The Role Playing Game Thread: Shiny Dice Roll Better!

[Zardnaar]

And if you don't have Animal Kinship, which, as you correctly point out... nobody would pick unless they knew in advance that they needed it... IIRC you have to make a specific set of choices to even get the spear in the first place, without even taking into account that in your ragged state its a pretty tough fight to even survive and get the spear... especially if again IIRC, you don't have Mindshield, which again... who the hell picks that by Book 2?. But even if you did happen to pick Animal Kinship, you still have to choose correctly, which, again, given the overall "Ha Gotcha! You Dead!" tenure of the entire book you still might not choose correctly... unless, again... you had already failed before and figured out that for a change, trust was your only hope of surviving. But even then... you lose all your gold for the trouble of taking the "easy" path.

Its just a pretty tough bottleneck overall.

@Zardnaar - Since you've apparently read the novelizations... which path is the "correct" one, ie. the one Lone Wolf takes in the novels? Does he use the spear or Animal Kinship?

EDIT: Now that I'm thinking about it, there's another pretty harsh obstacle in the book. There's a point where you MUST have a pretty substantial amount of money to get an item that allows you to proceed, but if you don't have the money you can still proceed with the story a pretty long ways, until suddenly, as a consequence of not getting the item, you die... and there is no way to avoid this death if you didn't get the item way back prior in the story.

Book 2 is actually really tough in first playthrough and/or you have low combat skill. There's one stink encounter book 1 and an instant death result iirc.

In the novel I think he used the spear. I haven't read it since the 90s. Sword of the Sun was one of the better ones.

The 1st books like a prequel, Dark Door Opens is Flight from the Dark. First one I read in 1991.

Shadow on the Sand was first Gamebook I read in 89. Then 8-11. It was what was available.

 

[Arakhor]

My first Lone Wolf gamebook, so for ages I was prejudiced against Hunting, but now it's almost always the first one I take. Typically, I take Hunting, Healing and Weaponskill, some combination of the psychic skills (Sixth Sense, Mind Over Matter and Mind Blast/Mindshield) and leave the other ranger skills (Camouflage, Tracking, Animal Kinship) to last.

Fire on the Water stands out because it's much more like the Fighting Fantasy books, where you lose if you don't have a specific item (and don't find out until half the book later).

 

[Zardnaar]

My first Lone Wolf gamebook, so for ages I was prejudiced against Hunting, but now it's almost always the first one I take. Typically, I take Hunting, Healing and Weaponskill, some combination of the psychic skills (Sixth Sense, Mind Over Matter and Mind Blast/Mindshield) and leave the other ranger skills (Camouflage, Tracking, Animal Kinship) to last.

Fire on the Water stands out because it's much more like the Fighting Fantasy books, where you lose if you don't have a specific item (and don't find out until half the book later).

Healing is easy mode.

If you remember the line in the later books "you retain all the basic skills from previous adventures" things like healing and mind blast soldier on for a looking time.

Just get meals and laumspur whenever you can. Healing takes care of starvation as well.

 

[Arakhor]

It was later limited to only healing 10 EP per gamebook. I think that Project Aon might even include this right from the start.

 

[Zardnaar]

It was later limited to only healing 10 EP per gamebook. I think that Project Aon might even include this right from the start.

Never read that.

 

[Arakhor]

They're all hosted here, if you want to play them online.

 

[Zardnaar]

They're all hosted here, if you want to play them online.

Are they in PDF format? I tried years ago.

Missing 24+.

 

[Arakhor]

If you click the link, you can find out.

 

[Sommerswerd]

My first Lone Wolf gamebook, so for ages I was prejudiced against Hunting, but now it's almost always the first one I take. Typically, I take Hunting, Healing and Weaponskill, some combination of the psychic skills (Sixth Sense, Mind Over Matter and Mind Blast/Mindshield) and leave the other ranger skills (Camouflage, Tracking, Animal Kinship) to last. Fire on the Water stands out because it's much more like the Fighting Fantasy books, where you lose if you don't have a specific item (and don't find out until half the book later).

Your first gamebook was which? you seem to have left that out. Tell me for the love of everything that is sacred! I'm on the edge of my seat!



My first was Book 4. After that I got Book 5 I think, but then I got Book 1 and started my adventure over in "proper" order. Initially I always took Sixth Sense, Tracking, Camouflage, Weaponskill and Healing, which I quickly replaced with Hunting... until I figured out that you need Animal Kinship in Book 2, so I started taking that instead of Hunting. I had this sadistic personal rule that if I died in any book, I had to start over on Book 1, so I ended up playing the first few books many times. I took Healing in my first few Book 4 play-throughs and never took it again.

As an aside, I remember dying to Zakhan Kimah multiple times without the Sommerswerd, which essentially forced me to go get Book 1 and start from scratch to get this weapon, which I believed was the only way I would be able to complete Book 5. However the joke was on me, when I got all the way back to the battle with Kimah with the Sommerswerd, only to find out that if you have the Sommerswerd, the battle with Kimah is even harder. I lost at least one more time before finally managing to beat him. I think that Zakhan Kimah was the hardest enemy I faced across all 12 Books, just because of how strong he is relative to the player. IIRC it was having the Sommerswerd+Weaponskill with swords+ high rolls for endurance and combat skill+ luck that finally allowed me to beat Kimah. He was tough.

Healing is easy mode. If you remember the line in the later books "you retain all the basic skills from previous adventures" things like healing and mind blast soldier on for a looking time.
Just get meals and laumspur whenever you can. Healing takes care of starvation as well.

Agree that Healing seemed to make the game too easy. It was also a pain/immersion breaking to have to remember to add a point after every numbered section. I took Healing on my first playthrough, and it healed all the damage I took in my first fight, then I took more damage in the book, but forgot about my Healing skill, and ended up dying later. Only some time after I died did I remember that I wasn't properly keeping up with my healing. I may have lost the fight anyway, but that sort of cemented the idea in my mind that 1)Healing made the game too easy; and 2)Healing was too much of a pain to keep track of

They're all hosted here, if you want to play them online.

Project Aon is amazing. I've used it to play some of the books and also read some of the new ones that I never got to. It isn't the same as having the smelly old paperback in your hands, but its still very nostalgic and I appreciate the love they put into it.

Are they in PDF format? I tried years ago. Missing 24+.

I think they have everything now... maybe missing one book. Its available both as an online read as well as PDF. I don't know how they get away with it TBH, but its a really fantastic job they've done.

 

[Arakhor]

Your first gamebook was which? you seem to have left that out. Tell me for the love of everything that is sacred! I'm on the edge of my seat!

Heh. So I did! You could probably have worked out that it was Caverns of Kalte from the context of undervaluing Hunting though.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Heh. So I did! You could probably have worked out that it was Caverns of Kalte from the context of undervaluing Hunting though.

Speaking of Kalte... I just looked at a complete map of Magnamund and realized for the first time, how similar it is to Westeros. Funny that.

 

[Arakhor]

Vaguely, I suppose, but I don't think that Westeros has deserts in it.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Vaguely, I suppose, but I don't think that Westeros has deserts in it.

Most of Dorne is desert hence some of the houses being known as Lords of the Red Dunes or Lords of the Wells.

 

[Arakhor]

Shows what I know, then. I've never been interested in ASOIAF.

 

[AmazonQueen]

Shows what I know, then. I've never been interested in ASOIAF.

I have too much time on my hands atm and a good memory for trivia.
At least I'll have learned a lot, even if none of it is useful

 

[Arakhor]

I have too much time on my hands atm and a good memory for trivia.
At least I'll have learned a lot, even if none of it is useful

Sounds rather too much like me!

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I've got both but I can't see buying more Lone Wolf just to sit on my shelf. My oldest son showed some interest in it out of the blue, which gave me an excuse to replace my collection of the original 12... but sadly he lost interest after being unable to complete book 2 without dying.

Persistence is necessary for some of the Fighting Fantasy books. It took me 12 tries to get through Deathtrap Dungeon and FIFTY-ONE tries to get through its sequel, Trial of Champions. If your Skill isn't at least 11 when starting those books, just forget it.

I started novelizing Deathtrap Dungeon a few years ago, but haven't gotten past the basic introductory material, where that character meets the character from City of Thieves (I decided the latter is female; in my "FF-verse" they end up as a couple even though the events are likely not contemporaneous; I've also rejuggled the timelines to suit my own storytelling).

 

[Sommerswerd]

Persistence is necessary for some of the Fighting Fantasy books. It took me 12 tries to get through Deathtrap Dungeon and FIFTY-ONE tries to get through its sequel, Trial of Champions. If your Skill isn't at least 11 when starting those books, just forget it.

I started novelizing Deathtrap Dungeon a few years ago, but haven't gotten past the basic introductory material, where that character meets the character from City of Thieves (I decided the latter is female; in my "FF-verse" they end up as a couple even though the events are likely not contemporaneous; I've also rejuggled the timelines to suit my own storytelling).

I hadn't heard of this series and had to look it up. It appears that they've made it into a video game as well. I'm always curious if anyone has encountered a gamebook RPG that was converted well into a videogame.

 

[Arakhor]

The Sorcery series is reportedly very good.

 

[Ajidica]

What are these Fighting Fantasy books? They sound sort of like choose-your-own-adventure books with skillchecks and intsta-fail gates.