Talisman of Death

 

Background - 

Its the end of 1984.  The royalties for Fighting Fantasy are rolling in.  Ian turns up at his office at Games Workshop and sits down on his chair, a throne made of pure gold.  Taking off his oversized fur coat and his feathered hat he reflected on what to do next.  The people at Puffin were insatiable for more, and he wanted more.  But he was exhausted, churning out FF was hard work.  Fake Steve Jackson had escaped back to the US so that plan was over.  Original Steve was not working fast enough and no amount of bribery for his freedom would budge him.  He was obsessing over something called Sorcery.

Picking up his diamond encrusted cane he strode through the office surveying his empire when he came across the White Dwarf office.  Two young scribes were working away, Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson.  An idea formed in Ian's mind along with a wicked smile.

Ian "Guys, have you played Fighting Fantasy?"

Mark "Yes of course boss, we love Fighting Fantasy!"

Ian "Excellent, how would you both fancy writing your own one?"

Mark "Really!?  Of course we would love to do that, we have so many ideas.  We can use the world we have built, Orb, its amazing its got..."

Ian "Yes, yes all good, you need to get started today though and I want the manuscript on my desk by the end of the week."

Ian starts heading to the door.

Jamie "I cant believe we will have our names on the cover of a Fighting Fantasy book!"

Ian stops in his tracks and slowly turns around.

Ian "I don't think so, nobody knows who you are!  Its my name and I suppose Steve's that sell the books.  It will be our names on the front cover!"

Jamie "But how does that work?  We are writing it?"

Ian "Or you could stay here and keep writing word searches?"

Jamie "But..."

Ian sighs "You can put your names on page 3."  

Before Jamie can protest Mark puts his hand over his mouth, muffling him.

Mark "Thanks boss, of course that will be great!"

Ian turns and leaves the office.  Mark removes his hand slowly.

Jamie "Why would you agree to that Mark?  Its not fair!

Mark "Don't worry Jamie, this is just a means to an end, I have a plan!"

Talisman of Death was published in December 1984 and is a collaborative effort between new authors Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson.  It is unique that it is set on the world of Orb which is different to the previous fantasy based books of Allansia.  I believe Orb already existed in the duos gaming sessions so it already had fleshed out locations and characters.  Also after the success of this book they would build on Orb to create the Way of the Tiger series of gamebooks and break away from the Games Workshop banner.  I have never read the Way of the Tiger but I am curious to check them out.  Also never played Talisman of Death before so very curious to see how this goes!

Covers - 

Now where do I even start that will properly covey the sheer epicness of this cover!  Its so 80s metal it could be an Iron Maiden cover.  What looks like Death himself with his scythe riding his bucking horse on a backdrop of a lightning storm.  If I am being picky the horse looks slightly strange but overall Peter Andrew Jones has smashed it out of the park.  What young kid is not going to want to pick this book up! 

Now first off I was shocked to find Wizard reprinted this one as it wasn't written by one of the core authors.  I guess Ian forced them to sign over the rights as well!  Its also got Steve and Ian's name without the presents label which I think is particularly harsh.   But its another awesome cover by Martin McKenna.  Its a lot more sleepy hollow kind of vibe.  But I love it, the horse is much better and the full moon backdrop works just as well as the lightning storm.  Talisman has been blessed with some fantastic cover art.....

But do not worry.   Once again the US Cover comes to our aid!  At least I think its the Talisman of Death cover and not some kind of Star Wars novel since it clearly features Jawas!  Token Dragon though and not sure at this stage who the women is.

I am perplexed by the strange portal/door thing in the side of the mountain.  Looks very Twilight Zone to me.  

Anyway expect a letter in the post from Disney's lawyers on this one.  Or who knows maybe they will just buy up the FF franchise as well and we can get a theme park!

Premise - 

So I wake up on a green velvet couch. Apparently on the topmost turret of a great white castle hanging in the clouds.  Now how I know this after just waking up I have no idea.  I do not recognize the clothes I am wearing which makes me concerned for exactly how much I must have drunk the previous night and who the hell dressed me?!  But no my character is more interested in my calfskin boots which to be fair do sound quite comfy.  

I then try to remember my time on earth but struggle and instead worry about how I am now a bad ass swordsman!  Drawing my sword I go through all my moves despite having no idea who has trained me to be able to use a sword.  I also make swooshing noises as I practice my swordplay for effect.  Embarrassingly thinking I was by myself it turns out that the bird watching me can talk.  The bird tells me I have been plucked from Earth to the world of Orb and I am in the Garden of the Gods to act as their champion to complete a task.

The bird tells me I am more likely to succeed than anyone else on earth.  Ok really?  You have plucked a 41 year old IT guy who has done no exercise since covid.  I really hope this task involves an installation of Office 365 on the Gods computer, or maybe they need their VPN fixed.  Otherwise I fear they have chosen poorly.  

We wander down to meet some of the Gods.  The first one has no eyes and I see a reflection of my destiny in her face, although I assume nothing that will help me in the adventure to come, but I take note of the devils with blue skin comment.

The other God is clearly Time as he keeps changing from Baby to Old man and everything in between.  I hope its just his face otherwise that's going to be a really disturbing visual!  Does his clothes (or Toga) adjust as well?  He give me a brief overview that I've been brought here to prevent a fatal upset in the balance of nature.  I've got to right the cosmic scales but in typical Gods fashion they claim they cant actually do the anything themselves and they use men as their tools.  Which is very sexist. 

At this point I point out why pick me and not, I dont know, someone better?

I would have gone with the Rock

So the floor of the room is a very detailed map of Orb, very realistic.  Too realistic.  Then they say don't die and don't fail.  And for once my character asks the question I would ask myself.  Fail at what?  But it is too late as I start falling down towards the map which is actually the real world.  Its all too much for me and I pass out.

Playthrough - 

So despite being new authors and a new world it looks like the rules are the standard fare.  Although confusingly the start of the book has how to fight the creatures of Orb with some equipment information and another section about equipment.  This would be easier if everything was in the one place.  Pretty sure I've got a sword, backpack, provisions and apparently fire flares.  But then later it says says they are 5 fire torches and a flint and tinder to light them and guard them with my life!  Shame as the flares would not have needed flint and tinder.   I decide to assume the torches are correct since they have a number and this is fantasy after all.

Skill - 11

Stamina - 21

Luck - 8

That mystery sword training really did help!  I decide to take potion of strength as usual as its all about keeping that stamina up to make the blog last longer.

So I wake up in dim room lit by torches which saves me having to fumble around in my pack for my flint and tinder.  I've never used a flint and tinder before so I hope my mystery training included that.  I am not alone for long though as a D&D party soon appears.

Good lord man what happened to your face?!

Turns out he is a wizard wearing a mask.  The crossbow lady asks me what I am doing here in the Rift, the spawning place of all evil.   Oh great, what a place for the Gods to start me out in!  So options are attack, play for time (which is tempting just to be a dick as they are in a rush), tell them I am on a quest against evil or that I am from another world.  Well these are clearly the good guys (and I would not be surprised if this was the authors actual D&D characters) and I have no idea what quest I am on as nobody has told me yet!

It is just as well as the Priest uses some kind of truth spell on me and confirms I am telling the truth.  Luckily this leads to a bit of an explanation on what the Gods failed to explain.  The followers of Death have created an object that will allow them to summon Death to the material world.  Once that happens all life will cease to exist apart from team Death.  They make a point of saying it will be out of balance and I am like ah!  Just like the Gods said!  This team are all that is left of the good guys and they have the object.  Guess what, its only the Talisman of Death!  

As this is a dead end and the wizard only has enough MP to teleport one person out they decide to entrust this mission to the guy they just met.  The one that does not look like the Rock.  I have to head to Greyguilds-on-the-moor and find a way to take the Talisman back to Earth.

I do wonder that if I am part of an exchange deal and that the God(s) of Earth have summoned a poor local farmer to cover my work.

The party have a glorious last stand against a horde of Dark Elves and Trolls.  But I get teleported out to the entrance to the rift.  Time to get out of dodge and I get the option of going direct or through the forest.  I decide the forest will give me more cover and head that way.

I immediately bump into a huge she wolf! She has her babies so I decide to try and distract by giving on of my provisions,  

Nature Gandalf turned up.

What I assume is a Druid, Wodeman appears and thanks me for my gift and gives me back one luck point which is no use a this stage.  More useful is his gift of a golden apple which will restore, 4 Stamina points.  So a normal provision then.  Feeling like a bit of a waste of an encounter I move on.

Things take a turn for the worse though when I disturb a Basilisk who tries to petrify me.  I manage to lose 1 Skill point which is a devastating start.  

It does not get any better when I come across an old women stuck in the lake.  Trying to help her it turns out its actually a big old Grendel that suckered me in.  Its old women, complete with voice I might add, was just its head.  Despite my frozen hand the Grendel does not lay a hand (erm or tentacle) on me.

I finally get out of the forest (A bit easier than Forest of Doom at least).  But I am on the moor for barley a minute and I am surrounded by warrior women on horses.

Its at this point that I wonder how the Orb citizen on Earth is getting on with traffic.

I get quite a barrage of option on what to do here.  Now I have the Talisman I do not know whose allegiance lies where.  One of the options is to pretend to be deaf and dumb so I decide to go for it. Amazingly they buy it and give me a lift.  As they think I am deaf they natter away and I discover they are the watch for Greyguilds-on-the-moor and they have some beef with the local priestess.

Or at least so I thought.  Someone shouts ambush and I hear an arrow whistling in the air.  I get the option to duck or do nothing.  Crap, I need to sell the story so I don't move.  Right enough they were testing me and now believe as the arrow hits a tree harmlessly.  We arrive in town and they drop me off.

The local area is called Moorgate and luckily the streets have quite obvious names like Store street and Smith street.  Neither makes me think magic way to get back to earth.  If this was an Ian Livingston book I would be straight to Store street but as I am currently down a skill point I head to Smith street.  

I try the local armorer who can sell me a sword, but I already have one so I leave and head further down the street.  Its not long before I realise I am in the bad end of town and get accosted.

A JAWA!

Nope, its a minion of death, and he wants the Talisman.  This thing must have some kind of tracker on it.  Well no guessing who's side this guy is on so I decide to attack first.  Now he is only skill 7, stamina 5 but every hit he scores I lose 1 skill point!  Brutal!  He hits me once before I put him down and now I am down to skill 9.  I was thinking when I rolled 11 for Skill I would brute force this book but now I will have to be a lot more careful.  After the fight I am told I gain back all but 1 skill point that I lost after resting....great.

On Silver street I hear through a broken pipe some thieves plotting to rob the jewelers down the street. I decide to be a massive grass and go to the shop to warn him.  But before I can the thieves appear and I can join them or fight them.  I am still a good guy so I fight them.  So much for not brute forcing.  I have to fight two of them and they do get a couple of hits in.  But when one goes down the other one runs.  The Jeweler is very thankful and gives me 10 gold and a nice ruby!  

I make my way to Booker street and get the option to go and see what a bunch of blue toga students are up to or visit the library.  Well its information I need so I decide to head to the library.  Delighted so far that the people of Orb use English.  Should also give the Orb farmer on Earth a fighting chance.

I decide to read up on the history of Greyguilds and find out quite a lot!  For instance its the religious orders that hold all the power, the God of thieves has the most followers (almost like a city of thieves!) and there is a temple of death!  I also glean that Fell-Kyrinla is evil and the All-Mother is good.  I have such a great time that I appear to have lost all track of time and the library is closing and I need to find a place to sleep for the night.  

My search does not go well.  I walk into a hidden man trap and my leg is caught.  More followers of Death appear and take the Talisman from me.  "Oh no" I cry in between eating a sandwich from my back pack to bring my stamina back to max.  Just then the watch arrive and a big battle ensues around me.  The watch win which I thought would be good and they scoop up the talisman.  Still munching I mention its mine but they declare they are taking it to the temple of Fell-Kyrinla.  Oh great, are you sure you dont want to take it to the All-Mother?  No?  Ok, just help me out instead.  But no they leave me still in the man trap!  

A passer by releases me and offers me a place to sleep for the night.  The book tells me I am exhausted and I agree and head home with the stranger.  Fully expecting something terrible to happen.

But instead I get a great nights sleep and restore 4 stamina!  I have wasted my cheese and onion sandwich!

Since he did not screw me over I decide to tell him the whole tale.  He tells me his name is Apothecus and he is a historian who is aware of the Talisman of Death and I must get it back.  He advises to head over to the Red Dragon Inn and enlist the help of the thieves guild as my only chance.  He also gives me a ring to help me prove to him I am not a shapeshifter when I come back tonight, but it also gives me a much needed skill boost of +1.  Honestly I do not think my skill has changed this much in multiple books!

I do get the option of ignoring him and heading to the temple but I decide he has been a good egg and to go to the Red Dragon.  On my way I bump into some fighting students and one of them drops a brass tiger pendant.  I pick it up and return it which nets me a luck point.

It looks a lot more quite here than the text suggests.

I spend 1 gold on a drink but the book just assumes you have enough.  Chatting with the staff gets me nowhere so I have to speak to a group of people that I guess are thieves.  However they think I am the law.  I do persuade them though that I need their help with a job and a meet is arranged at the guild for tomorrow at noon.

Before I leave though these vagabonds turn up.

They are Tyutchv and Cassandra.  In my chat with the barman he revealed that Ttuychv is a nutter that worships a chaos god.  I decide to try and leave but fail as they tell me to stay.  They start asking me questions about why I am here.  I decide to just tell them I am looking for thieves so I can plan a cool heist movie but they become uninterested so I get out of there while I can and head for dinner with Apothecus.

I ignore a street urchin and make it back for dinner.  Apothecus has come up trumps again and introduces me to Diodorus, another sage.  Who specializes in travel by planes of existence!  What a find.  He tells me there is a portal at the top of Mount Starreach so thats the final destination.  But first I am to leave the city by a cistern in the graveyard.  Which I assume will be in the temple of death.  They do make me recite a phrase though that might help - All Mother, nature herself, preserve me.  The All Mother is Deaths opposite in the pantheon.  

In case anyone wondered what was for dinner it was Peacock basted in spirits of Ra.   

I head over to the thieves guild and its a bit of a trap but my luck holds and the harpoon at the door only grazes me.  The thieves are not pleased to see me at all as apparently they would have told me the safe route if they really wanted to meet me.  I keep getting options to draw my sword but I decide to use my earth experience of watching heist movies and play it cool.  Telling them they will miss out on a big score.  So they go to get the boss man.

That my friend is a daring ensemble!

I decide not to tell them its the Talisman but that its in the temple and we can share the spoils.  He says thanks as they now know where they need to hit, snaps his fingers and I am killed by a hail of crossbow bolts.  But in an interesting switch I am told to go to another page.

The Gods, time and fate are having none of it.  They put my body back together and restore all my initial stats and put my back at the start of the adventure!  This puts me in a bit of a conundrum, its an interesting way to reset.  Better than Forest of Doom for sure.  I decide to just go back to where I was as if I played identically. 

The heist is back on!  I tell them its the Talisman of Death and the team are put together.  We scale the rooftops and throw a grappling hook onto the temple roof.  A skylight is found and trap disarmed and we rappel down.  An old man might have seen us so I knock him out with the pommel of my sword.  The thieves though want to kill him but that is not how my heist movie goes but as I stop them I knock a dagger out of their hand and it clatters, very noisily, down the stairs.  As the alarm sounds the thieves magically disappear.  

I take out a lone guard just in the nick of time (it took 5 combat rounds which was the limit).  And make it into the temple to find - 

Hawkanna, and she is not pleased to see me.

Oh my I do not have any of the mentioned items so its a skill 12 fight!  Its quite an epic fight but my high stamina sees me through.  But I see she is already regenerating after the battle.  Nope, double tap rule!  I go back to finish her off and its her magic ring!  So I take it and gain back 6 stamina points.  Coupled with a good feed and I am back up to near perfect health.  The thieves conveniently were outside the door which they claimed was locked.  

As we make our escape one of the thieves tries to stab me.  I avoid it and the temple guards arrive and I use the thief who gets pin cushioned as I use him as a shield.  Following the rest out they turn on me but when they realise their friend has failed they decide they don't want to fight the killer of Hawkanna.  

Before I even have a chance to catch my breath, Tyutchev and Cassandra appear.  They know all about the Talisman and are here to take it off me.  They introduce a floating octopus who turns out to be a master illusionist with a troll friend.

So in a strange change to normal process the scary floating squid changed into a man.  Rather than the other way around....

I decide to tackle the troll first but he is an illusion.  What is not an illusion is the illusionists fireball.  Finally getting to grips in a fight with Tyutchev he is skill 10 and nicks me before I can hit him back.  I have lost 7 stamina in the space of a minute and sitting at 13 currently.  After hitting him once though the illusionist and Cassandra start to surround me and I get asked if I can summon a Gods aid.  Now this is Fighting Fantasy so I assume this is the ones specific occasion I am meant to use the phrase I learnt.  

In the most Lord of the Rings thing ever I get scooped up by a great eagle who flies me out of there!

I still don't know why the Eagles didn't just fly Frodo to Mt Doom.  Other than making it a really anti climatic book.

The All Mother speaks to me, pointing out Mount Star Reach which has a portal to my world.  As the eagle starts off to it I am thinking great nearing the end game.  Which lasts until the next sentence where the old Talisman starts to weigh very heavy and forces the eagle to land back in the city.  He then buggers off as I realise that's probably what would have happened to Frodo.

I hasten over to the graveyard but again I am blocked by an obstacle.

I don't think I am getting past.

I ask him politely if I can just squeeze through but he just stands there.  I get quite a few options to be aggressive or attack but I move aside and invite him through.  He is very rude and just barges past but fisticuffs are avoided.  Its at this point I remember my stamina is a bit low and scoff two meals to bring it back up.

Of course I arrive at the cemetery at dusk.  It was never going to be daytime.   I see a light but decide that's not where the cistern is going to be so i keep searching against the wall.  And amazingly I find it and just like that I am out of city!

After spending the night in a haystack I get options for traveling to the mountain.  I decide to decline the trade route road and also the direct patch as if I was Death that's where I would have my minions so I head east over the heath.  

Straight into a Griffin!

Now this may be one of the sorriest Griffins I have seen.  The text does say it has the body of a lion but that memo never made it to the artist.  Anyway he gets a couple of hits in before it transpires that he can talk!  He says he has had enough and will give me a ride.  So I hop on and I am back in the air heading straight for my goal!

This at least lasts until the next paragraph where all of a sudden the landscape changes to Jurassic Park and I am bizarrely knocked off the Griffins back by a Pteranodon and sent crashing into a pool to fight it.  I must admit I did not see that coming and I am now 0-2 in flying to the mountain.  

Now its only a skill 7 fight but its got a hefty chunk of stamina at 15 and I roll terribly and before I can take it down I am on reduced to 9 stamina.  But before I can eat any meals this guy shows up as well.

Stamina 30!

Starting to think I've landed on the Island of the Lizard King.  Three attack rounds in (and another hit) a T-Rex shows up!  What the actual hell is going on here!?  Luckily for me the two big beasts fight it out and the Triceratops wins the fight and then walks away exhausted.  Apparently I stood and watched the whole thing instead of getting out of there.  Before I do anything else though I take my potion of strength to get my stamina back up.

I spend a lovely night where giant flies lay their larva on me and in the morning have to jump into a pool to wash it off.  Amazingly all this did was mean I did not restore any stamina for a nights sleep rather than lose anything.  

So I make it to the mountain itself and begin the climb.  I find a cave that smells of sulphur and I am forced by the authors to go in.  The only way I would have gone in is if I could no longer climb the mountain!  

I light one of my torches and arrive at a junction already.  I stay on the main path.

Straight into Smaug from the Hobbit.

Many options are presented here.  But the one I am 100% on board with is to back out slowly and resume my climb.  I make it to the top, enjoy the view and head to the portal.  Only for the dragon to show up and declare it is the guardian of the portal and it will die if someone goes through.  I draw my sword ready for a battle and he absolutely smokes me with his flame breath and I am dead again.  Pesky Smaug.

But I am back in the void and fate and time are like come on now.  They send me back to world this time back outside Greyguilds with all my equipment except a specific list but I dont have any and 15 points of stamina.  

In the interest of my sanity I decide to just go through the same path as before and put myself at the cave with the 15 points of stamina.  This time I go down the side tunnel and arrive behind the dragon.  I sneak in an pick up 3 dragon scales before leaving.  They are clearly the key to defeating the dragon.  As I walk up the mountain I get ask if I have another item, I don't and get burnt to a crisp again.

The gods once again try and put me back but to I am like no thanks, repeatedly dying is very painful and I don't really care for Orb much and tumble off into oblivion (this was not an option but I've made it one).

Notable Encounters - 

So right from the start if I had not gone through the forest there is an epic chase where some Orcs and Dark Elves pursue you for quite a while.

Hey everyone he is over here!

But honestly most of the best encounters I found during the playthrough.  The epic escape thanks to the eagle to the absurd but amazing Griffin fight with a Pteranodon.  And the heist itself and dealing with Hawkana.  I glossed over it a bit in my walkthrough but you get a full compliment of names for your heist squad.  

But I did miss some such as dealing with the Envoy of Death in the city and trying to escape the wraiths on the moor.

For legal reasons absolutely nothing like the LOTR Ringwraiths. 

Looking at the Wizard cover now I guess that is the scene its covering.  If so it makes it even more epic, it really gives a feeling of fleeing through the wilderness.

But by far the best encounter is the Red Dragon Inn.  After the barman told me the story of Tyutchev and Cassandra and knowing I had to get out of there it was loaded with tension.  I was so nervous the entire time, trying to play it cool and get out of there without upsetting them.  It is a very clever set up with lot of great choices that only build to the tension.  It suckered me right in.

Artwork -

Bob Harvey is behind the pencils this time and its another really mixed bag.  From my playthrough above I really love the Horsewomen, Minion of Death and the Triceratops which is amazing, top stuff.  Hower the Griffin looks really ropey as I mentioned in my playthrough.  And if you look at Hakwana's dress its the same swirls from Starship Traveler's space scene.  I also thought the Red Dragon bar scene could have a lot more in it to add to the flavor.  Another example would be how empty the illusionist and troll background is.  But if you look at the Eagle cityscape in the background its much better.

The Death Knight is just pure awesome.

And the Mummy is a cracker as well.

In fact Bob has all the Undead down.

So all in all the artwork is pretty good.  Although they do seem somewhat obsessed with one lady though.

Hawkana gets three separate illustrations, including in a dream.

Considering she is not really in it that much I can only imagine that the boys were just a tad obsessed.  I mean surely not.  Whenever have fantasy nerds ever had an obsession with women.  I am sure I have it all wrong.

Not sure about the Moose Demon though.

The Big Bad - 

This one is a bit tough.  I guess the one you are against is Death himself but he never appears at all.  Just his minions.  Hawkana also appears a few times and she is also a skill 12 beast!  But I decided to go with the protector of the portal and the final battle with the Red Dragon.

The boss battle is a much better Dragon drawing than when he is in the cave.

Its at this point that I notice the portal is what the US cover was depicting! I guess I am used to portals looking like Stargate.  But this is still 1984 so makes sense its not like that.

Anyway back to the Red Dragon.  He is a beast.  Skill 12 for a start but an absolute monster for instant kills.  If you do not have a the dragon scale shield you are dead.  He will scorch you with his his flame  breath.  If you do not have the spear you better get ready for a long fight.  At least with the spear you only have to win four combat rounds as each hit does 5 damage.

If this was not bad enough though he can start talking to you as well.  In fact he seems very reasonable and if you explain the whole saving the world from death he even helps you by suggesting to drop all your weapons to survive the portal.  Except he is a dirty liar and as soon as you do he has a good chuckle and kills you.  And even if you don't believe him he might still beguile you anyway.

Even when you think he has been beaten he turns into an old man and tells you a long sob story that he also came through the portal and has been cursed in the form of a dragon to protect the portal until someone beat him.  You can now go through he portal and go home together.  Such a nice ending.  Or it would be but he changes back to a Dragon and kills you with his claws.  He is just an all round, grade A dick.  Do not trust this Dragon!

In all seriousness though it is an epic battle with a lot of options.  It has a lot of the Balthus Dire feel about it.

Menagerie -

As you would expect from a book about death there are a lot of Undead themed characters but instead of just your usual ghoul and skeletons, we get some wraiths but also the Envoy and Messenger of death who are not your usual Undead.

The Envoy is a bit of a dandy!

Apart from the Undead the world of Orb is very similar to your standard fantasy affair.  It is very varied but the main problem are humans to be honest.  The Grendel was an interesting one and the switch to dinosaur theme was a bit jarring.  But we did get some interesting others - 

The Roc will have you back to his nest.

And then we have to talk about this guy.  The Vivisect.  10/10 for uniqueness as a couple of scholars are trying out there best human centipede mixed with dolly the sheep effort.

And full credit to Bob for being able to draw this based on the description!

Entertaining Deaths - 

So it is quite hard to stay dead in this book.  The gods keep putting you back into the action.  But I did find a few.

After leaving the Rift at the very start you can run straight at the Orcs that are pursuing you.  You end up tumbling to death over a cliff with the Orc chief.

Or try running towards the Dark Elves who immediately capture you and take you back to the rift.  Both of these do not see the Gods saving you as they are probably thinking this guy is an idiot, if this is the best earth has what's the point!

You can get trapped in a bush by a druid and starve to death after three days.

Losing a dream fight to Hawkana.

My favorite and winner though is just handing the Talisman of Death over to the Envoy of Death.  Sure you want it, yeah why not, I cant be assed with this adventure.

Pete's Corner - 

Run Away from the Orcs

Final Thoughts - 

Well turns out I was wrong about the US cover, its actually pretty accurate!

Talisman feels massive.  Mapping it out took a while.  I had to separate it into different days in Greyguilds.  The world feels lived in and full.  From the moment of the start that drops you in to the action in the Rift to trying to hold onto the Talisman.  It is an interesting switch to start you out with the McGuffin from the start.

The authors are great at ramping up tension.  From escaping to Greyguilds, the Red Dragon encounter, the Heist to the journey to the portal.  It is pretty tense all the time.  And the guys do a great job of giving you multiple ways to deal with situations. Orb as a whole feels more fleshed out, already with a proper pantheon of Gods and multiple locations.

There are two unavoidable skill 12 fights which is is tough for low skill characters.  Both have ways of mitigating the fight with the correct items but I would have have liked for their to have been a non combat option for the Red Dragon battle.

It does feel like they are trying to do a best of Fighting Fantasy -  

• From Warlock we have a mountain with a Dragon.
• Citadel - A long multi faceted boss fight.
• Forest of Doom - We have a small forest location at the start.
• City of Thieves - Well we have a fairly comprehensive city full of thieves and villainy.
• Deathtrap - A mini dungeon in the waterfall with a puzzle that would fit in great.
• Lizard King - A tropical jungle with multiple dinosaurs.

All it needed was the Starship Traveler to drop in and we would have a clean sweep.

 

I cant believe I am going to advocate to remove a T-rex v Triceratops fight but it was a bit jarring.  I would rather used the extra paragraphs to flesh out the heist a bit more or even better do something much more with the Griffin riding as that could have been awesome.  I could do without the tunnel crawl to get the spear as well, have that spear in the city and flesh out more of the journey to the mountain.  Minor complaints though as I was very impressed with the detail the guys went into.

The real issue for me is the resets.  Yes it is much better than Forest of Doom as there is now a logical reason for the setting resetting itself.  But I just found it a pain.  Yes it extends the playthrough but I think it should be limited to once per adventure or something like that.  It reminded me of Doctor Strange defeating Dormammu where he just dies over and over again until the big bad just gives up.

I can imagine Death just being like ok, even I have had enough of that Dragon killing you.  

The ending is a let down.  You appear in some stone circle, to no fan fair as no one on this planet knows what you went through.  Perhaps with a ticking time bomb, have you just doomed the Earth to save Orb.

Minor quibbles though, this book is good and well worth a go.  Orb feels a bit different to other fantasy FF books.  Even though the premise of earth dude fish out of water was lame.  Speaking of which I wonder how Bob the Orb farmer is getting on in Earth?

As he found himself on this strange world, wearing strange clothes he would learn were called a shirt and tie, Bob stepped out into this new world.  Only to be killed by a bus.  

Our God(s) wind back time to give him another crack, he just needs to fill in long enough for the person in Orb to get the Talisman after all.  

Bob eventually makes it to the office where he keeps being told by different people that all these IT problems are a matter of life and death.  He keeps picking the wrong ones to solve, including an embarrassing incident where he though the windows people referred to were the ones in the building.  The God(s) keeps rolling back time but even when he becomes a computer genius his days always end with him being shouted at and time being rolled back.  He longs for his farm in Orb where all he had to deal with was bloodthirsty monsters on his land trying to kill him and his cattle.  Those were easy days.

In the end though he manages to break the repetitive groundhog day and leaves the IT industry to lecture on soil samples and crop rotation at the local college.  Bob grows old on Earth and settles down with a family.  

One day though the portal appears, at least he thinks its a portal, it just kind of looks like an outline of a door.  He enters it and is returned to Orb.  Its not the Orb he remembers though, the desolation is terrible.  A lone figure is crumpled on the floor.  He walks over and turns the body over.  The face changes from child to old man to everything in between.  He knows this is the God,  Time.  

"What happened here?" asks Bob

All Time can mutter over and over again is "They kept running towards the Orcs......"

"Even the Rock?"

"Even the Rock...."

Score - 7 out of 10.