Gamebooks

[Dark Jimbo]

Howl of the Werewolf is £100 on ebay at the moment! I asked Jon Green about a reprint in person earlier this year and he sid there's a reluctance to reprint anything that wasn't authored by Steve or Ian, but hopefully that will change at some point. I've also heard it is amazing.

When I suddenly decided to get back into gamebooks about six years ago, there were quite a few copies on ebay. I picked up all the Wizard editions of the newer books I'd missed - HotW was slightly more than the others, but I think I got it for approximately £30 (and maybe not even that much!). Seemed a lot at the time, but in retrospect I'm so glad I pulled the trigger! That's less than I had to part with for Moonrunner, only a few years ago. Crazy how the prices have skyrocketed.

[Barrington Boots]

The prices have gone bonkers since Covid - that's when I got back into these, I wonder if a lot of others did the same?

I think when I was first hoovering up gamebooks on eBay Howl was about £30 too - at that time I only had half a dozen of my own books from childhood and was picking up books like Space Assassin for a couple of quid, and the idea of paying £30 for a second hand book seemed daft. I definitely decided I wouldn't pay more than £20 for a single book (reader, I broke that resolution)
I've got the Wizard version of Curse of the Mummy, but I've essentially given up on HotW and books 55-58 as they are ludicrously expensive. Of those, HotW is the one I'd most like to have a go at - I rate Jon Green's books highly and I've heard a couple of the other rare books are not the best...

I'm not sure why all the reprints have been SJ / IL ones but I can guess. If there's enough of an appetite for these books then I'm sure they'll reprint eventually, although aside from the last two, the Scholastic reprints have been really poor with appalling artwork.

[Barrington Boots]

Got this for Christmas. Turns out my brother knows more about FF than I realised:

[Fortnight]

I often wished you could optionally meet up with an NPC in a gamebook and they'd stay with you til the win if you wanted, instead of getting bumped off after a short while just to keep the play simple to devise.

However, Mungo deserved what he got. I'd planned to dump him at the earliest opportunity anyway. Serves him right for spilling my pint and feeding me lobster. Problem was, I had to help him, otherwise it's a quick-sand-death for me.

[Richard]

What a great gift!

[norton canes]

Really tempted to get the Sorcery set - I played through the first three books when they were released, but never got hold of Crown of Kings. Not sure, but somewhere in the loft I might still have my character card from the end of book III, The Seven Serpents.

[Blue Cactus]

Got this for Christmas. Turns out my brother knows more about FF than I realised:

Incredible!

[Dark Jimbo]

Too soon, Boots, too damn soon!

[Barrington Boots]

Vault of the Vampire

I haven't done one of these writeups for a while so it's time to spend ages writing up my playthrough for Vault of the Vampire, by Keith Martin (aka Warhammer and Shadowrun writer Carl Sargent)

This book is set in the hitherto unknown country of Mauristatia in The Old World, which is apparently still on the FF-world of Titan but may as well not be as far as this book goes: it's blatantly a Hammer Horror world with very little fantasy influence, which makes me wonder why they shoehorned it into Titan in the first place. But that matters nothing for this book, which begins with me, a treasure hunter and general rogue, travelling by coach through the fog and icy mists to the miserable hamlet of Leverhelven for no other reason than to seek my fortune.
I disembark at the village inn, the Harts Blood, but am puzzled by its name as this is clearly not stag or deer country, and an innocent inquiry as to this leads to the surly villagers cursing me and turning their backs. Thankfully old Svetlana is on hand to deliver some exposition: the inn was previously called the Hearts Blood and the village is blighted by an evil Count, who lives in the castle on the other side of the forest and keeps disappearing villagers for terrible, unknown ends. Old Svetlana breaks down in tears as she tells me her own granddaughter Nastassia was taken only yesterday by the headless horseman and nobody here has the gumption to go save her!
A shamefaced, one-armed warrior speaks up from a nearby table, confirming her story and saying he would gladly contribute some gold to anyone who could trudge up to the castle to rescue Nastassia / kill off the evil Count. I'm about to nod my agreement when an icy blast of wind causes the tavern door to burst open. Outside in the mist stands a black coach, with a headless driver sitting upon it. Wordlessly, the driver beckons for me to enter...

At this point I'm given the weird choice of  simply ignore the coach driver and strolling off into the forest. The forest seeming to be obviously full of wolves and stuff I clamber with trepidation into the coach ad it sets out on its way through the mists before depositing me at the gates of Castle Heydrich, starkly illuminated by the full moon. There is nobody here to meet me, and a quick skirt around the place shows me only bats flitting about the towers: I can see lights burning within the lower floors castle, but many of the upper rooms windows are covered by thick drapes. With no other way forward I put my shoulder to the heavy main door and push it open with a creak to enter a courtyard with doors to the castle, a tower, and a crypt, among others.
The first door I try opens into a stable containing two large wolves, which rise hungrily at my approach so I quickly shut that door and instead cross the courtyard and pass through a rat infested storeroom into the base of one of the towers. Lighting a lantern as I climb the cobwebbed stairs, I am surprised by the rotting forms of two zombies lurching out of the darkness!
Now VotV has a new FF stat: FAITH, which essentially tracks my 'goodness'. It's well done for a FF novelty statistic: thematic, can go above its initial level and it's tested all over the place in this book, usually to avoid horrible things. Here, my faith is high enough to cause the zombies ot hesitate as they lunge at me, allowing me to nip quickly past them and up to the landing. Lets hear it for being good!
At the top of the stairs is a black door inlaid with silver that whispers for me to go back. I'm too good for that (and there's zombies on the stairs) so I bash it down, taking some wounds in the process, and climb up to a bat-infested belltower. The old brass bells stand silent and unused, but amongst them is a silver bell engraved with the name Siegfried Heydrich and my innate goodness tells me this is a holy bell, so I give it a ring and up pops the ghost of Siegfried himself!
Siegfried's ghost is also full of exposition. It explains that it was the former goodly Count of Castle Heydrich who was murdered by his evil brother Reiner, who I need to sort out. Reiner has hidden Siegfried's holy armour, shield and sword within the castle - the ghost doesn't know where, but he does tip me off to another magic sword, that of his loyal mate Mikhail, which can be found at the base of this very tower. My faith is boosted by this and I head downstairs, avoiding the zombies again, and recover the magic blade. It doesn't boost my combat skills, but it can harm creatures that are immune to conventional weapons, and furthermore it glows in the dark so I can stop worrying about my lantern.
Cheered, I return to the courtyard and try the crypt, which simply radiates evil and furthermore is totally locked. The only option now is to enter the castle proper (a neat feature of this book is that you can wander at will, but after a while the 'dead end' options stop showing up - so at this point I can no longer enter the wolf pen or another room where, on another playthrough, I was trampled to death by a satanic horse. I won't write that one up).

Inside, the castle is well lit but quiet and empty, the entrance hall hung with black and red drapes. I first head west into a cobwebbed storage room, where I pocket some small valuable trinkets, then east into a sumptuous lounge with three portraits: Reiner, looking like the classic Lugosi vampire he obviously is, the darkly beautiful Katarina Heydrich and a defaced portrait of poor old Siegfried. Incensed at Siegfried's poor treatment I storm out, head down the corridor and continue to try doors at random. The first door leads to an alchemist workshop, full of junk and strange concoctions, where I encounter Karl-Heinz, the castle alchemist, who is employed here by Katarina (the counts sister) to prepare potions and the like to keep her youthful appearance (he lets slip she is 76 years old) although he skirts around another, more sinister way she apparently retains her looks. He doesn't seem much help otherwise so I try another door to find a creaky wooden staircase, this time guarded by a terrible and insubstantial wraith. I can nip up the stairs as I'm protected by my faith, but the text says it'd be a good thing to destroy the evil spirit if I have a magical sword so I set myself for combat. This turns out to be a poor idea as the wraith kicks my ass and drains my skill to boot, although I do vanquish it in the end and have to stop for a meal (I came here with plenty of provisions)
The wraith defeated I ascend the rickety stairs to another silver-glyphed door behind which lurks a massive ghoul, but it cowers back from my goodness so I rush past and up into the top of the tower.
On the way up the steps are filthy and covered with mould and fungus, the tower evidently long disused. At the top, a room bathed in moonlight awaits within which is a chair containing a young woman, seemingly asleep and bound to the chair with a mesh of cobweb at her wrists and ankles. She does not seem to wake if spoken to or nudged, and although I'm given the option of trying to wake her with a kiss this seems creepy and unwelcome so I turn away to search the room.. at which point she rises from her chair and lets out a banshee scream! Although named in the text as a Baobhan Sith she's more banshee than fey and she opens the battle by casting a spell over me that weakens me and reduces my combat skill before attacking me with a razor edged crystalline dagger. I triumph, but am left with just 2 points of stamina, weak as I am from her spell and the wraiths chill touch. Time for more provisions! Searching the room afterwards turns up Siegfried's shield, which further boosts my faith but no my skill sadly. However, with such a talisman of good in my hands, can I fail?
Back in the entrance hall I go north into a long hallway and then west into a richly laid dining room. I am investigating here when the tiger skin rug animates and attacks me! Sadly this rug battle is too much for me in my weakened state and I am stupidly slain by a rug. My adventure ends here!

More to come on this one as I (eventually) battle to defeat the evil count. Really good book though this one: atmospheric text, logical choices, and feels immersive and fun to play instead of a slog. Plus art by the late great Martin McKenna - an artist I always associate with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, his hyper detailed, gloomy, sinister artwork is the perfect fit here for conjuring up the required atmosphere. The whole thing, in fact, has a real early WHFB feel to it with Sargent and Mckenna involved.. its not the horrors of Castle Drachenfels, but I was reminded of it in places.. anyway, it's great!

[Fortnight]

Good write-up! Every time I read one it makes me want to get back to playing. Then I remember that right now my reading copies are stored where it's awkward to get at them, ready for renovation work. Not impossible, though. I should dig them out.

I should also put ink in my printer and print out my scanned 'n' vectorised adventure sheets too.

I've never been all that keen on the idea of the vampire ones though, since I don't really like vampires as a stock mythological and fictional creature (over-rated). Same with zombies, although that's more because of disillusionment with zombie stories in general - they mostly start with an interesting and/or original setup and then descend into generic running about with the characters being picked off one by one. That said, I'm quite interested in playing Blood of the Zombies. It tends to get forgotten because it's not a proper numbered title in any series. How come Scholastic haven't reprinted that one?

Also, I'd no idea that Martin McKenna had died. Not merely died, but committed suicide. He was only a couple of years older than me.

[Richard]

I'm a big fan of Keith Martin / Carl Sargent, and he wrote at least one of my favourite FF books. I think this is his first? His work in combination with Martin McKenna's is a treat, I'll have to dig this book out again.

Looking forward to your next write-up!

[Barrington Boots]

Thanks both. I'll put another part up in a bit, I had to split this into three as I enjoyed it so much. I am also a huge fan of the Sargent / McKenna combo and it sucks they're both no longer with us.
This was a book I'd have avoided as kid as I thought vampires were rubbish, which is a shame because it's so good.

Good write-up! Every time I read one it makes me want to get back to playing. Then I remember that right now my reading copies are stored where it's awkward to get at them, ready for renovation work. Not impossible, though. I should dig them out.

Do it! You can get copies of most of the early books pretty cheap second hand as well if not possible.

I'm quite interested in playing Blood of the Zombies. It tends to get forgotten because it's not a proper numbered title in any series. How come Scholastic haven't reprinted that one?

Sad to say I would avoid this one like the plague (no pun intended). It's frustratingly difficult (it's actually impossible without cheating), lacks variety (you only fight zombies) and abandons the SKILL / LUCK stats in favour of a new type of combat that is frankly awful. It also feels quite unfinished - as well as the aforementioned impossibility it constantly has the reader find stuff like ammo when ammo isn't tracked. I feel like all of this is probably why it hasn't been reprinted!
It does have some very cool art from Kev Crossley however.

[Barrington Boots]

Vault of the Vampire rounds 2 - 3

This time I roll up a much stronger character, with high skill and good faith but low luck. This seems like the sort of big doofus that'd be useful to send into a vampire castle: pure of heart, broad of shoulder and slightly bereft of imagination. I resolve to begin playing as such.

This time my heroic protagonist therefore decides not to accept the offer of a creepy coach ride up to the castle but to walk right past the coachman and into the woods, trusting in my faith to protect me. Apparently there's an trail up to the castle, and a hut along the way where I can rest. I'll have to pay a ferryman to cross the river and the guy from the inn at the start gives me 2GP to pay the toll.
Off I go into the woods and it's about dawn when an arrow whips past my head and an archer and a bloody great bear burst out of the undergrowth. I'm a trusting soul, so I carefully place my sword on the ground and get an arrow in the shoulder or the trouble. But the archer then apologises - she is Valderesse, a ranger charged with protecting these woods from evil, and she sympathises with my task to defeat the Count who she says is an evildoer who is always kidnapping young ladies to be his slaves or worse and surrounds his castle with unnatural bats and wolves. She gives me two more provisions to add to my already generous supplies and escorts me to the ferry where she bullies the malicious ferryman to take me across free of charge and warns me against him.
Before long I'm over the river and pressing on until I find the foresters hut. I need to sleep as I've been up all night and there's already a guy in there, but he's also a friendly sort and gives me dinner and allows me to rest, restoring the damage I took from the arrow earlier. He also reiterates how evil the Count is and gives me a string of garlic to wear about my neck and tells me to seek out the castellan at the castle, a guy named Lothar, who might be able to aid me. Basically, all this walking through the woods has been tons better than getting the coach! From here it's back to Castle Heydrich as per the playthrough before. It's at this point I get killed by a demon horse.

Glossing over that, I restart from the castle gates. Ignoring the wolves and the horse I go back up the belltower to meet Siegfried and then retrace my steps from the previous game up to the alchemist but after speaking to him try a different route. This time I encounter Wilhelm Heydrich, cousin the count, who is sadly mad as a hatter and can't tell me much although he does mutter about a sword hidden in a book. I then go up for the shield, this time not fighting the wraith (as there was literally no benefit in doing so) and so faring much better against the banshee, although I still need to eat some provisions afterwards.
With the shield on my back and my faith pretty high I return to the main hall (the wraith is not there now, phew) and take another route into the castle kitchens - only to find the cook and his assistants are more rotten zombies! I am strong in my faith and these creatures shy back from me as I go through what must be the most unhygienic kitchen ever and help myself to bread, biscuits, cheese and fruit for even more provisions. My pack is now groaning with food.
Then it's into the dining room, where I am forewarned by the sight of the rotting corpse of my previous character and so this time I am thankfully not killed by a stupid rug. After hacking that to bits I start looting bits of the Counts dinner service as well as a decanter of brandy, which counts as more provisions (but can be taken at the same time as them) and finally a small silver mirror that I find covered by a drape. Knowing my vampire lore I'm not leaving that behind.

The door into what appears to be the main part of the castle is locked and I do not have the key, so I try the last corridor I have yet to explore. There is a shrine here, evidently long forgotten, where I find a book belonging to one Gunther Heydrich, so that goes into my pack too. The final door leads to the room of the castle physician, Doctor Adenauer. He is a peevish but reasonably friendly sort who spends a long time complaining about how underpaid he is by the count (I'm not really sure why the count employs this guy given he is a vampire? But whatever) and finally drops a big hint that if paid he might be able to let slip some info or even let me get further into the castle. There's a choice of questions here and each has a cost: I only have the 2GP I got at the inn and some stuff I've nicked from the castle, but I'm able to barter that firstly for the key to the big door round the corner and then I ask for some info on where to find the count, to which the doc glibly tells me he often hangs out in the family crypt without a hint of 'that's a bit weird'.
Leaving the doctor behind I am able to use his key to get into the library, which contains a lot of books about the Heydrich history. The book confirms Siegfried was a good and noble count and Reiner is an evil and cruel one, but it also interestingly notes that a much older Heydrich ancestor was rumoured to be a 'vampyre'. On the margins someone has written 'I too have attained that blessed state' and that someone's handwriting matches that of Reiner. Obviously the reader has known this for a long time but for my character this would be a shocking reveal! Gasp! Good job Reiner wrote that down though!
I'm about to leave when my eyes are drawn to a small untitled book that contains a marvellous illustration of a beautiful sword. The book has a faint magical glow to it. Could my faith have led me to this book? I put it in my pack with all the looted cheese and stuff.
From there I'm able to head through a secret door in a bookcase into a room where I dispatch two rubbish zombies - my faith is no use this time - and climb up to the castles first floor.

It's something of a maze of rooms up here, but thankfully the book allows me to more or less wander at will. My first act is to enter a simple, sparse room containing a guy who looks suspiciously like the count, but older and dressed simply in white. This is Gunther Heydrich, Reiner's other brother, and a kindly soul. He binds my wounds from the banshee battle and tells me Reiner is an evil thing but he does not have it in him to slay his own brother. I immediately admit I have come here to do that and he quite cheerfully agrees that this needs to be done. He gives me a crucifix and tells me I need to find a stake to ram into Reiner's heart as he sleeps in his coffin - although he says Siegfried's sword should also do the trick. He seems very helpful given we're discussing killing his own brother, but all this is helpful, so I show him the book I found in the shrine. He is delighted to have it back (I guess he is confined to this room? Also, should a crucifix really exist in Titan?) and gives me a healing potion as a reward so now I have healing up to the nines!
It turns out this is a good job as the next chamber I enter I set off a magical trap, both harming and partially blinding me, before I am set upon by something called a minor Thassalos, which is an animated, four armed skeleton that can blast me with freezing beams from its eyes. Being partially blinded, this fight is horrific and I am forced to dig into the cheese and brandy afterwards. Worse, the Thassalos was guarding a chest that I have no way of opening, so this was all for nothing!
The next door I try leads to a darkened room containing a slab of black marble draped in red and black sheets upon which rests a coffin. I'm assailed by an evil mist as I enter, but drive it away and once that is done, upend the coffin and smash it with my sword. Flush with righteous energy, I give thanks to my gods. That's the Count sorted, right? I gloomily note that the text says to note I have destroyed ONE of the Counts coffins.
The next door I randomly try reveals a lavish suite of rooms, opulently decorated with gem-studded trinkets and expensive silks. Here, lounging a throne-like chair, is the seductive and sensuous Katarina Heydrich, who rebukes me for not knocking but invites me to enter. She offers me a drink and straight away asks if I am here to kill Reiner. I see little use in lying - firstly I'm an honest, simple crusader type and secondly, is she really going to believe I'm wandering around here at random, tooled up with a sword and a bag of looted provisions? I elect to keep quiet about Nastassia (and also about showing her any of the holy stuff I've collected) and instead I admit I am here to bump of Reiner and she laughs in delight. It seems she is keen to succeed him as ruler of the castle and suggests I obtain a silver tipped stake from Lothar, the Castellan, who she describes as her deadly enemy and a man who is plotting against her - indeed, she begs me to kill Lothar and take the stake before heading on to deal with Reiner. It's obvious this lady is both evil and crazed, but I nod in agreement, not wishing to anger her. and she sends me off to his room with a wicked smile.

Lothar, the castellan, greets me warmly when I enter. Here I am asked if I have been charmed into killing him, which means I have dodged a bullet somewhere! I have no intent in murdering this fellow, but as I sit down I am racked with terrible agonies. Lothar gives me a drink to help me recover. He easily deduces that I must have agreed to aid Katarina, and says one cannot give their word to a sorceress, even if intending to break it, without suffering for it. Weakly I agree. Luckily Lothar trusts me enough to take me into his confidence. He says although Katarina is dangerous, he and Gunther could probably handle her, however Reiner is beyond him. He does give me the silver tipped stake and a ring of keys that will allow me access into any room in the castle bar the crypt: the key to the crypt, he says, is in Reiner's bedroom to the South. Finally he gives me a vague clue about the count hiding something in one of the rooms and muttering 'forward and back' to himself and chuckling about it. With Lothar's best wishes and the keys in hand I bid him farewell and exit, onto a balcony overlooking the courtyard, and after a couple of close shaves with some animated armour and horde of rats (I run away from both, snagging a magic ring the process that heals me a little after winning a battle) I find my way to the Counts chambers.
The counts reception room contains wine and delicious-looking chocolate biscuits that I am invited to try, but I elect not to (I later looked at these and they are as horrible as you might think) and instead pass into his living room where I am attacked by a vampire bat and that most fearsome of vampires, a vampire weasel! In this combat I fight the bat whilst the weasel nips at my legs - unfortunately for me it latches on quickly and starts draining my blood so by the time I've done for the bat and shaken off the weasel I'm feeling a bit depleted and not even the idea of Reiner going to the effort of creating a vampire weasel can lift my spirits.
Finally, the Counts bedroom awaits. Inside are a number of portraits of the Counts horrible vampire ancestors and another coffin. Fearfully I lift the lid but it is unoccupied, so I smash it as I did the first. Next, I turn my attention to his desk, looting some gold and jewellery from it and then, after dodging a trap, finding some holy water that the count has stupidly put in his desk in his own bedroom. What a dumbass! The last treasure, hidden beneath various papers, is the heavy key to the crypt.
As I am thanking my gods I feel a malign presence seeping into the room. The Count? No - it is some spectral servant of his, manifesting from smoke to slay me for my intrusion. This fight is super hard, and the spectre drains me of my life essence, leaving me a lifeless husk on the floor. My adventure ends here!

Final part to follow where I finally give the Count what he deserves!

[Richard]

I love that there's a vampire weasel!

should a crucifix really exist in Titan?

Maybe it's a lower case t for Titan?

[Fortnight]

Another excellent journey journal I'm not saving myself from spoilers, but I won't re-read any walkthroughs prior to commencing my own adventures once I've donned my hiking boots and worked up a thirst for ale.

As soon as I became clued in to the fact that they'd retconned the FF series into a single world of Titan (for the most part) I'd basically extended it in my own mind to presume that Titan was Earth of the far far future after a number of apocalyptic events, but with some remnants of our modern day lurking buried underground in random lost caches.

I yearn for the day Zagor's long forgotten extra-super-secret stash of treasure is found and reveals the marvels of an old electrical plug, an unopened can of sausages & beans, and a publicity photo of Barry Chuckle.