The Dervish Stone: Final Thoughts

So, I'm not dead.  Nor am I maimed, ill, discomforted, or otherwise incapable of blogging.  Thus I have returned, keyboard at the ready, to continue blogging through the Fighting Fantasy series in exhaustive detail.  Rejoice, despair, or shrug apathetically.  Whichever you prefer.

When I left off I'd just completed The Dervish Stone, the adventure from Warlock #4, so I still have to do a couple of wrap-up posts to finish it off completely.  Needless to say I'm working off memories that are almost a year old here, so my recollections may be somewhat hazy.  I'll do the best I can, but this probably won't be as comprehensive as usual.

The Dervish Stone, written by Paul Struth, was a fan competition entry, with the winner of said competition awarded with publication in the magazine.  I'm not sure how old Struth was at the time, bit it's probably not a stretch to say that he was pretty young.  It's important to remember this context when reviewing the Dervish Stone, because its flaws and strengths are pretty much what you'd expect given the circumstances.

Firstly, there's no escaping it: this thing is derivative as hell.  References to Star Wars abound, from the Sarlacc to the cantina to the Stormtroopers that "don't need to see your identification".  There's even more than those three examples, sadly.  Not only that, but the last portion of the adventure - a labyrinth filled with traps guarding a large jewel - cribs shamelessly from Indiana Jones.  There's even a bit where you have to stick your hand in one of three holes, one of which contain a deadly scorpion, which is probably taken from Flash Gordon.

It's not just movies either; Struth has raided the D&D manuals for his monster roster.  Bugbears, Blue Dragons and Fire Giants are right out of D&D, while Thouls and Bronze Golems are very specifically from Basic D&D.  It's a hard thing to criticise, as Steve and Ian did much the same thing when writing The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.  Still, they had the sense to avoid some of D&D's more idiosyncratic monsters, which made it feel like a bit less of a rip-off.

There's also a slight lack of polish.  The plot - a search for a lost diamond - is right off the shelf, and doesn't really progress in a way that makes sense.  The hero finds a note that mentions the diamond, goes into town to buy some gear, then just wanders into the desert and stumbles onto the correct path.  Some more clues or guidance would really have helped here.  There's also some hiccups and strange choices going on mechanically, though perhaps those should have been picked up by the editor as well.

What the adventure does have going for it, though, is a certain level of enthusiasm.  This is particularly on display in its most thrilling encounter, a battle in the skies over a hungry Earth Demon, which sees you riding Griffons, throwing orcs to their demise, and fighting on the back of a dragon (or poisoning it with a gas capsule, as I did).  It's a lot of fun, even if finding the right path can be frustrating.

So while The Dervish Stone has its flaws, it's fairly well done in context.  It's never going to be anyone's favourite Fighting Fantasy, and it's not exactly what I'd call a hidden gem, but it is a reasonably fun adventure that a lot of FF fans probably haven't played before.  It's worth a look, so long as you can stomach all of the Star Wars references.

COOL STUFF I MISSED

I think I covered most of what this adventure has to offer in my dozen attempts.  About the only thing I didn't do was defeat the Sorcerer-Governor of Alasiyan, but as I suspected it's a pointless battle with a reward that's hardly worth the danger.

MISTAKES AND RED HERRINGS

There are a couple of instances where Skill and Stamina are mixed up, and a number of paragraphs that are almost impossible to get to, because you'll always have the Boots of Levitation by the time you reach them.  Otherwise there are no glaring errors, and no items that serve no purpose as far as I could tell.

BEST DEATH

There are 19 instant death passages in The Dervish Stone, which is a whopping number for such a small adventure.  For comparison, House of Hell only as 16 (although given the way that book loops around on itself I suspect there are many, many ways to reach those passages).  Anyway, this means I had plenty to choose from.  Most of the best ones were from the gauntlet at the end, and I chose the following:

Yep, it was the dangling corpse that got it over the line.

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

Story and Setting: For such a small adventure, the setting is quite well thought out and evocative, with the lawless town of Alasiyan perched on the edge of the deadly Twin Suns Desert.  The story's elementary stuff, though; Fighting Fantasy had already moved past simple treasure hunts by its second book.  It also lacks a little focus, as it's not clear how you should progress, or whether you're on the right track until the very end.  Even so, the set-piece battle in the skies against Kuperan's forces is very impressive.  Rating: 3 out of 7.

Toughness: The Dervish Stone was surprisingly difficult in numerous ways; I feel like I was about even on being killed by the dice versus dying due to making the wrong decision.  Still, too many of those deaths felt like I wasn't given fair warning, and once again we have an adventure that's unkind to characters with low stats.  A dozen attempts feels about right for completing a full-length FF, but for a short adventure it's too much, so I'll have to mark this one down.  Rating: 3 out of 7.

Aesthetics: I liked Tim Sell's artwork for House of Hell, but it's lacking in polish here.  The magazine format does it no favours either.  Rating: 2 out of 7.

Mechanics: This one could go either way, as for every moment where Paul Struth uses the rules well, there's another where he cocks it up.  On the whole, though, there are no glaring errors, mostly points of ambiguity, so I'm going to be generous.  Rating: 3 out of 7.

Innovation and Influence: This adventure gets a minor point for being one of the first to not be written by Jackson, Jackson or Livingstone, and another minor point for beating Temple of Terror to the desert setting by a few months.  It should probably lose a bit for ripping off George Lucas so shamelessly, though.  Rating: 2 out of 7.

NPCs and Monsters: There's actually a decent selection of monsters in this adventure, albeit ripped right out of D&D.  (Basic D&D to be precise, whereas regular FF seems to draw more from Advanced D&D.)  The characters here are pretty thin, but Kuperan and his fleet do serve as a satisfying major antagonist.  It's just too bad that so few of the encounters have anything at all to do with the Stone of Shanhara.  Rating: 3 out of 7.

Amusement: This one was decent fun to begin with, but it had certainly worn out its welcome by the end.  It's also overly linear, and if it wasn't for the battle with Kuperan I'd be marking it even lower.  Rating: 2 out of 7.

No bonus point for The Dervish Stone.  The above scores add up to 18, which doubled gives a S.T.A.M.I.N.A. Rating of 36.  This puts it equal last with the preview of Caverns of the Snow Witch, which I'm perfectly happy with.

Next week (theoretically) I'll be back to dig deeper into this adventure, with an Exploring Titan post.  Then it's back to the main series for Talisman of Death.