Scorpion Swamp

Background - 

Its late 1984 and the pressure of churning out gamebook after gamebook is starting to take its toll on Ian.  Scraps of paper lie everywhere with half thought out ideas.  He takes the manuscript he has just typed out and crunches it up before throwing it away.  Wearily he gets out of his chair and climbs up the staircase.  At the top he is faced with a T-junction.  Sighing he goes left before he comes to another door.  He knocks loudly.

Ian "Come on Steve its been months"

No response.

Ian "I promise you, Starship Traveler was not that bad"

Steve "Go Away"

Ian "Look, we promised Puffin more books.  I've done three in a row and its going to kill me.  I need your help."

Silence.

Ian thumps the door in annoyance and heads back down stairs to his desk.  This was not going to work, they were doomed.  

With a start he awoke, his face sore from where he had fallen asleep on the desk.  Groggily he knocked over his Filofax.  As he picks it up he starts leafing through the names when an idea strikes him.  A mischievous grin crosses his face as the idea forms.

Ian "The world wants a Steve Jackson, ill give them a Steve Jackson!"

So yeah Scorpion Swamp is the first in the series not to be written by the original authors.  I guess the pressure of producing so many books they needed fresh impetuous.  Its still 1984 and we are already onto book 8.  But of all the people in the world they could get to author a new book for them, they managed to find someone else called Steve Jackson.  I can't feel that this was a very calculated move.  Its too much of a coincidence.  Anyway Scorpion Swamp was written by the US games designer Steve Jackson and despite the setting of a swamp not being particularly appealing I am looking forward to see what changes we get with a different author.

Covers - 

         So to get around the new author issue and give them no credit the front is plastered with a Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston present.  I guess they are the selling point.

Now onto the cover.  So we see the Pool Beast from the adventure, its a strange choice as it does not feature heavily in the story.  Its trying to replicate the blood beast but it just looks like its shaking its fist like an angry old man after you kicked your ball into his garden.

The sickly yellow does give it a swamp feel and it stands out amongst the other books.  I know I caused upset by saying I did not like the cover on Lizard King last time out but can we all agree that this is not great?

As this one has never been republished we don't have a lot of covers so its straight on to the US one.

I am guessing this gentleman is Grimslade the evil wizard.  He looks less evil and more, deranged and in need of help.  However it gets a lot of points for having an actual Scorpion on it!

Not really much to write home about here either.

Apart from this guy!  What the hell is he meant to be.  Just creeping in the background of the tower.  How many fingers does he have?  Is that two hands coming from the right side?  

Premise - 

"Hardy adventurer that you are, you have never been known to quail at a little danger.  But you're no fool."  Well already it seems it does not know me well.  Basically we are told that Scorpion Swamp is an extremely dangerous place.  Its covered by a thick fog and even a compass does not work so no one is able to map the marsh and to go in is basically certain death.  So as I am no fool I don't go anywhere near it.

Life changes though after a good deed of helping an old women cross the road...ok help an old women back to a village.  She thanks me by giving me a brass ring.  But in a bonus it turns out to be a magic ring.  Is it like the one ring you ask?  Well no, it actually has two tricks it can do.  And you will never guess them.  First I can tell which way is North at all times!  Not much help to be honest unless there was an unmappable swamp nearby.  But that's not all.  As an added bonus it also gets warm when I am in the presence of evil.

Now I am not sure how the ring is able to judge how people are evil.  Is it just really evil people like murderers?  Or for example I may have watched the wrestling this week on, lets say, a non official internet steam.  Would that cause the ring to go warm in my presence?  The background does not give much info other than I spend some time with some good honest forest bandits (how can they be good and honest and be bandits?) and the ring stays cool but it goes off when I encounter undead.  

Also while we are at it who created a ring with these two specific abilities.  Was the whole pointing north thing just a lucky side effect?  Is their a ring that points south and can tell good people?  The reason I am rambling is because the background section is all of two pages.  After Ian Livingstone's efforts in the last three books this is quite a change and not for the good.  I feel there is plenty more space here to talk about the ring itself and how you discover its various powers.

In the end my character decides to put the magic to good use by mapping out Scorpion Swamp.  So much for not being a fool....

Playthrough -

Right things have taken a dramatic turn.  I do not have any provisions or potions.  In fact all you start with is a sword, chainmail and an empty backpack.  So about to go into the crazy swamp with terrible preparation.  I thought I was not a fool?  I guess I have the ring as well but its not mentioned in the equipment section.  There is a magic spells section, divided between good, neutral and bad.  Although I do not get any at the start.  Also a quick section on how to map Scorpion Swamp, its divided into clearings that you can revisit so this should be interesting.  Finally we get the hints which basically says make a map, oh and they are three quests to choose from.  Fake Steve is already putting his own twist on things.

Skill - 9

Stamina - 23

Luck - 11

Great rolls for Stamina and Luck but I would give them both up for a skill of eleven or twelve. So we kick off by traveling to the far west.  "As you travel, you have many experiences that a less seasoned traveler would call adventures.  To you, fighting Orcs and Goblins, defying evil wizards and slaying giant wolves are all in a day's work."   Oh really, with a skill of nine I can tell you there would not be any evil wizard troubled by me.

Anyway I get to Fenmarge on the edge of the swamp and make my way to the tavern.

Now I am not saying this is a backwater but maybe there has been a tad little bit of inbreeding.

So being the big shot I am I declare my plan to map the swamp.  This causes much outrage, well at least to the guy in the bottom right.  As I go to leave one puts their hand on me to stop and this is where the book shows you can really play good or bad as I can be polite or challenge him for his impertinence!  I am terrible at playing a bad guy so I will be good.  My brother Pete always takes the evil options though so Ill leave that to him.

So a farmer who the book tells me is more interested in me than any farmer should be takes my arm and leads me to a corner of the tavern.  Is this the first sign of more acceptance for different lifestyles?  No its the 80s.  Anyway I decide my character is no fool and this is just normal to him as he is dashing and handsome.  My new friend is called Gronar who's name sounds like he is a left over from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.  Anyway Gronar advises me that if I am going into the swamp I really should have a mission.  He is probably right as the book might be a bit boring otherwise and as we know I am no fool!

I get the option to visit the good wizard, Selator.  The evil wizard Grimslade (great name) or the mysterious Poomchukker!  Now normally I would be all in with Poomchucker but as Dan and Murray have already done that for their playthroughs I thought I would see what Selator was saying.

Some lovely thatching work on Selator's house.

He needs me to pick a berry from a flower for him.  Its an important ingredient for white magic so evil wizards are destroying it and the last one is in Scorpion Swamp.  If he can get one berry though he can make more.  To help me I am allowed to pick six spells from the good and neutral list.  I go for -

Friendship

Growth

Bless

Fire 

Ice

Stamina

One each of the good spells plus Fire and Ice sound useful.  Stamina is to make up for the lack of provisions.  Finally ignoring the sign that says turn back I head into the swamp.

And I already have to pass a test or lose -1 Skill if I fall over jumping over the soft part of the trail.  Luckily its a stamina test so I pass but that would be a brutal start.  Already I cant go North but funnily I can go back the way I came.  That is the option I would take as I am no fool!  But would make a terrible blog entry so I head east.  

Well that's certainly ominous.

Well I get the option to rest on the stone, investigate the hole or move on.  I doubt the berry is in there as its only the second clearing and I still have max stamina so no point resting.  I am no fool!  Not going in there.  Instead I go North and things escalate very quickly.

Unsurprisingly the ring tells me he is evil.

I decide the ring knows that spiders themselves are not evil, they just get a bad press.  They just mind their own business.  The Master of Spiders is one of the wizards that live in the Swamp.  Not sure why they have all moved to live in such a terrible place but its clear that this guy has enslaved the spiders against their will.  That is where the evil is, he has even forced them to make him a spider silk pavilion to live in!  I decide I am not messing with this guy so spend some time rummaging in my bag for a spell.  One of the options is Friendship which makes me laugh.  I go for Fire as this should mess him up.  This works very well, too well in fact. The entire clearing goes up in flames, killing the slave spiders I wanted to free.  And I also get burned for 3 stamina damage.  

I decide to head back the way I came.  This is where the book really shines.  I get asked if I have been here before which I have so things change slightly.  This time I see some gnawed bones before I move on.  Makes me thing I was right not to poke my head in the tree.  I head East.

Straight into the cover monster!

With my not great skill I decide in order to stay alive as long as possible to not be stingy on spells.  However when I try and cast one I do not have any of the given options so I sigh and pull out my sword.  To my surprise he is only skill 8.  I expected more from a monster like this.  I guess there is no sense of scale in the pictures of the pool beast so maybe he was small.  He only hits me once though and I prize the jewel off its head.

This is a dead end though so I have to head back.  This time though the fire is still raging where the Master of Spiders was and I lose another stamina point from smoke inhalation.  So I end up all the way back at the start of the swamp and head in the opposite direction.

Its Barry Gibb!

Or at least I thought it was but its in fact the Master of Wolves.  Quite surprised I have bumped into two masters already.  He is not friendly and basically tells me to get off his lawn.  I fix this by casting a friendship spell on him so he invites me in.  We have a lovely chat.  Turns out Scorpion Swamp is not so bad as he has a nice log cabin here.  The wolves keep out the riff-raff.  He teaches me a secret word to help with any encounters with wolves.  He also says take the easy way over the river do not look for traps where none exist.  

In the next clearing I wade through a shallow stream and of course lose 4 stamina points to leeches for the second book in a row!  I have no choice but to keep going North.

I hope these trees are not the same ones from The evil dead!

Just as I was thinking Scorpion Swamp was not as bad as everyone had made out!  I look into my bag of spells and the only thing I can cast is growth, which seems a terrible idea so again I crack out the sword.  Oh dear they are Skill 9 and Stamina 12.  At this stage I am Skill 9 and Stamina 13 so its going to be close.  But one thing the trees do not have?  Luck, which I use a few times and dispatch the trees and I still have 7 Stamina to spare.

I keep heading North and bump into a Unicorn.

I am on the good team, honest!

No idea what a Unicorn is doing in such an evil place as Scorpion Swamp.  But its wounded so since we are all on team good I use my bless spell to heal it.  The unicorn then uses its horn to dig up some spell gems in thanks and I gain a luck spell and another friendship spell.

I decide to start heading east to try and cover more ground.  I come across a battlefield but no sign of the berry.  Just this guy.

As I am good guy I bury him and help myself to a magnet he had.

Nothing else going really so I was going to keep heading east but I am told that path looks darker and narrower so I head North.  

Ah you want to tempt me in with some cheese!  You know me well.

The ring goes hot and I am no fool!  This guy is a thief.  I suspect he has been pirating ZX spectrum games for his mates.

After our battle I found a sack full of Scorpion Swamp tapes.

My stamina is quite low so when he offers to share his cheese I decide to pop my stamina spell before attacking him.  Just as well as despite only being armed with his cheese knife he is skill 10!  Harder than a pool beast or a bunch of sword trees!  Its a tough fight but my stamina and luck see me through but I take a lot of damage.  My reward is his red cloak which makes me look more dashing.  I even eat the cheese which does not restore any stamina!  What!?  Did nobody tell fake Steve that food heals sword wounds?

Well I guess this was inevitable.

I am lucky so I can decide what to do next.  I decide to jump over them, which amazingly works.  Kind of an anti climax with the name of the swamp.  So far I would rename it Thief swamp, that's the real threat in this swamp!

I pop my luck spell to get it back up and wonder on to the next clearing which is empty and then head South as after complaining I can never go South in previous books I have to take the option.

These guys do not look much of a theat.  I was a bit wrong.

So remember the magnet that I picked up earlier.  Well these Swamp Orcs are terrible shots but my magnet in the bag helps the arrows hit me.  I get out my sword and even though they are not great fighters there are three of them and by the time I dispatch them I only have 2 stamina left and no sign of any way to restore it.  And my reward is a crap map with a picture of a frog to the South.

Master of Frogs you say?  Are you sure?  They look like Toads to me.

The ring does not go off so I tell the Master of Frogs my mission but he is neutral and not interested.  So I try to bribe him.  He does not want my first offering of the magnet, saying it is cursed.  He is not wrong, I cant even give it away.  Why cant I just lob it into the swamp.  He does accept the shiny jewel though from the pool beasts head and in return tells me the berry I seek is to the North but not a straight path.  Oh and also be kind to the giant.  

I resolve to go North when I can which takes me back to the empty clearing before I am forced to go east or west.  I go east and find a nice lake at the very edge of the swamp.  I have the option to drink and on 2 stamina I am desperate, one wrong move and its game over though.  So I decide to wait and watch and a lizard happily drinks from the water so I go for it.  Gain +3 stamina!  Oh thank Selator.  I honestly thought I was going to die in a poisoned pool.  

No way to go now expect back the way I came so I consult the map and see there was a path North at the Scorpions.  Which means I have to jump over them again.  Except last time I had to roll 2d6 and roll less or same as my stamina.  Which was fine last time but only a stamina of 5 this time that will not work.  With no fire spell I decide to fight them.  But there are too many so I have to roll a D6 and lose that amount of stamina.  Luckily its only a 2 so the adventure can continue!

I come across a stone bridge and remember what Barry Gibb said to me that I can trust the bridge and turns out he was telling the truth.  The bridge leads me to sheer terror.

Its just a tree with an Eagles Nest, but on stamina 3 everything is terrifying.

I get asked if I have parrot feathers or a bird amulet. Nope.  The eagle starts getting agitated and I can fight it or back away.  Back away please.  I edge out of the clearing, falling apart and wondering why I wanted to map a swamp.

I head west and fall straight into quicksand.  I pass a luck test, imagining failure was instant death.  I still lose 2 stamina points though so I am now down to 1 measly stamina point.  I imagine I am crawling through the swamp at this stage.

Must...be...nice....to....Giant

The Giant will not let me past.  But he is clearly upset.  Luckily I am no fool and remember the Master of Frogs said be nice to him so we speak.  His wife is upset as he has lost his red handkerchief.  Putting two and two together I pull out the red cape the thief had.  The Giant is overjoyed and wants to help in my quest.  All he can tell me is that the berry is towards the North but watch out for wolves.  What?  If you really want to help after I saved your day,  put me on your shoulder and take me to the berry.  I am about to die man!

Anyway I go North to another encounter - 

Down boy!

Luckily the Master of Wolves taught me the secret word.  I would tell you what it is but I fear some people reading this blog will use it for evil.  It works and they lie down and I give them a playful scratch behind the ears.

And in this place there I get the option to pick a berry from a plant.  White leaves, check.  Purple berry, check.  I get the option to eat it which would be hilarious but at last I think I have the berry.  But now I have to get all the way back on 1 point of stamina.  I know I cant get past the Scorpions so I have to restore stamina somewhere so I go another route.  

Ho there who do you serve?

The ranger is pleased I serve good and offers me some healing herbs!  Oh thank god, it restores.....1 Skill.  You have to be kidding me!  Anyway he gives me directions.  He tells me to go West at the Eagles nest and then South.  Checking my map I have not been that way so give it a shot.

Its at this stage I realise I must have made a mistake in my map as I end up here - 

Ah you are on your own mate.

The Dwarf pretty much is killed and I leave the Giant Scorpion alone to his meal, deciding its wrong to interfere in nature taking its course.  And I am back on track at the eagles nest so I follow the Rangers direction.  I get asked if I want to climb the tree and look at the nest.  Then I realise if I go West I am straight back to the Scorpion.  Yep I misread the Rangers instruction, he said go South at the nest which takes me back to the bridge then the Scorpions so I have to go another way.  But in order to get to the junction I need to go past the Scorpion again or the quicksand.  I go for the quicksand thinking at least I know about it now.  Which turns out to be correct and I am allowed to cast a growth spell over the vines which covers the quicksand.

I swing my way back up to where the Ranger was and head in a different direction and find the Master of Gardens.

For UK readers this guy is pretty much running the Beechgrove Garden on BBC.

I tell him about my quest and I have the berry so he is delighted with the news and lets me have a good spell.  Sigh, I really needed a neutral spell so I could get a stamina one.  So I pick up another growth spell and sigh.  I just need a couple of more stamina points to get past the bloody scorpions.  

My wandering around in the Swamp leads me to Willo the Wisp and I am no fool!  So I go south instead of following it.  I then meet some slime which I use my freeze spell on to kill it before bumping into brigands.  The ring remains cool so they are not evil, but still they are brigands!  I cast a friendship spell on the leader.  He is very friendly and wants to help.  I said I really need someone to help I am on the verge of death here.  Have you even got a sandwich?  Not a cheese sandwich though as that will not be any use.  He just laughs and tells me Willowbend is to the North and best inn is the Bent Spear. 

I stay the night at the Inn and get a magnificent 2 stamina from a good nights sleep.  Its not a lot but gives me a chance.  However on my way out the innkeeper suggests a wizard to speak to so I head over to see him.  He sells neutral spells which is exactly what I need!  But I have to trade.

Violet Jewel - Gave it away

Gold chain - No

Horn of Unicorn - Nope

Masters Medallion - Nope they are all my pals (well except the Master of Spiders).

Its at this point I am feeling like I am doomed when he notices my magnet.  Turns out I did not lob the cursed thing into the swamp.  I pass it over and he has a look at it.  I pretend to play it cool but inside I am desperate.  Finally he says he will take it for one spell gem.  He has not even finished speaking and I am am shouting stamina!   Good lord man the Stamina spell please!  

He accepts, and I do not even leave his shop before I use it.  I have never felt better!

I crack out the map and retrace my steps.  I make it back to the scorpions and I leap easily over them all.  As I make my way back though I find the Sword Trees have gown back so need to fight them again.  I would have been devastated by this if I had not got my stamina back.  Even though they absolutely batter me down to 9 stamina.  I loose another point to a leech of course but I make it out of the swamp and head of to Selator's.  He is delighted I have the berry and plants it.  Soon his garden is full of the plants.  My great reward, a healing potion (thank goodness), a hot meal and a sense of wellbeing.  Victory!

Notable Moments - 

Having a look through the book I did spot some good encounters I missed.  Even at the very start the first choice you can berate the villagers for trying to advise you against going into the swamp.

The other encounters are different variations of dealing with the masters.  For example if you use the curse spell on the Master of Spiders he turns into this - 

Spider Man!  Kind of..

Also if you try to lie to the Master of Frogs you tell him a story that you are working for Baron Sukmvit looking for new monsters for Deathtrap Dungeon.  I like little things like that which tie the world together.

We also get a LOTR moment where you can get a lift from an Eagle.

Although you do not get much choice and it less glamorous.  And can take you in the wrong direction if you already have the wizards berry. 

Gandalf never had this problem.

Technically this counts as an illustration of the player which is very rare.  My favorite encounter though is if you stay at the Black Bear at Willowbend.  The patrons are so noisy you get the option to cover your head with a pillow.  We have all been there when staying in hotels!

Artwork - 

So this is our first time seeing Duncan Smith behind the pens.  I did see a lot of the artwork  in my playthrough and to be honest its ok.  There are some excellent pieces that we have seen such as the Master of Spiders, both when you meet him and his transformation.  Selator is also well done as is his fellow quest giver Poomchuckker.

Brilliant name.  Poomchuckker.

However it suffers from the problem of earlier books.  A lot of them have no background which makes it hard to immerse yourself.  Its meant to be a swamp but a lot of the time you will have no idea.  Another issue is some of the paragraphs they decided to illustrate are lackluster so does not give the artist much to work with.  Such as the Tree hole at the start , the eagles nest or this one - 

The view from the cliff of the river is just a bit bland and boring.

When we do not get illustrations for Grimslade or the Dire Beast its just feels like a bit of a waste.  Here are some more that I missed during my playthrough - 

A Goblin Statue, its in a castle so the background gets a pass but just.

Grimslade's pad.  The bats and the spiked head are a dead giveaway.  

This Brigand is a friendly chap.  He offer to duel you, first blood.  If I had met him in my play through that first blood nick would have killed me.

This guy is actually released if you linger in Grimslades castle after killing him.  He just instant kills you, no messing.

The Big Bad - 

Well Scorpion Swamp does not really have a Big Bad.  Grimslade would be a candidate as the evil wizard but you might not even encounter him depending on which quest you go for.  So I guess I will talk about the Masters of Scorpion Swamp.

I wish we had a bit more background about them as I feel the story could have fleshed them out more.  All I could learn was that they can fight but they are not allowed to kill each other as long as they have their medallions.  But why?  And why are they in Scorpion Swamp?  We do not get any answers.  Also its a very strange selection.  Who picked Spiders, wolves, birds, frogs and gardens?  Did the last guy just get lumbered with gardens?

The encounters with them are varied though and it can depend on your alignment on how they react to you.  The Master of Gardens can use his amulet to make you tell him the truth.  You cant fight them all even if you try as they can get away.  So you kind of need to treat them based on your alignment.  The mistress of birds for example is good and she will even make a fake amulet for you to give to Grimslade.

When you walk into a locals pub.

Menagerie - 

For all the evil foreboding that no-one ever goes in the swamp,  Scorpion Swamp is very busy with a lot of foot traffic.  Outside of the masters its your normal fantasy fare with most of it being thematic.  Although not sure what a Unicorn is doing in the evil swamp?

Most of the battles can be avoided though depending how you treat them or use spells.  For actual combat I think they got it the wrong way around in the book.  By this I mean the Skill 10 thief is ridiculous when the intimidating pool beast is only skill 8.  I understand it represents where you meet them in the book but these encounters needed to be flipped over.  

Sword trees though.... ridiculous, makes no sense.  But I love it.  Its unique and different.   However - 

Crab grass....enough said.

Scorpion Swamp is also home to the series toughest encounter so far.  Get on the wrong side of Grimslade and he sets a demon on you - 

Skill 16!  16!!!! Maximum we can get is 12.

Entertaining Deaths -

Oh we have some good ones in Scorpion Swamp.  Not so much deaths to say but Game Overs.  You can have a wonderful start by ignoring the locals advise to get magical help before going in to the swamp and stick to your plan to make a map.  You go on a mini adventure off screen and die.

If you try and be nice to the Master of Spiders, one of the spiders sneaks behind you and poisons you.  You are then left for a few weeks in a spiders web waiting to become a meal.

Grimslades entire castle can explode with you in it thanks to a Demon coming to claim his soul.

But the award for my favorite one for Scorpion Swamp goes to - Going to see Poomchukker, telling him about your ring.  Which he then offers you 100 gold for which you accept.  This ends your adventure and you go off 100 gold pieces richer and you did not have to risk any harm.  In many ways I feel this is the good ending of the book!

Pete's Corner - 

Do not let Grimslade short change you!

Final Thoughts - 

Well lets start with the positive side.  I love the mapping system in this book.  Fake Steve does a marvelous job of dealing with the biggest issue of Fighting Fantasy books so far by allowing you to go back over old ground without breaking the book.  The ability to freely roam and even sometimes get different encounters from the last time you went there is to be applauded.  

Having three different missions is also ambitious.  It does make the encounters play out differently and adds a lot replay value to the book without going through the same start each time.  

Also I would add the spell system works quite well.  Again it gives you a lot of ways around combat if you have the right spell selection and as long as you use common sense.  Even better its not a case of one spell must be used in each situation.  Sometimes another spell will also help the situation in a different way.

So from a technical point of view I am very impressed with Scorpion Swamp.  Fake Steve has done a great job and most importantly he lets me go South!

But it comes at a cost.  And that cost is the story.  Two pages for the background does not cut it anymore.  Not since Ian's last three books and their detailed backstory.  But its not just the background build up.  It does feel like disjointed encounters and as I mentioned earlier the Masters idea is great but its not fleshed out enough.  I feel that if you got rid of the three quests and used the extra space to create a better narrative and story this one could have been great.  You can still keep Poomchukker and the rest but integrate them into a story which can end with a showdown with Grimslade.

Also the characters motivations at the start make no sense.  I know this is because it has to be open ended for the three different quests but the story suffers for this.

The art also does not really pop either.  Its ok as I said with some good pieces but it does not feel like a gloomy swamp.  We really were spoiled by the art in Deathtrap and City.  

Which leads me to another question.  You keep getting told the Swamp is a terrible uninhabitable place but its teeming with life.  I can get behind a theory of the denizens perpetrating this myth so they are left alone.

Tough one to rate this as a lot of people complain its too easy but I was delighted to get a win finally.  And I was hanging on by a thread for so long.  As I only do one play through I have no problem with this but I understand people who want multiple goes to get value would be disappointed.  Not for me though, I am happy to have a winnable book without needing amazing stats for a change.  

Score - 6 out of 10.