Recent posts

#1

Games / Re: Gamebooks

Last post by Barrington Boots - Today at 11:03:30 AM

Thanks mate. I actually did get through it without dying! There aren't many combats, although I was one point away from being killed by the Death Stone. The book is pretty forgiving, until you meet Myurr anyway. How did you beat him?

Nice! I got through on my 6th attempt. My saddest death using 'detect demon' on the monster on the cover thinking it was an illusion (it was not).
With Myurr, I had the magic sword still and I threw all my holy water over him - although looking at the book now I might be getting the fight muddled with the one in Vault of the Vampire (where you can also throw holy water) as I do remember destroying the special item as well..

Hopefully this is appropriate to the thread, but I've just listened to the latest 'Imaginary Worlds' podcast which, although I haven't played a gamebook myself in decades, I found a great listen — it's about the Lone Wolf series, and the unenviable task Joe Dever's son was given to finish the series... literally by his father on his deathbed!

I will check this out today! Thanks for the heads up!

#2

Games / Re: Gamebooks

Last post by Jim_Campbell - Today at 10:39:21 AM

Hopefully this is appropriate to the thread, but I've just listened to the latest 'Imaginary Worlds' podcast which, although I haven't played a gamebook myself in decades, I found a great listen — it's about the Lone Wolf series, and the unenviable task Joe Dever's son was given to finish the series... literally by his father on his deathbed!

Probably well worth a listen if gamebooks are your thing.

#3

Games / Re: Gamebooks

Last post by Richard - Today at 10:35:13 AM

Thanks mate. I actually did get through it without dying! There aren't many combats, although I was one point away from being killed by the Death Stone. The book is pretty forgiving, until you meet Myurr anyway. How did you beat him?

#4

Games / Re: Gamebooks

Last post by Barrington Boots - Today at 09:51:17 AM

Really enjoyed reading that, thanks for taking the time to put that together dude! Did you get through without dying? You were right to avoid that pond, I misinterpreted the clue from the avatar anout water and jumped into it, and got melted.

Having played this one quite recently, it's interesting that you took quite a different route to me through the book, with different skills, and even won the final battle in a different manner. That's the mark of a good book I think and this certainly is that.

#5

Announcements / Re: 2000 AD - The Ultimate Col...

Last post by sintec - Today at 09:29:51 AM

Very happy to see the rest of Savage and Defoe being added to the collection. Seem to remember that last Defoe story having some stunning art.

Hope is another one where I bought the 2 trades in a sale a couple of years back. Guess those can join the pile of stuff I've ended up with doubles of. Gonna have to have a clear out at some point.

Have we seen the spine art for the latest extension yet?

#6

Books & Comics / Re: Completely Self-absorbed T...

Last post by Colin YNWA - Today at 07:37:26 AM

That said, I'm guessing I might be less into the crossover heavy 1990 end of the run when I get there one day, but that sounds fun in its own way as well.

That's interesting as I'm currently listening to an interesting Podcast 'My Marvelous Year' which goes through Marvel history year by year reflecting on important and key comics and story arcs. I'm up to this period now and when they talk about the X-Men from a period I'd dropped out of comics altogether they sound so of their time. full of EVENTS and significance and explosions that I have no desire to check out the comics.

Yet my interest in hearing about them remains, there's still an absolute fascination for me in superhero comics...I'm just not sure I want to read them! I'm intrigued by folks really doing deep cuts on comics that don't sound like they stand up to any deep analysis, yet get that in very interesting ways. It will be fascinating to hear what you think when you get there.

#7

Off Topic / Re: Boys Adventure comic blog

Last post by Richard S. - Today at 06:36:54 AM

Some Mike Noble work for Look & Learn...

https://boysadventurecomics.blogspot.com/2024/04/mike-noble-look-and-learn.html

#8

Classifieds / Anyone need prog 2373?

Last post by Richard - 25 April, 2024, 10:51:01 PM

Free, first to DM me gets it.

(I'm also selling it on eBay, no takers yet, I'll post here if it sells.)

#9

Games / Re: Gamebooks

Last post by Richard - 25 April, 2024, 10:42:40 PM

[Deleted by author]

[Dead of Night playthrough, part 3]

#10

Games / Re: Gamebooks

Last post by Richard - 25 April, 2024, 10:41:04 PM

Dead of Night playthrough, part 3

Tomorrow I'll find out if I was supposed to go into the house or not. Meanwhile, I encounter the giant demon on the front cover of the book, and fend him off with my Holy Circle talent. Thank goodness that worked, I didn't fancy tangling with him!



(Cover by Terry Oakes.)

I soon find a tower with a symbol of evil on the door, and since I know that Myurr is in a tower, this looks promising. I am given the choice of either going straight inside, or removing the symbol before opening the door. Either of these could be a trap. I make the wrong choice, and once inside I lose all of my possessions, including my sword!

In the hallway, I avoid another trap, and then there are three doors to choose between. Two of these have ominous noises coming from behind them, so I opt for the silent one. (This was a mistake, because I have since found out that I missed a really cool scene where I get to appear as a ghostly presence at my late brother's funeral years ago when I was still a child, and the priest would have recognised adult ghost me and given me a useful item! I didn't really need that item, but it would have been fun. Also there is a good instant death paragraph there if instead of meeting the priest you foolishly choose to meet your past self, creating a devastating time paradox.)

The door I chose leads into a red room, which turns out to be the first room in a maze of different-coloured rooms. It reminds me a bit of the maze in Stealer of Souls, but is different enough to still be interesting. I had to map my way through this bit, which was a little tricky because the maze doesn't always conform to geographical expectations, but it is a magic maze after all. Sometimes you can get teleported back to the red room at the start. There was one room where I lost six stamina points, but otherwise it is harmless. I eventually found a way through, and left by heading up a long spiral staircase which had this charming fellow to greet me at the top:



Banish Undead didn't work on him, because he was too powerful, so I had to fight him. His Skill of 8 was not as high as that setback or the picture had led me to expect, and that was almost disapointing, although at least no-one could accuse the book of being unfair. I actually found myself thinking that I shouldn't have cheated by giving myself maximum stats at the beginning.
 
The next room had a nasty trap in it, which I won't spoil because it was a cool one. I managed to be paranoid enough not to fall for it, although I think that I might actually have been killed by it back in 1989 and that I just remembered enough to avoid it this time, rather than by being clever.
 
Anyway, in the next room I find my parents, and Myurr! Endgame! Yay! Now, forget what I said about the Horned Skeleton: Myurr is an absolute badass. He has a skill of 14, stamina 25, and two Attacks -- meaning that he can attack you twice in each attack round, while you only get one shot of injuring him. This fight would basically be unwinnable (even if I still had the magic sword I lost earlier), but for two other things you can do instead of fighting him. In each attack round you can throw holy water at him (I didn;t have any left), or you can search for a magic gem hidden somewhere in the room, which is the only thing enabling Myurr to remain on the Earthly Plane. This is where the tarot reading on the river came in helpful, because now I know where the gem is! I smash the gem and exile Myurr to the Demonic Plane! I survive the explosion with a loss of 7 stamina points, and rescue my parents at paragraph 400!

This is a really fun book, a good example of FF done well, and it's not even Stephen Hand's best one! I'm looking forward to those!