It is a dark night outside Games Workshop HQ. The moon is covered by thick clouds. In this near darkness a faint shape can just be made out moving to a window in the building. The shape slowly resolves into a humanoid figure, clothed head to toe in black. The face is masked by a balaclava. The figure reaches a window and attempts to open it. After taking many, many failed attempts to open the window, the figure grabs a rock and muttering under its breath throws it through the window. Using his fist, the shape clears the remaining glass and pulls itself through the broken window.
Inside the dark corridors of GW HQ the figure makes its way down the halls, knowing exactly where to go. Heading ever deeper and down towards the basement, finding a closed door with light coming out from below it. With a deep breath the figure turns the handle and enters.
The room is filled with desks full of paper. At each desk sits a tired looking nerd at a typewriter. As one they look round and the figure in alarm. The figure pulls off the balaclava.
Ian "Don't worry guys, its me."
Nerd 1 "Ian! What are you even doing here?"
Ian "I need your help guys."
Nerd 2 "What could we possibly do for you? You are not on the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay team?"
Ian "Guys, I need another gamebook. This is what you guys do! You write because you love it, you love playing games! Look at this place, you have been relegated to a forgotten corner! All Bryan cares about is miniatures and selling them." I need creative ideas!"
Nerd 3 "We would love to help Ian, but the deadlines for WFRP are insane. We would have to do it in our spare time, and we have precious little of that."
Ian "You were my last hope guys."
Ian turns to leave, dejected. But then from the back corner, someone stands up.
Graeme Davis "Ill do it!"
Ian turns round slowly, a smile on his face.
Released in November 1987, Midnight Rogue is Graeme Davis one and only Fighting Fantasy novel. I know of Graeme from all his great work on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Also I had this book when I was younger, actually owned it. And I really, really loved it back then. So I am quite nervous to play it now. Will it be rose tinted glassed? Well only one way to find out!
Covers -
I believe this is a first (at least with the original run) where you actually see yourself in the cover! I do look like a shady vagabond. This is of course well before you can create your own character in modern videogames so the hooded figure works quite well.
The gargoyles look a tad lecherous here, they love a shiny stone a bit too much.
Speaking of the stone, looks very red here. But in the book the stone is very clearly described as being yellow. Is this intentional or a miss communication?
This one sees a more romantic twist as our dashing hero sweeps the leading lady up. I wonder if the ship is the one we got the black pearl from in City of Thieves?
Wait, something is not right here...oh my, lets just say this is a different kind of "fantasy"!
Premise -
Its actually quite a short build up, less than two full pages. But to be fair it does not really need any more. We start in the meeting room of the Thieves Guild of Port Blacksand. It is full to the brim as everyone wants to see the Test of Apprentices. Rannik, the master of the guild, asks if anyone knows any reason I should not be tested. Kind of like the awful pause when they ask at weddings if anyone knows why they should not be wed. In a bit of a boring twist, nobody says anything so Rannik sets out the test.
A week ago, the merchant Brass came into possession of the jewel known as the eye of the basilisk. He will have stashed it somewhere in or near the city. His symbol is the coin. Dusk has just fallen outside, you have until dawn to find it.
Wow you do not get much to go on do you Rannik? I guess that is the point of this test. He wishes me luck, as do everybody else and I go and check my equipment.
I leave by one of the many hidden entrances to the guild and away we go!
Playthrough -
Well first off, in the inside cover we get a map of the city!
I love a map! And a city map!
Skill, Stamina and Luck are all back as normal. Also a welcome return is the 10 provisions that restore 4 stamina points each!
I get a very specific list of what I start my adventure with -
Shortsword A leather jerkin and leggings A backpack A hand lamp made of a small pot of fat and a string wick A torch A tinder box (lots of stuff to light the way here) 5 gold pieces 10 provisions
And a magic potion supplied by the guild. The usual choice of skill/stamina/luck restorer. I will decide after I roll up. But we all know I am taking the stamina.
Now things get a bit interesting. As a thief you have to move quietly, so you may only carry 6 items at once. I am told provisions count as one space. So does that mean 10 provisions take up the same space as 1? Well might be easier to handle mechanically I guess. My potion counts as a second space. However my gold, sword and incredibly tight leather jerkin and leggings do not count.
So what about the lamp, torch and tinder box? They are not mentioned, I would normally put them in a backpack but I am going to say no as they have not been called out specifically.
We do have a new mechanic here, special skills. We have a list to pick from and we can take any three skills -
A warning from the author as well not to pretend you have them when you do not. Obviously ignored by thousands of players. Now which ones to pick. From memory some are absolutely vital where others are a bit of a waste. Can I remember them..... nope. I think Pick Lock might be one, lets take that. We are bound to require some climbing, and finally I go for Spot Hidden, as I assume the jewel is well hidden, along with traps. Lets roll.
Skill - 10
Stamina - 21
Luck - 7
Hmm not bad, but I feel a thief needs a dose of luck. And I do have 10 provisions. Ok 29 books in, I am taking the potion of fortune. Right, lets go and grab that jewel.
Everyone wishes me good luck, including the boy with no nose on the right.
We can head to three different places at the start. We can head to the Merchant Guild to see if we can find Brass's office. Or we could try and find his house near the field gate. And the final option is the Noose, a dodgy area around the thieves guild, great for gossip.
I head to the noose, see what rumors we can find first. And mainly because I remember if I do not go there first its game over.
In the Noose I can head to the Rat and Ferret tavern, find Madam Starr the clairvoyant or speak to some beggars. Well beggars are part of the thieves guild and they see everything so lets start there.
The name is brutal, Bargo the Wheeler....
Bargo lost his legs fighting in a war and now is reduced to begging and pulling himself around on his trolley. He greets me, knowing I am on my test. He does not tell me much I do not know already, where his house is and where to find his office. I toss him a coin.
Giving him the coin he tells me to wait and gives me a rope and grapple. This gives me access to the climb ability, which I already have so it has no effect.... Bugger. Ill take it anyway, do not want to seem rude.
I decide to head over to the rat and ferret. I order a mug of ale and now I am down to 3 coins only a few paragraphs in. I go up to the barman to ask for information, but he needs coin and I feel I should save what I have instead, so I head over to the guys playing pin finger in the corner.
So its basically the game where you stab a knife quickly between your fingers. Straight skill test, if I win I get 10 gold, If I lose I have to give them 5. Erm I only have 3. You know what, lets take the risk. If I lose, I will just give them all my money and pretend I get beaten up. Luckily I roll an 8 and pass the test.
I head back to the barman, Bald Morri, with my wealth and offer him some coin. Depending on how much I offer him, you then roll a die and have to get less or even to get the good result. I decide to gamble a bit and offer him 4, and then roll a one haha.
He tells me Brass has his coin symbol on everything, including his house on the corner of Short Street and Field Street, just by the the Field Gate. He writes a secret sign in my ale, which of course I cant read, as I took climb and then immediately found a grappling hook. Which funnily enough I do not get the option of using on the ale. So he scrubs it out embarrassed.
There is nothing left to in the Tavern so it is time to head out. Lets see what Madame Starr has to say. Walking along I find her shack. The place is loaded with dodgy folks, as you would expect in Port Blacksand, but everyone leaves me alone as they know its my big test. A very different experience to my last jaunt. Hope I do not get a tattoo of a unicorn on my head.
She needs two gold to read my fortune so might as well. She does the whole mystic meg thing with the crystal ball. She tells me the thing I seek is hidden in a dark place, a place of death. I must look in a place of sleep and a place of work. Take a note of the paragraph, hmm 289 it is. Well that is everything we can do in the Noose, lets head elsewhere.
I have a lot of info on Brass's house so lets try the merchant quarter first to find his office. The Merchant Quarter is deserted, since its night and I stick to the shadows, keen to avoid the city guard. I catch a hint of movement in a clump of trees in the centre. Do I want to investigate?
I start to have a look but then get asked if I have the sneak skill. Which of course I do not, so I decide to back out. The Guild has one door with a guard next to it so I decide to scope out the perimeter first. Doing this I find an alleyway with a drain pipe and a door. Ah ha finally I can put my climb or grappling hook to use!
You do not need climb or a grappling hook as the drain pipe is an easy climb..... sigh
And at the top one of these boys comes to life.
Skill 9 and Stamina 10 so does not seem so bad. Except of course I get a whopping -3 on my attack roll for hanging off a drainpipe. Unsurprisingly I lose the first round of combat and have to make a skill test to hang on, which I do. Its time to thing of another way to beat this guy. Do you have any of these items? Well I have the Grappling hook? Worth a go. I pass another skill test and manage to tangle the Gargoyle with it and send it crashing down. I loose the grapple but hey I already have the climb skill. With that I dash into an open skylight.
Inside I get the message I can make a spot hidden check. Well seems daft not to. And right enough, rolling back the carpet I find a lever connected to a hidden panel. Now it is a choice of two doors. One with a coin and one with a fish. I really want to have a nosey at the fish but we have been very much pushed at the coin so lets play it safe.
The door is unsurprisingly locked, but guess what, I have pick lock as that is the bread and butter of the thief! I make it inside and its a very nice office with moonlight coming through the window. There is a nice desk, and an iron door. Hmm. Think ill check the desk first.
A deed of purchase!
It is a trove of a find! I get a key with the letter L, 10 coins, a deed of purchase showing brass recently bought barrow hill and a letter from a wizard Brabantius saying the modifications to the barrow hill property had been refitted per instruction. Also make a note of this paragraph, ok that's 90.
I really should move on now, but that door is very tempting for a thief. Lets have a little look. Ok first you need pick lock, check. But still you need a skill test, but with a plus 2 modifier. Ok.
A 4 and 2, excellent. The door opens and I am in a strongroom, do I have spot hidden? Why yes I do. This means I feel something is wrong, this is a fake strongroom designed to catch out thieves so I leave immediately.
Time to head over to Brass's house I feel. On the way though -
Its the rich part of the city the guards are out in force.
Do you have the hide skill, oh dear. The Guards easily find me hiding in an alley. I can try and escape through a door, bribe them, make a run for it or attack.
I decide to try the door and have to make a luck test, snake eyes! So I get in and lock the door behind me. Before they get in I am well on my way out the other side.
I reach the corner of field and short street and I am presented with two houses. Funnily enough one has the coin image and this will be the one I will try.
It is a nice two story house with a locked front door which needs pick lock to get in or a drain pipe to go up. I feel I should use my skill but going through the front door seems a bit ambitious. Lets climb the pipe.
Its a test luck skill, which is upsetting as I have the climb skill. I decide this is a good time to drink my potion of fortune to get up to luck 8. Its another snake eyes. I feel I just wasted that potion.
Peeping Tom!
I get a good layout of the first floor. The landing has two doors on the left, one on the right and another at the end. I can peer through two windows. One on the left is a kids bedroom with dolls, the one on the right has two adults sleeping in a large bed. I shimmy back down and I am told due to the bars in the windows the only way through is to pick the front door lock. Which I do.
Inside is a nice marble townhouse. There is a suit of armour by the stairs which you can investigate, a door to the servants quarters, or head up the stairs. Well the armour can't be relevant and the help are not going to have what I need so upstairs I go.
Up on the balcony there is the door I saw at the end, I can go there or head into the hallway. Well its time to start looking so lets try this door first. Do you have pick lock? Well yes, I was told it was the only way in here so of course I have it?
I appear to be outside?!
Now I am in a nice office. Once again I can search a desk and also just a general search. Or leg it out of the window. Desk seems to make sense. But I only find a silver knife worth 5 gold. Lets have a bigger search of the room. I find an excellent bottle of brandy, which I can have 3 sips which restores 2 stamina each. A silver frame painting (worth two gold). And a safe.
Hello!
It has two locks, and I only have one key, marked L. So I put that key in anyway. It turns and if I have pick lock I can indeed use it to open up the second lock. Well of course I have Pick Lock, its the only way I got in the house and this room!
I find more notes about barrow hill and a penciled note saying E.O.B, take a note of the paragraph 335. I think I am doing well here, but I am having too much fun to leave now. I wander down the hall and decide to listen at one of the doors. I hear nothing and go in. Its the kids bedroom. As I go in the floorboard squeaks. Feeling like a 1980s tv presenter paedo I decide to leave straight away.
Well I have been everywhere and I am told that I should know where to go. We get a lot of fun options like Lord Azzur's palace. But its clearly Barrow Hill. But where is that. Well I need to take three clues from each location. Take the first number of the clue from the house, then the clue from the office and then the clue from the Noose. Well I make that 392.
And right enough. I slip out of the city and head toward the barrow. There I find an abandoned great house. Abandoned apparently because the family that owned it were dogged by bad luck. Do I want to go into the house or into the barrow? No I do not want to go into the bad luck house. All the clues point to the barrow so lets stay on point.
Its all very spooky sounding, but there is no entrance. Unless you have spot hidden which I do! Using that I find....a secret sign, which I can not read. So I head back to the garden.
Looks like there is the remnants of a garden. I get the option to head to a statue or the house. Well I do not like the sound of having to go into the scary house. Lets check out the statue.
The garden has seen better days. Brass maybe bought it as a fixer upper.
There is an inscription on the statue of the archer. Which apparently I just need to read. Do I want to wade over or make the jump. Water in Fighting Fantasy is never good so I am going to attempt a jump. Which is of course is a skill test. Third snake eyes! What is going on with these dice.
I reach the plinth and it says -
My enemy's a heart of stone,
My arrow never flies,
Yet when my arrow heads for home,
The gate of death yawns wide.
The statue swivels so I can point the arrow at the barrow, the house or a standing stone right next to the barrow. Hmm a standing stone seems oddly specific, is that the heart of stone? Will give it a bash.
The grassy mound collapses revealing a doorway, time to head into the dark.
A mound, with a hole.
My Spot Hidden comes in handy as I find a trap under a flagstone. Following the narrow tunnel I disturb some sharp tooth bats. Do I have a silver whistle? Erm no. Can I make an attempt at a whistle?
Apparently nope.
Been a while since I had a fight. They are only skill 5 but I am hampered so its -2 to my attack score. Well despite sill having a three advantage I get hit a lot. Down to 13 stamina. I am a great thief but a terrible fighter. I decide to drink all the brandy in one go. Not tipsy at all.
I reach a dead end with a giant stone slab. Again though Spot Hidden comes in handy! I find a gap for a hidden catch, reach in with hand or dagger though. Well I am not putting my hand in, so I try the dagger. Which of course does not fit. Are you sure you want to put your hand in? No not really. I might come back to this option but its offering me to look around so I take that.
At this point my guy realises the big slab is designed to get my attention and hide the real solution. Which turns out to be a small tunnel.
Ah of course its a burial mound.
Do I want to stay in the alcove or go at them. Well I may be drunk on brandy but ill stay in the alcove and hopefully fight them 1 on 1. This is exactly what happens, gain 1 luck point for being sensible.
Skill 6 and 5 so should be ok here. Skeleton one hits me a few times as I am rubbish at fighting. So I have my first meal of the evening. Hopefully soaking up some of the brandy. As I am trying to eat though the Skeleton Lord gets up. Skill 8 and if he hits me he gets +1 attack strength in the next round.
He is only 6 stamina though. And finally I learn how to fight (food soaking up the brandy, less drunk) and take him down without a hit. Not only that but I get his sword with its +1 attack strength if I win. I also found a bronze helmet and put it on for an extra skill point, but I am at initial level. I pop it on anyway to look the part.
Shame I can not find my way out. Do you have secret signs? Nope. Spot Hidden, Yes I do. I find a crack and push it to reveal some hidden stairs. At the bottom there is a guard Ogre sleeping. Do you have sneak? Ah Crap.
I kick a pebble and he starts to wake up. I can hide if I have the hide skill but I do not have that either. Skill 8 Stamina 10 it is. The magic sword is ace though and he is dispatched without a worry.
He was guarding an iron door. It has a lock and their is a key in a box being protected by a bright coloured scorpion. I do not have pick pocket so I decide to try and pick the lock. I have to do a skill test which I pass.
The door swings open and I am greeted by the worst sight in Fighting Fantasy. A blind T-Junction. Lets go left.
I find an old store room and get hit by a flying chair for 1 stamina point. I pass a luck test and realise a poltergeist is attacking me. It tries to hit me as I go through the room but it misses each time. However when I get there my spot hidden reveals a problem. A hidden portcullis. I decide to turn tail and go the other way. The pesky poltergeist misses all the way back again.
I come to a hole, but I do have climb! I keep going down the tunnel and find an unlocked door. The room beyond has a magic darkness with a slithering sound. With no sneak skill I have to fight an unseen monster. Its only Skill 5 but I lose 2 for my attack strength as I am blind. He hits me once but the magic sword does the business. I have some more food.
I find a door in the dark, and pick lock gets me through again. In the next tunnel there is a very bright liquid that I can use to light the room I have just been in. Well the monster is already dead so I think I will crack on.
After some time I come to another cavern, lit by a torch. Imagine my surprise when my shadow detaches and tries to attack me. I can run away from it, put out the torch, try and avoid casting a shadow or disrupt it. Disrupt sounds the first thing to try. I do not fancy plunging into darkness again. And I can not run from my own shadow!
I use my torch to counter the light cast by the cavern torch and keep the shadow at bay. Spot Hidden is back, and I see holes in the walls so I crawl under them and avoid the darts firing out Indiana Jones style.
Next I find a dead thief, he had written something in his blood but I do not have secret signs so can not read it.
A blue head like missile flies past and I throw myself out of the way. It sinks into the dead thief's corpse and it starts to animate. Stay and fight or leg it?
I've got my fancy sword so I fight. The animated corpse is only Skill 5. Another snake eyes means it does get one hit in but I am still in good nick. However it turns out it is a Possessor Spirit. Do you have a magic weapon? Yes, yes I have this awesome magic sword.
Wow it is skill 10 stamina 10. Toughest fight so far. And I lose a luck point every time I get hit. I get hit a few times but the magic sword does the work and it is dispatched. Before doing anything else I eat 2 meals to get over the trauma. The brandy is now a distant memory.
I search the thief's body and turn up 5 gold, a hook with a wire and a broken potion that I can drink but have to drink it now. I decide it is too much of a risk. Following the trail of blood I find a room with a Dwarf locked in a cage! He says he can help me find the Eye of the Basilisk. Erm, no I am ok thanks, this is clearly a trap. What with the dead thief's blood leading here and all.
This is turning into Deathtrap Dungeon! The next room has lots of holes and when a rat moves rock grubs come flying out and devour it. And I do not have the sneak skill. So I get nibbled at for four points of stamina. I nibble on a sandwich to nullify it.
Next a random door, I decide to listen and it turns out to be a wood golem, who is also resistant to magic so my swords ability does not work. Does not matter though as he is dispatched. The room beyond is full of gems. Yeah right that is a trap if ever I have seen one. Stay on point, we are after the eye and this whole dungeon is a test of your abilities. Including not getting distracted.
More tunnels and I come to a giant cave with no visible exit. And a giant spider drops on my head. He is skill 7 but if he wins a round you have to turn to another paragraph. Which of course happens. And it costs me 1 skill point after a stamina check. Oh dear.
I win the next round though and the magic sword plus 1 keeps me ahead until I put it down. The only option is to head up with my Climb skill. I find the spiders web and multiple bodies in cocoons which is quite grim. Do I want to investigate? Not a chance keep going!
I find a tunnel and its full of a yellow mould. Luckily I have Spot Hidden and I spot a body covered in the mould. I find a brass handle but how to open it without disturbing the killing mould. I decide to hold my breath and make a run for it. I pass a skill test and roll through all the spores into the next room.
I end up in a maze of tunnels, do I have a map? Oh god no I do not. So its a luck test, and luck is down to 6 after the fight with the Possessor. 5 and 1, wow that was close. When you see the 5 come up first the heart sinks.
At last! An illustration!
As soon as I approach the chest one of the crystal warriors lurches into action. Skill 10, Stamina 13. Oh wow things are getting serious. We exchange hits and after my first hit I get sent to another page. Am I using a stone hammer? No I have a cool magic sword. Ah that is a problem. Only blunt weapons work so for the rest of the combat I have to use the pummel of my sword which costs me two on my attack strength. Unsurprisingly I get my ass handed to me. I get it down to stamina 5 but its all over, I am killed trying to kill something with the pommel of my sword. If the guild were watching this then I am embarrassed.
Notable Encounters -
Well turns out I was very near the end and it can be quite a linear book so I saw quite a lot of the encounters in the playthrough.
He is as good as being a guard as he looks.
If you go towards the main entrance for the Guild of Merchants you come across the guard. You can just go up and kick his ass. Just do it quickly enough before the rest of the guards appear and arrest you. Much more fun though is sneaking up behind him as he sleeps and karate chopping him on the back of the head and knocking him out.
Just do not try the front door, its very trapped.
When you do get inside though it has the best trap ever.
A Jib Jib!!!
So a little compartment in the wall opens up and out pops this little guy. He is very weak but you have to one shot kill him. Otherwise he makes an insane amount of noise, acting like an alarm. You can only imagine the guards coming up the stairs as you can not hear anything over the noise it makes. Awesome!
My favorite area though has to be Brass's house. This is where you feel like a proper thief, sneaking around a populated house at night. Love it.
Don't mind me, this is all a dream.
Careful with this guy, the book tries to tease you into taking him out quickly. But he is only sleepwalking so will ignore you. Unless of course you stab him with your sword and he will scream and wake up the entire house.
This is more terrifying than most monsters!
Yeah make too much noise in the kids bedroom leads to her waking up and screaming. Just look at that 80s haircut!
Artwork -
Our artist here is John Sibbick. He whom also did Crypt of the Sorcerer. I feel it falls foul of coming off the heels of Phantoms which was awesome. This is fine to be fair. Its not the best but its also not nearly as bad as others we have seen.
From my playthrough my favorite is Bargo the beggar. It is really dark and fits the tone perfectly. Quite a lot of the art though is to set up what you see, such as the safe. This can lead to things being a little bit boring. At least compared to the other scenes that they could have had.
I love the ones from Brass's house though, they are excellent.
When you accidently wake up the whole house.
Falling is a theme.
Still falling.
Not falling, but getting bitten.
Or stung, who would be a thief?
It is hard not to pick the Jib Jib as my favorite, but I really like the two guards you bump into on patrol as well. Looking back at these now though I think I like them better than I originally felt.
Apart from this, this is terrible.
Big Bad -
Looks at this terrifying monster!
So this book really does not have a big bad, so I decided to go with the merchant Brass, whos Jewel you have to steal from his dangerous dungeon. So a little bit of context, the Eye of the Basilisk turns out to be a fake, it was all just a test. This leads to the question of what on earth is Brass playing at? It is not mentioned in the book but in the roleplay book, Blacksand, it is revealed he works with the thieves guild to help them test initiates. This makes sense, but should be explained as part of this book. Maybe he could come out at the end with everyone else.
Two queries from me. 1) He puts his kids in some serious danger. His sleepwalking son can get stabbed and how does he know your not going to kill him and his family? 2) Is that an Orc he is bed with?
Menagerie -
So a lot of the Port Blacksand enemies are human. Guards, thugs, footpads etc. The usual of what you would expect. The second half of the dungeon lets you have the excuse for more exotic encounters, such as the crystal warriors, giant spider, ogre, wood golem and a shape changer.
I don't suppose you fine gentleman will let me past?
A lot of people sleeping in this place, probably because its past midnight.
The Chest monster is a good trap.
Also the Scitalis is a snake type creature. But it appears as a pile of treasure to lure you in. I imagine it is well fed.
Entertaining Deaths -
Failing to defeat the Skill 6 guard at the Merchants Guild in 3 rounds. The City Watch turn up and throw you in jail.
When asked if you have a magic weapon to fight the gargoyle. The book says that's impossible and you are cheating.
A Gargoyle catches you and takes it up to its nest to make a meal of you. I have to ask, why do creatures of stone need to eat?
Just leaving after getting to the Basilisk door. The passage even says you can go back to the door or just end your adventure here.
Getting your foot stuck in a spiders web and trying to escape by setting the web on fire, it burns and you fall to your death.
My favorite though is - Nicodemus turns you into a newt and throws you into the river.
Pete's Corner -
I murdered a Jib Jib!
Final Thoughts -
So it turns out the stone axe I needed I could have picked up if I was paying attention when defeating the Skeleton King. But I was far too distracted by picking up the magic sword at the same time. Odd to have two weapon pick ups at the same time.
The question is did I enjoy this or was my memory just that, rose tinted nostalgia? Well, mainly yes. This is a book of two halves. The first half in Port Blacksand I would give 10 out of 10. I loved this part. There is just something about creeping around the streets of the city at night as a bad guy that I really enjoyed. It is such a change from the norm. Being the bad guy, but you do not feel like a bad guy. As I said earlier, Brass's house is one of my favorite things in Fighting Fantasy. Yep, the feel, the writing and the story, just superb.
Part two though, I am a bit less of a fan. I am ok with the creepy house and garden, but when you get into the dungeon it loses a bit of momentum. It is very linear, which helped my mapping! But it felt like a bit of a poor knock off deathtrap dungeon. Also why is a thief being tested by fighting giant spiders and shadows? I guess maybe they might have to steal from a spooky temple so ill give it a pass.
Mechanically the big difference are the skills. You can pick up extra skills along the way. Sometimes by going the wrong way which is a bit odd. This adds a bit of replay ability. I would like to go back and see what I missed by not having secret signs. However pick locks felt like it was essential, while the rest were nice to do things differently. There was normally a way past it with a skill or luck test so I did not feel I was stuck without a skill. I really liked the thematically addition of the skills, only thing I would change would be lock picking being a bit less essential. Although spot hidden did save me multiple times, and I do not recall many pick lock encounters. Yeah great idea, needs a little bit more balancing.
You should be prompted to use correct weapon. Not just are you using this weapon? No I am not using the torch as I have a magic sword, but ill change now. Just a bit jarring.
The menagerie and big bad are quite light. But that is ok, if anything the second half forces it a bit. The story does not call for anything more. Combat feels very manageable and fair, which is good as it should. This is not a book about combat, you are a thief, the whole point is to avoid fights and steal the goods.
Does this make the book too easy? Well I had the advantage that I remembered a fair bit of it so it is hard to say. For me I like that it was not brutally difficult, I enjoyed that. Common sense gets you a long way. My only issue is that some items, like the black cloak and the map are items you get for making the wrong decision.
The art grew on me, I would have liked different scenes though. And some of the art is only accessible after a decision is made. My example would be the scorpion puzzle. I would have liked that to be where it is described. Instead it appears after you have successfully got the key using pick pocket. Or the Jib Jib, that should be at the combat, not if you miss it and it starts shouting. I blame the editing for that though.
Loved the premise Graeme Davis came up with. I would have loved to have seen more from him but alas it was not to be. This book is worth playing just for the first half alone. My score is going to look a bit high but that is because of what it means to me. I played this so much when I was a kid so it has sentimental value that can not be easily measured. You will have your own ones as well that have those memories, and for me that is important. It is why blogs such as this exist. Yes its the nostalgia factor but nostalgia is why we are here.
Plus that first half is bloody good!
I say it was all just a test, lets go back to the rat and ferret for a drink!
A small English country pub in the rural countryside, a twenty minute drive from the industrial metropolis of Puffin HQ. Ian sits in a quiet corner, the only patron there nursing a pint. So many thoughts were swimming around his head, chief among them about where the next Fighting Fantasy book was coming from. The Autumn sun had long fallen away into a cold night when Ian left the pub. He had only had one drink despite the length of his stay. As he walked down the path towards the car park a sudden flash lit up the night to his right. With the afterglow still in his sight, he saw wisps of smoke rising from the location of where the flash had been.
There he finds a curled up naked humanoid form.
Ian "Hello, are you ok?"
The smoking body slowly stood up in front of him.
Ian "Robin?! Is that you?"
The likeness of the R.O.B.I.N AI was uncanny.
Ian "Robin, what are you doing outside of HQ?"
The R.O.B.I.N looked coldly at him.
R.O.B.I.N "I need your clothes, your keys and your Ford Sierra."
Ian "Robin, what are you talking about?"
R.O.B.I.N "I need your clothes, your keys and your Ford Sierra."
Ian "Robin, I am not giving you my clothes, and there is no chance in hell you are getting the Sierra."
R.O.B.I.N "I have come from your far future, I am the R.O.B.I.N 2000. I have travelled through time for the sole purpose of writing the perfect Fighting Fantasy book."
Ian "What on earth are you talking about?"
R.O.B.I.N "For that to happen, we have concluded, that you must be eliminated, then the bizarre item hunts will never become a thing."
With that the R.O.B.I.N's eyes turn blood red and starts menacingly approaching. Ian legs it.
Fast forward through an amazing adventure to Ian in an industrial warehouse and the R.O.B.I.N 2000 is sinking into a pit of molten slag. Just before it disappears it holds up a book. Its arm and the book are now the only thing above the lava like substance. Ian swoops in and grabs the book before it catches fire. He looks at the book title, Phantoms of Fear. Worth a shot he thinks as a disheveled Ian heads back to Puffin HQ.
So Phantoms of Fear came out in October 1987 and is the third book by Robin Waterfield. His previous ones were Rebel Planet, which started strongly but petered out, and Masks of Mayhem. Masks I thought had a good story but had broken mechanics. I remember getting Phantoms from the library when I was a kid. I can see it clear as day sitting there on the shelf. What I can not remember is anything about the adventure itself. Interestingly I think this is the first name repeat with fear being used with Appointment with Fear. Lets see how this goes.
Covers -
Oh my. I am not sure what I can possibly say about this cover. Well I like the font for the title.
It looks like some kind of snot demon. Everything is coming out of its nose. A host of red dragon and demon bogeys. Most of it would be fine if they were not coming out of the nose! This does not make you want to pick up the book and gives absolutely zero indication of what it is going to be about. I wonder if this is an encounter.
Terrible.
So in the interest of using my new toy, and that coincidently in my FF Universe, Robin is an AI, lets see what AI could do for the cover.
Well not bad I guess, hard to get a good snot demon.
Premise -
I am a Wood Elf from the forest of Affen in North East Khul. My father was a great warrior and my mum was a Shaman. I have inherited both their talents but its at pains to tell me I am not as good as either of them. So I clearly have parent issues. But as they have died I am now the Defender Shaman of the tribe. Probably as even though I am not the best, there must be a lack of suitable options in Affen.
I wake up from a dream, I am a bit part shaman so dreams are kind of my thing. My dream is of our village and everyone is working away like a normal day. There is a shock as a voice booms out and everyone looks. However the twist is that it is my own voice I hear.
I tell the crowd that I must leave as the Demon Prince Ishtra is gathering a force of damned, chaotic and evil creatures. Unsurprisingly to take over the world, starting with the wood elves. They would normally be all over the place but the boy Ishtra holds them in his sway by magic. I have to go now and fight him while his army is still small, before it is too late.
Waking up again, I realise it is a very important dream, as the Gods use dreams to communicate but never before by using my own voice. So they must be serious. Alas I have no idea how to beat Ishtra but the Gods wouldn't put me on an impossible quest (but many FF authors would). How do I find out more information? Back to sleep!
Playthrough -
Right, we have the normal Skill, Stamina, Luck of course but we get a new stat called Power. This is used for spells and dreaming. The deities communicate through dreams, they tell you what to do, although open to interpretation, and allows you to refresh and restore. I can control my dreams in something called active dreaming. This basically means you can control your dreams. I used to be able to do that, as a kid I would realise I was dreaming and then fly down to the shops and eat sweets. I might not have that option here though.
My training though allows me to exert my will to manipulate and be effective in that world. Thus by dreaming you encounter situations which parallel in a bizarre fashion the everyday world. I have no idea how this will play out.
Interestingly power can go above its initial roll!
We also have spells. I am told I am not a great magician, just like I am not a great warrior or shaman.... but I do know some spells. It costs 1 power to cast a spell, and I can only cast in the real world. The spells I know are -
Protect - Cast a spell of invisibility (but be careful, enemies inside the spell will still see you)
Illusion - Make something appear as something else (within reason, no molehills into mountains)
Weaken - Reduce foe stamina by 4
Levitation - Float for 4 meters
Finding - Show up a hidden passage, treasure or a hidden enemy
Fire - Use as a weapon, barrier or even just to light a fire
No picking here though which I like, I just need to see if its worth using the power.
We get absolutely zero provisions, apparently I am confident ill find food in the forest. When I do they will get four stamina back. No doubt I am a bang average forager.
Potions are back, pick one of skill, strength or fortune. Ill very likely go for stamina to make the blog last longer, but we shall see after I roll up.
And finally, I have a sword with a name! Telessa. Alas Telessa may have a name but it appears to be a bog standard sword with no special abilities at all. Which makes naming it a bit odd.
Skill - 11
Stamina - 21
Luck - 7
Power - 14
Pretty good rolls to be honest apart from luck. I might take the potion of fortune but with no provisions I will stick with the potion of strength. Lets see how we get on, probably average, just like I am.
Straight back into a dream...of erm I am not sure what. But it does look wild, in a good way!
Back in the dream world, I am wandering through the forest, and it is very vibrant. I see the energy of the world called Maella. Now I just finished playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth so the Lifestream is what comes to mind with this.
I do not recognise this part of the forest but we get a bit of history that it used to be part of a massive forest, called the one forest, when it was all the continents were one land mass. Ah plate tectonics in Fighting Fantasy!
The trees are pushing me along a path until I come to a fork in the road. I am aware that the path behind me represents my previous life and the split represents a choice. Except I have no idea where to go.
Because its a dream a statue appears in the middle of the crossing. A human goddess (odd would have expected an elf) with her arms crossed over. Slowly they start to unfold and a small black dog jumps out and runs back the way I came. I decide to ignore it. Ok. Very random. Just like a real dream I guess (last night I dreamt I had to clean mold from a room).
The statue is now smiling and the paths are very different. One is vibrant and light and fills me with good feelings. The second is dark and twisted with a sense of foreboding. The statue is now holding in both hands, replicas of my sword. It smiles and vanishes and the swords thud into the ground. Its time to pick.
Now in real life I am 100% going down the light path, 10 out of 10 times. However I suspect I need to go down the bad path to understand what is wrong with the forest. At least its only a dream I guess.
The trees are described quite foul, and they flick burning sap at me. As I get closer to a pit though the smell gets worse and I feel very strongly this is wrong. I feel myself tossing and turning in bed and get the option to wake up or keep going. Lets press on.
Is my Power 14 or more? Just!
I press on, finding it hard to breathe. As I enter the Pit everything goes dark and a voice starts laughing. Punny Elf, you seek to test yourself against me, I look forward to our meeting if you get that far. Then I am surrounded everywhere by thick bushes. Do I want to cast a Fire spell? Erm no, you specifically said magic is only for real world and I am still dreaming.
Yeah so I just walk through the bushes, as its my dream and I am in control. Time to wake up.
So my mission is to find the entrance to the pit and battle Ishtra. I call the council of elders and they try and put me off as it is an impossible task. Wood Elves rarely travel more than half a day from home. But I insist because I dreamt it, and I am fed up of everyone comparing me to my parents. Lake Nekros is to the East, so I have to go North, South, or West. Hmm not much description of a choice there. Everything else has been really descriptive so far.
South is such a rare choice in FF that I decide to give it a bash.
South was a poor choice.
A Fog Demon rolls in, -2 to my skill and it is skill 8 so not a great start. Only stamina 6 though and I manage to defeat it without getting hit. I find that I do not seem to be getting any nearer to the Pit so do I want to continue or change direction to West or North West? West is left so lets try that.
The change of direction leads to a change in the forest. Animals are acting odd, gathering food when its not the season. Of course this makes me an even bigger fool for not taking any provisions. So better start looking.
I have to roll to see if I bump into a creature and I get a Moose. Yep I am in a fight with A moose. Luckily he is only Skill 6 but he does have 12 stamina so I kill him very very slowly. Roll two dice to see how many provisions you get. Wow that could be anything between 2 and 12. So 8 points to 48 points of stamina recovery. That seems, unfair. I roll an average 6.
Continuing on, I get told of an encounter that happened off screen. Hornets attack me and I used a Fire Spell at the cost of 1 power to get rid of them. I then walk straight into a trap. A net falls down and I am trapped. A Pixie runs out and throws some dust on me and I fall unconscious.
Bloody Pixies, keep dunking me into a pool.
Apparently these guys work for the Riddling Reaver, who even though does not want the Demon Prince to win, does not want to make things easy for me either. I have to find the number in the riddle.
There was a young Wood Elf from Khul,
Trussed up in the net like a fool.
The wee Pixies ryhme
Can save precious time...
Or else you'll be dunked in the pool!
Clue is there is a number in the words. Maybe capitals, TWEKTTPCO, nope thought I had it there and was going to be twenty something. Why are those two lines indented? Not seeing anything there. Reading through the words to see if there is any numbers hidden between words. Oh god is this how my adventure ends.
Some time time goes by.....
Hmmm there is 32 words, does that work? It won't be that.
It was that.
The net disintegrates and the Pixies begrudgingly congratulate me and offer me an item from the Reaver. I get to choose one of -
A Pouch of Medicinal Herbs
A Twelve Branched Stags Antler hollowed out and carved into a horn
A Net like the one I was stuck in
A Pair of Boars Tusks
The Horn is far too specific to leave behind so I go for one of them.
All that dunking in the pool has cost me one provision. Bloody Pixies.
Finally leaving these guys behind and straight into another encounter.
Meet the Arctolyc, a half bear and half wolf.
These beasts have vicious jaws and highly prized fur. Skill 9, Stamina 16, he is a tough dude. However in a stunning roll of many dice, I do not take any damage at all!
Moving on and it is getting later in the day and I just so happen to find some caves, do I want to explore them. Well with no damage so far, lets have a gander.
The first cave is empty but it also has bones, I decide to give it a try anyway. I make a cover for the cave that should alert me of any nocturnal visitors. My dream that night sees me in the centre of a ring formed by six bottomless pools. Two pools are filled with liquid fire which change colour and shapes. Two pools are filled with water, reflecting a dark star studded night sky. The last two seem to be wind related, like the breath of the world. Not sure what any of this means but I get an increase of 2 power.
In the light of the next day I find a small tunnel I could squeeze through at the back of the cave. I would have to crawl through and I do not fancy that at all so head back outside.
At the top of the hill I see the forest spread out. The rotting part is a lot bigger than first feared, kilometers wide. Which is interesting that Wood Elves use the metric system.
Now I am no Forest Ranger but even I can tell the Forest might not be quite right.
My observations are interrupted by birds being disturbed, do I want to flee or see what large creature has disturbed them. Lets hang around.
Its a sorcerous wind of course. I pass a luck test and apparently I was breathing out when the wind hits me. How very lucky.
Coming down from the hill I find a nice glade with a brook in it. The last bastion holding back the evil. Do I want to drink from the pool, bathe in it or avoid it. Well I am full stamina so I decide it is not worth the risk. Instead I carry on but the trees keep pulling their fruit out of reach so I can not replenish my provisions. How very rude of them, trying to save there bloody forest here!
I make the big step into the corrupted forest, and I am immediately told that my magic will not work here. Only Ishtra's magic works. Hmm I have cast a grand total of zero spells. The corruption was circular so I need to make my way inwards. First choice is trees or clearing. Well the trees are bad here so lets try the clearing.
Turns out the clearing is home to a Slime Monster. Skill 7 though so not that worried. Dispatched with no issue.
Further in I find a trail, no doubt from a horrible monster. Do you follow the trail or continue through the trackless trees. Hmm that is a tough choice, lets follow the track. It leads to a fenced off garden of holly bushes. I doubt this is good in this place so avoiding.
I find some boulder to kip down for the night. I do like how I check none are boulder beasts, great nod back to previous book deaths. Alas my sleeping place is also the home of a Komodo Lizard. Skill 6 so I do not fancy its chances. Still not been even hit yet, this is a new record.
Off to Dreamland again we go. The forest is being constricted by a giant snake. Its mouth appears to be the entrance to Ishtra's Pit. I get the option to allow myself to be swallowed into the Pit or not. I feel like I need to find out more about this place so lets go in and see.
I speed through into the pit and come to a grotesque creature which sounds a bit like our cover star. It is Morpheus, Ishtra's lieutenant and source of all bad dreams. Do I want to attack him? Well it is tempting but taking on someone who is king of the nightmares on his own turf is probably a terrible idea.
Turns out that is the right theory and I get 1 point of power for it before waking up. We get some really good description of how bad the forest is getting as I get closer to the Pit, or Ishtra's mouth as my character has dubbed it.
In the middle of all this grossness there is a lone deer, a breath of fresh air. Do I want to go and say hi? No, No I do not. Reeks of a trap.
As I rest next to a rotten tree I reflect on how bad things are. The two headed weasel, the heaving ground, all paint a very bleak picture. The tree unsurprisingly tries to eat me so its time to go. However I hear raven calls, which are people signaling to each other. I have been surrounded but do not know by who. Do I have a companion? God dammit I missed a companion!
Its Dark Elves, 6 of them. Now I have not lost any stamina but 6 sounds a lot for one person so I make a break for it. I now have to fight them but only one at a time. If the combat lasts 4 rounds though another one shows up and gets free hits on me. They are relatively weak though so this is very doable.
Then the very first one rolls double 6 and hits me haha. All in all I get hit quite a few times but only once by the free hit rule. I decide to eat a provision to get the stamina back up to 18. 2 luck points are my reward. But in good news, I get a Dark Elf disguise.
I finally arrive at the entrance to Ishtra's lair. Its actually flanked by ivory pillars and lit by torches. Sounds quite nice and my character realises the dreams were not literal. I disturb some bats and head in.
Now things get a bit complicated. Here the real world and dream world overlap so I can pick which world to move in. If I am in the dreamworld my physical body moves with me through that world. Although it is invisible, not immaterial. You can not pick items up in the dream world and you can get disorientated moving between worlds.
If a real world paragraph is marked by * I can subtract 20 from the paragraph number to flip to the dream world. Dream worlds with a # can add 50 to go back to the real world. Lets have some fun.
A Crio-Sphinx. Known for his goaty head and cryptic lies.
Sphinxy says the left route goes further and the right leads to sudden death. But he is a Sphinx, so there is something to it. Need to think about this.
Hmm wait, will it be the Sphinx's right, not my right? So I should go my right? Well only one way to find out. It seems to be the correct choice. I am in a cave watching patrols of Orcs. There are some large bones in the middle. Do I wait longer or investigate. Lets have a look, if I wait about too long I might get spotted by a patrol.
Turns out they are bones from the heroes of Great War of Khul, I get 1 luck point which I do not need.
Next I get the option to take the North Tunnel or the West Tunnel. Ah lets have some fun and jump into the dream world to see how that goes. Well everything turns into a countryside and the tunnels are replaced by a river. And as well as West and North I can now go East and North East. So lets take one of the new opened up options. East it is.
And my dream world already comes to a crashing halt as my body walks into some pygmy orcs. Breaking one guys nose in the process....
I fail to beat him in three rounds so the other guy recovers and I have to fight him as well. Once dispatched I hear the noise of a patrol coming down the tunnel. And now I am back to the bone cave with my original choices so I head West.
I find an underground river, it seems noxious and there is rope I can use to climb across. Or I can wait for a bit. Or how about jumping back to the dream world? Ill try the rope.
I have to roll a dice and I roll a 1. That can't be good. I lose 1 stamina with my hand going into the water. Now its a skill role which I pass.
So, it turns out the rope is used by a ferry to pull along and cross the water. In good news when it appears it just a single ferryman. Bad news, he is an Ogre and instantly can tell I am up to no good with the whole climbing on the ferry rope thing and attacks.
Honestly Sir I was in a rush and could not wait.
If he rolls a double 6 I get knocked into the water automatically. But that does not happen. Considering I have an advantage of 3 on skill we have a lot of draws. I defeat him though and take the boat to the opposite side.
In a dank tunnel I can go North or West, but lets try the dream world. This does not seem to be the best choice as I feel overwhelming dread. I am advised I will need high power. Well its currently at 16 so lets try.
Turns out it is a mirror image of myself. I have to fight it. But in the dream world its reducing power instead. We have identical power scores. I must roll 2 dice. 2-7 and it reduces my power by 2. Roll 8-12 and I reduce its power by 2. Oh my, that gives the advantage to the mirror image.
And as you would expect with the odds weighted against me I do not get close (it still has 6 power left) and the text tells me I have killed myself.
Notable Encounters -
I love an early encounter where your poor (some may say arrogant) assumption you will be able to forage food leads you to having a fight with a bunch of squirrels as you try and steal their food stores. What a terrible Wood Elf you are.
The Stags are great as long as you do not desecrate the bones, like a good Wood Elf.
A companion! Guess what, he dies. I know what a shock.
The imaginatively named Eric Rune Axe, is actually not a well man. Most of the options revolve around killing him. But if you really persevere he will join you for a few pages before his inevitable death. I do like how his decent to madness is explained by what's happening to the forest. But my favorite bit, and the reason to keep him alive, he is an ex adventurer who got lost in the Maze of Zargor so quit. Yes Eric my good man, we have all been there! I feel your pain.
A scene from many School Dinners.
I love the cook encounter. Mainly because she is raging the Dark Elf raiding party have not shown up with her meat. A nice little nod to the previous events of the boot. And her assistant made a mistake and is now in the pot.
These are all real world encounters of course. If I look at the dreams, wow where do I start?
Some of the dreams you have -
Yaztromo in Allansia tells you how important your quest is, and that you are going in the wrong direction.
You see the start of the Trial of Champions book.
There is a dream of what I think is our planet with cities and cars, described as metal beasts with captured humans.
The dream world in
the dungeon though is off the wall crazy. Just like real dreams the transitions make no sense. Ride Giant sandworms, get swept up in tidal waves, Fly on a dragon, Cowboys and Indians and of course this -
The Trial of Ghosts....
This is the single most insane puzzle ever in FF. First roll a dice and the number is your starting point. From there you have to use five squares to get to the middle. You can go horizontal, vertical and diagonal. Then add up the total of all the squares and go to that page. If it makes no sense you die. The chances of randomly picking the correct path must be so remote! Absolutely no clues whatsoever either. Madness.
Artwork -
Here we have Ian Miller, who has done covers before but his first internal art. And wow, I absolutely love it. It gives me a real early Warhammer chaos feeling. This is right up my street, possibly the best I have seen since Deathtrap and Iain McCaig. I have never before spoken about the little separator art but even that is really good.
All the art from my playthrough was great. A lot of these scans are not great either, they look so much better in my book.
The Tree Devil is one of my favorites, look how chaotic he looks.
Riding on the back of a dream dragon while everything below is burning.
The crowd in your dream turn into the Trial of Ghosts.
These are how all Orcs should look.
But my favorite is the Chaotic Orc, absolutely amazing!
I have to really dig in here to find one I do not really like.
This is an odd very specific puzzle, but the cave part looks very odd.
Big Bad -
Ishtra, half Crocodile, half Goat, all Demon.
A Demon Prince that does what all good Demon Princes do, threaten all existence. Ishtra's influence is felt heavily throughout the book as it is at pains to tell you the effect it is having on the forest as it degrades. Even when dreaming it likes to remind you that closer to his lair the more disturbing effects it has on you.
In game the final confrontation has a little bit of preamble and words but nothing more than haha punny elf taste my fireball. Good luck taking him on in the physical world, he can not be fought traditionally. You have to collect all 6 random numbered artifacts and laid them out in the correct way. Putting them in the right place is not too bad if you pay attention to one particular dream. Finding the artifacts though would be very tough. Including needing to role double 3s when another double leads to instant death.
Dream land Ishtra is a bit more reasonable. While most dream fights are weighed against you, this one is a straight up skill fight to see who hits and power replaces stamina. Although you do have to dream fight a host of creatures first, good luck getting through them with enough power left with the randomness and weighting in their favour. But it is cool that there are two completely different ways to beat him.
Just not sure about the Crocodile and Goat combination, I am sure it sounded great while designing.
Menagerie -
Lots of the usual here, various types of Orcs, Goblins, Giant Scorpions, Ogres, Trolls. Standard fantasy line up. But this book does a good job of introducing some new creatures that fit really well in the setting. They fit well because Robin Waterfield does a really good job of telling us a bit about them, almost like a mini out of the pit entry.
From my playthrough I found the Arctolyc fascinating for example but others include -
The Angaroc is a snake type creature with spiders legs and hunts you in your dreams.
Prowlers are some cross between wolves and wasps. There young are hatched as larvae.
That nice deer I came across in the forest turns out to be a Shapeshifter. And controversially I think the best looking Shapeshifter so far.
The Weevil Man looks amazing! They are rare and have been forced back to the darkest parts of the forest.
The Quartz Golem, seen here after pretending to be a door.
Also we get some more standard guys like the Dark Elves I met -
If you have Eric you get treated to an illustration.
The mutant Ogre jailer Shikara. Who I must admit I initially read as Shakira, her hips don't lie.
Entertaining Deaths -
Getting dripped on by a death dripper, and having to hack off your own arm.
Walking straight into a bog and sinking.
Living your days out tending a faire garden
Falling into the river, they cant tell you if you drown or eaten by fish as it is irrelevant to the future of Titan.
Your stolen axe clatters off the side of the tunnel alerting a patrol to your presence. Orcs and Goblins trap you and shoot crossbow bolts up and down in an amusing game.
A dream parasite lodges itself in your stomach and drains your power.
My favorite though is - Staring into a crystal ball which shows you your death at the hands of an orc while you stare at a crystal ball, which then immediately happens.
Pete's Corner -
How do we know the whole thing is not a dream?
Final Thoughts -
Overall I really enjoyed this book. There are a lot of positives to take form it. Being a Wood Elf, even with a name, Eldenurin, was a departure from the norm. I do prefer it being you the hero but I am happy to try something else and I think in this setting it worked.
The big challenge was the dream switching, and I am very impressed with how Robin Waterfield manages it. Writing a gamebook must be a hell of a technical challenge at the best of times, never mind adding the complexity of flipping between the real world and the dream world almost at whim at some stages. It is an excellent example of planning and mapping out. Honestly I can't really convey how impressive it is to me, a mere mortal.
The writing is also fantastic. Too many FF's have been bland but you can not level that criticism here. The paragraphs are chunky and filled with lore and information, especially about new creatures you come across. It really helps paint that picture in your head, which is especially needed in the dream sequences. This is how it should be.
And the uniqueness of some of the creatures as well. It must have been hard to come up with original fantasy ideas, especially for a forest environment which has been done in this series already! But Mr Waterfield does it very well. What might just be random creatures being thrown together to make fancy hybrids actually work as he gives them a story.
Another reason it works is the amazing art to back it up. This really is up there with the best I have seen. It might not be everyone's taste but I grew up playing Warhammer and this is a great example of that Chaos feel. I looked up to see if Ian Miller did any more interior work but it looks like the answer is no. Which is devastating. But the combination of the art and the descriptive text really brings this book alive for me, you feel immersed. My only complaint is minor and it is that maybe we could have had more dream sequence art rather than real world.
I also enjoyed the story, it made sense and the pacing felt good as I was not coming up against blistering difficult opponents early on. Ishtra is an ok bad guy, I would say average. In fact if anything Ishtra for me is upstaged by Morphius (good luck not picturing Lawrence Fishburne) and his nightmares. You can never kill him as you are fighting him in a nightmare and would kill yourself, its very clever.
So this books great then, what more could you want? Well it does get let down in some areas.
Magic spells are a great addition but they feel like a wasted opportunity here. You hardly get to use them and then you get locked out of them completely in the second half. I would imagine because it was already technically difficult moving between worlds without the added complication of spells. In my opinion should have been dropped completely.
Random dice rolls, urgh, I hate them. At one point you get to some doors and instead of just picking you have to roll a double and then go into that door. So choice is taken away for no good reason at all. What compounds it is that one door is instant death and another has a crucial item for beating Ishtra in the physical realm.
And that trial of ghosts, I am only not lambasting it as you can avoid it but my word, it makes no sense whatsover. Just kill me rather than the 1/1000 or whatever the odds are chance I have of randomly picking the right path. Waste of a good puzzle idea.
The biggest problem is dream fighting though. It just does not work mechanically. Every combat is weighted in favour of the opponent. All this servers to do is make you avoid the dream world, which is a shame as the whole point of the book is to traverse both realms. Its a cheap way of artificially raising the difficulty. This needs fixed above else, even if its another stat to replace skill in dreams and to fight normally or something along those lines.
This is a real shame as with that and a few niggles ironed out, this would be a great book. It is still good though and well worth a go, especially to see the art (not the cover)!
