whilst the Powers and Flaws are presumably intended to nuance and change the
adventure only the Flaws really do in terms of the actual path you follow. It
has to be noted that a lot of the Stamina penalties through misadventure are
quite harsh (routinely losing you 4-6 points) but there are many opportunities
to restore back to your Initial Stamina (as well as getting restoratives for
Skill and Luck too) and to replace lost spears (which are very useful) – the
fact that many of these are blessings from the Gods adds to the whole classical
package. If you can find either the Shroud Of Ashra or the Shroud Of Vuh in
Carsepolis (not particularly hard to do) these will make things noticeably less
lethal in the later stages and there is at least one item that is essential on
a certain path and you cannot get beyond the first Act without having poison
immunity. Indeed, when I first read this I thought it was broken at section 99
because I did not read the text closely enough and whatever choice I made
killed me – but that is not the case and there are two examples of where close
reading based on notes you have taken is vital which is a nice bit of
cheat-proofing without resorting to arbitrarily guessing that you are supposed
to go to a secret section (something that frustrates me hugely in some FFs). Luck
tests are very rare (the instructions say you will need to test Skill, Stamina,
and Luck but these rarely happen and I can only find one Stamina test) and
there are only about a dozen instadeath sections, mostly for doing stupid
things or not having crucial items, so this is reasonable enough. The true path
is not especially hard to find as the adventure is very linear with clear convergence
points to round off each Act and there are two win outcomes (which results in
the final section not being the end and is just a standard game section) but I
suspect the optimum ending is that where you have your father’s ring and he
survives rather than the version where he dies and you become King (which is still
a win really though, but just a bit less heroic). The fact that there are no
pre-defined combinations of Powers and Flaws needed to win adds yet more
fairness to the piece. The choice of the three Act 2 paths (forest, coast,
mountains) adds some nice variety for replays but none is optimum as such and
each affords you several useful items including stat bonuses, the vital poison
immunity (important in avoiding an overly linear true path) and some Flaw immunities,
and the ability to emulate Powers that you may not have. I have noticed though
that the coast path is the tightest in terms of the goodies you can come out
with (a limit of two from the choice you are given), the forest path restricts you
to picking three, but the mountain path appears to have no limit so you can
come out with a catalogue of useful paraphernalia on this path to make you very
strong indeed. The view is that the best path is the forest as it is the
shortest of the three, is theoretically combat-free (depending on what you do),
and gets you the various apples that make a later challenge considerably
easier, but having a bag load of useful stuff from the mountain path is not to
be sniffed at either. The coast path is probably the hardest as you need a
dagger otherwise you get assassinated but as this repeats in the Final Analysis
I’d argue that this is de rigueur anyway. Similarly, in Carsepolis you can
theoretically go everywhere (with a couple of inter-related restrictions) and
the freedom to explore is evident even if each of the areas is fairly brief,
you don’t really do any exploring as such, and the endgame of acquiring a crew
and a dagger is the same and very achievable either way – there is a certain
order needed to how you visit bits depending on your chosen path and some ways
result in getting a free crew whilst others are more expensive and I’m sure you
can end up with lots of crews too if you choose to continue exploring rather
than heading straight for the docks the first chance you meet the required
conditions. As with the second Act the Carsepolis part is mostly designed to
your advantage which gives an expectation of a big climactic finale on Fire
Island. But before you get there you have the tireme voyage and a hydra to
contend with (which isn’t really very hard). Then comes the end Act on Fire
Island itself which is pretty short and colourless and quickly gets to the
point with the conclusive showdown (well, there are only 219 sections, after
all, and the second and third Acts do eat rather a lot of these up). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Fire
Island section highlights a big problem though with this adventure as in parts
it is a real mess. The hut/wizard cameo only makes sense if you choose to enter
the hut otherwise you find yourself dealing with the second half of it anyway
even though you opted against it (plus you seem to hurtle backwards on the map
for no reason to get back to the hut you didn’t know you were visiting!) There
is a really clumsy bit of layout/design where section 104 leads to 107 then to
either 103 or 105 followed by 105 going to 103 anyway so everything for that
cameo is on one page. This also happens earlier on when 114 leads to 115. There
is also a weird bit of design on the coast path where you can defeat the harpies
in combat to then go straight to an instadeath section if you don’t have a
dagger and get assassinated (might as well just let the harpies kill you
really). It seems odd to me that the Carsepolis section can allow you to go
everywhere (bar the conjunction between the Temples of Ashra and Vuh) an
infinite number of times as you are always sent back to the same section to
choose where to go next and there is no suggestion of a limit on visiting
frequencies (this results in the enormous variety of crews you can have as
mentioned above). In the endgame there is an impossible sequence of
sections/Flaw prompts (142 to 35 to 71 etc) as, if you have one Flaw there is
no way you will have another one, so querying this three times over in an unfeasible
combination is pointless. A similar issue occurs with the Flurry Of Blows
Heroic Stunt which renders it basically useless as there are no multi-enemy
combats and all of these are treated as single foes. There is also an incorrect
section link where you are sent to paragraph 133 but it makes no sense in
context so somehow the completely wrong text has ended up on this section. With
all these errors (and the way they amplify themselves in the Fire Island Act) I
do wonder if the ‘zine’s supposed team of playtesters and adventure editors
actually exist (or know what they are doing!) and it does distract from the
potentially exciting climax to the piece where your classical hero gets to be
all classical and win against insurmountable odds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But the Fire
Island bit also throws up a few lovely bits of FF lore for those who want to
find them. On first landing on the beech the text tells you that you are “ever
watchful for giant crabs” (well, you would be wouldn’t you as 2000 years later
poor old Mungo comes a cropper in their claws) and the lizard men are already
oppressing humans by enslaving them leading to an uprising inspired by YOU, but
in this case they are being forced to build a temple to the evil Elim rather than
worked to death down the mines. Interestingly, there is no mention of the infamous
Lizard King so I guess he hasn’t hatched from his royal egg yet. The way Carsepolis
is ancient Port Blacksand is nice too but there is no real correlation between
the two. A possible conclusion that can also be drawn is that classical FF
world is similar to classical Earth world in that all heroes are male as it is explicitly
stated here that you are male – not an issue as it works in context but it
could remove the immersive YOU idea if you are a female player. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A big epic
piece like this with the overhanging theme of an impending Evil should have
some pretty epic art in it and this was entrusted to the always reliable
Michael Wolmarans (aka Mike Tenebrae). The only problem is that he seems to be
having an identity crisis with his art here as it ranges from excellent (the
very sinister colour cover, the fillustrations especially the Greek helmet, the
full pager on page 38) through middling (a lot of the people) to a few pieces that
just look incomplete or rushed (the lizard men are especially bad and look
totally unthreatening, the zombies make less sense the more you look at them,
and the tavern brawl looks like something out of a childrens’ comedy cartoon).
Okay so I know this is a fanzine and contributors will probably be working for
nothing but still if we compare these with MW’s fantastic work for the ‘zine on
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Escape From The Sorcerer</i> there is
definitely something inferior about the art here. What does lift it well above the
inconsistent art is SL’s writing which is pacey, full of energy and an obvious
love for the gamebook form, and keeps you interested regardless of any glaring
errors that might be annoying you. SL knows a huge amount about gamebooks and
the concept and mechanics included here are excellent and show this very
clearly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This is a
highly original effort and the classical theme and early-Titan setting alone carry
it. The mechanics where you are naturally strong and have legendary talents and
weaknesses are great and perfectly suit the concept. It is not especially
difficult and is very fair, plus it is not especially long and can be played
through in about half an hour or so. The multiple paths and more than one
ending add great replay value, as do finding out how different combinations of
Powers and Flaws can affect the proceedings. The errors are frustrating (especially
on Fire Island where they do distract you from the finale as you try and get
your head around them) but the lore and snappiness of the whole thing do make
for a decent adventure. The originality of theme and the fusion of Greek
classics and FF lore make this well worth a look as do the paciness, overall
fairness, and SL’s quality writing and understanding of the gamebook form and
how to manipulate it. The art does it no favours but I tended to just ignore it
and look at the plethora of fillustrations. If the errors had been ironed out
by whoever was supposed to be proofreading/playtesting it, this would have been
a real winner. As it is it is just good rather than great. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-76135149604742814812022-05-11T19:08:00.001+01:002022-05-11T19:12:40.737+01:00Six-Gun Friday<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAfoT3cNHQZ7oRbdFcMfZfDKnmMXMSM6E_As9f6r-dx6H7kHth6Q-2Cn3rTaDPhzrLXRV4NRw_eJtSZ-4OzZMtiP0jKgLeAkg0ITkDY07AwbOp9C6A2D5r4DOLlFmGmcm7LMZGgS_DSzGOT0dwJkFyG4hVGnsKj7SqE5oe7hunQ39GIvKqJopU4GpTjA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="499" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAfoT3cNHQZ7oRbdFcMfZfDKnmMXMSM6E_As9f6r-dx6H7kHth6Q-2Cn3rTaDPhzrLXRV4NRw_eJtSZ-4OzZMtiP0jKgLeAkg0ITkDY07AwbOp9C6A2D5r4DOLlFmGmcm7LMZGgS_DSzGOT0dwJkFyG4hVGnsKj7SqE5oe7hunQ39GIvKqJopU4GpTjA=w227-h320" width="227" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">SIX-GUN FRIDAY<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Gaetano Abbondanza<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">The idea of a
Western FF has been bandied around for years. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> magazine mentioned it as a potential genre in its occasional
reader questionnaires but nothing ever came of it. There is an argument to say
that it would not fit comfortably into Titan but as samurai and
Eqyptian-modelled pyramids found their way in there is no real reason why a
cowboy setting could not be worked in somewhere or other, especially as each
part of Titan has a distinct identity of its own. When <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Six-Gun Friday</i> appeared in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting
Fantazine</i> Issue 13 I saw this as a mixed blessing: it was a brave and
welcome move into hitherto unexplored territory for FF, but I personally find
most Western movies pretty tedious and they are my least favourite genre. That said,
I do like the stylised violence of the Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone movies as
well as some of the other (admittedly wildly OTT) spaghetti Westerns, the more
revisionist<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>later efforts like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dances With Wolves, Little Big Man, The
Outlaw Josey Wales, Soldier Blue </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unforgiven</i>, and the more original
efforts like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">High Noon</i>. Okay,
basically I don’t like the traditional ultra-macho John Wayne/John Ford/Howard
Hawks cowboys-and-injuns stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">So, what is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Six-Gun Friday</i> about? YOU play the part
of a Marshall in a small Wyoming town. (Well, that immediately resolves the “how
to fit Westerns into Titan” question – the answer is to simply not bother even
trying!) The bank gets robbed and YOU set out to bring the perpetrators to
justice who it quickly becomes apparent are the much-feared Friday Clan, a
bunch of outlaws who tick lots of Western character trope boxes: two brothers
who are the sons of a preacher man (to almost quote Dusty Springfield), an
ex-lawman gone bad, a tubercular medic, a train robber, and a sociopath. In
your pursuit of the Fridays you travel from your hometown of Bent Reed to the
rather larger Cheyenne before engaging in a final showdown on a moving train en
route to Phoenix. What is interesting plot-wise is that the Background gives no
indication of what is to follow. Instead, the very lengthy and thorough
Background is exactly that – a background to your character’s history, and a
very detailed and convincing one at that. Section 1 then opens with you winning
a game of chess against your Tonto-esque sidekick Rodrigo and then the bank
robbery saga unfolds from there. Rodrigo leaves the proceedings pretty much immediately
(so you don’t have to contend with a FF companion’s inevitable death) and then
returns near the end to play another brief but plot-helping supporting role (and
he stays alive, remarkably!) As you play on and get deeper into this gamebook,
you soon discover that there are many ways through and there is no true path as
such. Instead, the order that you might encounter the various Fridays in based
on your decisions influences how each playthrough pans out. The scope for
exploration of the possible paths is considerable and the replay value is, by
FF standards, far higher than usual. Some paths will prove easier than others -
being a marked man or not initially tangling with enough Fridays will make things
trickier – but each one has its own little nuances and some can be negotiated
with a minimal Skill score, although the more combat-driven paths will need a
decent Skill for you to stand a chance, particularly in fist fights as all
hand-to-hand opponents have high Skill and Stamina scores. There are also two
possible endings: the optimum one has you killing all six Fridays, and a rather
unexpected non-win outcome can be found where you turn bad and join the Friday
Clan (a nice touch of anti-hero Western tropeage there). The train end Act is
particularly climactic and very cleverly designed: essentially it is a gunfight
where you follow a sequence of tactical moves and options, recording your
Friday kills by noting down Xs – once you have five Xs noted down (and you can get
two in some sections if you pull off some better moves and/or get lucky with
dice rolls) you move on to the ultimate showdown with the Friday’s leader. This
part really is exciting and is much more interesting than many FF final
analyses as even this can turn out in a few different ways, plus it is a true
test of your decision-making in conjunction with dice rolling and your initial
choice of Special Skills (ie real RPG-influenced stuff).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">On which
subject, the mechanics of this piece are neatly modified to suit the context.
You have to choose two Special Skills from five options: Fast Draw (which means
you always get the first shot off in gunfights), Tracking (self-explanatory
Tonto stuff), Detection (a bit Sherlock Holmes-y), First Aid (so your First Aid
Kits restore 5 rather than 3 Stamina), and Spontaneity (a kind of common sense
crossed with streetwise-ness). For once, these skills are all variously useful,
none are useless, and there is no optimum combination. Instead they affect how
certain moments play out and/or make some incidents easier to get through.
Spontaneity is the most entertaining as you come up with all sorts of ways of
wriggling out of situations, sometimes in amusing ways. Obviously, Fast Draw
sets you up best at the end but the others will help there too in their own
ways so it pays to play through several times using different combinations just
to see what happens. What does strike you on creating your character is that there
is no Luck score involved – whilst this may seem anti-FF it does avoid the
potential clash of Luck rolls with Special Skill use plus as there is no
magical aspect here it does make sense to exclude Luck. Standard FF combat
rules are only used for fist fights where you logically cannot ever kill your
opponents (and there are plenty of them which is a nice Wild West touch), with
unique gunfighting rules being used for weapons combat: if you are shot you
Assess For Damage by rolling 1d6 and adding 3 to the result to see how much
Stamina you lose (this may seem harsh but getting shot is often pretty terminal
so this is realistic), whilst firing at an opponent involves Testing Your Aim
by testing your Skill with 2d6 but only rolling sub-your Skill is a success so a
high Skill is handy if you go down the gunfighting route (and you have no
choice at the end). A final unique rule is your choice of Primary Firearm:
there are two to pick from, either a Colt .45 (-1 from the total when Testing
Your Aim as it’s pretty accurate) or a Smith & Wesson .45 (+2 to total when
Assessing Damage as it’s pretty lethal). Again, both weapons have their uses
and neither is a better or worse choice. Finally, as Provisions would make
little sense in the Old West, you have four First Aid Kits which each restores
3 Stamina (or 5 if you have the First Aid skill). You may argue that surely if
time has moved on so has medical effectiveness, but getting shot can happen quite
a bit in this adventure and there is only so much patching up of bullet holes that
you can realistically do, so this makes sense too. An interesting point to note
here is that this is one of the small number of FFs that defines exactly who
you are down to your name: you are called Mathew Slade (which also defines you
as male). I don’t have a problem with this (most Marshalls were male) but
taking another name can be slightly distancing from it being YOU who is playing
the lead role and I’d imagine the gender thing is off-putting for female
players. Setting you as male though does help some of the interactions with
female NPCs work properly and it is what it is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">NPCs play a
huge part in this adventure and it is very dialogue-driven, which is something
I like. The dialogue feels like it is from Westerns and the various characters
you meet are all very suited to the theme. In fact, the whole package is very
well written and feels very authentic – the author must really understand and a
have a fondness for the genre. Generally very long sections add to the sense of
a slightly ponderous sweaty Western movie and work well in context. With this
though comes the effect that this is quite a mature piece due to some of the
language and concepts (prostitutes, etc) and it is certainly not for younger
audiences (I did say I favour 15 and 18 certificate Westerns!) Alongside the
emphasis on talking is an emphasis on driving the plot and the pacing in this
piece is excellent as it builds to a heart-pulsing conclusion. It feels
fast-moving and never lets up to the point where it is hard to put it down or
find a suitable break point if one is needed. As there are many plot strands,
Codewords are used very effectively here and I’m not a fan of these generally
but here it helps keep things logical and in order without having hundreds of
sections to work with. The fact that most of the Codewords are desert snakes
adds to the atmosphere and the sense that the Fridays are bad news. A couple of
the Codewords also have an ominous effect, quite clearly telling you that you
are a marked man, which surely is not going to end well. One structural point
which does alienate this somewhat from FF (and gamebooks generally) is that
there is only one item to be found and even then it is far from essential (but
it is at least another nice Western trope – a bottle of sarsaparilla bitters!)
Curiously, the lack of items to collect barely had any impact on my playing
experience so it obviously is not an issue, plus why would you collect items
when you are tracking outlaws? Information and help is what you need here and
you get these in spades from all the dialogue and run-ins with various people.
It is worth mentioning that you never need to reload your gun (John Woo would
approve) and I feel that needing to track and conserve your ammo would have
been a neatly nuanced mechanic as you can otherwise just fire rounds off all
over the place with no thought for the fact that keeping at least six bullets
for the end might be prudent. It is a minor niggle, but it is there all the
same, especially as gunplay is a big feature of this effort and there is no
other inventory to have to manage bar your four First Aid Kits. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">This brings
me to difficulty. I have already said that a high Skill is a definite
advantage, but a player with rock bottom Skill can still win if they are a bit more
careful in which Special Skills and weapon they choose. A low Stamina though
will give you no chance as getting shot will always do at least 7 points of
damage, you can only ever restore your Stamina four times with First Aid Kits,
and there are very few opportunities in the text to regain Stamina. Plus
opponents are generally pretty strong (as they should be to survive n this environment).
But then, as I have already said, getting shot is often fatal and survival of the
fittest was a fact of life in the Old West, so this is realistic rather than
just unreasonably hard. The fact that some paths are less dangerous than others
though does make each playthrough either easier or harder depending on what path
you find yourself following in conjunction with Special Skill choices.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">I am often
quite brutal in my criticism of the internal art in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i>’s mini-FFs. Some have had genuinely excellent
art that sat well alongside the main series of books and their benefit of far
higher publisher’s budgets. Others had amateurish rubbish that had such a
detrimental effect that the adventures would have been better off without any
internal illustrations. Massimiliano Amadesi (no, I don’t know who he is either
but I’ve found a YouTube video of a comic book art exhibition he put on in
Bologna a few years ago so I suppose he must be known for that) created the
internals for this piece and I do rather like his thick-nibbed heavily-inked
art. It definitely captures the look and feel of a Western and it is neither
fussy nor sparse. His saloon scenes have lots of nice detail and he draws
characters in a caricatural way that suits the stereotypes of the genre. I have
just one gripe: the image for section 185 is from someone else’s perspective
(unless you are having a pre-hanging out of body experience) as you are in it!
The ‘Zine’s covers always carry the colour art for the given issue’s mini-FF
and the dusty desert image by Michael Wolmarans (better known to many as Mike
Tenebrae) for this adventure is very good indeed. The hand of cards sat front
and centre shows a really effective summary of the feel of the adventure and
the whole image overall is hugely effective. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">I have briefly
mentioned the lengthy sections full of Western flavour and the author’s obvious
understanding and appreciation of the genre, but it is also very apparent that Gaetano
can really write. The prose is excellent, the atmosphere is full-on, every character
has their own personality and unique-ness (many also have motives for why they
are where they are and why they are doing whatever they are doing, especially
the girls), the pacing is perfect, and there are not even any obvious errors
(neither textual or structural).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Overall this is
a really classy and highly original effort in a whole new territory for FF to
branch into. Given the real world setting and the adjusted mechanics there is
the question though of whether this is really FF. Arguably it is not, but it is
a cracking little adventure anyway and a good gamebook is a good gamebook
regardless of the system. There is even a useful Afterword tagged on the end
explaining the historical elements and adding even more context. And on top of
all this, the title itself is very clever: there are six members of the Friday
gang and everyone carries six-shooters. An excellent gamebook that should be
played over and over again to discover all the different threads and path
variations. This is potentially the absolute best of the ‘Zine’s mini
adventures. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-34245285876236562142022-01-27T20:25:00.003+00:002022-01-30T11:49:24.082+00:00Sister Angela's Veil<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitkax-L1xFYlcIvrVSP3E4txubp4bTPxa1SkglfZifeBTREMqMYw4PHaQLzXvKzeu0jE_N-TJ0WOskDjYXT5W0TiQ3sTzC-XMzjsd096C3x7uIbvv6vEkaZmeNMU45T8GnIS91-GrDpqgQ0QlOywGAdLhnOhwUnqHkXd4QUURb9keJ7IneEJ6a-mWdrg=s842" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="596" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitkax-L1xFYlcIvrVSP3E4txubp4bTPxa1SkglfZifeBTREMqMYw4PHaQLzXvKzeu0jE_N-TJ0WOskDjYXT5W0TiQ3sTzC-XMzjsd096C3x7uIbvv6vEkaZmeNMU45T8GnIS91-GrDpqgQ0QlOywGAdLhnOhwUnqHkXd4QUURb9keJ7IneEJ6a-mWdrg=w227-h320" width="227" /></a></div> <p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, "sans-serif"">SISTER ANGELA’S VEIL</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Explained by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Let’s start
with the really obvious thing here – I wrote this mini-FF that appeared in <i>Fighting Fantazine</i> Issue 16. So I will
try to be as objective as possible and offer some trivia about this piece as we
all my opinions on it. The original idea for <i>Sister Angela’s Veil</i> came from one single cameo, the chestnut orgy,
itself actually a red herring that serves no purpose to the true path and, more
to the point, can lead to you missing an essential piece of information later
on, assuming you choose to use an item that can only be found in the orgy room.
The concept of this episode is based on a true historical event that I stumbled
across whilst watching an episode of <i>The
Borgias</i>. Basically a group of corrupt Priests were duped at a feast that
developed into an orgy and chestnuts were served in amongst all the frivolity.
As it happens, the women involved in this event also wore veils (and little
else) so this is where the overall veil idea also came from. So, essentially, I
constructed an entire adventure around this one event then I subverted it by making
it totally unconnected to the optimum way through. Indeed, the observant will
notice a few steals from true history and/or popular culture, but that is a
feature of my adventures that I do not try to conceal. The most obvious
examples in <i>SAV</i> are: the (Borgia)
chestnut orgy; Father Grandier is named after a real 16<sup>th</sup> Century
Priest who was at the centre of the “Devils Of Loudon” case that was documented
in Aldous Huxley’s book of the same name, itself the source material for Ken
Russell’s 1971 movie <i>The Devils</i>; Grandier’s
(potential) suicide by slashing his wrists in the bath is based on a moment in
Umberto Eco’s <i>The Name Of The Rose</i> as
is the idea of a forbidden book having its page edges laced with poison to
prevent prying eyes; the Chapterhouse is based on that found in Wells
Cathedral, a room that fascinated me when I frequently visited it when I was
growing up in Somerset; the automaton powered by a section of the ground is an
amalgam of the daleks’ power source in the first ever <i>Doctor Who</i> dalek story from 1963 and Tick-Tock from <i>Return To Oz</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Next came the
real point of the piece – the investigation into the missing holy relic of
Sister Angela De Culpa (a bit of an Enigma <i>Mea
Culpa</i> reference in that name). The veil idea’s inspiration has already been
covered but, when I realised that if you write it in the possessive (ie with a <i>s</i> at the end of the character’s name)
you get an anagram of what would be the big reveal of the adventure: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Sister Angela’s Veil = Sister Angela
Lives<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Not the
toughest verbal puzzle ever as the name is still evident, but the point is there.
As an aside here is the question of why I called her Angela and I honestly have
no idea. Maybe a subconscious angel image for religious iconography or perhaps
it’s just a pretty name that came to mind and seemed to flow nicely, who knows,
but <i>The Name Of The Rose</i> comes into
play again in how YOU get involved in the mystery as there is a definite
parallel with the sending of William Of Baskerville in Eco’s story and, again,
I make no apologies for this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">The location
was always going to be a convent in the Moonstone Hills just because I wanted
it to be remote to add a sense of your being vulnerable and a long way from
home. The convent layout is based on a genuine convent medieval floor plan (I
forget which one or where it is), albeit simplified and heavily re-arranged. My
original idea was that the convent had turned to vice since the veil vanished
and that its residents were now under the influence of a malign trance from
beyond the grave as, without the veil’s positive presence, the literal
corruption of death had turned the convent into a brothel which would explain
why there could be things like orgies going on in there (although I never fully
nailed quite how this had come about in logical terms). But this idea got
vetoed when I submitted the first treatment to <i>Fighting Fantazine</i> (they said, correctly, that it didn’t quite make
sense) so, as I wanted to curry favour and my endgame was to see my work in
print to get it some audience exposure, I acquiesced and changed it to an
“untainted” convent but that still housed some nasties and a few people of
dubious virtue.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">At this
juncture, let us look at the submission process that eventually led to <i>SAV</i> seeing the light of day in the pages
of the ‘zine. After changing the treatment the concept was accepted by the
Editor and I set about with gusto writing the adventure. I tend to work quite
quickly once I get going so this took a month or thereabouts from first draft
to submission-worthy version. I then waited 12 months to get the first set of
proof-reading and play-testing notes back from the ‘zine. Various edits,
questions, and corrections were suggested and I addressed these as needed (I
believe there is still a section mis-link that we all missed, but it wouldn’t
be FF without mistakes lol). One issue though that arose from the outset was
one that I would not back down on and, subsequently, this does seem to have
become something of a point of controversy with this adventure and I have seen
it mentioned in pretty much everything I have read about <i>SAV</i>, this being the killing of the changeling in its initial baby
form. The standard objection is the morality of killing a baby. I will address
this as it is important and, in at least one case, I received a pretty
vitriolic comment concerning this episode on an online gamebook forum. I have
defended the relevance of the baby kill since the ‘zine first raised it and my
justification is twofold: 1) when was FF ever conceptually moral in any way? 2)
if you read on from that choice, you quickly realise that the baby is more than
it seems when you engage it in a sequence of increasingly tough combats (in
other words, by the next playthrough the player will know the truth of this
section). So, I submitted my revised text and I waited. And I waited. A further
full 12 months later (to the month), I received another set of proofing/playing
notes querying more (mostly minor) points and requesting more corrections. By
this point, quite frankly, I had long-since lost interest in this adventure and
moved onto other projects so I no longer cared and just agreed to whatever they
suggested, minus the baby kill which I absolutely refused to excise from the
adventure as it is a neat trap for the unwary player (replays should show how
to correctly deal with it) and it also links back to an earlier cameo so it
adds some coherence too. I acknowledge that, in isolation, what you are
expected to do to tackle the changeling may seem unsavoury but context is
everything and I think it is a key part of the experience of this adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Once the
final draft was settled on by both parties, the next stage was when I was asked
for an art brief for the cover, x number of internals, and x number of
incidentals. I always like to have the big set pieces and any moments of awe or
horror illustrated in my gamebooks, so choosing what to have visualised is
usually something that is in my mind’s eye as soon as I design that particular
part of an adventure. So this was an easy task, even though the project was, as
far as I was concerned, very old news by then. This was the only time that I
have been required to write an art brief without knowing who would be producing
the art, so I had to write the briefs without the benefit of being able to
exploit and play up to an artist’s style. By a bizarre coincidence, the colour
cover was by Michael Wolmarans (aka Mike Tenebrae) who I have since worked with
several times on my own <i>Destiny’s Role</i>
gamebook series and he is very good at interpreting my briefs how I see them. I
liked the cover when I saw it – it was striking and captured the sense of
mystery that I was looking for, but I have read a lot of negative comments
saying that it is a bit too grotesque or unsettling (again, since when was FF
meant to be cosy?) However, and this is another unique experience for me
adventure writing-wise, I did not see any of the art until the ‘zine issue was
published and I was rather less impressed with the internal art by Simon Walpole
which is, let’s make no bones about this, pretty poor. I have seen worse in the
‘zine and I accept that this is a fan work, but the art did it no favours at
all and is far too bright and cartoonish for what I was looking for. There is
no way I would have accepted any of it for a <i>DR</i> book but I did not have any say in the art the ‘zine matched to
my text so it is what it is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">This subject
neatly brings me to my personal opinion of an adventure written by me. First
the positives. There are some fun moments of black humour that I enjoyed: the Potenza
curse that renders your weapon useless (ahem); the initial moment where if you
refuse to co-operate the book basically says “Sod you, stay outside and die,
then”, but phrased better obviously; and the part where you can end up having
to blunder your way through the leading of a religious service if you have
killed a particular character. For those who focus purely on the polemic baby
kill, I say this: I do have a sense of humour after all. And I do like the way that,
as a mood piece, it is pretty taut and it definitely has atmosphere. I have
seen it described as “weird” which was the intention as I wanted to do
something a bit mysterious and outré, whilst also creating a fairly traditional
building exploration adventure. In fact, I do think that the overall
mystery-solving concept worked well. Generally, I see this as an adventure of
moments and I’m not sure how well it gels, but there are several cameos that I
really like: the orgy, the scriptorium, the trippy garden and its hidden tomb,
the calacorm (who doesn’t like calacorms?), the automaton (which doesn’t quite
fit though), and the bathroom Grandier encounter that can go any number of ways
and really does require the player to tread carefully and think. When I wrote
it, I liked the whipped suspended “fallen” nun but in retrospect it is maybe a
bit too sado-masochistic, but then this adventure does get pretty dark (as many
reviewers have pointed out) and this was heavily influenced by the 1970s
Italian nun-sploitation movies that Redemption re-released in the ‘90s that are
utter shite yet oddly compelling at the same time. Plus, this cameo does link
to the changeling and adds even more context to what unsavoury events may have
taken place in the recent past in the convent. On a similar note (and in the
next chamber to the changeling) is the immured nun-wight which is another true
history concept (devotional walling in of oneself) that I’ve fused into a
fantasy horror trope for shock effect. I think the adventure overall has quite
an old school feel, but the added violence and nastier moments do serve to pull
it into the 21<sup>st</sup> Century.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Re-reading it
for this review is the first time I have read it since I submitted the final
draft (I couldn’t face it until now because the whole overlong saga of getting
it into print was too arduous and I hated this gamebook for so long because of
this) and it does stand up pretty well, but if I had full creative control and
speaking now with the benefit of hindsight, I would definitely do some things
differently to address what I see as its negatives/failures. There are way too
many Luck tests (often with fatal outcomes for failing) and I doubt a Luck
score of less than 11 or 12 will get you very far. Likewise, there are some
tough fights so a high Skill is essential, especially if you fall foul of the Potenza
curse and/or lose your weapon at Square One (which is maybe a bit unfair, but
you are entering what you are made to believe is a holy place so it does add
up). The “Angela claiming to be Amandla” moment can just seem like a typo but
it is meant to emphasise the lie that links what Grandier tells you so it’s
actually a key text prompt for victory, but it did not come across very well
and probably doesn’t really make sense so I should have made her lying more
obvious (possibly just by choosing a better fake name for Sister Angela to
utter). I would definitely make the meaning of the “veil of lies” concept more
explicit generally as that is the point of the title (well, that and the
anagram that exposes the lies) and the “veil” maguffin. I would also write it how
I originally intended it ie with the fall to prostitution angle, but I would
definitely give it a more logical base as I would have the time to develop this
properly as it was discarded before it got the chance to become something that worked
in context. I think overall that my now negative view of this adventure is born
out of the prolonged creation of it (and my subsequent disappointment when I
saw the internal art) and the fact that it was never quite what I planned it to
be. Indeed, when I first started planning this adventure, the process of
expanding the ideas and designing the overall map was a very exciting time
(especially as I knew where it was going to be printed) but after 2+ years of
development hell there came a point where I was just going through the motions,
which is a shame really. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">There are a
couple of important points to note at this juncture. Firstly, the mirror episode
(step into it or smash it?) is a trick I used to include in many adventures that
I GM’d for friends when we played out scenarios in my early teens. For some
reason this idea captured my young imagination and its being featured in <i>SAV</i> is a nod to its inclusion in
basically every adventure I ever created when I was young. Secondly, this is
the only time I have ever used a Bestiary to mine ideas for encounters to
include (in this case, <i>Out Of The Pit</i>
for pretty obvious reasons) and we have <i>OOTP</i>
to thank for how the whole changeling part found its way into the proceedings.
I think I probably chose to refer to <i>OOTP</i>
to try and give <i>SAV</i> a more “FF
authenticity” feel, but I cannot be certain anymore quite why I did this. I
seem to recall that the calacorm was always going to be there so the prison
cells were a given and the way you can get knocked out and come to in them is
very much a homage to <i>The Citadel Of
Chaos</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">My personal
opinion is that <i>SAV</i> is an average
mini-FF in the context of what has appeared in <i>Fighting Fantazine</i> as their output (just like <i>Warlock</i> before it) swung from brilliant adventures to utter dross.
The ‘zine has at times definitely offered better mini-FFs than <i>SAV</i>, but there has certainly been some
that are inferior to it in its pages too. For a long time it seemed like <i>SAV</i> might be the magazine’s
mini-adventure swansong but it looks like there is a new Issue imminent after
several years’ hiatus. To close I will ask myself the question “Am I proud of <i>Sister Angela’s Veil</i>?” For sure, I am
proud that I got my work published in the ‘zine and I do not take this for
granted in any way. That the adventure got a positive comment in <i>You Are The Hero Part 2</i> from one of the ‘zine’s
staff just before it was released was also a pleasing moment for me. Of all the
adventures I have written (both amateur and professional) this is my least
favourite, but this is as much because I like to complete a project and move on
rather than endlessly going around in purgatorial circles revisiting it well
after the fact as it is for any artistic or quality reasons. It is way too hard
and the true path is very tight but it was designed as a challenge and a mystery
to solve rather than a slash-and-collect-your-way-to-victory affair. That it
was never quite how I imagined it is a problem that probably bothers me more
than anyone else. The bottom line is that gamebooks are created for people to
play and art of any kind is designed to both entertain and to provoke/inspire a
reaction from those who experience it. The fact that some people have played it
and felt compelled to comment online suggests both of its fundamental purposes
were achieved but I myself would never rate it any higher than a decent but
flawed effort.</span></p><br /><p></p>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-44735163482070710352022-01-21T18:16:00.000+00:002022-01-21T18:16:13.514+00:00Warlock magazine RPG scenarios<div class="separator"><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHaEvo-BJWWjtSbsTdYBPqLc3eH61hsX3F7M_f_spwtOQOSoIdYEQxmgRqhXgBRb49NRJeuXe8mLRj6tlC5tutfmLbR9NEH2e6JQZxtQ98sa2IK1rdM8qXVTMOKrKJofguuBQl3qOXCrMAIJV2TaGjt8xJhVt15TqHggb6_HAhkLLRSP9zcUFwAWIikQ=s593" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="593" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHaEvo-BJWWjtSbsTdYBPqLc3eH61hsX3F7M_f_spwtOQOSoIdYEQxmgRqhXgBRb49NRJeuXe8mLRj6tlC5tutfmLbR9NEH2e6JQZxtQ98sa2IK1rdM8qXVTMOKrKJofguuBQl3qOXCrMAIJV2TaGjt8xJhVt15TqHggb6_HAhkLLRSP9zcUFwAWIikQ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDxCH6gV-eUMIJ7I9dethbOzaWltxlaO6na7RHqQ3IDiFnq5GdYPzuzHhIq-Xl6E7xSTcDLuulcQulG-_As8Yb8R_Kd80XXnBa4F0amHwr0KUvY00TMQtpe58HfWk95f7bQaVmxaZUX7Ug6TqTBsW7iJt1WYpyfkL6dzqtPEcUQa2tBYDVAUcnYJK-0w=s850" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDxCH6gV-eUMIJ7I9dethbOzaWltxlaO6na7RHqQ3IDiFnq5GdYPzuzHhIq-Xl6E7xSTcDLuulcQulG-_As8Yb8R_Kd80XXnBa4F0amHwr0KUvY00TMQtpe58HfWk95f7bQaVmxaZUX7Ug6TqTBsW7iJt1WYpyfkL6dzqtPEcUQa2tBYDVAUcnYJK-0w=s850" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigZsj4U3zPils76T06XAM35F10hwMNdRzpu0eD4xgaFboH7EkzTE_UiTDXkZHqC-3m96JqbttJbQwlCZpsc8JsdaMILtLJxB9wIGZhsIT8OS6LUQCq22BXkRfrHfp1T_JFN9Y-5HDAHxCYaobfv5cFfbPwO1t94Kxu4lAcsTtp7ZzOQstk8flTp7jETw=s586" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="434" data-original-width="586" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigZsj4U3zPils76T06XAM35F10hwMNdRzpu0eD4xgaFboH7EkzTE_UiTDXkZHqC-3m96JqbttJbQwlCZpsc8JsdaMILtLJxB9wIGZhsIT8OS6LUQCq22BXkRfrHfp1T_JFN9Y-5HDAHxCYaobfv5cFfbPwO1t94Kxu4lAcsTtp7ZzOQstk8flTp7jETw=w200-h148" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh94uGeqgZu3RW_NxOEAjGuKkZ0g0_JeRs1FXjKF7EoBzLiGOrzNBMzqsnCwrWjyFUkL7T07zl0_-ZNxssQvD3EioXfnQvXfeTOZ28Kv3Zjris37amdq7jx2YNyUrZvCwIBYI6ueasTPhcYwr2uSpmBkAWxjpx0yF1YSiIl7-ei6Jh-0u0x4aB96vZS0A=s867" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="867" height="61" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh94uGeqgZu3RW_NxOEAjGuKkZ0g0_JeRs1FXjKF7EoBzLiGOrzNBMzqsnCwrWjyFUkL7T07zl0_-ZNxssQvD3EioXfnQvXfeTOZ28Kv3Zjris37amdq7jx2YNyUrZvCwIBYI6ueasTPhcYwr2uSpmBkAWxjpx0yF1YSiIl7-ei6Jh-0u0x4aB96vZS0A=s320" width="320" /></a></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFjuYmDr8FkurcBv8OzvdXJjRuHPo-JDnkZxyc8JUq5qMJfD3ZyNtEXNWdO-cnjvWYpGlyroei97-ZgmCuvKdApv6UcOkpl3801hQItNF21U6MZEjuQb4eZn8X50Cx9xploqPQxJFfnMwdXTjubTzHbVz_IWSBJr8ZzywFkX6foEEKS74Ewgwk_qeOhg=s642" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="591" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgFjuYmDr8FkurcBv8OzvdXJjRuHPo-JDnkZxyc8JUq5qMJfD3ZyNtEXNWdO-cnjvWYpGlyroei97-ZgmCuvKdApv6UcOkpl3801hQItNF21U6MZEjuQb4eZn8X50Cx9xploqPQxJFfnMwdXTjubTzHbVz_IWSBJr8ZzywFkX6foEEKS74Ewgwk_qeOhg=w184-h200" width="184" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span><img border="0" data-original-height="131" data-original-width="850" height="49" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDxCH6gV-eUMIJ7I9dethbOzaWltxlaO6na7RHqQ3IDiFnq5GdYPzuzHhIq-Xl6E7xSTcDLuulcQulG-_As8Yb8R_Kd80XXnBa4F0amHwr0KUvY00TMQtpe58HfWk95f7bQaVmxaZUX7Ug6TqTBsW7iJt1WYpyfkL6dzqtPEcUQa2tBYDVAUcnYJK-0w=s320" width="320" /><p></p></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif";">IN SEARCH OF THE MUNGIES’ GOLD</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Steve Jackson<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">DEATHTRAP ON LEGS<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Paul Mason & Steve Williams<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">THE TOWER OF HADES<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Dale Ashman<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">THE RING OF SEVEN TERRORS<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Graeme Davis<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">THE DREAMING SANDS<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Paul Mason<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Steve
Jackson’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantasy – The Introductory
Role-playing Game</i> primer book attempted to turn the FF solo gamebook
concept into a full-blown multi-player RPG, something expanded further with
Marc Gascoigne and Pete Tamlyn’s three book AFF series, which was itself then
developed massively by Arion Games in the early 2000s and beyond. The original
Puffin FF series only produced one full scenario book for SJ’s basic FF RPG, Paul
Mason and Steve Williams’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Riddling
Reaver</i>, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> magazine
offered several smaller-scale FF RPG scenarios in its pages, all of which
fundamentally required existing familiarity with SJ’s original FF RPG book to
be able to play them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The first of
these, appearing in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock #5</i>, was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Search Of The Mungies’ Gold</i>, a hybrid
campaign and boardgame written by SJ himself, which is played out on a board
also included in the magazine. It additionally requires the GM to read and be
familiar with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Apes Of Mauristatia</i>,
an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Out Of The Pit</i> article also
included in that issue, so pretty much everything the GM would need is there
bar the FF RPG book that is a given pre-requisite to have read otherwise I
struggle to understand why you would be attempting to play this! Reading over
the scenario will also reveal that an understanding of the plot of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i> series (if you are to make the
most of the Hermit character), a copy of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Shamutanti Hills,</i> and a copy of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Citadel Of Chaos</i> (that, just like in that book, will win you loads of money
that you are unlikely to need) are also all needed to be able to include
absolutely everything that this scenario asks for. The scenario’s premise
itself is simple. Mungies are apes who like to collect gold (for some reason
that even the text admits is not really clear other than they just seem to like
stealing it) and rumours of their gold stash are doing the rounds in Kharé.
This has attracted the attention of the group who are about to play and they
get in a boat, sail across Lake Lumlé, and thus begins the game as they land
and search around the board looking for the fabled horde. The GM decides in
advance where on the board to locate the 16 game-defined encounters and the
players make their way from board square to board square as they explore the
area and the GM does have the option to add more of their own material if
needed. The instructions do insist on six characters (possibly to make some of
the tougher encounters easier maybe, otherwise I can’t understand exactly why)
and any shortfall in players has to be made up by NPC hired hands played by the
GM who are bribed to do the bidding of the players in the group, player Skill
tests and suitability of potential financial rewards for the NPCs permitting.
The instructions are helpfully clear on how to go about successfully planning
the way encounters are located on the board, and importantly point out that
creatures should be logically placed in their habitats, encounters with NPCs
who can advise on finding the gold are placed in reasonable positions (eg: they
can be found near the boat to get an early hint or somewhere in the wrong direction
to put the adventurers back on the right track), and that the gold is not put
somewhere totally unfair (in the boat being the example the text gives - as
there are two encounters that must precede the gold square I can’t really see
how this can happen, but the text’s point is admittedly a valid one, all the
same).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
encounters themselves are what makes this piece interesting as the four species
of apes of Mauristatia are well designed and unique, especially the Wraith Apes
who are harder to fight at night than if encountered during the day and are
less likely to attack during the day, which could be handy if the players
happen upon them in daytime (although this would largely be through sheer luck).
Indeed, the GM must track the time of day as the characters move about the
board and, in keeping with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i>,
if they go a day without eating they will suffer a Stamina penalty so there is
added realism in that respect and managing the 5 Provisions each player starts
with is a key part of being victorious, although finding the bomba fruit will
definitely help in this respect. The Champaque is also intriguing in that it
can grow progressively stronger if certain conditions are met. The titular
Mungies themselves can only be fought if a player has a Skill of 10+ otherwise
they will just run away as they are very fast so a group where every player has
lower Skill scores can in theory have an advantage, especially as there are
seven Mungies to contend with. Conversely, a weak party may struggle against
the lethal Manticore that can be found if players are particularly
unfortunate!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In terms of
difficulty, notwithstanding the Manticore and potential instadeath at the hands
of a Blade Tree, this scenario is not too hard, and the added option of using
the GM-controlled NPCs (if there are any in the party and they can be convinced
to fight on the players’ behalf) makes this all the more the case, and a
tactical party will think to use this and the players should be thinking
tactically anyway. Slightly harsh is the rule that Escaping is not allowed
(especially if the players find the Manticore), but it does allow the various
traits of the different apes etc to come to the fore much more. The relatively
small size of the playing area (and the possibility that the party could just
blunder their way straight on to the correct path to the gold with no real
resistance) does make for what is likely to be a short game but the GM does
explicitly have the option to include the contingency plan of including the return
journey back to the boat should the players find the treasure too quickly.
Obviously a savvy party may well opt for the same safe route back but the GM
could of course subvert this and reorganise some unused encounters that have
arrived on the scene in the intervening period. The return journey coda adds a
double-jeopardy factor as the boat is found to be damaged meaning only one
player can ultimately leave with the gold so it becomes a winner takes all
situation which does unravel the collaborative aspect but is something of a
potential twist in the tale (unless of course the party just decides to give up
on the gold and abandon it in favour of camaraderie, thus completely defeating
the object of the exercise).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
all-important replayability of course comes from the randomness of how the
board can be laid out (just like SJ’s subsequent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> boardgame) which does make this different to most pre-designed
scenarios as they can be very proscriptive and there is a noticeable absence of
scripted prompts to read out to the players which emphasises even more the
boardgame feel of this piece. However, I cannot help feeling that there is an
element of lazy design with the “refer to this or that book for ideas” element
and, although the play area is small, alternate pre-written options for
encounters to allow subsequent playthroughs to be very different would have
been a nice add-on. That said, the inclusion of the various apes does make this
more interesting and worthwhile than it would otherwise have been and there is
a clear sense of place to the setting which overall makes this a decent first
stab at a scenario from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
magazine. Personally I would have liked something longer for players to get
their teeth into more but the return journey can allow for the unused material
to still get included if needed and will extend the game’s duration, so SJ was
thinking on his feet when it came to making this more than fifteen minutes’
worth of play. Incidentally, a gamebook adaptation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Search Of The Mungies’ Gold</i> was included as the mini-FF in issue
4 of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>’s spiritual successor <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i> in 2010 which greatly
fleshed out the original premise and concepts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Warlock #7</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> gave us the next of these scenarios
in the form of Paul Mason and Steve Williams’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap On Legs</i>, a sequel to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap
Dungeon</i> that follows directly on from the end of that book and probably
works best if one of the party has genuinely just completed it (the
instructions do say to do this) given that the concept here is that the winner
of The Walk has just slept off his or her ordeal and is joined by a team of
groupies (the rest of the playing party) who watched the victor enter and
subsequently emerge alive from the Trial of Champions. The groupies have to
join forces with the victor and, as one, they head off to an inn in Fang where
the group is mysteriously invited to get some R&R at the tower of one
Badedas the Blue (shades of Tolkien in that naming convention). However, little
do they know that the tricksy Baron Sukumvit has spiked the victor’s laurel
crown with a smelly juice to allow him to be tracked by a vicious Crocosaurus
ridden by a Gumar hunter whose job it is to retrieve the 10,000 Gold Pieces
prize money that Sukumvit is not best-pleased to have parted with and to
silence any possible news spreading of the besting of his famous Trial (in
other words, to kill the victor), so the whole thing is a set-up. Tangled up in
all this too is Jaiphrai Ah’cha (one of Mason-Williams’ many punny characters
that resurface in various of their FFs and is an alternative identity of their
favourite creation, the Riddling Reaver) who is despatched to keep an eye on
proceedings and make sure the Gumar hunter comes out victorious at the end of
all this. As an aside at this point, it is worth noting that it is in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap On Legs</i> that we discover that
the character who leads contestants into the Trial is the very same Mr Ah’cha
so that is a nice bit of lore to come out of this piece. I think for
authenticity, not only should the victor be played by an actual immediate
winner of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap Dungeon</i>, but the
groupies should also be played by characters who have been a party to the
entrance and emergence of the same character - some simple general background
given to these players by the GM would suffice to set the scene for the
non-victor players, but this would definitely add to the immersiveness and
understanding of who is who. The text does state that the victor character can
carry over anything they found in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap
Dungeon</i> (which makes perfect sense) but, bar any obvious “open use” items
such as food or weapons, their usefulness would have to be edited in as custom
moments by the GM for this aspect to really work, but it would definitely add
something and drive the idea of continuation more effectively. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, what of
this highly-promising idea then? Well, this is the problem because there is not
actually much to this scenario other than the gambit of getting to the wizard
in one piece via a plain where nothing happens unless the GM throws in a couple
of random plains-based encounters of their choosing, a forest where the first
crocosaurus harassment takes place, and the tower episode which does have some
surprises but is the only decent part and even then only really breaks down
into two events plus the necessary crocosaurus and Gumar killings. An added
problem is that most of the players will be asleep during the crocosaurus
attacks in the forest as only the player on watch will be awake to experience
what is going on, although several visits from the creature can happen so that
different players can be awake to experience the same moment which would add
some context. Further exacerbating all this (or the lack of “all” in this) is
that, other than the rather strong reptilian beastie with its Sk 14 St 18
stats, hardly much of a challenge is presented. Jaiphrai does a vanishing act,
Badedas has been turned into a fairly weak zombie, the Gumar is hardly strong,
and an inconsequential wild boar vs freaking out Hillman moment is not going to
cause a party of the intended 3-6 players much trouble. Granted there are a
couple of neat but very slight moments where the GM gets to have some grunty
gesticulatory fun trying to articulate the Hillman telling the group about the
crocosaurus he has seen passing by (if they can interpret this at all) and
inside Badedas’ tower is a pool not unlike that where the famous Bloodbeast
resides in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DD</i> (it’s actually a
teleporting portal in this case though) but any excitement that could be caused
by the possibility of another Bloodbeast encounter is dashed quickly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In essence,
this can be summed-up as, basically, off the group goes, they try and avoid
being killed by the crocosaurus/hunter, they get to the tower hoping to meet
their host, they find the maguffin of the piece (that Badedas is dead and they
have been duped into going there so they can be killed off), and then it all
ends very suddenly. It is kind of like an alternate extended ending that got
deleted from a movie of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DD</i> and has
been included as an extra feature on the DVD edition. It is unlikely to take
long to play (maybe as little as 30 minutes) and definitely needs the GM to add
more random (ie non-plot) cameos in to put some meat on it and get around the
lesser issue of everything being directly related to the plot which does
detract from the realism that unconnected encounters and moments in an exterior
setting should give. It is far less imaginative than we have come to expect
from the Mason-Williams team but it does have the “big reveal” ending that
Mason was always a proponent of in his FFs. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In conclusion
then, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap On Legs</i> is fairly
inconsequential overall. It is a good concept in the way it follows <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DD</i> in a potentially intriguing manner
but sadly it makes nothing of its possibilities and little more can really be
said about it. The title is pretty neat though.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Tower Of Hades</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, written by reader Dale Ashman and
presented in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock #8</i>, is an
altogether lengthier and much more involved affair than the previous two
efforts and, in spite of the action taking place all in one location as opposed
an outdoors trek like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Search Of The
Mungies’ Gold</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap On Legs,</i>
it feels much bigger overall, largely due to the sheer amount of material and
content incorporated into this scenario. It takes another simple premise (the
group’s friend, Belkor the Dwarf, has failed to show for a rendezvous so they
go to where he was last known to be and try to establish what has become of
him) but this time makes way more of it. Initially, the group explores the inn
where Belkor likely disappeared (the Horizon Inn) and unearths a mysterious
cult at work. From there, they find an entrance hidden below the inn buildings
which leads first into some underworld caverns, and then into the Tower Of
Hades of the title. This may not sound big map-wise but there are about 40
areas to explore, which is a lot for a “mini-scenario”. There is a lot of
sleuthing required on the part of the players and this is far from a simple
adventure but the inn section is not especially tough and acts more as a
prelude and basic intro to the concept. It is when the group enters the actual
tower itself that this really erupts into a seriously challenging scenario. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The tower is
on several levels and, as the players explore, the real scale of what is going
on becomes apparent. In many ways this has echoes of what would come with
Zharradan Marr’s marranga abominations in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creature
Of Havoc</i> as the big baddie of the piece (Ar Gadayon, an evil sorcerer) is
conducting vivisection experiments on various creatures and unfortunate locals
with a view to creating an unholy army of nasties to unleash on the world
(shades of another SJ effort there then as this is not dissimilar to Balthus
Dire’s shenanigans in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Citadel Of
Chaos</i>). An interesting point to note here is exactly what world this is as
this scenario is set in something called “The Outlands” and appears to have no
Titan link of any kind. This is not a problem, on the one hand it does make it
exist in a vacuum within the FF cannon, but it does at least show originality
as the author has not tried to piggyback on another author’s work – potential
then to genuinely play this as a standalone scenario but I admit there is no
real reason why the GM could not retcon The Outlands into the standard FF
worlds somewhere to incorporate it into a larger campaign. But I digress, let’s
get back to the tower. Each level of the tower has numerous rooms to explore as
the story reveals itself and the players must piece together the
ever-increasing amount of evidence they find to a) rescue Belkor, and b) take
out Ar Gadayon himself. Some elements (especially some power spheres and
deactivating a light beam) are complex and would require a lot of lateral
thinking by the players which makes this feel more like one of the more
elaborate D&D modules and is a far cry from either of the previous two <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> scenarios in this respect, and these
sections do require very close and repeated reading by the GM to fully
understand what is being described. What I really like about this piece though
is how focussed it is on its concept and how well-designed and developed this
is, from the hierarchy that can impact events in various ways (dress as a
higher member of The Order that makes up Ar Gadayon’s acolytes and you will be
afforded more respect and some moments will be made easier than if you dress as
a lower member or don’t opt for disguising at all) to the gradual revealing of
the vivisection aspects, through the way the tower acts as a self-contained living
space for the sorcerer’s minions (both human and Ogre), and even the way Ar
Gadayon himself is presented as a cultured insane genius of sorts. Depending on
how skilfully or clumsily the players negotiate the game map (from even the
very first part in the inn) this adventure can be made easier or harder and
some members of the group can easily get captured and become destined for
torture/experimentation themselves unless the other players can find where they
have been taken so the chance of the group getting split up is pretty high
which will obviously make things harder. Tangling with the Order too early in
the piece can be disastrous (and the Order are very strong opponents with stats
in double figures) as can doing obviously stupid things like antagonising a
massive regular whose table at the inn is permanently reserved for him or
trying to fight the local militia who can show up if the group causes too much
trouble in the inn section. The inn section is largely about ground work in
introducing what is going on and trying to keep the group in one piece before
locating the tower and unravelling the crux of the piece.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Something
that makes this stand head and shoulders above its two predecessors is the
focus on plot (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mungies</i> is just a
smash-and-grab exercise and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap</i>
has a concept but it barely gets used to any good effect) as the players
discover more and more as they progress, whilst remaining fixed on the original
aim of finding Belkor. Once it becomes apparent what is really happening a two-fold
challenge comes into play of rescuing the group’s friend and also vanquishing
Ar Gadayon. Obviously Belkor can be found either alive or dead (if the former,
then he is a usefully strong NPC to have in tow for the later stages of the
game) so there may only be one aim albeit tinged with revenge, but the ultimate
victory condition would be to defeat Ar Gadayon and have everyone including
Belkor live to tell the tale. But any kind of win in this adventure is hard
fought as (and the intro even warns of this) the scenario grows increasingly
harder as you get further along and the Final Act really is very hard indeed
(way more so than <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mungies </i>or<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Deathtrap</i>), especially due to the
amount of logic and thinking out of the box required from the players to
negotiate the tower given that the earlier two scenarios were mostly just
killing opponents to get to the goal, whereas this one asks the players to
divine how to operate and/or deactivate mechanisms, how to best approach
situations, etc etc. In other words, this is a much more nuanced and
traditional take on role-playing where brains will win over brawn even though
sheer strength is still needed in places (and strength in numbers for the
multi-opponent fights with tough enemies). To curb the psychotic approach in
the inn section though, the number of spare seats at each table in the inn is
cleverly limited so the full party cannot join any one table together, which is
a neat touch that also requires the party to separate and gather intelligence
to bring back to the group. Conversely, in the tower any combat is
better-handled collectively as the difficulty ramps up but, again, combat
should be avoided if only to be strong enough to handle the end game.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
noticed one glaring error early on where a group of adventurers can be met in
the inn – the text says there are six of them then goes on to only ever
describe five of them (a similarly famous error existed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> so is this a gag?) but a sensible GM would notice this
and either add a sixth or just tell the group there are five, so this is hardly
a crisis. There is some fun to be had by the GM in playing the barman, Belkor,
Ar Gadayon, and the various cultists and ogres, and everything feels very full
and fleshed-out in this scenario. The content of the tower in particular is
very original and intriguing material. Admittedly, it could be a long session
to play, especially given all the problem-solving, but RPG scenarios are more
often long than short (brevity was a criticism I levelled against the previous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> offerings) and that just makes
for a more satisfying adventure with lots for the players to get stuck into.
There is also no real need for the GM to improvise in this scenario and nothing
needs adding to make it more exciting to play. In fact, the whole thing is so
focussed and neatly-packaged that any random stuff would feel at odds, plus
where would you put it anyway given the play map here?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This scenario
was the one that raised the bar for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>’s
FF RPG offerings in my eyes. It feels complete, is very well thought-out, is a
serious challenge for the players, and is full of logical and interesting
moments. It is arguably a bit too difficult at the end, but this just makes it
more climactic and the mixed emotion element of Belkor being either alive or
dead at the end makes it all the more worthwhile. Ar Gadayon’s mini-empire is
fascinating as is what he is up to and his tower is well-worth a visit. Really
good stuff, particularly as this was a reader submission rather than a
professional effort by one of the GW inner circle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The third
consecutively-published scenario (in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock
#9</i>) was Graeme Davis’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ring Of
Seven Terrors</i> and was a very effective treat. Very much a cameo to be
incorporated into a larger overall campaign (otherwise this may feel a bit
random and incomplete), this is effectively a sequence of seven challenges
bookended by the over-arching idea of a burial barrow surrounded by a stone
circle. The quality and interest here comes in the variety of shifting
environments and encounters inter-related to the way the stones and the tomb
morph from one form and appearance to another, each transition designed to suit
a theme. Overcome one challenge and the circle/tomb transforms into its next
configuration, it’s as simple as that, but the nature of what the players are
faced with is far from simple as each presents a “Terror” that the party must
contend with in various different ways.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">First up is
War, made a little trickier by the potential for the group to become separated
and part of it being unable to see what has become of the other part. This first
section generally goes easy on the players though and involves an easy fight on
a post-battle scene with a group of skeletons equal in number to how many
players are facing them. A gentle opener then. This is followed by Famine, the
scene having transformed into a desert wasteland, the stones and tomb now
sandstone. This one is deceptive as it seems there is no threat, but in actual
fact Sand Weevils are eating the group’s supplies and the result can be serious
if bitten causing terrible hunger and worse. Next the scene switches to a sea
of vile brown slime, the barrow having become a mudbank and the stones dead
tree stumps. This bleak locale is Plague and the party must fight a group of
Decayers (again equal to as many as there are in the party) which can inflict a
slow-reacting rotting disease further down the line (another reason why this is
best played within a larger campaign so that the ramifications can really be
felt to full effect). If everyone is still alive (and they should be as the
first three stages are very survivable) the group next faces Madness as the
tomb becomes a black domed crypt supported by seven pillars (the stones’ latest
form). The exercise here is to deal with a Banshee, complete with its ability
to mesmerise and render defenceless any hapless player caught in the spell of its
wail. The Banshee is the first physically strong opponent here with Sk 12 St 12
and can only be fought by untransfixed players but the rub here is that she
will only attack mesmerised characters getting autohits so this is the first
stage that could really separate the strong from the weak and potentially
deplete the party. Assuming at least some players survive, we move onto Death,
the scene unchanged but it is now night and signs of other tombs and burials
can be discerned. All the group’s weapons are now made from silver and, as
before, a number of opponents equal to the current party headcount appears,
this time Crypt Stalkers. GD has been generous here in giving the group the
required magical weapons to fight these opponents otherwise this would have
been wildly unfair and the Crypt Stalkers are pretty weak (Sk 8 St 6) but they
do have special attacks, but again this is offset as any Crypt Stalker that
gets a kill will vanish. Stage 6 sees a wall of flame appear around the circle
and the stones/tomb are now made from a red-veined black stone which smokes
ominously. The group’s weapons have also taken on the same appearance being
black metal with red warping streaks. This disturbing and weird scene is the
prelude to a fight with a Hell Demon with Sk 14 and 4 Attacks, so we are in
seriously tough territory now (quite literally Hell). As a gesture of
benevolence, the Demon’s Stamina is calculated proportionate to the number of
players +6 ie given that this scenario is suggested for 3-7 players it will
have St 9 at its weakest and 13 at its strongest so, in spite of its very high
Skill and its multi-attacks, it can be physically not too extreme a
proposition. If the group are still standing after this, erm, hellish
experience, there is a bright flash and everything turns white, the ground,
barrow, and tomb all now being mirrored as the group faces the seventh terror:
Self. Each player must fight a duplicate of themselves with the same Skill and
Stamina as they have. Once each doppelganger is dead everything goes back to
how it looked at the start of the scenario including (generously and possibly
relievingly) the reincarnation of any players who may have died at any point in
the series of ordeals (albeit with only 1 Stamina point!) To allow for some
continuation into subsequent scenarios (and in keeping with the famine episode)
there is a narrow chance that some players may still have their silver or
red/black sword and its relevant stat bonuses, which is a nice touch and helps
this feel part of a bigger campaign/story. Survive this and the party has
defeated the Seven Terrors. Ah, but then comes the final challenge because,
remember, this started out with the players finding a stone circle with a tomb
at its centre which now opens up to allow them access. In they go and they find
the occupant who has become a Death Wraith. He is not especially strong but the
restricting interior of the tomb means only two players can viably fight him
and, unless one of them was lucky enough to find they still had a magical
weapon, they must make a grab at one that is to hand otherwise they cannot
wound this last nasty. If they do succeed the reward is lucrative and worth it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What this
scenario has that the others discussed so far do not is a relentless pace with
no let up or time for the players to draw breath as one encounter follows
another in quick succession. The energy and tension grows as the cameos get
ever tougher and more foreboding and the final analysis where the players
literally face themselves is very clever (in fact, the whole thing is very
clever). There is also far more invention on show here than in its three
predecessors and Davis was at the time quite an exponent of the FF RPG concept
having contributed several articles to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
developing the system. My personal favourites from the Terrors are the grim and
gloomy Plague, the vicious Hell, and the highly original Self (everyone’s worst
fear is to face themself in mortal combat lol), but everything offered here is
great material delivered with atmosphere and impact to spare.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another point
of interest here though is the art, as every one of the encounters (bar Self
which would be impossible to illustrate) has a single illustration to accompany
it and these here are by Trevor Hamond, an artist with a truly unique style,
but whose work for FF was restricted to three issues of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> only and nothing else. This is a huge shame as his art is
very impactful and striking, looking to me almost like a primitive version of
Gary Ward and Edward Crosby’s woodcut style from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Caverns Of The Snow Witch, </i>and he should have been used more in my
opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Ring Of Seven Terrors</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is a superb scenario which, if built
into a larger campaign as an extended episode, would be a brilliant inclusion
to both reward and penalise the party, and is the first really essential FF RPG
scenario from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> magazine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We would have
to wait until what would prove to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>’s
swansong with Issue 13 to get another FF RPG scenario from its pages, the high
concept <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dreaming Sands</i> by Paul
Mason, itself another part of PM’s ever-growing Riddling Reaver-related story
arc. This piece does not specify how many players it is designed for which
makes it less proscribed in that sense. It also starts with a sure-fire crowd-pleaser
by setting its opening in Port Blacksand’s ever-popular Black Lobster tavern.
All very promising then. The concept is that Lord Azzur hires the group to
resolve a “plague” that has beset the city. The nature of this plague is within
itself alone a very clever idea as peoples’ nightmares are becoming reality and
wreaking havoc. At the bottom of all this is of course that pesky Reaver again
and, whilst no prior knowledge of his activities is necessary, it would
definitely be of benefit to put all this in a wider context and make it feel
like an extension of the adventure the players would have hopefully already
experienced in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Riddling Reaver</i>.
The group is hired to locate the source of the problem and eliminate it by
heading south from Port Blacksand to see what they can find. Before leaving the
city they cross paths with Angelica (the Reaver’s daughter) who masquerades as
a helping hand but is actually there to try and scupper them and prevent them
reaching what turns out to be the Reaver’s castle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The adventure
per se involves a plains trek divided into several pre-defined sections (no
GM-determined layout this time around, which does make this something of a
one-shot in design terms once the party has won), each with a set
encounter/cameo in it. There is a well-balanced mix of the conventional and the
unique here with wolves/elves/centaurs/ogres/trolls offset by previously unseen
creatures such as Nikrechauns and the Lords of Gond (the leader being the very
powerful Naijem-Nosoth). Obviously the unique material is the more interesting:
Nikrechauns are sort of pre-school Leprechauns that are far less troublesome
but will turn into Leprechauns once they have got the requisite pot of gold
together, and the Naijem-Nosoth (an anagram of Jamie Thomson for the more
observant) is lethal but is also vulnerable to high-pitched noises to give some
fairness to him being potentially over-powered otherwise. However, the standard
stuff is also well-handled with a Dark Elf encounter in particular being very
neat and totally in-keeping with the plot as they are convinced the players are
a dream and do not in fact exist! The Centaurs are fun too as they are
basically on a sort of religious pilgrimage. What may be becoming apparent in
all this is that killing is not necessarily the way forward in this scenario
(the Trolls are so stupid that they can just be baffled into non-aggression,
for example) and PM’s preference for plot and concept over strong-arming one’s
way through is very much to the fore again here. That said, there is Angelica
to deal with sooner or later and she is very strong (Sk 14 St 20) and a force
to be reckoned with.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A really
interesting mechanic here is that the actual location of the Reaver’s castle is
never given away and with good reason: the players must either visit every area
to reveal it or, and I think this is probably PM’s intended approach (assuming
the players can think like him and attempt this) is to roll a dice to decide
where to go next and, lo and behold, his castle will appear suddenly. This is
an original way to handle the finding of the player’s goal and adds the
randomness of the whole Reaver concept to the “true path”. Even more randomness
comes into play once the players are in the castle. There is no castle map and
the GM simply improvises an intentionally impossible and unmappable design.
Again, random choice rather than trying to be rational and put any sense of
reason into the equation is the only way the party can locate the Reaver
himself. In his chamber is the source of the problematic nightmares (a sorcerer
called Alokurga) and, in itself, this is easy to resolve assuming the players
can use a lateral thinking technique to get him out of his dream state (which
causes his death at unseen hands). However, the Reaver then appears (the owner
of the unseen killing hands of course), goes into a typical bad guy
confessional soliloquy, and promptly vanishes. And that’s that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But, there is
a whole other level to this scenario too: dream attacks. And this is where the
GM really comes into play. Whilst the map of the scenario and its various
encounters is set, the dream attack concept is not and the GM can choose how
and where to attack the players with dreams of whatever kind he or she can
conjure up in their imagination. This is where it can get really interesting
(and potentially terrifying) as the players will quickly start to question what
is real and what is not, making the elements designed by Paul Mason seem all
the more threatening and unpredictable. Indeed, the over-arching theme here is
the blurred line between reality and dreams and, as the aim is to stop the
dream plague that has hit Port Blacksand, it makes perfect sense to have the
players getting affected by this too otherwise it is just a means to an end
that could get forgotten in what PM is clearly trying to avoid from becoming
little more than a seek-and-slay exercise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The dream
aspect is quite demanding on the GM but there is fun to be had in trying to be
as warped as possible with this aspect. As with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Riddling Reaver</i>, the GM is also expected to come up with
cryptic ways of responding when playing the part of the Nikrechauns, which
could be a challenge requiring some decent pre-planning. But these are just two
examples of how original and different this scenario is and, when handled as
intended, this is a great little adventure for a sharp-minded group of
(probably more experienced) players. Mason’s usual tendency to emphasise plot
over play is not as evident as usual here and he really gets the balance right
between concept and a really satisfying adventure. For sure, this is more
cerebral than most scenarios and is not really suitable for a group that just
wants to kill everything and collect the spoils, but this is a welcome change
and if GM’d properly this is a very intelligent scenario to both play and
referee. Kudos to Mason for taking a risk that paid off with this. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> made a concerted effort to
develop the FF RPG concept which deserves credit. However, the results were
very mixed, ranging from pretty empty and uninteresting to extremely good.
There is simple stuff here and very intelligent stuff, which would suit a
variety of playing requirements in terms of what people are looking for. Some
of these are very set by the creators, others are more freeform and require
greater input from the GM. Each has its merits but some are definitely way
better than others. But for variety, I cannot fault what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> tried to do with these efforts.</span></p>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-13597854713829545062020-12-31T16:59:00.001+00:002022-07-30T19:56:57.150+01:00Short Stories<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uw9LP_O5evI/X-4DOAmJGdI/AAAAAAAAA6A/tcNPokvCgRwXRWABsM-VGPOMxNnowLzXACLcBGAsYHQ/s592/Untitled.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="592" height="235" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uw9LP_O5evI/X-4DOAmJGdI/AAAAAAAAA6A/tcNPokvCgRwXRWABsM-VGPOMxNnowLzXACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h235/Untitled.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Short Fiction</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Various Authors</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Reviewed by Mark Lain</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let’s put some clarity on this subject from the outset. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> magazine and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i> have sporadically
included short stories and comic books during their runs and I think these
should be regarded as relevant for discussion. To keep some structure to the
scope of this post, I am including short story material that was featured in
either publication (be it directly or indirectly linked to the FF canon) and
serious-toned comic strips only (ie the comedy strips are excluded, that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Arkenor And Max </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Derek The Troll</i>, other than to acknowledge right now that they are
both genuinely funny), but that still gives a decent amount of material to
discover.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Let’s begin with Aida Rintarou’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Book In Which You Are The Hero</i>, only two parts of which have been
published and even then in rather scattershod fashion in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine </i>Issues 4 and 8, which meant the two instalments
appeared with a gap of 16 months separating them. Whilst there is very little
of this available to us it is worthy of some analysis as there is a lot going
on here. The concept is that each FF book is a chronicle, in scroll form, of a
“brave person” vanquishing a baddie. The scroll is torn apart and reassembled
in randomised numbered section order (get it?) Fast forward to New York in 2020
(shades of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Highlander</i>, perhaps) where
a combat with swords is in progress: a flashback of one of the characters
discovering one of the “torn apart” scrolls and completing it to be rewarded
with an item for “[completing] the record of truth”. There is a wry comment in
the text that “I was starved for entertainment and became enthralled by the
strange book” (weren’t we all) and completing the book actually hides it inside
you – a reference to FF being a part of us all, maybe? On absorbing the book
and becoming one with it, Zagor’s power source passes into the reader as his
cards are the power of the wizard that is inside the book. (This is all very
clever stuff). Next the protagonist receives an email from “The Baron” who is
described as a “super-famous businessman who had become a billionaire in the IT
industry”. Hmm, who could this be then? I’ve suggested before that Baron
Sukumvit is Ian Livingstone’s alter-ego and the IT industry businessman moniker
certainly fits this particular un-named Baron. The Baron tells the protagonist
that they must gather together all 59 books to win a $59 million reward (which,
if the current soaring prices are anything to go by will very soon not actually
be enough to manage to buy a set of the 59 original Puffins!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point the strip becomes a bit
baffling as it explodes into the usual manga muddled confusion with a final
page that makes no sense at all to me (and I wish to add a caveat here that no
manga or anime has ever really made much sense to me). I think it is something
about the protagonist using a non-FF ability, but frankly it is anyone’s guess as
to how Part 1 ends. Part 2 recaps the understandable parts of the first Part
and tells us that you can manifest the power gained by absorbing each book at
will and our lead seems to opt to use this power by giving herself a huge pair
of tits (oh manga, you are so mauve lol). So, the end of Part 1 did just about
seem to be another absorbing that seemed to be the main character’s life force
(I think) and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Highlander</i>
comparison is hard to avoid again. And then this Part suddenly ends with the
same large-breasted girl again and some Japanese script that may or may not a)
be important, and b) shed clarity on whatever is now going on, but I can’t say
as I don’t read Japanese.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">This story is beautifully drawn in a classic manga style. It
suffers from a few bizarre sentences and typos (written by a Japanese person
presumably and in what is effectively a fanzine, so we have to forgive these
niggles), but this does not make it make less sense than it already does(n’t)
anyway. This seems to be FF Highlander in manga form which is an interesting
mix of ideas and concepts and the whole idea of each of the 59 books forming a
single text that was deliberately disordered is a neat one. The piece is not as
intriguing for me as the similarly two-parts-are-all-we-have-to-go-on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Book Of Runes</i> proved to be, but it
still deserved to continue and it definitely had the potential, even though it
does seem to be defunct given that there were plenty more issues of the ‘zine
to appear after its second Part, without any further instalments materialising.
Given that the scroll was broken into 59 parts, does that mean that Rintarou
intended this to be a 59-part epic? Ambitious if that was the plan, but was
that ever really likely to come to fruition? Either way this is lovely to look
at and I have to applaud the ‘zine for including something very different to
the usual short story submissions that appear in fanzines and reminds us that
FF was/is as huge in Japan as it was in Europe.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">The aptly-named <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Out Of
The Frying Pan</i>, which was printed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting
Fantazine </i>Issue 2, was penned by Ian Brocklehurst who would soon after go
on to write the much longer episodic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aelous
Raven And The Wrath Of The Sea Witch</i>, also for the ‘zine.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Frying Pan</i> is a taut little piece
concerning a group of survivors from a Lizard Man attack on their caravan en
route to Kaynlish-Ma, who descend into the forest seeking cover but find rather
more than that as our hapless group blunder straight into a second ambush from
Marsh Goblins. There is a certain gallows humour to this concept and the ironic
early comment that “our fortunes are improving” quickly becomes Famous Last
Words. It is notable that this short is contemporary with the Siege Of Vymorna
(the Lizard Man presence is linked to this), which positions this story as
happening at the same time as the events of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Battleblade
Warrior</i> and it is always good to see fan fiction being legitimised like
this by directly connecting it to canon in this way. I cannot avoid mentioning
that there are some typos, missing conjunctions, and awkward sentence structure
(possibly through missing and/or misplaced punctuation), but this is fan
fiction so we cannot expect perfection in what is actually a very well-written
story with an epic and dramatic tone and a frenetic pace that really makes you
feel the desperation of the characters’ predicament. Even more so, this has to
be hailed as a success given just how short it is and how much action is packed
into its brevity. The text is punctuated by violent action and the constant
dashing of the protagonists’ hopes of safety makes the title wholly suitable.
Indeed, this is really quite a graphic and visceral piece with a tone of
impending doom and a downbeat ending that neatly subverts the reader’s
expectation of things coming out right somehow. The title is perfectly matched
to the content, which is basically a series of instadeath situations, which
just adds to its feeling of connection with FF as a concept. This story really
did deserve better proof-reading but that is a minor criticism of something
well worth making the effort to read. On a side note, I’m not sure I would hire
the Ranger in this piece for defending me as anyone he meets (including his
Bandit friends that he has a rendez-vous with) tends to die horribly! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">A similarly perilous trip is described in the otherwise
thematically polar <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sam, Cars And The
Cuckoo </i>by the then unknown but now very famous Australian author Garth Nix.
This was designed as a taster for the forthcoming <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i>, but other than involving tricked-up battle cars
and a post-holocaust future (as the intro calls it), this really has no actual
link to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i> and its world
is rather less decimated than in the gamebook, it seems. It does however capture
the themes of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i>, but in
a totally different context. In this version of the future we have people
trying to live the normal humdrum 9-5 existence of the office worker, but with
the added problem of violent road gangs a la <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Max. </i>This is a nice juxtaposition of the real and the
fantastic. A lovely little inclusion is a reference to collecting breakfast
cereal tokens, but here they are redeemed against tactical weaponry! Indeed,
there is a certain hilarity to the sheer amount of arming and kitting-up that
the office worker of the piece has to do before commuting home in the evening,
and there is also a comment about “the lunatic majority” in a reversal of the
general idea of a barmy minority that would screw everything up if they were in
great enough numbers. All very satirical. The cars are also very luridly named,
which adds to the whole concept of the casual death and destruction that is a
necessary part of your daily drive to work. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">A really hilarious inclusion is the idea of the AA having
wiped out the RAC in a war for supremacy over roadside repair services, and
there are lots of ideas that create a viably familiar future, such as the
unified car manufacturer Ford-Jaguar (a very accurate prediction of the real
mergers of umpteen car manufacturers), BBC Teletext (okay, that one didn’t
survive in real life), The Times newspaper, EMI, the Lloyd-Barclay Global Bank,
and even the Church Of England. On the subject of The Times and the BBC, there
is a wry comment about media sensationalism too for those who notice it:
“streets of death… people just call it the road” we are told by the first
person narrator. Other potentially very real concepts that are present include
the idea of compulsory worship (history repeats itself, as we know) and the way
drivers get voided warranty warnings on equipment. Satire abounds in this
effort. Rather depressingly, the characters are so focussed on weapons of
ever-growing destructiveness that they have to actually think to work out that
something as mundane as an actual living bird has hit their car rather than
some sort of missile. Even more depressingly, The Times annually reports the
first accidental kill of a cuckoo as if it is a major event for celebration –
this is a nice parody of disregard for the environment, something that had not
really caught on in the public conscience when this story was published. In
fact, your promotion prospects are actually enhanced if you get the first
cuckoo kill (80s Yuppiedom in full effect and getting lampooned cleverly).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is essentially the story of the daily gauntlet run by
commuters in a post-holocaust future over-run by dangerous gangs. There is a
blind acceptance of the situation by the characters and this future is devoid
of any sense of humanity (people take photos of near-fatal explosions to sell
as posters), yet everyone in this future just goes back to work again on Monday
ready to risk life to sit in an office all day. There is so much satire going
on in this story that it is quite an achievement that so much has been crammed
into so few words. I suspect that this short story gets very little real
attention, given that it has no discernible link to FF other than the tenuous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i> “themes” and the fact
that it got printed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Issue</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> 2</i>, but
that should not deter people from reading it as it is a really well designed
story that is full of clever nods to society and the very real possibility of
how the future could turn out in a bizarre clash of mundane normality and utter
anarchy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Linked much more directly to a canon entry is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dwarves Of Redweed</i>, the backstory to
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain</i>,
written by Andrew Jones and printed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting
Fantazine</i> Issue 16. This chronicles the eviction by Zagor’s hordes of the
dwarves who originally inhabited Firetop Mountain and acts as the background to
the Dwarves of Redweed (as they are known), their attack by Gallon Zagor, their
ousting of him, and his vow for revenge that manifested itself on Oldoron
Zagor’s retaking of Firetop Mountain. Basically, this story is the lore and
early history of Firetop Mountain, but it also has more subtle moments for
those who like their Easter Eggs including explaining the presence of the
gambling dwarves deep within the Maze of Zagor (the games room gets mentioned
explicitly), and it ends with the dwarf card game that you can crash in the
gamebook. It even goes as far as to tell us the names of said gambling dwarves
for those who want to go through the looking glass with their lore. The comment
that “to the newcomer, the labyrinth of identical-looking passageways would
cause them to become lost after only a few turns” is a nice reference that is
surely not lost on those who have attempted to navigate the frankly frustrating
Maze of Zagor in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Again, this is a short offering but no opportunity is lost
in making the most of its low word count and the space available to create a
fast-paced and well-written story in an easy to read and non-arch style that
gives us some welcome background to one of the iconic locations in the FF world
and its equally iconic overlord. Also worthy of mention is that Zagor can
apparently walk on water so there is no end to the guy’s talents and apparent
omnipotence (card deck and Eye of the Cyclops-related Achilles Heels
notwithstanding). I must admit that when I first saw this story as I glanced
over the contents of Issue 16 I was worried that this was going to be trite fan
fiction that pays endless homage to the source material in a horribly knowing
manner, but it is not and it does not – this is a genuinely very good little
piece of the ever-growing jigsaw that is the history of Titan.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Not Titan-based, or if it was we never got to the point
where we would find out, is Darren Chandler’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Book Of Runes</i> from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
Issues 12 and 13. When I first read this on initial release I was about 10 or
11 and found it baffling, beautiful, and fascinating, all in one. And I still
do, in fact, as this really is an enigma. Where would the story have lead? What
was it about? Why did everybody want the titular book? Did Chandler even know
or was this being written on the fly - as it was never finished and still
isn’t, I suspect it may have been written as he went along. I know from talking
to him that Chandler did go on to write more of it for his own fanzine work
and, having read some of the post-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
parts that exist, the story becomes much more ethereal and mystical, but it
remains unfinished to this day, so it is anyone’s guess where it would have
gone and how it would have ended. Basically, everyone wants the book but the
story in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> stopped prematurely
before it became clear why they wanted it or what it did. But the really
striking thing here is the art which is very bold with strong black-white
contrasts and is intricately drawn in a very different style to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>’s previous comic strips, which
were all comedic efforts with rough <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Viz</i>-style
line art. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">It seems like this would have been a really good strip and
the art is impressive in its depth and energy, plus it is surprisingly violent
and the first two parts (ie all that was published) are dominated by killings.
I would love to see a completed version of this as it really fascinates me and
I just find the art so compelling, in spite of the almost impenetrable story as
the clarity that presumably was to come in future instalments never came. In
fact, I have always been intrigued by incomplete artistic works (be it music,
film, literature, art, etc) as the whole concept of where they could go and
what plans the creators had for them are fascinating. As it stands, in its
existing published form, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Book Of
Runes</i> suffered a premature end before anything really happened plot-wise
and does make therefore for a slightly odd read as you go from killing to
killing with no context or apparent reasoning, bar the want for the book
itself. In many ways, it is probably of more value just admiring Chandler’s
fabulous art rather than trying to work out what is going on and then giving
yourself a headache trying to come to your own conclusion about what might have
happened next. The plot aspect is frustrating and leaves you none-the-wiser but
the art is top notch and I am surprised Chandler never got offered work in FF
books on the back of this. I have however seen an advert he drew for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adventurer</i> Issue 3 that is similarly
elaborate and packed with things to pick out, incidentally.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">Which subject of frustratingly incomplete stories where you
really do want to know what happens next brings us to Ian Brocklehurst’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aelous Raven And The Wrath Of The Sea Witch</i>.
This is a far longer affair than any other short stories that appeared in
either <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i>, clocking in at eight
parts, and even then it is not finished. These instalments appeared
sporadically in the ‘zine in Issues 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 13. I am
slightly irritated that it did not get completed, especially as the ‘zine did
not go on hiatus until after the long-delayed Issue 16 emerged, and the lengthy
gaps between the later Issues were surely ample time for Brocklehurst to write
the last few Chapters. But, be that as it may, this story has yet to be
completed, which is a pity as it is really very good and genuinely engrossing.
Due to its longer episodic format, this story benefits from being able to cover
much more ground and in a more leisurely and broader fashion than the by
necessity frantically-paced short subjects that usually appear in magazines of
these types. There is a really epic feel to this story and it does take the
form effectively of an adventure with it starting in a tavern followed by two
boat trips then the real maguffin kicks in as we head away to rescue an
abducted young girl from the titular Sea Witch, who it turns out is rather more
than just an evil witch. Indeed the real star of the show is not our lead NPC
(Aelous Raven) but Delfina Cove, the Sea Witch herself, a fully fleshed-out
character with a back story, a motive, and a neat mixture of traits that make
the reader both sympathise with and despise her. As baddies go she is very well
designed and would perfectly suit a gamebook (which makes sense of course as
this is a Titan-set story so it does need to fit with the idiom of FF). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">To make this piece all the more satisfying, there are many
popular culture references and the concept seems to mix H Rider Haggard’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">She</i> with elements of Jules Verne’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journey to the Centre of the Earth</i> plus
a bit of Harryhausen stuff is thrown in too. There is even a reference to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tomb Raider</i>, someone named after a
Discworld character (Rincewind), and a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star
Wars</i> quotation (“I haven’t gone by that name in a very long time”). Plus
the story is very lurid and graphic but in a fun and appropriate way rather
than for its own sake.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">As with Brocklehurst’s earlier short in the ‘zine, the text
is not without its problems and it does suffer from typos and strange grammar
in places. In fact, there are times when you need to substitute words of your
own to make some sentences read correctly or as they are presumably intended.
There is also an annoying tendency for Aelous’ name to be given as Aeolus in
the text, in particular when the Sea Witch is addressing him (or does she
deliberately keep getting his name wrong?) I also found it slightly grating the
way the word “dais” appears a truly ridiculous number of times in Chapter 4 – in
fact, I have never seen it used as many times as it is in that instalment!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">One plot point worthy of mention is a reference made to a
previous adventure of Raven’s where he travelled through teleportation circles
in the Moonstone Hills – this is so intriguing that I really want to play that adventure.
Hopefully Brocklehurst will write it one day. More to the point, hopefully we
will see the conclusion to this story as it is crying out to be completed, even
if it means there are still several more parts to come (actually, I hope there
are as there is loads of potential here) and I really do want to know how this
one pans out or, in fact, just read more of this great adventure story as the
position the piece was left in does not seem to me to be that close to the
conclusion or, if it is, I hope the ending is not rushed as this would not be
in keeping with the rhythm of the story up to this point.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, an interesting mixture of short story material has
appeared in FF’s two primary magazines. We have had violent vaguely
FF-connected sci-fi, lore-expanding back stories, death-laden vignettes,
complex intellectual comic strips, and a full-on multi-part epic. Some are
self-contained, some benefit from familiarity with the inspiration material to
gain the most from them (especially <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Dwarves Of Redweed</i>), and some were prematurely curtailed before they ever
really got going. But what we are left with is an interesting and very readable
body of short stories and even the incomplete ones are starting points for our
own imaginations to continue or complete the stories as it is unlikely that
many of those that are unfinished will be completed now, I would imagine,
although I gather <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aelous Raven</i> may
still get finished one day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-80380412683601259092020-10-06T19:05:00.000+01:002020-10-06T19:05:21.828+01:00#17: Crystal Of Storms<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W4vbD9GrMtU/X3yxqYF8Z5I/AAAAAAAAA3Y/UJvqJnfHPXgkGSCQmpXoNQRhi1nih6ivwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1541/COS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1541" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W4vbD9GrMtU/X3yxqYF8Z5I/AAAAAAAAA3Y/UJvqJnfHPXgkGSCQmpXoNQRhi1nih6ivwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/COS.jpg" /></a></div> <p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-align: center;">CRYSTAL OF STORMS</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Rhianna Pratchett<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">At Fighting
Fantasy Fest 3 there was a rather enigmatic announcement made to the effect
that Scholastic would be releasing a fourth all-new FF written by another
celebrity guest author. After the shambles of a “celebrity” offering that was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gates Of Death</i> eyebrows were raised
as to whether another FF by a non-gamebook author would prove to be a wise move
by Scholastic. Further down the line it was revealed that this new author would
be Rhianna Pratchett (daughter of the rather more famous Terry), who had
already developed a name for herself as a decent fantasy writer from her video
game franchise books. However, Charlie Higson also already had a good name due
to his James Bond novels but that did not stop his FF effort from being trash.
Fast forward a bit more and the cover to what we now knew would be entitled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Crystal Of Storms</i> went public… and
things really were not looking good as fans saw something akin to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My Little Pony</i> with a sort of flying cute
dog and a cloud emoji on a purple background. “Bring back Robert Ball” we all
cried. So it was that, with a mixture of bad tastes in our mouths due to the
Higson debacle, genuine hope over RP’s record with other properties, and
wanting to gouge out our eyes because of the horribly pre-school cover art, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoS</i> finally appeared at the end of
September 2020. Any brand new gamebook in any series is a welcome thing, but a
new FF is always eagerly anticipated, even if the Scholastic treatment of the
series has met with a fair bit of (mostly justifiable) backlash.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The first
thing that strikes one on actually having a copy of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoS</i> in the hand is that the cover layout matches nothing else in
any of the Scholastic print runs. Gone is the gold spine (in either format), instead
we have a purple spine with the author’s name in massive gold letters, whilst
the title hides over two lines in much smaller gold letters just under the FF
logo. The positioning and lettering style on the cover does match the general
Scholastic run style, but the image is full size rather than being “portholed”
in the now standard Scholastic style – is this the precursor to a third set or
reprints in yet another layout from Scholastic? If nothing else, they certainly
know how to milk the collector market. As with the Higson effort, RP’s name is
on the cover, this being only the second example where a guest author has been
considered important enough to get cover credit – the selling out to celebrity
continues, then. Internally, we still have the strange smelling ropey quality
paper but thankfully the horrible black smuts that were supposed to represent
weathering of the pages and instead just looked like a printing error are
finally gone. Good move, Scholastic as this definitely improves the appearance
of the pages. We also have a modern dynamic-looking new Adventure Sheet layout
at the back of the book, which is a good contemporary touch. Reading through
the instructions (also at the back, which is standard for the Scholastic
editions), we start this adventure with no Provisions or Gold, but do have a sword,
a backpack, a lantern, and travelling clothes (well, I’m glad we aren’t
expected to undertake this quest with everything hanging out, then!) The lack
of Provisions or Gold is no great handicap incidentally, as we very soon find
both, and there are several more opportunities to replenish these as well. The
opening section of the book does mention “new” rules about testing Skill and
Stamina, neither of which is new as they have been around for about 30 years –
thanks for the ignorance Scholastic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
background to this piece is genuinely intriguing and highly original: YOU are a
member of the Sky Watch, a sort of Police Force tasked with protecting
Pangaria, a previously unknown area of Titan positioned in the Ocean of
Tempests between Allansia and Khul. FFs set in previously untapped regions
always have a unique feel with their very specific settings, creatures, and
cultures. Take Hachiman in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sword Of The
Samurai</i> or Atlantis in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Demons Of The
Deep</i>, for example, two areas which are unlike anything else on Titan and
which, as a result, gives the single book set in each of them a truly one-off
feel that makes them all the more interesting. And <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Crystal Of Storms</i> is no different in that respect, with its totally
unique and localised creatures (Cloudkin, Stormborn, Canidor, etc) and its
equally individual world, a world which is very high concept with its six
floating islands that are held in the air by Goblin technomancy. All of a
sudden one day, one of these islands (Nimbus) falls out of the sky and sinks
into the ocean below, taking all of the Sky Watch with it (they were all at an
emergency meeting on it when it sank) except for YOU which leaves you as the
only available Sky Watch member who can try to resolve the mysterious fall of
Nimbus. To add to the uniquely high concept nature of this effort, the locals
hop from island to island using either small airships piloted by Goblins
(flyers) or hovers which are sets of personal metal wings powered by the titular
storm crystals (which reminds me a bit of the crystals that power light sabres
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i>). Well, this is all very
interesting so far and the Background compels you to read on purely because it
is so very unusual.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thus begins
the adventure proper but our first choice on paragraph 1 is a bit confusing in
that we have to know which of three islands is our home island. Er, did I miss
something? Having re-read the Background several times I could not find any
indication where I was actually from, so I assume this is an actual choice we
have to make and seems to be a random decision point with no precedent. This is
awkward but not a showstopper. In fact, whichever island you choose to be from
will slightly nuance the opening Act as a) you are forced to visit that island
first, and b) whichever one you are from is slightly easier to negotiate as you
bump into a friend (which makes sense as this is your home island) who will
travel around that one island with you, which means you get combat boosters
whilst you are there as there are two of you fighting as a pair. Add to this
the fact that (for once) your sidekick does not instantly die (in fact, they
cannot die) and you finally have a useful companion in a FF book. Having
explored your home island you can then try one of the other two from the
initial choice (or both if you want to), before heading off to a fourth island
called Incus, followed by a fifth named Asperitas. In other words, this is a
rare occasion where a FF region really does allow you to visit absolutely every
part of it. So many FFs’ maps and regional descriptions have shown places that
I wished we could explore but that remain totally elusive. (As an aside at this
point I would have really liked to see a map of Pangaria in the front of the
book, but sadly we do not get to see what this hitherto unexplored area of
Titan actually looks like, which is a shame). Once you have visited these five
islands you can then head underwater in a bathysphere to descend down to
explore the now sunken island of Nimbus. So essentially this book works in
three parts: the initial three island exploration (mostly equipment gathering),
the second part covering Incus and Asperitas (where the mystery begins to get
explained), and the Final Act on Nimbus itself where you try to save the sunken
island. The concept of the bathysphere is another nicely different inclusion –
the bathysphere is a one person minisub (again, built by Goblins) that allows
the locals to safely go under the sea, so we are seeing an element of Jules Verne
showing through here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">At this
point, I feel we need to talk about Pangaria’s Goblins which are, as with every
other concept in this book, totally different to the rest of Titan’s Goblins.
Firstly, they co-exist peacefully with humans and serve a genuinely useful
purpose rather than just being a nuisance. Secondly, they are considerably more
articulate than those found elsewhere on Titan and can make coherent
conversation. Clearly, Pangaria is a very civilised place as Titan goes, and
the general feeling of peace does come across throughout this book. There is
certainly no sense of danger, bar the mystery of what has caused Nimbus to
sink, and this does give an overall impression that this FF is aimed at a
younger audience than usual. This is not an issue as such, I just never got the
impression that I was under any particular threat and, as a member of Sky Watch
should probably be familiar with everywhere in the region, there was no real
sense of exploration or of a descent into the unknown. However, adventure in
its purest sense is not the point of this book. Instead, this is a mystery
piece and is very plot-driven, giving it a feel akin to Paul Mason’s FFs which
always placed plot over adventuring. Indeed, the familiarity your character is
supposed to have with the area, along with the fact that we have never visited
Pangaria before, gives RP free rein to flex her imagination where other FF
authors may have been limited by established lore and/or locations. I’m not
sure quite how I feel about the lore in this book: Potions have new naming
conventions (but sensible ones rather than the stupid non-comedy naming that
Charlie Higson used in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gates Of Death</i>)
and the tech level (with technomancy) does seem higher than we have come to
expect from Titan. However, as Pangaria exists in a bubble and has developed
separately from the rest of Titan (we are specifically told that visitors from
other regions can’t ever leave), I can live with this and I do not feel that
the revised lore detracts any from this feeling like FF as it is woven into the
piece neatly rather than seeming to be strong-armed in for the sake of hilarity
like in the Higson mess.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Structurally
this is an interesting book as it is in theory possible to visit absolutely
everywhere in one playthrough and, bar the restriction of starting on your home
island, then Act Two beginning on Incus, followed by Act Three being
underwater, you are free to roam about in whatever order you wish and to
revisit locations as much as you want to, notwithstanding if you die in combat
or run out of money to keep you hover working. This freedom comes at a price in
gaming terms though as the reset button is very much in evidence here as
revisited areas will regenerate themselves, meaning dead creatures come back to
life, and you can hit continuity problems by finding several of the same item
(which can work in your favour). To control the plot this book uses codewords
(something I’ve never been totally comfortable with, but I realise they exist
to control cheating and make plot flow more fluid) and the mystery will slowly
be revealed through these codewords. In spite of the relative freedom you have
to roam, this book is still oddly linear though, and I found myself enjoying
the opening parts more than the Final Act, which seemed to be railroading me
with looping choices that just seemed to lead back to the same place until I
picked the option that the book wanted me to take to access the next part. It
is also very apparent that the victory path covers most of the book so there is
probably not much replay value here. Having completed it and, in spite of its
intriguing premise and unique location, I cannot see any mileage in revisiting
it as it has nothing else to offer. If you could not go everywhere in one
playthrough there would be much more to explore but, as it stands, this is a
win-and-put-it-away-forever book.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Which brings
us to the difficulty level: if this book was hard there would be replay value
in simply trying to beat it. But, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoS</i>
is far from difficult. In fact, it is very easy, in no small part due to the
fact that you can go everywhere and can revisit areas to find items or
information that you might have missed. Even in the final analysis, if you do
not have the three items that Vizigg (another unusually sentient Goblin) needs,
you can just go back a step and keep going until you do find them. In the true
path sense, this book is very very forgiving. On the contrary though, in the
combat sense, this book is surprisingly harsh as most opponents hare strong and
most combats come with adjustors (a touch of the Jon Green influence here, I
feel), but at the same time you can find a vast array of items that give you
various combat bonuses to counter this, so there is some balance to this. To
use these items tough does involve a lot of book-keeping to keep track of what
does what (this is at odds with the idea of this being aimed at a younger
readership and adds an out of place element of complexity), and the sheer
amount of stuff you quickly accumulate would suggest your backpack is massive
and that you should hardly be able to move. Interestingly, some combats have
clever subtleties built into them such as the Saltwater Crocodile fight where
your foe is vulnerable and less powerful out of water or one particular fight
you have using the bathysphere where is loses its manoeuvrability out of water.
These add realism and interest to the proceedings and show well-planned design.
Another part that is well-planned is the end battle which involves a very
strong opponent but it is not you who fights it – instead you are sat on the
shoulder of a Sea Giant that fights for you. What makes this so interesting and
varied though is the way that the fight can change subtly as it progresses
based on use of items which can have Skill or Stamina impacts on both your
enemy and your Sea Giant. It is relieving to see fresh ideas like this still
coming into the series. Whilst the end battle is fought for you, and the
underwater sections has you fighting from inside your bathysphere (ie you use
the bathysphere’s stats rather than your own which, incidentally, are cleverly
implemented by it having a fixed Stamina but its Skill is based on what yours
in ie the actual driving of the thing is affected by how skilful its driver
is), the rest of the book does require a high Skill score to survive the
combats, plus the sheer number of crucial Skill tests does mean low-powered
characters will struggle. There are quite a few Luck tests too, although these
usually only cause you to lose Stamina if you fail them, rather than them
fundamentally affecting your chances of victory. A count up of instadeath
sections reveals there are only four in the entire book, so death by
misadventure is unlikely, even if death in combat (or failure through running
out of money to recharge your hover) is a very real possibility. All the same
though, I doubt many players will struggle to complete this on the first
attempt as long as they are strong enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It would be
too easy but also unfair to try and make a comparison between RP and her father
as writers, so I will focus just on Rhianna’s writing in isolation. There is a
great energy to her prose and she really does make Pangaria come alive in her
vivid descriptions and constant reinforcement of the plot and concepts that are
at the root of this book. The end battle in particular is very excitingly
written and at no point did I find any let up in the pace. I did find the
moments of awkward humour a bit irritating (I think this devalues FF as
“serious fantasy”) and the inclusion of items called a “Thingie”, a “Whatsit”
and a “Doobrie” pretty inane (even if I did find the option that said something
to the effect of “if you have a thingie and want to give it to [the NPC]”
unintentionally amusing in a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Carry On</i>
film way lol). I also could not help but notice how much RP likes onomatopoeia
which is a small point, but it did strike me after a while. If there was just
one moment that nearly made me throw the book at the wall it was this: “the
flyers have been locked down by the island governors” – surely this is not an
accidental inclusion and it has to be a reference to the situation that was
affecting the world when this book was published. This is frankly annoying and,
whilst it could easily be missed, there is no place in escapist fantasy for this
kind of opinion polarising political reality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To depart
from reality and back to FF and Titan, whilst Pangaria is totally stand-alone
and can get away with bearing only limited relation to what we expect from FF,
there are some moments of familiarity to give some coherence. The Ray
Harryhausen-esque Giant Crab scene must be a nod to the same cameo in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Island Of The Lizard King</i> and the
appearance of a creature that we have previously only ever met in one other FF
(the Wheelies) is a nice inclusion as they are such an iconic species, but the
fact that they had only ever been seen once before also suggests they are very
rare – unless of course Balthus Dire sourced his from Pangara (in a moment of
retconned lore) and this is their actual home region? Either way, it was fun to
see some Wheelies again. Naturally, many of the creatures we encounter are
sea-dwelling (I enjoyed the merfolk encounter) and this adds even more to the
unusual feel of this book and, as the species are different to those found in
the only other undersea FF (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Demons Of The
Deep</i>), both Pangaria and Atlantis are clearly very different places, which
is good to see.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Not only does
this book offer us a new author, it also introduces another new artist. The
cover and internals are both the work of Eva Eskelinen. I will not dwell log on
the cover, suffice to say that its image of two new species (a Canidor and a
Cloudkin) cannot be considered as serious fantasy art. It would be far better-suited
to a book for very young children and/or enthusiasts of emojis and is horribly
cutesy and totally uninteresting, unthreatening, uninspired, and well, unsuitable
for a FF gamebook. I want to feel terror and threat from the cover, not nausea
due to it being so sickeningly friendly. EE’s internals are noticeably better
than her cover but that means very little in real terms as her illustrations
are for the most part lifeless and insipid. The only two internals that I find
effective (and they are admittedly very effective) are the steampunk-influenced
Goblin War Golem and the very threatening attacking Wraith Fish. There is
nothing else in here that warrants a second look and the art looks to be almost
tenth generation photocopied, it is that lacking in depth and clarity in
places.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Boring art
aside (and it is not as bad as anything by Vlado Krizan, I hasten to add), this
book is a real winner. It is exciting, highly original, thematically intriguing
and unusual, well-written, and the mystery approach does make you want to play
and is a welcome alternative to the usual trying-to-bring-down-a-lunatic
concept of FF. The real problem comes with the ease coupled with the fact that you
will probably cover off the entire book in one playthrough making it unlikely to
offer much real replay value. That said, I really enjoyed this and, as it has
an open ending, I hope we will see more FFs from Rhianna Pratchett if this is
any indication of what fresh new material she can bring to the table. But I do
feel that a decent artist would have done the book more justice and really
brought RP’s little corner of Titan to life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-81088397543342145182020-09-25T19:14:00.002+01:002022-05-11T20:12:32.828+01:00Escape From The Sorcerer<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-it5jMX17dFc/X24zOwSaaBI/AAAAAAAAA3I/H7RqbmvwmNYbbgZ03PMmmapIyLnkzj_LgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1415/FF6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1415" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-it5jMX17dFc/X24zOwSaaBI/AAAAAAAAA3I/H7RqbmvwmNYbbgZ03PMmmapIyLnkzj_LgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/FF6.jpg" /></a></div> <p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="text-align: center;">ESCAPE FROM THE SORCERER</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Sunil Prasannan<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">From what I
gather, this mini-FF was originally written in 1988 as a 115-section amateur
piece, but the version that would appear in Issue 6 of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i> was reworked to be set in Southern Allansia and
to run to 200 sections. However, the part of Southern Allansia where this is
set is largely unexplored territory (within the cannon as a whole) but the
author vividly and thoroughly brings it to life with the massive amount of lore
in the background section. This obscure area of Allansia has distinct overtones
of Middle Eastern or maybe the Kashmir border situations and the amount of
information can be a bit bewildering initially but, in terms of setting the scene,
this is a great opening and is to be applauded for its depth of socio-political
design as well as its distinct cultures and species.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">YOU are an
Alkemisian prisoner who has been captured by the rival territory of Agra. In
fact, you are the only prisoner from your group of captives that is still alive
and, rather than wait for your turn to die, YOU decide to escape, er, from the
titular Sorcerer (named Grudar Kreshnel) who is running the show. As you are a
captive, you logically begin with no weapons (and take the requisite -2
starting Skill penalty until you can find a weapon) and no Provisions. In fact,
you start with absolutely nothing at all which, again, does make sense even if
it gives the impression that you are somewhat on the back foot in the initial
stages. Curiously, any Provisions you do find along the way will only restore 2
rather than the usual 4 Stamina, although you can quickly find yourself weighed
down with them as you find a lot of Provisions, especially in the initial
areas, so the lessened restorative value makes very little difference to your
chances of survival. What definitely makes a difference to our chances of
survival though are your Skill and Luck as you will need very high initial
scores for both of these if you want to stand much chance of getting through
this as many foes have high Skills and adjustors (take the Giant Cobra for
example which has Sk 10 St 16 and will kill you if it wins any single Attack
Round, although you can avoid this fight if you have a particular item gained
from a previous tough fight) and there are umpteen Luck tests that often lead
to death if failed. Particularly vicious Skill-wise is the opening salvo where
you must fight several guards in succession to get a weapon and get out of your
cell area. Take into account that you are initially fighting with -2 Skill and
this part really is very brutal. Perhaps this is why you can find so much food?
Furthermore, any Agrans you meet have a unique ability in that they can turn
invisible on every even-numbered Attack Round which allows them to roll 3d6
rather than 2d6 when calculating their Attack Strength ie they can have an AS
of up to 18 before you have even added their Skill to it! This is pretty harsh
and really quite ridiculous in difficulty terms. Plus this adventure is very
linear and the only real options for digression are in the opening area, but as
this is fundamentally a dungeon trawl, this linear approach is standard for FF
so we can forgive this even if it does make winning rather challenging.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">As this is an
underground prison complex, the map is typically full of corridors that head
away in all sorts of north-east-west directions and you very frequently find
doors. Whilst this may seem a bit samey after a while, it is a logical design
for what it is. I must admit that I found mapping this a bit mind-boggling but
it does all link up rationally if you take the time to plot it all out and, as
each playthrough will follow just one set of paths and directions, the overall
labyrinthine web of corridors and doors is not that distracting when playing.
There is also some respite in finding an underground river which you can choose
to negotiate by boat (assuming you are not following the true path on that
particular playthrough!) Indeed, the whole piece is very logical with a
well-designed plot running through it as you meet many guards which, along with
the map overall, do make this all feel very prison-like. Add to this the way
the background’s lore is neatly woven into the adventure and the unexpected
twist at the end involving a dissident you befriend very early on (yes, there
is a lot of politics here) and you have a very satisfying and fun dungeon bash.
Furthermore, there are several ways to kill Kreshnel at the end (dependent on
what items you might have) which adds replay value.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">We touched
earlier upon your starting lack of equipment and the general difficulty of this
FF in terms of combats but this is tempered not just by the supermarket full of
food and drink that you can quickly find yourself carrying, but also by the
ton-weight of items that you can find, all of which make combats much less
crushing: not only does the silver sword increase your AS by 4, but you can
also enhance your firepower with zybarium, a ring of distraction, the golden
mace, and the fireflash staff. There is also a location where you can find
three Potions to improve Skill, Stamina and/or Luck, plus there is a further
Stamina potion later on and two opportunities to restore all of your stats back
to their Initial levels. Oddly enough all of these bonuses, when offset against
some of the very tough fights, do result in something pretty balanced overall,
even if the linearity will still go against you. What really makes this one
interesting difficulty-wise though is the mechanic it steals from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creature Of Havoc</i> whereby you must
decode a language to beat the adventure. The system for the code is by all
intents and purposes that used in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoH</i> but
you do get two chances to find how to crack the code which does make your life
a bit easier. There is also a Hobbit prisoner which may or may not be an
intentional nod to that book too (although you can’t eat this one lol).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">A really
surprising aspect of this mini-FF, considering its political overtones and the
world-building, is the vein of wry humour running through it. Take the
amusingly-named Chattermidgets for instance, or the Puflin which is a cross
between a Puffin and a Wizard (get it?) representing rival publishers who once
vied for the rights to publish Kreshnel’s memoirs. Rather more bonkers are the
two chefs named Ramdon Gorsay (Gordon Ramsay) and Zildo Alli (Aldo Zilli) who
try to con you into a sticky end – Ramdon is even foul-mouthed to boot. These
two even name-check their rival (Olie Jamie ie Jamie Oliver) and hilariously
describe him as a “complete imbecile” (which gets my vote). If this is not
enough, there is a brief visit to the underground prison complex’ Human
Resources office where you can even end up going through a recruitment
assessment to join Kreshnel’s army, plus you can meet the person who was
actually meant to be attending this, called Freddi, shortly beforehand to add
yet more plot flow. The only humour element that did irritate me was the verbal
“oh yes I will/oh no you won’t” sparring with Kreshnel at the end, although maybe
we are literally supposed to view him as a Pantomime Villain? There is a neat
little meta moment along the way too where you need to give a NPC a pair of
dice from which she draws her power – clever. What is also very clever and a
feature I really liked is the door mechanism for Kreshnel’s lair. This is
activated by balancing a set of scales and requires you to do some basic maths
(although just guessing what the answer might be also works!) This is very <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Crystal Maze</i> and suits gamebooks
perfectly. It is also a nice alternative to the usual fallback of a numbered
key. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">If there is
only one part of this FF that I found odd it is the large amount of Gold Pieces
that you can find along the way, none of which serves any useful purpose at all
as at no point do you need any money. False flag, perhaps, or just another
necessary FF trope that founds its way into this?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Unusually for
a Fantazine mini-FF, this one features art by a professional. Michael Wolmarans
is better-known to the gamebook scene as Mike Tenebrae and his work always has
a dark neo-horror quality to it. I don’t think he has been given much
opportunity to demonstrate his generally superb art here, but there are three
images where his dark brilliance is used to the full: the Giant Cobra is beautiful
in its blackness contrasted with bright areas, his Kreshnel is full of classic
Eastern evil mystique, and his interpretation of Artriv is truly sinister. What
shows off his ability much more though is his cover featuring Kreshnel fighting
a massive bear and the brown and yellow tones work really well here to create a
lot of subtle atmosphere and animation – the image almost crackles and moves as
you look at it. Brilliant stuff. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Equally good
(especially for an amateur) is Prasannan’s writing which is full of description
and colour to really brings life to what could have been a very dull trudge
down a lot of passages and through a lot of doors. He seems to revel in
presenting his characters and every NPC has personality and seems very real, as
does his world in general given the depth of lore and effort that has gone into
this offering.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">I have to say
that, for what is ultimately amateur fan fiction, this is very good indeed. Its
lore, very real overtones, occasional humour, and characters, all work very
well and raise this well above the bar for a Fantazine effort. They are rarely
bad as such, but they are also rarely this professional feeling and this is
definitely better than a lot of the published gamebooks out there. I would have
been interested to see how this might have opened out into a full 400-section
FF - would we have seen more of the society of this region or would it just
have eventually turned into a tedious dungeon slog? Either way, in this form,
this is really good stuff and, with Wolmarans’ art to boot, this is a winner
even if it might take you a lot of attempts to finish it as it is pretty
difficult in real terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It's just a shame it has such an uninspiring title. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-419144116459881162020-09-05T20:01:00.008+01:002022-05-11T20:10:28.354+01:00Return To The Icefinger Mountains<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-walf3FsamVQ/X1PgKw8qzRI/AAAAAAAAA2w/LUCB1qLIc58OtI7WxSpBo5biiHByA77iACLcBGAsYHQ/s1415/FF9.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1415" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-walf3FsamVQ/X1PgKw8qzRI/AAAAAAAAA2w/LUCB1qLIc58OtI7WxSpBo5biiHByA77iACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/FF9.jpg" /></a></div> <p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span face="" style="text-align: center;">RETURN TO THE ICEFINGER MOUNTAINS</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face="">Ed Jolley<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face="">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="">Ed Jolley is
a regular contributor to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i>,
although his primary offering is the frankly excruciati</span><span style="font-family: arial;">ng <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Everything I Really Need to Know I
Learnt From Reading </span><span style="border: 1pt none; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Fighting
Fantasy Gamebooks</span></i>, a regular column written in such a smug and “oh-so-funny”
way that it is borderline unreadable and is, i</span><span face="">n fact, the only part of the ‘zine
that I started skipping straight over after a few instalments. Combine this
with my dislike of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Caverns Of The Snow
Witch</i> (at least in its book version form as I do kind of prefer the much
shorter and more efficient <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> magazine
original), the FF to which this effort is a sequel, and I found myself
approaching this mini-FF with some trepidation and very low expectations. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="">Presented in
Issue 9 of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Return To The Icefinger Mountains</i> puts
YOU in the role of a former slave of Shareela the Snow Witch, who escaped the
Icefinger Mountains after Shareela was vanquished by a different YOU in the
Livingstone original. On that basis, you are not the same character that you
were in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i>, a trait common in FF
sequels. The premise here is that it is (appropriately) 30 years since the Snow
Witch was defeated and you suddenly start having nightmares about her again
and, on discussing this with your friend who helped you originally escape (called
Reniso) you discover he has had the same dreams causing you both to start to
think she is somehow back from the dead. You both resolve to return to the
Icefinger Mountains (the title could not be more apt then really) together and
determine if she is indeed resurrected and, if so, destroy her for good whilst,
at the same time, attempting to establish the true source of her power which
appears to lie in an ancient civilisation that once inhabited the Crystal Caves
in the city of Cyrantia. Cut to the next day when you arrive at Reniso’s house
to find him dead and trussed up with the ominous message “SHE WILL RETURN”
written into a pool of his blood. Next arrives a scholar called Denati, an
expert on the Cyrantians, so you decide to head into the Crystal Caves with him
as a sort of guide instead. The Introduction setting the scene is long and very
satisfying and it really did make me want to play this, in spite of my
reservations, as did the opening few sections handling Reniso’s death and the
arrival of Denati. Really intriguing stuff with a premise that draws you in and
makes you want to learn more. In fact, there is more Shareela/Icefinger
Mountains lore in just the intro section here than you can glean from the entirety
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You start this adventure with just a sword and
a rucksack, although the Rules do tell you that, whilst you start with no
Provisions, you will soon acquire some – a bit of a spoiler really, as I would
have preferred the tension of wondering how I might regain Stamina, especially
given how harsh the original was in terms of stat penalties and scarcity of
opportunities to restore your attributes. However, as you are not an adventurer
and have no time to prepare for this quest, your limited resources do make
perfect sense. All in all, this is shaping up to be good stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="">I have said
in other reviews that I find FFs set in snowy/icy environments quite
fascinating as they always feel more unique with their localised creatures and
the added perils of trying to function in extreme cold. Both of these features
are included here and we encounter no end of very suitably-placed monsters from
the outset including the rare Toa-sua and Frost Giants. In fact, the opening
snow-set Act has two distinct paths through, one of which is rather harder than
the other and can, if you are particularly unwary, lead to a very early run-in
with a Silver Dragon. As this is a Livingstone-inspired piece you encounter a
second potential companion (the rather feisty girl warrior called Nowri) who,
again as this is spiritually an IL effort, dies almost immediately after
joining your party (An in-joke? Very probably). Once you find your way into the
Crystal Caves (and there is more than one way in), there are a further two
alternative routes through the main interior, one involving re-encountering the
infamous Ice Demon from the original book, and a second full of entirely new
material concerning the Cyrantians. Whilst the continuity of the returning Ice
Demon makes this feel inter-connected with its predecessor, the Cyrantian
material is much more interesting and the amount of planning and design Jolley
has put into this ancient culture really is impressive as you work your way
through the Chamber of the Four Winds (a nod to the early Games Workshop board
game <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Valley Of The Four Winds</i>,
possibly?), the Arena of Contests, and the Hall of Contenders, all of which is punctuated
by Denati’s awe-struck enthusings and extemporisations on the Cyrantian
culture. If you want lore, this is the gamebook to play! Following a tour of
the background to the Crystal Caves, you then reach your endgame with the
resurrected Snow Witch herself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="">An issue I,
and just about everyone else who ever played it, have with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i> is that it is ridiculously hard and downright unfair with its
frequent stat penalties, many instadeaths, lots of Luck tests, and very strong
over-powered combat opponents. Plus, as always with IL FFs, it is very linear
and requires you to find quite a shopping list of items. What Jolley has done
to address this is very clever as there are two distinct ways to complete this
adventure: one is the “IL” approach with hard combats and lots of items, the
other is more of a Paul Mason-style path avoiding a very tough fight with
Shareela at the end and focussing much more on the plotting and the Cyrantian
lore aspect. The IL path is much easier to find yourself being led down, but
the PM path is more interesting and shows much more ingenuity in design terms.
This is an interesting commentary on both of their styles I think, as IL’s
style is very direct and obvious whereas PM’s is much more subtle and often
quite elusive in his books. The IL route leads to a straight combat with Shareela,
the PL route offers two distinct and much cleverer ways to kill her. What I
also find really interesting is that one of these paths is the “good guy”
approach where you act with honour and the other involves your needing the
flame sword which you can only get by playing the bad guy and killing the
totally innocent good NPC that is Nowri. So EJ is both emulating and subverting
these differing styles of gamebook design and is obviously doing more than just
writing an adventure, given what he has done with this piece design-wise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="">As IL and PM’s
FFs were generally very difficult, the subject of difficulty from Jolley’s
effort has to be discussed. And both paths are actually (appropriately) very
tough to negotiate. There are loads of Luck tests and quite a few instadeaths
(although the majority of the latter come in the Final Act), there are some
extremely tough fights (although, again, some of these such as the Silver
Dragon and the Ice Demon make perfect sense given their enormity), and the Snow
Witch herself (if you do have to fight her) has Sk 12 St 20. There is also a
moment where you are required to roll 5D6 and compare with your Stamina in the
Final Act, which is a very tough roll to make. But there is also another
difficulty element, and this only comes into play on the “Cyrantian history
tour” path, which involves two very difficult maths puzzles that, I must admit,
I found simply baffling as I am not a good mathematician at all. This is
problematic as it does make this particular path all but impossible for anyone
other than those with very attuned mathematical minds (a specialisation, for
sure). I want to play a gamebook, not get a headache trying to number-crunch. I
gave up on these pretty quickly and just resorted to searching through the paragraphs
until I found the right answer section. Some might find this an ingenious inclusion,
I just find it frustrating. Worthy of note also on the Cyrantian path is the
Bone Golem fight – this is very tough with some harsh adjustors, but a balanced
stat boost is your reward for killing it and you do not even actually have to
kill it outright, so there is some quarter given in places. There is even a
non-win ending (very Paul Mason, although IL did throw these in to his
gamebooks occasionally, too) where you die but take the Ice Demon and the Snow
Witch with you, in other words, you have achieved your goal of destroying
Shareela, but you personally do not gain from doing so. I do wonder if this is
a nod to Paul Mason’s original ending for his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Slaves Of The Abyss</i>, wherein you had to sacrifice yourself to win
(Steve Jackson vetoed this and had it changed to the published ending,
incidentally). Either accidentally or deliberately, Jolley is showing that he
really knows his stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="">As well as demonstrating
an insight into the distinctly different styles of two FF authors and his
impressive imagination and planning in terms of lore and really making his
Cyrantian world feel real, EJ is a very good writer. None of his annoyingly knowing
approach to his ‘zine articles is evident here. Instead, this is very
well-written and the pace is electric. Literally every moment is worthwhile and
there is nothing wasted to the point where this is difficult to put down once
you have started playing it. The narrating voice of Denati punctuates the
action by verbalising the new Cyrantian material and, in often very long
paragraphs, Jolley’s vision comes to life again and again. If there is one
let-down in the design/lore it is the Cyrantian alphabet element: when I first
flicked through the pages I saw many illustrations that incorporated the Cyrantian
alphabet and I was hoping there would be a mechanic whereby you had to decode
the language to win. As it stands, Denati translates these for you every time
you find them which makes sense in terms of him being the Cyrantian subject
expert, but does remove a potential extra layer of challenge and gameplay (although
it would have made an already hard book even harder). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="">On the
subject of the illustrations for this piece, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i> was always very inconsistent when it came to art.
At times, admittedly due to availability of resources as this is a fanzine
after all so there is no budget to throw at getting professional art in any
quantity, the art in the ‘zines mini-FFs was amateurish to the point of being detrimental
to the adventure. Not so with this adventure though which uses the excellent work
of Brett Schofield who has contributed to Arion Games’ AFF books and is a
definite talent. All of his images here could have stood up in the Puffin FF
series and, whilst he does have to compete with Gary Ward and Edward Crosby’s
stunning woodcut-style art in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i>,
his images that have equivalents in both books (most notably Shareela herself)
definitely hold their own. There is a nice tribute to the GW-EC originals here
too in the incidental image of the frozen creature reaching forward. Schofield’s
cover image of the Ice Demon’s face in extreme close up with its shadowy and icy
blues and whites is truly terrifying and makes a pleasing alternative to the
more obvious approach of putting Shareela on the cover, which would have been a
big mistake as it would have given away the pay-off that she is indeed back
from the dead which is a plot point that, whilst probably rather inevitable
given the concept, is still not explicit until you do meet her at the end. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="">Indeed, even
if the revelation that the Snow Witch has resurrected is hardly a surprise,
there is a very unexpected twist in the final analysis where it turns out that
Denati is a traitor and is actually in the employ of Shareela. I have to admit that
from the way he seemed so genuine up until this point, and from his researcher’s
fixation on Cyrantia, I really did not see this reveal coming – on reflection
it may be obvious and he is in fact an expert on Shareela which has the
secondary knowledge of her power source by definition, but this came as a big
surprise to me, and a welcome one at that as it added yet another layer to the
sheer effort that has gone into putting this adventure together. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="">As mini-FFs
go, this is one of the best I have read. It is far better than a lot of the
efforts that got printed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
magazine, and it is definitely among the best that the ‘zine offered us. It
really expands upon and opens out the concept of both the Crystal Caves and
Shareela herself, and it is not just a tired sequel where the baddie comes back
for more given all the lore this offers. The two distinct paths and the variables
within these make this eminently replayable and the difficulty is not at all
off-putting. There is so much going on here considering it is just 275 sections
long and I actually prefer this to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i>
for many reasons, the most obvious being that is does not suffer from the
boring overlength and the pointless post-caves coda of the original. We kill
the Snow Witch and it ends there, exactly where it should do (just like the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> short version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i> did, in fact). If the adventure
here wasn’t that great, the lore and world-building alone would have carried this
one through, but the adventure is really good and, unwelcome brain-melting maths
aside, this is pretty essential playing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-76781801122582746802020-08-30T10:59:00.002+01:002020-08-31T16:32:42.418+01:00Starhunt: Void Slavers<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RU0_-NAEWi4/X0t4XUq1qFI/AAAAAAAAA2g/tpSzwkkoYb4DLEZcNg7jnoZM0oIgbCbEgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1415/FF12.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1415" data-original-width="1000" height="328" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RU0_-NAEWi4/X0t4XUq1qFI/AAAAAAAAA2g/tpSzwkkoYb4DLEZcNg7jnoZM0oIgbCbEgCLcBGAsYHQ/w232-h328/FF12.jpg" width="232" /></a></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face="">STARHUNT: VOID SLAVERS<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face="">Ian Brocklehurst<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face="">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="">Issue 12 of
the increasingly infrequently-appearing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting
Fantazine</i> offered readers the ‘zine’s third sci-fi mini-FF, written by Ian
Brocklehurst who is most familiar for his ongoing (and actually rather good)
episodic story <i><span style="border: 1pt none; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Aelous Raven and the Wrath of the Sea-Witch</span></i><span style="border: 1pt none; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">, which was also published on and off in
<i>Fighting Fantazine.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="border: 1pt none; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">The
premise of the piece is that YOU are the Captain of an interstellar freighter called
the Starhunt. Out of the blue, your estranged father contacts you to tell you
that your sister (an exotic dancer) has been abducted by the titular Void
Slavers along with several other members of her dance troupe. Being the
protective individual that you are, you immediately set off to rescue her from
her captors, accompanied by your I-Bot co-pilot Kraven-8 (or Kay-8 for short –
get it?) The adventure is appended by a lengthy intro explaining the background
to the particular sci-fi universe that gives the gamebook its setting and there
is a lot of rich detail to be found here which shows that a lot of thought has
gone into designing the setting. The Rules are also well-planned with different
approaches to Unarmed, Blaster, Ship-to-ship, and Multiple ship-to-ship
combats. To avoid initially overloading the player with all these subtly
different systems, Brocklehurst sensibly takes the <i>Starship Traveller</i>
approach and only explains unarmed combat in the opening Rules section, leaving
the other three to the back of the book to be read only when they come into
active use. This is a wise move as it means you can get on with playing the
adventure much quicker and you don’t have to try and remember four sets of combat
rules. There are also eight (yes, EIGHT) attributes for you to roll-up: the
standard three (Skill-Stamina-Luck) for you plus an additional stat (Blaster
Skill) which is actually a neat idea as it is very viable that your skill in
unarmed combat could be very different to your ability with a blaster, so this
is realistic and well-planned; you also need to generate the Starhunt’s stats
so we have Manoeuvrability (basically a Skill equivalent for avoiding
obstacles), Weapons System (your firepower), Deflector Shields (your defensive
power), and Hull Integrity (Stamina for starships) – these should hopefully come
into play very<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>effectively in
ship-to-ship combat as there is an attack vs defence concept in use which reminds
me of the more nuanced and elaborate space combat/trading games such as <i>Elite</i>
whereby you are not purely at the mercy of a one-dimensional single-stat ship
combat approach but instead various factors can affect outcomes. Again, I like
this and it is more realistic. You also start with some futuristic Provision
equivalents in two food packs (each restoring 4 Stamina) and one medi-kit
(which restores 8 Stamina). You even get a single-use Hull Maintenance
Procedure which restores 8 points to your ship’s Hull Integrity. So then, the
setting/world and the well thought-out mechanics all suggest that this is going
to be an above average sci-fi gamebook experience for once. Let’s hope the
content adds up to the planning and designing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="border: 1pt none; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">…Which
it does not, and here is why - <i>Starhunt: Void Slavers</i> is not a gamebook.
It is a short story that has been chopped up, jumbled about into a random
order, then joined back together by section links. Is that not what a gamebook
fundamentally is? I hear you cry. Well, no, because a gamebook has an
interactive element where you make choices that affect the direction the plot
takes and has direct implications on your success or failure. With this piece,
you literally only make a handful of decisions, none of which really affect anything
other than killing you at various points, and the book just railroads you
meaning any sense of achievement is minimal. There is an argument to say that
this surely just makes this an extremely linear adventure, but it simply is not
and a look at how it is designed will make this explicitly obvious. The book
has a total of 206 sections, a massive 111 of which just direct you to another
section, which is frankly ridiculous and you quickly get fed up of making no
decisions and reading paragraph upon paragraph of what is just prose. 16
sections have different outcomes based purely on dice rolling results, so these
are hardly “choices” – yes, they add the element of chance that dice
incorporate into a gamebook, but you have no control as such and you are not
influencing your progress in any way. There are 23 instadeath/failure sections
ie more than 10% of the book which is the equivalent to 40+ fail points in a
standard-length FF, which is pretty excessive and puts it in the horrible <i>Chasms
Of Malice</i> scale of unfairness territory. Plus, obviously, three sections
are taken up with the extra rules. Once you factor in the combat sections, you
are literally only making a few choices which, whilst they do influence your
progress (always leading to pretty immediate failure), this hardy gives you the
feeling that you are “playing” anything. This whole issue presents us with a
massive problem and I do wonder how <i>Fighting Fantazine</i>’s editorial
people ever accepted this submission as a serious contender for publication as
a “mini-FF”. It would make a good short story, yes, but a gamebook surely not
as there is just no game part to this. I can only surmise that either nothing
else was submitted, leaving the magazine with no choice but to include this
“adventure”, or IB intimately knows people on the inside (which he may well do
given the inclusion of his ongoing Raven story) meaning he could strongarm the
piece in. Or was this put together retrospectively? In other words did it start
out life as a short story but, in the absence of any other options, the ‘zine
asked for it to be reworked as a gamebook by forcing in a few fairly pointless
decision points and a system of mechanics that never gets off the ground? It
really is very hard to see what the rationale behind this all was.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="border: 1pt none; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">To
add insult to injury, this “adventure” (I use the term very very loosely here)
suffers from having at least four section mislinks (how did they get this wrong
when there are so few decision points that even needed differential links?)
including (and this beggars belief) a critical section mislink at the very end
which makes completing this impossible. I thought the ‘zine had a team who
rigorously proofread and playtested the submitted adventures, but this one
shows no evidence of proofing at all given that the final section cannot be
reached due to a mislink (it sends you to section 201 when the victory section
is number 40). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="border: 1pt none; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">The
fact that this is not a gamebook, and that what few gamebook-y parts it does
have are broken, is really frustrating as the mechanics and the concept should
have made for something really good and worthwhile. Yet even the mechanics end
up being an own goal as the two different versions of ship-to-ship combat
literally only come into play a couple of times each, blaster combat hardly
does much, and even item collecting serves no purpose as you don’t ever really find
anything (bar a couple of times) and the book has pointless prompts telling you
to make a note of the fact that you are carrying stuff that you have already
got anyway (but didn’t know) or that you can’t really avoid finding and that,
again, will railroad you into death or non-death moments and nothing more.
There are no grey areas to this outing at all! It is very disappointing that
all the variant combat rules get rarely used as they could have really added
value to the experience. As for the much more frequently used unarmed combat,
most of your opponents are very strong (the end baddie called the Sovereigness
has a ridiculous Sk 11 St 26 so is as strong as a Dragon somehow!) and, if we
add in the sheer number of Skill tests that can only be passed by rolling under
your Skill (rolling equal to it is a failure) or you generally die, any
character with a Skill lower than 12 has no chance (…of ever reaching the
second to last section given that, as we have already seen, you cannot reach
the victory section!) Oh, and there are so many Luck tests that, again, a Luck
of lower than 12 gives you little hope either, even with the occasional Luck
bonus that you cannot help but get as you get unavoidably led to those sections
that give the bonuses. What an utter shambles this is!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="border: 1pt none; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">And
that is not all. In the final Act you have to jump into your ship, as does your
sister. Logically, this is done by Skill testing. Presumably you have a Skill
of 12 yourself to have ever got this far, so you are highly likely to succeed.
However, your sister only has a Skill of 8 (lap-dancing and stripping
presumably aren’t especially highly-skilled jobs?) so her chances of making it
are not that great and if she dies you lose - another unfairly hard moment,
then.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="border: 1pt none; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">As
the reader quickly reaches the unavoidable conclusion that this is a short
story rather than a gamebook and, as I have already noted, IB’s Raven story is
rather good, we should at least hope for <i>Starhunt: Void Slavers</i> to be
well-written, which it both is and is not. The prose is written in a fun style
which reads very well, but the plot itself is uninspired and really quite
boring as you meander from one uninteresting event-free planet to another via
an asteroid belt and a few unfriendly ships. There is a problem that I must
raise with the text and that is that it has moments that are not in keeping
with FF’s idiom, especially references to rape and lesbianism, and the use of
words such as “shit”, “bitch”, and “screwing”. I’m not a prude by any means,
but this is not the FF “way”. I do have to mention Kay-8 though, who adds an
element of comic relief to the piece. He (it?) speaks like K-9 from <i>Doctor
Who</i>, using words like “affirmative” and “negative” and occasionally
rattling off probabilities, and I do like this element of the book as it helps
it rise above being totally mundane. Oddly, I did find myself enjoying it at points,
but that is in part due to the Kay-8 character.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="border: 1pt none; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">I
think as well that another aspect that made me enjoy this more than it ever
deserved is due to Angela Salamaliki’s dynamic art. There is a very modern feel
to her digital illustrations, all of which are full of life and suit the sci-fi
genre very well. Her tech images are far better than her creatures/monsters,
but this is a tech gamebook, so I can forgive this minor point. What is really
striking and impacting is her cover image which just screams sci-fi to me with
its shiny metallic corridor and its red and black-costumed dominatrix end
baddie. The cover image is full of life and colour and is probably the best
thing about this gamebook overall! I also really like the image of the Inferno
Fighters which look like Focke-Wulf FW-190s that have been converted into
spaceships: a surprising image that connects past to future in an effective
manner. It is also interesting to note that most of the female characters are
drawn wearing very revealing costumes and either the artist or the art brief
from IB seems to relish this fact!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="" style="border: 1pt none; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">To
be honest, I can find very little else to say about <i>Starhunt: Void Slavers</i>.
I had really high hopes for what on the surface (after reading the rules and
background spiel) looked like it was going to be a genuinely well-designed
sci-fi effort with an interesting and effective system of mechanics deployed
well enough to make it a really satisfying effort. Instead, the rules that
should have lifted this serve zero purpose, the plot is empty, you have no
impact on your fate in any way, it is very difficult in the traditional FF
stat-testing way, the combats are way too hard and the opponents are
illogically overpowered to the point of being superhuman, and due to no
proofreading it is broken such that you cannot complete it. If there was a
system vs gameplay aspect to analyse I would analyse it, but there isn’t, so I
can’t. On the positive side, the art is effective and it certainly suits the
genre and theme, and there is definitely something bubbling away under all this
that could have been really good especially as IB writes very well and the
mechanics cried out to be deployed to really lift this into the high echelons
of sci-fi gamebooks. But sadly this is basically just a short story with a
slightly seedy undertone where very little of any consequence happens. If you
do not get bored or frustrated with it and do reach the penultimate section,
your patience is not rewarded and you just feel a bit insulted by the overall
production’s lack of attention to quality control. Just look at the pictures
(especially the cover) then move on to something better instead would be my
advice rather than wasting your time with this mess. I’ve observed before that bad
sci-fi FFs have titles beginning with the letter “S” – my point remains
undisputable.</span></p>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-338942842208129752020-06-13T19:53:00.000+01:002020-06-13T19:53:27.864+01:00Ian Livingstone's Freeway Fighter<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cpmigrQ6rHQ/XuUdkH9HNlI/AAAAAAAAA1k/JR5m1BJSIX8VtcyiVjaMRy293ckMBH1TACEwYBhgLKtMDAL1OcqyXEF2_ZMwZysOkxqR4wBoosUtAHjia99QdBCsh1TCIlioD2W-wiexdPvQNuC7TVpzcbciKcKihvM98zT-esGLB2Q1zpSxbhRjzll6C7SicW-3SzUwZi8G4PDkeQupply9n3VK7ZHmreu3vQmhQIEth1iguR0pnFUmUAGGnR_3wN3KL4xhgxkTDu0IS7-hc8c7i-rRw-4f8tanK0TWk15lXlFx1fcCaFhp6uq0qmdmmNBXBPg9Z7OaIFsrzFvVSEt2Ha0sT12-QOhrdSRNPEuG6u0AgtDnFPSxisovOtTe-76YiGfk7bWyvLwO-sN5tVZM_dYMWBFD7Wrn3j4udtFQjfyJYQWynqJTIIuTquokX_m3gQWn9MN6i0ubzrWVwtHBiRnBLoV8KmN4mb96gNGr_olWYL9vLo5zxoDDpYT0glPYTJ9slJX1I_RXDdA4ejgMIT0zPVlFTa5C0k4avctpn1_bRZT6KLTQWz8xUzWeEqJSgwM7ORoHgK0GJkho7fsm1aqlU7NakvtU74YlbnsMcJHytI32ckeuoKVvQd8Usa7VuXox6bMLzGUpBe22_ftslm3uA3NAjbGgMloIykaUkT-Cr5WvfzzvgeLP0CAIwgcCU9wU/s1600/A1lsBaOIl1L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1055" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cpmigrQ6rHQ/XuUdkH9HNlI/AAAAAAAAA1k/JR5m1BJSIX8VtcyiVjaMRy293ckMBH1TACEwYBhgLKtMDAL1OcqyXEF2_ZMwZysOkxqR4wBoosUtAHjia99QdBCsh1TCIlioD2W-wiexdPvQNuC7TVpzcbciKcKihvM98zT-esGLB2Q1zpSxbhRjzll6C7SicW-3SzUwZi8G4PDkeQupply9n3VK7ZHmreu3vQmhQIEth1iguR0pnFUmUAGGnR_3wN3KL4xhgxkTDu0IS7-hc8c7i-rRw-4f8tanK0TWk15lXlFx1fcCaFhp6uq0qmdmmNBXBPg9Z7OaIFsrzFvVSEt2Ha0sT12-QOhrdSRNPEuG6u0AgtDnFPSxisovOtTe-76YiGfk7bWyvLwO-sN5tVZM_dYMWBFD7Wrn3j4udtFQjfyJYQWynqJTIIuTquokX_m3gQWn9MN6i0ubzrWVwtHBiRnBLoV8KmN4mb96gNGr_olWYL9vLo5zxoDDpYT0glPYTJ9slJX1I_RXDdA4ejgMIT0zPVlFTa5C0k4avctpn1_bRZT6KLTQWz8xUzWeEqJSgwM7ORoHgK0GJkho7fsm1aqlU7NakvtU74YlbnsMcJHytI32ckeuoKVvQd8Usa7VuXox6bMLzGUpBe22_ftslm3uA3NAjbGgMloIykaUkT-Cr5WvfzzvgeLP0CAIwgcCU9wU/s200/A1lsBaOIl1L.jpg" width="130" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L_Tp_SQV8Aw/XuUdj8viyOI/AAAAAAAAA1g/YG5ulBqM7Rs1NuTkglIKsZedd3hFw2-XACEwYBhgLKtMDAL1OcqyXEF2_ZMwZysOkxqR4wBoosUtAHjia99QdBCsh1TCIlioD2W-wiexdPvQNuC7TVpzcbciKcKihvM98zT-esGLB2Q1zpSxbhRjzll6C7SicW-3SzUwZi8G4PDkeQupply9n3VK7ZHmreu3vQmhQIEth1iguR0pnFUmUAGGnR_3wN3KL4xhgxkTDu0IS7-hc8c7i-rRw-4f8tanK0TWk15lXlFx1fcCaFhp6uq0qmdmmNBXBPg9Z7OaIFsrzFvVSEt2Ha0sT12-QOhrdSRNPEuG6u0AgtDnFPSxisovOtTe-76YiGfk7bWyvLwO-sN5tVZM_dYMWBFD7Wrn3j4udtFQjfyJYQWynqJTIIuTquokX_m3gQWn9MN6i0ubzrWVwtHBiRnBLoV8KmN4mb96gNGr_olWYL9vLo5zxoDDpYT0glPYTJ9slJX1I_RXDdA4ejgMIT0zPVlFTa5C0k4avctpn1_bRZT6KLTQWz8xUzWeEqJSgwM7ORoHgK0GJkho7fsm1aqlU7NakvtU74YlbnsMcJHytI32ckeuoKVvQd8Usa7VuXox6bMLzGUpBe22_ftslm3uA3NAjbGgMloIykaUkT-Cr5WvfzzvgeLP0CAIwgcCU9wU/s1600/4097242a_A9lUG5P.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="607" height="196" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L_Tp_SQV8Aw/XuUdj8viyOI/AAAAAAAAA1g/YG5ulBqM7Rs1NuTkglIKsZedd3hFw2-XACEwYBhgLKtMDAL1OcqyXEF2_ZMwZysOkxqR4wBoosUtAHjia99QdBCsh1TCIlioD2W-wiexdPvQNuC7TVpzcbciKcKihvM98zT-esGLB2Q1zpSxbhRjzll6C7SicW-3SzUwZi8G4PDkeQupply9n3VK7ZHmreu3vQmhQIEth1iguR0pnFUmUAGGnR_3wN3KL4xhgxkTDu0IS7-hc8c7i-rRw-4f8tanK0TWk15lXlFx1fcCaFhp6uq0qmdmmNBXBPg9Z7OaIFsrzFvVSEt2Ha0sT12-QOhrdSRNPEuG6u0AgtDnFPSxisovOtTe-76YiGfk7bWyvLwO-sN5tVZM_dYMWBFD7Wrn3j4udtFQjfyJYQWynqJTIIuTquokX_m3gQWn9MN6i0ubzrWVwtHBiRnBLoV8KmN4mb96gNGr_olWYL9vLo5zxoDDpYT0glPYTJ9slJX1I_RXDdA4ejgMIT0zPVlFTa5C0k4avctpn1_bRZT6KLTQWz8xUzWeEqJSgwM7ORoHgK0GJkho7fsm1aqlU7NakvtU74YlbnsMcJHytI32ckeuoKVvQd8Usa7VuXox6bMLzGUpBe22_ftslm3uA3NAjbGgMloIykaUkT-Cr5WvfzzvgeLP0CAIwgcCU9wU/s200/4097242a_A9lUG5P.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">IAN LIVINGSTONE’S FREEWAY FIGHTER<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Andi Ewington and Simon Coleby<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">If you were
to choose which entry from all the FF canon had the most potential for either a
film/TV or graphic novel adaptation, then it has to be a choice between <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">House Of Hell</i> (which abortively did
almost become a film a few years ago until it fell into a black hole of
development hell) or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i>
(which, let’s face it is a rip-off of a film anyway given its striking
similarity to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Max</i> franchise).
The three Chadda Darkmane novels, with their conventional narratives, are also
obvious choices and the first one, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Trolltooth Wars</i>, did indeed get a GN adaptation a year or so before <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i>, but this was a fairly
lukewarm affair made all the more lacklustre by a disastrous Kickstarter
campaign that left most backers either totally hacked off or completely
disinterested by the time it finally landed. It was initially also suggested
that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i> GN might be
funded by the Kickstarter route but it was ultimately picked up by Titan Comics
and published conventionally over four monthly parts in standard comic book
format, followed inevitably by a single combined volume trade paperback.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">After the not
actually too bad but also not that great experience that was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Steve Jackson’s The Trolltooth Wars</i> GN,
I was wary of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ian Livingstone’s Freeway
Fighter</i> potentially being a wash-out. The novel of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Trolltooth Wars</i> is brilliant and bounces along as it takes the
reader through an assemblage of much-loved FF lore. But the GN is a diluted
affair with inappropriate art that does the material no justice at all. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i> gamebook is huge fun,
but it is very dumb fun and is a far cry from the deeper fantasy material that
FF mostly put out. So, other than a catalogue of mindless violence punctuated
by a car driving across a post-apocalyptic wasteland (which would undoubtedly
be very entertaining in comic book format) what could we expect from this GN?
Well, the fact is that that is exactly what we get with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ian Livingstone’s Freeway Fighter</i>, but personally, other than the
lead in to the gamebook (more on this later) I think this is actually what
makes this such a winner as it is frenetic, fast-paced entertainment for its
own sake. Just like the gamebook, it is straightforward, violent, and does not
take itself too seriously, but there is also a lot more going on too in the
characterisations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The plot,
such as it is, is the story of Bella de la Rosa, a road drifter, who stumbles
across Ryan in the town of Baker, and agrees to take him as close to New Hope
as they can get on the fuel they have. Thus we follow their journey together as
they get repeatedly harassed by Doom Dogs who want her Dodge Interceptor. And
this is the central maguffin of the story, as the real star of the show, and
the actual subject of the GN, is the car itself’s backstory, starting in a
Prologue where Bella races in it, and finally ending where it is getting
souped-up ready for the journey to San Anglo that we play out in the gamebook.
Throughout the GN, the car is treated as an entity – Bella chats with it,
confides in it, sympathises with it, and cares for it. It is her one reliable
constant in a futuristic world gone mad. The primary human characters she meets
are mostly unreliable: the Doom Dogs are psychotic hooligans, and Ryan is
pretty useless. Bella herself is a great lead. In classic action movie lead
style, she is feisty, wise-cracking, very streetwise, but also massively
haunted by personal demons and is hugely aware of her own mortality and
constantly literally looks Death in the face. Ryan, on the other hand, is
naïve, clumsy, nervous, and awkward, but ultimately means well and seems
genuinely grateful to have met someone who does not want to kill him. Bella
cares little for human company (her car is her only friend), but her humanity
prevents her from abandoning Ryan to his inevitable fate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Alongside
these two new characters, and to make this feel familiar and connected, are a
number of familiar faces and tropes from the gamebook itself. Spark Plug Pete
shows up, The Animal drives the iconic Red Chevvy from the book’s cover, the
ever-handy Flat-U-Fix gets put to use, and we meet Sinclair in New Hope right
at the end. We even find a wrecked second Interceptor at one point and the wry
observation is made that you don’t see many of those about! There are also many
Easter Eggs for the eagle-eyed to pick out, some of which have FF meaning, some
of which are just social commentary. Amongst these are: de la Rosa’s car is
number 44 (this is Ian Livingstone’s “special” number); the helmet on the first
Doom Dog that harasses Bella in the opening salvo of the GN has the number 13
on it (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i> is FF #13);
the keys to the Interceptor are on a four-leafed clover keyring (a Luck symbol);
the Red Chevvy is present (as noted above); The Animal is also here; FF
mega-collector and one-time Warlock Jamie Fry appears as a Doom Dog (he won a
competition to be drawn into the book); and the only food Bella can find in an
abandoned empty store is a bar of Trumpish Delight (presumably a wry nod to the
pre-Presidency media belief that Donald Trump would start an apocalypse of some
sort).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The point of
most of the GN is simple violent entertainment, but it is bookended by a beginning
and an end that have some real substance. The introductory pre-disaster car
racing Prologue ends with the line “This isn’t going to end well” as it cuts
into the Interceptor being pursued at high speed by a Doom Dog. This is a very
cinematic concept: the opening action sequence that we join part-way through
that then cuts to a similar juxtaposition but several years later and far more
dangerous. This is a neat segue (and commentary on the whole piece), but the
conclusion of the GN has an even neater segue: Sinclair notes that “I do have a
use for a good driver. We’re running low on fuel. I need someone to go to the
oil refinery at San Anglo for us” and thus, YOU presumably then come along
after the GN ends as it leads directly into the gamebook. Equally, the final
action scene sees the Interceptor being pursued to the gates of New Hope by the
ever-present nuisance of the Doom Dogs. The gamebook tells us that Sinclair was
kidnapped in an attack on New Hope by some bikers – the same ones that pursued
Bella to NH in the GN perhaps?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Whilst there
is a lot of cartoon violence in this GN and the action level and pace is full
on, there are moments of quiet pathos too such as when Bella finds a couple who
have overdosed on barbiturates. The way she talks to her car and sees it as a friend
is a poignant commentary on loneliness and the need for human contact (or a
substitute for this). The deep meaning in this is all the more intense as the
car is a direct connection for her to her dead father and acts as his
substitute too, hence the way she talks to it like it is her only true friend
in an utterly lost world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The
Interceptor itself (really the star of the show) is at odds with that in the
gamebook, however. The latter version as drawn by Kevin Bulmer is akin to a
Lamborghini, whereas the Simon Coleby version in the GN bears a striking
similarity to a Dodge Charger (although when I queried this with Coleby he did
say that its look is a product of his imagination). Perhaps the I-400 Interceptor
is a subconscious development of the Charger that we will one day still see
lol. As this story comes before the gamebook, the Interceptor in the GN is
nowhere near as tooled-up as the gamebook version, something that makes perfect
sense as the gamebook’s Introduction does specifically say that it has been
modified to resemble a battle-car. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">On the
subject of Coleby’s art, this is key to the success of this GN. His action sequences
are full of visible movement and there is a momentum and frenetic pace to his
chase and battle images. The counterpoint to this is the way he captures the
calm of the few moments of respite. Both of these points demonstrate just how
skilled Coleby is in making his images really get across the various tempos of
the piece. Coleby’s work for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2000AD</i>
always had these features and he has illustrated this GN perfectly in my
opinion. The inappropriate Cartoon Network-style Gavin Mitchell art in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Steve Jackson’s The Trolltooth Wars</i>
massively detracted from the effect it should have had. Coleby’s work in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ian Livingstone’s Freeway Fighter</i>
however could not be better-suited and the decision to use him was inspired as
his interpretation of the various scenes is perfect. Coleby produced the
internals for the entire GN (ie all four parts) but, as is always the case with
short multi-part comic books, the original individual issue versions came with
a plethora of cover variants by numerous artists. However, the four Coleby
covers are my favourites by far, again, because of the high octane imagery they
portray. As Coleby’s interiors work so well, I find the variant covers by other
artists to be rather less successful. To keep the collectors happy, each of
Issues 2 thru 4 came with three cover variants. Issue 1 was offered with SEVEN
variant covers: the standard A/B/C options of the next three issues, a
Forbidden Planet exclusive using the original Jim Burns Puffin cover, a similar
version with the Burns <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Battle Cars</i>
cover used on the Wizard reprint, a beautiful movie style poster cover, and a
fanboy treat in the wraparound Adventure Sheet cover. There is actually an eighth
variant too, but it is only a semi-variant isasmuch as Forbidden Planet offered
for presale a version of the Burns red Chevvy cover signed by everyone involved
(which annoyingly had one person missing who was late so missed the pre-signing
event meaning only those copies where signatures were collected in person at
the actual FP public signing event have him on them). Obviously the two Burns
covers are fabulous, as is the movie cover. The Adventure Sheet cover is fun
for the nostalgia but being just a black and white affair, it is actually rather
downbeat. But, as I said before, of all the variants across the four individual
issues, the Coleby versions win it for me. There is one particularly odd
variant of Issue 1 where Bella has her hand in a dubious place and seems to be
interfering with herself! Once the four parts were collected together into a single
volume TPB, there were even two variants of this: the standard version uses the
Coleby Issue 1 cover of the speeding Interceptor, whilst a FP exclusive uses
the Burns red Chevvy cover again. In a neat touch, the Coleby cover TPB has a
green spine (the Burns’ spine is orange) and each individual Issue has a green back
cover. All nicely on-brand then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Writer Andi
Ewington is no newcomer to comic books and had written several before this
piece came about. The whole thing is clearly a labour of love for Ewington and
his attention to detail to make it consistent with and interconnecting to the
gamebook is very apparent. The dialogue is snappy and suitably hard-boiled, and
there is a sparcity to speech that suits the piece nicely. Dialogue plays
second fiddle to action and the limiting of the speech bubbles allows the art to
speak for itself and drive this through. I remember when the individual Issues
first came out, that reading Issue 1 with its very limited amount of dialogue,
really did make it feel like a pre-credits sequence, which it sort of is, as
the real <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Max</i>-style violence,
explosions, and converted road vehicles kicks in from Issue 2. A real credit to
Ewington is that the GN works equally as well as a comic book for its own sake,
as well as a FF fan confection, and there is definitely an intended market
beyond the niche of FF fans as there is nothing here to alienate a reader with
no knowledge of the source gamebook. For me, obviously, the pleasure is in getting
another part of the FF cannon and growing the world, especially as this is a
non-Titan set book and these generally get ignored in the overall
world-building in FF.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The
individual Issues and the combined GN included some additional material too,
which is always welcome as it expands our understanding. In Ian Livingstone’s
introduction he admits what we all suspected (that he deliberately cribbed from
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Max</i>) but he makes an odd remark
when he says that the GN is “[an] adaptation of the interactive book as a
linear narrative” which it quite simply is not. It is the Prequel and a completely
different part of the story arc to that found in the gamebook. Generally
though, IL’s intro is very useful and gives us an early history of FF for those
readers who are not already familiar with it. There is also a nice and very
heartfelt tribute to the original gamebook’s artist Kevin Bulmer, written by
his ex-partner. This is actually very revealing and shows just how involved
Bulmer was in video gaming in particular. His work with Jeff Wayne on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">War Of The Worlds</i> is interesting to read
and learn about too. Also included is a nice potted overview of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i> itself by Jonathan Green
and a few pages of Coleby’s concept art and prelims which are interesting to
see. In other words, all of the “Special Features” (if this were a DVD) are
worthwhile and add to the experience for those who want to know more beyond
simply reading the GN.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">And it is a
good job that we do get this added value material as, if I have one criticism
of this GN (and I really can only think of one) it is its brevity. In episodic format,
each Issue is over in a few pages just as it gets going and, whilst this does
leave you itching to read the next instalment, these are rather too short as
comic books go. Indeed, even in its combined volume format, I reckon this takes
no more than 15-20 minutes to read from cover to cover. On the one hand it can
be argued that the shortness maintains its relentless pace and means there are
no lulls or pointless filler parts. However, it would have been nice if it were
longer as it does leave the reader feeling a little bit short-changed,
especially compared to most TPBs I have read. But, as I said, this is literally
the only issue I can take with this and it is otherwise very good indeed and
hugely enjoyable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">For collector
interest, in addition to the seven versions of Issue 1 and the three versions
each of Issues 2 thru 4 (giving a total of <u>16</u> covers for the collector
to get hold of), plus the two cover variants of the GN version, Forbidden Planet
also produced a pair of exclusive 18” x 24” giclee prints of the two Burns
covers, each limited to 25 units signed and numbered by Ian Livingstone and Jim
Burns. Further promotional paraphernalia was also produced in the form of a set
of two double-sided art postcards that were given away at Fighting Fantasy Fest
2, an A5-sized print signed by Livingstone that was exclusive to OK Comics in
Leeds, plus the Burns variant of the collected TPB version also came with a
print signed by all interested parties. Titan Comics (and indeed Forbidden
Planet) rarely miss an opportunity to bankroll comic books nowadays meaning
there is plenty out there for the completist to gather together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The first
attempt at a FF-based GN (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Steve Jackson’s
The Trolltooth </i>Wars) was not a success overall. It suffered from misguided
planning on many levels, was the work of largely untested creators in PJ
Montgomery and Gavin Mitchell, was marred by a farcical Kickstarter campaign to
fund it, and is unlikely to appeal (or make any sense) to the non-FF fan
reader. This second offering though from the talented creative team of Ewington
and Coleby is very impressive and definitely does justice to its own concept as
well as being very respectful to the original gamebook. The lead into the
gamebook is smooth and effective, the action is breathtaking, the art is
fantastic, and the whole thing just works brilliantly. OK, it is undeniably
short and is light on plot but these are greatly made up for in its many positives.
I have read it umpteen times and will continue to re-read it whenever I want a
quick fix of mindless futuristic violence whilst feeling a bit of sadness for
the average person who is just trying to eek out an existence in a collapsed society.
I could sit and enjoy Coleby’s art in this GN for ages without even reading the
text or following the story and therein lies, for me, the sign of a successful
comic book: the art can stand on its own, the plot can stand on its own, and
the whole thing meshes beautifully. There was talk at one point of Ewington producing another FF-based GN in the form of <i>Deathtrap Dungeon</i>, but sadly this project fell through, which is a huge shame as I would have loved to see more FF comics from Ewington as his first is really great stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-5168796563358412662020-06-06T20:04:00.000+01:002020-06-06T20:04:15.997+01:00Scholastic Reissues: Schedule 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dL_uS7WKQSc/XtvoUic_rCI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/AaWNbztFYhsKjL95-iegpCcmOS3iL_CYwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/COTSWSB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="357" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dL_uS7WKQSc/XtvoUic_rCI/AAAAAAAAA1Q/AaWNbztFYhsKjL95-iegpCcmOS3iL_CYwCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/COTSWSB.jpg" width="129" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UTk62YzeJ3M/XtvoUmeRHaI/AAAAAAAAA1M/SzXr0LALA3gbu3tRRJO6puQROEfjKDLagCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/KhareSB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="260" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UTk62YzeJ3M/XtvoUmeRHaI/AAAAAAAAA1M/SzXr0LALA3gbu3tRRJO6puQROEfjKDLagCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/KhareSB.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">SCHOLASTIC REISSUES: SCHEDULE 3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">After two
tranches of Scholastic editions, each containing six books, the third batch slashed
their output in half and offered a rather stingier three titles. However, there
was no wastage in this smaller batch, which gave us a third brand new title (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">#15 Assassins Of Allansia</i>) and two more
key reprints in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">#13 Caverns Of the Snow
Witch</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">#14 Khare: Cityport Of
Traps</i>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Khare</i> is a necessary
release given that its predecessor appeared in the previous Scholastic batch,
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i> is the only non-sci-fi
Jackson/Livingstone book from Puffin’s first ten FFs that had not been reissued
by Scholastic thus far, so these are natural choices. As with my discussions of
Schedules 1 and 2, I will only be covering the reissued titles in this post,
the new book will be reviewed in its own right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Caverns Of The Snow Witch</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is not a book that I particularly
like. It is massively unfair with its umpteen fights with over-powered
opponents, very limited opportunities to restore Stamina, far too many Luck
tests, and a pointless post-Snow Witch kill coda that just seems to ramble on
forever. OK, I realise that this started out life as a 200-section <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> magazine effort, but in doubling
its length, Livingstone simply padded it out endlessly after the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> version’s conclusion rather than
adding any interesting additional material earlier in the book. Indeed, up to
the point where the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> version
ends, the two are completely identical – it is only beyond this point that the
additional 200 sections-worth of material kicks in, which does make it all feel
a bit forced. However, what the Puffin/Wizard version has that works massively
in its favour is the unique woodcut-style internal art by Gary Ward and Edward
Crosby. This was their only work for FF and it stands out with a visual style
entirely of its own and I am a big fan of this book’s illustrations. Naturally,
this made me a little cautious when approaching the Scholastic edition as the
book, in play terms, is pretty awful, and, without the Ward-Crosby art, would
have little to offer me anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So it is then
that I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the internal art for the first time.
Firstly and foremostly, Scholastic has finally parted company with the
awe-inspiringly talentless Vlado Krizan, meaning cover artist Robert Ball is
now also on internal art duties in his place. Well done Scholastic, perhaps fan
response has finally been acknowledged. All we had seen up until now though of
Ball’s work was the rather cartoonish cover illustrations of Batch 1 and the
more effective and unsettling, but microcosmic “porthole” imagery of Batch 2. Batch
3 sticks with the porthole layout and with the more frightening imagery which
is especially apparent with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i> as
the blue-hued yeti bursting through the porthole is really very effective. I
also like the claw scratches that cut through Livingstone’s name which adds an
element of animation to the piece. The internals are the aspect that really
interests me with this book though and we get Ball’s interpretations of these
section’s images:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">26 dark elf
with bow, 37 night stalker, 59 crystal warrior, 83 zombie, 96 dead dwarf, 106 neanderthal
and gnome, 125 prism man, 154 banshee, 180 centaurs, 190 yeti, 212 snow wolves,
223 white dragon, 235 sentinel, 288 frost giant, 297 Shareela, 328 pegasus, 348
birdmen, 365 brain slayer, 398 man-orc <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Which leaves
these images now missing that were illustrated in the original versions:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Background Big
Jim, 13 hill trolls, 50 wild hill men, 75 healer, 88 frozen orc, 115 elf, 168
man in hut, 198 idol worship, 254 goblins, 262 zombified elf and dwarf, 278 old
man, 319 birdhead rock, 374 barbarian<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The decision
to excise images for two key plot points (background and 262) seems illogical
and I am sure other images that have survived could have been left out to make
space for these two (106 or 398, for example). Obviously, many of the images that
remain are those that emphasise the snow theme and a lot that is now missing
are from the snooze-fest coda but this also makes it feel unbalanced now in
terms of what areas of the book are illustrated. Overall, this leaves me a bit
unsatisfied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But, of what
we do still have, a lot can be said and, as I rate the Ward-Crosby takes so
highly, I am going to talk briefly about every image and compare them: the
first Ball internal that we see (if we go through the pages in linear order) is
section 26 and this version has a really nice composition which is a very promising
portent of what Ball’s versions of this book’s art might offer; 37 is no longer
in extreme close-up and is now very frightening; 59 is now far too busy and the
original version was too iconic for Ball to realistically be able to compete
with; 83 is now much more realistic and has far more horror in it as a result;
96 just isn’t my idea of how a dwarf should look and is more akin to a Pictish
warrior or such-like; 106 is now less in your face but manages to have more
threat for this; I do not like 125 now – it seems to be an over-busy mess
whereas Ward’s version had more control; 154 is vastly inferior and has lost
all the visceral hideousness of the original; 180 is a really interesting take
and gives the centaurs an almost American Indian appearance; 190 is one of the
best of the Ball versions – the yeti is now huge and dominates the frame
resulting in an image with far more threat; ditto, 212 also now contains more
threat and the savage nature of the wild dogs is very evident; 223 goes for a
more regal approach whereas Ward’s version was about the imposing and
threatening nature of the dragon – both are interesting takes and are equally
effective in their own ways; 235 is another Ball image that is now just too
busy, whereas the original was a masterpiece that probably could not be
bettered; 288 looks more like an ogre now than a giant and has lost the intensity
of the original; 297 is too dark: Ward’s Shareela was brilliant for its mixture
of allure, sexiness, and sheer terror – Ball’s is just a bit boring; the Pegasus
in 328 though is truly beautiful in Ball’s version; 348 is another interesting
alternate interpretation in the same way as the dragon – both versions have
their plus points and neither is better than the other; the brain slayer in 365
was another truly iconic Ward image and Ball botches his very inferior version
by just not having enough focus on the brain slayer itself now; the original
version of 398 was one of the few misfires in my opinion and was cluttered and confusing
whereas Ball’s take is more obvious and clear even though it is ultimately
nothing special really.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Clearly then,
Robert Ball’s interior art is far superior to Vlado Krizan’s and at times
compares very favourably to Ward and Crosby’s masterful originals in this book.
Finally, we are seeing images in Scholastic editions that have detail and there
is even enough of it now to warrant close study of the images. A huge leap
forward is that the greyscaling that made VK’s art so utterly uninteresting is
gone and Ball’s versions are (appropriately) very bright and favour the white
end of the light and dark spectrum. Ball produces some very interesting and
worthwhile versions of these familiar illustrations and I would be interested to
know if he had actually seen the originals as these are definitely not
Krizan-style tracings. Instead they are alternate visions which hold up well in
their own right. This is a great thing to see and shows that there is hope now
rather than the grim spectre of more awful Krizan art that totally destroyed
the purpose of art in FF books. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A worthwhile
point to note here is that, with the Ball versions, there are now three
completely different versions of the internal art for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i>: the original Ward-Crosby woodcut style of the Puffin/Wizard
editions, the full colour more fantastical/fairytale illustrations in the Tin Man
Games app version, and now the Robert Ball interpretations. I still favour the
Ward-Crosby versions overall, but Ball has produced some very worthwhile images
in his versions and these make the Scholastic edition of what I personally
consider to be a sub-par book play-wise into a very worthwhile investment and
my fears are allayed. That said, I can only imagine how I would have reacted to
the Scholastic version had Krizan still been in the equation!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I am
conflicted over the decision to change the internal artist for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Khare</i>. Part of the flow and coherence of
the original editions of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i>
epic is the consistency in using John Blanche to illustrate all four (both for
the covers and the internals). The first problem this throws up is that I
prefer Blanche’s work in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shamutanti
Hills</i> to that in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Khare</i> as I find
his art in the second book often quite hideous or simply incomplete as there
are some images which are mostly just a blank page with a hand or whatever in
the middle, which seems a bit of a waste to me. Also, I am overall not a fan of
Blanche’s manic often scruffy style, even though I realise that I am in a
minority with this. The second problem is an enormous one as maintaining visual
consistency from Book 1 to Book 2 would involve having to impose more of Vlado
Krizan’s terrible internal art on us all. Overall, I would rather suffer a
change in visuals than more of Krizan’s anti-art so I am just going to have to
accept this as a necessary move in terms of improving the overall look and
reputation of the Scholastic editions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Khare</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is a very very difficult book to
complete as Jackson employs his unravelling a puzzle approach rather than the
more conventional linear true path of a Livingstone book. For all that it is
very hard though it is also very brilliant and compels the player to keep revisiting
and trying to solve it. After the relatively straightforward approach SJ
employed with the first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i>
book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Khare</i> can come as a bit of a
shock, but it is a brilliant book however you look at it. Khare as a location is
lethal but utterly weird which does mean that Blanche’s original internal art,
for all that I do not really like it, suits the truly bizarre nature of its
setting. Ball’s art in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i> was
essentially fairly traditional fantasy art in style and is certainly not in any
way outré like Blanche’s. With this is mind, how then does Ball’s attempt at
portraying the sheer weirdness of the city of Khare fair?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the
record, the following sections have art in both the original and Scholastic
editions:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">11 living
corpse, 33 wrestling, 77 slime eater, 98 pixie-sprite fight, 122 Idol of Courga,
143 elvin, 153 mantis man, 164 crypt, 176 artist’s hut, 198 town square, 213
fish, 240 Cabinet of Fortune, 269 dwarf and bear, 285 harpies, 300 orclings,
324 gnome shop, 336 sage, 365 goblins, 511 city gate<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">…and we no
longer have illustrations for:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Map of
Kakhabad, 1 approach to Khare, 23 smoking black elves, 43 flayer, 56 Wheel of
Fortune, 66 chainmaker, 89 fork with statue, 110 Watfarer’s Rest, 132 street
scene, 187 chapel, 227 guillotine trap, 254 hut interior, 311 ship interior,
411 giant, 464 zap spell, 504 pebbles <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Very
excitingly, Scholastic is once again doing its only occasional thing of giving
us a newly-illustrated section and in this case it is a real winner in the form
of the highly unusual sulphur ghost in section 412. Given Blanche’s style, this
would actually have made an ideal unusual subject for him to illustrate and I
would have liked to be able to make a comparison but, as it stands, Ball’s is
the only barometer we have for a sulphur ghost and it is a very interesting and
horror-filled take on a very rare creature. In other words, for the first time,
Scholastic has added a new image that does actually genuinely ADD something to
the overall set of images within a book. So that’s another good sign with Batch
3.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As I said
before when discussing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shamutanti
Hills</i>, the removal of the map of Kakhabad is a stupid decision as we need the
global context of this quest to help get deep into the settings. I also do not
understand why section 1’s approach to Khare image was excised when it
literally gives us a lead in to the piece. I am very pleased at the removal of
the two spell effect images though (464 and 504) as these were just white voids
with a tiny central image and were frankly a waste of space and seemed lazy to
me. I find it incomprehensible that the guillotine trap image is now gone (227)
as I always use the picture to negotiate this stage and the loss of 110’s illustration
is a shame too as I like FF tavern vistas and feel they are a cornerstone of
what urban set FF is all about. It seems that as the series progresses the
choice of internals to remove is making less sense, initially it was largely
incidentals that were gone, but it is getting a bit less focussed and logical
now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As regards
what we have new interpretations of, for the opposite reason to my wanting to
do this for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i>, I am again going
to cover every image present but this time because I disliked Blanche’s on the
whole so much that I am hoping the Ball versions will be an improvement: 11 had
more context in terms of background in the Blanche version but it is more
unsettlingly human-like in the Ball – neither is great but they both do the
job; there is more animation to Ball’s version of 33, but the Blanche version
has the classic look of his work when he gets it right and successfully mixes
the weird with a compelling image; 77’s slime eater is now less cluttered and I
prefer it as do I prefer Ball’s cover to Blanche’s as JB’s just seems to be a
technicolour nightmare; 98 is now more intricate and detailed where Blanche’s
looked incomplete with too much white void; both versions of 122 are equally
good and both are very effective; Ball’s elvin in 143 looks more devious and it
is nice to see Scholastic illustrating these <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i> stalwarts as, for some reason, none got drawn in the first
book; 153 actually is now recognisable as mantis-like whereas the original
looked like it had been burned; there is now more horror in 164 but I do still
like Blanche’s whispy emerging spirit in the original; I do not understand how
176 made the cut and neither image inspires me at all; 198 is now way too dark and
the original was far better and more absorbing in terms of making you feel like
you are there; both versions of 213 are basically the same; 240 is an
interesting one with two equally valid interpretations: Blanche’s goes for
weirdness, Ball’s highlights the sinister; Blanche’s version of 269 is typical
cluttered Blanche mayhem that confuses the eye so I do prefer the more
controlled new version; the original harpy image in 285 was truly macabre and
it has the edge over the very eye-centric new version; both versions of the
orclings in 300 work equally well and both are fun images; Ball’s gnome in 324
seems far too old but his version also has more atmosphere than the original;
similarly, Ball’s ogre in 336 seems more atmospheric; there was pretty much
nothing to the original version of 365 (just a white space) so the Ball can
only be an improvement, which it is by virtue of there actually being an image
of any consequence there; the city gate in 511 works well from both perspectives
and is essential to round the book off properly (if only section 1’s image had
not been removed as these two illustrations literally bookend the piece).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I really do
like what Ball has done with this book, especially as I was never happy with
the Blanche effort. The Scholastic trademark geyscaling is creeping back in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Khare </i>but it is not detrimental and is
not causing any loss of detail or interest. Plus, its absence from<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> CotSW </i>suited that book’s subject matter
whereas it is less vital to use a lot of whites in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Khare</i>, plus it is night time at points in the latter book.
Something good and very encouraging is happening with Scholastic’s internal art
finally as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Khare</i> images in particular
stand up very well and fare often even better than the sometimes empty or
scruffy Blanche versions. And we finally have a worthwhile additional image that
really adds something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ball’s work
in both of these books is well worth taking the time to study and compare to
the originals as his takes are very worthwhile and he is doing something really
interesting by rethinking the images instead of just copying them badly. Vlado
Krizan’s internal art hardly warranted looking at at all, but the Ball material
is actually really good and we are seeing signs of a return to the less childish
style of the original books rather than VK’s disastrous work in the first
twelve Scholastic offerings. It is a shame that Scholastic only stretched Batch
3 to three titles and this seems a bit half-assed but, as Robert Ball produced
the covers and the internals for all three this time, perhaps the amount of
pressure on one single artist was a factor this time around. I can hope that
another reason was a quality consideration rather than rushing the art out, but
who knows. There are still several medieval Livingstone titles for Scholastic
to put out and I would be curious to see new internal art for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Starship Traveller</i> as the originals for both of these were very
unsatisfying, although the sci-fi books were never as popular so perhaps
Scholastic does not want to take this risk. But we can only guess at what Batch
4 will bring…</span></div>
MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-84593269570367001792020-05-18T19:12:00.000+01:002020-05-18T19:12:07.798+01:00Scholastic Reissues: Schedule 2<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">SCHOLASTIC REISSUES: SCHEDULE 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Following on
directly from my post about significant changes in Batch 1 of Scholastic’s FF
reboots, we can only assume the first set of six books (five reprints of
genuine classics and one very average completely new title) sold well as
Scholastic announced a second set of six that would include yet another brand
new offering. Not only this though, the series would get yet another rebrand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thus, Books 7
thru 12 (in Scholastic’s numbering) would be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">#7 Creature Of Havoc, #8 Deathtrap Dungeon, #9 Appointment With FEAR,
#10 Island Of The Lizard King, #11 The Shamutanti Hills, </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">#12 The Gates Of Death</i>. I have discussed
#12 elsewhere and the positive here is that it did at least bring new blood to
the series (in the form of ‘90s TV has-been Charlie Higson) even though the
book itself was puerile lore-ignorant junk which just happened to have a rather
good ending for anyone who could stay with it long enough to get there.
Obviously, having already used up five genuinely great books for Batch 1 the
choices for Batch 2 still fitted into the evident policy of focussing on
Jackson/Livingstone books (a contractual and/or rights issue presumably) but
with titles that divide opinion rather more, bar <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap Dungeon</i> which I doubt anyone will call anything other
than an absolute masterpiece. For me, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DD</i>
is the series’ top title in terms of an adventure for its own sake in the ne
plus ultra of dungeons. However, as a tour de force of gamebook design,
structure, and conceptual execution, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creature
Of Havoc</i> has to be one of the greatest gamebooks in any series ever. So,
two absolute gems as openers then, from thereon though, we hit rather rockier
waters. I hate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Appointment With FEAR</i>
and always have: it’s a silly novelty that is over in about three or four
section choices (unless you can unravel it very quickly) and has an irritating
system whereby you simply have to guess when to look for hidden sections. OK,
design-wise it is very impressive and it does have replay value with the four
distinct paths based on your choice of Special Ability, but the mechanics
needed to be in a far better book and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AwF</i>
is, for me, just massively unsatisfying. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Island
Of The Lizard King</i> is and is not an obvious choice for such early
reprinting. Its position as the third in the semi-trilogy of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City Of Thieves-Deathtrap Dungeon-IotLK</i>
does make its release in Batch 2 a sensible choice, but Scholastic’s messy new
continuity (thanks to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port Of Peril </i>and
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Assassins Of Allansia</i>) partially
trashes this now and its extreme linearity (to the point of just being a
straight line) has always marked it out as inferior to its two monumental
predecessors. What <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">IotLK</i> always had
in its favour for me though was Alan Langford’s perfectly-suited sun-drenched
very primeval-looking internal art that suited it perfectly… oh dear, so we’ll
come to this anon then… <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shamutanti
Hills</i> was inevitable sooner or later as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i>
was certain to get another reprint and putting it this early in the release
schedule does have the advantage of giving some focus (and predictability) to
imminent Scholastic batches, even if it is possibly too complex as a series
overall for Scholastic’s pre-teen audience as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i> remember was always aimed at adult players. But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i> as a whole is FF’s crowning
achievement so getting it out there to a new generation is welcome for sure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I am pleased
to see that Scholastic has listened to customer feedback with Batch 2 and that
the rub-off gold spines are now much more resilient to handling and no longer
disintegrate. The eagle-eyed will also note that Salamonis is now spelled
correctly on the map of Allansia, but only in Books 7 onwards as the new
printings from Batch 1 (see below) STILL have the typo present. Unfortunately,
their responsiveness to audience reaction begins and ends here though as the
funny-smelling cheap paper stock, the ugly black splodges on the pages, and the
abomination that is Vlado Krizan’s internal art are all still present and
(in)correct. Most striking is the decision to completely rebrand again which
seems an odd move as it immediately removes any visual continuity on the shelf
between Batches 1 and 2. This is a cynical move by Scholastic as the new
“porthole” cover layouts which are reminiscent of Wizard’s Series 2 shields but
more colourful and individually unique (as each is a different colour on the
cover) inevitably led to Books 1 thru 6 getting reprinted (again) in the new
porthole format so hardcore collectors (or anyone who wants all their
Scholastic titles to match) would have to go out and buy the first six yet
again. It must be said though that I actually really like the porthole covers
and they have a more “serious” look than the rather cartoonish and garish Batch
1 covers with full page art. The small cropped images within the portholes are
more striking for their sneak-peak nature and focus much more on each book’s
cover baddie in isolation, although the Batch 2 cover images are generally an
improvement on the Batch 1s so they are underplayed a bit in this presentation
(you can see the full size versions of the Batch 2 cover pictures on cover
artist Robert Ball’s website incidentally). Another more pleasing on the eye
aspect of the new layouts is the spines which have a less austere title font
than the Batch 1s and the title/author’s name are divided by a thumbnail of the
cover porthole which is actually rather effective. A final more subtle feature
of the portholes (which continues in Batch 3 incidentally) is that the totally
new titles are foiled rather than matt on the covers (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gates Of Death</i> is silver, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Port Of Peril</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Assassins Of
Allansia</i> are gold) and the author credit on the spine is blue rather than
black for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">GoD</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AoA</i>, but red on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PoP</i> so they can’t even get these to match – either have them all in
blue text or make each one different, just choose one please Scholastic rather
than doing half of one thing and half of another. This of course causes no end
of visual issues on the shelf with its mix of blue, red, and black spine
lettering, not to mention one random silver spine at position twelve (possibly
to help you to <u>not</u> accidentally select it when choosing what to read
next), and it also of course means that you have occasional foiled covers in
amongst the matt ones if you look at the books together from the front. Scholastic
has just replaced one load of problems with some others it would seem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So then, onto
the artistic changes to the first book, the colossus that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creature Of Havoc</i>. Ball’s version of
Zharradan Marr on the cover is actually pretty good and he certainly looks evil
rather than childish like Ball’s attempt at Zanbar Bone does, but Ian Miller’s
unique eye is hard to compete with and Ball was never going to better Miller’s
original cover. Likewise, I am a big fan of Alan Langford’s art so it is
unlikely that the eminently talentless Vlado Krizan was really going to cut it
with the new internals for this book either. Thankfully, as is standard for
Scholastic’s FFs, there is rather less of VK’s work on show here as the
illustrations are reduced in number.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Present in
the Puffin and Scholastic editions are these images:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1 scared man.
12 woodcutter, 40 study with skeletons, 63 dark elf bowman, 88 devourer, 123
Women of Dree, 134 Dree, 170 clawbeast, 182 guards and slaves, 194 zombie, 217
thing in a coffin, 229 Eleven et al, 263 manic beast, 287 toadmen, 323 cowled
person, 334 shadow stalker, 377 rhinomen, 400 hand and bottle, 411 more
zombies, 447 flesh eaters<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">…leaving the
following illustrations missing from this version:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">24 giant
hornet, 100 rock demon, 111 lab, 147 bottle man, 241 blood orcs, 274 half-orc
humiliation, 299 jabberwing, 312 doors, 356 carrion bugs, 366 brigands, 390
hobbits, 423 ophidiotaur, 435 another rhinoman<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Unlike <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i> this book has not had any new sections illustrated and a few
observations on what we do still have are: 88, 170 and 194 are all quite
effective but have nowhere near the amount of horror in it as Langford’s
versions do, the figures in Dree in section 134 are more undead-looking than
disease-ridden which is at odds with what they should look like, 217 is
actually quite disturbing and less manic than the original, 123’s Women of Dree
are just awful now and have pointed ears and expressions that make them look
like friendly elves rather than evil witches that we were warned about in the
opening spiel, 263 is sorely lacking the primeval quality of Langford’s
version, 323 is literally now just a grey page with a small bit of
inconsequential white in the bottom right hand corner, 411 is now a picture of
skeletons not zombies (as I observed in my post on Batch 1 for some reason
Krizan cannot draw skeletons and these always come out too angular and digital…
oh, and he does not seem to have any idea what a zombie is as a zombie is
definitely not a skeleton!) So, there is some half-decent stuff dotted about in
here but VK simply cannot compete with AL and is reduced to inferior carbon
copies yet again in an attempt to ape the originals. As for what has been
excised, I am just about happy that most of the missing images are expendable
although I am disappointed at the removal of the ophidiotaur as, let’s face it,
who doesn’t like pictures of dinosaurs? And, Langford is the best FF
illustrator bar none when it comes to lizardine/dinosaur forms (which is
already worrying me about what might have happened inside <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">IotLK</i>) so this was a great image in the original. Perhaps it could
be a positive that it is gone as we do not have to suffer the indignity of VK
ruining its memory for us, but his added image of a pterosaur in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> wasn’t too bad so the comparison
might have been worthwhile (benefit of the doubt and all that).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A point to
note with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoH</i> is that the text prompt
in section 213 that allows you to escape the opening Act in the caves is once
again missing from this edition. It was missing from the Puffin version,
restored for the Wizard Series 1 edition, then removed again for Wizard Series
2. Whether this is genuinely missing and therefore an error is an oft-debated
subject, but I still maintain that it is intended to not be there and is Steve
Jackson being tricksy to force the player to pay close attention to the text
and to act on prompts that should by this stage be familiar. Add to this the
fact that it is missing in three of the four published versions and I think my
point is proved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, the
Krizan-ised version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoH</i> is
certainly not his worst set of reworked illustrations that we have discussed so
far (I nominate probably <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT </i>for that
dubious honour), but it is a little worrying that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap Dungeon</i> is next in line and we have already seen VK
totally bomb in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i> when rebooting
Iain McCaig art.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Firstly. let
us consider Robert Ball’s bloodbeast cover reinterpretation. In the porthole
format this is basically just its multi-eyed head without the context of the
McCaig version’s surroundings. And it is actually not too bad and is definitely
quite scary. Let me contextualise this view though as I, unlike most people, do
not especially like McCaig’s original bloodbeast cover and it is definitely
nowhere near as good as his truly phenomenal covers for both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i> in my opinion. There is something a bit Emperor’s New Clothes-y
about IM’s bloodbeast cover and people seem afraid to criticise it as if it is
somehow heresy to do so, but in my view he has done better work for FF which is
probably why RB’s version offends me less than it might do other people.
Conversely though, IM’s internal art for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DD</i>
was genuinely brilliant and bettered his efforts for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i> quite noticeably, which of course means that Vlado Krizan was
probably starting on the back-foot in terms of trying to win people over with
his new versions, which we see in these sections that appear in the Puffin and
Scholastic editions:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Intro
gathering at the entrance, 12 trick bloke, 37 idol, 60 Trialmaster, 74 mirror
demon, 93 chest, 134 manticore, 143 giant scorpion, 153 jewel-eyed skull room,
168 knife in worms, 187 basket man, 210 Ian Livingstone minus hand, 230
troglodytes, 245 pit fiend, 282 Throm, 312 ninja, 326 orcs, 344 faces in light
beam, 364 Igbut the gnome, 381 skeleton in chair<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And missing
now are: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">24 demonbird
seat, 49 leprechauns, 108 giant insects, 122 skull stairs, 169 elf vs snake,
200 draped cage, 218 dead warrior, 264 homo-erotic Graeco-Roman hobgoblin
wrestling, 299 dead barbarian, 339 fist, 352 rock grubs, 393 chasm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have
forgiven every previous Scholastic title (for the most part) for the images
they have removed as they generally preserved the key material that is
essential to the plot or the flow. However, the nature of the concept of this
book being a designer dungeon with traps at every turn means that nothing is incidental
so there are no secondary moments to remove. In other words, Scholastic has
made a mess of the intended visual presentation of Baron Sukumvit (read Ian
Livingstone)’s greatest creation. Indeed, they have even removed a couple of
images that show vital plot points (169 and 299) as it is useful to literally
see how the other five contestants fair and witness the moments when you
relocate them after the gathering in the Intro image. Further to this, the
removal of section 169’s image has solved a niggling problem with the original
which was that two back-to-back sections (168 and 169) were illustrated which
created a distinct imbalance in the distribution of illustrations but,
Scholastic being its oblivious self, removed the wrong image as 168 is a trap
whereas 169 is vital to the plot. Oh dear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As for what
has made the cut, my main observations are: in 12 the dead knight is very
understated and almost miss-able which causes a problem as this is another
picture with plot importance, the mirror demon in section 74 was in the McCaig
version probably one of the single best images in any FF ever but it is now
reduced to having jazz hands and zero horror in it at all, the manticore in 134
(another IM masterpiece) now has the head of a golden lion tamarind and its
colouration is literally very black and white reducing the impact hugely in
what is meant to be a seriously lethal opponent to be feared rather than a cute
tamarind-headed thingy, the giant scorpion in 143 is now a crayfish, all the
worms in 168 now have eyes (or possibly bell-ends), IL’s cameo in section 210
no longer looks like him (is this intentional though?) and what is VK’s growing
obsession with everyone having pointed ears in Batch 2 as the (no longer) IL
figure here now does, Throm has lost his bizarre “sunglasses” look in 282 (possibly
a good thing as this part of him never looked right), the orcs in 326 are
simply comical now, the new version of 344’s faces in light are actually much
more scary and effective now (so that’s one point to VK), and the skeleton in
381 is so oddly drawn that VK does not seem to be even trying to show the
skeleton anymore. Overall, this is a pretty depressing indictment of the
situation and I have only highlighted the really obvious trainwrecks in what is
a fairly awful set of images from VK. There was no way that VK (or probably
anyone else for that matter) was going to compete with the set of illustrations
that IM produced for this book but Krizan’s mixture of semi-reworking and
simply tracing with far too much greyscale dumped on it and zero detail again
does nothing to visualise the ultimate fantasy dungeon. The images here should
be surprising and inspire awe and trepidation in equal measure. Sadly they just
inspire me to not want to play the greatest FF in terms of dungeon adventuring
in its purest sense and this is a travesty against the material in the book.
There is an argument to say that all the best SJ/IL FFs <u>must</u> be reissued
by Scholastic otherwise the series is not being properly represented, but there
is also an argument that says if Scholastic are going to ruin the impact this
much then perhaps they are better off leaving titles like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DD</i> well alone as this version is just an insult to the author, the
original illustrator, and to the audience. Horrible. Oh yes, and there are no
new sections illustrated in this version (Thank God).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, as I
recover from my incandescent rage at what I have seen in Scholastic’s version
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap Dungeon</i>, I find myself
forced to revisit <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Appointment With FEAR</i>,
but at least only to look at the art meaning I do not have to read it (ever)
again. The porthole cover gives us the inevitable image of the Titanium Cyborg
which, as the subject of this book is comic book superheroes, is finally wholly
suited to Robert Ball’s cartoonish interpretations of the covers and is
genuinely well done, notwithstanding the problem that Brian Bolland’s name
carries so much gravitas in comic books and his work is pretty much the
pinnacle in the genre. But Ball makes a decent fist of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Declan
Considine’s interior art in the original version was workable and his style
captured the comic book visual nicely (especially the multi-framed comic book
approach in most of the images) but never rose above simply being acceptable in
context. So, could Vlado Krizan finally get his chance to better the original
art given that he is, for once, not having to compete with a master of the form
as he was with the likes of Iain McCaig, Russ Nicholson, Malcolm Barter, and
Alan Langford?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Appearing in
both the original and Scholastic printings are the images for these sections:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1 street
scene, 43 kidnap, 58 Macro Brain, 85 The Reincarnation, 114 Creature of
Carnage, 129 Ice Queen, 157 assassination, 185 subway train, 215 Sidney Knox,
242 The Devastator, 256 store hold-up, 184 alsatians, 298 Titanium Cyborg, 313
Dr Macabre, 341 car crash, 355 fire warriors, 369 Chainsaw Bronski, 382 The
Poisoner, 425 Cocktail Composer Droid, 440 Arrest<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Giving us
these as the now missing images:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">15 amusement
park, 29 small brown cloud, 72 sharks, 144 Professor Murdock, 171 Daddy Rich,
201 fountain creature, 228 bank job, 270 mummy, 327 Audobon Park, 396 Mantrapper,
410 airport nutter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Let’s
consider what is missing in this book first this time as, given that the
majority of the images that made the cut are key moments (standard for the
Scholastic issues) it does create the problem that much of the surviving art is
of super villains which makes it rather unbalanced and appear to be a catalogue
of nothing but super villains (which it is not as lots of everyday moments
happen in this book too). The exclusion of some images of crimes (228 and 410)
is arguably a bad move as you are after all on the hunt for crimes to solve,
although section 29 and 327’s images were always pretty incomprehensible to me
so I’m glad to see these ones gone. Scholastic has removed a couple of super
villain images too though which does keep the book from seeming to portray
almost nothing but these characters now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As for what
art remains, there is finally a real positive in Krizan’s version which is that
in this book there is none of his trademark awful greyscaling. Could we be
seeing a breakthrough at last? Naturally, no greyscale is also a great
opportunity to give us some immersive detail, something sorely absent from VK’s
art up until now and something that is essential to making the player feel part
of the image, as it were. Disappointingly, this opportunity is not taken and
instead we are left with loads of empty white voids in his art here, but it is
at least much less murky than his work usually is in FFs and this is probably
his best work for FF so far, not that that is really saying much as this art is
still very sub-par overall! To pick out just a few examples to highlight: 114
is just a man now and not likely to generate much carnage, 129 has had botox or
lip filler (well at least it’s contemporary), 215 would be better being renamed
Cauliflower Head, the alsatians in 294 are drawn by someone who has presumably
never seen an alsatian, but a plus is that the VK version of 298 has been
restructured so the Titanium Cyborg is now very much front and centre (not a
bad thing as he is the main baddie of the piece). One thing that strikes the
viewer again though is that the all-important panelled comic book style has
been maintained which adds a lot to the whole concept of this book, but does of
course draw us to once again see Krizan’s versions as, in most cases, little
more than just copies of the Considine originals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It is good to
see the greyscaling gone for once, but the failure to take the chance this
afforded to get some detail into the art finally is a huge failing. The fact
that I never liked this book though does mean that VK could have pretty much
done whatever he wanted with the internal art and I would not be hugely
bothered as I still would not be especially interested in this pointless entry
into the series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As I said
above, I approach this version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Island
Of The Lizard King</i> with some trepidation as the original edition had the
perfect match of setting to artist. Langford’s excellence at portraying the
primitive and/or lizardine mixed with Fire Island’s sun-scorched “lost world”
feel really brought this title to life for me and I definitely prefer AL’s work
here to that in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creature Of Havoc</i>.
Russ Nicholson got Vlado’d twice in Scholastic’s first batch, Iain McCaig felt
the greyscaling sting in both batches, and Langford gets the dubious honour of
having two of his sets of art reworked by Krizan in Batch 2. But first there is
the cover which is the fourth and final McCaig cover to get the Ball treatment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Of the four
McCaig covers <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">IotLK</i> has always been
the weakest by far for me so this was another that had potential for improvement.
Indeed, the Martin McKenna update for Wizard Series 1 was more impacting and
the Lizard King on his version had more threat in its expression and pose. Fast
forward to the Ball version and I’m pleasantly surprised at how threatening his
porthole headshot really is. The all-important gonchong is there too and for
some reason the emphasis on him being blue is oddly effective, so this one is a
winner for me and certainly complements the previous two versions as none of
them is perfect and this is an unusual case where there is no definitive go-to
version, so the cover comes off well in the Scholastic edition. I fear the same
cannot be said for the interiors however, and present in both the Puffin and
Scholastic printings are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1 Mungo, 14
lizard man, 30 hill troll, 48 razorjaw, 82 Lizard King and black lion, 101
skeleton in mine, 116 bear, 139 lizard man riding styracosaurus, 149 map, 168
hobgoblin, 195 goblin, 211 Harryhausen crab eats Mungo, 223 lizard man in mine,
235 hydra, 254 cyclops, 279 battle, 305 ogre, 325 giant lizard, 350 Raquel
Welch and sabre-toothed tiger, 360 two-headed lizard man<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One thing
that is obvious with how Scholastic has approached what images to remove here
is that all of the lizard man-centric material is still here, which is a logical
move. What makes less sense though is that some of the important images that
drilled the primitive nature of Fire Island home are missing. The full list of
removed images being:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">39 grannits,
59 cavewoman, 71 pygmies, 126 spit toad, 158 slime sucker, 249 shaman, 268
prisoner, 291 pirate and monkey, 317 marsh hopper, 337 head hunters, 379 water
elemental, 390 raft lunatic<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">This excision
list is a problem as all of 59, 71, 249 and 337 are important if we are to see
the visualisation of a primitive environment. Talking about them in the text is
one thing, but seeing them drawn is much more impacting and removing these
images seems frankly illogical. I have a suspicion that the PC Brigade might
have got at this decision-making process as several of the removed images could
be construed as stereotyping or whatever, but that is no excuse and these are
vital to the whole concept. I am pleased at the removal of 379 though as this
was the weakest image and the least relevant concept. Removing 291 is a plot
issue, but only if you took the pirate beech route right at the start, so the
jury is out on this one. At least they kept the crab eating Mungo in for
section 211 as this is important too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The inclusion
list mostly makes sense but including the useless map in 149 is an odd choice.
The majority of the featured images though are on subject and the weighting
towards lizard men, slaves, and primitive species suits the material very well
and focuses us on the lizard-centric concept.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Krizan’s
versions of Langford’s generally brilliant art in this book are very
problematic: Mungo in 1 has got sharp teeth for some reason and he almost seems
to be threatening us, no-one can draw lizard men quite like AL so 14, 82, 139
(which also features a dinosaur again), 223, and 360 were always going to be
poor in my yes, the razorjaw in 48 is lacking the primeval quality of
Langford’s version as is 235’s hydra, the bear in 116 is actually very
threatening so this is a plus for Krizan, the goblin in 195 never really looked
like a goblin to me in AL’s interpretation but Krizan’s isn’t great either and
this image should have been removed as it is pretty incidental and replaced
with the cavewoman or the shaman (which is essential to the plot) – this would
also have got rid of the map in 149, there are now way too few characters in
the battle image for 279 to suggest it is meant to be a battle, and the Cyclops
in 254 has an afro and is easily the worst of the Vlado bunch in this book.
That said, there is also the problem of the iconic Raquel Welch image on
section 350 and if you were to pick one image that encapsulates Langford’s work
on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">IotLK</i> it would be this picture for
me – so why then has VK turned her into an emo? Dire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Annoyingly,
after the whitening up of the art in VK’s take on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AwF</i> we are back to carbon copies of the originals but made way too
dark by the clumsy greyscale. Fire Island (to me anyway, and evidently to Alan
Langford) should have a sun-drenched primitive look, not Krizan’s gloomy
detail-free night-time rubbish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">IotLK</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> was a good but not great gamebook
that was greatly lifted by its fabulous internal art. Now, sadly, unless your
imagination can work the text up into how Fire Island <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">should</i> look and fill in the important visual gaps that Scholastic
have left, this makes for a fairly lacklustre affair in this form and I’m not
sure it has much to offer anymore, bar the brain-melting experience of trying
to work out where this now fits in the continuity given that Mungo dies at the
start of this one, but Mungo is very much alive and unhappy about the whole
Oyster Bay situation late on in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port
Of Peril</i> which, mixed with the now clear-as-mud story arc with that book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City Of Thieves, Deathtrap Dungeon</i> and
the all-new <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Assassins Of Allansia</i>,
just confuses you to the point of not trying to identify a timeline anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And so we
come to the last reissue in Batch 2, and one that pretty much everyone would
welcome: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shamutanti Hill</i>s. I do
not need to explain that this is the first part of Steve Jackson’s four book
epic collectively known as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i>
and Scholastic have acknowledged this by adding the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery</i> leader to the title. This could slightly confuse anyone
unfamiliar with what this might mean but it does alert newbies to the fact that
this is part of something bigger (or rather it would be when more <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery</i> appear). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A big part of
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery</i>’s coherence was the art which
was by John Blanche across all four parts and he produced the covers and the
internals. Wizard’s decision to change the covers to (former Iron Maiden LP
cover artist) Melvyn Grant’s updated versions detracted from this somewhat, but
at least JB’s very unique vision was intact within each of the four books.
Blanche’s style is not for everyone (me included) but his appreciators rate him
hugely and his work on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery</i> certainly
gave it a distinctive look. So, what would the Ball-Krizan version look like?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ball’s cover
has the manticore peering through the porthole, is nicely threatening, and the
added touch of the disproportionately-large tail stinger is a nice lurid touch.
It’s not a patch on Blanche’s fantastic Puffin cover, but it works well enough,
as do quite a few of Ball’s covers, so this is an acceptable cover for me. As
for Krizan’s internals, Blanche’s black and white style is so off-the-wall and
his perspectives are so odd that trying to duplicate these would have been very
hard, so many of the VK versions are adjusted and rethought in places. This
selection is what we find still in place from the original list of images:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1 Sightmaster
Servant, 27 riddling hunchback, 39 ogre, 51 assassin, 63 snakepit, 87 wood
golem, 123 encounter montage, 147 plague village, 159 pilfered portrait, 183
old man in tree, 195 manticore, 207 hill giant, 243 woman, 255 goblin, 266 ale
house, 355 serpent, 407 goblins, 425 wolfhound, 456 Torrepani welcome committee<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So the
following are missing:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Map of
Kakhabad, 13 skunkbear, 73 back lotus, 76 elvins, 99 troll, 112 head hunters,
172 hut interior, 220 Jann the minimite, 232 svinns, 279 more elvins, 308
bandits dancing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">IotLK</i> I feel that Scholastic have
dropped the ball with the excisions again here. Jann is iconic, 308 is
hilarious, 112 wreaks of the same pc rubbish decision-making as we had in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">IotLK</i>, and what have we now got against
elvins to lose two images of them? And surely the map of Kakhabad is necessary
to contextualise the campaign as a whole and establish a geographical sense of
place as we are not in Allansia anymore? Whoever is making the decisions at
Scholastic clearly has, rather like Charlie Higson showed with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gates Of Death</i>, zero concept of FF
lore and this seems to be little more than a cashcow to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I always felt
that Blanche’s wood golem in section 87 was the single most bonkers image ever
to appear in any FF but the Krizan version is flat and uninteresting. I would
rather have lunacy that makes you think and really study an image than
something totally conventional like the VK attempt. I do not understand why the
Sightmaster Servant in the VK image is so small (or is it a test of our
eyesight to see the Sightmaster?) and the all-important manticore in 195 is not
as botched as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DD</i> version
(thankfully) but is still not great or in any way threatening (at odds with
Ball’s cover then). I am confused by Krizan’s version of the goblin in 255 as,
whilst actually good, I think it is probably a troll.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For the third
time in the Scholastic reissues we have an all-new section illustrated in this
book: number 95 bandits. As before, with no barometer of comparison this is an
opportunity for Krizan to do his own thing and this is a reasonable image but
bandits are hard to get wrong as they are not fantasy art per se, and VK does
indeed do his own thing by giving us a gloomy greyscale picture with no detail
or depth to keep us interested.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In fact, this
is what he has done with all his illustrations in this book and his angle on
the Blanche originals is to mostly make the perspectives more conventional,
remove the “excesses” of JB’s artistic weirdness, and have greyscale abound yet
again. As with the usual Krizan technique, everything is too dark and devoid of
any detail, the exact opposite in fact of JB’s very fussy, manic style. This is
however the only title in Batch 2 that offered us the imaginative angle of a
whole new section being illustrated (a positive move), as mundane as it is (a
missed opportunity). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Batch 2 of
Scholastic’s reboots is a much more inconsistent selection in terms of fan
opinion and quality. There are three true masterpieces here, an okay effort,
and a terrible gimmick book (that is not without its fans itself though). The
new book (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gates Of Death</i>) has
gone down in history as one of FF’s most derided books ever, and not without
good reason (but I cover this fully elsewhere on this Blog). The new porthole
covers are classy-looking even if the move to rebrand after six books is
annoying to anyone who likes external visual consistency, but the decision to
ignore fan reaction and plough on ahead with Vlado Krizan producing the
internal art, along with all the crappy physical quality issues, does the
series (and Scholastic’s credibility) no favours. If Scholastic’s vision for FF
is to continue they need to address the internal art debacle and replace Krizan
(yes I know it removes the visual coherence, but enough is enough with this
greyscale crap), ensure the titles they release are those that have the best
reputations, and finish what they have started as regards the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i> cycle, as an incomplete epic
will just be frustrating.</span></div>
MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-80014250161008680182020-05-10T19:23:00.001+01:002020-05-10T20:14:55.212+01:00Scholastic Reissues: Schedule 1<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">SCHOLASTIC REISSUES: SCHEDULE 1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">When the news
broke in 2017 that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantasy</i>
would be getting yet another reissue and that this, like Wizard’s two runs of
reprints, would include more brand new titles, fandom was understandably excited.
However, when the books appeared, the reaction was at best muted and at worst
outright hostile towards Scholastic’s approach to the series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Scholastic’s
first tranche of releases began with (in their new numbering system) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">#1 The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">#2 City Of Thieves</i> along with the rather
unsuitably-numbered (considering that it was part of the first trio of
releases) completely new title <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">#6 The
Port Of Peril</i>. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> being number
1 is de rigueur as it was the very first FF book, is co-written by both main
authors, and introduces the system and its concepts in a vanilla way as it was
from the period before any world-building had begun and all the individual
titles existed in bubbles. Plus, as an introduction to the series, it is very
very good, is not too hard on the player in terms of instadeaths (there are
only four), and it is well-balanced, even though it makes very little sense,
the Livingstone half is much better in my opinion, the Maze Of Zagor is torture
and will put a lot of people off ever finishing the book, and the overarching
plot of killing a little old man and pinching his treasure is a bit morally
dubious. But where better to start for a new generation of readers (probably
the offspring of the original 80s generation of FF fans) than with this book?
Some might argue that having <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i> as
the second release is less obvious but, as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Port Of Peril</i> is its sequel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i>
had to be released as the second book otherwise <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PoP</i> would have made no sense in terms of plot flow. Plus, as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i> is a genuine masterpiece, Scholastic
has been savvy in reprinting two of the series’ most iconic titles straight off
the bat alongside their shiny new offering. It might seem odd that two-thirds
of the first trio are Ian Livingstone’s efforts, but Scholastic would soon
redress the balance between Jackson and Livingstone’s titles as its release
program progressed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The textual
content of Scholastic’s versions is unchanged from the Puffin/Wizard editions
and I have considered these in the write-ups on each individual title, so the
purpose of this post is to look at what has changed, in particular with focus
on the artwork. For this reason, the brand new titles are not included here as
they too have their own separate reviews on this site.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The most
obvious change on first seeing these new editions is the revised cover art.
Wizard had already reworked the covers for every title they produced (the bulk
of which were done by the hugely talented Martin McKenna) to give them a more
“contemporary” feel (their justification, not mine) so it was interesting to
see where Scholastic would take this. Wizard’s new covers were all rather
dynamic whilst maintaining the elements of fantasy and terror that Puffin’s
covers had but were mostly inferior to the Puffin originals, with one or two
exceptions. Scholastic, given its involvement in the education sector, went for
a rather less threatening approach with the emphasis on uniformity and bold
colours. Robert Ball was the new artist of choice for the revised cover art, a
man known to some from his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Game Of
Thrones</i> work and I can see both positives and negatives in Scholastic’s
decision to achieve a consistent look across the series’ covers. The obvious
plus here is that it makes the books instantly recognisable on the shelf and it
helps greatly in creating a sense of a unified world where these books are set.
Puffin’s large pool of cover and internal artists made for a mixed-bag but it
did give each book more of a look and feel of its own and I personally liked
the idea that some artists’ work would appeal more or less than another’s and
this was one of many draws to the Puffin editions. Plus specific styles suited
specific titles/themes better (or worse in a few cases) and this did add a lot
to the experience of the Puffin versions. With the Scholastic editions there is
the danger of immediately alienating someone from the entire series purely
because they do not like the art of the one and only artist currently working
on either the covers or the internals. For me, Ball’s covers are undeniably
bold and colourful and are definitely suited to the intended audience
(remember, these books are, in commercial market terms, for kids not
middle-aged fanboys) and I gather from peer feedback that the intended target
age group really like Ball’s covers so, regardless of what the older fans might
think, Scholastic has clearly nailed this aspect and this shows that they mean
business with the series rather than this just being another tired
necro-release run. The return of the classic FF logo is very welcome (I never
liked Wizard’s silver button badge logo) and the bold black and yellow YOU ARE
THE HERO banner is a nice touch that adds a consistent design element in the
same way that the green (or red in the case of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i>) banner or the dragon did with the Puffin series.
Similarly, the iconic Puffin green spines are aped with Scholastic’s classy
gold spines with black lettering. However, the gold spines would prove to be a
bit of an own goal as the gold comes off on contact with skin and bares up to hardly
any handling meaning that, if you actually want to hold the books and have them
stand up to any amount of use, the spines quickly rub down to white leaving you
with ruined spines that are a patchwork of gold and white with black lettering.
Shoddy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">And this
shoddiness of production quality does not end at the disintegrating gold
spines. The interiors of Scholastic’s editions are poor to say the least. The
paper is cheap-looking, dark and oily, and smells very peculiar (none of that
lovely bookshop fresh smell here), and for some unknown reason a designer at
Scholastic thought it would be a good idea to mark the page edges with black
splodges that are meant to create the effect of burned paper smuts but actually
just look like printing ink has gone everywhere. Ugly. To add insult to injury,
Scholastic commissioned the original cartographer from the Puffin run (the
consistently excellent Leo Hartas) to draw a new map of Allansia which was
wisely included from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> onwards,
but forgot to get anyone who knew the series’ lore to check it resulting in a
typo on the name of Salamonis. OK, I know only the experts would notice, but
still, get it right Scholastic if you want to create a new generation of
devoted fans in the same way that Puffin did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">So, now to
look specifically at each title in Scholastic’s first batch of books, starting
at the beginning with their version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>.
I really like Robert Ball’s new cover of Zagor (in true form as opposed to his
old man guise) casting what looks like Force Lightning on a background of
Firetop Mountain. Scholastic’s decision to put the FF logo over the top of the
mountain’s rather important firy top seems a bit stupid. But overall the mix of
oranges and yellows makes for a really impacting and very bright cover that definitely
makes me want to see more and look inside. So far so good, then. For me, one of
the things that really hooked me to FF as a child was Russ Nicholson’s internal
art in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> and, due to this, his art
IS the visual epitome of FF for me and I was both intrigued and concerned when
I learned that, for the first time as even Wizard did not touch the internal
art, FF had all-new artwork inside as well as on the covers. I opened the book
with a mixture of hope and trepidation to see what awaited me inside and, words
failed me on first sight – What was this abomination that I saw before me? Was
this a joke? The artwork was always as important a feature as the text in
gamebooks and FF always seemed to aim for quality and integrity with its
choices on internal artists so what was the thinking behind replacing such
brilliant and iconic imagery with the work of someone called Vlado Krizan?
Krizan’s art is the single biggest bone of contention with Scholastic’s
reissues amongst the gamebook community. I read one very amusing comment on
Amazon saying that Krizan has won a Blue Peter competition to get the honour of
showcasing to the world just how bad an artist he is and, if his work in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> is an indication, this could well
be true. I am not au fait with the story but various theories abounded that
maybe VK was a Scholastic house artist which meant he was a cheap option and,
whatever the reason, I just cannot understand why FF thought that hiring him
for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> to replace Nicholson’s art
was remotely a good idea. But it is not fair to simply dismiss VK’s greyscale
art as awful without going into a bit more depth of just why this is the case.
For me, the underlying problem is twofold: firstly, the greyscaling makes for
very dull, lifeless, and detail-less images that do not draw the viewer in at
all; secondly, a mixture of cartoonish looks and oddly emaciated figures with
angular, very “digital”-looking forms, give such an unrealistic look to the art
that it is hard to see it as anything other than the product of a mid-90s computer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It is
interesting to note that Scholastic also drastically reduced the number of
internal images in every reissue (not just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>)
which, whilst this means we do not have to have anything like as much of
Vlado’s terrible art inflicted upon us, it does mean the books are text-heavy
which hugely detracts from the experience. For thoroughness, the images that
appear in both the Puffin and Scholastic versions are as follows (listed by
section number): <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">1 cave
entrance, 36 old adventurer, 71 sleeping orc, 106 dragon, 122 boathouse
zombies, 143 sandworm, 168 orc chieftain whipping underling, 179 minotaur, 189
painting room, 193 iron Cyclops, 218 river crossing area, 227 dwarf card party,
251 bats, 266 Giver of Sleep, 275 ghoul, 348 troll, 358 Zagor, 370 orc
booze-up, 383 skeletons, 394 giant spider, 400 treasure<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">….which
means, conversely, that these images have been removed completely and have no
new equivalent in the Scholastic edition:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">11 animated
tools, 58 Rest Ye Here bench, 84 mazemaster, 97 blue candle shop, 134 two
helmets, 155 armoury, 205 crypt, 240 snake in a box, 287 rats, 308 grille, 311
hands and stars floor, 326 key, 336 boathouse man and dog<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It is worth
tempering this mass cull of illustrated sections with the observation that,
with one or two exceptions (58 Rest Ye Here and 336 boathouse), most of the
missing images are secondary and not that interesting in terms of subject
matter so their removal is no major disaster to the experience. Thankfully,
Scholastic kept the most interesting and/or iconic imagery in place so the key
moments are still maintained visually, but what of the execution? To pick just
a few of VK’s versions that struck me the most: 36 is now far too dark and
shadowy, 71 seems to have become cute and friendly, 168 does not look remotely
like 71 to the point that I’m not convinced they are the same species (so much
for visual continuity then), 189 has a shaft of light coming from the left
which is impossible as we are supposed to be under a mountain, 193 has made the
iron cyclops look like a fawn from Narnia, the dwarfs in 227 wear shrouds and
look almost Satanic, 275 is a skeleton not a terrifying semi-decayed ghoul,
358 is actually quite good in context and does at least capture all the
important elements of Zagor, the giant spider in 394 has a lot more horror in
it now and is genuinely effective, the treasure chest in 400 is from a weird
perspective and looks like a house now. This shows that Vlado’s art here is not
100% awful but his failing does seem to be more in that things look too cute,
are too thin and elongated, have odd inconsistencies in them, or are too dark
and gloomy to have any real impact. The botching of the very iconic zombie and
iron cyclops images is a definite disaster, but the greyscaling of everything
and the unrealistic look is the killer overall. Gone is the life and the awe
that Nicholson put into the originals and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>
is now just text, excellent text I grant you, but just text as the visual
impact is now a thing of the past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">One last
point on the changes to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> before
we move on is that there are two versions of this first batch release.
Scholastic produced a bookclub-exclusive version with a variant cover layout
where the title and FF banner are switched. Sadly this does mean that we now
see even less of the mountain so the all-important top is still not bloody
visible on the cover! Having a variant does make life more interesting for
collectors though and this version came with an exclusive FF logo key ring
stuck to the front cover (using a sticky gel that can be removed without
destroying the cover so Scholastic does have someone working for them who is
conscious of quality control!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">I cannot
extend my liking of Ball’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> cover
to his new cover for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i>. Iain
McCaig’s original cover is one of my absolute favourite FF covers so any change
to this would be a problem for me. I found Wizard’s cover boring and fairly
irrelevant subject matter-wise but RB’s version is terrible. The
blue-black-yellow pallet is nice enough and, again, it is bold, but the interpretation
of Zanbar Bone is not in the slightest bit frightening and looks modelled on
something you would see in an episode of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Simpsons</i>. In no way does this new cover drive me to open this book, yet
open it I must to see what the new internal art has to offer and we have the
following sections illustrated in both the Puffin and Scholastic versions:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">1 city guard,
31 bridge, 62 Black Lobster, 88 serpent queen, 148 pillory, 171 street scene,
182 Jimmy Quicktint, 203 Zanbar Bone, 224 J Wraggins, 239 cart, 250 man-orc,
265 hag, 271 sleeping pirates, 307 Sourbelly and Fatnose, 329 Nicodemus, 344
Azzur’s coach, 349 fire imp, 385 skeletons<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Which means
the following images are missing from the Scholastic version:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">17 lunatic,
27 skull pill Russian Roulette, 40 bays ball, 80 lizardine (I always preferred
this to the conceptually-similar serpent queen), 113 toys women, 135 gas egg
man, 178 ogre, 292 vampire girl, 319 sarcophagus, 356 rats, 370 black lotus,
398 cannonball man<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Interestingly,
we see here for the first time Scholastic actually adding new images for
sections that were not previously illustrated in previous editions, in this
case two sections:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">115 chained
legs man, 296 thieves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It makes
perfect sense to add an image of some thieves and I always found it curious
that the McCaig art never included any of these, given the title of this book,
so this is a neat inclusion. Add to this the fact that the thieves look
sinister and quite effective, and you get a useful inclusion. I cannot say the
same for the inclusion of section 115’s image though as this just seems to be a
bit incidental. Indeed, as with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>
most of the excised images were pretty incidental and non-essential meaning all
of the important stuff is still illustrated but I really like the idea of the
vampire girl and the two old women fighting over toys as these did add a touch
of weirdness so missing these out is a pity. As for what is still here, a few
observations would be: the city guard in 1 is well worked and does look like a
medieval guard (but McCaig’s was far more threatening), the bridge in 31 is
from completely the wrong perspective as you approach it from the side not
straight down the river, the serpent queen in 88 is terrible as it is far too
angular and not remotely natural-looking, the street scene in 171 is no longer
a detailed panorama reduced as it now is to basically just a boat, Jimmy
Quicktint looks better now in my opinion as he is more like a modern tattooist
than McCaig’s Ghost of Christmas Present version, is J Wraggins in 224 intended
to look like Robert Ball as he definitely does?, the man-orc in 250 and the
sleeping pirates in 271 are very close to the originals and other than the
greyscaling dulling them down are not bad, Nicodemus now looks terrified in 329
rather than terrifying and the huge amount of elaboracy in the McCaig original
really made this image stand out for me (but not anymore). My biggest problems
by far are with the illustrations of Zanbar Bone (203) and Sourbelly and
Fatnose (307): Zanbar is just awful now – gone is the threat and the horror, to
be replaced with an emaciated and frankly pathetic-looking non-entity that you
could probably just push over and he would shatter; As for Sourbelly and
Fatnose, the originals were full of repulsive and grotesque character, but now
are just two shady and very similar outlines that do not warrant any more than
a cursory glance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Naturally,
trying to make comparisons with Iain McCaig’s art is unfair as IM is a master
of creating very perfect-looking images. Krizan’s versions are a mixture of
pretty effective, dull, and simply inferior reinterpretations. If we can take a
positive from this it is that Krizan’s versions are all full page whereas the
McCaig ones were far too small in some cases and, again, most of the really important
and/or iconic images are still here but a really important and instantly
apparent feature of Krizan’s versions is that he seems to think the book is set
at night given how dark each image is. Yes, I know that is what his trademark
greyscaling does but this changes the feel of the piece quite considerably and
not for the better. But, as I have already observed, competing with McCaig is
impossible so it’s interesting to see that Krizan chose, for the most part, not
to even bother trying!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Hot on the heels
of the first three books came a second trio to complete Scholastic’s first
release schedule. This time the balance of credits went Steve Jackson’s way
with two of his titles and a further Livingstone book giving us: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">#3 The Citadel Of Chaos, #4 The Forest Of
Doom </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">#5 House Of Hell</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">I was never
particularly comfortable with any of the previous covers for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoC</i>. Emannuel’s black Big Bird leading
the hordes from the Black Tower lacked any animation and just looked silly, Ian
Miller’s whirlwind woman was beautifully painted but the subject matter was so
incidental as to be almost irrelevant, and Kevin Jenkins' hydra on the Wizard
version just did not capture the feel of the book for me, so of all the first
five reissues <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoC</i> was the one that had
the most mileage in getting another new cover image. The decision to put the
book’s most famous and most feared enemies (the dreaded ganjees) on the cover
was a definite win and Ball’s versions do look evil and devious, plus the
inclusion in the background of a painting of Balthus Dire himself is a neat
touch. The red toned background also harks nicely back to the star cover edition
which was itself red so, intentional or accidental, this works well for me.
Without a doubt, of all of the first six Scholastic covers this is probably my
favourite as it seems closest to how I see the concept of the book being encapsulated
on the cover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Vlado Krizan’s
approach to the internal art for this book is also slightly different in that
these versions are very much carbon copies of the Russ Nicholson originals in
terms of structure (even down to stances, positions, views, and the direction things
are looking in), but with some added (read “unwanted”) greyscaling and none of
the detail or character and impressive flourishes of the RN versions. As is the
case in the previous books, almost all of the art that has made the cut is the
important/iconic material as we can see from the list of what is included:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">1 ape-dog and
dog-ape, 13 witches, 40 butler, 64 Balthus’ kids, 118 rhinoman, 144 black elf,
156 tentacle, 182 ganjee, 210 O’Seamus, 222 injured man, 234 calacorm, 245 wind
woman, 257 stone golem, 304 gargoyle, 316 wheelies, 328 hydra, 339 courtyard
gathering, 352 gark, 362 chalice chamber, 374 Balthus Dire<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Leaving the following
removed images:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">25 trench and
chest, 52 Gambling Hall door, 79 bush, 90 ghosts, 169 dining room, 196 larder,
269 arguing men, 281 scouts, 292 Mrs Dire, 386 tunnel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Of the
excised images the only one I would advocate keeping would be Mrs Dire as she
helps to create the overall concept of Balthus’ family unit and there is an
opulence to her room that works well and suits the idea of her character.
Unlike <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i>, Scholastic added no new
plates to this book but this kind of works as I’m not too sure what other moments
are really important enough or arresting enough visually to have been
illustrated, so I think Scholastic got this one right bar the removal of the
picture of Mrs Dire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It goes
without saying that the Krizan versions aren’t a patch on the Nicholsons, but
at least VK has given up changing perspectives so that they no longer make any
sense or trying to reinterpret things himself and screwing it up. The flipside
of this is of course that if you are going to just copy the originals but in
your own greyscaled, detail-less, and lifeless style, what really is the value
in changing the art other than to achieve mediocre visual consistency across
the series? And another thing, why the hell is everyone and everything smiling
in the Krizan versions? Well, at least Scholastic scored points with the cover
art this time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Iain McCaig’s
cover for the Puffin <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> is, along
with his cover for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i>, a truly
stunning creation and is often cited as the greatest FF cover ever by fans, which
means that, by changing this, no matter what Scholastic did, the reaction would
not be a good one. Even Wizard decided to stick with the shapechanger but just had
Martin McKenna rework it. In other words, if a single image works well to encapsulate
the book (which the shapechanger does) then don’t mess with it. With <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> Scholastic’s cover was the same
but different (ie Zagor in a different context to the Puffin or Wizard covers),
for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i> they took the main baddie
again but canned the McCaig montage idea and made him look deeply unthreatening
as he stood alone in the street, and for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoC</i>
they took a book that had never had a fully suitable and satisfactory cover
image and actually found something that worked at last. So it was that with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> they played it safe and we got another
illustrator’s take on the shapechanger which was of course Robert Ball for reasons
we have already established. The first few times you look at Ball’s shapechanger,
it seems to be doing a star jump, but closer study shows that it is striking an
aggressive posture from behind the tree branch that is another key component of
all iterations of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> cover. Again,
this is a bold and bright cover but it just does not look anything other than
awkward and cartoonish and, whilst not a trainwreck like Ball’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoT</i> cover, it has none of the effective impact
of his efforts for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoC</i> and I simply do not like it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">I have always
been quite vocal too about my dislike of Malcolm Barter’s original internal art
for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i>, but this is mostly down to
it not doing MB justice as he is a superb illustrator with a unique look to his
work. His internal art for the two <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Webs
Of Intrigue</i> gamebooks and his Yaztromo piece for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Trolltooth Wars</i> graphic novel are testimony to his ability. His
output for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> was, I understand,
turned around in a very tight timeframe and is what it is: rushed. There are
several superb pieces in there (Yaztromo’s tower, the fire demon, the stingworm,
the wyvern) but there are also some dire images (the hobgoblins, the gremlins, the
fishman, and in particular the dreadful catwoman) so I was actually quite
interested to see what Vlado Krizan might produce for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD </i>– would he redeem himself? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">No, Vlado
Krizan would not redeem himself. Instead he would do what he did with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoC</i> and just trace the originals, remove
any detail, dump a load of greyscale on the top, switch the lights off, and
make organic forms look computer-generated. Oh dear. On the plus side, his
annoying habit of having everything smiling seems to have finally gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">For the
record, these sections remain illustrated:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">1 Yaztromo’s
tower, 15 stingworm, 29 orcs, 49 gremlins, 57 wyvern, 90 hillmen, 107 fire
demon, 142 centaur, 160 Vermithrax, 170 wizard, 181 fishman, 212 attack of the clones,
230 ogre, 253 trapped man, 265 forest giant, 277 treeman, 285 werewolf, 360
bandits<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Leaving these
sections now devoid of images:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">38 witches,
69 underworld, 99 arm wrestle man, 118 wild boar, 130 catwoman, 195 apeman, 204
Stonebridge, 294 room, 317 hobgoblins, 340 angry dwarf, 351 crypt, 378 gnome,
384 pinned-out barbarian <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Unlike the
other books in this batch of releases, several important images have been
removed, especially Stonebridge and the crypt, which are both crucial to the
true path and the plot. I would have been interested to see what Krizan would
have made of the catwoman though as this was not MB’s greatest moment, neither
are the hobgoblins which I would also have liked to see get the Krizan
treatment, if only out of very morbid curiosity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">An important point
to mention is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> is the second
Scholastic release to acquire an extra image, that being the pterodactyl in section
303, the presence of which in this adventure never made much sense to me, although
it did finally get clarified in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port
Of Peril, </i>which could be why it got included as an illustration in this
version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> as it adds to the new continuity
of the series. We have no benchmark of comparison for this image and it is
workmanlike enough but suffers from all the lack of detail and surfeit of
greyscale that all Krizan’s FF work does. I wonder what a Barter pterodactyl
looks like if he’s given the time to really go at it? I think I’d like to know…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">House Of HellI </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">was always going to give Scholastic issues.
The devil worship and sacrifice subject matters alone are at odds with
Scholastic’s rather pc approach to playing it safe with their FF releases. Even
WHSmith refused to carry it in the 80s which made it something of a cause
celebre for fans. I cannot be certain if a similar problem blighted the
Scholastic edition, but finding it is not easy compared to the other Scholastic
FFs and it does seem to be rather elusive. Another bone of contention with it is
that is really has nothing to do with FF. OK, it uses the system, but its
modern day setting and its Old Dark House themes are at odds with FF’s medieval
fantasy tropes and its roots in D&D. The counter argument to this of course
is that it is regarded as a masterpiece of the series so it would be an
important title to release, is very challenging and a satisfying puzzle to
unravel, and shows the potential for FF far beyond the Tolkien-esque material.
So Scholastic bit the bullet and included it in their rebooted series, which is
to be applauded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">And it seems
that, at least for the cover, Scholastic went all-out with this title, putting
the hell demon’s head front and centre on the cover, with the Norman Bates-like
house itself in the background. All in all, Robert Ball has done a great job on
this cover – it maintains the look of the other five books in this first batch
so the standardisation is there, but it also punches home the horror and demonic
themes that are the book’s core. Without a doubt, this is not a patch on Ian
Miller’s brilliantly-weird Puffin cover, but it certainly does the job and is
effective in its own way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Tim Sell’s
internal art for the original version never quite did it for me. Some images
worked well and were full of horror (the ghost woman, the headless ghost, the
hell demon), others seemed less successful (skeletons, hanged man, etc) but,
overall, the original internals were not my thing. I suspect Scholastic had to
tone down the graphic horror of the original art brief which means that I would
imagine that the majority of the more Satanic and/or disturbing imagery was
removed by necessity. This resulted in the following sections no longer being
illustrated:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">14 great
danes, 27 hanged man, 71 man in cell with goat’s head, 98 tumbling corpse, 154
white-haired man, 209 prisoners, 250 Duchess of Brewster, 264 naked sacrifice,
305 man in cell, 345 kitchen <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Removing the
naked sacrifice image was inevitable as even Puffin excised this one from later
printings and it seems that anything involving imprisonment is gone too.
Indeed, unusually for the Scholastic versions, they have chosen to play it safe
rather than removing the less important images as is the case with the other
books, which does leave several secondary images intact.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The sections
that remain illustrated therefore are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">1 the house,
41 skeletons, 56 hunchback, 85 fire sprites, 112 torture chamber, 126 ghoul,
139 Morgana in Abaddon, 169 headless ghost, 181 hell demon, 195 study, 222
goathead, 236 zombie, 277 Franklins and the Earl, 291 George the Vampire, 318
Franklins and the Earl attack, 332 ghost lady, 358 lab, 373 hunchback (again),
387 Satanist dressing room, 400 burning house<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">As the blood
and gore has been considerably reduced, several images have lost much of their
horrific impact: the headless ghost no longer drips blood, the surrounding
hellfire detail on the hell demon is gone, the zombie and the goathead outside
the front door are far less frightening (due mostly to darkening through
greyscale), the ghost lady is basically just a person now and has none of the
non-corporeal ghostly transparency of the original, and the Satanist dressing
room is much less animated. There is a peculiarity with George the Vampire too
as he is absolutely identical now to the Earl of Drumer – is this an error or
is he actually his twin or something? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Krizan’s
versions overall are a mixture here of his carbon copying and his own interpretations.
The ghoul in section 126 for example is very different to the Tim Sell version,
but as usual, all of VK’s art here is dulled and detail-less due to masses of
greyscaling and the impact is diminished to the point of the art serving little
real purpose in terms of adding anything to the text. A horror book needs horror
imagery, not this insipid PG certificate stuff. It might have been better if
Scholastic had not bothered including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HoH</i>
in its roster if it was going to deaden the effect this much. This is a shame too
as the Ball cover is very good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">In summary
then, Scholastic’s first batch of reissues gave us five bona fide classics with
a range of difficulty levels (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> is
very easy, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HoH</i> is exceptionally hard),
different settings (dungeon, urban, tower, forest, house), different rule sets
(standard, Magic, Fear and having no weapons), different designs (true path/item
hunt, hidden section puzzle, endless restarts notwithstanding the reset button
problem), and obviously two different writing styles, all of which makes for a
good variety of playing experiences, and showcases what FF can offer in terms
of variety. I think the choice of titles is pretty sound and it’s good to see
the risk being taken with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HoH</i> even if
the art was unsuitable for this book. In fact, Krizan’s art is unsuitable for
FF period, but it does have its supporters even if the FF old guard will always
(understandably) prefer the originals. Robert Ball’s covers though are mostly
good and I do support the idea of visual consistency for the covers and internals
across the series even if this does remove the variety and stylistic
suitability that existed with multiple artists on the books. Surely Scholastic
was happy enough with the results of the reboot to decide to release another
batch of FF books…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-80195315818111946942019-07-31T17:42:00.001+01:002022-05-11T20:09:00.464+01:00Resurrection Of The Dead<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BuN9QHWGiPA/XUHExi89L4I/AAAAAAAAAxc/_6LwuBXQZykLKOR63SV0PX-KuMkorSTfACLcBGAs/s1600/FFantazine1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1415" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BuN9QHWGiPA/XUHExi89L4I/AAAAAAAAAxc/_6LwuBXQZykLKOR63SV0PX-KuMkorSTfACLcBGAs/w226-h320/FFantazine1.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">Alexander Ballingall<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">When<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Fighting Fantazine </i>first appeared in
2009 I personally welcomed the deliberate attempt to replicate the format of
the much-missed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> magazine,
whilst also adding some new and fresh ideas of its own. In particular, the
inclusion of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Omens and Auguries, Out of the Pit</i>, and
its centrepiece, a unique mini-FF in every issue, were all really nice touches
to give <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine </i>a familiar
feel, whilst the new features such as the exhaustive and fascinating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Fact of Fiction</i>, the unreadably smug
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Everything I Know I Learned From FF</i>, the
personal recollections of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Magic
Quest, </i>and the blogger style material etc all gave the ‘zine its own
contemporary angle without seeming to just be a clone of the original magazine.
Naturally, as was the case with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
way back when, material for the first issue was in short supply as it was yet
to become established amongst the gamebook community, so it is no surprise that
Issue 1’s mini-FF would be penned by the ‘zine’s Editor, Alex Ballingall. By
his own admittance, AB wrote this over a weekend, so if it had any shortcomings
this would surely explain why.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">The first
thing that comes to mind when reading the Rules to this adventure is that it is
probably going to be rather difficult. You start with no Provisions, no
Potions, no weapon (and the associated -3 Skill starting penalty), but you do
at least get a backpack (to put the nothing in that you start with) and 30 Gold
Pieces. Well, at least the money allowance is generous. This may all seem a bit
harsh but it quickly makes sense when you read the background to the piece. YOU
are a wealthy (presumably, as you have servants back at your house) merchant
(and ex-adventurer) who has just returned from a few months away trading in
Royal Lendle. Your home town of Bandur Green is in a state of consternation due
to weird lights that appear at night in the nearby battlefields on the road to
Kings March and, recently, people who have gone to investigate the weird-ness
have started disappearing and/or returning insane, including a good friend of
yours. Spurred on by the human interest element of your newly-mad friend and an
oddly unclear inclination to save the day (why would a merchant be so gung
ho?), YOU decide to get to the bottom of the peculiar happenings and deal with
whatever is causing them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">The adventure
only covers a two day period, Day One being a general recce for information and
equipment, with Day Two being the day of reckoning when you head off into the
fields to face the end baddie. Day One is the vast bulk of the adventure and
involves an exploration of various parts of the town to see what you can
unearth about what is going on. You can visit the Frantic Rat tavern, the abbey
where your now-mad friend is recuperating, the cemetery where some local
legends from the era of the battlefield’s battle are buried, the local
blacksmith to try to acquire a weapon, and you can survey the battlefield
itself during the presumably safer daylight hours. It is in theory possible to
visit all of these areas in any order (although the futile blacksmith hunt can
use up too much time and curtail your investigations prematurely if you persist
in pursuing it) and the book gives the illusion of RPG-style free movement, but
in fact key areas must be visited in a very specific order to get the correct
hidden area prompts in the required sequence and, as you can only explore each
area once, it will take a lot of failed attempts to unravel the puzzle of the
correct order and, even if you do find the necessary information to locate the
hidden sections, the prompts within the text are so very subtle that you can
easily miss them, particularly the critical ones at Narron’s grave and when
following tracks out in the fields.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">This concept
of hidden section signposting being so subtle that it becomes obscure is a
trademark of Steve Jackson’s FFs and his modus operandi are very much an
influence on this adventure. The starting Skill penalty for having no weapon
appeared in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">House Of Hell</i>, you can
suffer -2 Stamina penalties if you will not (or cannot) eat Provisions at
various points (plus the forced eating does not carry any Stamina bonus) as per
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i> epic, the end baddie
attacks you with spells lifted straight from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery!</i>, and you can encounter a Living Corpse which was a
memorable creature from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Khare: Cityport
Of Traps</i>. The relative brevity of the adventure should you fail to find the
hidden sections is also a feature of SJ FFs, as is the combination of confusion
and frustration caused by repeatedly failing but not really knowing why until
you finally do unlock all the hidden areas. Overall, this adventure feels very
like a SJ effort, but with the marked difference in writing styles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">And
Ballingall does write very well, with an atmospheric and coherent style that
keeps things moving along nicely and you certainly do feel compelled to keep
trying to beat this FF as the elements of mystery and plot are very
well-handled. Indeed, as this FF was written over a single weekend it is
surprisingly consistent considering it is effectively a rush job. You really do
feel drawn into the plot and the whole piece is very much driven by its
storyline and themes which are constantly referenced making it all feel very
focussed and at no point does it start to wander or become vague. Added to this
is the fact that AB really knows his FF lore inside out and this helps to make
it all feel in keeping with FF as a whole, rather than the slightly
disconnected feel that some <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
mini-FFs gave the player. The way that some of the more interesting FF monsters
(Living Corpse, Xoroa, Night Stalker, Wight, Dryaden, Elementals, etc) are
weaved into the plot also keeps it from feeling run-of-the-mill. Interestingly,
the Dryaden was actually a reader-submitted creature in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>’s O<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ut of the Pit</i>
thread and, again, this inclusion shows that AB is thinking outside the usual
basic FF creatures box and trying to make the most of his 200 paragraph limit
to give us something a bit more memorable. Personally, my favourite encounter
was with the three Possessed Goats which is both amusing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> a key plot point!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">As would be
expected from a gamebook which shows so much Jackson influence and as we
suspected from reading the Rules, the difficulty level here is quite high and
this is certainly an adventure that requires close reading of the text,
note-taking to establish the order of events, and umpteen failed attempts,
assuming you can ever actually figure it out at all! I must confess to
resorting to reading each section in isolation and trying to piece the puzzle
together that way which, with a 200-section piece, is less arduous a task than
it might sound. Once you have fathomed it out the solution is both clever and
extremely tight in true path terms. You need to pay very close attention to the
text and to information that NPCs give you to find the necessary prompts, plus
this also helps you to appreciate just how much focus there is on the plot from
beginning to end. Day One is relatively gentle on the player (hidden sections
and order of service notwithstanding) but Day Two quickly becomes a catalogue
of tough combats with over-powered opponents and this gets very repetitive. On
the one hand, if you have failed to find certain essential items in Day One
this does help you to die quicker before you fail at the end, but it also has
the opposite effect that, should you have finally untied the various knots in
Day One, dying in combat against a stupidly-strong monster can seem a bit
unfair. A noteworthy issue with one combat (on Day One) is the Living Corpse
fight that yields an essential item. The fight is constructed in such a way
that, although each individual appendage is very weak, the fight can
potentially go on forever – clever loop of doom conceit (à la Jackson’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creature Of Havoc</i>) or design flaw? Who
knows. If you can find the key items, negotiate the labyrinth of hidden areas,
and get past the harsh fights on Day Two, the final showdown with the villain
of the piece (Dar’Noth) is also very hard (he has Sk 11 St 19) and, as
opportunities to replenish Stamina are rare, combined with the –2 Stamina or
eat mechanic (you only get 3 Provisions at best and at least one is required
for force-feeding by the text), you are likely to be on your last legs for this
final fight. I always feel that an end boss fight should be challenging and
justify their being the end boss, but the combats on the whole in Day Two are
collectively too difficult in real terms and if you do not have a Starting
Skill in double figures you do not stand a chance, particularly as you can be
expected to begin the adventure with a Skill as low as 4! On the flipside of
this though, there are three opportunities to destroy the ring (this is
essential for victory) which is very generous and is not in keeping with an
adventure with as tight a true path as this, and there is even a non-win ending
where Dar’Noth is killed but you haven’t dealt with the ring (which controls
the living dead that he is raising from the battlefield) so there are still
loads of undead roaming about for the locals to deal with until the ring
finally gets disposed of. All things considered though, this is generally a
very hard adventure but, as it is a Jackson adventure in spirit, you would not
expect anything else as there is no such thing as an easy Jackson FF.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">So, now we
come to the subject that really sets the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting
Fantazine</i> FFs apart from their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
predecessors: the art. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> had
the benefit of access to FF’s pool of professional fantasy artists and this
really lifted the whole experience of its mini-FFs (many of which were penned
by fans rather than professional authors). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting
Fantazine</i> is a fan production. Naturally, there are going to be people out
there in fandom who can write prose and design adventures just as well as the
pros who were part of the Games Workshop/Puffin inner circle. There are far
less likely to be many artists who are skilled enough to produce the required
quantities of professional-looking fantasy art that aren’t already
professionals themselves that will naturally demand a living wage for their
work. Yes, there are some very talented amateurs around but it seems that they
were not available to offer their services for free for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Resurrection Of The Dead</i> as the internal art here is frankly
terrible. I will make the concession that I made in the opening paragraph that
AB had to do a lot of the legwork himself to produce Issue 1 (and I don’t want
to take anything away from the sterling work that goes into each issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i>) but I just don’t
think that Ballingall’s what I will diplomatically call “limited” artistic
abilities do any justice to his clearly impressive game design and writing
talents. It would have been at odds with the whole ethos of FF if there were no
internal art and I appreciate the effort to give consistency, but I would
really like to see what this adventure would have been had it had better (or
even professional) art as a dark, atmospheric gamebook like this would have
looked fantastically effective had it had brooding and unsettling art in the
style of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dark Chronicles Of Anakendis</i>
or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fortress Throngard</i>. The magazine’s
cover (as was sometimes the case with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
too) serves as the mini-FFs cover as well but, again, this just does not work
with this adventure. The image itself does show a moment from the gamebook
(which is a bonus), but it is not how I visualised it at all - it just seems
too bright and is not remotely unsettling for something that is supposed to be
part of a descent into unknown maddening horrors. Andrew Wright (of creature
compendium assembling fame) created the cover image and, as with Ballingall, I
have to say that he is a far better writer and has a far more vivid imagination
when <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">describing</i> monsters, than he is
an artist drawing them. His art is marginally better than AB’s but neither really
does the adventure any favours at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">At this
juncture, I want to discuss the title. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Resurrection
Of The Dead</i> is a very literal description of exactly what is taking place
and causing the issues that Bandur Green needs you to resolve. Firstly, it does
slightly detract from the mystery as it gives away the underlying crisis.
Secondly, it has none of the dynamism or sense of intrigue and foreboding that
a gamebook title would be expected to have. OK, the news that the dead are
being resurrected is not something you want to hear, but the initial mystery
and discovery set up of the adventure itself is at odds with the title. When I
started encountering undead it was not much of a surprise, shall we say!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"">For what is
by all intents and purposes an amateur FF, this is a promising start for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i>. The depth and manner
in which the plot takes centre stage is impressive and drives the piece
effectively. The author’s knowledge and deployment of FF lore makes it feel
canonic and the choice of encounters is varied and keeps thing interesting. The
NPCs are colourful, feel real, and play an important part in your exploration
of the situation. I’m not sure I like the over-reliance on Jackson tropes and
mechanics and this does feel like both a homage, and a sucking-up, to Steve
Jackson. That said, the adventure functions well for the inclusion of the
Jackson-isms, but the signposting could have been more explicit to encourage
replay rather than have players give up in despair. Interesting and generally
enjoyable stuff that belies its, by necessity, rapid creation (and crap title)<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>, but the art pulls it down a lot and it is too hard
overall.</span></div>
MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-10758194122717087912019-07-17T19:35:00.001+01:002022-05-02T20:22:40.688+01:00Warlock magazine short versions of book-published adventures<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zyGqzuPdEPM/XS9qOLHg-zI/AAAAAAAAAxE/VkqeZoo2jT0rCl19lpKiTAsPs77ONs--QCLcBGAs/s1600/WarlockMag01.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="283" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zyGqzuPdEPM/XS9qOLHg-zI/AAAAAAAAAxE/VkqeZoo2jT0rCl19lpKiTAsPs77ONs--QCLcBGAs/s200/WarlockMag01.jpg" width="141" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sQuXCpzSs_w/XS9qNy604uI/AAAAAAAAAxA/Z5bl1y13vcQxbmaZITrZwDgpRvaHhv9XgCLcBGAs/s1600/WarlockMag03.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="283" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sQuXCpzSs_w/XS9qNy604uI/AAAAAAAAAxA/Z5bl1y13vcQxbmaZITrZwDgpRvaHhv9XgCLcBGAs/s200/WarlockMag03.jpg" width="141" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-egHtTP89rKY/XS9qOLvhOxI/AAAAAAAAAxI/l3dFnApsqLk9stY73mlfnYAAz0rXvNxCQCLcBGAs/s1600/WarlockMag02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="283" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-egHtTP89rKY/XS9qOLvhOxI/AAAAAAAAAxI/l3dFnApsqLk9stY73mlfnYAAz0rXvNxCQCLcBGAs/s200/WarlockMag02.jpg" width="141" /></a></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">THE WARLOCK OF FIRETOP MOUNTAIN PART I<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Ian Livingstone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">THE WARLOCK OF FIRETOP MOUNTAIN PART
II<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Steve Jackson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">CAVERNS OF THE SNOW WITCH<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif""><br /></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Ian Livingstone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">THE HOUSE OF HELL<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Steve Jackson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">In its
infancy, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> magazine needed to
find a way to present its main offering of a mini-FF adventure in the days
before any readers started chancing their hand and submitting their original
adventures for consideration. Indeed, the headline on the cover of Issue 1
states “cash prizes for your own Fighting Fantasy adventures” with a
competition inside asking readers to send in their efforts in return for money
(and publication in the magazine and canonic legitimisation of their
contribution, of course). Obviously, before the entries came flooding in, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> needed to find a way to fill the
intervening issues and this was done with a combination of revised versions of
already published books and teaser versions of imminent ones. Thus, Issues 1
and 2 contained the already getting on for two years old <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain</i> split roughly 68/32 (ie Part 1 had
273 sections and Part II had 127 sections), Issue 2 filled itself out further
with a 190 paragraph truncated version of the soon-to-be-released <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Caverns Of The Snow Witch</i>, and Issue 3
gave us a 185 section version of the also then forthcoming <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">House Of Hell</i> (with the definite article prefixed on for good
grammatical measure). All of these versions are in some way, and to varying
extents, different to their book equivalents and all are worth a look for
various different reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Starting at
the beginning, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> as presented in
its two-part form is probably the subtlest in terms of how it differs to the
more familiar book version. By all intents and purposes, the adventure per se
is the same. In other words, the map is identical (even the torturous Maze Of
Zagor is identical if you can be bothered to map both versions and cross-check
them), the encounters are all in the same places, and the plot and purpose are
the same. The only obvious difference is that the numbered keys to open Zagor’s
treasure chest are scattered about in different rooms to the book and the order
of the numerical placing in terms of progress through the dungeon of each
numbered key (bar one) is different too. Similarly, the combination needed to
win at the end is different (well, it’s one numbered key different, anyway!) A
criticism many people (myself included) have levelled against the book version
is that it is totally illogical plot-wise and that your motives are mercenary
and wholly without honour. In this respect, the magazine version is actually
slightly improved though as its Introduction (here called the “Background”)
makes more sense as it starts with a chance encounter with an old man who relates
the Zagor situation to YOU which segues neatly into your reasons for wanting to
enter Firetop Mountain. Whereas, the book version’s intro (more abstractly
entitled “Rumours”) has no apparent context and just throws YOU straight to the
point where you want to enter Firetop Mountain. I prefer the magazine version’s
lead-in as it is just more satisfying and jars far less in that it adds more
depth, colour, and reasoning to the whole concept of the adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">I’m not going
to go over territory again that is already covered in my review of the book
version, suffice to say that the magazine’s opening spiel states that this
version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> is “specially
revised” to make it distinct from the book version which, by all accounts, is a
good thing as most people reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
would no doubt have read the book previously. As I have said, the only material
difference between the two is the background context and the alternative
numbered key mechanics, but there are some subtler differences for the
sharp-eyed to pick out. Obviously, and by necessity, the paragraph numbering is
different in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> version as
the areas up to the boathouse on the north bank of the river are covered in
Part 1, whilst the ghoul chamber through to Zagor’s study and treasure room are
in Part 2, meaning that the Livingstone-penned part is effectively now numbered
as sections 1 thru 273, and the Jackson part is numbered 274 thru 400. This
does present a starker imbalance in quality for me than in the book as I far
prefer the variety and exploration opportunities of the Livingstone half to the
frankly irritating and very repetitive Maze of Zagor that dominates Jackson’s
section. By definition then, Part 2 is rather less satisfying than Part 1 as it
is literally just the Maze bookended by the ghoul chamber and the
dragon/Zagor/key trial climax. Given that most of the keys (even in this
version) are in Part 1, it goes without saying that you cannot play Part 2 on
its own as most essential items needed to complete Part 2 are to be found in
Part 1. In theory you could play Part 1 by itself but it would end on a
cliffhanger and be totally inconclusive so I doubt you would realistically want
to do this unless you really cannot face the Jackson part of the adventure
again and are curious about finding the repositioned keys. Just playing Part II
in isolation would be very uninteresting. A more stark difference is in the
art. Whilst 90% of the art is the same fantastic Russ Nicholson work that was
seen in the book, there are a couple of little changes: the image of the
entrance to the mountain is very different and far more busy and foreboding
with its heads on spikes and swirling mists that give it a lot more drama than
the book original; the full-page title plates to both Parts are new pieces by Tim
Sell and are radically different in style to Nicholson’s art, having a rather
darker appearance and feel to them which does make the whole thing rather more
sinister; also, the larger A4 size of some of the illustrations hugely
increases their impact and does Nicholson’s work far more justice as you can
see the detail in them to far greater advantage than in the book – conversely,
the much smaller format of some other illustrations in the magazine version
reduces their effect and is almost an insult to the art at times (Zagor and the
Iron Cyclops, in particular) and I do not understand why the star/hand room (a
relatively incongruous cameo) was considered important enough to be blown up to
a full-page spread whilst Zagor himself in all his glory is hardly even A6 in
this version.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Curiously,
the Editorial in Issue 2 of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
says “In the next issue we will be featuring a Fighting Fantasy adventure
written by Steve”. Er, what’s Part 2 of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>
then? Also, in the same Editorial is the statement that “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Caverns Of the Snow Witch</i> is an adventure “for newcomers to
Fighting Fantasy”. I wholeheartedly disagree with this remark given how
ridiculously difficult <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i> is. If
this was my first experience of FF I’d be put off by it for that very reason
even if it does give a decent indication of the usually unfair difficulty
levels and extreme linearity of Livingstone’s FFs. If you are more familiar
with the full-length book version, the version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i> presented in Issue 2 tends to feel like a trailer (which, by
all intents and purposes, it is!) as it is, word-for-word, the first half of
the book version ending after you have defeated the Snow Witch for the first
time. This format makes the opening Act when you are hunting the Yeti feel
“bigger” in terms of how much of the adventure it takes up and it takes away
the feeling that the book version gives that the Yeti section (which is, let’s
face it, the initial reason for your quest) is just a Prologue to lead to the
big reveal that makes you want to vanquish the Snow Witch. Unfortunately, this
also creates the effect of making the first Act seem all the more crushingly
hard as you are bombarded by a catalogue of high-powered combats, Luck tests,
and stat penalties that, whilst harsh in any version, seem all the harsher in a
short subject. Add to this the fact that the magazine version only gives you 5
starting Provisions (which would normally make sense in a half-length FF but is
not very reasonable in this particular adventure) and no Potions and you really
are up against it with this. The book version is very unfair due to all the
tough combats, multiple Luck tests, and loads of stat penalties, but this
shorter version, in spite of being exactly the same, seems even more relentless
in how much it is out to get the player.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">Horribly hard
opening salvo aside, as this is literally just the first half of the book,
anyone familiar with the book version really has nothing to gain from playing
the magazine version unless, like me, you find it a more satisfying experience
just to kill the Snow Witch and end it there rather than having to go through
the arduous ordeal of the post-caverns coda that is simply very dull. The
truncation in the magazine version has positives and negatives and neither
version is ultimately all that good. As a good third or so of the magazine
version is taken up with the pre-caverns part, this version seems rather
unbalanced and the caverns do not seem especially “epic” once you are in them.
The flipside of this is that the book version goes too far the other way and
just way overstays its welcome. A happy medium would have made for something
actually very satisfying and I would suggest that the definitive version
(Director’s Final Cut?) would end after the second Snow Witch kill. As she is a
vampire her resurrection and you having to deal with her twice does make sense
and, as both showdowns are very different, it keeps it interesting. What kills
the book off for me is everything that comes after the second Snow Witch
slaying, none of which, obviously, is in the magazine version. As there is no
second Snow Witch fight, there is no frustratingly arbitrary
scissors-paper-stone disc battle but it also makes her first (and only, in the
magazine) death seem rather too easy, assuming you have the items you need to
kill her. Unfortunately, the early finish also means that the brilliant Brian
Slayer is not in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> version,
neither are the dwarf and elf companions (whose validity of appearance is a
matter of opinion anyway). That said, most of the better encounters are in the
first part so are still here: the Crystal Warrior, the illusionist, the Ice
Demon worship room, the plot devices of the influenced dark elf and the goblins
tormenting the dwarf, etc so the actual content in the magazine version is very
good. Indeed, the story element is still decent even in this truncated form and
it is definitely better for not having the death spell part which makes the
book seem like it goes on forever. Conversely though, and this is often an
issue with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> short subjects,
the way the magazine version just stops after the first Snow Witch death makes
it all a bit “meh” and there is a lot of build-up to seemingly very little. The
fact that the book version handled the extension of the adventure so badly
makes this all the more unrewarding regardless of which version you are
reading. As the shorter version is still blighted by the harsh Yeti part and a
generally unfair and ridiculously linear feel, these problems do amplify
themselves in this version, although I would suggest that the compulsion to
play the short is greater than that to play the book if only because of the
awful post-caverns section in the book, but overall I suspect neither will
inspire much replaying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">The most
striking and important aspect of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>’s
version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i> is the art. The book
version featured the unique woodcut-style art of Gary Ward and Edward Crosby
which made it visually very unusual within the series and very memorable for it
too. Personally I would have loved to have seen more from this pairing but it
wasn’t to be for whatever reason (probably very tight deadlines to produce the
art, from what I can gather). The magazine version uses the much more
naturalistic and semi-cartoonish art of Duncan Smith. I liked his work in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scorpion Swamp</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantasy – The Role-Playing Game</i> as it suited the feel of
those pieces, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i> is rather
darker and more oppressive in tone which makes his interpretations of the
visuals seem almost trivialised. Now, this might just be because I’m so used to
the book’s art and am a fan of the woodcut visualisations that any other
version doesn’t look right, but I just do not feel that the Smith version
works. Some of his illustrations here look fine (the minstrel with his
curly-toed shoes is nice, Big Jim is very real-looking, the zombie is very
effective, and his dark elf is unusually sinister for a Smith image) but the
bulk of it is just too “cutesy”: the Ice Demon is far too friendly-looking, the
Yeti is hideous and looks like a deformed sloth, the Crystal Warrior looks like
Thor for some reason, I have no idea what the hell is going on with the Sentinel,
and the Snow Witch herself is a bizarre mixture of sexy and unalluring both at
the same time. Interestingly, the cover to Issue 2 has Peter Andrew Jones’ take
on Duncan Smith’s take on Shareela (or possibly the other way around) which
seems to work rather better with her striking a pose in a skull-shaped cave
entrance but that may well be because PAJ is a far more accomplished fantasy
artist than Duncan Smith in my opinion. Having said all this, Smith’s version
of the imagery does present a different take on the whole concept and it would
be interesting to see how my opinion would have been affected had his art been
used in the book and the woodcut versions had never existed. I still think it
would have seemed not dark enough in tone but we will never know. It would also
be interesting to see what Smith would have made of the plates for the rest of
the adventure and maybe even his version of Les Edwards’ cover image, but this
is all conjecture. Incidentally, this version has four sections with images that were not illustrated in the Ward-Crosby version, these being what would become in the Puffin version paragraphs 150 (white rat and sarcophagus), 221 (stripy trousers), 310 (mammoth), and 311 (dwarf in pit) - this adds another layer of interest and uniqueness in the Duncan Smith take.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">The big
surprise reveal in Issue 3 was Jackson’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
House Of Hell</i> – the first modern day-set horror FF adventure. The even
bigger surprise for anyone who read both versions was just how much they differ
and, for those curious about this, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
version is by far the most interesting of the four (or three, if you count the
two Parts of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> as one adventure)
short versions of book adventures that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
had to offer and is a real revelation for several reasons. Firstly, as soon as
the adventure proper begins, you start to notice the differences as even the
ways into the house are not the same as those in the book and you can find
yourself tumbling into the cellars without even getting through the front door!
Enter the house itself and you find familiar material presented in an
unfamiliar layout. The differences are considerable and just a few are: the
layout of the upstairs rooms is completely different and the naming conventions
are more “posh” house or hotel names rather than specifically Satanic/demonic
names like in the book; the lethal cellar which in the book is a series of ways
for YOU to die is much smaller (basically just the sacrificial man in the cell
and the girl being sacrificed on the altar cameos) and it is fairly easy to
escape it; there is far less reliance on Jackson’s patent hidden section puzzle
structure, although the magazine version does still add a different challenge
factor with two essential hidden sections that you need to find to survive
(which are much more conventionally signposted and require no guesswork); there
is no annoying minimum Fear score needed to succeed (it’s 9 in the book) as the
true path suggests 5 Fear points are all you need to sustain for a win so the
Fear score you initially roll won’t necessarily mean you can lose before you
have even started playing like in the book, plus there are far less red herring
rooms designed just to scare you and dangerously increase your Fear; the big
reveal at the end of the book where Franklins the Butler is actually The Master
is not in this version and it is the Earl of Drumer himself who has to be
defeated to win; there is no Hell Demon fight as killing Drumer is all that is
needed to escape the house (which is a bit of a disappointment as the Hell
Demon is one of my favourite end baddies as it is truly terrifying and I liked
the fact that the house was actually inhabited by The Master himself as it made
it feel all the more “Hell”-ish); and most importantly and noticeable is the
fact that the magazine version is far easier, in fact it does not take long at
all to beat it as long as you map it out whereas even mapping is not much help
in the book version! The whole map of the shorter version has been rearranged
(with the exception of the initial part where you meet Drumer and have dinner
with him) and, given the radically different solution too, this is in many ways
a completely different adventure to the book version. The fundamentals are
there in both - the background premise, the sacrifices/Master summoning, the
ghost lady and Morgana helping you, the Fear mechanic, your need to find a
weapon or take a -3 Skill penalty, the Kris Knife maguffin, the inherent evil
within the house – but the actual way the adventure plays out is very
different. The cameos/encounters in the short version are all in the long
version and (barring some stuffed animal heads that growl at you as you pass
them and the trapdoor outside the front door) there is nothing here that is not
in the book, but it is the overall presentation that makes this so different.
Obviously, there is a huge amount of material in the book that is not in the
magazine version (as it’s less than half the length) but most of the really
memorable key moments for me are there (George the vampire, Morgana and her
plants, the headless ghost, the ghost girl, the nude sacrifice, the talking paintings,
the nerve-wracking food choices at dinner, etc) and only the brutal torture
chamber game and the Hell Demon reveal really feel like losses in my opinion.
That said, the ending variation where Drumer rather than Franklins is the main
baddie is a nice twist and makes it feel even more different (if that is
possible). As an aside, the very close reader will also notice that some of the
text in the magazine version (especially the intro) is worded differently
and/or sentence structure is rearranged too when compared to the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">As Tim Sell
seemed to be actively involved in the early numbers of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>, it is no surprise that his art as seen in the book is used
in the magazine version too which maintains the dark, demonic feel that his art
contributed to the book. Close examination of the illustrations will show three
that did not make it into the book as they are only relevant to the shorter
version: the stuffed animal heads, the Earl of Drumer attacking alone (as
Franklins is irrelevant in this version’s climax), and the study is laid out
differently with the ghostly message that appears on the paper being different
as Shekou plays no part in the true path in this version. Also, as with the two
halves of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> before it, we get a
full-page title plate montage of various horrors from throughout the adventure
which is something of an assault on the senses. Whilst on the subject of the
title, the magazine version is notionally entitled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The House Of Hell</i> with the definite article that was not on the
book version. The title card does not have the “The” but the cover headline
does have it, as does discussion of it inside the magazine, and this version is
generally referred to with the “The” in place. (I guess it’s a handy way of
distinguishing versions or whatever, too). As is always the case with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> mini-FFs, the illustrations are
various sizes from full page spreads to tiny asides and the larger format
particularly benefits the closing image of the blazing house with evil spirits
emanating from everywhere but as usual, some images are played down too by
being too small. An interesting point of note is that the notorious nude
sacrifice image is here and is larger than it is in the book which serves to
emphasise the fact that there is nothing seditious about it at all as you
literally cannot distinguish anything that could be construed as controversial
(something we have all always known!) The cover image of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> Issue 3 by Terry Oakes is suitably eerie and its central
blanched-faced demonic creature is certainly unsettling but it isn’t actually
in the adventure, although the Norman Bates-type Hellhouse stands in the
background awaiting the unwary so there is definitely a kind of link between
the magazine’s cover and the adventure inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">I don’t think
I would be wrong in saying that these three/four <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> shorts are often overlooked as they are considered to be
the same as the book version. However, in every case, there is something very
obviously different about them (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>’s
variant key locations and solution, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i>
being half the length and having completely different artwork, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HoH</i> basically being a different
adventure entirely) and these are of rather more interest than fans probably
realise (with the possible exception of the, admittedly mercifully, shorter <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i>). <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HoH</i> is clearly my favourite as it is so very different and is light
relief in difficulty terms when compared to its bigger brother. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> is more of a novelty variant for
the completist but, as it was the granddaddy of them all, it makes sense for it
to be the opener for launching <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
magazine too, even if Part II is hard work by any standards when presented in
this fashion but is also a necessity in completing the piece. As I have said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i> offers little other than a far
less tedious slog than the book, but it is still stupidly hard to the point of
being simply unfair, and I cannot see it having much mileage compared to the
book version bar the different perspective that Duncan Smith’s interpretation
of the imagery can offer and even this is inferior to the Ward-Crosby
visualisation.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> The larger format of certain art plates
shows them to fuller advantage than in the books, but the far smaller plates do
not do the images any favours, plus the usual problem in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> mini-FFs of linking sections often being on the same page
due to the large page size can reduce the surprise somewhat (not that there are
any in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CotSW</i>, in particular).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""Arial","sans-serif"">With the
benefit of hindsight these adventures are probably more for the hardcore fan to
play and enjoy making comparisons with the book versions than anything else
nowadays and they are certainly far less essential than their book
counterparts. That said, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HoH</i> in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock </i>Issue 3 is well worth seeking
out even if the other two are probably only curious diversions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-59338301582514755902019-07-01T20:09:00.001+01:002019-07-02T19:21:35.667+01:00#48: Moonrunner<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Di11iVNaF-U/XRpaSscgLuI/AAAAAAAAAwo/AGW_P_Cx0s8Py6eByWc5vPnZDagvpB4fACLcBGAs/s1600/FF48_Dragon_spine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1059" data-original-width="649" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Di11iVNaF-U/XRpaSscgLuI/AAAAAAAAAwo/AGW_P_Cx0s8Py6eByWc5vPnZDagvpB4fACLcBGAs/s200/FF48_Dragon_spine.jpg" width="122" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">MOONRUNNER<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Stephen Hand<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Often listed
in fans’ Top 10 Best lists, <i>Moonrunner</i>
has a formidable reputation as one of FF’s most accomplished gamebooks. The
third (and final) FF from the very talented (and now somewhat reclusive)
Stephen Hand, <i>Moonrunner</i> is a
follow-up (not a sequel) to the extremely impressive <i>#44 Legend Of The Shadow Warriors</i> and continues the themes of the
immediate aftermath of the Wars of the Four Kingdoms. YOU are not the same veteran as YOU were
in the previous book though as your mission this time is rather more personal
and you are seeking to bring to justice the unusually unluridly-named (for FF)
Karam Gruul. Indeed, you play the part of a Bounty Hunter who, as this is a
vengeance quest, eschews the usual motive of huge amounts of gold in favour of
just getting closure. That’s not all, however, as there is more to your beef with
Gruul (snigger) than just disapproval of his behaviour in the wars, but it is
not until the end that the real meaning of the title becomes apparent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Already, it
should be evident that, by FF standards, this book is big on plot and the focus
is very much on story and characterisation rather than killing things and
collecting items (although equipment can be key to your success, all the same).
From the outset everyone you meet is a well-developed character rather than the
usual one-dimensional sword fodder, even down to potential throwaways like Orc
Guards who have their own vernacular and ignorant way of speaking. Every NPC is
fleshed-out, be it the way they speak, their obvious personality traits, some
foible or other, etc etc, and you really do feel that you are dealing with
“real” characters that have an identity and motive. Equally, almost everyone is
out for themselves and you quickly learn to trust no-one unless they prove
themselves to be worthy of your trust. And that’s one of the big aspects of this
book: the way the atmosphere of paranoia and suspicion is maintained from the
very first to the very last word that you read, which makes the setting
(primarily the town of Blackhaven) one of the most oppressive locales in any FF
book. Blackhaven itself is described in the Introduction as “a place so
dangerous that the City Guards have to go around in groups of ten” so does that
make it trump even the legendary Port Blacksand or FF’s other famously lethal
celebrated setting, Kharé? I guess it does if it warrants that description! I
will always be the first to say that Port Blacksand is FF’s best-designed
settlement ever and, whilst Blackhaven (in terms of how much you can visit)
seems to be smaller and less varied in its scope, it definitely gives PB some
competition in terms of the sheer imagination that has gone into designing it
and the over-riding theme of gothic horror prevails throughout. It’s hard to
name my favourite part of Blackhaven as almost every cameo and area is
brilliantly executed, but I do have a soft spot for the Rohmer Theatre (I
happen to like <i>The Phantom Of The Opera</i>
concept), Craven Asylum (as I like Lovecraft/<i>Batman</i>-type loony bin tropes), Gustav Hollmann’s wax museum (the
Chamber Of Horrors at Wookey Hole will always be with me), and the
mind-bendingly-named Last Octopus inn. That said, there is not one part of what
you can visit/see in Blackhaven that isn’t exciting, unsettling and hugely
imaginative. Even though the bulk of this adventure restricts you to an
exploration of Blackhaven, it really doesn’t matter as you will want for more,
and every playthrough will reveal something new as you unravel (and fall foul
of) its lethal locations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">But the
locations are far from the only thing that is out to get you in this book, as
certain characters will haunt and torment you to the very end if you happen
across them. First and foremost is the oft-mentioned Conrad the Maniac Guard
(with a name like that you can’t help but be worried!) who will endlessly
pursue and harass you right to the finale if you make the mistake of crossing
him and, as his cameo occurs very early in the game, he will become a serious
thorn in your side. Oh, and did I mention that he’s indestructible? Right, yes,
he’s indestructible, so you really do need to keep out of his way if you can as
you have enough to contend with without his interference too! Another, more
subtle, endless tormentor that you can get tangled up with is Baron Milescu the
Vampire. His mechanic comes in the form of a phial of his blood that you carry
with you. The blood gives you a combat advantage but the pay-off is that, after
EVERY combat, you must check to see if the phial has broken. If it has the
Baron will appear and then you are in trouble! Not only are NPCs an Achilles
Heel though, as many items you can collect are also a mixed blessing. In
particular, the Skull of Mora Tao can be a key item to success, but it is also
a massive nuisance. Basically, it feeds on the holder’s spirit in return for
staving off mortality. Certain activities will arouse it and, if you don’t feed
it a Skill point each time it gets hungry, it will grass you up to the
“authorities” wherever you are and whatever you are trying to do. It is worth
mentioning something at this point which these features raise and that is the
amount of wry black humour in this book. The Skull’s behaviour is particularly
amusing, but this book is riddled with little moments of gallows humour. Take
the applications of the Disguise Special Skill for example, which has you
dressing up as Orcs and vampires, amongst other things, repleat with plastic
novelty fangs etc, or the inclusion of a boasting gobshite (who has seen and
done everything) that accompanies you on the tour of the wax museum. Similarly,
there are moments that seem to almost be digs at the accepted norm of fantasy
gaming, and FF in particular. For example, the Introduction (which, as we have
already seen, fires a shot across the bows of the big name cities in FF)
justifies an equipment selection as “not for you the cumbersome leather armour
so beloved of amateurs”. Nice. I have to mention another line in the
Introduction which could be Hand even going as far as to parody himself with
the comment ”It is the dead of night”…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">We have
mentioned the gothic horror theme throughout this book and this, along with the
wry humour, amplifies itself in the sheer number of classic horror movie
references that are there to be discovered and enjoyed by those who want to
find them. This book is a veritable celebration of the genre and Universal Pictures’
1930s/40s horror cycle in particular. The list of horror movie-related easter
eggs is pretty exhaustive, but the ones I picked out are: Matra Ouspenskaya who
is incarcerated in Craven Asylum = Maria Ouspenskaya who always played the
gypsy roles in Universal horrors; Lugosh who is holed up in Priestsgate is one
letter away from (Bela) Lugosi; (Wes) Craven Asylum, along with the character
of the Shocker (which was a Wes Craven movie title); The grave robbers
Kilmarney and Hoggy: grave robbers open the 1931 <i>Frankenstein</i> movie, plus the illustration gives them a striking
resemblance to Vincent Price and Peter Lorre; also they are later described as
“fearless vampire hunters” (Polanski’s <i>Fearless
Vampire Killers</i> perhaps?); The whole idea of the Wax Museum requires no
explanation!; The Rohmer Theatre and its organ-playing phantom; The return of
Doctor Kauderwelsch as a reanimated assemblage of body parts in the company of
Son Of Kauderwelsch ie <i>Son Of
Frankenstein</i>; You can jump/fall down a windmill blade at Weathern Mill à la
Victor Frankenstein in the climax of the 1931 <i>Frankenstein</i>; The machete-wielding Conrad the Maniac Guard who just
won’t stay dead no matter how many times and different ways you kill him
(including drowning and burning) is clearly Jason Voorhees from <i>Friday The 13<sup>th</sup></i> (and he even
looks like him in the illustration, right down to the hockey mask!) The list
goes on…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Whilst the
horror movie <i>influence</i> is almost
impossible not to notice, I don’t personally see this book as a horror <i>genre</i> piece in the same way that <i>#10 House of Hell</i> or Keith Martin’s two
Count Heydrich books are out-and-out horror. Some may disagree but I say this
because the quest, the item/info hunting, and the underlying generic approach
of exploring the city and then heading towards your final destiny is very much
traditional medieval fantasy rather than archetypal horror. Yes, some
characters are straight out of horror, but you need to be familiar with their
sources to realise this, otherwise this book is not horror in the totally
explicit way that <i>HoH</i> or the Heydrich
books are. The system and mechanics of this book add credence to this argument:
you start with a sword, backpack, etc and 2D6+12 Gold Pieces – all very
conventional medieval fantasy launch points. You also select four Special Skills
from a list of nine which have no horror concepts in them and are all very
conventional fantasy talents. In fact, the list of Special Skills would not be
out of place in a skills-driven book like <i>#29
Midnight Rogue</i> and there is a definite link in this respect. Add to this
your five starting Provisions and a special (very realistic and welcome) rule
about a -1 Skill penalty for fighting hand-to-hand, and you get the foundation
of something very standard, fantasy genre-wise. The only “given” missing is a
starting Potion, but FF had mostly eliminated this by this stage in the series.
Hand’s own <i>Legend Of The Shadow Warriors</i>
used more realistic rules incorporating Armour adjustors (which I really liked)
but I’m not sure that this level of nuance was really necessary for <i>Moonrunner</i> as it is the plot development
that we are expected to focus on above anything else.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Initially, it
seems that your main aim is to gather information and you start out finding
some leads very quickly. However, the book is sly in this respect as your
opening leads are deadly red herrings (one causes the recurring Conrad
nightmare) and, in a neat twist, if you hunt around too long and find too much
intelligence, Gruul will be onto you and progress will quickly become very
difficult. The underlying function of Gruul’s always being one step ahead is
controlled by code words, as are the consequences of certain actions when
dealing with NPCs. I am not usually a fan of code words in gamebooks but here
they seem un-intrusive and really do make the cause-and-effect flow well,
especially as they usually lead to entertaining moments rather than driving the
adventure excessively as is the case in some gamebooks that use code words.
Interestingly, other than you being frequently penalised for drawing too much
attention to yourself, Gruul himself is a slow burn and seems very shadowy and
intangible in the early stages. Normally FF lays the big baddie on thick from
the get-go, but here you have to slowly uncover him as you go along. That said,
and in a brilliant bit of plotting, his influence is everywhere and he is
always on the front foot which just adds to the oppressive atmosphere and your
feeling that everyone is out to get you (and most of them are as Gruul’s
stranglehold on the region is pretty comprehensive!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The Special
Skills mechanism has a huge influence on how your adventure pans out and your
choice of Skills is at the core of the gaming experience you will have. There
is no optimum combination as such (I hate it when you can fail a gamebook
before you’ve even started just by choosing the wrong selection), although some
combinations can make things easier or harder than others. The Special Skills
are checked and used very regularly and are the central function in this
gamebook’s design as the book has multiple paths to success based on what
Skills you have. Equally, this book can be completed with rock bottom stats (a
rare and welcome thing in FF), assuming you have the complementary Skills to
get you through and/or tread carefully. Obviously, avoiding certain perilous
areas can lower the reliance on Skills and Luck Tests can be substituted (at
times), but you will very quickly have a Luck score of zero if you rely on this
as your only gambit and might even end up dying quickly especially as some Luck
tests are critical. Skill tests are also liberally scattered throughout and, in
a neat twist, passing them can get you into worse situations (or even kill you)
as succeeding at a manoeuvre might not be the ideal outcome. There are also a
few 3D6 Stamina tests at particularly crucial points so maintaining a decent
Stamina score by using experience of previous attempts at the book and eating
at the right times is wise. Indeed, this book is riddled with -2 Stamina
penalties, particularly when trying to acquire key items. However, there is no
way you will be able to collect EVERY key item and suffer every Stamina penalty
as the Skills-driven plot elements, as well as certain time limits (in the very
Skills-influenced Harbour Row section, for example, some parts of which can be
very time-consuming) and impossible path combinations, prevent this from being a
serious problem. The obvious point to make at this stage is that this book is
totally non-linear with multiple paths through, many of which are mutually
exclusive, which makes the replay possibilities endless as you cannot possibly
visit everywhere in one playthrough, and, trust me, with the wealth of
consistently excellent material on offer here, you will want to revisit this
book over and over again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The factors
we have just discussed might suggest that this book is rather difficult and it
is certainly a challenge to complete it regardless of the route, but this is
more down to you needing to map out and unravel the book which means you need
your head screwed on, rather than the book being weighted against you in any
traditional sense. The Special Skill driver is consistently deployed and does
not seem to be out to scupper you at every turn, and the Stamina penalties will
not mount up as much as it seems if you just flick through and tally up how
many there are (as you don’t need to, and can’t, suffer them all in one single
play). Various perils are avoidable if you know how to avoid them (Conrad in
particular) and treat NPCs with a certain amount of dignity and respect
(shopkeepers, for example) and even the really big infested areas full of kill
points (eg: Penkhull and its Fogwalker blight where you have a one in six
chance of insta-death after every combat) are not essential to visit on some
paths. (And even the Fogwalkers can be nullified with a certain Special Skill).
The difficulty or ease of your quest can be influenced by a function whereby
you need to make important decisions about when and how to use certain items
(the Wards in particular, all of which fiendishly have a penalty to you for
using their advantageous properties) and, very unusually for FF, this book is
very light on combat (again, because the focus is on plot and the use of your
chosen Skills to find alternative paths to victory). What combat there is is
generally fairly easy barring a few “Specials” that are as powerful as would be
expected, which is very logical and fair. The final showdown with Gruul (the
natura fight) will probably require you to still have some key items from the
Harbour Row section but even this might not be the case. However, as this fight
has you totally at the mercy of a dice roll it does seem a little arbitrary and
the result can be deadly through the fault of no previous decisions you have
made. That said, survive this part and the code words come back in force and,
if you have caused too much trouble on the way, you will pay for your
irresponsibility with failure at the final hurdle. The real trick to beating
this book, and the reason I maintain that it<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> is tricky
and cunning rather than literally “difficult”, is in mapping (as I have said)
and knowing how to almost respect its design. By this I mean that, at face
value, you are generally free to roam and can visit areas in whatever order you
wish (within the limits of time and your chosen/assigned path), even being able
to revisit some areas, but the point is that you do not actually want to!
Rather you need to identify which routes and areas go with which combinations
of Skills and plot your path this way rather than trying to see everything and
best everyone otherwise you will soon come unstuck. That is what I mean about
respecting this book – it rewards careful close play and penalises gung ho
killing and plunder, something which is rare in a gamebook. Therein lies the
secret to just how cleverly designed this books really is and it is one of, if
not the, most intelligent book in the FF series. Keith Martin’s FFs used this
freeform RPG-style approach too, but in a less controlled and subtle fashion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Impressive
gamebook design is not everything though, as the writing needs to be compelling
enough to justify the material. In this task, Hand excels and his prose is rich
with atmosphere and texture to immerse you from the outset. And he never drops
the ball at any point in what is a truly superb piece of gamebook writing, in
the literal sense. He even plays with your mind’s eye in places and subverts
your expectations: take the Last Octopus inn idea or the description of Mawn
Pretoragus’ sanctum made up of “constantly shifting angles” – just try to
actually visualise that. It makes sense as words, but does not make sense as an
image: think MC Escher, but in text form. The perfect companion to Hand’s
horror themes and sensibilities is Martin McKenna’s Hammer-influenced internal
art. I cannot think of a better FF artist than McKenna to visualise Hand’s
worlds and it is no surprise that McKenna illustrated all three of SH’s FF
books. MM’s work here is as excellent as ever and he really captures the terror
and mystery of what Hand throws at you. The cover by Terry Oakes is one of
Oakes’ better efforts showing a scene of colourful carnage that just might be
the back story to this piece, given how controlled the actual content of this
book is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The Universal
horror influence on this book is clear, but there are also Lovecraftian tropes
such as Craven Asylum and the very Lovecraftian Ectoplasmic Lurker (again,
brilliantly drawn by McKenna in all its eldridge glory) that very generously restores
your Stamina every time you wound it. More conventionally terrifying is the
Shocker with its huge single eye (drawn almost hypnotically by McKenna), but
there are also some very cleverly designed and unique encounters such as the
Xen-Viper and the Obsidian Predator. Hand does not try to be too high brow and
unique though and there is a place for some conventional fantasy species such
as Orcs and suchlike – again, a brilliant bit of design that shows considerable
thought in the planning of this book. We also cannot fail to mention that Hand
favourite that debuted in <i>Legend Of The
Shadow Warriors</i>, the Mandrakes, who are back (well, one of them is) in a
genuinely unexpected cameo role (remember to use fire lol). This gives a nice
link to the earlier book and the return of the Frankenstein-like Doctor
Kauderwelsch is another welcome inclusion, along with some development of her
character and update on her fate between the two books. A very subtle little
linking inclusion too is the Shadow Warrior masks in the image of Kiennar’s
Curiosity Shop. Very clever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">If I have any
criticism, and they are fairly trivial niggles really, they would be that, to
get the most out of this book you do need to have read/played <i>Legend Of The Shadow Warriors</i> or you
will miss out on the inter-related material and the mandrake and Kauderwelsch
bits might seem jarring and randomly inserted with no context behind them, and
that, even at twice the length, I would not be able to get enough of this book.
Yes, the limit of 400 sections keeps it taut and effective, but you cannot have
enough of Blackhaven and its superb selection of incidents and experiences. On
the subject of the 400 sections, it is noteworthy that paragraph 400 is not the
victory section. Normally, FFs that subvert the “Turn to 400 and win” approach
have multiple win endings but this one does not seem to go by that rule. Maybe it’s
just hand going against the grain again or maybe we are expected to feel a
hollow victory? It’s not a big issue, but it’s worth bringing up, I think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The word “masterpiece”
is used far too liberally in reviews, but I struggle to find a more suitable word
to do <i>Moonrunner</i> justice. It is
intelligent, well-designed, eminently replayable, the challenge is more
cerebral than normal in gamebooks, and the emphasis on feeling the plot and the
world of this book over simply slaughtering everything in sight and stealing
items, makes it a hugely satisfying experience. The book grabs you and fuels
your imagination from the very start and it is very hard to put it down as
there is no let-up in its brilliance from one moment to the next. What Hand
would have followed this with we can only guess, but, if this is a step towards
something even greater, I can only assume that the planned but never produced <i>Blood Of The Mandrakes</i> would have been
the greatest FF book ever, as <i>Moonrunner</i>
is up there with the absolute best. Truly outstanding.</span></div>
MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-45704739936529448402019-02-26T19:11:00.000+00:002019-02-26T19:27:21.627+00:00You Are The Hero Part 2<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yFXz4d9nG30/XHWPLttgY7I/AAAAAAAAAv0/9dtWRkJdhm8EaxOevW0X0-IYUEmdWBU9QCLcBGAs/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="207" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yFXz4d9nG30/XHWPLttgY7I/AAAAAAAAAv0/9dtWRkJdhm8EaxOevW0X0-IYUEmdWBU9QCLcBGAs/s200/download.jpg" width="141" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">YOU ARE THE HERO PART 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Jonathan Green<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">When the
second part of Jon Green’s definitive history of FF was announced eyebrows were
raised as to exactly what content it would offer. The amount of new material
that had appeared under the FF banner between the first volume’s release in
2014 and the second instalment’s announcement in 2017 was hardly going to fill
a pamphlet, let alone another weighty book, but, in spite of the potential scarcity
of content, YATH2 funded in under 24 hours on Kickstarter meaning fans had
faith that this was going to be a worthwhile project either way. Mirroring the
format and release gambit of the first YATH, YATH2 is a deluxe oversized coffee
table book that was finally unveiled at Fighting Fantasy Fest 2 on 2<sup>nd</sup>
September 2017. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The first
thing that strikes you about this book is that it is rather thinner than YATH,
clocking in at 90 pages shorter than the first book. The second thing that
strikes you is that, on beginning to read it, in the first seven pages of text
alone, the first YATH is name-checked six times and, after 10 pages the YATH-mentioning
count has rocketed to 15 times! I’m not sure the first YATH needs quite this
much plugging as I would imagine that most readers of the second Part will have
read the first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">So, exactly
how are the pages of Part 2 filled? The opening Chapter covers FF conventions
and those in the know will quickly observe that there have been very few events
dedicated solely to FF. In fact, there had been all of two up to the point this
book was written: Fighting Fantasy Day in 1985, and Fighting Fantasy Fest in
2014. Is this really a Chapter’s-worth of events? It is not easy finding people
who were at FF Day but one does get interviewed and, due to the limited amount
of available information on that event, the 1985 gathering in Manchester gets
just half a page of coverage. This is a shame as I’m sure most fans would
appreciate more detail on this convention (well, I would anyway) which few of
us were able to attend and which has largely been consigned to history. Its
inclusion is definitely of interest as I doubt many people are even aware that
it took place but a bit more research and information would have made this seem
less like a starter course to whet our appetites for the rest of this Chapter
which, in a heavy imbalance of content, offers us six pages about FFF in 2014.
Admittedly the 2014 convention is in more recent memory, but this section goes
into unnecessary depth in what is a blow-by-blow account that pushes the
envelope in terms of valuable material and a point is already being stretched
in content terms as soon as YATH2 begins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Chapter 2,
covering writers, looks more promising though as it begins by profiling Keith P
Phillips in what is an adjunct offering material missing from the first YATH.
Even though Phillips only wrote one FF book it is a highly-respected, if
brain-meltingly hard, outing and it is interesting to get an insight into
Phillips’ thought processes behind the book as well as submission practice at
Puffin at the time. As Phillips is a lesser-known FF author it is nice to see
him getting decent column space and his input is well worth reading. Second up
is Kieran Fanning (who?) I’ve never heard of him but apparently he is a
successful current children’s author so there is no real reason why I would
have, to be honest. But, why is he even in here? He seems to be more interested
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Choose Your Own Adventure</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Way Of The Tiger</i> than FF (yes, I know
they are gamebooks, but this is the history of FF, right?) and he only makes
mention of one FF book. Indeed, most of his interview is just him plugging his
own fiction. Tenuous and of little value. Next we get Garth Nix, the man who
wrote the science fiction short story <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sam,
Cars And The Cuckoo</i> printed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock
#2</i>. It is fascinating to have such an obscure contributor to FF history
covered and it is good to see such depth being gone into to make sure everyone
involved in FF history is included in the story, no matter how small a
contribution they may have made. However, he literally says of his “brief
association with FF”: “I’m not sure it has had any particular influence [on my
career]”. Er, Ok, moving on then lol. Nix does tell us the story of the
creation of his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock </i>short subject
though and focus on tiny details in FF history is always welcome. The remainder
of Chapter 2 then proceeds to give an update (the first genuinely new “sequel”
material in YATH2) on Arion Games’ latest AFF products (and there are plenty of
them to cover) plus it provides information on the French iteration of AFF (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Défis Fantastiques: le jeu de rôle</i>)
including a beautiful full-page colour image of a dragon by Malcolm Barter
which is otherwise exclusive to the French AFF edition and in doing this YATH2
showcases an example of generally localised art to a wider audience, rather
than all its full-page art plates just being familiar UK cover images, which
would have been an easy (but less appealing to the hunter of surprise new
material) win.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">In a natural
progression from a Chapter on authors, the next Chapter discusses artists. As
with the previous Chapter, this section begins with another supplementary piece
to the first YATH, this time profiling Geoff Senior. Sadly, this Senior
coverage says very little of consequence other than a general potted career
summary in five (somewhat short) paragraphs. We then get just over three pages
about Stephen Player and I must admit to becoming concerned that, as he
illustrated Green’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stormslayer</i>, this
section might lurch into JG talking about himself which was a major gripe I had
with the first YATH. Thankfully, this does not happen but, instead, the book
heads off on a drastic tangent that goes into way too much depth about Player’s SFU Fantasy Art course students and their FF-based (or, more to the point,
Stephen Player-based) artwork. I’m not convinced that this is of any real value
other than to fill pages. That said, there are some impressive pieces in this
section, especially Ron Monaoi’s full-page Yeti Attack which would not be out
of place in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Caverns Of The Snow Witch</i>.
Following on from some random art students, we get a section on aspiring
FF-influenced artists, including the work of the excellent Alex Siddy whose
digital Bloodbeast image and a very different, far more visceral and
horror-filled monochrome alternate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Temple
Of Terror</i> cover reimagining, are very impressive, and he is brave to
successfully rethink the work of two of FF’s greatest artists (Iain McCaig and
Chris Achilleos). He also contributes a nice Zagor/mountain illustration
prepared especially for this book. Following this we get a brief comment on
fans’ tattoos which is a nice inclusion, even if I doubt it really offers
anything other than demonstrating fan obsession mixed with just how much FF
imagery means to the fans. Finally, this Chapter concludes with Chris Achilleos
talking us through the creative stages that produced his newly-commissioned
YATH2 cover art. Whilst it is fascinating to see how a master works, the
resultant cover is awful with its overuse of purple (for some reason) and its
figures that have nothing of the brilliance that was a trademark of Achilleos’
art in the past. I honestly cannot believe that this is by the same artist who
produced some of the greatest fantasy art of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Is the YATH2
cover his worst work ever? Probably, yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">To continue
the art theme, Chapter 4 looks at that staple of fantasy gaming, mini figures.
Covering the rarely-seen range of plastic FF minis is a good inclusion and
could prompt collecting opportunities for those who are not aware of this
range’s existence (assembling a complete set is a major achievement as these
figures are very rare) and we even get an interview with their sculptor. Next
comes a few sentences on the six generic plastic minis that came with the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> boardgame, followed by two slightly
longer paragraphs about the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Legend Of
Zagor</i> boardgame figures (admittedly there are a whole lot more of them!)
which do at least include four recognised FF player characters and the Zagor
Demon himself, rather than just being six random fantasy figures as with the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> minis. I feel obliged to mention
that my Scriptarium Yaztromo mini is also included here and I’m pleased to see
this as it gives a spotlight to the very talented Steven Leicester’s figure painting
skills. A really fascinating inclusion in this Chapter is an actual photograph
of the near-legendary FF Battlegame 3D dungeon pieces – surely a collecting
Holy Grail for even the most hardcore collector. A necessary inclusion is a
section on the creation of Otherworld Miniatures’ white metal Zagor figure (of
FFF fame) and we get thorough coverage of the design and development that went
into producing this item. Sticking with the “FFF minis” theme, next up are the
yet to commercially materialise, but very impressive, Pure Evil Miniatures
range of resin figures that were seen in tantalising prototype form at FFF. The
entire range is pictured, including some previously unseen minis based on
monsters from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port Of Peril. </i>This
gives hope that there is still activity in the range and that we may still see
these on sale one day. From official figures, we then move into the world of
fandom modelling and this section is a real revelation. It’s not often
considered that fan art is anything other than traditional drawing and
painting, but the showcasing of talented fans’ modelling work (mostly
scratch-built which is a skill that I envy) is a really good inclusion. Amongst
the fantastic work on display is a stunning paintjob on a mini perfectly
recreating the complex John Blanche colouring on the Slime Eater from the cover
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Khare, </i>as well as Johan Tieldow’s
highly original Zanbar Bone PEZ dispenser! Indeed, Johan has created a whole
series of clay sculptures and drawings of Zanbar and those included here are
just the tip of the iceberg of another very talented FF fan artist’s work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Moving on
from visual art, Chapter 5 covers the rather less obvious subject of
FF-influenced music, something I would imagine is news to most FF fans. In
reality, this Chapter shows FF’s influences on obscure unsigned and/or
self-releasing bands, plus Steve Jackson’s occasionally-performing R&B
covers outfit (of which there are many video clips on YouTube). No-one
massively famous then, but this is a very off-the-wall topic to include and
shows an out-of-the-box thinking in the way this book has been put together. Also
featured are the composers of the soundtracks to Tin Man and inkle’s FF apps,
coverage of which is as thorough as is needed for such a peripheral subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Whilst the
first five Chapters of YATH2 cover a good variety of FF-<u>related</u> areas
and are certainly worth reading (if only once in many cases), the actual amount
of <u>focussed</u> material is rather sparse. In saying this, I mean that the
bulk of the subject matter is either fandom or random stuff that would
otherwise be ignorable and would be unlikely to have made the cut for the first
YATH (eg: app soundtrack composers, authors who might have vague memories of
having once have read a FF book, etc), even stretching the point to 3<sup>rd</sup>
parties influenced by art courses taught by a FF artist. Yes, it’s all FF-<u>influenced</u>
but how far can you pull the connecting threads before they become so
thinly-stretched that they break and all we are left with is the sound of the
bottom of an already thoroughly-scoured barrel being scraped? Much of this just
seems to almost be ads for interested parties’ work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">If you have
stuck with the rather inconsistent programme for the first five Chapters you
are then in for what seems to be a much more relevant sixth Chapter all about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fighting Fantazine</i>, the by all intents
and purposes official fanzine and successor (in content, style and
presentation) to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> magazine.
This section seems much more worthwhile than the previous five (bar the useful
Keith Phillips appendix) and means that 74 pages into YATH2 we are finally
getting material worthy of the first YATH volume. The whole history of the
‘zine is covered, including interviews with all the major protagonists, a
lengthy section giving insight into how the selection and refining of the
all-important mini-FF that each issue features functions, and finally a
critical discussion of the ‘zine’s main editors’ views on the best of the bunch
of those mini-FFs. I found it quite amusing that there is a brief teaser nod to
my own contribution (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sister Angela’s Veil</i>)
that had just gone through the finalisation process for inclusion in the
then-imminent issue number 16. This chapter is thus far the most focussed and
relevant by a long way and does not suffer the problems that the previous
Chapters did whereby you are sifting through general fandom bumpf trying to
pick out a few gems of chronicle-worthy content.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">After a
strong Chapter 6 we get what is effectively a Kickstarter contractual obligation
covering collectors. The two big guns are profiled (Jamie Fry and Steven Dean) and
we get to see and hear about some juicy titbits of their collections, as well
as Jamie Fry’s essential, meticulously-researched and exhaustive work that is
the FF Collector’s Guide getting mentioned. In a similar vein, the well-known
FF art collector Pat Robinson shows us his spectacular and authoritative
collection of cover art originals (his hallway walls are to die for) and the
full-page rendering of Terry Oakes’ wonderful cover from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Rings Of Kether</i> is a glorious inclusion. The fourth and final
collector we hear from is the less-known Teofilo Hurtado who gives us a welcome
overview of the Spanish FF market, although quite why he submitted such an
awkward-looking photo of himself I have no idea! Incidentally, to get a
full-page profile of you and your collection in YATH2 required you to back at a
whopping £500 level. Was it worth it? I guess they must have thought so but you
could get some fantastically-rare items for your collection with that kind of
money. This Chapter is surely just a vanity piece for the four contributors and
is of rather less interest to anyone who is not them, even if there are some
lesser-known rarities mentioned. Kickstarter obligation aside, this Chapter can
pretty much be ignored bar the big <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kether</i>
cover image.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">A dramatic
change in relevance comes with Chapter 8. This Chapter is much more substantial
in terms of content and thoroughness than any preceding it, discussing as it
does video game and app adaptations. The first YATH documented all of the
computer/video game releases from the 1980s ZX Spectrum/CBM64/BBC/Amstrad
through to the early 2000s versions, but this Chapter offers an actual update
and is only the second of these in YATH2 (after the AFF update roundup in Chapter
2). Coverage of inkle’s huge and sprawling <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery</i>
apps is very long and in considerable depth, followed by an equally if not even
more thorough look at Tin Man’s sublime Windows version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>. What follows is an unexpected look at Dave Sharrock’s labour
of love Minecraft recreation of Allansia (the existence of which has to be news
to most of us) and then comes similarly in-depth discussion of Nomad Games’ fun
diversion that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FF Legends</i>. The
only weak part of this Chapter is the final brief section on how other game
designs may have been influenced by FF which seems to be an unnecessary
tagged-on piece more in the style of earlier Chapters’ vaguely relevant
material. Otherwise this is the best Chapter yet by far in terms of true
relevance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Indeed, YATH2
remains on track with the next rather longer Chapter detailing comic books and
graphic novels. We all loved Lew Stringer’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Derek
The Troll</i> from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> (and later
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">White Dwarf</i>) magazine and this
character is up for discussion first, primarily through the recent collected
single volume GN that Stringer published. Andi Ewington’s excellent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i> comic series then
follows including a fascinating insight into everyone involved’s creative
processes from the obvious ones of author and artist through to the less
generally familiar role of Titan Comics’ commissioning editor. There is even an
appropriate tribute to the late Kevin Bulmer who drew the internal art for the
original source gamebook. This section does contain a few spoilers (especially
where the comic sits in the timeline compared to the gamebook) but this hardly
matters and does not detract from an excellent bit of coverage. It is great to
see all of the cover variants for all four issues in one place (this is also
handy for working out if you are missing any) although I’m not convinced that
four paragraphs should have been given over to an online review as this is not
really of much use as it goes against the objective chronicle approach of the
YATH books. The third part of Chapter 9 is inevitably dedicated to the
controversial and somewhat lacklustre <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Trolltooth Wars</i> GN. Again, coverage is very thorough, especially of the
creative processes involved as well as the sheer logistics of attempting an
indie project like this without the support of a publisher, and I’m very
pleased that Green interrogates the ridiculously long delay issue which soured
this project for so many Kickstarter backers. The reasons given by PJ
Montgomery make sense, it’s just a shame we never got given this explanation
during the KS campaign. I would have liked to have seen a balance in the number
of full-page plates from both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway
Fighter</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Trolltooth Wars</i>
in this Chapter as the inferior <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trolltooth
Wars</i> artwork gets rather more page-space than the much better Simon Coleby
art from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i>, but that is
just my own taste. As someone who has been reading comic books for almost as
long as I have gamebooks, this Chapter is very worthwhile and quite fascinating
regardless of my personal views of the actual comics in question. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trolltooth Wars</i> Kickstarter fiasco
needed documenting and it is done very well and not to the detriment of also
covering the artistic and practical aspects. Avoiding the KS subject would have
seemed like a cop-out, but focussing on that alone would have been unfair and
unbalanced. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i> was far
easier to document as there are no metaphorical clouds over its development. If
anything, Chapter 9 trumps Chapter 8 for me in terms of its quality, but that
is just because I am more interested in comics than in video games.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Chapter 10 is
odd. It is not immediately obvious how television and FF could be connected
enough to warrant an entire Chapter being dedicated to this subject and I find
this section to be clutching at straws for content. Many fans are aware that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> was profiled on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Book Tower</i> in the early-‘80s (the
footage is possibly lost from the archives due to junking if I understand
correctly) and this program gets only a short paragraph by definition as few
can have seen this clip, or will recall it in much detail, if they have. There
is a very tenuous Ben Elton section mostly about D&D (the only proper FF
association being when Elton plays <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Forest Of Doom</i> on-screen at one point), but the next section covering the
BBC’s highly imaginative <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Skill, Stamina And
Luck</i> interactive documentary from a few years ago is much more relevant and
I’m glad that this brilliant creation is not forgotten. Sadly, the rest of this
Chapter is of little real value as we get told about a FF question (literally
just one question!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that appeared on the
excruciating quiz show <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Only Connect</i>
and a Brazilian chat show that Ian Livingstone was invited to appear on. I do
wonder whether YATH3 will feature the brief snippet from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">24 Hours In A&E</i> last year where a patient is playing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stormslayer</i> for a few seconds in a
Waiting Room? Given the threadbare material in this Chapter I suspect it
probably will qualify for the next book!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Moving
swiftly on from the pointless Chapter 10, Chapter 11 gives the necessary update
to the previous book’s update (ahem) on Jackson and Livingstone’s post-FF
activities including the little-known <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery</i>-themed
cocktails that were served at inkle’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sorcery
4 </i>launch party (another nice obscure detail worth documenting). As he tends
to be more obviously active, Livingstone gets the balance of coverage and I am
particularly struck by the sheer passion he expresses in his interview here
regarding the educational prospects and potential of video games. There is a
nice long spotlight on recent convention activity in Brazil (perhaps that’s why
the previous Chapter randomly included the Brazilian chat show bit then?)
including a particularly important section about the Daielyn Cris custom <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City Of Thieves</i> design project that she
presented to IL. This obviously led to the disastrous Indiegogo campaign to
fund a grossly-overpriced and rather ludicrously over-engineered special
edition deluxe hardback <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City Of Thieves</i>
but this definitely needed including in YATH2 (and I’m glad it was) as no FF
fan is likely to forget that laughing-stock in a hurry! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Obviously,
the story of what FF’s two creators did next would be incomplete without
documenting the new Scholastic printings and Chapter 12 is given over to this
subject. There is a wealth of useful information in this Chapter including the
shortlist of titles for what would eventually see the light of day as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port Of Peril</i> as well as it being
pleasing to me personally to see James Aukett’s Beer-O events get mentioned as
they are popular gatherings and he puts a lot of work into planning them. And
why are they mentioned? Because it was at one of these that the discussion was
had about what title that book should be given. The ins-and-outs of how the
Scholastic deal came about are covered and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Port Of Peril</i> is inevitably the centre-piece to this subject, including the
(accidental) naming of the guilty party who clearly failed to do a decent job
of playtesting it (in fact, it is retrospectively quite hilarious how much
credence this person appears to put into being thorough in editing these
books!) For anyone who hadn’t already noticed it, the Salamonis typo on the new
Leo Hartas Allansia map is noted too. As YATH2 has not shied away from
controversial subjects (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Trolltooth
Wars</i> GN delay, the uber-deluxe <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City
Of Thieves</i> debacle) there was no question of the emotive topic of the new
art coming up and, again, this is sensitively treated when it could so easily
have become sensationalist. In brief, fan reaction and Scholastic’s
justification are both discussed as needed. New cover artist Robert Ball gets
his say on the concept and thinking behind the new covers and we get a
full-page plate of the alternate proposed cover for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port Of Peril</i> which I personally prefer as it contains much
more horror but it was probably too scary for today’s pc brigade to approve.
This Chapter also covers the most polemic subject of all and the one everyone
quickly raises when the Scholastic series is mentioned and that is Vlado
Krizan’s incompetent internal art. Abomination that Krizan’s art is, this time,
and probably wisely, Green avoids the backlash bloodbath that it got from the
fanbase and this section is mercifully brief being just a quick analysis of how
Krizan worked on his pieces. Finally, it is hinted at that Jackson might be
convinced to write another FF and we get his explanation of why he suddenly
stepped away from writing FF books the first time around. Again, this is useful
historical detail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">YATH2 is a
companion piece, not a sequel to the first book. Yes, there are necessary
updates, but this is more of a book about fandom activity than the first, which
was very much an in-depth chronicle of FF and its creators. The two books
complement each other well in this sense but YATH2 is much more of a niche
piece, barring the sections that give genuine updates to the FF story. It is
certainly rather less essential than YATH unless fandom really interests you.
It is also rather shorter and sparser on actual valid content as opposed to
discussing sometimes irrelevant people who admit to not really being influenced
by FF but seem to have been included anyway. Green writes in his easily
accessible journalistic style as before and this book can be read through in
one or two sittings with no problems. The irritating tendency Green had in the
first YATH to draw the narrative round to himself as much as possible is
noticeably (and mercifully) absent this time around and he has clearly
responded to readers’ reaction. As with the first book, the main text is
punctuated by boxes containing FF trivia which are often fascinating to read.
It is good too that supplementary material missing from the first books is
added (Phillips, Senior) to continue the thoroughness of approach. If I have
one major criticism it would be (other than the semi-relevant nature of much of
what is discussed) that this book is riddled with typos and grammatical errors
and some sentences are awkward or make little sense as a result. For example we
are told that we are getting “insightful, riveting insights” (I’d be surprised
to read an insight lacking in insght!) and the comment in the section about FFF
that tells us that “Steven Dean going away with not the … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap Dungeon</i> swords” is gibberish. An interesting undercurrent
that runs throughout this book is the way that Russ Nicholson, Iain McCaig and
John Blanche are clearly considered by anyone who expresses a view on the
subject to be peoples’ favourite FF artists (I’d cite the first two, but would
also add Alan Langford and Martin McKenna for internal work, Gary Mayes for
sci-fi, and Chris Achilleos for covers) and I’m surprised that Achilleos is not
up there in the FF consciousness in the same way. Perhaps it was because he was
responsible for the terrible cover on this book? Unappealing cover aside, there
is some essential information within (especially the updates), but the amount
of fandom filler does become a minefield for the reader to navigate whilst not
letting this overshadow the genuinely excellent sections that this book has in
parts. Overall, this is a very mixed bag and the first YATH was miles better.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-64616513592409517332019-02-06T19:55:00.000+00:002019-02-06T19:55:19.394+00:00Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iSox2YQTMkI/XFs7f3e_qOI/AAAAAAAAAvo/CM4nTJweld8v5igofI96jbOJkyBiG93jQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG-0001-600x900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iSox2YQTMkI/XFs7f3e_qOI/AAAAAAAAAvo/CM4nTJweld8v5igofI96jbOJkyBiG93jQCLcBGAs/s200/IMG-0001-600x900.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">STEVE JACKSON’S THE TROLLTOOTH WARS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">PJ Montgomery and Gavin Mitchell<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mention this
graphic novel adaptation of Steve Jackson’s 1989 book of the same name to most
FF fans who were involved in the funding and they are far more likely to talk
about the shambolic Kickstarter campaign that led to its creation than the GN
itself. Mention it to anyone who did not support the Kickstarter and they will
probably look at you blankly and start Googling how to buy a copy. We will
discuss the thorny subject of the Kickstarter later, but the apparent lack of
awareness of the GN beyond that project has made it something of an obscurity
in the fan community, a problem which is not helped by the relative lack of
distribution outlets where it can be purchased - as a privately-published title
it’s essentially only available from its own Bigcartel website, anyone who
backed the KS at the retail levels (which amounts to all of ONE backer who
pledged for 10 copies), plus I’ve seen it in Travelling Man in Leeds…. Oh, and,
several of the KS backers sold their copies peer-to-peer fairly quickly so not
even all the backers have a copy anymore. A year after its Summer 2017 release,
it would be further overshadowed by the far better-promoted (and distributed) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i> comic book published by
Titan Comics (which was also better-received as it didn’t overrun its original
release schedule by 18 months like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Trolltooth Wars</i> did!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, was it
worth waiting all that extra time for? Firstly, let’s get something clear: I
love the original novel. Granted, it isn’t as dark and brooding as its superior
sequel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Demonstealer</i>, but it is so
bursting with exactly what FF fans want (ie lots of FF exploitation) that it’s
hard not to find the source book thoroughly enjoyable. The fact that it brings
four popular FF NPCs all together in one place (Zagor, Balthus Dire, Zharradan
Marr, and Yaztromo) adds to the appeal, plus the original novel is jam-packed
with FF lore and background detail, including the clarification of a few logic
question marks that you find yourself pondering over after playing some of the
earlier books (especially <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Warlock Of
Firetop Mountain</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Citadel Of
Chaos</i>). There is a lot going on in the source book and it is by necessity
fast-paced as it switches the action between Balthus and Zharradan’s
machinations and plans for war, battle scenes/massacres, and Chadda Darkmane’s
adventures from Salamonis to the Galleykeep via Yaztromo’s tower and Firetop
Mountain. Jackson’s book is quite cinematic in its approach and Montgomery’s GN
tries to emulate this with frequent scene shifts, often from one page to the
next, which can make it seem a bit all over the place (especially if you aren’t
familiar with the Jackson novel). For this reason, you do have to concentrate
on the headers that sometimes set the location and/or rely on the illustrations
to give you an idea of where any particular page of action is taking place, or
maybe even use the characters as the only way to keep up. In places this is
executed well, especially one particular page where we see Balthus and
Zharradan plotting similar things, one on the left of the page, the other on
the right, leading to them both announcing the same thing in the final plate.
In other places, it just gets muddled and you find yourself referring back to
the Jackson novel to untangle what is going on. Don’t get me wrong, by no means
is the GN complicated, the problem lies in the necessity of adapting a novel
into a GN as huge amounts of scene-setting text in a novel can be condensed
down to one single image in a GN. Indeed, entire chapters of the Jackson novel
are often reduced down to just one or two pages of this GN which is why it
seems to flit about between people and places so much. Essentially, all the
core plot from the novel is there, it’s mainly the asides and little cameos
from the book that are missing from the GN (eg: the elf fight in the Fatted
Pig, Calorne Manitus’ explanation of why Shazaar is so bizarre, etc), but
curiously Chadda Darkmane’s key motivation is also entirely excised, that being
the concept of Amanour. In the original novel, Darkmane is out for himself and
agrees to take on King Salamon’s commission so as to increase his Amanour (ie
kudos), whereas in the GN he comes across as rather more honourable as he
accepts the mission purely for the honour of serving his King. These two things
are very different. In the novel Darkmane often seems self-possessed and driven
by Amanour to the point of being quite obnoxious, whereas the GN presents him
as a far more courtly hero in the classic sense. This does create a very
different feel to the piece and makes you rather more sympathetic towards
Darkmane and makes you be more forgiving about his attitude towards things like
sorcery and the Cherva’s obsessive vegetarianism than you are when reading the
novel, but it also makes him seem like a bit of a goody-goody wuss. Given that
Darkmane is the YOU of the piece though, I do wonder why he accepted the
mission in the GN version – there is no apparent reward of any kind (not even
money), so why root for him? Actually, Balthus or Zharradan seems far more worthy
of the reader’s support in the GN version, especially Balthus who is the
underdog for much of the story (as he is in the Jackson novel) and who isn’t
presented as especially evil in the GN. Zharradan is clearly the bad guy in
this version. Even Zagor seems more sympathetic and easy to get on-side this
time around, whereas in the novel he is still basically psychotic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A key part of
the source book is the wealth of lore presented in long contextual asides.
Almost all of this is missing from the GN, bar that which is totally essential
to following the basic plot ie the link between the Demonic Three and Volgera
Darkstorm, and Marr’s background with the women of Dree. Interestingly, this
latter item is actually lifted from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creature
Of Havoc</i>, rather than <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Trolltooth
Wars</i>, but it greatly helps us to understand Marr as a character as well as
how mharranga fits into the plot (even if its use is muddied in the GN and
amounts to a handful of plates again). The same happens when Balthus takes his
two cunnelwort trips – in the novel this is fully explained whereas in the GN
it is, again, reduced to a handful of plates and makes rather less sense. I
would imagine that, without being familiar with the original novel, all of the
cunnelwort/Sorq/Ganjee plot elements would be missed and/or confusing if you
only read the GN and, as cunnelwort is the primary plot maguffin and the cause
of the titular wars, this is a massive issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, with
Amanour completely removed and cunnelwort reduced to playing a bit part, what
is left of any substance in the GN version? The answer is the build up to and
skirmishes of the Trolltooth Wars themselves, and Darkmane’s mission to try to
manipulate the wars to avoid Salamonis being swallowed-up by them (in other
words, the action). Yes, these are huge parts of the original novel, but the
subtleties and the real underlying plot drivers are all missing from the GN,
thus presenting the story as basically a territory war with a concerned
bystander. As a plot summary, the GN is fine, especially if you haven’t read
the original book (think film adaptation vs source book and you have the right
idea), but as an adaptation I’m not convinced that the GN really offers much.
The reason the subsequent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freeway Fighter</i>
GN seemed to work better was that it was new material rather than a reduction
to the bare bones of existing material, which is where <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Trolltooth Wars</i> GN falls down. Admittedly, it makes for a
fast-moving and tight GN, but then the source book is also tight and
fast-moving, but still manages to offer far more in terms of lore and colourful
expansion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I do find
myself wondering what, other than distilling and summarising the plot,
Montgomery actually did when he put this together. Rather handily, the answer
is in the supplementary material in the back of the GN, where he explains what
goes into adapting a novel into a graphic novel. This is an interesting insight
into the process involved and does help explain why so much of the book was
excised for those who aren’t regular readers of the GN medium. However, I have
read many novel-based GNs that do manage to incorporate all the background in
one way or another so it’s a shame this could not have somehow happened with
Montgomery’s version, notwithstanding the restrictions of time, art budget, and
the practicality of having a two-inch thick GN as the finished product. On the
subject of size, it has to be said that I was surprised to see just how small
the finished GN is. Most trade paperback GNs are roughly A4-sized, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Trolltooth Wars</i> is closer to
oversized A5 and is disappointingly small. The art plates are not in any way reduced
though which is good to see, instead the overall effect is less impactful than
it could have been had it been larger format, and we lose a whole load of
textual substance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The subject
of Gavin Mitchell’s art is probably an even bigger issue than Montgomery’s plot
distillation. The best comparison I can come up with is that Mitchell’s art
looks like it is straight out of a Cartoon Network animation (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Clone Wars</i> in particular springs to
mind) and I really hate CN-style art with its elongated human forms and
eggtimer-shaped heads with clothes made up of angular shapes that don’t look
anything like as organic as they should. Russ Nicholson drew the internal art
for the original Chadda Darkmane novels and, to my eye, it was perfect: his
Chadda Darkmane is rough-looking and holds himself in a suitably cock-sure
manner; Balthus is as he was in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Citadel Of Chaos</i> – dark and sinister yet obviously human; Zagor is the
Zagor from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> – tall, macabre, and
literally crackling with sorcerous energy; the sorq are bizarre and electrical,
whilst the ganjees are terrifying disjointed heads… the list goes on. Sadly,
Mitchell’s art does not come anywhere near Nicholson’s interpretations: Chadda
is far less grizzled and is almost cheerful-looking; Balthus and Marr look like
the overly-chiseled victims of too much plastic surgery whilst having the
sunken dead eyes of a chronic crack user; Zagor looks manic in old man form and
is just the purple version of Balthus and Marr in true form (indeed, Mitchell’s
Marr is just his Balthus but in green and with pointy ears); the sorq look like
aerodactyl from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pokemon</i> and the
ganjees just look risible… basically, Mitchell’s art, for the most part,
trivialises the tone of the piece and makes every character (human or monster)
look cute and cartoonish. The worst portrayal by far though for me is that of
Jamut Mantrapper – he is supposed to be a shifty sword for hire but Mitchell’s
version looks like a happy-go-lucky Walter Raleigh-esque dandy. To avoid this
being a complete hatchet job of Mitchell’s art, his landscapes, buildings, and
cityscapes are actually very well rendered: the Dark Tower is suitably sinister
in silhouette, Salamonis is the pretty utopia I always thought it should be
(pre-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gates Of Death</i> murder labyrinth,
that is), and he draws day and night scenes very effectively. It’s a shame then
that his character illustrations are so awful. In fact, some of his character drawings
have genuinely bizarre inclusions. For example, why does the dead Sea Ogre need
to have pubes (also, is it supposed to be female)? And, why does every human
have excessively-pronounced cheek bones that make it look like they have two-storey faces? I can only imagine just how much better this would all have
looked had Russ Nicholson illustrated this GN instead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As is often
the case in GNs, the eagle-eyed will spot several easter eggs drawn into the
illustrations and there is some fun to be had searching for these here (which
also draws your eyes away from the crappy human images and gives you a reason
to revisit the GN once you’ve read it). It is nice to see that Balthus Dire has
Emmanuel’s original <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CoC </i>cover art on
his study wall, and Zagor has the map of his Firetop Mountain dungeon domain on
his study wall too. Moreover though, Yaztromo’s study is an absolute Aladdin’s Cave
of easter eggs including the small tree in glass dome that the Cherva fiddles
with in the source book (although this cameo is not in the GN), a price list
featuring a Net of Entanglement and Armband of Strength (from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Forest Of Doom</i>), the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deathtrap Dungeon</i> video game skull logo
in a mirror, and, more bizarrely, the Great A’Tuin from Discworld is hanging
from the ceiling for some reason. I may be stretching a point here but I’m
pretty sure that Prince Vultan of the Birdmen (“Gordon’s Alive!”) from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Flash Gordon</i> is sat at a table in the
Fatted Pig, as is at least one of the Kickstarter backers who were willing to
fork out a minimum of £400 to be drawn into the book (I believe seven backers
should be in there somewhere, if the number of backers at the relevant levels
is any indication). I’m sure there are other visual easter eggs that I haven’t
found too, but these are just the ones I’ve noticed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Neatly, not
only are there visual easter eggs in this GN, there are also a few textual ones
too. When he first reveals himself in all his youthful sorcerer glory, Zagor
utters the words “Who dares challenge me?” from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Legend Of Zagor</i> board game, on first encountering the sleeping orc
guard Mantrapper uses the immortal “Test Your Luck” line, and Darkmane closes
the entire GN with the wry aside to camera of “I suppose my adventure is over”.
These are all nice inclusions that give the FF fan something to feel warm and
cosy about and they really do draw the GN into the cannon and make it feel like
some decent effort has gone into this aspect. It is also worth mentioning the
closing coda back in Yaztromo’s tower that is not in the original novel. This
coda is not literally lifted from the second novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Demonstealer</i>, instead it paraphrases the opening part of it, but it
does act as a potential segue into a GN adaptation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Demonstealer</i> that may or may not ever happen, plus it conclusively
tells us that Darkmane is still alive in the real world rather than ending on
Titan’s version of Mount Olympus like the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">TW</i>
novel does, thus rounding the story off nicely. Curiously, the bomb explosion
countdown element that makes the end of the original book so gripping is
missing from the GN which just leaves Darkmane needing to grab and smash Marr’s
mirror, resulting in a final showdown almost completely devoid of any tension. Incidentally,
the bridge between the human and Godly planes after Darkmane sacrifices himself
is depicted by a couple of blank white pages, something which caused
considerable confusion amongst readers when the GN first appeared, as several
people thought this was a printing error rather than a plot device!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some might
say that they would rather have a book full of blank white pages than Gavin
Mitchell’s poor attempts at emulating Russ Nicholson (and Ian Miller in the
case of Zharradan Marr) but a further appendix offers us some alternate art
plates by other artists, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forest
Of Doom</i>’s Malcolm Barter. I pulled no punches in my criticisms of his art
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">FoD</i> but, to be fair to MB, it was
completed in a very short turnaround time and is not representative of his
skill as an artist. His black and white Yaztromo in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">TW</i> appendix definitely does do Barter justice however and is easily
the best bit of art anywhere in this GN – Barter even succeeds in making
Yaztromo look wise (as he should be) rather than cute and cartoonish like he is
elsewhere in the GN and in Bill Huston’s version in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Temple Of Terror</i>. The other additional illustrations we are offered
are Balthus Dire vs Darkmane by Dean Beattie (his characters are
better-rendered and more sinister than Mitchell’s but there is far too much
iodine yellow-red for my liking), and Darkmane and the Chervah by Anastasia Catris
(which looks like something out of Sylvanian Families and the less said about
it the better, quite frankly).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">These extra
art plates were also given away in A4 print format as Kickstarter backer
rewards (along with a couple of other images from the book) which is handy for
anyone who wants to frame Malcom Barter’s fabulous Yaztromo picture and put it
on their wall. Backers also received, depending on the level, four badges and a
numbered bookplate. Also, if you were one of the wealthy few who backed at the
“draw me into a picture somewhere” level you would also receive a print of the
plate that you are in (I wonder if Brian Blessed was one of these ref. Prince
Vultan lol) and a sketch of yourself in costume. The four badges are a mixed
bag: three are small coloured button badges with rough silhouettes representing
the three factions in the GN (Balthus, Marr, and Salamonis) that could be
easily for pennies by anyone with a 1980s badge-making machine and are hardly
worth a second look; what is very nice though is the enamel FF logo-shaped
badge that was added as an extra to atone for the delay in the project being
delivered. As for the bookplate, this is little more than a small piece of card
with the arms of Salamonis on it and a small number out of 200 written on it in
pen. A vote was held on the KS page which ended in the bookplates being
supplied loose and, although they were meant to each be signed by Steve
Jackson, something went awry and instead the books themselves were signed by
SJ, along with the promised signatures of PJ Montgomery and Gavin Mitchell. The
whole numbering out of 200 idea went down the pan too when less than 40 backers
plumped for the bookplate levels so I assume only about 40 numbered examples
exist rather than 200 (which makes them rarer, I suppose). Some backers also
backed to have a little Mitchell thumbnail drawn in the frontispiece of their
books which is a nice unique piece and, oddly, his art looks better when it is
not coloured if this small insight is anything to go by. Sadly, whilst all
these little collectables (of varying qualities) were included, the actual
packaging used to send out rewards was nothing more than a flimsy C4 card
mailer which meant that the books got jostled about inside (as they are smaller
than A4) and many arrived with spine bumps or worse damage, something else that
did not go down well with backers. If we add this onto the biggest problem with
the KS campaign which was very poor and infrequent communication from
Montgomery and the project over-running its original deadline by 18 months with
very few credible explanations, then ultimately it is hard to see the overall
project as anything other than a disappointment, especially as the GN itself is
a watered-down version of the novel with very inferior and unsuitable artwork.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As a
standalone graphic novel, I don’t think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Trolltooth Wars</i> works particularly well. Too much material that helps the
source book flow and make sense is missing and there is far too much condensing
of plot elements into too few pages per episode to really be satisfying. The
exclusion of the underlying plot driver of Amanour is an own goal that turns
Darkmane from a selfish egomaniac anti-hero into a sort of poncy Knight of King
Salamon’s Round Table figure whilst the bomb-less ending is lacking any real
sense of peril. The power of cunnelwort is easily missed but should really be
key to the whole story. Of the Demonic Three, only Marr really seems
threatening, whereas all three are equally bad news in the Jackson book (and we
know they are anyway from playing the gamebooks they feature in!) Gavin
Mitchell’s art is terrible and, to my eye, presents the characters (both NPCs
and creatures) from Allansia in completely the wrong light. To exacerbate the
situation, anyone who got this GN on the back of the Kickstarter campaign was
so fed up with it all that, by the time the GN was supplied, I doubt anyone
really cared much anymore and I for one had long since lost interest by the
time it turned up. And this is a shame because, at face value, this is actually
quite a nice little (emphasis on the word “little”) GN in spite of its flaws
and distillation of the plot. It does not take long (maybe 30-45 minutes) to
read it and, in isolation, is a fun enough read. However, as the original novel
is a hundred times better, makes more sense, and needs to be read too to avoid
the GN being confusing and jumbled, you have to wonder whether anyone really
needs this. Read the Jackson book first then, if you want to find out what the
simplified Cartoon Network abridgement might be like, try the GN. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-47147597111038118432018-11-13T19:21:00.000+00:002018-11-13T19:21:21.938+00:00Legend Of Zagor Boardgame<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-acoFAzO0zQY/W-sjvWo1XPI/AAAAAAAAAvc/LwWB1E9VjicyFvRv4SZD1YucA6zPW40EQCLcBGAs/s1600/LegendZagor2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="599" height="207" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-acoFAzO0zQY/W-sjvWo1XPI/AAAAAAAAAvc/LwWB1E9VjicyFvRv4SZD1YucA6zPW40EQCLcBGAs/s320/LegendZagor2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">LEGEND OF ZAGOR BOARDGAME<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ian Livingstone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Produced by
Parker Games in 1993, this formed part of a multi-format release that included
a gamebook, four novels, and this high concept game. Not strictly a boardgame
in that it has no board to speak of, this game consists of three 3D dungeon
areas moulded in plastic (one grey, one red, one black) which are linked
together by white model plastic bridges. The first two areas have various floor
tiles and rooms scattered about them, whilst the final section (in black)
consists of a dragon’s lair (complete with grille presumably covering something
that turns out to actually be a speaker), four floor tiles, and Zagor’s throne
room. The throne itself is a large skull structure with horns and teeth in
which Zagor reposes. To move from area two (the red one) to the black one (the
Crypt of Zagor aka the throne room) you pass over a model bridge with a jawbone
cavern entrance which acts as the way in to the crypt. The crypt also contains
figures of a dragon and of Zagor himself. Up to four players can play, each
selecting a pre-defined character to match those in the gamebook (ie dwarf,
wizard, warrior, barbarian), each of which has a mini figure to move around the
dungeon sections. Also included is a mini of a shopkeeper and a bunch of minis
depicting the various denizens of the dungeon (ogres, trolls, skeletons,
hellhorns, etc).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Immediately
on opening the (massive) box that houses all this stuff, it becomes apparent
that this is visually pretty special. The minis are beautifully rendered with a
lot of detail, with the Flame Dragon and Zagor being particularly impressive,
in part due to the sheer size of them. In fact, Zagor is so big he doesn’t
actually fit in his throne so you have to put him to one side, have him stand
awkwardly behind the dragon, or lay him horizontally across his throne. The
dragon and the shopkeeper have handy pips that hold them in place once the game
is set up, as do all the various structural parts (bridge sections, jawbone doorway,
skull throne, etc). Even the dungeon section floors and walls are really well
moulded with plenty of detail down to each tile having something unique about
it be it the paving design, grilles, etc. No expense has been spared in
designing and creating this game and it really does look very classy and high quality. Were you to
paint all the figures and the dungeon floor sections too, you would have
something truly impressive and the box sides do show the minis painted up to
give you an idea of the potential of the game’s parts. With all this elaborate
detail, setting the game up can take a bit of time: each section has a set of
colour-coded tiles that are laid face down one per tile square, each room has a
card floor design tile (each one shaped to fit a particular room which can be
something of a jigsaw exercise to get them all in the right places), and each
monster mini gets put in a room (the more deadly foes such as the chaos
champions and the hellhorn being put in section two). Character generation is
not required as each of the four PCs has a nicely rendered character sheet with
a picture of the character’s face on it (matching those on the game box).
Character set up is dead simple. Each of you starts with 1 Strength (Strength
being the equivalent of Skill here), 6 Stamina, 20 gold pieces, and no
equipment. The only real differences between the four characters are how much
each particular piece of equipment costs (eg: fighters pay less for weapons,
wizard pays less for the magic ring). Before the game begins, each player can
spend their 20 gps (or part of them) buying equipment: weapons and armour to
increase Strength and/or special items to affect gameplay such as torches,
elven boots, magic arrows, a magic ring, healing potions, etc. Each player also
gets a spell. Anyone with the magic ring can carry two spells at any one time,
otherwise you can only ever carry one at a time. There is a large deck of spell
cards which include healing spells, combat/defence spells, spells that allow
transportation, gold creation spells, spells that help you steal stuff or pass
through walls, etc ie the usual selection of beneficial, risky, and downright
wacky magic to nuance the game.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Once each
player has kitted themselves out, the game can finally begin. The fact that it
easily takes half an hour to set all this up makes you hope for a lengthy
playing experience, which you may or may not actually get, but more on this
later for now we can no longer avoid the subject of this game’s main gimmick –
the much-vaunted 40K electronic voice unit which the box and the TV advert that
plugged this game made the primary focus. The voice unit sits in the chunky
black plastic crypt section and as soon as you insert 4 AA-sized batteries in
it, it starts shouting at you. “Who dares challenge me?” it yells in a voice
not unlike Tregard’s from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Knightmare</i>
(although it isn’t Hugo Myatt’s voice, incidentally) and you reply by pressing
buttons in the crypt that correspond to the character’s being used: “Dwarf”,
“Barbarian”, “Warrior”, “Wizard” Zagor responds after you press each button. As
this is a game for anything from one to four players, you only press the
buttons that represent the character’s that are actually being used, otherwise
it all gets in a mess pretty quickly. Once everyone has checked-in Zagor will
randomly decide who starts: “Dwarf begin” or whatever. Play then proceeds with
each player taking their turn to turn over the tile they are starting on. The
tile will have something on it and the game plays out with players moving
around the sections, turning over the tiles they land on, and dealing with
whatever is on them: some are bad, some are good, and some can be good or bad
depending on dice rolls. Level one is the only area where equipment can be
found on tiles (11 out of 26 level one tiles are useful gear, which is pretty
forgiving), although you are limited to how many of each thing you can carry so
some stuff gets left behind for others to benefit from. This adds an element of
chance when creating your character: do you blow all your cash buying
everything that will shoot your Strength straight up to the maximum of 8 from
the outset or do you take the chance that you might find something useful for
free and gradually build up your Strength? The only areas in section one that
involve combats are the rooms which you can avoid initially if you start weak
or you can also go on a killing spree if you start out strong. Killing room
inhabitants is the core of the game as a kill rewards you with a treasure
chest. Each treasure chest shaves 1 Strength and 1 Stamina off Zagor in the end
fight and you need to get as many as you can carry (six normally, or eight if you have
a mule) otherwise the Zagor fight is unwinnable. Why? Because combat in this
game is not standard FF combat. This game came out in the mid-90s post-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HeroQuest</i> era when combat had been
dumbed-down to avoid it supposedly detracting from the playability of games of
this type so combat here is simply a matter of rolling a D10 and comparing the
result to the defending thing’s Strength: equal to or higher and 1 Stamina is
lost, lower and the attack misses. When you read the rule book it states that
Zagor has Strength 12 Stamina 12. It does not take a mathematical genius to
work out then that, with no treasure chests, it is not possible to wound Zagor
when the highest roll you can get is a 10 and he has Strength 12. With two
treasure chests you can only hit him on rolling a 10 so getting the full six or
eight chests is pretty essential and even with six you still only have 40%
chance of hitting him. Mules are expensive to buy but you can find one (and
only one) in level two. Realistically, you would want a mule so that you can
carry eight chests but this does also involve either forking out a lot of gold
for a mule or being lucky enough to find the only one that is roaming free in
the dungeon. Plus, getting eight chests requires you to win eight combats with
monsters which brings us to man-on-monster battles. When you enter a room you
press a particular combat button on Zagor dependant on whether you are in
section one or two: “Who dares do battle with me?” shouts Zagor and the
fighting player replies by pressing the relevant character button. Zagor will
then randomise the Strength and Stamina of the monster and combat begins. The
player rolls the D10 to attack as above and Zagor shouts out random numbers to
represent the monster’s dice rolls. Most level one monsters only have Strength
2 or 3 and Stamina 1 or 2 whilst second level monsters are hardly much
stronger. This might seem rather easy until it becomes apparent that Zagor
tends to shout out high numbers more than low ones so you quickly become
grateful for creatures with Staminas of 1 or 2. Indeed, the combats in this
game are distinctly unbalanced and fights can leave you pretty close to death
after a short time. Granted, there are many ways to heal your character and
using spells can make fights easier (or recruiting a hireling to do the fighting
for you) but you do get the feeling that Zagor is rather harsh on you. Then
comes the rub: Zagor will keep track of how many fights each character gets
into, the braver you are the more likely he is to reward you with equipment or
Stamina bonuses, conversely avoid fights and Zagor will start to pick on you
and penalise you in various ways. This really is very neat and Zagor
effectively acts as a GM as well as playing the gamebook author role whereby a
player who fights gets more items than a player who avoids confrontations. Add
to this the need to get treasure chests and it becomes evident just how
essential being psychotic is in this game. Should you die you just regenerate
and start again at your original starting square with a fresh character bereft of
equipment and everyone has to wait whilst you work out how best to spend your
20 starting gps again. Incidentally, there are several ways of finding more
money too so that has to be taken into consideration when planning your
spending strategy and there is a Store where you can go and buy more stuff
throughout the game.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And that’s
pretty much it: you move your piece, turn over a tile (or fight in a room),
collect treasure chests and other handy kit, then decide when you want to head
for the crypt for the big showdown. The first player to enter the crypt has to
contend with the Flame Dragon which has a +2 bonus to Strength and Stamina on
top of whatever numbers Zagor shouts out. Therefore it is possible for the
dragon to be fairly weak if you are in luck. Once the dragon is dead it’s dead
and no-one else then has to deal with it. Should the dragon kill a player
however, any treasure chests he/she has (and you would assume they would have
some otherwise why the hell would they be attempting the final challenge?)
become the property of Zagor and are out of the game. In other words, the
number of available chests will decrease as players fall foul of the dragon.
Similarly, if Zagor kills a hero, the same happens which means that, in theory,
there can come a point where there aren’t enough chests left in the game for
anyone to be able to defeat Zagor so he gets a sort of default victory.
Additionally, you cannot use any magic spells, magical items, or certain other
things such as hirelings in the crypt which makes the end game even tougher.
This is strategically counter-intuitive as you would be likely to try to amass
this sort of equipment specifically to make the end easier, but it does also
mean that by using them up you can get through the first two sections much more
easily and with a minimal amount of risk or Stamina loss. When you approach the
crypt is entirely your decision incidentally and the peril and anticipation
really does ramp up as each player tries to tackle Zagor. Not only is he very
strong compared to everything else you fight in this game (even with his stats
reduced by treasure chests) but he will also randomly attack you with spells
that the 40K chip will decide to use. The sound that precedes Zagor announcing
that he is either unleashing a fireball or thunderbolt spell at a combatant
quickly becomes something you don’t want to hear and he is not unknown to use
two or three in successive combat rounds!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Which brings
us to the subject of sound effects. Not only does Zagor control combat and arbitrarily
reward and penalise players, but the chip also generates suitably atmospheric
sound effects. Lightning randomly crackles at times and Zagor will occasionally
burst into maniacal laughter to unnerve you. When combat is happening, the chip
starts by making the sound of approaching footsteps followed by the clang as
weapons clash with each other. Kill a monster and you will hear it emit a
gut-wrenching scream followed by it crashing to the floor. It has to be said
that this all really does add to the experience and, whilst it might seem a bit
corny now, in 1993 this was very hi-tech stuff and quite revolutionary. However
you perceive it (and the crackling tinny voice can get irritating after a
while, especially if you are getting victimised by Zagor for being a coward)
this concept is undeniably fun and, with the random moments in particular, each
game does become unique and there is a constant element of anticipation as you
play.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In terms of
actual dungeon design and structure, the levels idea is generally very
effective. Section one contains, as I have said, a lot of free items, and
encounters are equally divided between three helpful NPCs and three bad NPCs.
There is the prerequisite trap (but only one), a couple of potentially handy
secret passages (unless they end up next to each other of course, which is
perfectly possible as tiles are laid out randomly each time you play), a
teleport tile, a guard (which can be good or bad as you must bribe him or
fight), three random tiles (Zagor decides the effect which can befall any
character, not necessarily the one who turned the tile over), and the neat pool
of gold (roll to get a certain amount of gold – the pool stays where it is
until someone is unfortunate enough to roll a zero and dries it up thus then ruining
it for everyone for the rest of the game). Section two is predictably more
challenging with two random tiles, two more secret passages, and another
teleport tile. The proportion of good to bad NPC encounters changes for the
worse however with just three helpful NPCs compared to five bad ones for you to
contend with. There is another pit trap too. In spite of the overall increased
difficulty of section two, the two arguably best tiles that work in your favour
are also found here: the fountain of life (restores Stamina to maximum) and the
very handy mule. Finally, the crypt contains only four tiles that are explored
once the dragon has been despatched. As the elven boots (which allow you to
move up to three spaces rather than the standard one or two) cannot be used in
the crypt you have to statistically explore at least two of these crypt tiles,
all of which are potentially bad news in some way. Two tiles are 100% bad and
there to reduce your stats purely to make the Zagor fight even harder. The
remaining two tiles are a 50/50 situation with a fireball and an encounter with
a mummy that either reduces your Stamina by 2 (ie a third at “best”) or that
can be avoided completely if you had the foresight to buy a torch. Clearly then,
every aspect of the crypt be it the four tiles, the dragon, or the ultra-strong
Zagor fight, is very challenging and, again, suggests a lack of difficulty
balance after the first two sections which are, overall, not too tough to
negotiate. Of course, this could also be interpreted as clever game design to
catch out the unwary who assume that because they have made short work of the
first two sections, they can naturally expect an easy ride in the crypt too,
only to end up dying horribly just as they thought victory was in sight.
Interestingly, with the general exception of equipment tiles, most of the floor
tiles remain where they are throughout the game. Obviously this means that the
perilous crypt section will always be perilous (the four tiles all stay there
for the whole game) and that players need to remember where good and bad tiles
are located so as to frequently reap the benefits of the good ones without
constantly falling foul of the bad ones. There is a spell, incidentally, that
allows you to switch tiles around to add a bit of jeopardy to the proceedings,
and if you have a torch you can peek at tiles before deciding to stand on them.
Particularly daring players will want to keep visiting the Random tiles to try
to gain something from Zagor and/or hope Zagor will stitch another player up.
All this adds several layers to play: risk, memory, and interaction between
players as one player’s actions can directly impact another player, sometimes
for good and sometimes for bad. Add this to the randomised nature of fights and
Zagor’s habit of interfering with players’ fates, and a lot of luck comes into
play.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Overall, the
amount of luck involved in this game is probably a bit excessive but the sheer
amusement gained from hearing Zagor’s voice and the anticipation of who is
going to be rewarded or penalised makes the game more of a fun experience than
simply a game of pure chance and at no point do you start to get fed up or
start to wish it was over as the one thing that you take from playing this game
more than anything else is a sense of enjoyment and this game makes up for any
of its lacking points through the sheer fun of it all. In fact, other than the
reliance on luck and Zagor’s tendency to use loaded dice in combats, most of
the game’s shortcomings are in the implementation rather than the mechanics.
Yes, the whole thing is very random but that is the idea as Zagor governs the
whole game and you are after all playing against him ie the 40K chip DM substitute.
The most striking issue I have is with the minis. As nice as these components
are, the actual creature representations are meaningless and the minis
effectively do nothing other than to act as over-elaborate markers showing
whether a particular room has a living or already killed monster in it – if
they are standing up they are alive, if they are lying down they are dead and
the room is not worth entering as you cannot get a treasure chest from it
anymore. The creature minis never move and are no indication of what you are
fighting. Furthermore, you never get to find out what you are fighting as Zagor
doesn’t bother telling you meaning that, whilst the minis clearly are specific
creatures, the box shows exactly what they are and names them, and even the
level one and level two rooms have differently powered types in them dependent
on the level the room is in, all this is ultimately pointless as you are just
fighting an unnamed something with randomly-generated stats. This is a pity as
something really effective could have been made of this to go hand-in-hand with
the undeniable quality of the figure mouldings. Granted, the minis of the four
player characters do move around the board and do represent whichever character
class you are playing but the monster minis are definitely more interesting and
give a level of expectation that never quite gets satisfied once you start
fighting them. The larger structural elements (Zagor’s skull throne, the
bridge, the jawbone doorway) all look great but, again, serve no purpose within
the game as such other than to create mood and atmosphere. You could say the
same for the random lightning and insane laughing noises that the chip
generates but you do get more atmosphere and a sense of foreboding from their
being there than if they were not. The cynical would probably argue that the
miniatures are better utilised elsewhere and that part of this game’s long-term
use is in supplying parts for other RPG-type games and there is certainly an
element of truth in this. Indeed, if this game used its very well-made parts to
the benefit of a more immersive experience you would be less likely to plunder
it for spares and that might explain why finding complete ones can be tricky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The subject
of actually acquiring this game is worth mentioning in itself as, on first
release, this game did not sell well, in part due to it coming once the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HeroQuest</i> fad was on its last legs and
in some larger part due to it costing the prohibitive amount of £49.99 which
was a lot for a boardgame in the early-90s. Yes, the production values and the
technology justify the price tag but actually selling this concept to punters
evidently wasn’t easy in spite of there being a TV advertising campaign to try
to shift units. Understandably, as sales were not good originally, there are
not that many of these about on the second hand market. Add to this the fact
that there could be parts missing (minis in particular, not that you really
need them and any being missing won’t make any difference to gameplay and can
just be substituted with pretty much anything to act as a marker) or broken
(the tabs that hold the bridge together are especially fragile and prone to
being snapped), or even worse the voice chip no longer working which renders
the game unplayable and completely useless, then overall finding a complete and
functioning example will pose a challenge and demand a high price. If you can
get this game in complete and working condition for less than about £75 now,
you are doing well. If you can’t get one or can’t get access to one, then you
are definitely missing out on a huge amount of fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And that’s
the key to this game. Do not take it too seriously and play for the
entertainment value alone. The mechanics and system are simple and the game is
very rules-light, a refreshing change to the often intense and overly-complex
games of this type. It is very easy to learn how to play and you can get on
with it pretty quickly once the set-up of characters and their opening buying
spree is over with. A playing session is roughly an hour to 90 minutes which is
fairly brief as these games go and there is ample replay potential, not just in
the completely random nature of both the layout and Zagor’s whims, but also in
the way that the rule book provides two shorter scenarios which involve hunting
out specific items/people represented by numbered treasure chest cards. These
scenarios can be used both as training playthroughs to familiarise yourself
with how the game works and as shorter quick-fire games if time is limited or
you can’t face the very hard Zagor showdown and just want to play an item hunt.
The three different endgames effectively give you three different games which
is a nice touch that helps avoid the feeling that there is probably very little
game here in real terms and it is definitely not aimed at anyone looking for a
serious RPG or strategy game session as this is as slam-bang as it gets, but
therein lies the appeal of it. The materials are definitely over-produced and
wildly over-engineered but it looks great and is a winner for sheer novelty
value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The gamebook
version was based on this boardgame and not the other way around, as with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>. This approach seriously hampered
the book which feels like little more than a boardgame in text format. The
book is also ridiculously difficult to the point of being almost unplayable.
The boardgame version is neither hard nor dull. Many aspects of the boardgame
version were carried over into the book, although thankfully the sequence of
end fights is far easier in the boardgame version and most of the unfair encounters
from the book are far simpler here or were additions when the book was put
together and are absent from the boardgame. Similarly, the hopelessness of
playing as either the dwarf or the wizard are absent from the boardgame and
all four characters have equal and balanced chances of winning, unlike in the
book. All in all, the boardgame is a simpler but far better-executed version
of the same thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Legend of Zagor</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is a visual feast in terms of its
presentation: the technology, the dungeon sections, the figures, and the art on
the tile and spell cards are all top notch. The whole package is wildly over
the top and unquestionably kitsch by today’s standards, but that’s all part of
the pleasure of it. The box could easily have been half the size and still
housed everything nicely but that would lose the literal physical impact as
well as getting to see Martin McKenna’s impressive cover art far larger than we
usually get in a gamebook and what’s not to like about the box art? To play
requires no knowledge of FF as such and this game is far less involved and
potentially complicated than<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> boardgame meaning the uninitiated
can just dive straight in and play with as much chance of winning as a seasoned
FF player. The way that the valiant are rewarded and cowards are punished adds
a bit of tension and motivation, whilst the generally fast-paced play means it
maintains the interest throughout. If the game in its presented form is too
simple for peoples’ tastes then there is no reason why house rules cannot be
used to add a bit of nuance and increase the RPG-style logic such as the dwarf
not being able to use the elven boots due to the dwarf-elf antagonism thing, or
using combat adjustors for weapons/armour, or even increasing the stats of
fighter types and reducing the stats of the wizard (as per the book version, in
fact). You could even add a time factor where, after a certain amount of play
time had elapsed, the dungeon regenerates and tiles are returned/reorganised in
different places or creatures in rooms get replaced by new ones, or even go as
far as setting a time limit to get as many items/treasure chests as possible
before all players are forced to head for the crypt and try to defeat Zagor.
Alternatively, you could just use the dungeon sections and the minis for your
own RPG scenario based on the far more complex and unreasonably difficult book
version.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Overall, the
thing that you take from this game is that it is light and pacey fun that is
not to be taken too seriously. It is hugely enjoyable, the voice chip ranges
from the ominous to the hilarious, and the final analysis is pretty
challenging, even if Zagor does seem to be cheating at times with his dice rolls.
If you can get it, do so, as this is a great antidote to the usual fantasy
boardgame fare. Purists will moan about the dilution of the FF system but they
can always play the book instead (assuming they really hate themselves that much and want to put themselves through it) if they don’t understand that these games can be simple fun at times. This is
certainly not a game you could play as regularly as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> boardgame as the novelty could wear off but it is definitely
worth playing for a lighter session and there is way more than £49.99’s-worth
of parts and technology in this huge box.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> </span></div>
<br />MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-40924709740385922842018-09-18T19:14:00.000+01:002018-09-18T19:14:17.952+01:00Fortress Throngard<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xvrp_jXNcac/W6FASlD4PiI/AAAAAAAAAvI/18BV02ei75ASQrlh7Pv6BSyajuSrGEBPwCLcBGAs/s1600/Fortresstitlecard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="150" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xvrp_jXNcac/W6FASlD4PiI/AAAAAAAAAvI/18BV02ei75ASQrlh7Pv6BSyajuSrGEBPwCLcBGAs/s200/Fortresstitlecard.jpg" width="149" /></a><br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T96haAawCds/W6FASkv1OEI/AAAAAAAAAvM/hvPdVmJdlCksW_bcWbLG_LAuvWu4AGH9wCLcBGAs/s1600/WarlockMag09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="254" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T96haAawCds/W6FASkv1OEI/AAAAAAAAAvM/hvPdVmJdlCksW_bcWbLG_LAuvWu4AGH9wCLcBGAs/s200/WarlockMag09.jpg" width="141" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">FORTRESS THRONGARD<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Tom Williams<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Fortress Throngard</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is, at 172 sections, the shortest
stand-alone mini-adventure to be printed in the pages of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> magazine, appearing, as it did, in Issue 9. I assume this
is another reader submission (many <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
short subjects were) as I have no idea otherwise who Tom Williams is, but I may
be wrong on this matter. Whoever he is, this adventure shows him to be quite
skilled in designing gamebooks structurally, even if the opening spiel hardly
grabs you by the throat and demands that you play: all we get is three brief
paragraphs setting the scene by telling us that the wood of Ergon has been the
site of abductions in the name of the wizard Throngard, that you are squire to
a certain Sir Falfax the Fair, that he has been captured, and that the only way
you can save him is by getting yourself abducted in Ergon and taken to Fortress
Throngard to pull off an inside job rescue mission. A previous statement in the
initial header section also tells you that you can prove your worthiness to
become a knight yourself by rescuing Sir Falfax, so I’m guessing that the real
intended outcome of this adventure is getting yourself knighted rather than
either liberating Sir Falfax or dealing with Throngard himself, but presumably
both of these are prerequisites to achieving a knighthood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Rules
tell us that we start with the standard FF equipment of sword, leather armour,
and backpack, along with the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
mini-adventure modifications of 5 rather than 10 Provisions and one from the
usual choice of three starting Potions that contain two rather than one doses.
You also get the more unique additions of a shield and, as soon as you read the
Introduction, you also discover you have a knife and a picklock. These last two
items sound very specific and presumably must have an impact on the adventure:
dungeons, lockpicks; yes, I think that’s a logical combination so this appears
to make sense…. Or rather it does until you finish reading section 1 which
tells you that, in fact, you are unarmed bar your knife and you have now
acquired a stout stick. Add to this, the comment in the Introduction that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You know that any other equipment [than your
knife and lockpick] will be taken as soon as you are captured </i>and you have
to assume that you actually have no equipment except for the knife, lockpick,
and the stick that appeared from nowhere, and that the time you spent noting
down the other stuff (including the rare starting shield) was wasted as you
don’t have any of it. And this causes a big problem as it makes the double-dose
Potions of Skill and Strength completely useless as there is no way you can
drink them before you start. On the other hand, the Potion of Fortune is very
handy assuming you think to drink both doses before you begin as you will
automatically increase your Initial Luck by 2, giving you a starting Luck range
of minimum 9 to a maximum of a whopping 14 which, when you consider that you
are made to Test Your Luck in only four paragraphs (although two of these can
be handy in getting an easier path through), is very generous. So, from the
outset, we have a worrying number of glaring errors and the adventure hasn’t
even begun!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What is pleasing
to see though is that section 1 gets straight to the point in plot terms and
immediately has you meeting three potential abductors. You have a choice of
three ways to tackle them, all of which ultimately lead you to imprisonment in
the dungeons of the titular fortress (that’s good, right?), although one can be
more disastrous and results in you becoming weaponless as you lose your knife
(presumably your stick has vapourised as it never gets mentioned again after
section 1) causing you a -2 Skill penalty which, whilst a little harsh so early
on, is realistic as you are unlikely to be knowingly left armed after capture
and you should not have full Skill potential if unarmed. From your cell you
then have to explore the dungeon area of the fortress before climbing some
stairs to a gallery area lined with doors (and occasionally some animated
armour) which conceal the chambers of various dignitaries, uber-nasties, and
some essential equipment and knowledge. Now, this last is an interesting point
– for a short adventure the shopping list is reasonably long and involves both
equipment and information, much of which you cannot find until you reach what,
at first, appears to be the end. Couple this with the fact that the very early
areas of the dungeon ask you frequently if you have info or items that you
can’t possibly have been anywhere yet to gather and it soon becomes apparent
that you actually need to head for the “end” first (or as soon as you know a
certain piece of info) and then backtrack and double-about on yourself here and
there to gradually piece the true path together. This becomes all the more
apparent when you start to get direction options that allow you to retrace your
steps and in the way that you can often get knocked unconscious and wake up back
in your cell at the start of the dungeon complex which you might think is a bad
thing, but is actually often to your benefit. So, here we have an interesting
non-linear design where you have to return to previous areas and effectively
have to defeat Throngard first before exploring the earlier areas. This might
sound problematic as FFs rarely deal well with revisiting areas but this
adventure (for the most part) handles the reset button successfully and avoids
the usual illogicalities by not having things come back to life and/or not
having already collected items available to you a second time. So there is
quite a bit of sophistication in these 172 sections in terms of design, the path
through, and the mechanics, and such a level of complexity is unusual for the
early days of FF before authors began routinely deconstructing the concept from
the 40s numbers onwards. Indeed, when you crack this adventure and see the
complete route to success, it becomes evident just how complex this mini-FF
really is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
complexity level is, for me, one of the real stand-out aspects of this piece
and I was genuinely impressed with how TW worked so much neat design into so
few sections making this probably one of the most efficient and
section-effective FFs. Add to this the size of the multi-level map and the way
most of the encounters are key to the plot and thread together very well, and
you get a very satisfying playing experience. Curiously though, this is also a
bit of a dichotomy if we set this off against the shambolic equipment mess at
the start, some inexplicable moments such as you having to abandon an item if
you wish to take a deck of cards (just how big are these cards?), an awkward
jump between sections 5 and 21 which simply does not make any sense, a combat against
a foe with no Skill (do you automatically win, then?), a bonus to your Skill
that is actually a bonus to your Stamina, and a weird connection between two
key rooms involving the dragon’s chamber/fortress entrance. Similarly, there
are far too many close section links, sometimes one leading directly to the
next one or to two or three sections away. I realise this was endemic of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> FFs in general due to the
limited number of sections but it does kind of ruin any surprise at times
although, taking into account the non-linear back-and-forth structure, perhaps
this might not be such a problem after all in terms of actually defeating the
adventure as a whole as I feel the real point is to work this part out rather
than contend with individual section connections in microcosm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A complex
design often suggests a high difficulty level, but that is not necessarily the
case here. Whilst you are at a weapon disadvantage early on, should you become
completely unarmed, there are several opportunities to acquire a new weapon.
Likewise, your initial loss of all Provisions solves itself with several rooms
where you can acquire replacement Provisions and/or eat what is in them. The
Rules do state that you can only eat when offered the chance to do so by the
text, but the book remembers to give you these chances so that part is not
broken (and the ability to double-back means that you can always return to one
of these areas should you need to eat again). Similarly, you can restore Luck
and even Skill here and there so there is a good balance between stat bonuses
and stat penalties. What is rather odd is the stats of combat opponents: the
frequently encountered dungeon guards are very weak (presumably Throngard is
not too concerned about actually guarding anything or keeping any prisoners
under lock and key), whilst skivvies like the butler seem over-powered. Some
opponents are very strong (dragon, demons) but they should be so this makes
sense and you can weaken the dragon considerably if you have a bow and arrow.
In fact, if you read a key book that you need to find to gather essential info
you will be told how to negotiate certain strong enemies so you should not come
a cropper. Even Throngard himself does not have to be fought (you can’t fight
him even if you want to) and instead needs to be trapped which is a nice twist
on the end baddie idea (especially as you in fact meet him earlier on than
usual) even if this does leave a loose end as he is still alive so can probably
go back to abducting people in Ergon woods as soon as he works out how to
liberate himself. This is one of the few major plot loopholes in what is an
otherwise generally logical story arc and the adventure always remains
well-focussed on the plot with several NPCs to meet, some of whom are prisoners
(the resigned-to-the-inevitable Gandorn primarily) and some of whom are
Throngard’s sidekicks. On the subject of prisoners there is a very neat
requirement to gather companions and you cannot win unless you have both Sir
Falfax and a big group of peasants with you. A clever touch in regard to
companions is that some prisoners are nuts and will hinder your progress so
there is some fun to be had too in figuring out who will and will not be of
help in your mission. Obviously, you will fail if you do not find Sir Falfax
(and there is a non-win ending where you escape without him) but instant death
sections in general are few, which adds to the overall impression that this
adventure is genuinely winnable and it can even be completed with rock-bottom
stats which is a refreshing and rare thing. This all suggests further that this
adventure’s real reason for existing is its structure and the player having to
unravel the puzzle of the true path rather than the soul-destroying FFs where
the author is trying to kill you constantly and show how much he or she hates
you. In fact, aside from dying in combat, you will only usually die instantly
if you do something completely stupid or blunder into a portal that leads
directly to Hell, which does give the fortress and Throngard himself an
undeniably sinister bent, whilst also explaining why there are demons roaming
about the place and why Throngard’s close associates are a vampire and a witch,
as well as making sense of an episode where a ghost really desperately seems to
want out!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The combined
themes of horror/demonism (even Throngard has to be trapped in a pentagram) and
the escape peril central plot make for an interesting sensation throughout of
the fortress being an oppressive and dangerous place that you really do want to
get out of as quickly as possible and TW makes a good job of presenting the
urgency of your mission through his fast-paced and unfussy prose. Initially,
you do get a feeling of being well out of your depth and the whole mission seems
to be a lost cause until, that is, you discover how easy it is to get out of
your cell (over and over again), and start to unravel the game map. On that
subject, mapping is pretty much essential otherwise the toing-and-froing will
confuse you as the directions offered are presented from the perspective of
exactly what direction you are facing at any one time (ie right could lead from
a room on the left back down in the direction you might have just come from)
which is actually a very good thing, although it could have been simplified by
using compass points (as these would never change) rather than
left/right/straight ahead. The actual mapping of this adventure though is
straightforward as there are no real convolutions as long as the occasional
weird section link doesn’t confuse you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The dark
theme requires dark imagery and this is a rare occasion where FF cartographer
Leo Hartas gets to illustrate a FF adventure (yes, I know he did loads for
other series, but not for FF itself). His work for, for example, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Golden Dragon</i> gamebook series, irritated
me as it had a very cartoonish look to it, but in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fortress Throngard</i> he shows a real flare for the gothic with large
swathes of black tones accentuated by stark whites to highlight the horror (eg
the vampire and Throngard himself) or by filling the frame almost to bursting to
show the grotesque nature of some characters like the cooks or the guards.
There is a touch of how I visualise Mervyn Peake’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gormenghast</i> trilogy of gothic grotesqueries in Hartas’ work here
and it’s a shame that he did not get a chance to illustrate a full FF. For some
reason, whoever did the layout work for this edition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> made an absolute pig’s ear of positioning the images in
relation to their respective sections and often the impact of a section’s
illustration is lost due to it being somewhere else entirely (especially the
very impressive full page vampire and Throngard in his study), which is a shame
as I found myself having to play the full adventure and then look at the artwork
afterwards to visualise things more fully. I have to say though that Hartas’
illustrations of Throngard, the vampire, and also the dragon are all fabulous
pieces that really do benefit from the larger full magazine page size treatment
they get here. The main magazine cover art is by the always superb Chris
Achilleos and features a melee between a wizard, a dragon, some vampire bats,
lizards etc and, whilst impressive, only bares a passing connection to this
adventure and is probably not intended to be associated with it as, by Issue 9,
the trend of having the magazine’s cover art act as the mini-adventure’s cover
too was over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In spite of
some glaring errors and a train wreck of a beginning equipment-wise, this is a
great little adventure. The complex and unorthodox structure is enough to carry
it, but its slick pacing and the real sense of desperation that you get whilst
playing it all add up to make this well worth your time. I would have been
curious to see what other ideas Tom Williams may have had and it’s a shame that
we did not get to see any more from him as, if this is any indication, he had
great potential as a gamebook writer. Add in Leo Hartas’ brilliant visuals and
you get a tight, effective mood piece with a threatening villain and a human interest
mission that also includes the usual gamebook self-aggrandisement. The
difficulty level is just right and the whole thing pulls together very nicely
thematically and plot-wise. This is far better than a lot of gamebooks that are
over twice its length in paragraph count and its 172 sections actually work in
its favour as, by necessity, this really drives the pace. This could have been
pointless and empty but, delivered in the way it is, the overall package is
very very good.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-35099990152133208402018-08-14T19:15:00.000+01:002018-08-14T19:32:42.453+01:00The Dark Chronicles Of Anakendis<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pLtfoUiHMD0/W3Mb4Hxz3cI/AAAAAAAAAu0/yhjRqixa_sw70iE3ZBkVuIUmRlKLJ8HaACLcBGAs/s1600/Darkchroniclestitlecard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="150" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pLtfoUiHMD0/W3Mb4Hxz3cI/AAAAAAAAAu0/yhjRqixa_sw70iE3ZBkVuIUmRlKLJ8HaACLcBGAs/s200/Darkchroniclestitlecard.jpg" width="145" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qR-IFBtMRvY/W3Mb4H7sMnI/AAAAAAAAAu4/7z4Z63NsV5oSXU9FgBGia8PQM3-IUpX1wCLcBGAs/s1600/WarlockMag06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="254" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qR-IFBtMRvY/W3Mb4H7sMnI/AAAAAAAAAu4/7z4Z63NsV5oSXU9FgBGia8PQM3-IUpX1wCLcBGAs/s200/WarlockMag06.jpg" width="141" /></a> <span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">THE DARK CHRONICLES OF ANAKENDIS</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Andrew Whitworth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Warlock </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">magazine issue 6 offered us this short
FF penned by reader Andrew Whitworth. My initial reaction to the intriguing
title was that the adventure would be a dark episodic effort with some sort of
epic feel to it, the kind of short subject that really pushes the potential
limitations of just 200 sections and crams in a large amount of material in the
way that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dungeon Of Justice</i> did so
well. I was a little disappointed then, on reading the background section, to
discover that the “Dark Chronicles” of the title were in fact literally a book
that is the central conceit of the piece in that it is the source of Anakendis’
power and your aim is to destroy it (after killing Anakendis, of course)
otherwise he will presumably resurrect. Already, this premise may seem somewhat
familiar and, on reading the full background, it becomes even more so: a local
settlement (Kokbridge near Fang) is being terrorised by an evil wizard who
lives deep within a cave system and the previous hero did not fare very well in
killing him. So: evil wizard, cave dungeon, curious source of power,
disappearance/lunacy of previous person who was supposed to vanquish him…. Hmm,
this all sounds very <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock Of Firetop
Mountain</i>-ish to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Indeed, this
adventure feels very like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>
throughout. Not only is the concept suspiciously close to that book’s but the
need to find the correct combination of keys (there are three, but only two
will open the chest that contains the Dark Chronicles), as well as a tendency
for the incorrect routes to end quickly at doors is also rather too close to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> for comfort. Similarly, essential
items are often down these diversion paths which, again, mirrors <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> to an extent. Sadly, what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Chronicles</i> does not do especially
well is hold the attention in the same way that made <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> so compelling an introduction to the series. For example, the
first two potential encounters are with creatures stolen from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Doctor Who </i>in the form of an Ice Warrior
and a Macra (and yes, the Macra is a crab-type thing) which instantly makes
this feel even more hackneyed and unoriginal. Very early on you are expected to
contend with a very tough fight with an Astromancer who, after every other
Attack Round, casts one of three spells at you: darkness, fire bolts, or sleep,
the first two of which impede you stat-wise and the third of which irritatingly
sends you back to paragraph 1 to then contend with the reset button. Needless
to say, the reset button is just that and anything you might already have
killed comes back to life if you revisit it and you can end up with multiples
of some items (including one of the two essential keys). To add insult to
almost certain injury, this fight yields nothing of use and just seems to be
there to hurt and/or frustrate you. It soon becomes apparent that no matter which
directions you choose to take you will quickly be sent back to the optimum path
and by the mid-way point the map is so convoluted in the way that it links up
that mapping is basically impossible, not that you will really need to map this
adventure as you are unlikely to play it more than a couple of times because a)
it’s just not that interesting, and b) it is very easy, assuming you don’t fall
foul of one of a small number of tough fights or get the key combination at the
end wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The climactic
decision point can be impossible if you have not actually found the correct
pair of keys (although they are both hidden near the start and the third red
herring key is very close to the end which, again, is not great for exploration
and replay) but it is botched in its presentation as one of the three choices
directs you to section 200. Assuming that you have already established that
this is a 200-section book it does not take a genius to realise that choosing
the number 200 option is probably going to lead to victory. This would have
been far better executed and much more challenging if a bridging paragraph had
been used to separate the choice section from the victory section and (like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> again) if you do somehow choose
wrongly you get more chances to make another choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore, there are only three instant
death paragraphs and one of these is avoidable simply because of the way the
sections are randomised, as sections 171, 173, 176 and 179 are all involved in
this episode and are all on the same page! Obviously, with the limited number
of pages and their large format size, splitting paragraphs up is not as easy as
it is in a book, but surely this critical fail moment could have been spread
out more evenly to make it more deadly. Equally, this 17x episode offers you
the odd choice of potentially facing Anakendis just after the half-way mark
which seems far too strange to be worth attempting, unless you somehow believe
that the adventure can end so abruptly and prematurely (which it can’t,
evidently!) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">It has to be
noted at this point that, due to the large number of Skill and Luck tests, you
are unlikely to get very far without both of these being in double figures, but
Luck bonuses in particular are abundant, plus you get the standard choice of
three Potions at the start which, in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
style, contain two doses meaning you can start with a Luck score of as high as
14 if you choose the Potion of Fortune and immediately drink both doses before
you even start the adventure. Essential items are mostly found after fights and
Stamina penalties can be harsh in places (losing 25% of your Stamina at one
point, a dice roll’s-worth at another point, and/or taking a -8 St hit from
Anakendis if you are particularly unfortunate) but you do start with 5
Provisions and, whilst you can only eat when instructed by the text, for once
this book actually remembers to do that and you can eat after most fights so
replenishing lost Stamina isn’t too difficult, especially given the relative
brevity of the adventure. Once you have identified the true path, completing
this book is fairly easy and it will take very few attempts to do so and this
is definitely an area where it wildly differs from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i> as completing that book can take years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Whilst this
is a basic dungeon crawl, there are a few moments that seem to make no sense at
all, in particular, what can only be described as the Forest Room which
literally contains a forest complete with huts (er, somehow). As an essential
item is hidden in here you have to suspend disbelief as you have no choice but
to explore this contradiction of a room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For some reason, you can find gold pieces here and there although they
serve no purpose as there is nothing to buy anywhere. There is also a slightly
bewildering room containing an aggressive man and some meat - I have no idea
what this room is actually meant to be but you can masquerade as a meat
inspector, should you feel inclined, which suggests it is maybe a pantry even
though it contains just that one piece of meat – and an error loop that allows
you to visit it an infinite number of times (again, ignoring the reset button)
because paragraphs 23, 36 and 23 again all interlink which should not be
possible unless you are teleported in some way. Basically, this is a mistake in
the design and it does not give any advantage to keep going back to this room
as the meat only serves one purpose very close to the end of the adventure so
it is irrelevant how much of it you have got. Another moment that I found more
annoying than strange is a pit containing a dinosaur which is just that, a
dinosaur. There is no explanation of what type of dinosaur it is, it’s just a
“dinosaur” – had the writer got bored of his own creation by this point or had
he decided that, as it is not on the true path, the player would not care about
it being completely one-dimensional? Either way, this is rather half-assed and,
as the adventure progresses, this amplifies itself and it does appear that
Whitworth was getting bored and/or his muse was running dry. It is important to
emphasise that this is not as flat an experience as some other <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> shorts (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rogue Mage</i> is particularly dull) and the big difference between
these two is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">RM</i> was written by a
pro who was part of the Games Workshop inner circle, whereas <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Chronicles</i> was a reader submission,
so someone in the editorial team must have thought it worthy of inclusion and
up to the same standard as the rather better reader submissions that preceded
it in previous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlocks</i>, and I think
this is part of the problem as it is inferior <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">because</i> of the high standard set in the selection of adventures
printed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> up to that point
(and after it to an extent, too). Had the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
minis up to this point been just so-so this would have been a pretty average
dungeon bash that kept you occupied for an hour but, as it stands, it is not
going to stay in your memory for long.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">However,
there are at times glimpses of what could have been, in particular the way that
most of the creature encounters are unique and really make this cave
environment feel like an unexplored part of Allansia that has its own distinct
fauna. Unique to this FF are Devil Hounds, the Sand Squid, the Denrec (a
subterranean bird), the Forest Demon (which appropriately lives in the
otherwise out-of-place Forest Room), the IP-infringing Macra, and the truly
macabre Walking Mouths. As we have no benchmark for these species image-wise, the
more bizarre ones are helpfully illustrated, although the rather busy art does
make them quite hard to make out without studying the images closely. The Devil
Hounds in particular are pivotal to the plot and the connection between these,
their handler (known only as the “Houndmaster”), and a NPC named Traskannd,
draw the whole plot together neatly and connect the intro with the final act
very smoothly. An early encounter with a good wizard that Anakendis has
imprisoned within a well in the dungeon as well as a run-in with a tricky
minion called Granzork part-way through adds to this overall sense of plot
coherence and the adventure never veers away from your primary aim of killing
Anakendis and destroying the source of his power. The problem is that the
actual adventuring part is just not very exciting or inspiring and it seems
that the writer hoped that this could be driven along purely on its premise
alone and on the player maintaining the impetus to keep aiming for the final
kill rather than the experiences to be had en route.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The theory
that the climax is all that really matters in this adventure is further supported
by the end baddie fight with Anakendis himself who is very strong (by the
standards of early FFs) with Sk 12 St 20. You can reduce him to Sk 8 St 14 but
the item needed to do this is on one of the few paths that is not mutual with
the true path so, whilst the fight is made easier, you probably cannot win this
way when it comes to the final analysis when you try to open the box containing
the Chronicles. So, this is a very tough and climactic end fight and Anakendis
can deal you some serious damage if you are not careful. The generally easy
overall adventure does not really prepare you for this fight (even the
made-out-to-be-tough bottomless chasm that you have to cross to reach the final
act has multiple ways of being negotiated) and this is quite an unexpectedly
deadly encounter that does come as a bit of a surprise in the context of this
FF’s design. The pre-end baddie fight with Traskannd could also be tough but it
is avoidable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The ultimate
aim of destroying the Dark Chronicles itself is, as with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>, another of those “came so far and failed at the final hurdle”
situations that FF likes to throw at you and, if you do not have the right (or
any) keys the book does prompt you to look for keys when you replay which is
both a blessing (as it means you might win next time) and a curse (as it gives
the game away somewhat). However, as I have said, this adventure is not
remotely in the same challenge ballpark as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>
and the destruction of the Chronicles acts more to round off the story arc
fully, rather than to do what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>
did and repeatedly scupper you when you think you’ve won because you’ve killed
the villain of the piece. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">WOFM</i>
this was a hard pill to swallow but a challenge to try again. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Chronicles</i> it is just a very
diluted carbon copy of a far better assassination-focussed dungeon crawl.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">I have
briefly touched upon the busy art in this adventure and this is the only FF to
feature the art of Mark Dunn whose only other offerings were two creatures in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> number 7’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Out Of The Pit</i> section. To my eye, Dunn’s art mixes Bill Houston’s
dark-scaled terror images from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Temple Of
Terror</i> (interestingly, Houston’s work is seen elsewhere in this issue of <i>Warlock</i>
incidentally) with John Blanche’s busy and macabrely otherworldly style of
drawing to create something really rather disturbing that puts over the sense
of horror of some of the denizens of these caves very effectively. Dunn’s art
is very busy and demands study to make any sense of it, but I find it rather
good and would have liked to have seen more of it in the main series. The title
image of Anakendis himself (at least, I assume that’s who it is meant to be) is
imposing and full of horror, even if it looks suspiciously like Gerald Scarfe’s
teacher in Pink Floyd’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wall</i>
movie (or was this intentional?) The cover art for this issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i> is Dragon Man by Chris Achilleos
which, whilst it is as impressive as anything Achilleos has done, has nothing
at all to do with this adventure, although <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
only intermittently had cover art that was associated with its mini-adventures,
so this is nothing unusual. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Overall, this
adventure can be summarised as a logical plot that has a beginning and end but
not much of a middle to connect them. You start with the North-West-East
choices (or the illusion of choices), followed by a deranged and unmappable
mid-section, then a series of plot-bonding NPC encounters, followed by a
difficult end boss fight and a very simple and overly-signposted final key
choice, as long as you have found the right keys, that is. Rarely can you
diverge from the true path and the general over-arching ease, combined with the
lack of anything to really inspire the player, make this gamebook one that is
unlikely to get many repeat plays. Furthermore, as there is nothing to explore
once you have beaten it, you do not even have the option to replay purely to
uncover the stuff on the other routes that you might not have taken, as there
isn’t much of it and what there is is presented so flatly by the author that
you will care even less about the wrong paths than he obviously did! Play it
once you have only got this and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rogue
Mage</i> left to play from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock</i>
minis or play it first when you have nothing to compare it to. That way, you
might just about get something from it. Otherwise, this is as meh as meh gets.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-66942242022975098562018-07-09T17:32:00.001+01:002018-07-09T20:45:14.420+01:00#12: The Gates Of Death<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">THE GATES OF DEATH<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Charlie Higson<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Attendees of
Fighting Fantasy Fest 2 in September 2017 were given the surprise news of the
first FF book to be written by a genuine celebrity in the form of Charlie
Higson. Accompanying this was the news that he was a long-term FF fan, a
comment which immediately seemed to make no sense when he said he was too old
for the books the first time around, followed by him then listing a handful of titles
that he owned, one of which, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creature Of
Chaos</i>, does not exist. Alarm bells started ringing in my head at this point
and they then rang even louder when we were told that Jonathan Green would be
helping Higson out with the mechanics. None of this especially suggested that
CH had much of a knowledge of FF or rather, certainly not enough to try to
write a FF book (unassisted, at least). But, the dangling carrot of another new
book in the series was more than enough to get fandom excited by this
announcement and there is no question of Higson’s credentials as a successful
writer of books aimed at FF’s actual target audience so his pedigree in
literary terms made this project look very hopeful. Much speculation then
followed on the subject of how the “Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone Presents”
tag would work with someone far more famous (in real terms) than them. This,
mixed with Scholastic’s almost certainly wanting to make the most of the Higson
name, meant that there was little surprise when the standard naming convention
applied to third party FF authors’ books was finally relinquished and CH was
given cover author credit. Had the series finally sold out? Well, in real
terms, probably yes as no-one else ever got cover credit, but in practical
terms Scholastic really had little choice but to do this so it’s understandable
even if it breaks with FF tradition in the name of celebrity. Such is life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Another
striking observation worth pointing out about the marketing of this book is the
colour. Scholastic’s versions of FF have gold spines - the first six were like
this and the subsequent five new reissues to accompany Higson’s book also had
gold spines albeit slightly different in appearance to the initial six – but
the Higson book is silver. This is bad news for anyone whose OCD precludes
oddities on bookshelves, but good news for anyone trying to find the new book
quickly in bookstores and, again, demonstrates how determined Scholastic are to
push the Higson credit. Thankfully, unlike the first six reissues, the silver
cover print does not disintegrate on contact with human skin so credit to
Scholastic for heeding at least one of the numerous criticisms levelled against
their reissues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Which brings
us again to the biggest controversy and criticism of Scholastic’s series and
one which we will get over with first: Vlado Krizan’s internal art. When this
first saw the light of day in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port Of
Peril</i> and the reissues of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Warlock
Of Firetop Mountain</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City Of
Thieves</i> it was justifiably panned by FF fans. His uninspiring greyscale
pallet made the images seem dull and lifeless, whilst his semi-digital
inorganic forms were emaciated and cartoonish. Any sense of awe or terror was
gone entirely and the whole ensemble of art was amateurish and uninspired.
Replacing familiar and popular art by Russ Nicholson and Iain McCaig with this
insipid rubbish was a travesty, and this problem carried over into <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port Of Peril</i> as it featured
familiar species, locales, and key NPCs that had all been drawn better in
previous iterations and that the fan’s eye had become familiar with. Curiously,
the subsequent reissues of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Forest Of
Doom</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Citadel Of Chaos</i> did
not fare as badly art-wise because in these two cases Krizan seemed to have
just traced Russ Nicholson and Malcolm Barter’s original art and added a bit of
boring greyscale and jagged digitalisation to it resulting in what was
essentially just a bad photocopy of the originals rather than a crime against
good taste. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">House Of Hell’</i>s
Krizanisation (new verb, copyright me) was somewhere between the two, but was
still fundamentally poor in comparison to the original art. So, the subject of
the art in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gates Of Death</i> is
curious: on the one hand, it’s back to Krizan original material a la <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port Of Peril</i> but, other than in
Port Blacksand, most of the actual subject matter is new Higson creations and
this book relies less on familiar tropes than <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PoP</i> generally did, notwithstanding its over-reliance on demons.
This should allow VK to let his imagination run wild and really give him the
opportunity to demonstrate what he can do with a (ahem) blank canvas. To be
fair to him, his portfolio of sci-fi and battleship art online is actually very
good, albeit that battleships are normally shades of grey (which suits him down
to the ground) and his sci-fi stuff is colour which does not suffer as much as
black and white does when large blocks of colour are used. So Krizan is not as
talentless as people make out, there’s just something not quite right with his
FF art. We all love the original artwork so he was never going to win there but
this new book goes into unknown territory with no yardstick to compare the
images to. It’s a depressing observation to have to make now then that Krizan’s
art in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">TGoD</i> is just as bad as that in
the first three Scholastic books and has the same lack of inspiration, awe, and
evidence of ability in fantasy artistry that made the art in the earlier
Scholastic books such anathema for the eyes. Supposedly, Krizan was given a
ridiculously tight deadline to turn the art around for the series in general
but surely he could have done better than this…. Surely?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">With that out
of the way, let’s move swiftly onto the content of the (literally) shiny new
offering from FF and its injection of new blood with its first new author since
1993. The plot is fairly straightforward: the Demon Queen Ulrakaah is the
latest in the sequence of psychos who wants to wipe out Titan, this time with a
demon plague. YOU are a novice monk engaged to stop this happening with the use
of the hard-to-get-your-head-around-the-idea-of substance known as Smoke Oil
(??) which turns demons back into normal people. Throughout the book you encounter people who transform from people into demons
which fits the concept of how Smoke Oil works, but overall this idea doesn’t
seem to make sense unless we accept the book’s repeated premise of people being
transformed into demons being by possession presumably. YOU have to trek across
Allansia, initially via familiar places from FF lore (Port Blacksand,
Silverton, Salamonis, Plane Of Bones) to eventually reach new places invented
for this book (the Invisible City which contains the Temple of Throth and the
Gates Of Death themselves). This is an interesting approach as the overall feel
of the book progresses from great familiarity to completely unknown territory
which does give it a sense of unfolding mystery and foreboding. Port Blacksand
can be negotiated by two mutually distinct routes and can bring you into
contact with either Nicodemus again or very nearly has you meet the enigmatic and
elusive Lord Azzur (who you don’t actually come face to face with as such which
was a partial disappointment balanced out with the intriguing revelation that
he sees, hears and speaks through conduits). From there you have a choice of
routes to Salamonis (one via Silverton, the other via a more treacherous open
environment) before heading off into uncharted new territory as you try to find
the Invisible City and breach the titular Gates Of Death to get to Ulrakaah
herself. Silverton is nothing more than a one-note opportunity to heal lost
Stamina and we learn nothing new about Silverton itself by going there. Indeed,
it is sold very short in the same way that Port Blacksand was in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Port Of Peril</i> which is a shame.
Salamonis is a whole other prospect though and, as it’s nearer to the source of
the demon plague, it is in a rather more advanced state of infestation.
Essentially, the Salamonis section is a labyrinth of interconnecting (and
mostly anonymous) roads that lead eventually to its gates at compass points.
The literal killer here is trying to negotiate the city, find a NPC who can
sell you useful equipment/advice, and avoid repeatedly dying by falling foul of
demons, in particular by ending up in their purple demon dimension. Certain
locations are deadly (the sewers in particular) and some of the city gates are
red herrings that, again, will scupper you. The looping interconnecting roads
within the city are a game-mapper’s nightmare and the feeling of disorientation
as you try to get out safely is very much to the fore, making this section both
effective and oddly hopeless in the sense of your chances of survival.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">At this
juncture, we need to discuss a mechanic that dominates this book – the looping
nature of its design. Not only does the Salamonis map loop all over the place,
but so does much of the book. If you die, more often than not you can use one
of several methods of reincarnation to then get hurled back to a previous point
in the book (or occasionally a future one, which is quite confusing).
Initially, this seems unusually forgiving for FF (which it is) and removes the
demoralising experience of endlessly restarting the book only to fail again in
a similar place to a previous attempt (especially as the Salamonis section is deceptively
hard), but it becomes just as frustrating after a while as being sent back to
relive previous stages is no less tedious than having to just start again from
the beginning. Indeed the sheer amount of reincarnating, looping back,
returning to a fail point, looping back again, and eventually going around in
endless circles does quickly become annoying and quite boring and repetitive. It
does take a certain amount of determination and willpower on the player’s
behalf to get beyond the Salamonis section and I suspect many players will grow
so frustrated with this part that they will eventually just give up. There are
only so many times you can re-read previous parts of the book before you get
fed up with it and, whilst reincarnating creates the illusion of fairness, aimlessly
wandering about in Salamonis’ deathtrap becomes inane after a while.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">However, if
you do manage to escape Salamonis, the rest of the adventure is far more
interesting and, once you’ve found (revealed) the Invisible City, you get to
explore the ethereal and genuinely mystical-feeling Temple Of Throth which
gives you useful equipment and info before you try to access Ulrakaah’s lair.
This is the most original and well-designed act of the book and rewards your
persistence in the earlier sections with a genuinely enjoyable and intriguing
episode. Indeed, everything previous to the Invisible City is fairly
lacklustre. The final showdown with Ulrakaah is easily one of the most
climactic end boss encounters in any FF book and goes some to make the rest of
the adventure worthwhile. My favourite element is the way you have to die to
pass into the demon plain and inhabit another character’s body there. To do
this you fight the Obsidian Giants and, should you have some weakwater, you are
almost certain to lose the fight which, perversely, means you win the fight as
you need to die to progress. This is a refreshing idea which provides a neat
twist on the usual “hero that has to win all of the time theme” that is central
to most fantasy adventuring. The book repeatedly bangs on about you needing to
be “pure of heart” to pass through the Gates Of Death and, presumably by dying,
you demonstrate this. Ulrakaah is physically massive and genuinely intimidating
and unleashes the (at first sight) absolute toughest and most unwinnable FF
fight ever upon you: a Demon Horde of Skill 400 Stamina 800. Obviously there is
no way that you can even attempt this fight in real terms, but, by using
various magical seeds that you have picked up in the Temple Of Throth (or
should have!), you can exponentially reduce both the Skill and the Stamina of
the horde down to a much more manageable level. Ulrakaah herself is not
especially strong for an end baddie (Sk 10 St 10) and it’s impossible not to
have the key weapon you need to kill her (a khopesh) as there are two in the
book and the second one is wedged in the gates themselves so you cannot help
but acquire it. Interestingly, there is a non-win ending that you can find here
too where you become Ulrakaah’s successor and continue her work. This section
is number 400 which is very meta. The real win section is 470 which also shows
us how comparatively long this book is in paragraph terms, although the optimum
path is not actually very long so much of these sections must be used up in the
Salamonis labyrinth and the multiple interconnecting paths within the Temple Of
Throth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">The Demon
Horde fight (and the Salamonis deathloop) raises an interesting point about
this book: the difficulty level. At face value, given how labyrinthine
Salamonis is, how seemingly impossible the end showdown is, and the number of
items and information that you need to win through at the end, this book should
be very hard. However, with the constant reincarnating, the multiple paths
through (pre-Salamonis, that is), and the sheer amount of helpful items (seeds and
potions in particular) that you can collect, in reality this book is very easy
once you’ve cracked its looping design and realised that coming back to life
can be advantageous as it gets you the chance to visit other areas and get more
than enough stuff to win through with. There are loads of opportunities to find
potions (and there are many different potions, mostly linked to reincarnation
or negotiating demons easily), Luck tests are rare, there are umpteen Stamina
bonuses, there are three types of handy magic boots, instant deaths are very
rare, it is possible to revisit certain sections in the Temple area endlessly
to get huge numbers of items you need for the end fight, and you can collect so
many different weapons with various different properties and damage indicators
that you should hardly be able to move for the weight of them. None of the (infrequent)
fights (most of which are with curiously weak-ish demons) are difficult and
several are avoidable one way or another, especially if you start experimenting
with potions and/or smoke oil. It is possible to move quickly through the
opening section by accepting an offer of help from Lady Webspinn (a goth name
if ever there was one) and you can also travel on horseback at one stage which
makes things move faster. The sheer amount of help you can get in the Temple Of
Throth knowledge base section becomes overwhelming and definitely convinces you
that, by this point, you have a good chance of winning. This balances neatly
with the tedium and apparent hopelessness of endless death loops in Salamonis
and makes the book feel more balanced difficulty-wise for anyone who is totally
demoralised by the Salamonis section. Once you have explored the book as a
whole it is obvious that this is generally a very easy book to finish, it’s the
exploring it all part that could take you some time and experimentation. There
is no central maguffin to find as such, it just tests your tolerance levels due
to the underlying looping structure, which is both a blessing (less dying all
the time) and a curse (repetitively going around in excruciating circles).
There is no true path to speak of due to all the loops, but there is an optimum
path that gets you to the Invisible City very quickly. You can negotiate
Salamonis in about ten sections once you’ve worked out how to and, if you
listen to all the advice you are given throughout the book by helpful NPCs, you
will find that (like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port Of Peril</i>
before it) all the potentially tricky parts are signposted to make them simple
to get through. The Invisible City is non-linear although some areas will need
to be visited before others and you can visit and revisit each part an infinite
number of times so you will not struggle here. There is a huge amount of info
to gather in the Temple but none of it actually affects your chances of
success. It simply adds lots of plot extemporisation and contextualises what is
happening by bombarding you with background detail to make the plot nice and
logical.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">As well as
the looping design, the other feature of this book that quickly comes to the
fore and won’t leave you in a hurry is the tone of Higson’s writing. This book
reads less like a gamebook and more like a modern style children’s story book,
what with its use of words like “bum”, “burp”, “wee” and “fart” (none of which
suit the tone of serious adventuring), repeated use of corny jokes (Fish Face
is a NPC who has the face of a fish, Holy Man is full of holes, there is an
essential item called “bier goggles” which allow you to see the Invisible City
whilst riding on a bier), potions are named things like “Nostalgia” (sends you
back to a previous point) and “Pretty as a Picture” (beautifies a foe)… the
list goes on. Not only is this reducing the player’s ability to take this book
seriously, it is also far too explicitly obvious in terms of how to
use/negotiate these moments. (I have a feeling the Nostalgia Potion might be a
dig at aging fandom too, but I could be wrong.) There is a much bigger problem
here though and that is that none of this fits into FF lore. Potions in FF have
a distinct naming convention, as do NPCs, etc and awkward comedy and
overly-obvious signposting does not sit well in my opinion. I found the humour
puerile and at odds with FF, and the revised approach to certain aspects of
lore sets this book aside from the rest. The initial sections where you visit
familiar places do indeed create familiarity (which is welcome) but the overall
idiom is not in keeping with FF and is out of context. As for the bum-faced
monster, this alone is the single worst moment in any FF ever and also seems to
serve no purpose at all other than to add yet another pathetic attempt at humour.
I have to acknowledge there are many neat nods to continuity such as meeting a
Clawbeast in Trolltooth Pass, finding a demonised King Salamon in Salamonis,
the Nicodemus/Lord Azzur cameos, etc, and there is a nice nod to cartographer
Steve Luxton, but I have a suspicion these could be Jon Green edits given how
oblivious to the whole scene Higson seemed to be at FFF2. On the subject of
JG’s “help” it is hard to guess exactly what the extent of this was but the
mechanics combat-wise seem very FF (as do all the adjustors/new rules listed in
the back for combat with different weapons, which do add some realism to fights)
and the name Lady Webspinn in particular has a very Green-ish feel to it as
does the description of the bier goggles which is clearly a pair of steampunk
goggles, but I’m just conjecturing of course. And, incidentally, is the Fish of
a Thousand Voices a reference to the Babelfish in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy</i>? If it is, fair enough, it just
occurred to me that this was a possible popular culture link worth mentioning.
Who wrote/designed what and where inspiration comes from is ultimately near
here nor there really, there is a much bigger underlying problem with how this
book is written and that is that, stylistically and prosaically, Higson is
completely out of his depth with serious fantasy (I’m sure he thinks having
Logaan set your pants on fire for lying is hilarious but, in the context of
serious fantasy, it is not!) For sure, there are some design elements that work
very well in this book and someone (Jon Green or whoever, with more
gamebook-writing skill than Higson, did any post-manuscript edits) has done
some of the necessary work to make it function but much of the awful Higson
pre-teen burp and fart prose remains and overshadows the decent aspects of the
content. Also, I cannot resist, as a lifelong Prince fan, from commenting on
the paraphrasing of the lyrics to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Purple
Rain</i> in section 200: doubtless Higson thinks this is hilarious but it is at
best cute and at worst desperate, and, again, is jarring random new lore that
is at odds with everything else we know about the FF world. On the plus side,
it does explain why the dimension portals in Salamonis are purple!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">Much of the
negative focus on Scholastic’s FF range has been directed at Vlado Krizan’s
internal art, but Robert Ball’s new covers also inspired a mixed reaction from
fans. The second sextet of Scholastic FFs does not have full page cover art.
Instead these books have a cropped image within a circle. The small image of
Ulrakaah’s face on the cover of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gates
Of Death</i> is suitably evil-looking and I personally find it effective but,
having seen the full-sized version, I would have much preferred the latter
image on the cover as it is far more threatening and shows her as the truly
awe-inspiring baddie that she is. Instead, Charlie Higson’s name seems to be
the star of the cover, rather than the Demon Queen herself. I guess it’s all
about marketing the celebrity name rather than the content of the book and
there is nothing we can do about this. Whilst on the subject of Scholastic and
their handling of the series, as with the earlier books, this book is printed
on poor quality paper with the fake smudges and scorch marks that made the first
six books look so shoddy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";">We must be
grateful that, decades down the line, the series is still open to adding new
authors to its ranks. In the modern day cult of celebrity, a well-known name is
a necessary evil to shift units and Higson does at least have the target audience
pedigree. Sadly, as a gamebook writer he appears to have no idea what he is
doing and has taken a concept with huge potential and turned it into an only
half-decent novel written for a 21<sup>st</sup> Century pre-teen. There is a
wealth of strong material in here (and the optimum path will reveal it to far
better effect than bumbling around endlessly trying to navigate the loops and
dead ends) but it is muddied and overshadowed by the bad jokes, flippant
oh-so-hip writing style and the excessive number of system loops. The end is by
far the best part and shows the true potential of the book (although I think
you can finish it without any smoke oil if you don’t bother visiting the High
Priestess in the Temple, which is a major error, and it assumes you know who
Lady Webspinn is whether you have met her or not), assuming, that is, that you
can be bothered to endure the looping parts long enough to ever reach it. It
does not suffer from the rushed travelogue and no-real-choices-as-such
linearity of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Port Of Peril</i> and
the plot is far more involving and original than <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PoP</i>. I found myself getting bored in the Salamonis maze but was
glad that I got through it and persevered to the last act. The opening part is
nice in its familiarity but it does not really amount to much and just seems to
ultimately be a bridge to create some cohesion with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PoP</i>. My biggest gripe is Higson’s awful writing (especially his
backside fixation) and some of his lore does not mesh with “accepted” FF lore. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoyed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Gates Of Death</i> more than, and it is definitely better than, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PoP</i> but its problems generally outweigh
its moments of quality. A playthrough of the optimum path (without all the
asides and loops) reveals the quality of its central premise and concepts (and
also how easy it is to win), but most playthroughs will almost certainly
involve getting tangled-up in its irritating webs. If it had been written by a
more capable and accomplished gamebook author - and had far more editing
afterwards to make it fit better with cannon (the naming conventions of potions
in particular) and to remove a few glaring errors - this could have been really
good but, as it stands, it’s just okay and I doubt many people will revisit it
once they have completed it, especially as you will have even found most of its
alternate paths in one endlessly looping and increasingly frustrating
night-after-night playthrough. Overall, this was a missed opportunity where
your focus is unavoidably drawn from its good points (plot, concept, intrigue,
excellent final act) to what Higson really wants you to experience (the
resurrection mechanics, his terrible idea of hilarity) and what he
unintentionally causes you to experience (his lack of ability at writing a
serious gamebook). The good parts are very good, the bad parts (which, due to
them heavily outweighing the good, are what you will remember) are terrible. </span></div>
<br />MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-88306518345371499732018-04-10T18:10:00.000+01:002018-04-10T18:10:48.704+01:00#31: Battleblade Warrior<br />
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BATTLEBLADE WARRIOR<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marc Gascoigne<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reviewed by Mark Lain<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having assembled
the disparate ideas and concepts created by the various FF writers who were
involved in the series by its mid-20s and drawn them together into one coherent
whole, whilst adding a vast amount of lore and background info of his own
invention in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Titan – The Fighting Fantasy
World</i>, Marc Gascoigne was almost inevitably going to eventually unload some
of his ideas onto the pages of an actual FF gamebook. What is more surprising
is that his idea downloading only ever resulted in one series entry, although
his later taking over as Editor for the series may have drawn his attentions
elsewhere, along with his various hands in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Warlock </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">White Dwarf</i>
pies and his general involvement is producing Games Workshop boardgames and
RPGs (the marvellous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Judge Dredd
Role-Playing Game</i> was one of his major triumphs in my opinion and I spent
many hours in the 80s and 90s playing this). The sheer amount of effort that
Gascoigne threw at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Titan</i> project
(as well as its monster-organising predecessor <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Out Of The Pit</i>) demonstrates several things: a great passion for
the subject, an exceptionally fertile imagination, and a compelling and vivid
writing style that really makes Titan come alive and feel every bit like a real
place. And therein lies the great paradox that you will quickly experience
whilst playing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Battleblade Warrior</i> –
MG’s superb writing is very much in evidence as is his knowledge and creativity
when it comes to lore but, at the same time, you quickly start coming to the
conclusion that Gascoigne simply cannot extend his obvious other talents to
designing gamebooks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Initially, thanks
to a compellingly-written and rich introductory section, you really want to
play this book. YOU play the son of the now-dead King of Vymorna who has by
necessity had to become a warrior along with your mother the Dowager Queen, as
Vymorna is under siege from hordes of Lizard Men who are on an expansionist
campaign. The real crux of the adventure presents itself when you have a
hallucinatory dream where you are visited by your God (Telak) who tells you to
seek out Laskar who knows the hidden location of two mystical items that can
help save Vymorna from falling. Hardly the most original premise but it’s
presented so well that you want to read on. What follows is you choosing two of
three of your father’s items to help in your quest (all of which are genuinely useful for once) then you have to decide how
to break through the siege itself: option a is to head to the water where you
can steal a boat and escape down the river; option b has you sneaking out under
cover of night with an escort of bodyguards who can fight off the enemy whilst
you make a run for it; option c sees you suicidally charging into the fray and
hacking your way out of the siege in as bravely stupid a stylie as possible.
Obviously then, option a is the safest and easiest route, option b can be
dangerous but it is possible to get out unscathed if you are cautious enough,
and option c ranges from fairly dangerous to extremely dangerous depending on
the number and strength of the foes you have to fight. So, the book begins with
three very different opening situations with difficulties ranging from very
easy to (potentially) very hard. This shows a good balance of challenge in the
design of the opening section and affords re-playability in its non-linearity
at this stage. Options b and c do usually lead to the same eventual sequence of
events (riding a lizard mount to freedom whilst being pursued by angry Lizard
Men, followed by exploring the plains beyond Vymorna) but it is possible to
start with option b and still decide to avoid the fighting by heading for
option a’s safer watery exit point. Taking the river route cuts out almost all
of the plains sections and leads you directly to a jungle terrain via a
dinosaur encounter and, as even the dinosaur fights (Tyrannosaur or
Triceratops) are avoidable, the river route is considerably easier to negotiate
than either of the head-on choices. Sneaking out at night gives you the chance
to avoid combats if you decide to but you can get into a few scuffles if you
want the satisfaction of taking some of the attacking baddies down as you go so
the difficulty of this path is largely down to how you wish to handle it, which
is a nice approach rather than the usual gamebook railroading of making you
deal with whatever the book wants you to deal with whilst giving you no say in
the matter in situations where logically you could probably have more control.
The fighting your way out approach of option c is interestingly handled too as
(logically, given that you are charging to almost certain death) the way this
one pans out is entirely down to dice rolls and/or random choices. Initially
you choose from a set of sections to turn to and this decides what you fight
first. You then roll dice from here and are directed to sections which could be
more fights or, if you get lucky, could be the way out of the battle. Some of
these fights are easy (low stats) and some are very hard (double-figured stats)
for opening combats and range from various Lizard Men through smaller cohorts
like rats via classic fantasy siege monsters (Orcs, etc) to big dangerous stuff
like dinosaurs and, if you are really unlucky, the very strong Lizard Man
Champion who, whilst not necessarily requiring you to see out the fight with
him, can be fought more than once and with replenished Stamina each time. So,
choosing option c will almost certainly shave off some of your Stamina, could
leave you very wounded, and might even kill you, but then that’s what choosing
this option is going to be all about and I like the non-arbitrary element of
chance that the dice rolls give meaning you might not have to deal with a
catalogue of hard fights, but it is likely that you probably will. So then, if
you roll-up a weak character at the beginning you can choose an easier way out
of the siege and still have a chance of making good progress through the book
(especially if you take the path that avoids the plains episodes). Roll-up a
strong character and you can flex your sword arm a bit at the start and get the
satisfaction of knowing that you killed at least some part of the onslaught
before running off to pursue your quest. Having escaped the siege, you either
head out onto the plains on lizard-back, or sail up the river to a small part
of the plain then onto the jungle. The plains are quite long compared to the
fairly brief jungle, but the plains route also takes in the jungle so you get
to experience far more of the book’s content by taking a harder way out of
Vymorna at the start (a reward for your risk-taking maybe?) Next comes the part
where you find Laskar who tells you that you need to enter a destroyed city which
is where the items you need (the Eye of Telak and the Arm of Telak) are hidden.
There then follows a conventional dungeon trawl through the inner complex
before you reach the climax of the piece where you discover Laskar has stitched
you up and sold you out to the Lizard Men meaning you have to deal with this
problem before turning to the magic paragraph 400.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The siege is oppressive
fun and really does feel like a battlefield. If you take the lizard-mount
riding way out, the resulting pursuit is genuinely exciting and is handled at
breakneck speed with a decent amount of peril along the way. The plains route
can be dangerous and there are a few elements designed to trap the unwary
(especially a confusing mist), but the central focus of this part of the book
is on the NPCs, Lecarte and Katya. Lecarte is there to save you from your
pursuers and lead you to the nearest town, the utterly pointless Capra which
covers less than a handful of sections and is of no help at all, although it
does open up the next potential episode, an Orc funeral. This is one of the
highlights of the book and it makes good use of Gascoigne’s lore on Orc society
that he included in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Titan</i>. The
funeral plays out in an interesting and in-depth manner and you even
potentially have to resort to eating some Orc flesh and/or drinking some
disgusting guursh (aka Orc ale) which gets you pissed to the point of feeling very
unwell. An earlier choice had you deciding whether to disguise yourself as an
Orc and, if you took the chance to do this, this is the gateway choice that
leads to seeing out the Orc funeral. This episode is both fun and disgusting in
equal measure and shows Gascoigne’s inventiveness very well. However, it
ultimately serves no real purpose at all other than to exploit an idea he
included in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Titan</i> and to add colour
to the proceedings. As with much of this book, this section is totally
avoidable, but it does lead neatly to the second NPC encounter, this time with
the messenger girl Katya. You do initially get the option to kill her and, to
be honest, you might as well do so, as she dies very quickly afterwards anyway
when you are both pinned out in the desert by some passing Caarth that, she
tells you, are well beyond their usual route availability for some reason. So,
she is yet another classic pointless FF NPC that seems like they should be
helpful but it very quickly becomes apparent that they are not! A very
interesting moment is the possible discovery of an ancient temple devoted to a
panther cult which links into later episodes. Again, this is avoidable but it
does present another nice cameo to discover. Whichever route you take (plains
or river), you are then dovetailed into the pre-jungle sections and meet the
trader White-eye whose help you might need but, again, it is not essential.
White-eye is as one-dimensional as Katya and the only one of these three NPCs
who has any background characterisation is Lecarte, possibly because he is
another character whose roots lie in Gascoigne’s work on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Titan</i> so the foundations were already there. The subsequent jungle
is an underwhelming excuse for you to try to avoid getting into a tangle with
some tree-dwelling men (and possibly lose all your equipment) which leads to
you finding Laskar for the first time before descending into the depths of the
dungeon that forms the final part of this book.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here is where
this book’s problems begin to really amplify themselves. Having been through
several potentially interesting episodes, you are now thrown into a generic
dungeon bash choosing left or right options and entering various rooms
containing monsters or booty. Your real reason for being here is to find the
Arm and Eye of Telak and it will not take you long to find either of them as
there are multiple paths that will lead you to where they are hidden, although
the Eye is the harder of the two to find as, in classic dungeon style, it is a gem
and there are four different types you can find, only one of which is the
correct stone (or pair of stones, in fact). If you do not manage to find the
Arm, do not worry as, when you reach the end, a Lizard Man appears with it
anyway so you kind of lose the euphoria of having maybe found it. There are a
couple of nice moments in the dungeon (the mausoleum is particularly vivid and
awe-inspiring) but it is generally just direction choosing, monster fighting,
and item hunting and, like most of this book, there is not much of it overall.
Then comes the big climactic showdown with the traitor which is little more
than a few stat tests, a one in four jewel picking choice, and then turning to
400 without having to shed any blood or do anything remotely challenging, at
which point you reach a strange win section where the Arm of Telak (a sword,
incidentally) conjures up a magical army who destroy the Lizard Man forces and
Vymorna is saved, leaving you feeling generally unfulfilled and a bit short-changed
by it all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The brevity of the
final showdown sums up much of this book as it is all generally rather
half-baked, with the exceptions of the exciting opening siege and the fun (but
pointless in plot terms) Orc funeral. Two of the four NPCs do very little and
do not hang around long enough to make much difference to anything, the third
(Lecarte) seems to be a nice excuse for some more Gascoigne-created lore
cross-pollination and he does at least free you from a seemingly hopeless
situation in the lizard pursuit, whilst the fourth (Laskar) is a wholly
different affair and is pivotal to the plot so at least half of these characters
do add to the proceedings. However, if you do encounter all four you start to
get the feeling that MG is excessively obsessed with forcing NPCs into the
equation, which can begin to grate on you. The jungle is very small (as jungles
go) as is the river and both just provide minor perils. Another MG obsession
seems to be dinosaurs which are, like his NPCs, deployed in an uneven fashion.
The jungle edge dinosaurs seem to be very out of place and I was confused by
their sudden appearance and their high Skill scores – high Staminas make sense
as dinosaurs are big and chunky but they surely just act on instinct to defend
themselves and cannot realistically be skilful? However, the Lizard Men’s
flying conveyance of choice is the Pterodactyl which makes much more sense and
links into their riding lizards as cavalry mounts and does add an extra
dimension of peril as you can be assailed from above too. In fact, the airborne
assaults are some of my favourite parts of this book but, again, there just
aren’t enough of them and the terror is not sustained (although there is an
amusing part where you can try to ride a Pterodactyl yourself, with
understandably disastrous results given that you have no idea what you are
doing). The final dungeon section is actually rather dull and, other than the
mausoleum and the disorientation that the layout can present, this is the point
where I would imagine most players will be losing interest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another problem is
that (unless you take the path that leads you almost everywhere that is
reachable in one route) a playthrough of this book is surprisingly short and,
unless something strong or a failed Luck/Skill roll kills you, it is very
reasonable to expect victory on the first or second attempt. Yes, this book is
that easy. And it shouldn’t be, all things considered. There are many strong
fights but none are essential. There are umpteen Skill and Luck tests and you
will definitely need good scores in these two stats but this is probably the
only really challenging aspect. The book is non-linear and, other than finding
the Eye, there is no true path as such, although there are safe and dangerous
routes. The initial discovery that you are limited to carrying only 4
Provisions and that you can only eat when instructed may seem harsh but there
are lots of chances to collect Provisions (far more than you can ever carry)
and a decent number of moments where you can eat so Stamina replenishment is
not difficult. Furthermore, one of the opening three items you can choose from
is a Stamina restorative and visiting certain places will restore your Stamina
too. Curiously, the rules do not mention not exceeding your initial Skill but
this is not an issue as Skill bonuses are scant. Given the number of Luck tests
you have to pass you would expect this to be a potential issue but there are
several Luck bonuses (including two early ones that seem to be impossible to
use) to mitigate this too. All of this combined with the fact that not finding
Laskar or the Arm of Telak is impossible (there goes any sense of achievement
then) and the on-a-plate ending make for an unsatisfyingly easy gamebook
overall and it seems that MG was more interested in translating his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Titan</i> inventions and certain
preoccupations (dinosaurs, NPCs) into episodes around which a game was designed
rather than starting with the aim of making a game and building those moments
into it. Yes, there is some excitement to be had, especially at the start, but
the pace is later maintained through overly-short and undeveloped areas that
seem rushed in a bid to get it over with. Your character too is oddly
moralistic and squeamish about things that you should have no qualms over at
all, such as killing Lizard Men by blowing them up, and this seems illogical. Most
frustrating of all is the fact that the Lizard Man siege has no context and,
especially given Gascoigne’s fondness and skill in lore building, there is no
explanation of why it is happening. On a lesser level, the same could be said
for why the Caarth are out of their usual trajectory but as this is a small
moment it is far less obvious than the huge gaping hole in the entire plot. That
said, one thing that works very well is the consistency with the premise in
that Lizard Men turn up at various stages throughout the book and are still
entrenched in the plot right at the end, even if the way they are finally defeated
is genuinely laughable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In actual fact, the
thing that initially appealed to me most about playing this book was the Lizard
Man-centric plot. Whilst it’s far from perfect, Ian Livingstone’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Island Of The Lizard King</i> is based on a
solid central foundation of the slightly unsettling and very hostile Lizard Men
and another book based on these creatures was well overdue in my opinion as
they are one of my favourite FF species. The added draw of Alan Langford being
on internal art duty again added to my interest as he perfectly depicts the
lizardine semi-prehistoric nature of the subject matter and his return aids
consistency. Even the cover which hints at Lizard Men riding flying dinosaurs
really caught my imagination, in spite of it being a long way from even the
most middling quality pieces of fantasy art I’ve ever seen and the colour
palate is a bit childish. I have heard it said that Langford’s internals look
rushed (by comparison with, say, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creature
Of Havoc</i>) but I thoroughly disagree and the depth of detail in some of the
images, especially those featuring Lizard Men is excellent and sits well
alongside his other work for FF. It is just a shame that FF failed to ever
provide a Lizard Man-themed gamebook experience to match the concept’s
potential and visual appeal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For all its flaws, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Battleblade Warrior</i> is very playable and
you really do find yourself wanting to like it, but overall it is a pretty
forgettable experience due both to its ease and the way much of it sells itself
short through design and mechanical issues that could so easily have been
avoided had MG focussed more on writing a <u>game</u> than writing a <u>book</u>.
He writes very well (far better than many gamebook authors) and this book never
gets boring as such, but the way it starts with a brilliantly-developed opening
siege and escape, only to be followed by a series of generally empty cameos
(excluding the Orc funeral and the woefully under-utilised temple) that seem to
be designed thus to maintain the pace, ultimately leads to a gamebook that is
too short and too easy. I doubt many players will give this a second look once
they’ve finished it as even the longest route through offers little more than
90 minutes of entertainment. A missed opportunity, given the subject matter and
the talent of the author, but Gascoigne really should have stuck to writing
fiction and expanding the foundations of the FF universe as the excellent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Titan, Out Of The Pit </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Demonstealer</i> all ably demonstrated.<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br />MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3640929554503965005.post-44046860760237715002017-09-24T19:53:00.000+01:002017-09-24T19:53:54.060+01:00To The Ice Palace Of Aesandre<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">RESTORATION OF A LOST KNIGHTMARE "GAMEBOOK" FROM 1993</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ITV's Knightmare was one of the most popular childrens' TV shows of its era and I, like many gamebookers, am a huge fan. An obscure and lesser-known entry in the Knightmare canon is the interactive Knightmare adventures presented on Channel 4's now defunct TeleText service, playable through the use of the FastText function where coloured buttons corresponded to on-screen options allowing you to navigate your way through the screens. Normally, each day C4 ran a quiz called Bamboozle which used this system but, on a few rare occasions (believed to be just three times), a Knightmare adventure was offered in Bamboozle's usual place</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously, TeleText itself in its original form is now lost to time, but a web archive containing pages from TeleText was shared amongst the Knightmare fan community in mid-2017. The archive contained all of the original pages from 22nd December 1993, the day when one of the adventures (To The Ice Palace Of Aesandre) was made available. I'm not 100% certain how these pages came to be recovered, but the story goes that if you still have a functional analogue FastText television, should you also have a VHS recording from the era, Teletext pages can theoretically still be accessed. Anyhow, some wiz transferred the pages from VHS to html and put the archive up on the web. That's where myself and fellow gamebook fan Paul Kelly came into the equation. I waded through the entire day's archive, identifying which pages were relevant to the adventure (and literally everything from that day was there, including the TV guides, news, cinema listings, music charts, horoscopes, FTSE indexes, traffic reports, etc etc), filtered out duplicate pages and corrupted pages, and, armed now with a single set of adventure pages, I then set about mapping what seemed to be the logical paths of the adventure and working out which choices linked to which pages. At this juncture it's worth pointing out a quirk of TeleText which I remember well from the time and that is that, as analogue TV could sometimes have a less than fantastic reception, TeleText page characters could go haywire and appear as gibberish. And that was exactly the case here as several letters were corrupted so all of these also had to be identified ready for replacing with the correct letters. Once I had the whole thing figured out it was over to Paul Kelly to code the pages and hyperlink the choices to recreate the feel of the original, the only real difference now being that instead of coloured buttons, the player just clicks on their choice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The end result is a fully-restored and playable reconstruction of <i>Knightmare: To The Ice Palace Of Aesandre </i>in as close a version as is possible to the original FastText experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Click <a href="http://www.castleteletext.com/pages/Page%20149.htm">HERE</a> to play</span>MALthus Direhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15847555508305181801noreply@blogger.com16