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Totally. I only went for the Klegg, as I was a bit wary of them announcing a dozen seperate pre-orders figures before any had actually been released. I'd love to get some of the others I won't be pre-ordering anything else - we'll see if they actually get to market.

Superb interview this and nice to see Mervyn Peake getting cited as an influence alongside the usual literary suspects.

Which one did you get?
I didn't especially enjoy my first go at DotD so I might play Falcon instead and then go back to it.

[Dredd]

My Prog arrived today, which is when it usually arrives with no postal strike, so Tharg's warning wasn't needed.
As everyone else says the cover is an absolute stunner and the tagline does it no favours whatsoever.
The Prog itself seems to be still in setup mode. I feel like everything is ready to step up a gear next week.

Dredd – Not so much of a tale as a setup for a future tale. Boo Cook's art is fantastic here. As a lefty liberal myself, I really hope Maitlands plan works.

Chimpsky – Essentially the second part of the setup from last week. This is the best thing in the Prog again imo, it's engaging and I could have read another ten pages straight away.

Hope – Absolutely horrific stuff. The storytelling in previous run of Hope was dire and it's meant I'm tending to look at this with a more critical eye but as an opening episode this is a very good one so I'm hopeful I'll really enjoy this run.

Enemy Earth – I don't like the art on this. This stood out in Regened for the darker tone and concept, but here in the Prog it's not interesting at all. Early days though.

Hershey – Really great art. More story setup, which is fine, although tbh I already can't remember what happened other than Hershey decked a guy in the street. Let's see what happens next.

Funnily enough I've got one of the Falcon books (not the 4th one) here and was thinking of playing it after Demons of the Deep. I read some reviews and it sounds like as a series it's a bit uneven, but I've got a really high opinion of the authors as a gamebook-writing duo so...

It's got some incredible art from Geoff Senior including one of some tentacles gorily exploding out someone. Insane art for a kids book.

[The Sword of the Samurai Again!]

Looks like it's time for The Sword of the Samurai Again!

This is a new one for me too. I played through this before reading the playthroughs above, but I've read them now, so I won't go over the background or quest goal again, but it's a good one and the background and book are very well written throughout.

I never go into these books with less than SKILL 10, so I roll up a SK11 ST 15 Samurai - a skilled fighter, but obviously of ill health - I suspect I have some form of consumption. I choose the skill of Iaijutsu, or fast draw, which essentially means all enemies start fights 3 stamina down. From the off I decide to play this guy as arrogantly as possible. I decide to avoid the creepily named Forest of Shadows and march thro8gh the fens where I humble some stupid peasants who dared disrespect my liege, boosting my honour for putting them in their place. Approaching the village I demand a place to stay, which the villagers agree - but with ulterior motives as they transform into terrifying Rokuro-Kobi, flying head demons. My swordmanship is no match for a swarm of these undead horrors and only DEATH awaits.

Disappointed to have died so quick I rewind and instead of staying in the village I stride arrogantly away. I encounter and defeat one of the horrible heads, counting my blessings as I proceed through the mists and out of the Shoguns land. Here I defeat the legendary Black Elk of the Marcher Lands - a beast that I am told weighs several tons when I later try and pick it up, although I do claim it's horn. Arriving at the Hiang-Kiang River I am given options to ford it and decide to cross upstream, away from the churning water, although the stiller water looks grim and slimy and I suspect attack. I am right - a gang of Kappa emerge and  attack. Using my fast draw sword I behead one and gain the far bank, but the otherwordly Kappa cannot be defeated by swordmanship alone and I am overwhelmed. A second attempt sees me drive them back into the river, but when I demand their fealty they skewer me with a thrown trident. Eventually I rewind and cross below the ford, but essentially the same things happen and I give up on this playthrough in disgust. DEATH x 3

Time for a new me! This Samurai has teh same skill but much more stamina, although he is somewhat unlucky: he must have been born under an inauspicious star. I decide this time to take the skill or archery, as it's not often you get a chance in FF to shoot things. It's a good job the Shogun had two loyal retainers to send on this quest..!

Noting the failure of my colleague at the river I instead strike out for the forest. As per Jimbo's playthrough above I decide to aid a village being attacked by dishonourable lackeys of the disloyal Lord Tsietin. Their leader wounds me with his spear but I dispatch the rogue and then duel with three others: my confidence sees me wounded by the first, an unskilled fighter, but I slay him and his fellows without taking a scratch. With my honour rising steadily I pardon the survivor of the raiders and Moichi, for such is his name, pledges his life to me. He claimed he only rebelled because could not go against his lord, which makes sense, but I ensure he knows he is my subordinate. I actually expect him to die in short order (he does). He isn't best pleased when I then demand we attack Lord Tsietin's fortress, but that villains actions cannot go unpunished. Moichi comes good here, for he shows me the back way into the castle. Stealthily entering I shoot some guards and we enter the castle. We are soon lost but thankfully Lord Tsietin himself comes wandering down a corridor with a couple of bodyguards - Moichi and I make short work of them and we then slay the traitor, despite his cowardly attempt to murder me whilst begging for clemency.

Stealing some of Lord Tsietin's treasures, we decide to take Tsietins escape hatch rather than take on his entire army of samurai and vanish into a dark tunnel. Said tunnel is not a safe escape route however as it contains a 40 foot giant centipede that makes short work of Moichi and despite it's inferior skill, beats the hell out of me. The beast finally slain I rest in the tunnel, scoffing provisions and reflecting on my ill luck and Moichi's noble death. I also find some more treasure - a (welcome) healing potion and a great artifact. The third treasure is a helmet, but I decide not to press my luck as even the most benevolent of FF authors won't give you three good items in a row.
Next stop is the Forest of Shadows itself, home to a Tatsu or dragon that demands I answer it's riddles or be eaten. The first riddle is easy, the second one takes me a fair bit of mucking about as I'm not sure of the exact word the book is looking for. A couple of attempts wins through and the dragon sulkily gives me a jade talisman and a bit of obscure advice. Although dragons are oft liars, one should always pay heed to their words so I memorise what he told me and pass on through the forest to the Hiang-Kang River.

Here fell sorcery is at work, for as I step onto the bridge I am confronted by a demon samurai. This battle, as depicted on the cover, is HORRIBLE and yes, I nearly die again. Eventually I weaken it enough to send it leaping back across the bridge and I am given the opportunity to shoot it with the magic arrow I took from Lord Tsietin's treasury. This puts paid to the creature and my reward is a mysterious ivory horn with a tiger engraved upon it.
Munching on provisions I begin to climb the mountainside that will take me to my goal only to meet the Dai-Oni's strange challenge. Obviously I go through every single door. The first door reveals the puzzling Tatsu: I answered his riddle, and he decides he will aid me as he also wishes to see the master of Shadows slain.  The second door reveals a vast sabre-tooth tiger - I have a tiger-embossed horn, which I blow, and the tiger comes tamely to my side. The third door brings me before a Ki-Ren, a servitor of the gods, who (thanks to my large honour score) agrees to aid me also.
Things are going great until I open door number four - I have no means of taming the phoenix, and it burns me for my troubles. I run away. Door five leads to the swamp - again I have no means of taming the serpent within so beat a tactical withdrawl. Next I encounter a host of strangely dressed warriors - I have the artifact they seek, and they pledge to my aid. The final door takes me to a sorceress: it's plain from the options I am given in the text that I do not have the item she seeks, so I bid her farewell
(here's a query - howcome the Golden Company, who appear to be Western knights, want an oriental war fan? Anyway.)
My allies at my side I advance to the battlerealm to defeat the Dai-Oni and his own celestial companions in battle. Some startlingly good guesswork here leads me to match my tiger against the demonic toad and the Tatsu against the Mantis demon for two flawless victories. Finally I elect to send the knights against the colossal statue for 3/3 wins. I still have the Ki-Rin ally available to I send it against the Dai-Oni and it weakens him - I'm really glad it does, because even weakened it's a difficult opponent and I finish the battle on a meagre 5 stamina.
Taking a moment to give thanks to the spirits who aided me, I then confront the defeated Dai-Oni who offers to answer a single question. I ask for the secret of the sword, as the Shogun said I would need it, and it is duly given. It then seems a demonic double-cross in on the cards as a spirit begins to form out of the demons body, but recalling the words of the Tatsu earlier I quickly speak the invocation it gave me and the Jizo of Demons appears and blitzes the demon to ash. I don't really understand what happened here but hurray!

Hurridly consuming the remains of my provisions, I watch in shock as the walls of the celestial arena shimmer and fade, revealing the dark halls of Ikiru, Master of Shadows. He has the sword Singing Death, but I know from the demon that he lacks the pure spirit to use it. Laughing contemptously I speak the words of truth and the sword flies to my hand, boosting my initial stats to crazy levels!

With the sword mine, I feel unstoppable. Ikiru summons a shadow demon, but I cleave through it with a single blow of my sword. Next he summons demonic legions, but I push through them as though they are smoke, dismissing them with the swords power. Finally Ikiru himself stands before me. He hurls dark magic at me, but my honour is such that it harmlessly vanishes against my person. Ikiru himself is a SKILL 12 STAMINA 12 opponent, but my skill now outranks his, and a single hit, combined with a successful luck check, is enough to banish him to the dark realms whence he came. It only remains to take the sword back to my master the Shogun and once again bring tranquility to his lands.VICTORY!

As per you guys I loved this book. It's definitely a Smith & Thomson work with the Japanese themes and monsters, vivid writing, scene-setting description sprinkled about, interesting concepts for battles and some brutally hard fights and deaths. The hub where you can recruit celestial allies and then match them against the villainous team in a sort of heavenly deathmatch is superb and I agree that it would have been a fine ending for the book. Absolutely beautiful art from Alan Langford, knocks his stuff on IotLK out of the park.
If I had to critique, there's some very tough fights - I'd say Skill 10 is the minimum needed - and there's a few fights where the enemies are stuff like Skill 7 Stamina 20 which means they go one for ages, even with high skill. That's a nitpick though and I'd say this very much rests within the top echelons of the FF books I've played.

[Return to Monkey Island]

Yesterday I finished Return to Monkey Island. It's superb - funny, puzzling, the control system is very easy to use, the voice acting, music and graphics are glorious and there's a lot of callbacks to the first two games without disregarding the rest of the series. I didn't find it too difficult apart from a single puzzle at the end that really stumped me, but it's still a reasonably long game too.
If you loved Monkey Island (or at least the first three, ie. the good ones) you will love this [spoiler]although a lot will also rest on how you feel about the ending to MI2.[/spoiler]

Thanks for this writeup Pyroxian, really enjoyed it! I very much enjoyed the Grailquest books I played when I was a boy - it helped that they weren't hugely difficult, but there was something about the way they are written, talking directly to the reader and teasing breaking the 4th wall, that I always felt really drew me in and made me feel like I actually was part of the world and something slightly magical was happening. I've still got a couple of them somewhere. I'd love to read more playthroughs and opinions on them....

On the FF front I was going to do Demons of the Deep next but I guess I'll be jumping ahead one to Samurai so we can have a playthrough trifecta (and I can read DJ and Richard's posts!)...

Forgot to mention this book is very generous on stamina recovery - every time you eat or sleep you get some back, and you recover half your initial stamina each time to fly to a new planet.
I started with a high skill and low stamina and without this I'd have been well dead. High Skill is essential for this as there's a ton of skill tests (including a vital one to learn how to beat the Street Fighter)

[Rebel Planet]

Rebel Planet

Another brand new one for me!

There's a long and detailed intro to the book describing the setup, which is basically that Earth has been subjugated by The Arcadian Empire and as the protagonist I'm a hand-picked special agent to stop this happening - so presumably the titular rebel planet is Earth! The Arcadians are a sort of reptilian hive mind race and have some kind of Krool-heart-esque computer that controls them all so all I have to do is blow it up and Earth is saved. This doesn't make sense really. Even dafter, the code to get to the computer is held by three rebel agents on three separate planets so I have to go visit them all. I know where the first one is but basically nothing about the other two. Ok....
Unlike the other sci-fi books there aren't loads of special rules for guns or space combat because humans aren't allowed any guns (all I have is a secret sword) but I am Way of the Tiger-like badass who can kill someone with a single blow, giving me a 1/6 chance of an instant kill should I ever be in a fistfight.

My super space ninja lands on the first planet, Tropos, which is a police state. Looking not to draw attention I take a cab to my assigned crappy human hotel instead of the meeting point, thinking I will slip out later. This backfires a bit when an Arcadian comes into the dorm and tries to kill another human, so I kill him and flee with my new mate, who I end up killing as well when he turns out to be a criminal who was going to turn me in. I do kill him with one blow though using the unarmed combat rules. Avenger would be proud!
Eventually I sneakily reach the rendezvous - a sleazy bar called Fission Chips - where I make contact with the rebels. They're incredibly paranoid, as you'd expect from a subjugated race living in a police state, and there's a lot of questions. I decide to play it totally straight with them and do exactly as they ask until they ask me to kill one of their cell: by refusing I show my 'human compassion' (which is a bit Star Trek) and they give me the code, sort of. Turns out they don't know the code, just a song that helps Arcadians remember the code. I haven't got a clue what this means, so like the dutiful freedom fighter I am I make a note of the paragraph number and decide to worry about it later.

It's time to leave Tropos and head for planet number 2. Under Arcadian rule Humans aren't allowed carry certain items, and when I assassinated the human criminal, I declined to take a load of his gear, so I manage to blag my way through customs and off Tropos. Radix is a much more relaxed place, with humans able to attend human universities and own businesses, but nevertheless I don;t draw attention to myself and stay at the scummiest place available ('Porkys') where I learn the relaxed atmosphere is something of a facade as there's some kind of battle robot that the authorities use to break up human demos. With a sinking feeling that I'll be seeing that later I head off the university to eavesdrop and end up meeting the second contact, the lecturer Professor Zacharias. He says he'll give me the code after his lecture - he asks if I want to attend but I make a mistake here and decide to go for a cup of coffee instead and when I come back the Prof has knocked off for the evening. I head back to Porkys, but I'm followed: I dodge the Arcadians and unsurprisingly they unleash the killer robot, called STREET FIGHTER, which sadly does not attack with Hadoukens but does use a sort of sonic boom, which means it's damage increases per hit - 2 stamina for the first successful attack, 3 for the second and so on. I have a weedy stamina and am in a bit of a panic, but my blows can do skill or stamina damage to it, so I spend a few rounds reducing it's skill from 9 to 5 by wrecking its guidance system and then make short work of it before going back to the hotel for dinner.
The next morning, I head back to meet the Prof only to find out he has been arrested for being the leader of the underground. I'm arrested too soon after, but the Prof leaves me a visual clue in the page art. Again this means nothing to me so I make another note of the paragraph.
Under arrest on Radix I deny being part of the underground... and am immediately executed. GAME OVER. This sucks, so I go again and admit to being part of the underground which means I qualify for some kind of gladiatorial contest which, if I win, I go free. This is clearly nonsense but it's a way out! I first have to navigate a 'one door is death the other is ok' but where my insistence with always going left saves my bacon, and to cut a long story short I kill some monsters and the Arcadians let me go like the chumps they are.

The third planet, Halmuris, is a hostile wasteland where nighttime sub-zero temperatures mean death. I have no weapon at this point and reduced skill due to the planets unfavorable gravity: on landing I try to acquire a new sword from the black market and end up killing more humans and setting the place one fire, although I do get a sword and a random roll also gives me some wirecutters. My first task is to navigate a huge fence where I'm asked if I picked up the wirecutters or a jet pack. DOH.
Once outside I know I need to head North East but also need to survive the freezing temperatures, so I take shelter in what turns out to be a carnivorous plant and nearly get digested. Now on pathetic stamina I wander haplessly lost until I encounter a weird telepathic light that asks me for a 'zplaran' before transforming into a huge demon and killing me immediately when I don't have one.
I'm a bit cheesed off by this weird death so I rewind a few paragraphs and try a different path. This time I battle some of the local fauna, get brutally bitten by a giant rat after shoving my hand into it's den and find a weird brightly coloured stick. The path then leads me back to the weird light, to which I offer the stick and it promptly tells me my contact is a guy named Dorado and gives me the password to talk to him. If this all sounds like it makes no sense - don't worry, it doesn't.
I eventually reach the facility where Dorado is based, only to find it's under attack. I take more stamina damage (by now my stamina is well into single figures) but Dorado gives me the final bit of the code... or does he? he just tells me the whole code is a palindrome.

From here I rush off to planet Arcadion to use the code 'info' I have acquired. There are two Arcadians on my ship and one of them knocks on my door late at night, which I ignore only to get another GAME OVER paragraph. WTF... I rewind again, open the door, and by a strange sequence of events end up wired up to an Arcadian mind control machine where an Arcadian scientist is trying to essentially bring me (and after that, all humans) into the hive mind. The book here switches to a sort of Neuromancer type scenario where I must defeat monsters to simulate my struggle with the machine. After each win the machine offers me some pitifully obvious-trap rewards, so I ignore them all and push on, eventually mind wiping the Arcadian and getting the door code to the main computer room basement.

Finally, Aracadion. I leave the ship in a rush before the Arcadians are discovered and head straight for the main computer. Here I'm asked for the three bits of the code: 9 binary digits. With this info I can go back and with a bit of puzzling work out the three previous clues. This bit is absolutely ingenious and I was very impressed with it!
Once inside I'm offered the chance to go straight to the computer or visit the basement: I've got the code, so I pop down and it turns out to be full of weapons. I swipe a gun and some plastic explosive, gun down the guards and blow up the computer. VICTORY!

What a load of fun nonsense this book was. As most of the previous sci-fi ones have been terrible I didn't have high hopes, but overall it was great to play, although not without issue: the start is definitely the best bit with the player involved in cloak and dagger operations in a sort of alien Soviet Union, with careful thought and characterful decisions rewarding you with the best results. After that there's a steady decline in quality and increase in rushed-ness and by the time you hit planet number three there's a lot of  'do you go left or right' choices and a several auto-deaths. The bit with the sentient light and the stick is pure nonsense and the last planet is a total rush job as you basically land at the computer, go in and blow it up. And let's not start on the whole hive mind / computer concept itself: the aliens show no sign at all of being hive-mind-y whatsoever and the whole thing is an obvious, and weak, macguffin for you to be able to blow up a single object and save the galaxy. A more thematic option would be something like releasing a spore that kills them all off, but I can see why the book wanted to avoid genocide or anything along those lines and went with a big 'make them all friendly' button. The whole ending though felt very rushed - even the final paragraph is a bit 'yay! you win' although not as bad as Space Assassin.
Criticisms aside the rest was cool. The binary puzzle, and the way it was hidden (especially in the illustration) was both very unqiue and very clever (and surely far to tricky for a child to work out). The artwork is superb throughout and the tone is not too serious whilst not being too silly at the same time. I felt it didn't lean too hard into the sci-fi nature of things - no guns etc felt weird but nicely simplified things, and aside from a few bits the whole thing could have been set in a fantasy type setting with minimal changes. Well worth playing imo and a very pleasant surprise.

To echo what the other guys said above, concerned for you Tjm.
You don't know me personally, if it's easier to talk to someone like that (I know sometimes it can be) then I'm happy to listen.
Please take care of yourself.

[Dredd]

Having blotted my copybook last week somewhat by slagging off the zombie Prog almost everyone loved, I was keen to get back to the business of loving the Prog this week. This Prog is... ok. It's mostly setup episodes, so nothing to get hugely excited about at this point, but promises much.

Dredd – Nice little tale and a very old school feel to it. Slight but fun. Looks fantastic!

Chimpsky – Excellent setup, ready for things to kick off next episode. I already hate these kids (in the right way)!

Enemy Earth – Another setup episode which is fine with me. This stood out for me in Regened - it seemed darker and more interesting than a lot of the other tales there - and this is another dark episode so interested to see where it goes. I'm not a huge fan of the art: must be my old eyes but I found it a bit confusing, but that's on me, not the artist.

Future Shock – Not bad but also somewhat unmemorable. I agree it's a clever idea that didn't quite translate.. I too have started to feel like 'social media is bad' is the default setting for a FS nowdays (I know it's true, but there you go)

Hershey – Enough's been said about what's wrong with this story. Putting that aside, it's a decent setup. Dirty Frank's boggley eye eyepatch is a highlight but some absolutely stunning stuff from Simon Fraser on the art.

Sad to be the dissenting voice but I thought this Prog was abysmal.
Nice art.

"Abysmal" is a bit strong, but I didn't really care about any of it. An endless parade of "look, it's X, but they're a zombie" gets tiresome after a while.

Fair point. I'm not interested at all in crossover events, what-if type stories or zombies, so there was nothing here for me. Mostly strong art throughout I didn't think any of the stories were interesting but I suppose ymmv depending on how you feel about the above. This is the first Prog I can remember though where I didn't enjoy a single story in it: I'd have preferred it to have been a Halloween special or something so I could have safely skipped it.

That's all my subjective opinion though, so I could have worded things better! Glad most others enjoyed it.

[Dead Men Walking]

I'm not sure what, on the whole of God's green Earth, could convince me to vote for Stalag 666.

Dead Men Walking, while a bit too indebted to Shawshank Redemption, had great art and did at least have the decency to throw in a rampaging army of zombies.

100 x this.

[FF18: Rebel Planet]

That's a tremendous writeup Jimbo! Loving reading your journey through this.

The next of its (multi-player) type was, I think, The Riddling Reaver, which I loved but again never actually played as it was meant to be played.

I ripped off big chunks of RR - and Fighting Fantasy - for D&D and MERP games that I ran back in those days, but I spent hours poring over the art: I was pretty excited to pick up that Mummy picture. They're good little adventures (RR especially has some great bits) but I don't think Fighting Fantasy as an RPG system was really any good - but I'd be interested to know if it worked as an introductory system and got people into D&D etc.

My next gamebook in the series which I should play next is FF18: Rebel Planet.

This is next on my list too, but I've been much distracted. I have finished Appointment with FEAR, which was very difficult, and also the final part of Freeway Warrior, but not written it up yet. I'm also playing Secrets of Salamonis which is superb - much better than SotG and I enjoyed that a lot.
I've never played Rebel Planet but I have heard it's one of the strongest of the sci-fi ones.