Seas of Blood

Background -

Well dear readers we have finally come to it.  Seas of Blood marks book number 16 in the series and I have overtaken Murrays marvelous Turn to 400 - http://turnto400.blogspot.com

The main reason I started doing this was Murrays blog.  But now he has left me high and dry as I have to (perish the thought) do something original.  Its a terrifying thought but here we go, together!  Now lets take one tentative step into this brave new world!

So Seas of Blood, back to back Andrew Chapman adventures.  Id like to think the folks at Puffin were doing a lot of quality control but I also fear that with the runaway success they saw it as a license to print money and they would take any manuscript.  So if anyone had done what Mr Chapman had done and sent in a manuscript for a gamebook it was going to get printed.  Rings of Kether though was a pleasant surprise so hopefully Seas will be good.  Ive never played it before but delighted to be returning to the fantasy setting.

What I do know though is that it is a Pirate Adventure!  That's a great theme for a gamebook, there better be a kraken!  I decided to warm up for this by playing some Black Flag to get in the mood.  Unfortunately I got far to into it and now many weeks later I got 100% sync.  How dare they make a fun game, don't they know I am trying to write a blog here!

Should have played Seas of Blood on the Spectrum instead!

Covers - 

Well this one was was never republished so we only have one cover!  One Cover!!!  Makes witty comedic observations a lot harder!  Lets have a look then.  Well first thing is I can confirm the sea is in fact blood coloured!  I mean minimum requirement and all that.  

I really like the monster which I assume is some type water hydra?  Fighting Fantasy loves a hydra.  But I swear there better be a kraken!  

Interestingly the ship appears to be a more Jason and the Argonauts themed Trireme type ship.  I had in my head more traditional golden age of pirates type ship complete with canons.    

Premise - 

My hometown is the city of Tak and we are told that it is the greatest den of thieves, criminals and cut-throats the civilized world  has ever seen.  Really?  Worse than Port Blacksand!?  Tak is affectionately know to its residents as the City of Scum.  I guess thats name would have been a lot less kid friendly title.  

The top two pirates are myself and Abdul the Butcher!  What the wrestler?

Andrew Chapman must have been a wrestling fan!

Anyway even though we are the recognized best pirates we are both pretty poor as we suffer from debilitating betting addictions.  When the fun stops, stop!

As we are both gambling (again) someone suggests a contest to determine the one true king of the pirates!  We will both go raiding and meet up in fifty days on the island of Nippur and whomever has the most booty will be the winner!  We both agree and set off on an adventure!

Playthrough - 

So being an Andrew Chapman book we have a few extra rules, although not as many as his space adventures which is a shame as I like his mechanics.  But your characteristics are the usual skill, stamina and luck however we also get the stats for your crew.  Crew Strike and Crew Strength which basically mean skill and stamina for your guys when it comes to big pitched battles.

The only other section that's added is for booty which is your track of treasure you have acquired.  There is not a section for it but the book tells me to track the passing of time in a log book.  

No provisions this time but in a twist for every day that passes you regain one point of stamina.  So I have to sleep for 4 nights to get the equivalent health restore of a cheese sandwich.

What I do really like is the map we get at the start, I feel it will be important to plan which direction to head off in depending how much time is left.

The Dead City and Rivers of the Dead are no where near each other!

Skill - 7

Stamina - 19

Luck - 11

Crew Strike - 9

Crew Strength - 19

Oh boy, Skill 7.  Well to be fair I am sixteen books in and its my first dreaded skill 7.  I feel my pirate is clearly a charlatan and has been blagging his way through the pirate life but now Abdul has called my bluff.  Might be a short adventure as the crew are not wonderful either.

I start with 20 gold pieces and I just throw it into the booty counter.  I contemplate just sailing straight to Nippur with a grand total of 20 and being happy to be alive.

So we set sail in the Banshee, which is a great name for a pirate boat!  I would like to wait and see which way Abdul goes but no I have to make my choice first.  I could go towards the big city of Lagash for a dangerous raid on shipping.  High risk, high reward.  Hmm not with my skill score we wont be.  We could patrol the inland sea around the mountainous isle of Enraki.  Or you can do what I did and head off to the Scythera Desert to plunder some of the rich western caravans.  My thinking being there seems to be more named places on that side of the map.

It takes us five days to sail to the desert.  Dropping anchor me and the crew head into the desert and find a busy little village by the oasis.  We can either attack straight away or hide in the dunes for caravans.  Its at this point I realise that this time I am 100% the bad guy.  It was debatable in the early books but no doubt this time.  Well lets pile into the village!

Its at this point I am told their is a military outpost nearby and the mercenaries pile out to defend the village.  Great scouting guys!  I really am a terrible pirate.  I can only assume I normally do my pirate activities somewhere else. 

The crew take a bit of a battering as we are nocked down to 13 before disposing of the mercs.  Just as well there was not more of them.  We take one prisoner to sell as a slave.  Wait what?  Yep apparently we are also slavers.  Not very comfortable with this.

We hang around waiting for a caravan to come in and these boys turn up -

I have no idea what that is they are riding.  But I love it!

As we pop out to attack the Lizardmen shoot at us and I lose another 2 crew strength.  Luckily though once we close the range they are no match for the crew.  The haul is disappointing though with only 63 gold found (I have no idea what's a good total but the book tells me its disappointing) and take another slave in the shape of a Lizardman.  Another day is added to the total but the crew get drunk and enjoy themselves.

With the crew down to 11 I decide to head to the neutral city of Assur to recruit more bodies.  Despite being down on crew they row hard and we make it in 5 days and our journey is free of any issues.  I find someone selling ex slaves at 10 gold a pop.  I decide for the sake of lasting as long as possible to pay 80 to get the team back up to full strength.  We now have a grand total of 3 gold.  The slaver does however give me a tip about a shrine up river so I decide to go and check it out.

It takes three days to find shrine and when we do its covered in skeletons in tortured poses so the crew refuse to go any closer.  Quite sensible but I have to maintain my façade as a fearsome pirate so I venture inside.

Even this bird cleric is a better fighter than me.

This Awkmute is not happy and shakes his staff at me.  When he hits me I have to roll a dice to see if I lose stamina, skill or luck.  Oh no.

Amazingly I do kill him with some amazing skill rolls.  He does take a chunk of health and some luck off me.  Thankfully I avoid losing any skill points which would have been a death sentence.  I get to take his staff as a weapon now and in any combat going forward if I hit I roll 1d6 and on a 1 or 2 I get to deduct a skill point from my opponent instead.  

I ignore the option to climb up the chimney as it sounds too much like a bad idea and wander down a dark corridor instead.  Two acolytes attack me, kindly one at a time.  Luckily I trip up and accidently hit the first guy with my new staff which is just as well as these priests are still the same level of me in the art of combat.  I trade with the first one and I am down to 7 stamina when he goes down.  Acolyte two however ends the fight with a Skill of 1!  

Luckily this is just a statue.

So this is the big idol and I get a horrible choice.  Its tongue is a big ruby.  I could stick my hand in and get it or try and carry the whole thing out for the crew to take back to the ship.  I feel that a statue of one of the Lords of Decay might be a tad hard to fence but I also do not want to put my had in its gob.  Nope not putting my hand in there.

I take the statue back with minimal effort to the city and sell it for 105 gold!  Then its back to the Banshee.  I decide to sail south east in search of merchants as I feel ship to ship fighting is my best bet until I can recover some stamina.

All we find is driftwood and some barrels.   Some good grog in the barrels though and I can restore 2 crew strength, which is about the only thing I don't need as its at max.  With that I decide to go back to the west coast.

I've now burned 23 days into this challenge and only have 108 gold.  At least all this sailing has restored a heap of stamina.  

We make landfall at Kirkuk and go into the town and demand tribute of 200 gold.  The headman takes me to the treasury.  At least that's where I thought he was going.

Ah the treasury, can you fine gentleman help take the gold back to my ship?

Yeah turns out he led me to the barracks.  A fight ensues with the crew take a few hits but send the soldiers running.  Its at this point we notice the elite Winged Hussars getting ready to engage us and the only options are run back to the ship or try and hide in the forest.  Well I feel it would be a wasted trip heading back to the ship now so we leg it into the woods.  The cavalry can not follow and we wait three days for the Kish soldiers to leave the town and head back home.  

And it turns out they were also raiding the town and had stripped it of all wealth.  All we pick up on this trip is seven slaves.  

I am not sure its a good idea to head to Kish going by how we just fought the army so we sail to the Shoals of Trysta.  

We arrive just a major storm is brewing which I lose two days avoiding.  When the storm clears though a battleship is bearing down on me.

The Kishian's really do not like me, can't say I blame them!

I try and avoid the ship but my terrible skill score means I crash the ship and have to fight them anyway.  They are Strike 10 which is only 1 more and Strength 8.  I am Strike 9 and have a Strength currently of 15 so I expect to take some heavy damage but I only have to hit them four times.  

I hit them once.  Its an absolute massacre and my crew are wiped out to a man.  At least the good guys won this time and hopefully the slaves are freed.  I wonder how long Abdul waits for me before giving up?  I hope he also sinks and some other random declares himself King of the Pirates!

Notable Encounters - 

Well that was a pretty early death, not a shock with the stats.  But it did mean I missed out on a lot!  However when looking through them all I discovered that all the locations are mini adventures (some very mini).  So I present to you the travelers guide to the lands of the Inland Sea!

Lagash - 

We were never able to land in Lagash, too much warships!

Enraki - 

I nice location dominated by a monastery.  The priests and Abbot are very friendly if you are nice enough.  Just do not fall in the pit or you will have to pick the right door to get out.  If you do not fancy the monastery there is a lovely mountain to climb up but be very careful as the local wildlife do a lot of screaming and snowball throwing.

Nice place to go, unless of course you are a raiding pirate!

Rivers of the Dead - 

Do not be put off by the name of this place.  It is home to some very friendly Giants who may even join your crew.  Just do not get in a wrestling match with them, they do not know there own strength!  For travelers who like their history you can explore the ancient catacombs and see a legit sarcophagus.  Please though do not touch the antiques.

Big fans of sport these boys.

The Inland Sea - 

Nothing really to see here other than some merchant ships.  Just do not come on an even day as the Hydra is about!

Shoals of Trysta -

10/10 for hospitality from the local King who will make sure to look after you and if you are honest with him will shower you with gifts.  1/10 for weather as it is known for its storms.

Welcome to Trysta!  You didn't eat any of the cows did you?

Scythera Desert - 

Its full of sand.  

Assur - 

A great place to go to find more crew if you are a pirate.  Most famous though for its evil temple.  Worth a visit if you like strange creatures such as Awkmute's, Giant Leach's or ghosts.  Do not put your hand in the idols mouth.

Calah - 

The Vegas of the Inland Sea!  Come here and enjoy fighting Ogres and such in Punch out.  Or roll some dice.  Or everyone's favorite the Bataar racing!  Watch as your favorite Bataar gets to bite the goblin first!

Eastern Rim -

Known for its wrecks this a great place to come for people who love diving.  Plenty friendly Sea Sprites around to help you but be wary of the Krell.  And please do not swim into the Giant Clams.

Kirkuk - 

Would be nice at other times of the year but currently being ransacked by Kishian soldiers.

Kish -

We never got to visit the city but the countryside was nice.  Just be careful if you go into the forest as its full of Bark Biters.

Uncharted Island - 

Its only a bloody great big sea monster!

Oops!

Roc - 

Imaginatively named after the giant bird that makes its home here.  Avoid unless you want to be bird food.

Channel of Goth - 

An absolute war zone.  Avoid at all costs.  The chances of making it out of here are very, very slim.

Shurrupak - 

If you have any slaves you would like to sell, Shurrupak is the place for you.

The Dead City - 

Never reached it as its blocked by a giant chain.

Three Sisters - 

A lovely little Island chain.  Neat Island is home to some wonderful people who will welcome you with open arms and even have a feast to celebrate.  Highly recommend!  As long as you have no other plans as unfortunately they then have to kill you for looking at their sacred Island.  The Palm Island is a favorite of Pirates to bury their treasure.  While the third island is the volcanic island.  Its more to be avoided as its full of creatures either on the beach or in the jungle.  One is know only as the Horror, should tell you all you need to know.

Welcome to the Jungle!  We've got fun and games!

Kazallu - 

Home to a lovely lady who couldn't be more helpful.   She does a fantastic soup!  There are an alarming number of animals around though....

What a wonderful place, say where is Jim, he was right where that parrot is...

Iceberg - 

Great to look at wrecked ships but local wildlife can be a problem.

Nippur - 

Quite a dark place.  Would only recommend for Cyclops aficionados.

Artwork - 

Bob Harvey is back behind the pens in his second Fighting Fantasy outing after Talisman of Death.  I would say even though its not up there with my favorite it is definitely above average.  I did not see much during my playthrough but the ones I did were all good and I especially enjoy the interpretation of the caravan creatures.  The Giants as well I found really good.  Others I liked are - 

Oh god!  Mungo Flashbacks!

One Warship took me down, so glad I did not run into this lot!

Do not touch the antiques! 

As always though there are some I am not sure about -

The Bark Biter is a bit of mess for me.

This is an important scene but I find it a bit bland.  Also a Gargoyle with no wings!?

  

Its erm an iceberg. Glad we did an illustration for this one.

Also just wanted to highlight this one, showing that Bob was thinking same as me for pirates - 

Look at that!  A proper pirate boat!  And Pirates burying treasure.

The Big Bad - 

Well technically its Abdul, as it is him that you are in direct competition with.  But as you just meet up at the very end its not much of a big bad.  So instead I will talk about the fight with the Cyclops at the end of the adventure in Nippur.

He has terrible depth perception.  But glasses are half price.

Ok getting the negative out of the way first.  This comes out of nowhere when you reach the final destination.  Instead of just checking the treasure with Abdul, for some strange reason you have to meet him up a mountain.  Which you can only go up if you beat this guy.  But Abdul is already at the top, did he also fight the Cyclops?  And if so how long ago, had the poor Cyclops recovered?  It makes no sense.

But now to the good.  This is not a normal fight.  You are told of his stamina and if you reduce him to zero go to a certain page.  Instead of Skill rolls you instead need to pick between three ways to attack.  This will either hurt you or him, or both.  Then you get another three choices.  These are all varied such as Flying kick to the chest, Jump up and down on his back, elbow in the ribs etc.  I particular like the various options that involve kicking or upper cutting the groin.  You can fight dirty if you want.  This is a great way to build an epic fight and the best bit is it does not matter if you have a low skill, you have a great chance even with Skill 7.

Menagerie - 

For the first time I will divide this into two sections.  In the first we have normal standard encounters.  Lots of humans as expected but there are some new unique encounters such as the Awkmute in my playthrough.  But with additions like an Acid Ball, Elverines, Shades and even an invisible guy.

But this time we also have mass combat, you and the crew can tumble en mass.  Unfortunately most are against various soldiers or humans.  But they also help against Lizardmen and a Goblin Horde.  What made more sense though was when they would help against big monsters like the Roc or Giant Crayfish.  I liked this idea but feel could have done a bit more with it.

The Hydra is a lot less menacing than the front cover.  And you have to be really unlucky to bump into him.

The imaginatively named Ice Beast that lives on the Iceberg 

The Roc is just a giant vulture.

The Ogre Champion is all about who can hit the other person first.

But I do have a major gripe.  There are two encounters.  The Horror (skill 12) which has a bit of an interesting description but no illustration.  That would have been one that would have been great to have an illustration.  What is even worse though is the Sith Orb.  There is bugger all description on what this is and what it looks like.  You are just expected to know.  That would be ok if there was an illustration but there was not!  I am forced to imagine it was Darth Vader.

Entertaining Deaths - 

Oh boy there is a mountain of ways to die in daft circumstances here.  Easily the most I have seen so far.

Getting pelted by giant snowballs.

Having a Skeleton grab your hand and never let go, you eventually starve to death.

Agreeing to wrestle a Giant.

Eating the Kings Cattle.  

Losing the Banshee in a game of dice (back to those gambling problems).

Being eaten by a Giant Clam when you swim into it thinking it was part of a cave.

The crew mutiny when you make them go up a cliff.

Having a parasite burrow into you.  It then uses your body to incubate its eggs.

Opening a random door which just so happens to have a Basilisk sitting in the room.

Getting blown all the way back to Tak when your stupid crew open one of the bag of winds thinking its full of treasure.

But the winner for this book is - Eating some soup and turning into a Parrot.

Pete's Corner - 

Just leave the Unicorn Skull where it is.

Final Thoughts - 

Ok straight up, this was not as fun as I thought it would be.  When I saw the map I got really excited but in reality this is a very disjointed adventure.  It really does not have a flow about it and I never really felt I was in it.  Two reasons for this.  One, each location seems to be its own separate adventure and there are a lot of locations.  Which means there are all very, very short and not fleshed out at all.  I would have preferred less locations in order to get more from each one.  Two, the writing.  Its not descriptive enough a lot of the time so its hard to feel you are in the world.  

Lets talk about being the bad guy.  I like the idea a lot as in a lot of other books we have joked about secretly being the bad guy.  This is quite clear.  This is not the Pirates of the Caribbean loveable rouge pirates.  You have to be a dick and steal a lot of peoples gold.  Taking slaves though and selling them off for profit is very uncomfortable though, I do not think it needed to have that element in it.  

What I do like about it, and Andrew Chapman in particular, is his different rules and mechanics.  Crew fighting this time is one of his more basic ones but I did enjoy the feel of having mass battles and not being on my own.  Just a shame I did not feel that attached to them.  Would have been nice to at least have a named quartermaster or cook.

But the highlight of the entire book is the Cyclops fight.  I really like how it was done and is up there with the Balthus Dire battle.  Its just a shame its not a climatic battle with Abdul instead.  But as far as game book mechanics are concerned its top notch.

And speaking of Abdul, I do not feel we got enough mention of him and what his crew are up to.  We get the occasional snippet but if you look back at Deathtrap Dungeon your opponents activates are very evident and affect you.  

Speaking of which considering you claim to be one of the best pirates of the Inland Sea I do not seem to have any idea about any of the locations.  I think you should have at least be given some information to allow you to decide where to go.  I mean you have the map which is great but lets flesh that out a bit. 

It felt to me it was more something out of a Ray Harryhausen type movie.  I mentioned Jason and the Argonauts earlier but it was more like Sinbad with these kind of adventures, especially the Roc and the Cyclops.  Now those are some of my favorite movies but I think a trick was missed here for a more traditional pirate adventure.

Again though an Andrew Chapman book has a poor ending.  Its a few lines to say you declare you are the victor, the greatest rascal and sacker of cities.  Rascal!?  You are a slaver, I don't think rascal quite covers it.

Abdul is not impressed.

Not aimed at this one but Fighting Fantasy in general.  I know I only got skill 7 this time but it really does effect enjoyment of the book.  I really feel that stats for your character should be fixed at the start rather than rolling up.  You can still roll dice in the combats and tests which give you the roleplaying aspect but its impossible for authors to balance the book fairly for skill 7 and skill 12 characters.  

Summing up though I think this one was a great idea, some good mechanics but overall I can not help feel a bit disappointed.  Especially after enjoying Rings of Kether so much.  But you can tell Sci Fi is where Andrew Chapman has the passion.

And no bloody Kraken!

Here is a Kraken!  From my own card game Fantasy Clash.

Score - 5 out of 10.