House of Hell (preview): Final Thoughts

In back-to-back issues of Warlock magazine, we have one adventure by Ian Livingstone, and another by Steve Jackson, both of which were intended as previews for their forthcoming books.  I've said it before, but these two adventures sum up Jackson's and Livingstone's approach to writing gamebooks pretty well.  Warlock #2 featured Ian's preview of Caverns of the Snow Witch, in which Ian chopped out the first half of the book, changed the ending a little, and called it a day.  The House of Hell preview from Warlock #3 is a different beast altogether.  Not content with just turning in a shortened version of the adventure, Jackson redesigned it, shuffled things around, changed the ending, and gave us an experience that is similar to the book, but different enough to be worth looking at.

That said, the design of House of Hell means that it would have been almost impossible to do it the way Ian did it for Caverns.  It just doesn't break up into neat sections the way that Caverns does, and there are no convenient choke-points where you could leave it with a "to be continued".  House of Hell is a complex design, and a rewrite seems to me to be the only viable way of providing a cut down version.

Given that it's half as long, it's inevitable that the preview version is far less of a complex design than the book.  It's been streamlined into a much more linear experience.  Even so, Jackson has found room to add some all-new material.  If you pull the bell-rope at the beginning, you'll play through a whole new section that's not in the book, but gives a quick glimpse of some areas and characters that are important there.  It does what a preview should: shows you most of the things you'll experience in the complete version, while not revealing all of its secrets.

I should probably stop comparing this adventure to its full-length counterpart, and focus on its actual content, but it's a little hard to do that when I'm so familiar with the original.  I also want to leave myself with something to say when I get to the book version.  What I'll say is this: if you're a fan of House of Hell, the magazine preview is worth tracking down.  It has the same atmosphere and nightmarish qualities as the book, but is different enough to provide some genuine surprises.  As for the rest, I'll save it for the full-length review (although much of what I would have said ended up in the S.T.A.M.I.N.A. Rating below).

COOL STUFF I MISSED

I covered most of the areas in this adventure.  About the only thing I wasn't able to do was defeat the vampire, and that just leads right to the cult sacrifice and the end-game.

MISTAKES AND RED HERRINGS

This is a tight adventure, and I only found two items that serve no purpose: some belladonna, and a valuable book of medieval artwork.

As for mistakes, there's one big one in paragraph 12.  You are trying to sneak past the cultists and escape, and must Test Your Luck, but the results have been mixed up, and being Lucky results in the cultists catching you.

BEST DEATH

This has seven instant deaths, which is a fair number for a short adventure.  All of them are pretty good, but for sheer antagonism I have to go with the following:

I love it when the gamebook narrator gets insulting, and "You deserved to die!" is one of the all-time greats.

S.T.A.M.I.N.A. RATING

Story and Setting: On paper, it's a haunted house adventure with a big bad to kill at the end, and a host of ghost story cliches.  In execution it's pure horror, presented about as graphically as can be done in a book for kids.  There are cliches aplenty, but the relish with which Jackson and artist Tim Sell depict them elevates the adventure far beyond most others of its type.  The story is presented piecemeal, and the background of the house is never quite laid out in full, but that just adds to its air of mystery.  It also leaves a lot of room for speculation, which I'm a fan off.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Toughness: This is a challenging adventure, and it's almost certain that multiple play-throughs will be required.  As usual with Jackson's adventures, the challenge comes from a well-hidden path to victory rather than a reliance on difficult battles.  The only part of the challenge that I feel has been a little misjudged is the Fear score; a low roll can result in a very short adventure.  That said, you can beat it with minimum stats, and that's always a bonus.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Aesthetics: It's a haunted house with goat-headed Satan worshippers, what more can you want?  Jackson's prose is atmospheric, if a little excitable at times.  As for Tim Sell, I waver back and forth.  His style almost verges on goofy at times, and I find myself thinking that it's a poor fit.  But then I see his depictions of those aforementioned cultists, and I remember just how much they freaked me out when I was ten.  It's a weird blend of cartoonish and terrifying, and I can't quite put my finger on why it works, but it does so in a way that I'm not sure a more traditional horror artist would.  This loses points for the format, though: a magazine is never ideal for gamebooks, and this one also has a whopping great boardgame breaking it up in the middle.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Mechanics: The Fighting Fantasy rules are always good for a solid rating, and House of Hell uses them well.   The Fear score is the major new element, and it's one that I have some problems with.  Exploration is kind of the meat of the gamebook experience, and the Fear mechanic actively discourages it.  It also results in some absurd deaths, which is good for a laugh but not so much fun when it brings your adventure to an abrupt halt.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Innovation and Influence: This is the first horror-themed Fighting Fantasy, and the first to be set in the modern day.  It also introduces the Fear mechanic.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

NPCs and Monsters: On the monster side of things, we have a lot of old horror stand-bys: ghosts, zombies, a vampire, and evil cultists.  While they're perhaps a bit over-familiar, they're presented here as sources of sheer terror, rather than simple monsters, and that goes a long way to making them feel fresh.  Given the subject matter you'd think that there would be more complex characters here than in the usual FF, but that's not really true.  Franklins the butler, the Earl of Drumer, the hunchback, the prisoner in grey, and various ghosts provide plenty of variety, but they're not that deep given that this is a half-length adventure.  It feels like there's more to them, and you can piece some of the backstory together, but it never quite coheres.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Amusement: I love House of Hell, and the Satanic horror themes that it depicts.  It's grim, it's bloody, it's unnerving, and it revels in every second of it.  This shortened version is perhaps a little too brief and linear, but it's still very enjoyable.  Rating: 6 out of 7.

With some reluctance, I'm not going to give this one the bonus point.  It's an enjoyable alternative to House of Hell, but in the future I'll still be far more likely to bust out the original.  The above scores total 36, which doubled gives a S.T.A.M.I.N.A. Rating of 72 (just under City of Thieves).  It feels a little high for such a short adventure, but what do you expect when its source material is one of the best gamebooks of all time?  (Also, I feel like I might have have-arsed things by giving almost every category a score of 5, but that's just how it came out.  What can I say, it's an adventure that excels in all areas, but I had to leave some room for the full-length version.)

NEXT: For my next post I'm taking a detour into Port of Peril, Ian Livingstone's most recent joint.  After that, it's back to radical goat-headed Satanists with House of Hell, the book.

House of Hell (preview) - Attempts 7 to 9

In my last post, I outlined a plan of action for the opening stages of the preview version of House of Hell.  Over the course of my first six attempts, I felt as though I'd covered pretty much everything, and had worked out the best path to progress forward and defeat the Vampire, and ultimately the Earl of Drumer.  As it turns out, these next three attempts showed me a few things that I'd been missing, and a new path that had been previously hidden.

That's getting into spoiler territory, though, and best left for the actual write-up of my adventures.  Onward!

Attempt 7

 For this attempt I rolled Skill 7 (reduced to 4 for being unarmed), Stamina 20, Luck 9 and Fear 12.  Already I was off to a bad start.  My plan involved fighting a pair of Great Danes, as well as a Zombie, and a Skill of 4 wasn't going to cut it.

So, in the interests of getting my hands on a weapon, I chose the bell-pull at the beginning of the adventure and was dumped into the cellar.  I had an amicable meeting with the hunchback Shekou, who led me back to the ground floor, where I failed to sneak quietly up a staircase.  This alerted Franklins the butler to my presence, and made my whole trip down below pointless.  I'd been caught before finding any weapons, and would have to contend with the adventure with an effective Skill of 4.

After that I did the usual schtick: dining with the Earl, getting myself drugged on purpose, escaping and meeting the ghost bride.  Following that I went downstairs to the library, where I found the pentacle (which grants power over devil-worshippers), and opened a secret door.

I'd gone this way in previous adventures, and rescued a man in grey who was a former servant of the Earl.  What I hadn't explored much was a pantry, containing all sorts of food: cakes, bread, fish, fruit, cheese, and wine.  I had come here before, but hadn't tried any of the food.  This time I tried everything except for cheese and red wine, as I was well aware that those were drugged.  It was fairly rewarding: most of the things you can eat provide a Stamina boost, and the wine knocks off 2 points of Fear at the cost of a point of Skill.  With a more competent character that would be a good trade-off, but it was a bad idea for Steve Urkel over here, who was left with a Skill of 3.

With that in mind, I decided not to risk rescuing the man in grey, and went back upstairs.  My chances with the Great Danes weren't looking good either, but I knew that I needed that garlic.  So in I went to the room with the dead old lady, and proceeded to wake her up and provoke her until she set her dogs on me.

I prepared myself for an early end, but for once in my life the dice were in my favour.  Sure, I was left with 3 points of Stamina, but beating two Great Danes to death with my bare hands is pretty impressive for a guy with a Skill of 3.  I rewarded myself with some garlic and belladonna, and made for the next encounter.

Next stop was to fight the Zombie in the unmarked room, which I had second thoughts about once I got there.  Those second thoughts were moot, however, because once you're in that room there's no getting out without a fight.  I had to suffer the automatic damage that comes from being surprise attacked by a zombie hiding behind a curtain, and then the bugger killed me in the first round of combat.

All in all, a highly unsuccessful adventure, but a failure that was no fault of mine.  That Skill of 7, coupled with a failed Luck test that stopped me from finding a weapon, was what did me in.

Attempt 8

For attempt number 8, I rolled Skill 9, Stamina 20, Luck 9 and Fear 11.  That's a proper Joe Average character, albeit one with a high tolerance for scares.  Thankfully stats aren't all-important in this adventure, so I was reasonably confident of getting to that vampire and finally doing him in.

Once again I chose the bell-pull path, but while waiting for Shekou I did a quick search of the cellar, looking for a weapon.  A successful Luck test turned up a branch about the size of a baseball bat, which I proceeded to lug around for the remainder of the adventure.  (Who knows what the Earl of Drumer was thinking through our dinner, or why he didn't take the damn thing off me while I was unconscious.)

Following that I took the same options as in Attempt 7, including raiding the pantry for some wine to offset my Fear.  I gave the Great Danes a good old thrashing, and did the same for the Zombie, claiming the garlic, the belladonna and a key marked '114'.

Soon after that I was near my goal, with a choice of two doors: the Astor Room and the Master Suite.  I knew that the vampire was in the Master Suite, but I wanted to check out the Astor Room again.  I'd been in there before, but it had been so uneventful that I was suspicious.

The Astor Room had nothing in it except for a bed, but there was music playing from an unknown source.  As I explored the room I heard footsteps approaching fro outside, and I decided to find a place to hide.  After a successful Luck test I hit on the idea of jumping under the bed-covers.  It seemed like a terrible plan to me, but what's the worst that could happen?

As it turned out, the worst was something completely unexpected.  The moment I was cozy in bed, it flipped up and deposited me in a chute, and I tumbled downstairs into a bad, bad scene.  A scene so bad that it got censored out of the book version (well, the scene didn't get censored, but the illustration sure did).

Thank God for that considerate cultist covering her boobs.  Some kids might really have been scarred by this.

From a hidden alcove I watched on as about forty goat-headed cultists prepared to sacrifice a young woman.  This is the sort of situation where a hero might leap out and rescue the fair maiden, but I wasn't a hero.  I was Joe Average with a tree branch.  Besides, if there's one life lesson that gamebooks have taught me, it's that you DON'T MESS WITH DUDES WEARING GOAT HEADS FOR HATS.

So rather than mount a rescue, I tried to look for another way out.  There was another passageway leading from the chamber, and there was a possibility I'd be able to sneak through it if I was careful.  Alas, I wasn't careful enough, and one of the cultists spotted me.  (I wonder how.  It's dark down here, and peripheral vision in those goat hats has got to be terrible.)

Luckily for me, I had a secret weapon: the pentacle.  I whipped it out (by turning to entry 66), and its power compelled the devil-worshippers to let me by unharmed.  Maybe I could have used it to make them free the girl as well, but no sense pushing things too far.  The line between heroism and death is a fine one.

I emerged into a room with two doors, and chose the door on the right.  It was locked, but I was able to open it with my numbered key.  It was the dining-room, where I had previously taken supper with the Earl of Drumer.  A quick search of the room didn't reveal anything (because I failed a Luck test), so I pulled a rope to summon the butler.

Franklins entered quickly, and after I demanded to see the Earl he rushed off to fetch him.  The Earl was super-pissed at being disturbed in the middle of the night, which I find a bit weird given the circumstances.  Was he really asleep?  While a load of cultists were doing ritual sacrifices in his basement?  It's the sort of thing I'd expect a master of evil to be awake for.

Eight buttons.  Seriously.

Anyway, I'd had enough of the ghostly shenanigans going on in the house, so I attacked the Earl with my branch.  It was useless; only the Kris Knife could harm him, and I hadn't found it.  Alas, my life ended, strangled to death by a man in a smoking jacket and a cravat.  (And like, eight buttons on his trousers?  Going to the toilet has got to be difficult.)

Attempt 9

I'd been diverted from my goal of defeating the vampire during my last attempt, but I had an inkling that I might just have discovered a better way of reaching the endgame.  For my next character I rolled Skill 12, Stamina 20, Luck 8 and Fear 10.

With my Skill at the peak of human capacity, I ignored the bell-pull and went straight into dining with the Earl of Drumer.  After being drugged I powered through the ghost bride encounter, claimed the pentacle from the library, and reset my Fear score with some wine from the pantry.  I didn't bother fighting the Great Danes, as I wasn't going to be encountering the vampire, but I did make a point of taking out the Zombie and claiming the key to the dining-room.

After that I made for the Astor Room, climbed into the bed, and was dumped down the chute.  (As I had previously suspected, this bed is no doubt the subject of the message you see in the library, 'Beware the astorbed".  More on that in my next post.)  Once again I got past the cultists with the pentacle, and was faced with a choice of two rooms.

This time I chose the door to the left, and entered a drawing room with a table in the centre and a full-length mirror.  I was shocked to see that the mirror cast no reflection (which raised my Fear score to 4), and when I tried to touch it my hand passed right through.  This was no doubt intriguing, but before passing all the way through I decided to fully explore the drawing-room.

It was lucky I did, because in a secret compartment in the table I found a leather box.  Before I could open the box there were footsteps from outside, so I grabbed the box and jumped through the mirror, where I emerged in a small room.  There I took the chance to open the box, and inside I found the Kris Knife!  Huzzah!  Now, all I needed was to get back to the dining-room...

I waited until things were quiet, and stepped back through the mirror and out of the drawing-room.  Using my key I unlocked the dining-room, and summoned the butler for the final confrontation.

Once more I faced the irate Earl of Drumer, but I had come prepared.  With my Skill of 12, and the Kris Knife, he was hopelessly outmatched.  He put in a decent late flurry, hitting me twice, but the result was never in doubt.

My final blow sent the Earl stumbling into a chandelier, which set the room ablaze.  I smashed a window with a chair and leaped to safety, then watched in satisfaction as the house went up in an enormous blaze of fire.  And ghosts, apparently.  I had survived, and destroyed the evil of the House of Hell!

I should have torched this place much earlier.

THE POST-GAME

Yes!  Success!

Still, as happy as I am to have beaten this adventure, I'm a little disappointed that I made a big plan for defeating the vampire and then never got to see it through.  On the other hand, by-passing him makes for a much easier adventure, with a lot of risks that can be avoided.  But for all I know beating the vampire just leads to certain death further on, so maybe it's all for the best.

To be honest, I almost feel like I cheated to win.  I didn't, of course.  This blog has a strict non-cheating policy.  But my discovery of the winning path was so accidental that I don't quite feel like I earned it.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for House of Hell.  Except, hang on a second...  The next book on my list is House of Hell?  Yep, based strictly on release order, I'd be following the magazine preview version of House of Hell with the complete book version of House of Hell.  That's far from ideal, so I'm going to take a minor detour first.  After my next post, which will be a wrap-up on this adventure, I'm going to do a single post on the newest FF book, Port of Peril.

If any of you aren't aware, Scholastic Books has taken up the series, and along with some old classics they've released a new adventure by Ian Livingstone, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.  It's the first genuinely new fantasy adventure from Ian since Legend of Zagor, and the first one set in Allansia since Return to Firetop Mountain, so I'm pretty excited about it.  (I'm not counting Eye of the Dragon, since it was heavily based on his adventure from Dicing With Dragons.) I'm going to have one go at it, do a single blog on that one adventure, then it'll be back to the regular schedule.  I have no idea what Port of Peril is about, but given the name I'm anticipating a return to Port Blacksand, maybe?  That would be way cool, and I'm really looking forward to cracking it open.