Messages

1

General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Low Life vs. The Out Rd 5 Heat 8

« on: 05 August, 2022, 10:15:31 AM »

Low Life was really good - and, in its time, felt like something the Dreddverse really needed. It never sat well with me, though, that Aimee's arc went from lead character to lead villain. It's an interesting arc, but it was a shame that Dirty Frank's popularity propelled him into the lead. Having female lead characters is a precious commodity in 2000 AD, and I was disappointed that Frank came to dominate so much. That Nixon then became one of those shouty villains that spends most of their time spitting their plans into a monitor screen in order to Basil Exposition their feelings (and the plot) was a shame. If you're echoing Below Zero something's gone wrong.

Summary: Low Life was great, and disjointed.


The Out gets my vote.

I was sad about the way Nixon went too. Still have a lot of affection for that character and hoped for a happier outcome for her.

This one is tough, once it hits its stride Low Life is a real favourite of mine. The Out is exceptional. Hrrrmmm.

I think I’m going with Low Life today but I’ve already changed my mind several times in the last few minutes.

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Slaine vs. Strontium Dog Rd 5 Heat 6

« on: 05 August, 2022, 10:10:47 AM »

Think I’m going with Stront in the actual contest though.

3

General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Slaine vs. Strontium Dog Rd 5 Heat 6

« on: 05 August, 2022, 10:10:03 AM »

outside the prog, love and rockets has gone on forever and i can't think of any lows.

Agreed. I’m voting Love and Rockets.

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Halo Jones vs. Shakara Rd 5 Heat 5

« on: 03 August, 2022, 10:13:56 PM »

Halo, but it’s a close call for me. Both tremendous.

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Firekind vs. Meltdown Man Rd 5 Heat 2

« on: 01 August, 2022, 07:34:46 AM »

firekind

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General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Sinister Dexter vs. Feral and Foe Rd 5 Heat 1

« on: 01 August, 2022, 07:34:21 AM »

Sinister Dexter. Enjoying Feral and Foe but it still feels like early days for that one.

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Prog / Re: Prog 2292 - United Front

« on: 31 July, 2022, 03:27:47 PM »

.....Can someone remind me who the GI and Javert are please?

From last years The Path of Kali prog 2247-2249

Thanks Broodblik, need to dig out the progs. Another solution would be some more regular appearances from this excellent thrill!

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Prog / Re: Prog 2292 - United Front

« on: 31 July, 2022, 03:26:26 PM »

Pretty solid prog with an outstanding cover. Goddard and Winter really sold me on that meal in Dredd - I could practically taste that steak and wine! This one will need a reread for me, I think Rob Williams is channeling his love for Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy where it’s hard to parse exactly what’s happening on the first read. I thought this was a good intriguing episode though. Like others I have no memory of Domino either and as Colin says, I REALLY hope we don’t get ‘Dredd being tortured to the point of collapse’ again which Williams has used once or twice.

Like Domino, I don’t really remember the guy who dies in Skip Tracer either. Marshall and Teague tell the story so clearly here that as others said it probably works fine without the dialogue.

Dexter is fine, I think I’m less engaged with this story than some other readers although I think I’m enjoying the overall AI ark more than some other readers so go figure!

Brink… this is I think the first episode of this series where my attention has faltered a little. They don’t have many episodes left and I’ve kind of been waiting for something really shocking or significant to happen. I know the Mercury event is just that but as readers we already know about that. I’ve enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere throughout, I just hope there’s a satisfying payoff - I’m sure Abnett and Culbard won’t disappoint.

Jaegir is great, some very dense storytelling and it looks exceptional as always. Great colouring from Len O’Grady. Can someone remind me who the GI and Javert are please?

Damn it - that bit in bold was meant to be spoilered - kind of the opposite of bold!

9

Prog / Re: Prog 2292 - United Front

« on: 31 July, 2022, 11:02:49 AM »

Pretty solid prog with an outstanding cover. Goddard and Winter really sold me on that meal in Dredd - I could practically taste that steak and wine! This one will need a reread for me, I think Rob Williams is channeling his love for Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy where it’s hard to parse exactly what’s happening on the first read. I thought this was a good intriguing episode though. Like others I have no memory of Domino either and as Colin says, I REALLY hope we don’t get ‘Dredd being tortured to the point of collapse’ again which Williams has used once or twice.

Like Domino, I don’t really remember the guy who dies in Skip Tracer either. Marshall and Teague tell the story so clearly here that as others said it probably works fine without the dialogue.

Dexter is fine, I think I’m less engaged with this story than some other readers although I think I’m enjoying the overall AI ark more than some other readers so go figure!

Brink… this is I think the first episode of this series where my attention has faltered a little. They don’t have many episodes left and I’ve kind of been waiting for something really shocking or significant to happen. I know the Mercury event is just that but as readers we already know about that. I’ve enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere throughout, I just hope there’s a satisfying payoff - I’m sure Abnett and Culbard won’t disappoint.

Jaegir is great, some very dense storytelling and it looks exceptional as always. Great colouring from Len O’Grady. Can someone remind me who the GI and Javert are please?

10

Games / Re: Gamebooks

« on: 30 July, 2022, 04:16:24 PM »

Stealer of Souls is a good one.

What is Assassins of Allansia like?

I enjoyed it. Basically someone has put a bounty on your head and you're on the run, moving between locations and deciding where to go and who to trust while you try and work your way towards the big baddie. I got quite invested actually, I really wanted to get to the bottom of things. Being a target made it feel kind of personal! Need to try that one again at some point.

11

Games / Re: Gamebooks

« on: 30 July, 2022, 02:06:13 PM »

My entire collection consists of, in no particular order:

Deathtrap Dungeon
Fangs of Fury
Caverns of the Snow Witch
City of Thieves
Armies of Death
Starship Traveller
Keep of them Lich-Lord
Sky Lord
House of Hell
Rings of Kether
Rebel Planet
Talisman of Death
Phantoms of Fear
Appointment with FEAR
Stealer of Souls
Island of the Undead
Legend of Zagor

and a couple of new ones:

Crystal of Storms
Assassins of Allansia

Actually more than I thought!

12

Games / Re: Gamebooks

« on: 30 July, 2022, 02:01:02 PM »

We did try Clash of the Princes, don’t think we got very far but that would be worth bother go. I haven’t actually looked into the other Duel Masters books. I do seem to remember trying Way of the Tiger years ago, Cretan Chronicles and Lone Wolf too. From you guys’ chat it sounds like the Tiger books might be worth another go. Somewhere or other I have an official Grail Quest pencil too…

 Like you say I could no doubt pick some FF books up cheaply on eBay, just haven’t got round to it what with other life stuff. I do much prefer the Puffin editions, all part of the aesthetics / nostalgia for me. But I saw your kind offer there Barrington and thought it was worth a shot! Definitely interested in the ones you have left. (Except Rebel Planet! I think the last time we played that we had the most pathetic death, we basically ran out of money and couldn’t buy any food cubes, so presumably just starved to death in some apartment building having achieved nothing!)

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Games / Re: Gamebooks

« on: 30 July, 2022, 10:19:47 AM »

Also thanks all for a lovely and very entertaining thread! Interesting too - there’s a lot of FF knowledge here!

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Games / Re: Gamebooks

« on: 30 July, 2022, 10:18:29 AM »

You mentioning not owning some books reminds me I've got a handful of spare FF books from job lots that I've picked up. I should offer them to others here.

So at the moment I have spare copies of:

Forest of Doom
Island of the Lizard King
Scorpion Swamp
Rebel Planet
Demons of the Deep
Sword of the Samurai

Trade or free (pay postage) to anyone who wants them on this thread.

They're all puffin originals, with the green stripe (no Wizard / Scholastic rubbish here!) from cheap job lots I've picked up. All a bit tatty, faded spines etc as you'd expect, and not played by me.
I was hanging onto them till I had another couple and then thinking of ebaying them as a lot myself, but I'd much rather someone here had them if they're wanted.

Bit cheeky of me to ask this but I’d be happy to pay some postage for these unless they’ve been snapped up. I’m an occasional lurker on this thread because I love a bit of FF but usually only play with an old school friend of mine. We’ve been playing them together off and on for 20 years or more but not systematically so we barely ever complete any of them. In fact I think we’ve literally completed one, Keep of the Liche Lord, last year! And City if Thieves, although that one I completed on my own and went all-in on map making and multiple play throughs. We have played all the FF books at least once though, and lots of them multiple times. Usually take turns on who will do the initial dice rolls meaning we can blame each other for any crappy scores and when we get our asses handed to us in combat. Decision making is made together and we swap up reading/rolling every wee while. Perfectly normal pastime for two 42-year olds!

 He’s the one with the complete collection, I just have ten or twelve of them. The last couple of years we’ve had to play them over Zoom/Teams online though so we’re kind of stuck with the ones we both have copies of. He’s sent me a few doubles but it would be cool to expand our options a little bit if you still have these going spare. I already have Rebel Planet though, in fact I think it was my first one. I often went for the sci-fi ones when I was a kid, which I’ve come to realise was a mistake on the whole because the Fantasy ones tend to be much better!

15

General / Re: Forum’s Fav Thrill - Shakara vs. Ichabod Rd 4 Heat 28

« on: 28 July, 2022, 07:42:30 AM »

Shakara but it’s veeeeerry close for me. Love both these ones.