Sword of the Samurai

Background -

It is still early 1986 as we look on a peaceful scene.  An isolated house at the edge of a forest.  Night has just fallen but the warm glow from inside projects a safe and happy environment.  It is quiet, just the natural sounds of nocturnal animals awakening pierce the silence.  It will not last.

Inside two men are sitting watching what is by modern standards a very small TV.  One is waiving an aerial around as the other tells him to stop when the picture is clear, inevitably when the other man is in the most awkward position possible.

Eventually they give up and the other man sits down.  They open a bottle of brandy and have a chat.

Jamie “Wow Mark, who would have thought we could branch off and write our own gamebooks.”

Mark “I told you though didn’t I Jamie?  I mean Talisman of Death was clearly the best Fighting Fantasy Book ever.  But why let Livingston and Puffin take all the cash!?”

Jamie “Yeah Orb is a much better setting as well.  I mean just look at the Way of the Tiger books.  Glad we have all those copies of Overlord in the garage ready for distribution.  I think it is our best one yet!”

Suddenly the pleasant scene is shattered as an object smashes through the window. 

Jamie “What the hell was that?”

Mark pointing to the object “Looks like a brick!”

Jamie runs over to the window but sees nothing in the early evening darkness.

Mark goes to the object.

Mark “Wait, it’s a book?”

He turns it over to reveal Starship Traveler.

Before he can comprehend what he is looking at more windows shatter and before they know it hundreds more books come flying through the window.  All of them Starship Traveler.  It is too much for the two men and it is only inevitable that some of them catch them on the temple.  Before much time has passed, they are lying unconscious on the floor covered in a sea of books.

The door is smashed open.  Philippa walks in accompanied by Ian.

Philippa “Told you we would find a use for those unsold Starship Traveler books.”

Ian “Are you sure about these two?  They used to give me all sorts of grief at White Dwarf.”

Philippa “They have a proven track record.  Talisman of Death did well, and we need to cut the head off this Way of the Tiger nonsense.  Its already got too much traction.

Fast forward a few hours later.  Mark and Jamie awaken tied to chairs in their garage after Philippa throws the remaining brandy over them.

Mark “My god, what do you want?”

Jamie “Honestly, we love fighting fantasy, we are not trying to take over, we just wanted a small bit of the market.  You won’t even notice us!”

Philippa “Oh I know.  But we would like you to come back to us.”

Mark “Oh we would love to, but you see we have just finished out latest Way of the Tiger and we need to concentrate on its launch and distribution.

Jamie looking around the garage “Wait, where are all the books?”

A smiling Ian moves to open the garage door “Oh you mean these?”

As the door to the garage slowly opens a scene of a bonfire of books is revealed lighting up the night sky.

Mark “But why?”

Philippa “Simple, I need you desperate enough to say yes.  And now I have financially crippled you both.”

Mark with a single tear rolling down his eye “Fine.”

Sword of the Samurai sees a return of authors Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson who previously penned Talisman of Death.  I quite enjoyed it so looking forward to this one.  And to be honest they also wrote the Duel Master series of gamebooks which I was obsessed with!  At this time they were well into their own gamebook series, Way of the Tiger, so excited to see if they take anything they have learnt from that series into this book.  In addition, they have established a whole new region of the fighting fantasy world with heavy feudal Japan inspiration (as if the title was not a clue enough) so hoping to get some variety. 

Covers - 

Wow!  As far as I am concerned another iconic Fighting Fantasy cover.  I mean what is not to like here?  A duel blade wielding undead samurai standing on a bridge over a blood red river with skeletons floating down it!  Throw in some creepy floating heads and a volcano in the background and there you have it.  I can't even find anything to make a joke of here.  Superb! 

But yet Wizard still thought fit to redo the cover.  And I might cause some controversy here, but it might be better?  That ended in a question mark as I can not decide myself.  The undead samurai is better, the detail is wonderful and I love his skull trophies.  Its still got the river which is great but I think the background in the original has more going on.  Anyway you look at it though two very good covers!  Some Fighting Fantasy books do not even get one good cover!

Premise - 

We first learn of the land of Hachiman, an isolated area of the Dark Continent of Khul.  Its cut off from other areas by mountains.  From the capital of Konichi rules the Shogun, Kihei Hasekawa.  I am his Kensei or Sword Saint, so pretty much his champion and a master of Bushido and Kenjutsu.

Its not all plain sailing though as old Hasekawa summons me.  His control of Hachiman is slipping and rival lords are looking to declare independence.  Bandits roam the lands and barbarians from beyond Hachiman's borders are starting to invade.  What caused this decline you ask?  Well the Dai-Katana, the sword known as Singing Death has been stolen from the Shogun!

He explains "He who wields Singing Death and uncovers the secret of the sword will rule Hachiman." And he has lost it to the lovely sounding Ikiru the master of shadows who lives in the friendly sounding Onikaru, the Pit of Demons.  Since he got the sword the Bakemono-Sho  and Shikome are flocking to his banner.  Worse he is summoning warrior ghosts from the pit to aid him.  If he learns the power of the sword the land will be no more.

He decides to send me to get the sword back and take out Ikiru.  But is adamant that I need to learn the secret of the sword to succeed.  Of course he knows the secret but is forbidden from telling me or he will damned to the nether regions and the sword will leave the world.

With this he passes me the Shoguns seal to pass safely in lands still loyal to him and sends me on his way.

So lets recap.  The dictator of Hachiman has lost his magic sword that let him control everyone, assuming through fear of the sword, can't even be bothered to get it back himself so sends me to do his dirty work and keep him in power.

Playthrough -

We get the standard set up for Skill, Stamina, Luck and the old 10 provisions in the back pack.  But we also have an Honour score.  You start with 3 honour points and if you are ever reduced to 0 then you have to turn to page 99 where I assume you die.  So you have to play honorable, unlike the questionable Shogun.

We also get to pick a special skill from a choice of four, we have - 

• Kyujutsu - Archery

This allows you to have a Samurai bow!  You get 12 arrows, but it does not stop there as there are four different types!  Willow Leaf which is your standard 2 stamina damage.  The terribly named bowel rakers which cause 3 stamina damage.  Armour piercers which you get special prompts to use and humming bulbs which only cause 1 stamina but make a frightening noise!  

• Iaijutsu - Fast Draw

You basically get a free hit on your opponent causing 3 stamina damage.

• Karumijutsu - Heroic Leaping 

Erm, you can jump far.

• Ni-to-Kenjutsu - Duel blades

You get to fight with a wakizashi which is a short sword.  Kind of like the bad ass cover samurai.  This transpires in game terms that if you roll a 9 or more for your attack you can then make another attack for free straight away.  I think this means a free attack and if their attack score is higher on this free attack they do not hurt you?

Anyway as fun as the archery sounds I want to be a bad ass Samurai using two swords!

Skill - 9

Stamina - 20

Luck - 12

Well I might not be the most skilled Samurai, which begs the question why the Shogun has sent me.  Perhaps because I am the luckiest of the Samurai and he thinks ill fluke it.

Is this me? I doubt it as this guy has a horse!

So off we go and first thing we get is a T-junction choice.  But in good news its not a bland one!  Do we go west through the Forest of Shadows and Hagakure Bridge or east to the ford through the Mizokumo fens?  Well as long term readers will be aware, if in doubt go left!  West it is.

My first few days pass uneventfully as this close to the capital everything is still normal and people recognise me.  However its not long before I see the tell tale signs of a burning village.  I get the option to investigate it or continue my mission.  Well I doubt honour will allow me to leave them so I go to have a look at what's happened.

This guy is wearing the colours of the local lord, but he looks very angry.

Turns out he is really angry looking because his lord, Tsietsin fancies himself as the new Shogun.  He even calls me a Milksop!  How very dare he!

I avoid his charge and its our first battle of this adventure.  He is Skill 8 which is a bit of a worry.  He does hit me once but I get to use my Ni-to-Kenjutsu twice and easily dispatch him.

Once defeated I am told I decapitate him with my katana before his body hits the ground.  Bad Ass!  The rest of Tsietsin's Samurai are running around killing villagers so I run in and issue a challenge.  Luckily they decide to fight honorably (I mean killing helpless villagers is ok I guess) and come at me one at a time.  But there are three of them.

Dude number one hits me once before he goes down.  But Dude 2 is Skill 9!  Starting to feel I will struggle with my current Skill score.  Its an epic fight of draws.  Honestly I think there was at least five draws and multiple times I rolled over 9 but he stopped my bonus attack.  He hits me twice before he goes down.  Luckily the final dude is only skill 7 and I destroy him.  Well almost he gets a lucky hit in.  They are all down but I have lost half my starting stamina.

The rest decide to allow me to live since I am a great warrior and then run away.  I get 1 honour point!  The villagers are quite happy with me and one of them called Ninji presents me with a red silken headband called the headband of Shinmen.  I get 1 more honour point and a luck point.  

However they now drag one of their attackers to me and ask me to rid them of this vile murderer.  The attacker is young but defiant.  Well killing him does not seem very honourable.

What I was not expecting was him becoming a companion!

His name is Moichi and he speaks so much my character is already regretting his decision.  I decide next course of action is to have a word with Lord Tsietsin about killing villagers.

Moichi is not happy with this course of action but the book is as I get another honour point.  My homeboy knows the back entrance and secret password so we go that way and to my shock it actually works and I knock the guard out with a punch to the face.

Oh I think its safe to say Tsietsin is in league with the bad guys!

These gentlemen are know as Shikome and a sure sign the big bad Ikiru is in league with Tsietsin.  We get a couple of options and I decide to dress up in disguise using the knocked out guards armour.  Since get help was not available as a choice.

Its at this point I remember I have provisions and not a lot of stamina so I awkwardly eat some meals in front of Moishi.  The guards buy the story and start taking us to see the boss man.  I get the option to attack them or let them take us to the lord.  I decide to attack now with my thinking being it will be easier than fighting now rather with Tsietsin as well.  

I have to fight two of them while Moishi fights the other one.  I am told if I do not kill them within 9 rounds then turn to another page.  That cant be good.  The first guy takes far too long so I use luck twice (I never use luck in combat) to finish the second guy just in time.  My duel blade was absolutely useless here.

I sit down for another feed.  I do not get the option to give Moishi any.  Its at this point I realise Moishi is full of sarcasm and does not really like me.  As we continue on we bump into Lord Tsietsin and his bodyguards in a random corridor!  As he flees, wearing the hat of the Shogun the cheeky bastard, we each take on a bodyguard.  

Even though he is Skill 9 my duel blading comes back to the fore and I cut the bodyguard down after only getting hit once.  We catch up with the rather fat Lord Tsietsin as he tries to get through a trap door.  He begs for his life but as he does he pulls out a dagger and hits me for 3 stamina!  Myself and Moishi get very annoyed and kill him without even a battle!

The reward for this is 1 honour point, treasure of 100 gold, an arrow I cant use and some ace new armour.  I am told it is far superior to my own and made of a lighter metal!  What amazing in game effect does this have for me you ask?  1 measly luck point.

We leave through the trapdoor and it does not go well.

Well he lasted longer than Mungo.

I am now in a fight with a forty feet centipede called a Mukade.  Its only Skill 7 but a whopping 20 stamina.  It only gets one hit on me though as again my duel blading causes a ton of extra damage.

I stand over poor sarcastic Moichi's body before having a root around.  I find 15 gold and some interesting items that I get the option to try out.  Not before I eat some more food.  First I pick up a war fan, it has a nice symbol on it so it goes into the backpack.  There is also a helmet and some green liquid I could drink.  I know one of them will be bad so I do not risk it and leave.

I make it out of the cave and take the road to the Forest of Shadows.  Its at this point I have to mention the prose is really detailed in this book.  A wingless dragon floats down into the forest and says I may pass if I answer two riddles.  If I do not I get eaten.

First up -

In Marble halls as white as milk,

Lined with a skin as soft as silk,

Within a fountain crystal-clear,

A golden apple doth appear;

No doors are there to this stronghold

Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.

I 100% think this is egg.  So I have to convert the letters of the answers to their number of the alphabet and add together.  So egg would be 5 for e and 7 for each g.  So 19 I think.  

I am spot on but now its riddle number 2.

When one does not know what it is,

Then it is something;

But when one knows what it is,

Then it is nothing.

This is much harder but lucky I have come across it before and it is clever as the answer is riddle.  At least I think it is.

The Tatsu (wingless dragon) confirms this and allows me to pass.  But first gives me a cryptic clue.  "If you should find yourself in the Tourney of the Planes and it comes to pass that you slay the Dai-Oni invoke the Jizo of Demons thus.  A sura is here, O jizo.  Come and execute your purpose."

Well that's more confusing than the riddles, not a clue what's going on there.  Anyway he turns into a jade talisman that gives me 2 more luck.

Once through the forest though we come to a bridge and everything starts to change.  In fact it sounds very much like the cover of the book.

Yep here he comes!

So Skill 9 and I need to reduce him to 5 stamina.  Unfortunately he whips me a lot before I manage this.  What happens when he is reduced to 5 stamina, well he turns invisible and I get -2 skill penalty.  You only have to hit him once but he hits me another 3 times before I get a lucky hit in.  

But its not over.  Now the skeletons in the river drag themselves onto the bridge.  I have to fight a group of three at once.  Lucky their skills of 6 and 7s allow me to survive.  But its another group of 3 and they hurt me badly, very badly.  I have 1 stamina point left and I burn some luck to take them out.  And now its back to the undead dude.  He has three stamina left.  I have 1.  I roll an 8, he only rolls a 3 and I use my luck again to take him out.

What a rough fight.  I take all my remaining provisions and eat them on the bridge.  My reward for this crazy battle?  An Ivory horn.

After that I have reached the mountain.  As I walk up I am confronted by a handsome muscular man like being.  Its Dai-Oni, or greater demon.  He says to progress I must take part in the tourney of the planes.  Now not a lot surprises me anymore, but what happens next most certainly did.

Yep, I am floating in space surrounded by doors!

Dai-Oni's voice then bellows out and informs me I am in the Hub!  I have to recruit a team of creatures to battle him in the aptly named Place of Battle. 

I've got the choice of seven doors to go on this recruitment drive.  No idea where to start so lets try the first door.  The Pinnacle of Ultimate Height.

Are you the same dragon with the riddles?

The name makes sense.  I am on the tallest peak in a land surrounded by tall peaks.  Well it is the same dragon and I have the Jade amulet I am asked for and boom the Tatsu agrees to join me in my fight.  Nice that seems simple enough.  Back to the Hub!

The next door is the Elder Planes, sounds nice.

Urgh maybe not.

I do get the option to run away, fire an arrow which I cant do.  Use a Phoenix ruby, nope not got one of those.  Or blow a horn.  I do have the horn so might as well try it.

Unbelievably it works.  The Tiger must have known the horns original owner.  And just like that the team grows.  Back to the Hub!

The next door is called the Mountain of Ineffable Holiness.  Not sure what to expect.

What in the Mountain of Ineffable Holiness are you?

Its a quick hike to the top of the mountain and I am asked if I have an honour score of 5 or more.  Yes I do kind sir, its sitting at 7.  He decides since my cause is just he will fight for me.  So far this is going fantastic, nice and easy!

Next door is the Endless Sands of Akhon.  To the shock of no one its a big desert.

Its a Phoenix!

I still don't have the Phoenix ruby and this time that's my only option.  Instead he swoops down and burns me for 2 stamina and I get the option to fight him or run.  Well I guess if I wanted him to fight for me getting into a brawl is not the best idea.  I feel I needed the special item to get him.  So I run back to the Hub.

Next door says Swamp of Primordial Mire.  That does not sound like a nice place, ill pass.  The Eternal Tower sounds a lot more fun so lets go there.

Back in a more traditional fantasy setting.

These fine folk are the Golden Company and in a nice touch I think they are wearing outlandish armour.  All they care about is if I have their missing fan.  Why of course I do.  With that they swear to fight for me.  So many questions, how did they lose their fan in another world?  Why do they care about the fan so much?  What were the chances I should happen upon it on my journey and then meet them?

Anyway one more door to try, The Enchanted Wood.  

She is having memory issues.

Hmm so she has no idea who she is.  The book gives me the option to attack her.  Erm no.  I look for some items.  Hmm one of the options is a potion of waters of knowledge.  I suspect that is what I need but I don't have it.  So I blow my horn again.  It does not go well and she runs back to into the woods.  Sorry nice lady.  

Well I have my team so its off to the Place of Battle.  And it turns out its Pokemon!

Got to catch them all!

So Dai-Oni decides to send out his giant toad first.  I have to pick which of my allies to put out first.  Turns out he is a Toad Demon!  I decide a Tiger should beat a toad.  And I am right.  My Tiger (who I call Pikachu) rips him to shreds.  

Dai-Oni is angry and sends out his Mantis Demon, K'rllk.  I send out the Ki-Rin and he gets his head bitten off.  Ah sorry dude.  In desperation I send out the dragon.  It goes a bit better.

Burn baby burn!

Next up he send his giant goat man Gargantus at me.  I am down just to the Golden Company.  Good luck boys.  Now despite him using ruby fire to kill some of the soldiers the rest get some ropes out and topple him over like an At-At in Star Wars.

Just as I think I have won though the Dai-Oni decides he does not want to play fair and attacks me.  I get asked if I have the Ki-Rin, nope a giant mantis lobbed his head off.  So its Skill 10, Stamina 10 fight.  But if I get hit got to roll a dice and can lose stamina, luck or skill.  

Its a tough start but he chips away at my luck rather than anything else.  Which ironically is lucky for me.  Back to back successful duel blade strikes turns the fight rapidly in my favour though and its not long before he is down.  He has to help me before he dies and the options are ask how to slay Ikiru, help in the quest to kill Ikiru or the secret of Singing Death.  Well Shogun was pretty clear that I needed to know that secret.  Pretty sure it also means the sword disappears but ah well I will go for it.

Dai-Oni is not happy and screams Harmony is the secret, but only a pure heart can use it which means Ikiru has not been able to use it.  Its not over yet though as demon comes out of the body of the Dai-Oni to fight me.

Remember that crazy stuff about Jizos and Demons from earlier?

Well apparently this was the place to say the phrase.  Luckily the book told me and I did not have to remember.  The magic Jizo monk dude attacks and takes out the Demon.

And with that we magically shimmer back, straight to Onikaru!

Nice decor, very Pit of Demons. 

Without missing a beat I shout out the word Harmony and like a Jedi with a light sabre singing death races across into my hand as Ikiru screams in anger as light flares up.  Its all very epic.  In even better news I get 2 luck, 4 stamina and an amazing 2 skill bonus.  And the book says it can go over initial values!  Loving this sword.

Ikiru then summons a massive shadow demon and I get asked if my honour value is over 5.  Yep!  With one swipe of singing death the demon is vanquished in a blaze of light.

Now in a panic Ikiru start summoning a horde to stop me.  I can throw the sword into the pit, at Ikiru himself, just walk through them or do nothing and wait.  Man I am so close, this decision terrifies me.  I go for wading through them, I am skill 11 now so I don't mind getting into a fight and I do not want to let go of the sword.  

Phew, the shadows recoil and burn at the touch of the sword.  I make it to his throne.

So he zaps me!

Is your honour over 6?  Why yes, it is still sitting at 7.  Singing Death flares up again and dissipates the blast.  

Its boss fight time,  Ikiru is Skill 12 Stamina 12 so its going to be tough.  I have loads of stamina though.  Special rules here say test my luck every time I hit him.  If he hits me though I have to roll two dice and if its more than my stamina I need to go to another page.  Here we go.

First up I roll a 10, nice two hits.  He rolls a 5 and I score a hit straight away.  Lucks at 10 so I pass the luck test so head over to see what happens.  Well what happens is a lightning bolt shoots out of Singing Death when I hit him, a big thunderclap and he is utterly destroyed.

Then the book says..... turn to 400....

The lair starts to disintegrate and luckily part of the wall collapses and I escape into the daylight.  I am in a camp of Shikome but they are in too much of a panic and I slip away.  I make it home and the Shogun throws a banquet in my honour.  An age of peace and prosperity descend on Hachiman.

Notable Encounters - 

Well it turns out that there is a lot of paths to go down in Tsietsin's castle.  I got through relatively unscathed.  For example I completely missed being caught and spending the night in jail and then trying to break out followed by a frantic dash through the castle.

Turning East would have been interesting, brutal but interesting.  There is a really good encounter when you get to an unassuming village.  It goes from helping a nice old lady by doing repairs to her house to trying to survive a nightmare horror after the sun goes down when everyone turns into floating undead heads trying to eat you.

Trying to cross the river is not a straightforward experience either as you are constantly harassed and attacked by near immortal creatures called Kappa.

But why are you balancing water on your heads, suspicious.

The Spider Fens are an absolute death trap.  Pretty much every direction apart from the true path leads to instant death and downing.  Or death from being eaten by a Kraken. Or death by visiting a spider ladies house.

But if you have a map and make it to the Red Pagoda you get through the fens ok.  Instead you go through a magic mirror into a lovely garden full of statues.  This is also a deathtrap location.  You have to visit each statue in perfect order or its more instant death.

I recommend you start with the super cool Silver Samurai.

Artwork -

Alan Langford returns to do the illustrations this time.  And to be honest I really like what has done here.  In fact I was looking through trying to find some bad examples and I can not actually find any.  Now its not Ian McCaig good but it is really high quality.  From my playthrough my favorites are the Undead Samurai and the dragon killing the mantis.

I would also like to bring to your attention -

An absolute epic fight with a bad ass bronze giant goat dude with laser eyes. 

 

The Demon statue is taken out by the Silver Samurai.

Another statue, this time the lord of flies.

But I think my favorite one is from the Undead Village.  Its super creepy and sums up the encounter so well.

The Big Bad - 

Ikiru isn't that tough, I mean even I managed to beat him!  Only joking.  Ikiru gets a good build up in the introduction and his tendrils are felt throughout the adventure.  For example Lord Tsietsin's defection from the Shogun.  I mean he is an evil demon lord that precedes over a pit of demons.  He is also doing a great job in pulling apart the entire land of Hachiman.  He does have a problem though, he does not have a high enough honour score to use Singing Death.

The actual confrontation is pretty good.  Getting Singing Death flying through the air is epic and I love the stat bonuses.  There is many ways to have this battle.  Slashing through a horde of stamina 1 shadow demons.  Resisting the lure of promised power.  You do not even need to know Singing Deaths secret but it makes the fight a lot harder.  In fact when you do get into combat it can be a near impossible skill 12 fight after you have had skill penalties or it can be fairly easy like I had with basically a one hit kill.  It all depends on how you played the adventure and I like how it ties into that.  Just do not throw the sword away.

Menagerie - 

Despite being fantasy we get a lot of new creatures in this book.  This is because the authors really did their research into Japanese mythology.  It provides a rich menagerie.

The Dai-Oni is like a secondary boss, with his own team of demons.  A demonic frog, mantis and a bronze goat giant.

This is apparently a Groundhog, not to be confused with our groundhogs, that would be quite the mistake.

The Black Elks antlers are so magnificent they do not fit the page.

The Kappa are very unique and very dangerous.  I like the Shikome army being like their version of Orcs.  The Rokuro-Kubi are the best though.  Headless Undead snapping away at you is down right terrifying. 

Still plenty of traditional baddies as well - 

Lord Tsietsin is your typical power mad traitor.  He even looks slimey. 

 

Ginsei is a Ronin and he really does not like you.

And a Spider in the Spider Fens!  Who would have thought it!

Entertaining Deaths - 

Quite a few in this one -

Meeting Lord Tsietsin, with his 60 samurai in attendance.  You do not last long before the cut you to ribbons.

Being eaten by a bunch of undead floating heads.

Falling into a well and drowning while trying to escape aforementioned heads.

Throwing your armour across a river, just for it to be intercepted by a green hand.  Then jumping into the water to try and get it back.  You drown.

Going into a cave during an earthquake for shelter and being buried alive.

Traveling across the Giants causeway, when you are not a giant.  Of course a Kraken pops up and eats you.

Drinking from the waters of knowledge and getting so addicted to it you jump in a drown.  Not very knowledgeable.

Turning up to the place of battles with no friends.

Being so dishonorable you commit ritual suicide.

Winner for this one though is - 

Throwing Singing Death into the Demon Pit, Ikiru dies but without the Sword the Shogun loses control of Hachiman.  You are killed years later campaigning in defence of the Shogun.  

Pete's Corner - 

If you go into the Spider Fens you better know how to swim!

Final Thoughts - 

First off, delighted to have finally actually gone and won a book.  The last one was all the way back at Space Assassin.  Does this mean it is too easy?  No I do not think so, I got really lucky with some of my choices.  Especially going West right at the start!

One thing is I did feel was that it felt like a short adventure.  I think this is true, there are a lot less encounters when I mapped it out.  But this is because there are two unique paths that you can go on to complete the adventure.  Each encounter though has a lot more to it.  For example the castle has a lot of different options, it covers a lot roleplay options.  This gives a huge amount of variety but of course you could easily speed through it so quickly as well.

Let me talk about the worldbuilding.  Mark and Jamie do a great job of creating a unique are of Titan.  Hachiman feels fleshed out with the Shogun as are the people and creature that live there.  People have their own motivations and you get little snippets of lore such as the history of some armour.  Its also such a cool theme, who does not want to be a sword wielding samurai!  Especially when you get your hands on Singing Death.

It is also very well written.  By that I mean paragraphs are not just one liners but very descriptive and paint a really good picture of what's going on.  I mean some paragraphs run the length of the page.  This is not very Fighting Fantasy like but it makes a huge difference.  Its probably the best written one of the teens.

The mechanics of the skills is interesting.  I liked my one of duel wielding as it actually sped up combat and in some instances saved my ass!  Quick draw looks like it would have been fun as some cool options around it out with combat.  The jumping one less so.  There are plenty options to use it but as for a pure cool standpoint it does not stack up.  You are  Samurai so you want to use something related to the sword.  Which brings me to the arrows.  I am glad I didn't use them.  Although its a good concept with multiple different arrows, it just does not feel, well, honourable to me.  Still also adds some replayability by trying out different skill sets.

Some of the set pieces though, I mean wow.  For me the epic encounter with the undead Samurai blew me away.  It was tough and I was left close to death but it just felt like something out of a movie.  I did find the combat fair even with my Skill of 9, but any lower and you will not get far.  However as I said earlier I was lucky with my choices.  The east path is much more difficult, even a high skill score is highly likely to fall to instant death.

I mentioned in the artwork section how much I liked the art here.  What a difference that makes.  I always felt it was special when you got to a page with a picture and it does not disappoint here.  Alan even managed to make the crazy Hub look good!

Speaking of the hub I loved the idea of putting a team together and dueling in the arena.  It is difficult to know which monster would best match up with the other though.  And the one pagers to recruit them also felt a bit of a wasted opportunity.  Maybe not use quite so many paragraphs on getting across the river (there is a lot) and expand on the recruitment moments and even learn a bit about your enemies.  

Just a minor gripe though.  Overall I really enjoyed this one.  Maybe because I got all the way but even when I was mapping it out I thought this was good.  Only thing stopping it being great is maybe some of the areas have too much options which could have been used to extend it a bit but I understand Mark and Jamie were trying to make an RPG and they certainly did.  But it does mean that you only get to the artwork in one particular way so you can miss it.  For example I bumped into Tsietsin and his body guards I did not get the illustration as I arrived from another direction.  Same thing can happen with the Kappa.  I think this is a little bit of a waste.  As I said though, minor issue, this is a great book.

Epilogue 

Our hero arrives back in the Shoguns court with the Sword Singing Death.  He hands it back to the Shogun.

Shogun "Ah my champion, I chose well!"

Me "So how exactly do you control the people with a sword called Singing Death?"

Shogun "Well I kill all who dissent against our great nation.  A quick beheading and everyone falls into line."

Me "Hmm ok, Harmony!"

With that Singing Death flies into my hand and I decapitate the Shogun in one flowing move.

Me "I declare we will live free without Tyranny!" 

Retainer "But who will lead us?"

Me "We will have free democratic elections, Ill stay on in the meantime to make sure everything goes smooth."

Fast forward two years.

Retainer "So about those elections...."

His head rolls off his shoulders as Singing Death lashes out.

Me "No longer require, I am in charge and everything is going swimmingly."

And so the cycle repeats, until an unknown adventurer appears to free the land of Hachiman from its dictator and destroy the Singing Death.

  

 Score - 8 out of 10.