Island of the Lizard King - Attempts 3 to 13

Yes, you did read that correctly: in this post I'll be tackling attempts 3 through 13 of Island of the Lizard King.  This might lead you to believe that I've spent a lot of time reading this book in the last week, but really I only read it for an hour or so.  It could also lead you to believe that I've been playing the book exceedingly poorly.  There's a bit more truth to that, but the situation isn't quite so simple.  The truth is that only two of the above attempts were genuine, and the rest were...  Well, read on to find out.

ATTEMPT 3

For this attempt I rolled a Skill of 8, a Stamina of 22, and a Luck of 8.  From previous games I was more than aware how combat-heavy this book is, and I held little hope that this guy could ever make it through.  I doubted he could even get past the battles at the very beginning.  So I landed on Fire Island with Mungo and together we scrambled over the rocks to our left.  Mungo got nippered by the Giant Crab, but rather than go to his aid I decided to make a run for it.  Alas, I ran right into a patch of quicksand and died screaming.  The last thing I saw was Mungo being crushed to death by the Crab.  Gee, that was quick.  Yeah...  Super-quick...

ATTEMPTS 4 to 9 & 11 to 13

For my next character I rolled a Skill of 8 again, and sighed heavily. Another no-hoper.  Then I had a eureka moment: I didn't have to play this guy at all.  All I had to do was march him into the quicksand, mourn for the appropriate length of time (about half a  second should do it), then roll up the next guy.  Cheers Ian, it's a wonderfully handy bit of design.  I wish all of your books had such an early escape hatch.

ATTEMPT 10

In the midst of that suicide-by-quicksand montage I did roll an adequate character: Skill 10, Stamina 17, Luck 12.  I seriously considered quicksanding this guy as well, but a mild sense of guilt stayed my hand.  I figured that I should at least have a go with any character that stood a legitimate chance.  Finishing the book with Skill 10 would be hard, but not impossible.

After landing on the island with Mungo, I once more chose the path with the Giant Crab.  This time I didn't run away, but instead went to Mungo's aid and killed the Giant Crab.  I went to the hut and drank the anti-poison potion, killed the three headhunters, and chose the path that leads towards their village.  I had yet to explore that option, and as usual I was keen to get into some new territory.  (By this point I had a Stamina of 12, having been wounded twice by the crab and once by the headhunters.)

I followed the sound of drums, and soon came to a clearing ringed by bamboo huts.  In the centre, a bunch of headhunters were surrounding a man tied to a post.

It's not racist, it's a genre trope.

The headhunters were preparing to take this man's head, so I determined to rescue him.  To that end I set one of the huts on fire, and in the confusion (with a successful Luck test, reducing my score to 11) I was able to sneak into the village and cut the man free.  As we were fleeing, though, a headhunter spotted me and launched a spear.  I had to roll a die to determine what happened, and I rolled a 1.  The spear pierced my shoulder (reducing my Stamina to 9), but the man I had rescued came to my aid and dragged me to a nearby hut.  He then charged into battle with the headhunters, killing three of them before they cut him down.  I was left to do battle with the chief (Skill 8, Stamina 8).  He fought well (reducing my Stamina to 5), but I was able to kill him and take his spear.  No-one else attacked, and I fled into the jungle.

Soon I was out of the jungle and into the swamp; back in territory that I knew from previous attempts.  I ate two provisions to restore my strength (bring my Stamina back up to 13).  Once again the Marsh Hopper appeared to lure me into the swamp, but this time I ignored him and made my own way through.  It wasn't a good idea, as I was soon attacked by a Slime Sucker.

This guy would kill it as a DJ.

I had the option of hurling my spear at the Slime Sucker, but on the requisite die roll I scored a 1.  As a result, the mud on my hand caused the spear to slip, and I was forced to battle it with my sword.  There's a bit of a rule discrepancy in this section, though.  If you don't have the spear, the book tells you that you have to subtract 2 from your Attack Strength due to fighting in a swamp.  If you do have the spear and you miss, the resultant section makes no mention of this penalty.  I considered going with the letter of the rules, and ignoring the penalty, but in the end I opted to go with the spirit, and fight the Slime Sucker with an effective Skill of 8.  I'm my own worst enemy.

(At this point I'd like to point out my annoyance that the spear-throwing was resolved by a simple die roll.  I don't mind this for situations that aren't in my character's control, for example if an enemy fires an arrow at me.  But if I'm taking an action, such as throwing a spear?  I think that should be resolved based on my stats, and not pure Luck.)

As you would expect, the Slime Sucker (Skill 10, Stamina 9) murdered me.  I used a lot of my Luck to try to even the fight, but I never even looked like winning.

THE POST-GAME
I never stood much of a chance with this character, and as usual I succumbed to my desire to explore.  Normally when I play these books I stick to the paths I'm familiar with, but writing them up for the blog makes me want to check out new areas.  I'll definitely go back to the headhunter village, because I want to see if I can properly rescue their victim.  As for the Slime Sucker, I'll probably avoid him next time, unless I have the spear and a super-buff character.