Forest of Doom

Background - 

So its still 1983 and after co-writing the first book, The Warlock of Firetop mountain,  Steve and Ian went off and wrote their own books as solo authors.  While Steve wrote Citadel of Chaos, Ian was penning Forest of Doom.  I guess this is because they could produce books faster but I prefer to think they had a falling out over the best way to write a gamebook and decided to duel it out.  While Steve went and tinkered with the formula by introducing a magic system in his book, Ian went with the same standard rules.  Instead though he is taking us outside, into a forest!  While the Warlock's lair and the Citadel made it easier to write a gamebook it will be interesting to see how its done in the open environment.  I did play Forest a few times back in the day and a bit more recently but no idea on what path to take.

Covers - 

I do not remember seeing this scroll type very often in Fighting Fantasy.  But we do get the iconic shapeshifter as the cover star.  This one is art by Iain McCaig and its one of the better early covers.

So good in fact that they keep the same image for the green banner and the dragon covers.  Normally I like picking apart these but I really can't for these ones.

Luckily we have the reprints.  First from Wizard books, which tries to keep the aesthetic of the original but it fails.  The Forest in the background looks foreboding which is good and their is nothing wrong with the how the shapeshifter looks.  The issue is the stance.  I mean what is he doing with his arms?  He looks like you have just accused him of stealing some cake when he is innocent and absolutely outraged.  If I do come across him ill be sure to make such an accusation to throw him off his game.

 

Ah Scholastic books.  I know this is aimed at a younger market.  Well same market but in 2017 and not 1983 where expectations are somewhat different, but this is not great.  Its called the Forest of Doom yet you can hardly make out any forest!  And the shapeshifter, hmmm.  Well at least the pose is better, not sure where he got his inconspicuous bright orange cloak though.  Not the worst one by any means, just a bit bright for my liking.  

No sign of the shapeshifter in the US cover though.  I really do not know where to start here.  Ok so standard hero is the star with his blonde hair and erm blue trousers.  Being attacked by some kind of wildcat which he has expertly blocked with his shield as a whole load of critters and strange plants look on.  Some monsters are creeping up ready to club our hero down.  But the forest really looks like a forest of doom.  

I mean what the hell is this?!  

Premise - 

So I am told that I am a sword for hire that has spurned village life.  I have been wondering around and its been ten days since I saw another person.  But that's ok as I like my simple life of hunting, eating and sleeping.  Also I am confident of my swordplay as I am used to slaying evil men and creatures.  The thought of camping in real life horrifies me.  The only place you should pitch a tent is in your garden.   Also I suspect the people of the village hated me and drove me off, why else would you prefer the wilderness?  So in my camp I go to sleep under my sheepskin blanket, I think I will put said sheepskin blanket in my inventory!  

I am disturbed from my dreams of trolls though by a noise of a body crashing to the ground.  Its a small old man with a bushy beard, I guess my character has not seen a Dwarf before.  He is unconscious with arrows sticking from him, so carry him to the fire and cover him with my sheepskin blanket, sigh, cross it off my inventory.  His name is Bigleg.  Of course it is, terrible joke that I am sure was terrible in 1983 as well.  He recovers enough to beg for help in finding a hammer in Darkwood forest and return it to Gillibran to unite the people against the Trolls.  They were on the way there but were ambushed by little people (smaller than Dwarfs?).  He says to take his gold and go to Yaztromo to buy magic to protect you from the forest and his map.  Before he goes further though he dies leaving my character very confused.  First thing he does though is take his money pouch and you get 30 gold pieces.  

My character decides the Dwarfs will pay well to get their hammer back so will go do as Bigleg asks.  Which is just as well or it would be a terrible gamebook.  I take my sheepskin blanket back (Yes!  Added back into the inventory) and go to sleep for the night.  In the morning I bury Bigleg and set off to Yaztromos's tower using the map, whistling merrily.  Wait why am I happy, I just buried poor Bigleg?!  What about his family and friends?  

Also what is so great about this hammer that it will unite the Dwarfs?  Surly the threat of the trolls would be enough to do that.  Is the hammer capable of mind control, am I about to subject hundreds of dwarfs to a life of slavery?

Ok lets check this map, it should give me an idea to plot my way through the forest.

Wait what?  How am were they going to find anything with this!?  All I shows is the tower, Stonebridge, some hills at the side and a river going through the middle of the forest.  NOTHING in the forest itself.  Thanks a lot Bigleg, I gave you my sheepskin blanket as well!

Playthrough - 

Its the standard set up.  I have a sword, leather armor and 10 provisions to eat.  I am told though I can eat them at any time except battle, something that will become standard in future books.  And a potion of your choice.  I will have a look at what stats I roll before deciding.  I decide I also have my sheepskin blanket as it would be daft to have left it.

Skill - 9

Stamina - 16

Luck - 9

Well that did not go well.  Rolling such a low stamina score I decide to go for a potion of Stamina.

Not even started and equipment list is a mess.

So half a day later I use the amazing map to find my way to Yaztromo's tower.  After I ring the bell I notice their has been no other noise, not even birds chirping.  This close to the forest it must be some kind of dark magic.  Yaztromo appears and lets me in to buy some stuff.  I am immediately given the opportunity to attack him when he turns his back.

So the tower looks evil, their is no sound and I get an opportunity to attack him...

 I do not though as I know some Fighting Fantasy lore and Yaztromo is one of the good guys.  What follows must be the longest paragraph section in fighting fantasy.  Yaztromo gives you a huge shopping list and also gives you some more insight to the story.  Apparently a rival dwarf clan got an eagle to steal the hammer but on its way back got attacked by death hawks and dropped the hammer into the forest.  To make matters worse two goblins fought over possession of it and in the end one took the head and the other took the handle.  So problem has doubled.  Clues are that the head is bronze and the handle ebony and both have the letter G inscribed on them.  So onto the shopping, which the book I bought on eBay has marks against from someone else's playthrough, I decide to buy - 

Potion of Plant Control - Its a forest for goodness sake this is a no brainer.

Potion of Insect Control - See above.

Potion of Anti Poison - I am bound to get poisoned.

Ring of Light - Well its called Darkwood.

Boots of Leaping - Trees are tall, I expect these to help.

Rope of Climbing - Sounds useful.

Net of Entanglement - Hopefully get me out of a fight.

Armband of Strength - Hopefully will help in combat.

Rod of Water Finding - Well the useful map shows a river.

Garlic Buds - Anti Vampire, just in case.  If not i can hopefully make food a bit more tasty.

Headband of Concentration - Sounds very specific.

Nose Filters - Sounds even more specific!

The selection is huge so just as well I got Bigleg's money.  Some of them are very specific.  I mean can I only use the rope for climbing, not for tying anyone up?  Hopefully I have chosen wisely.  I leave the tower with my haul and enter Darkwood forest.  And the path immediately says go east or west.  Ah so I am just in an open air dungeon.

I go east, and arrive at a sign post with a talking crow.  Well I can go North, East or pay the crow 1gp to tell me where to find goblins.  I have no money, maybe I was not meant to spend it all on magic items.  I decide to keep going east, my theory is Stonebridge is to the North so only go North when no choice.

I arrive at a tree with strange fruit.  Deciding to some I am told it has a bitter taste and I can spit it out.  Nope I keep eating as I feel this is trying to scare me off.  Nope its poisonous and I have to use my Potion of Anti Poison.  Not my greatest start.

Noises attract my attention so I wonder off the path to investigate.  Not going to find parts of hammer without exploring.  Its two Orcs who attack me.  They are only skill 5 though so I dispatch them and pick up 2 gold and a wooden whistle.  I also get the option to eat the rabbit they are cooking to regain stamina.  I have not lost any but I decide to eat it anyway, do not want it to go to waste!  Now I would like to walk back to the crow and pay him for advice but unfortunately I do not get that option and must press forward.

Hearing some growling on the path I am asked if I want to investigate.  Hmm with skill 9 I decide not to bother, Goblins do not growl like an animal.  Moving on I can go west or north, remember the rules, I will go west.  The very next choice I get is another west or north.  My character though sees a path going South and decides to ignore it!?  Why?  What kind of searching is this!?  I continue west and then told I am forced to go north, again ignoring a south path.  Not happy with this.  The descriptions are minimal as well.  Next choice I am in long grass and can go west or north.  That's about it.  I feel I am being funneled one way and the illusion of choice is just that.  Would not be so bad if their was some description of the environment to make it stand out.

At last something happens and I stumble across a fox hunt.  I decide not to hide just to actually do something.  A man on a stallion with hounds appear and I get the option to attack or talk, I try and talk so he gets down to shake my hand, I see his gold ring and I am given the option to attack him for his gold!  Say what you want about Ian's writing but he really does give you the options to play evil.  I do not attack him and we have a nice chat which results in me getting some belladonna which he says I will need if I stay the night in the forest.

Again I am told I do not want to go South so I keep going west.  I can't really do justice to what I find but luckily it has an illustration - 

Just living in his hut in the forest flexing his muscles.

I mean who was he flexing for?  Random adventures?  I have to speak to this guy so I go in.  His name is Quin and he makes his living arm wrestling and challenges me.   I hope he does this by visiting towns and not just waiting for random people in the forest of doom!  Well sir, I accept your challenge as I have some armbands of strength!  I do not mention this to Quin though, he might class it as cheating.  I win some dust of levitation from him!

Still ignoring any path south I am now going east and find some hose footprints, probably from my friend I met earlier.  They go south but of course I am not allowed and forced North.  I see some vultures hovering, better check it out.  

Things have gone wrong for Conan in the Forest.

The Barbarian looks like he has been tortured and close to death so I decide to help him.  This is a mistake as he is not happy and attacks me.  We are both skill 9 as well.  I defeat him and eat my first provision to get my stamina back to max.  Serves me right for helping a barbarian.  I continue and reach the river.  My initial excitement at making it halfway is tempered by the fact that I bet one half of the hammer was on this side of the forest.  Instead of going back to find it my character presses on, I can wade or use stepping stones.  I go for the stones and get across without incident and decide to make camp for the night on the far side.  Glad I still have my sheepskin blanket.  

My sleep is disturbed though by Vampire Bats!  Just as well I have the garlic buds.  I wave them around and they eventually bugger off.  I go back to sleep with them by my side.  In the morning I wake up and head north again.  I get a nice passage about climbing a hill and seeing all of Darkwood forest around me.  Time to go west again.  Then again I am told south leads back to the river so I am forced north again.  I manage to stand in a bear trap and fall into a stake pit.  Normally this would be certain death but in this book it only costs me 4 stamina points.  I decide to eat another meal in the pit to mitigate the horrific wounds.  I then boot on my boot of leaping (why wouldn't you be wearing them already) and leap out of the pit.  

Continuing on I find a sword sticking out of a rock Excalibur style.  I managed to pull it out and its a magic sword.  Now I am told it gives +2 skill score.  But in the rules it says my skill can not go above its initial skill so its still stuck on 9.  So the sword is pointless.  This is clearly a failure in design.  What should happen is skill stays same and the sword gives you an attack strength bonus.  Daft.

Heading through the valley I find a lone hut that is empty but for a blue vase.  Its dark and I can not see what is in it.  I put my hand in and keep it in despite the pain.  I am rewarded for this with 5gps, a Dragons tooth, potion of strength and a luck point back!

After this I reach then end of the valley and its back into the darkness of the forest.  Going east and bump into Catwomen.

Disappointingly its not Anne Hathaway 

Despite being skill 8 she kicks my ass and I have to drink my potion of strength and eat another meal to get my stamina back up.  Luckily my food is really good at healing cuts and wounds.  All I get is two gold earrings worth 5gp each.

Continuing on the path I meet a Dwarf!  I can talk to him, fight him or even push him off the log and run past him.  Even though that sounds hilarious as I am helping the dwarfs i decide to talk to him.  So it turns out he is an enemy of Stonebridge and he lost his favorite eagle stealing the hammer and he was now searching for the hammer.  I decide to play it cool and say I hadn't seen it (which was true) and wonder off.

I should have pushed him off his log like a proper bully.

Now I am told a huge creature is making its way towards me, smashing through the forest.  I decide with my Skill of 9 to hide.  It works and I see a giant go past without incident.  No such escape options next as I am attacked by three Death Hawks.  I only take one hit as they are quite week and I wonder how the eagle managed to lose to them.  Maybe as I was hindered by hammer it was carrying.  One of them has a silver band on it saying death awaits you which I am told I decide to leave it.

Now my character decides to take out the map and as Stonebridge is to the North I head in that direction and ignore the path to the west.  How stupid is my character?  Why head to Stonebridge before you find the hammer?  This is not going to end well.

I arrive at cave and see something shiny, hoping its part of a hammer I investigate and have to pass a luck test to avoid some fire.  Its a lair of a Wyvern.  I am asked if I have a flute but I do not, I have plenty crap in my bag but no wooden flute.  Oh no its a skill 10 fight, first time I have fought something with a higher skill so far.  The resulting battle lasts quite some time.  I had seven draws.  But the dice are on my side and I win and it only costs me one provision to get back to full stamina.  I get 10gp and a throwing knife.  I also get a choice to try on a Gauntlet or a Gold Ring.  I decide on the gauntlet as I need to be a better fighter (I was lucky against the Wyvern).  Its a Gauntlet of weapon skill so I get an extra +1 on my attack scores.  Great stuff!  This is the rule the sword should have had.  I can also try on the ring but normally their is a good choice and bad choice so I leave it just in case.  No hammer though.

Wyvern shooting lasers. 

Continuing north I get surrounded by bandits.  I can fight or give them 5 objects from my backpack.  I look through at some of my terrible items and decide I can afford it.  Especially since they could take all my stuff if they really wanted.  I am then told each gold piece counts as 1 object.  Oh well have 5 of these and ill keep everything else.  

That's an interesting way to hold an axe miss.

And just like that I arrive at Stonebridge.  Well if you keep heading north that was always going to happen.  Unable to face the King I am told I head back around the east hills to try again.  

Well at least I made it this far.

Again showing the stupidity of my character, he should just turn round and go back into the forest!  But he is incapable of going south.  As it happens I am killed as I head back around the forest by the same bandits that killed Bigleg.  Ironically the last thing I see as life escapes me is a bandit making off with my precious sheepskin blanket.

Notable Moments - 

Well going through this book after my playthrough revealed I have missed a lot.  The forest feels massive!  Lets start with our cover star the Shapeshifter.   He appears as a  goblin with the hammer handle but as soon as you go near him he changes into a fearsome skill 10 monster.  It feels a bit anti climatic for such an iconic monster.  Your reward for beating him?  Some mix up mushrooms that swap your luck and skill scores, you have no idea they do this though until it is too late.  Oh and if you find him early on you have already missed the handle of the hammer.

Then their is a meeting with a witch.  Where if you try and talk to her you lose 1 luck just from her laugh because.... she is an evil women.

Evil women, cackling at you since 1983.

There seems to be four paths that take you to the halfway point of the river, all with different ways to get across.  The best of course is to get a ride on the back of a centaur.

Why yes sir, I will accept a ride across the river.  But are you ok, you look like you have some interesting growths between your legs.

One of the best parts through is when you descend into a hollow tree trunk and go underground.  There is many things you might guess live down there.  If you guessed a fungus farm run by clones who are enslaved by a Fire Demon, well you are a liar.  Or have played Forest of Doom before.  It is so random but also great.  Although might be a touch drug inspired as you get to choose which mushrooms to try and eat.

The drug lord that is the Fire Demon.  

I feel sorry for the clones, being forced to farm drugs for an evil overlord.  If you kill one they disintegrate into purple ooze which son sprouts poisonous mushrooms, hope you still have those nose filters from Yaztromo.  

Artwork - 

Well a new artist.  This time it is Malcolm Barter who is behind the interior illustrations.  As for the results, well still mixed.  Lets start with the good.  

The Crow needs 30 coins to give to Yaztromo to turn him back to a human.

I really like the crow, I should have given him money to get advice as he says go North.  Wish I did as it is in that direction you go for the hammer handle.

What is behind the rock!?

Its a fishman.... and I might be in the minority but I think he looks fantastic.  It could have been some kind of merman but instead he went with a fish with legs, love it.

The gremlins faces are priceless.

Luckily the werewolf was able to fashion some pants from leaves found in Darkwood Forest.

I really like a lot of the art in this book, the Stingworm is really good as well, but there are some misses.  A lot I found on my playthrough!  The whole flexing man encounter was bizarre and so is the art.  The Wyvern does not look great and the Catwomen, haha is really, really bad.  And the way the bandit women holds her weapon is really strange, but she is not alone!

The Apeman's story is tragic.  He is minding his own business in a treehouse and you climb up and just attack him.  But he cant really defend himself holding his bone club so daintily.   But the award for worst piece goes to -  

This is meant to be a treeman.....

The Big Bad - 

Well Forest of Doom has thrown out my setup already as it does not have a big bad!  Its got some tough skill 10 monsters such as the Shapeshifter, Fire Demon and Wyvern but none of them are required for the storyline.  I guess the Dwarf I encountered on my playthrough is the true antagonist as it was his eagle that stole the hammer.  But going how you could just push him off a log that does not work for my big bad.  

Searching for inspiration I decided these guys would have been a great fit - 

 

OOOOH WHAT A RUSH!

Yep I would replace the bandits at the end with Hawk and Animal as the Legion of Doom in the Forest of Doom!  

But in reality I think the big bad has to be the direction South.  Its impossible to go in that direction and is the single biggest obstacle to finding that bloody hammer.

Menagerie -  

Well with the exception of a blooming Pterodactyl everything fits with what you could find in a Forest of Doom.  From your standard Goblins, Orcs, Ogres and Giants to more exotic creatures such as Pygmies, Sting Worm, and Death Hawks.  One of the great parts is when you camp for the night after crossing the river you will have an encounter.  The Giant Spider fits the forest theme well and so do the wolf pack.  The werewolf and the vampire bats are a bit more random.  A great touch is even if you camp elsewhere the wolf packs howling wake you up.  I love the Gremlins living in the well and of course as I mentioned the clones and fire demon section is one of the best parts of the book.  Their is also a lot of humans going about for such a dangerous place.  Some that you can trust, but most are out to get you, even that bloody barbarian I freed from certain death.  The iconic character though is the shapeshifter, a great addition to the fighting fantasy world.  But he deserved a bigger part in this story.

Entertaining Deaths - 

I thought this would be a lot easier as I seem to remember a mountain of  deaths for wrong decisions but the early books seem to be a lot more fairer.  Only three in this book, but two are crackers!

I was going to go with taking the fire demons crown.  You instantly start to communicate telepathically with the clones.  They are worried about what to do with the red mushroom harvest.  And then you cant take the crown off and change into a fire demon.  Not the worst fate in the world, ruling your own underground drug enterprise and getting a bad ass flaming whip.

But my favorite for this book has to be the option you get straight away at the very start to attack Yaztromo when he lets you in the tower.  If you press the attack you get turned into a toad and your adventure is over.

Pete's Corner - 

Beware my clone army!

This scene actually happened a lot when Pete was younger as our cat Ernie would hunt him as he walked past.  Also the creatures in the background are probably more friendly than the denizens of rural Rora were we lived.  

Final Thoughts - 

Forest of Doom can be quite divisive.  The main reason seems to be the reset of going back to the start of the adventure.  The book does not cope well with this as you have to suspend disbelief as you may have to go through the same scenes over and over again.  I understand its the constraints of a gamebook to force you north all the time and you cant stay in Darkwood looking for the hammer.  But why would you wander around the forest to go back to the start.  As soon as you arrive in Stonebridge you should stay the night and head back in from the north side the next day searching for the hammer!  Does not make any sense.  

Another issue is that even though its set in an outside environment it is a dungeon.  Its the same choices as you had for directions in Warlock.  However I have to say that this was a brave change of direction setting it outside and I really enjoyed the change of environment.  So although the mechanics were the same as a dungeon it did give the illusion of more freedom going around the forest and it felt like a real place.  Most of us have walked around a forest before so its easier to picture than a dungeon.

As I said earlier the forest feels huge.  Even though some paragraphs are pretty much identical and I feel they could have been better used elsewhere, there does seem to be a lot more here than the first two books.  The difference being that encounters in Citadel had more options so they took more page space.  Instead in Forest the encounters have less options so there is more of them, this helps to make it feel a lot bigger in scale.

For the actual mission its different.  Instead of going up against an evil megalomaniac its a fetch quest.  Kind of like the side quests you get in a big RPG.  This is a good as you can only rehash the evil bad guy troupe so many times.  Ruined my Big Bad section but its good to mix it up so things don't get repetitive.  The story with Yaztromo being introduced and more development of the world with Stonebridge and Darkwood is also a step in the right direction.  

This game is winnable with poor stats which is very rare and yes it is a tight path to get the two hammer parts but I think that adds replay value.  And if you do get to page 400 you are rewarded with a a page and a half of story which makes you feel you have achieved something.   The build up story is good as well if a little suspect for your motivations to look for the hammer.

So after arriving in Stonebridge without any parts of the hammer I decided my character would not be stupid and walk around the forest to start at the beginning and get killed by bandits.  I had a cunning plan.....

Journeying to the land of the trolls I seek and gain an audience with their chieftain.  I learn of their hatred of the dwarfs of Stonebridge.  Still I resolve to bring an end to the conflict and bloodshed.  I have brought him a mighty gift to placate them and persuade them not to attack Stonebridge.  The troll court is run down and I am surrounded by the chieftains closest advisors.  "What gift do you have that could possible save the dwarfs from our wrath!"  "Well good sir I have journeyed through the depths of Darkwood forest to bring this to you.  Behold an item worth more than all the gold in Stonebridge and fought over by kingdoms.  Behold my Sheepskin Blanket!"

I take the trolls stunned silence for shock and awe but after a while I sense they might not be happy.  The chieftain takes it in his hands and looks it up and down.  "What are these red marks?" he asks.  "Oh that, that's Biglegs blood."  The chieftains face changes to one of hope.  "Bigleg?!  My hated enemy!"  "Well he is dead, I erm killed him and wiped the blood on the sheepskin blanket."  The place erupts in joy and celebration, I am lifted into the air and carried through the streets as a hero.  The sheepskin blanket is made into a magnificent standard for the troll people.  War is adverted.  Turn to 400.

All in all I really enjoyed the Forest of Doom.  It is not as good as Citadel but it is a fun diversion.  With a few tweaks though it could have been great.

Score - 6 out of 10