Exploring Titan 6: Island of the Lizard King

Island of the Lizard King, the seventh installment in the Fighting Fantasy series, continues the trend started in the previous book: the establishment of a shared world.  The sixth book, Deathtrap Dungeon, had the hero begin his adventure in Port Blacksand, the place where the fifth book, City of Thieves, was set.  Island of the Lizard King goes it one better, as the hero begins his journey at the site of Deathtrap Dungeon, then travels through Port Blacksand in order to begin the adventure.  It's not likely that the hero of all three books is the same guy.  After all, the hero of City of Thieves isn't about to make his way back into Port Blacksand, and any character that beats Deathtrap Dungeon should be enjoying his well-earned fortune rather than embarking on another dangerous quest.  The hero's identity is less important than the shared setting being created, and the sense that all of the adventures so far have been linked in some way, even if it's just geographically.

Island of the Lizard King is not one of the more notable additions to that setting, but it does introduce a number of places: the village of Oyster Bay and the titular Fire Island.  Neither is revisited much in later books, but they both bear some further scrutiny.

It's established at the outset that Oyster Bay is a quiet fishing village about sixty miles down the coast from Port Blacksand (does "down" in this case mean south or north?).  It's at the end of a long peninsula and accessible only by a steep, winding path, so it's mostly cut off from the dangers of the "hinterland". (Note that Livingstone describes the village as being populated by "fishermen and their wives." Hey it's the early 80s, gender essentialism was all the rage.  I can't talk, I'm constantly referring to the book's hero as a male.)  The hero is described as journeying south from Fang, and deciding to head for Oyster Bay.  It says that it takes him two days to get there, but there's no indication of how far south of Fang he was when the urge to visit Mungo came over him.  The distance remains ambiguous.

The village is described as a cluster of stone cottages nestled between the foot of the cliffs and a jetty, where a dozen fishing boats lie at anchor.  A rough estimate of the population can be made from this; with only a dozen boats, there can't be more than a hundred people living here, surely?  Even if some of the boats are out at sea the population can't be much higher.  Their cuisine is predictably high on seafood: the hero eats a meal of lobster and salad while preparing for the adventure.

The people are friendly, peaceful folk, with no gold or material wealth. The only one who is notable as a character is Mungo, an old adventuring partner of the hero.  Mungo is angry that the young men of Oyster Bay have been kidnapped by Lizard Men, and is determined to sail out and rescue them. He's otherwise friendly and talkative, and quite a lovable fellow. It doesn't seem at all implausible that he'd get out of the adventuring game and go live in a peaceful village somewhere.  (It should also be noted that his father was a circus strongman who died while attempting the Trial of Champions.  It's a fairly pointless addition, but it gives Mungo some background and serves to further tie the setting together.)

That brings me to Fire Island, seemingly less than a day's sailing west of Oyster Bay.  Years ago it was established as a prison colony by one Prince Olaf, who wanted to rid his land of undesirables.  (Yet another reference to royalty.  As usual, I will chalk it up to the kingdom of Salamonis unless given better evidence.)  Olaf paid a tribe of Lizard Men to act as his prison guards.  (Why Lizard Men?  Were they native to the island, or was it a case of Olaf trying to use guards adapted to the tropical environment?).  It turned out that Olaf just had too many ne'er-do-wells in his kingdom, and couldn't afford to maintain the island.  When the pay dried up, the Lizard Men took over in a bloody coup, led by a former guard who declared himself the Lizard King.  The Lizard King set the prisoners to work in his mines, but with the original prisoners being worked to death he has sent raiders out looking for replacements.

The Lizard King is also rumoured to be a practitioner of "voodoo and black magic", and is conducting genetic experiments to create an invincible race of Lizard Men.  The experiments have yet to work, but some of these grotesque mutants have survived.  The potions used in the experiments also found their way into the water supply, mutating the local flora and fauna into man-eating plants and giant beasts.  (To be honest, most of this sounds more interesting than the adventure we got in this book.  A greater focus on the Lizard King's experiments could have been really cool.)

It's not clear exactly how long ago all of this happened.  It's recent enough that Mungo knows the story well, but long enough ago that Fire Island had almost been forgotten until the recent raids.  One of the prisoners, an elf, was captured at least four years ago.

Here's a helpful map to lay out the geography of the island:

The hero and Mungo could have saved a lot of time and grief by sailing around the south of the island and landing near the prison colony.  Gotta fill those 400 entries though, am I right?  It takes a couple of days for the hero to get from one side of the island to the other.

There are a lot of monsters and characters on Fire Island. They can be divided into a few different categories.

NATIVES, NON-MUTATED
A number of the creatures encountered are almost certain to be native to Fire Island, and unaffected by the Lizard King's experiments: the tarantula, the rattlesnake, the bear, and the crocodile.  We can also add the headhunters in here, as well as the pygmies: they are probably the indigenous peoples of the island.  It's not known how they relate to each other, but given the hostility of the latter and the friendliness of the former, it's not hard to extrapolate.  The Shaman gives no indication which of these peoples he comes from, or is affiliated with.  In all probability he is a hermit, and has contact only with those who specifically seek him out.  (Pygmies can also be found in Darkwood Forest, in the book Forest of Doom.  It's possible that those came over from Fire Island, possibly to escape the Lizard Men.)

NATIVES, MUTATED
As mentioned above, the Lizard King's experiments mutated much of the flora and fauna of the island.  Those most likely to be in this category are: the vine that tries to strangle you, the giant leeches, the giant wasp, the giant crab, the giant lizard, the giant dragonfly, and the giant watersnake.  There are a lot of other monsters that are almost certainly native to the island, but may or may not be mutated: the grannits, the hydra, the razorjaw, the black lion, the spit toad, the styracosaurus, the hill troll, the ogre, the slime-sucker, the sabre-toothed tiger, and the marsh hopper.

A lot of these could just be regular monsters: after all, there's no mutation excuse for why the mainland is full of such nasties.  Island of the Lizard King does pack in a lot battles for one island, though; we can chalk up the density of monsters to the Lizard King's chemicals.

I'm not sure if the Black Lion is mutated or not.  It could just be a regular old panther, but the Lizard King seems like the kind of guy who would experiment on his pets.

As for the Styracosaurus, I'm only half convinced that this guy is native to Fire Island.  I'd gotten it into my head that this book was full of dinosaurs, but on closer inspection I see that it is the only one here.  Perhaps it's more likely that the Lizard Men brought it with them to the island.

Grannits are a new monster, resembling coconut-sized rocks with eight legs and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.  They're described as "armadillo-like man-eaters," although due to their size they aren't very strong.  They are amusingly susceptible to rattlesnake venom.

A hydra has appeared before (in The Citadel of Chaos).  This one here has fewer heads, and is far less deadly.  Presumably it's in its natural swampy habitat.

The razorjaw that is encountered has just hatched from an egg in a sulfurous pool, but it's unsettling enough: an eyeless green worm with a mouth full of fangs.  It's described as "a hideous creature that has evolved to kill all other species", which is perhaps overselling things a little. It's first instinct is to go for the neck, though, which gives me the heebie-jeebies.  I would never go adventuring without neck armour.

The spit toad, another new monster, is simply a big toad that sits in an algae-covered pond and spits a blinding poison at anyone who gets too close.  It has fangs and will try to eat its victims.  They mustn't be too rare, because the hero is well aware that they never share their ponds with other creatures.

The slime sucker lives in the swamp, and might be the goofiest-looking Fighting Fantasy monster yet.  (No wait, the wheelies).  In the text it is said to resemble a "hideous octopus-like beast with dark green lumpy skin", and to have six arms/tentacles.  It's MO seems to be to hide underwater and rise up when prey gets near, and there's not much more to it than that.

Finally, the Marsh Hopper is a new monster that borrows heavily from the myths of the will-o'-the-wisp.  Marsh Hoppers are small humanoids, with wide mouths, pink forked tongues, and sad eyes.  No creature is better at crossing treacherous marshland than they are.  They will indicate to travellers that they know a safe way through the swamp, but more often than not they will lure them into a predator's lair for the price of a few scraps of meat.

LIZARD MEN AND THEIR FORCES
There are a lot of Lizard Men in this book, both of the pure and mutated variety.  One of the mutants even has two heads.  I'm not inclined to classify the Lizard King as a separate race to his flunkies.  He's described in the opening as a former prison guard, so I doubt he's anything more than a very strong Lizard Man who dabbles in some black magic.  To round out their forces they have goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, a shape changer, and a cyclops.  Any of these could be native to the island, of course, but it's more likely that they came with the LIzard Man forces, or were perhaps taken from the ranks of Prince Olaf's prisoners.

PRISONERS AND NON-NATIVES
Several escaped prisoners can be encountered on the island, some friendly and some hostile.  There are a surprising number of dwarven prisoners working in the mines, as well as some elves.  They could be former prisoners, but are most probably the victims of more recent Lizard Man raids.

The pirates encountered on the island are of course not native, and have probably sailed out from Port Blacksand.

The cave woman is a strange one, in that she appears to be the only one of her kind on the island.  I'd be inclined to place her as a native, but her skin tine is markedly different than those of the headhunters and pygmies.  Cavemen and neanderthal types have been encountered in other books (notably The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and Deathtrap Dungeon), but it's unclear how they relate to more civilised humans, so this cave woman remains a question mark.

The girl with the sabre-toothed tiger is almost definitely not a native.  The hero thinks that she might have been left on Fire Island as a child, and become as wild as the animals.  In lieu of a better explanation, this will have to suffice.

WILD CARDS
The water elemental is the first monster that is hard to categorise. No indication is given of where it came from, or why it's lurking in the river.  It's just there, perhaps the result of some long-ago magic. 

The gonchong is the other, perhaps the biggest mystery of the book.  It's described as a parasite that the Lizard King allowed to bond with him in return for power and immortality.  It appears as resembling a giant harvest spider, with a proboscis that connects it to the brain of its host; only severing the proboscis seconds after the host is killed can it be destroyed.  The host of a gonchong remains invincible, but it can be harmed by one weapon: a fire sword.  Where did the gonchong come from?  It's unlikely that the Lizard King had it before coming to Fire Island; he was described as a former prison guard.  Perhaps he had it shipped to him from his homeland?  Maybe the gonchong is an island native?  The Shaman is pretty surprised to hear that there's one on the island, so probably not.  My personal belief is that the Lizard King summoned it with his black magic, making the gonchong some kind of demonic or extra-planar entity.  It explains the Shaman's shock upon hearing about it, anyway.

That's pretty much it for Island of the Lizard King, except for a couple of magical items that can be found.  The first is the Horn of Valhalla, which when blown can bolster the morale of your allies.  The name has all sorts of connotations for the Fighting Fantasy cosmology.  Are the Norse deities real, and Valhalla the actual afterlife?  Or does this simply reflect the beliefs of whatever Viking-equivalent peoples exist in the FF world?  I'd go for the latter.

The last is Sog's Helmet, which causes fear in the enemy and grants to its wearer the ability to always win the first Attack Round. The helmet is over one hundred years old, and belonged to a fabled warrior/sorcerer.  Named Sog.  I guess he needed such a helmet to strike fear into his enemies, because "Sog" wasn't going to do it for him.

Next: I have Warlock Magazine #1 up next, which may or may not be correct.  I had to do some guess-work for the magazine dates, I'm afraid.  Wikipedia lists issue #1 as being released in mid-1983, while the indicia has a date of 1984.  I have it listed in March of 1984, but who knows where I got that date from.  If anyone has more concrete info on the release dates of the Warlock mags, I'd really appreciate the  sharing it.

Island of the Lizard King: Final Thoughts

Island of the Lizard King feels like the end of the first phase of Fighting Fantasy.  It's the last book to feature the trade dress in which every book had its own spine colour.  It's the last in the series before someone other than Steve Jackson or Ian Livingstone comes on as a writer (okay, so the next book is still by Steve Jackson, but it's a different Steve Jackson).  It's also the last book before Allansia becomes a thing, and the setting is tightly nailed down.

There were a lot of lasts in that paragraph, but this book is also a first, and an unfortunate one: it's the first book that feels like it's coasting on a formula.  It's a very good formula, make no mistake.  But every book before this one felt fresh, and brought something new to the table.   Island of the Lizard King isn't bringing anything new, it's just taking the FF model and making a solid gamebook out of it.

I'll give it one thing, though: it may have the strongest story of the series so far.  Of all the books in the series to date, it's the one that I could most easily see being adapted as a movie.  From Mungo's death, to the liberation of the slaves, to the search for the shaman and the overthrow of the Lizard King, there's a logical progression of events with an emotional hook (well, as emotional as anything written by Ian Livingstone can get).

What makes a strong story, though, does not necessarily make for a strong gamebook.  Island of the Lizard King follows a plot, and as such it's very linear.  There's not a lot of scope for exploration, and anyone playing through this book multiple times is going to find himself rereading the same sections over and over again.  I found myself skimming past the bits I'd already done, and just doing the dice-rolling parts, because going over the same sections can get very boring.

It's also hard, and not in a good way.  This is not a book that challenges the reader mentally.  What it does challenge is your patience, because success in Island of the Lizard King is almost entirely dependent upon the luck of the dice.  Your only chance of influencing events is in knowing which encounters to avoid, and managing your resources wisely.  It's a war of attrition, and requires a lot of trial-and-error.  I will applaud Livingstone for placing a tough battle and an instant death right at the beinning of the book, though.  If a gamebook requires high stats to win, having a way to suicide a weak character at the beginning is a godsend (at least for those readers too anal to just keep rolling dice until good scores come up).

While I'm focusing on negatives, I should also mention the unfortunate portrayals of native characters in the book.  From pygmies to headhunters to witch-doctors to the shaman, there's not one who isn't shown in a way that's uncomfortable to modern readers.  None of it's intentional, of course.  The book is going for a pulpy jungle adventure vibe, and revelling in those tropes.  Said tropes, however, originated over a hundred years ago, and can come across as racially insensitive.  There's no malice in it, but those portrayals are a part of the book, and there's no denying that some won't enjoy it because of that.

I feel like I've been overly negative.  As I mentioned above, Island of the Lizard King is a solid book.  There's a lot to like about it, but it's a decent, conventional book that's coming after a pair of bona fide classics.  It's bound to feel a little disappointing.

(I've also left discussion of Alan Langford's illustrations to the end, as I tend to do.  I personally place him in the Big Four of FF illustrators, said four being Russ Nicholson, Iain McCaig, Langford and Martin McKenna.  It could just be personal taste, but for me those four define the visual style of the series more than any other artists.  He does good work here, and I've always thought that he was very good at drawing reptiles.)

COOL STUFF I MISSED
I missed very little, it must be said, because I had 17 attempts at completing the book.  Yes, only about five of these attempts were legitimate; the rest got no further than the pit of quicksand right near the beginning.  Nevertheless, I exhausted most of the options available.  The biggest things that I missed were a pair of magic items.  The first was Sog's Helmet, which is very well-hidden in a rattlesnake hole.  Wearing it allows you to win the first Attack Round in every combat.  The second item I missed was a bone charm, which is given to you by the headhunters' prisoner (I never did manage to rescue him successfully).  Wearing it means that your Luck never drops below 7, which is pretty great.

I almost forgot, there's a whole section of the adventure on the way to the Shaman that I never experienced.  It happens if you insist on paddling your boat upstream.  If you roll badly enough you can find yourself fighting against starvation, thirst and the elements for survival, not to mention an irate Water Elemental.  It's pretty cool, though I have to say I'm almost glad I never stumbled into it.

MISTAKES & RED HERRINGS
I didn't notice any major errors in Island of the Lizard King, but there were several items that seemingly serve no purpose.  The brass bell taken from around the bear's neck is one.  There's the option to stick a Grannit in your Pouch of Unlimited Contents, which is amusing but never amounts to anything.  A coil of rope is found but never gets used, which I find baffling.  What kind of an adventure has no use for rope?

BEST DEATH
This book has a mere ten instant death paragraphs.  I was sorely tempted to choose the quicksand death, simply because I deliberately experienced it so many times.  But, as usual, I'm a sucker for a failure that results in the protagonist becoming the villain.

I had to reproduce the whole page, because I love how this paragraph is flanked by images of carrion birds, just to rub it in.

STAMINA RATING
This is the first time I'm doing this, but I've decided to introduce a rating system with which to rank the gamebooks I read.  I will be rating the books in seven categories, as follows:

Story & Setting (how cool was the story, and the setting it took place in?)
Toughness (was it challenging in a good way?)
Aesthetics (how good were the illustrations, and the book's general atmosphere?)
Mechanics (how well did the rules function?)
Innovation (how innovative was it?)
NPCs & Monsters (how cool were the characters I met and the monsters I fought?)
Amusement (how much fun did I have reading it?)

STAMINA, geddit?  I'll be rating each of these categories out of 7, because it's a nice mythological number and it has an exact midpoint.  I'll also award a bonus point if I feel the book deserves it.  This gives me a total possible score of 50.  I'm going to double it, because I really want to have a score out of 100.  No particular reason, it just feels correct.

Okay then, let's rate Island of the Lizard King.

Story & Setting: As I mentioned above, the story for this book is quite strong, even though it works better as a story than as a gamebook.  One of its biggest strengths is that the various encounters all feel thematically appropriate.  The jungle setting is a new one for Fighting Fantasy, though it's not the most original.  It's drawing very heavily on pulp adventures, and as such the tropes can feel a bit familiar.  Rating: 4.

Toughness: In terms of finding the correct path, this book is quite forgiving.  You can wander wherever you like, and it's never going to result in a failure just because you chose to go left instead of right.  That said, in mechanical terms the book is ruthless, and requires a Skill of at least 10 for the reader to have even an outside chance of success.  The book relies more on the luck of the dice for its challenge than anything else, which isn't a lot of fun.  Rating: 3.

Aesthetics: Alan Langford's illustrations are great at evoking a steamy tropical wilderness, and his reptiles look wonderful.  He's a perfect fit for the book.  The book has a top-notch Iain McCaig cover as well (at least on the original, which is what I use when doing my rating).  Livingstone's prose is adequate.  It gets the job done, but it doesn't do a lot to set the mood.  Rating: 5.

Mechanics: The FF system is a solid one, and Island of the Lizard King employs the most basic, stripped down version of it.  It doesn't use it all that well, however.  As I've mentioned before, the book doesn't cater for characters with a low Skill score; such characters may as well throw in the towel early.  There are also a number of items that grant Skill bonuses where a bonus to Attack Strength would have been more appropriate.  For example, finding the superbly-crafted sword grants you a Skill bonus, but if your Skill is already at the maximum it's meaningless: you might as well keep using your regular sword.  A bonus to Attack Strength would have worked better, and had the added advantage of making a low-Skill character more viable.  Rating: 3.

Innovation: This book uses the simplest version of the FF rules, and does very little that's mechanically novel.  The sole element of the book that feels fresh is it's jungle setting.  Rating: 2.

NPCs & Monsters: You might get sick of fighting reptiles, dinosaurs and lizard men, but there's a wide variety of monsters throughout the book.  It probably relies a little too heavily on giant versions of real creatures, but there's a thematic unity that serves the story well.  I have to give points for Mungo, as well, who is well fleshed out for the short amount of time that he's in the book.  The shaman should really have been more interesting, though, and the Lizard King is a virtual nonentity as the villain.  Rating: 4.

Amusement: It's a solid gamebook, and I had a decently entertaining time reading it.  It's never one I'm hankering to get back to, but playing through is usually a good experience (at least until I've died a few times).  Rating: 4.

I can't think of a reason to give this book the bonus point.  Adding up the scores above gives a total of 25, which doubled gives the book a score of 50.  This seems appropriate to me, to be honest.  It's about as middle-of-the-road as a gamebook can get.

STAMINA RATING: 50 out of 100.

I'll be going back and rating the previous books in the series, so keep an eye out for that.  My next post will be an Exploring Titan on Island of the Lizard King, and then it's onto Warlock Magazine #1.

Island of the Lizard King - Attempts 15 to 17

In my last post I had wondered how many characters I would have to send to their deaths before I rolled up one that was viable.  Island of the Lizard King is a gamebook that requires high stats to complete, so I've been sending my weaker character to a quick demise in a pit of quicksand.  As it turns out, I only had to make two guys commit suicide before I got a decent character.  With Skill 12, Stamina 22 and Luck 11 I had every chance of success, and I was also armed with knowledge from my previous attempts.  Nothing in the world could stop me now!

ATTEMPT 17

My plan was to play it very safe, and stick to the options I knew were good, but I allowed myself a bit of leeway near the beginning.  In my last few attempts I'd been heading towards the Headhunter village, but this time I steered clear of it and veered to the north-east.

I'd explored most of the options on this path already: the pygmies, the healing crystal, the dragonfly, etc.  The one mystery was the treehouse, and the man who lived inside.  I'd tried to talk to him once in an earlier game, but my approach had been too aggressive, and he had fled into the high branches of the tree.  This time I remained friendly, despite the barrage of coconuts he rained down on my head.  When I got to the top I offered him one of my provisions, and he became much more friendly.  He explained that he used to be a thief on the mainland, until he had been caught and sentenced to five years on Fire Island by Prince Olaf.  For another provision he offered to tell me some more information, and I reluctantly agreed.  This proved a little more useful, as he drew me a map.

Just when I thought he was done, he said that, for just one more provision, he would provide me with something really useful.  Against my better judgement I gave him a third provision, and he repaid me with a picklock's wire.  I knew from previous attempts where this would be useful, but I doubted that it would be worth the loss of three provisions.  I was also anxious, because running out of provisions and Stamina had been the main cause of my death last time.  Now I had only 7 provisions left, and the adventure had barely begun.

For the rest of the adventure I didn't deviate too much from Attempt 14, as detailed in my last post.  I chose the safe path through the swamp (if you could call losing 6 Stamina to leeches the "safe path").  In the mines I decided not to get the Horn of Valhalla, as I didn't want to take the 5 points of Stamina damage required to find it.  Liberating the mines went smoothly, as did my quest to find the Shaman.  I chose the tests that I knew for certain I would succeed at, and before long I was on my way to the Lizard King's fort (having collected a conveniently-placed monkey, of course).

One of the biggest stumbling blocks of this book is the back-to-back fights with the Styracosaurus and the Mutant Lizard Man.  Whenever I play this book with a middling character, this is invariably the point where I die.  This time I had a character of demi-godlike stature, and the dice were kind to me as well.  I got through the fights only taking a few hits, and soon enough I was reunited with the liberated slaves and ready to attack the fortress.  Before the battle I ate all my remaining provisions and drank my Potion of Fortune, and I was going in with Skill 12, Stamina 20 and Luck 12.

The random roll I had to make during the assault to determine my foe came up favourably, and I got to fight a lowly Hobgoblin.  But without the Horn of Valhalla, there was a tougher fight ahead of me if I was going to rally my troops: a Cyclops!

The Cyclops was tough (Skill 10, Stamina 10), but he only hit me twice before I rammed my sword right down his eyehole.  I charged into the Lizard King's stronghold, and chose the path leading into the prison.  This time I ignored the old man (who you may remember is really a Shapechanger), and continued straight on into the torture chamber where I claimed the fire sword I would need to kill the Lizard King.

From there I went into the laboratory, where I hid under a bench to avoid a Two-Headed Lizard Man and his Dwarf slave.  I leaped out to ambush the Lizard Man, and with a successful Luck test I was able to kill him instantly.  This is where the picklock's wire came in handy, as I was able to unlock the Dwarf's shackles.  I say handy, but to be honest he gave me the exact same information as he had in my previous attempt, when I'd been unable to set him free.  The sole difference was a 1-point Luck bonus, and all that did was restore the Luck point I used to ambush the Lizard Man.  The best option here is probably to stay in hiding and let both of these characters pass by.

Up the stairs I went, to my final confrontation with the Lizard King.  I made short work of his Black Lion this time, as I had a lot more Stamina to work with, and dice that were in my favour.  With the Lizard King's pet dead, it was just him and me.  And my monkey.

At the sight of my monkey the Lizard King trembled in fear.  I pressed the advantage with my fire sword, and my enemy quailed.  He put up a token resistance (Skill 6, Stamina 15), but he was no match for me, and soon lay dead at my feet.

At this point I had three options.  I could turn and salute my troops, I could search the Lizard King's corpse, or I could sever the Gonchong's proboscis.  The first option is an obviously terrible one.  The option to loot the corpse was tempting, and would be my first recall in most circumstances, but here it felt like a bad idea.  I remembered the words of the Shaman instead, and severed the Gonchong's proboscis.  It died instantly, and I threw its dead body over the wall for everyone to see.  My men routed the demoralised enemy, everyone returned home, and it all ended happily ever after.  To paraphrase the final line of the book, "Mungo would have been proud of me."

THE POST-GAME
Success has come to me at last, and all it required was persistence.  This is an unusual gamebook for Ian Livingstone, in that it doesn't punish you for choosing the wrong path.  Instead, it's highly dependent on the luck of the dice, and the only truly wrong decision you can make is to try and play it with a weak character.  The reader will finish it eventually, just as soon as the dice come up favourably.  And so I did, after a mere 17 attempts.  It's a new record for the number of times I've lost a single gamebook, and I wonder how long it will be before that record is broken.  (My money is on needing far more tries to complete The Crown of Kings, and even more tries than that for Crypt of the Sorcerer.)

After my customary series of wrap-up posts, my notes tell me that the next chronological release is Warlock Magazine #1.  I've never read it before, so I'm dead keen to see what's in there.

Island of the Lizard King - Attempt 14

During my last play session I discovered the usefulness of a quick death, and also managed to get ganked by the Slime Sucker in the swamp.  I'd like to say that I plan to play it safe on my next go, but who am I kidding?  I'm probably going to wander off and die exploring some dead-end path.

CHARACTER CREATION
This is undoubtedly my most viable character yet: Skill 12, Stamina 20 and Luck 8.  What could possibly kill this guy?

THE ADVENTURE
The opening stages of this book have become super-familiar to me now, so I breezed past the Giant Crab, Mungo's death, and the headhunters.  Once again I chose to visit the headhunters' village and burn it down.  This time I rolled a rolled a 4 on my die roll while escaping, and the man I was trying to rescue got speared.  (I'd really like to know what happens if he survives, but I'm not going to find out in this attempt.)

The horde were still in pursuit, but I decided against hiding in a hollow log, and continued to run through the jungle.  The headhunters knew the land better than I did, however, and I ended up in a fight with three of them at once.  Being supremely skillful has its benefits, though, and I killed them all before escaping.  The remaining headhunters backed away, thinking of me as some sort of god-empowered warrior, and I looted their fallen comrades.  What I found was some green paste, which did nothing when I spread it on my wounds.  Glad to be free of the headhunters, I continued on my way.  (At this point I had 19 points of Stamina remaining, and had not used any Luck.)

Soon I came to the swamp, and this time I chose the safe path through.  All I had to deal with were the leeches, which reduced my Stamina to 14, and necessitated the use of one of my provisions to remove them.

Once out of the swamp I came to a gorge between some hills.  I avoided the landslide by climbing a hill, then went down into the gorge where I found the snuffbox with the gold nugget and the message inside.

After a brief encounter with a Giant Lizard (which reduced my Stamina to 12), I met and killed the Spit Toad and claimed the treasure hidden in its pond (the Pouch of Unlimited Contents and the leather boots; I knew now to ignore the ring and the potion).  Later a pig crossed my path, but I wasn't able to catch it (will I ever reach this point with the spear?).

When I reached the river I found the boat mentioned in the snuff-box message and started punting up-river.  A crocodile attacked me, but I defeated it easily.  I ignored the man who waved at me from the shore (he's a delirious madman, as I learned in previous attempts), and soon I came to the gold mines.

There were two Lizard Men guarding the village outside the mine.  Last time I had reached this point I ignored them, but with my Skill so high I decided to have a crack at them.  A successful Luck test (reducing my score to 7) meant that I was able to kill one of them before it could react.  The other (Skill 9, Stamina 8) retaliated, and fought well.  It was able to wound me four times before I killed it, reducing my Stamina to 5.  I found three iron keys on its corpse, and pocketed them before heading into the mines.  (At this point I ate two provisions, restoring my Stamina to 13.)

Inside the mine I turned right, then left, and soon found myself in a disused network of tunnels.  At one point I reached a dead end, and lost a Luck point due to feeling lost.  In another tunnel I stumbled into a support beam, and was almost buried alive in rubble (dropping my Stamina to 9).  In yet another tunnel the whole roof collapsed on my head, and my Stamina was reduced to 4.  Surprisingly, this turned out quite well; a successful Luck test led to me finding the legendary Horn of Valhalla.  You know, just stuck in the roof of a gold mine, where you'd expect it to be.  (This brought my Luck back up to 8.)

After eating two provisions (bringing my Stamina back to 12, and leaving me with 5 provisions) I explored the rest of the top level of the mines.  I avoided the bore-hole and the Grannits, and claimed the superbly-crafted sword from the shaft with my Boots of Climbing.  That done, it was time to head below and liberate the slaves.

The liberation went about as smoothly as it could, with the aid of three successful Luck tests (reducing my Luck to 5).  I only had to fight one Lizard Man, and that one got torn apart by dwarven slaves halfway through the battle.  I lost 4 Stamina in the ensuing conflict (leaving me with 8), but by the end I had 63 followers who were ready to fight, and ready to throw a party.

Alas, there's always an elf to spoil things, and I was off to find the Shaman so that I could learn how to kill the Lizard King and the parasitic Gonchong that was controlling it.  After swigging my Potion of Fortune (raising my Luck score to 9), I set off towards Fire Island's volcano. I ate some wild raspberries (and used my Luck to avoid a fight with a Giant Dragonfly), and also some honeycomb and fruit that resulted in me fighting a Bear.  A Hill Troll ambushed me, I found a feather to tie in my hair for the shaman, and I killed a Cave Woman and rubbed some of her red dust on my face.  Before long I was at the base of the shaman's volcano, eating one of my provisions.  (My Stamina was 10 at this point, my Luck was 6, and I had 3 provisions remaining)

In previous attempts I had gone straight up the volcano, but this time I decided to explore around its base.  What I found was a sulfurous pool filled with eggs.  I took a closer look at them, and was rewarded when one of them hatched and a Razorjaw burst forth.

"A hideous creature that has evolved to kill all other species."

The bugger latched on to my neck (reducing my Stamina to 6), but it was easy enough to kill after that surprise attack.  With no other paths to explore, I ate one of my provisions (bringing my Stamina back up to 10, and leaving me with 2 meals) and went up the volcano to see the shaman.

The shaman presented me with his three tests, and this time - having failed the tests on my last attempt - I went for easy pickings.  First I chose the Fear test, which I've described in an earlier post: the shaman fills your mind with horrific imagery, but if you have the red powder from the cave woman you can resist.   The second test I chose was Pain, which is even more of a gimme: all you have to do is say that you resist the pain that the shaman is causing you, and you automatically succeed.  I wasn't completely sure about the third test, but given my high Skill score I chose Dexterity.  The task here was simply to hit an orange with a thrown dagger, which was done by rolling equal to or under my Skill on two dice.  Given that I had a Skill of 12 there was no chance of failure.

Now that I had passed all three tests the shaman gave me the information I was after.  He described the Gonchong as a parasitic spider that perched on its victim's head, with a proboscis that connected it to the brain.  The only way to kill the Gonchong was to sever the proboscis after killing the host, but killing the host was not going to be so easy, as it was immune to all weapons except for a fire sword.  As luck would have it, the Lizard King was super fond of fire swords, and had a stash of them in his armoury disguised as rusty knives.  Oh, one last thing to remember: the Lizard King is scared of monkeys.  I'm sure that will be important.

Armed now with that vital information, I set off south-east for the Lizard King's stronghold.  Soon enough I reached the Hobgoblin guarding the bridge over the chasm.  Last time I reached this point I had bribed him with a gold nugget, but this time I was loathe to give up my treasure.  Instead I murdered the hell out of him, and ransacked his corpse.  I was expecting some minor treasure, perhaps a few gold coins, but instead I found a clay doll that had been cursed by a witch doctor.  This reduced my Luck to 4, which was not a good state to be in, especially with the battle I knew was coming.  I ate another provision, restoring my Stamina to 14 and leaving me with but one meal remaining.

Over the bridge I went, straight into the Mutant Lizard Man and his Styracosaurus steed.  These two had killed me the last time I got this far, and I didn't fancy my chances this time around either.  The dinosaur hit me four times (reducing my Stamina to 6), but fortune was with me in my battle against the Lizard Man: I was able to take it out without being hit.  I looted the Lizard Man's shield (which would have given me a Skill bonus had I needed it), and continued on; this was the furthest I had reached while playing this book for the blog.

As I made my way through the jungle I was scratched by a thorny bush.  Luckily I had earlier drank Baskin's potion from the hut near the beach, and I was protected from being poisoned.

Further on I found a dead seaman and a chained monkey.  What a coincidence!  Who would have thought that I would find a monkey at the very time that I needed just such a monkey to help me on my quest.  I didn't even have to work for it.  It's like Fate just said POOF!  You need a monkey?  Have a monkey!  Monkeys for everyone!

Thanks for the monkey, Ian.

Soon I came to a valley, and I could see the Lizard King's fortress below.  But before I could get to it, I was confronted by Raquel Welch from One Million Years BC.  Oh yeah, there was a sabre-tooth tiger there as well, I guess.

Thanks for the lady, Alan.

I tried to talk to her, but the language barrier was too great.  Somewhat puzzled by this pointless encounter (I suspect that Alan Langford just wanted to draw a sexy jungle lady), I made my way into the valley to reunite with my army.  (At this point I ate the last of my provisions, restoring my Stamina to 10.)

It was time to attack the Lizard King's fortress, but it was apparently not the time to discuss tactics.  I just gathered my guys together, and we all ran towards the fort.  Luckily for me the Lizard King opened the gates, and his forces met us in the field.

I had to roll a die to determine what sort of foe I fought in the battle.  I rolled a 4, and had to fight a regular old Lizard Man that reduced my Stamina to 8.  The battle was going poorly, but I had an ace up my sleeve: the Horn of Valhalla!  I blew the horn and bolstered the morale of my troops.  They were able to open a gap in the enemy lines, and I ran through the fortress gates into the inner courtyard.

I had a choice of doors to my left and straight ahead.  I chose the left door, which opened into a prison complex.  I found an old man chained up in an open cell.  It was a bit suspicious that his cell was open, but just look at the miserable bugger.  How could I not set him free?

Well, as it turns out, this encounter was designed to teach me a valuable life lesson: steer clear of miserable old men.  The old man turned out to be a reptilian Shapechanger, and in the course of defeating it I lost more precious Stamina (I was reduced to a total of 4).

Exploring further I came to a locked door, but I was able to open it with my iron keys.  Beyond was a torture chamber, with all manner of implements lying about.  Among them was a set of rusty knives, and I did not hesitate in grabbing one of them.  Just as the shaman had told me, it was actually a magical fire sword.  If I had needed it, the sword would have given me a +2 Skill bonus, but finding it did restore my Luck to 6.

Another door opened into a storeroom.  Searching around I found a strange bottle, and a took a chance by drinking its contents.  Inside was water from an enchanted stream, which restored my Stamina to 6.  It wasn't much, but at this point even the smallest bonus was welcome.

The next room was a laboratory, but before I could examine anything I heard steps behind me, and I decided to hide under a bench.  A shackled Dwarf entered, being pushed by a Two-Headed Lizard Man.  I decided to leap from ambush, but I failed a Luck test and wasn't able to kill it instantly.  It wounded me before I could kill it, and I found myself approaching the endgame with a mere 4 Stamina remaining.  If I was going to succeed, I would need the dice to be kind.

Without a picklock's wire I wasn't able to free the Dwarf, but he still gave me directions to the battlements, where the Lizard King was directing his forces.  I raced up a set of stairs, and soon I was confronting my ultimate enemy.

First, though, I had to battle its pet, a vicious Black Lion.  I made a valiant attempt, but with 4 Stamina points I just wasn't strong enough, and the Lion mauled me to death.  Mungo would have been ashamed.

THE POST-GAME
Remember earlier, when I wondered what could kill such a tough character?  As it turns out, the answer was attrition.  I made it to the end, but the long, linear slog of Island of the Lizard King just wore me down.  Now I have a better idea of which encounters I should avoid, and my next Skill 12 character will stand a much better chance of success.  The question is, how many guys do I have to send to their deaths by quicksand before I succeed?

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.

Island of the Lizard King - Attempt 2

Last time around, I got killed in the swamp by a Hydra.  I'm certain that I can avoid that encounter on this attempt, but can I cheat death altogether, and win through to the end?  I doubt it, but there's only one way to find out.

CHARACTER CREATION
Get a load of these stats: Skill 12, Stamina 19, Luck 10.  It's going to take some genuine stupidity for me to fail with scores like this.

THE ADVENTURE
So, once again I'm back at the start of the adventure, with Mungo by my side, determined to kill the Lizard King and free his slaves.  In our last adventure I chose the left path from the beach, and Mungo got nippered by a Giant Crab.  This time I opted for the right path, hoping that my old mate would survive.

No sooner had we climbed over the rocks to the next inlet than we saw six pirates preparing to bury a treasure chest.  Personally I question the wisdom of burying a treasure chest on a beach.  Wouldn't the tide eventually wash it away?  I'm not a pirate, though, so what do I know?  It seems I have a pirate's greed, however, because I convinced Mungo that we should attack the scurvy dogs.  We cut down two of them before they could react, and then I found myself fighting two pirates at once.  They were moderately skilled (Skill 7 and 8, respectively), and working as a pair they managed to wound me a few times before I killed them (dropping my Stamina to 13).

I was too late to save poor Mungo, though, as the Pirate Captain (Skill 10, Stamina 6) stabbed him through the chest.  I was able to avenge my old friend, but not before the captain wounded me twice (dropping my Stamina to 9).  I held Mungo as he died, and listened to his immortal final words: "Make sure you get the Lizard King for me, won't you?"  Sheer poetry.

With combat over, and my companion dead, it was time to turn to more important matters: the looting of treasure.  It was not to be, however, as the treasure contained nothing but iron bars (no doubt a ruse by the captain to throw off his crew and keep the real treasure for himself).  I kept one of the iron bars anyway; this is an Ian Livingstone book, after all.

(On the whole, I think that the path with the Giant Crab is the better one.  It only involves one combat, and I feel like the anti-poison is a better reward than the iron bar.  I guess I'll find out eventually.)

I climbed a goat track up a cliff and into the jungle, and soon I found myself in territory that I had covered during Attempt 1.  I chose not to rest under the tree this time (thus avoiding the strangling vine).  The three Headhunters proved to be little trouble; I defeated them and took just one wound, and was able to heal up afterwards with their food and one of my own provisions (restoring my Stamina to 12, and leaving me with 9 provisions).  In my last attempt I went north-west to avoid the Headhunters' village, but this time I carried on to the west, as I wanted to get back into unexplored territory.

Soon I heard the sound of drums to the south-west, but I ignored it and continued west.  I got lost for a short time, but a glimpse of the sun allowed me to get my bearings, and soon I found myself at the edge of a swamp.  (I feel like I got to this point a lot quicker this time; this must be the shortest and safest path through the book.  I'll remember it for the times when I really just want to rush through, assuming I haven't missed anything vital.)

As I entered the swamp, a Marsh-Hopper raced past, and I called out to it.  I was wary of the danger of following one of these tricksome creatures, but I felt as though I should at least let it guide me for a short time.  This I did, but I was careful to break off and head west before it could lead me to my death (as happened in my last game).  I got through the swamp safely, but I was disgusted to find that I was covered in Giant Leeches.  I was able to remove them with some salt from my provisions, but I was greatly weakened.  (You have to roll a die to determine how many leeches are attached to you, and lose this amount of Stamina.  I rolled a 5, reducing my Stamina to 7 and my provisions to 8.)

I left the swamp and soon came to a gorge between several hills.  I decided to enter the gorge rather than climb the hills, figuring that I should do my best to keep out of sight.  It turned out to be a bad decision, as I was caught in a very inconveniently timed landslide, and one of the rocks struck me when I failed a Luck test (reducing my Luck score to 9).  I then had to roll a die to determine how badly I had been struck; I rolled a 6, and suffered a glancing blow and the loss of 2 Stamina (reducing my total to 5).  Feeling shaken by the ordeal, I stopped to rest and eat some provisions (which restored my Stamina to 9, and left me with 7 provisions).

There were some words carved on a nearby rock: "Turn Back or Die".  It wasn't evident which direction the words were meant for, so I pressed on to the far end of the gorge.  There I found some footprints and signs of a struggle, and I tracked them until I found a shiny brass snuff-box.  Inside was a gold nugget and a piece of paper with a message from an escaped slave of the Lizard King.  It indicated the location of his hidden raft, where the gorge meets the river, and also that the mines were nearby.  Armed with this knowledge, I went in search of the river.

Before I could get there, though, a Giant Lizard attacked!

The Lizard wasn't all that tough (Skill 8, Stamina 9), but I was a bit worried due to my low Stamina.  I needn't have been concerned, as I killed it without a scratch.  (Another pointless encounter.  Livingstone strikes again.)

Soon I came to a pond, and I decided to take a drink despite the layer of green algae floating on top.  The pond was home to a Spit Toad, but I was able to avoid the jet of liquid it shot from its mouth with a successful Skill test.

I quickly killed the feeble Toad (Skill 5, Stamina 6), and took the drink I had been after in the first place (which restored my Stamina to 10).  At the bottom of the pond I noticed a wooden casket, so I waded in to retrieve it.  Inside was a veritable trove of items: a phial of liquid, a velvet pouch, a gold ring and a pair of red leather boots.  Fired by insatiable curiosity, I tried them all.  The phial was a Potion of Clumsiness; from now on I would have to roll a die at the beginning of every combat, and if I scored a 1 I would automatically lose the first Attack Round.  The pouch was a Pouch of Unlimited Contents, which had the ability to store large and heavy objects in an interdimensional space (a find which restored my Luck back to 10).  The boots had no evident special qualities, aside from being snazzy.  Finally, the ring was a Ring of Confusion, which caused me to lose 2 Skill points (dropping my score to 10).  All told, I feel like I got hosed with this particular selection of items, but I'm sure some will come in handy later.

As I continued travelling a wild boar crossed my path, but I had no spear to catch it.  Further along I came to a river, and I remembered the note that I had read earlier. I searched in the bushes, found the raft hidden there, and set off upstream.

I had not gone far before my boat was attacked by a Giant Crocodile.  Normally this would have meant a fight, but I was able to wedge its jaws open with the iron bar I had found earlier.  Let's hear it for ultra-specific, one-use item applications!  (At least I hope it's one-use, I'll be furious if I need that bar later on.)

As I drifted on, a prisoner in rags appeared on the shore, waving to me frantically.

I stopped to talk to him, which turned out to be a terrible idea.  The man was delirious with fever, and he attacked me with a dagger.  I was forced to fight him bare-handed (reducing my Skill in this fight to 7), and despite his low scores (Skill 6, Stamina 5), he hit me twice before I defeated him (reducing my Stamina to 6).  I didn't have to kill him, though, as my second blow sent him flying off my raft and into the water.  I ate another of my provisions before continuing on (restoring my Stamina to 10, and leaving me with 6 provisions).

Eventually I came to a collection of huts, and I steered the raft towards the bank so as not to be seen.  Near the huts was a pair of Lizard Men, and I knew from the note I had read earlier that I had found the gold mines.  I decided to ignore the Lizard Men, and sneaked past them to enter the mines.

I explored a torch-lit mine passage, and soon came to a T-junction, where I turned right.  At the next junction I went straight ahead, and found an over-turned cart with the skeleton of a Dwarf lying nearby.

There was a bore-hole in the wall nearby, and I found myself wondering if the Dwarf had been killed by a Rock Grub (huzzah for monster continuity).  Despite my knowledge of Rock Grubs, and against my better judgment, I decided to take a look inside the bore-hole.  It was dark inside, and I had the option to turn back, but I ignored it.  Soon it became apparent that the bore-hole wasn't going anywhere, so I had to flip around awkwardly and make my way back to the mine passage.  While I was doing so an item fell out of my pack (bye-bye note from the snuff-box), which caused me to lose a Luck point (reducing my Luck to 9).

The mine passage ended at a junction, and I turned left.  This tunnel soon ended at a vertical shaft, which looked cracked and dangerous.  The thought crossed my mind that the boots I was wearing might be magical, and after some testing I figured out that they gave me the ability to walk on walls.  I explored the bottom of the shaft, and found a superbly crafted sword.  Taking it added 2 to my Skill (which restored my score back to 12), and I was also able to restore my Luck to 10 due to my good fortune.

(I can't quite recall, but I'll bet those boots aren't used at any other point in the book, despite how obviously handy they would be.  I'll be keeping an eye out to see if my suspicions are correct.)

I walked back to the junction and continued straight through.  The floor of the tunnel was strewn with what appeared to be coconuts, but were actually tiny creatures known as Grannits.

They're kind of adorable, or at least I thought so until one of the buggers bit me through my shoe (reducing my Stamina to 9).  One of them attacked me, but with a Skill of 4 it might as well not have bothered.  After dispatching the first I tried to kill the other three with a single stroke of my sword, but rolling a 1 on the die meant that I missed them all.  Much like the first Grannit, however, their attacks on me were futile.  (Skill 3, Ian?  Stop wasting my time, mate.)

With the Grannits defeated, and no paths onwards, I made my way back past the cart and the skeleton.  I continued on past the mine entrance, and came to a vertical shaft with a ladder leading down.  It seemed to me that the mine-workers must be down there, so I descended the ladder.

At the bottom of the ladder I could hear the faint sound of singing.  I headed towards it, but some footsteps behind me sent me scurrying into the shadows.  A Lizard Man walked past my hiding place, and I decided to follow it.  I was unable to be stealthy, however, as the Potion of Clumsiness that I had drank earlier was still in effect.  I dropped my sword, but a successful Luck test (reducing my Luck to 9) meant that the Lizard Man was too deaf to hear.  Stoked by my good fortune, I picked up a rock and smashed the Lizard Man's head in before it could react.

Following the singing, I emerged into a chamber where six Dwarfs were toiling under the whip of a Lizard Man guard.

Incensed with rage, I attacked the Lizard Man (Skill 8, Stamina 7).  I struck it two solid blows before the Dwarfs took up their hammers and bludgeoned it to death.  The Dwarfs were more than willing to join up with me on my quest to kill the Lizard King, and they agreed to lead me to the other prisoners.  I disguised myself by wearing the Lizard Man's cloak, but a failed Luck test (reducing my Luck to 8) meant that I had to fight the next Lizard Man I encountered.  It was no problem, as my Dwarf buddies tore him apart after a single attack round.  (Why don't I take these guys with me everywhere?  I could stick them in my Pouch of Unlimited Contents and smuggle them into Deathtrap Dungeon.)

A pair of Orcs were the next to fall to my Dwarven comrades (after another Luck test, which reduced my score to 7).  Together we freed more slaves, including Elves and Men, and we ran riot through the mines, freeing the other prisoners and killing the guards.  I had to roll a die to determine how many wounds I sustained during the battle.  I rolled a 1, which meant that I lost 4 Stamina (reducing my total to 5).

The mines were soon over-run, and I was the leader of a band of 63 rescued slaves.  We proceeded to throw a party, complete with jig-dancing Dwarf, but soon enough a brooding Elf decided to ruin the fun.  This Elf had some proper foreboding exposition to drop on me: the Lizard King had bonded with a parasite known as a Gonchong, which made him invincible.  Apparently, only the island's Shaman knows of the Gonchong's weakness, and the Elf recommended that I go looking for him.  I sent my small army to lay siege to the Lizard King's fort, while I went in search of the shaman.

With no knowledge of where the Shaman might be, I struck out for the island's volcano.  I went back to my boat, but the current was now too strong, so I decided to travel overland.  Soon I found a bush with raspberries, which I ate (restoring my Stamina to 6).  A failed Luck test (reducing my score to 6) meant that I had to battle a Giant Wasp, but I was able to defeat it without being wounded.  (It looks as though something bad happens if you take any wounds in this fight.  I haven't looked, but I suspect an instant death by stinger).

Continuing on, I found a bulging sack hanging from a tree.  I cut it down, and out spilled honeycomb, wheatcakes and fruit.  I ate it all (along with one of my Provisions, restoring my Stamina to 12), but a rustling in the bushes alerted me to danger.  BEAR ATTACK!

Apparently this was the ninja of bears, because it had a whopping Skill of 10.  Even so, I killed it without taking a scratch.  Because I am the ninja of adventurers.  The bear had a brass whistle on a collar around its neck, and I was quick to loot it.  At this point I decided to drink my Potion of Fortune, which raised my Luck score to 11.

As the sun was setting, I found a place to camp.  I successfully tested my Luck (reducing my score to 10), and the night passed without incident.  In the morning, as I was filling my water bottle, I noticed some chalk marks on a nearby rock.  It was a message from the Shaman, telling me that if I desired peaceful contact with him I should tie a feather in my hair.

I set off to find a feather, but instead I found a hostile Hill Troll that instantly attacked (dammit Ian).  The Troll (Skill 9, Stamina 9) hit me thrice before I could kill it (reducing my Stamina to 6).  It also had no loot, further reinforcing the pointlessness of this encounter.

I pressed on, and soon I found a dead seagull and tied one of its feathers in my hair.  Nearby I saw the mouth of a cave, and went to investigate.  As I drew near my foot caught on a string that tumbled some rocks, alerting the Cavewoman who lived inside.

She ran forth and hurled a spear at me.  I successfully tested my Luck (reducing my score to 9), and the spear sailed over my head.  I easily killed the Cavewoman, and set about looting her home.  The only item of interest was a bowl of red dust she kept near her bedding.  I decided to experiment with it by daubing some on my face, and was rewarded with the knowledge that the powder would protect me from mind control.  With my Luck restored to 11, I left the cave and continued on.

Soon I reached the foot of the volcano, and rather than skirt around I decided to climb directly up the side.  I soon came to a circle of polished stones, with a pile of crude items inside.  I thought that perhaps this was a place where visitors could leave gifts for the Shaman, so I decided to leave something in the circle.  At this point, I had a gold nugget, a Pouch of Unlimited Contents, Boots of Climbing, a Ring of Confusion, a superbly crafted sword, and a brass whistle.  The only item here that I didn't want was the ring, and that's what I left.  I really shouldn't have, as it's cursed, and the description when you put it on specifically states that it can't be removed.  I'd forgotten that at the time, and I reasoned that the Ring wasn't having a mechanical effect on me now that I'd found the sword.  So I left it as my offering, when I really shouldn't have.  (As it turns out, keeping the ring would have served me far better.)  Despite my flagrant disregard for the spirit of the rules, a line of rocks turned red to form a path to the Shaman.

I followed the path, and soon an old man with a feathered staff popped out from behind a rock.  I had found the Shaman at last.

The Shaman was convinced of my good intentions by the feather in my hair (seriously, this guy would be so easy to murder), and listened while I explained about my mission to kill the Lizard King and the Gonchong.  He did a comical leap in the air when I mentioned the Gonchong, but despite his shock, and the altruism of my goals, he said that I would have to earn his help by passing three "disturbing and painful" tests.  At this point the book gave me the option to leave, which is tempting to try out one day to see exactly how helpful the Shaman is in finishing the book.  (What I would really like is the option to just not bother looking for the Shaman at all.  It would shave off a considerable part of a quite long book.)

I was game for the tests, and he gave me six options to choose from: Luck, Fear, Pain, Revulsion, Strength, and Dexterity.  The first test I chose was Fear.  The shaman filled my head with "terrible and threatening images", but I was able to resist them due to the magic powder I had on my face.

The next trial I chose was Pain.  He told me to hold two bones, and suddenly I felt as though I was going to explode.  This was dead easy to pass.  There's an option to cry out for him to stop, and an option to suck it up and take the pain.  It's pretty obvious which is the correct one, and if you choose it it's an automatic pass.  No troubles here.

For the final test I chose Revulsion.  The Shaman tapped me with his staff, and suddenly my whole body was crawling with maggots.  "You feel them writhing around inside your mouth and ears."  At this point the book asked me if I was wearing the Ring of Confusion.  If you'll recall, I had taken it off and left it as a gift for the Shaman.  I was feeling pretty good about not having it (albeit  a little guilty for what was probably cheating), but as it turned out the ring would have helped me pass the test somehow.  Without the ring I was unable to bear the experience, and to my surprise the Shaman told me that he could not share his secrets.  What, I only get one failure?  Disappointed, I began the long trek back down the volcano to find my army.

After a time I came to a ravine, and the only way across was a stone arch guarded by a Hobgoblin.

By this point I was weary of the constant grind of battle, so I decided to bribe my way across the bridge with my gold nugget.  The Hobgoblin was very happy to accept the bribe, and allowed me to cross with no trouble.  I'm wondering now if he knew what was waiting for me on the other side.

I travelled for a short time across rocky terrain, but soon I was intercepted by a Lizard Man riding a Styracosaurus.

It was at this point I realised, to my horror, that I only had 6 points of Stamina.  The Styracosaurus was tough (Skill 11, Stamina 10), but through judicious use of my Luck score I was able to defeat it with my own Stamina reduced to 2.  I wasn't so fortunate with the Mutant Lizard Man, who jumped from the back of his dead steed and killed me with a single blow.

THE POST-GAME
I have nobody to blame here but myself.  I was growing weary of the book, to be honest, and not being all that careful.  I still had plenty of Provisions left, and I really shouldn't have entered that fight with such a low Stamina.  There's really no excuse for not finishing this book with the stats I had, and it can only come down to poor play on my part.  Next time I start getting bored, I'll put the book down and play video games or something.

Island of the Lizard King - Attempt 1

Can you save the young men of Oyster Bay from the evil Lizard Men?

Kidnapped by a vicious race of Lizard Men from Fire Island, the young men of Oyster Bay face a grim future of slavery, starvation and a lingering death.  Their master will be the mad and dangerous Lizard King, who holds sway over his land of mutants by the strange powers of black magic and voodoo.  Will you risk all in an attempt to save the prisoners?

Island of the Lizard King, written by our old mate Ian Livingstone and illustrated by newcomer to the series Alan Langford, is the seventh Fighting Fantasy gamebook.  I've mentioned before that I've labelled the first three books in the series (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, The Citadel of Chaos and The Forest of Doom) as the Original Fighting Fantasy Trilogy.  There's a certain sense of newness, discovery and just plain weirdness that marks them out from their predecessors.  What I haven't mentioned before is what I call the Second Fighting Fantasy Trilogy, which begins with City of Thieves, continues into Deathtrap Dungeon and culminates in Island of the Lizard King.  It's an unbroken run of three Ian Livingstone books, where each book begins in the location of the previous book, and it takes the first tentative steps in establishing that the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks operate in a consistent world.

I never owned Island of the Lizard King as a kid.  If I wanted to read it, I had to borrow it from a friend, so I don't have the same level of familiarity that I had with books 5 and 6 (not that it helped me much with Deathtrap Dungeon).  It's never been one of my particular favourites.  As I remember it, it's pure baseline Ian Livingstone, with very little deviation from his standard formula.  It's a formula that I find entertaining, though, so I expect to have some fun regardless.

BACKGROUND

The book begins with the hero residing in Fang, the setting of Deathtrap Dungeon, the previous book in the series.  It's quite unlikely that he's the same fellow that won the Trial of Champions, though, as there's no mention of the 10,000 gold pieces he should be carrying.  Unless he blew the lot gambling on knifey-knifey, which seems unlikely.

Said hero decides to journey south to Oyster Bay, a quiet fishing village, only to discover that the men-folk have been taken as slaves by the Lizard Men of Fire Island.  Fire Island was once a prison colony run by one Prince Olaf, using Lizard Men as guards.  When Olaf decided that the whole venture just wasn't worth it and pulled out, the Lizard Men took over the island under the auspices of their self-proclaimed Lizard King.  The Lizard Men want more slaves to work the island's gold mines, so they've been raiding coastal villages, and that's where our hero comes in.

Not everyone from the village was taken, though: the hero's old buddy Mungo is there, planning to sail to Fire Island alone to rescue his buddies.  The hero agrees to join him, and thus the adventure begins.

THE RULES

The rules in this book are as basic as it gets for Fighting Fantasy.  It's all the usual stuff: Skill, Stamina, Luck, ten provisions, and a choice of three potions.  The hero begins with a sword, some leather armour, and a backpack - he's definitely not packed for a trip to a tropical island.

CHARACTER CREATION

I rolled a Skill of 11, a Stamina of 14 and a Luck of 11.  This is a great character, despite the low Stamina.  I remember that this book has more than a few tough, unavoidable combats.  Even so, I feel like my character stands a good chance of completing the book.

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

Mungo and I set sail on his small boat, and as we travelled Mungo told me how his father (a circus strongman) died in Deathtrap Dungeon.  You may recall that, during my own attempts to complete Deathtrap Dungeon, one of my characters had his Skill score reduced to -1, and got torn to shreds by Flying Guardians.  I've retroactively decided that that was Mungo's dad.  R.I.P. Mungo Sr, forever in our hearts.

I'm not sure Mungo is wearing any undies.

(I like Mungo.  He's rather lovable, and nothing seems to dampen his spirits.  Surely nothing bad will happen to such a positive individual.)

Eventually we reached Fire Island, and landed on a beach at the eastern tip of the island.  From there I had the choice of climbing rocks to the left, or climbing rocks to the right.  (Already the signs are here that this book isn't going to be of the same calibre as Deathtrap Dungeon.  In both books the first meaningful choice is whether to go left or right, but Deathtrap Dungeon has little details like footprints to help the reader come to a decision.  This book provides no guidance at all.)

Scrambling over the rocks to the left, we emerged on a golden beach with an abandoned hut at the far end.  I was eager to investigate the hut, so Mungo and I crossed the beach.  It was to prove a fatal decision.  As we walked over the beach, a Giant Crab rose out of the sand and grabbed Mungo in a pincer.  I decided to help Mungo (he's just too damn lovable to be left to die).  The Crab was tough (Skill 10, Stamina 11), and reduced me to 6 Stamina before I was able to kill it.

It has a mouth.

I wasn't quick enough to save Mungo, however.  The Crab's pincer had crushed him to death, though he had time to deliver a final speech: "A lot of use I've been.  Make sure you get the Lizard King for me, won't you?"  Cheerful to the end.  He's not wrong, though: he bloody well was useless!  I buried Mungo in the sand, marking his grave with his sword and consigning him to the standard-issue fate reserved for all gamebook sidekicks.

(I have to give some mild praise to Ian here for putting such a tough battle right at the start of the book.  It's an instant signifier that you'll need a high Skill score to win, and serves to weed out the characters that just aren't strong enough.  If there absolutely have to be unavoidable combats with enemies of Skill 10+, I'd prefer there to be one at the beginning rather than waiting until the end.)

The hut was littered with broken furniture, but under a rug I discovered a trapdoor.  Unable to resist my natural curiosity, I opened the trapdoor and found a recess beneath that contained a wooden box.  Inside the box was a corked jug and a note.  The note was from a fellow named Baskin, who had come to the island seeking solitude, but left once the Lizard Men showed up (so they're not native to the island).  The note also told me that the jug contained a potion that would protect me from the poisonous plants native to Fire Island.  With no reason to disbelieve the note, I downed the potion and ate some provisions (restoring my Stamina to 10, and leaving me with 9 provisions).

I followed an old goat track up the side of a cliff, and by the time I reached the top it was dusk.  After an uneventful night's sleep I plowed forth into the jungle.  It was slow going, and I had to use my sword to cut my way through.  Eventually I came to a great tree, and decided to take a rest.  A sweet smell surrounded me, and I started to feel drowsy.  As I was nodding off, a vine lowered itself from the branches above and looped around my neck.  I was being choked to death, and needed to Test My Luck to see if my sword was in reach.  It was, and I was able to use it to cut myself free.  The vine had severely injured my neck though, causing me to lose 1 point of Skill and 2 points of Stamina (leaving me with Skill 10 and Stamina 8).

As I pressed on, I started to feel as though I was being watched, and soon enough three dark-skinned men stepped onto the trail ahead of me.  They were dressed in furs and wielding clubs, and all three had shrunken heads attached to their belts.  The Headhunters attacked me one at a time, but I showed off my prowess by defeating all of them without taking a single wound.  (One of the unfortunate aspects of the series having been written in the 1980s is that you get portrayals of native people like the one above.  There's nothing malicious intended, I'm sure; it's far more likely that Ian was using tropes drawn from various books and movies he enjoyed.  Those tropes come from an uncomfortable place, though, and Island of the Lizard King is one of the worst FF books in this regard.)

The Headhunters had some bananas and coconuts, which I devoured (restoring my Stamina to 9).  I climbed a nearby tree to see if I could locate their village, and could see some smoke rising from the south-west.  After climbing back down I decided to head north-west to avoid the smoke (and hopefully the Headhunters' village).

Struggling through the jungle, I encountered a skeleton on the ground.  Lying nearby was a hand-axe and a coil of rope, and I took both.

Further along I noticed a crude platform halfway up one of the trees, with a vine hanging down to the ground.  I started climbing up, but an old man popped his head over the side of the platform and told me to go away.  I ignored him and continued to climb, so the old bugger started pelting me with coconuts (reducing my Stamina to 8).  Once I reached the top, the old man was nervously holding a bamboo staff, ready to defend himself.  I didn't want to offer him provisions (mostly because he'd been throwing his own food at my head), so I tried to wrest his staff away from him.  The old man dropped his staff and clambered higher into the tree, where I was unable to follow.  I shrugged my shoulders, climbed back down, and continued on my way.

Along the way I was randomly attacked by a Giant Dragonfly.   It hit me twice before I was able to kill it (reducing my Stamina to 4).  (This is the thing I hate the most about the way Ian designs gamebooks: unavoidable, meaningless combats.  They irk me.)

Close to the Dragonfly's corpse I saw a rotting log with a large clump of fungus growing on it.  The inexplicable urge to eat the fungus came over me, but I resisted.  Instead I ate another provision (restoring my Stamina to 8), before continuing through the jungle.

Veering to the west, I came to a clearing with a large green crystal in the centre.  I touched the crystal, and a warm healing glow radiated through my body (restoring my Stamina to 11).  Thinking that it might be a good idea to take some of the magic crystal with me, I tried to chip some off with my sword.  No, not the hand-axe I was carrying that would have been far better suited to the task.  I used my sword, and it snapped in half (reducing my Skill to 8).  Armed now with only half a sword, I left the clearing.

Once more I started hacking my way through the jungle (I don't feel so bad about using my sword for the task now that it's been snapped in half).  Before I could react, I found myself surprised by six Pygmies, all aiming blowpipes at me.

Yeah, it gets worse.

I tried talking to them, but I wasn't able to speak their language.  They indicated through gestures that they wanted me to give them something.  Given that I had some strange aversion to using the thing, I decided to give them my hand-axe.  The Pygmies were very pleased with the gift, seemingly regarding it as some sort of religious artifact.  (Christ, can we get this encounter over with so I don't have to write about it anymore?)  Feeling audacious, I asked for something in return.  The Pygmies were amused by my request, and handed me some nuts and berries.  I ate them gratefully, and they restored my Stamina to 13.  A noise from the jungle startled the Pygmies into flight, and I was relieved to be able to continue my journey.

The trees thinned out and the ground grew softer, and soon I found myself at the edge of a large swamp.  A small, humanoid creature ran past me, moving easily across the marsh.  I called out to it, and realised that it was a Marsh Hopper, a creature that pretends to lead unwary victims safely through a swamp, only to lure them into the lair of a carnivorous predator. 

I decided to follow the Marsh Hopper for a time, struggling to keep up.  The Marsh Hopper turned south, and I decided to follow it for a little longer.  It turned out to be a bad choice, as a huge two-headed Hydra rose out of the mire to attack.

The Hydra wasn't excessively powerful (Skill 9, Stamina 9), but it had two heads that attacked me simultaneously.  I downed my Potion of Fortune before the fight began (raising my Luck to 11), and set about spamming my Luck score in order to defeat the Hydra.  I was able to kill one head, but the double attacks wore me down.  I wasn't strong enough to defeat the second, and my adventure ended in the swamps as I was devoured by the Hydra.

THE POST-GAME
As usually happens when I play a gamebook that I haven't read for a while, I fell afoul of my own curiosity.  I should always remember that, in any given situation in Fighting Fantasy, there is but one positive option to choose.  Once I'd been healed by the crystal, I should have known that chipping it was a bad idea.  Still, I wanted to see what would happen anyway.  It's a curse.

Then, of course, there was the Marsh Hopper.  I remembered the encounter, and knew that the best thing to do was follow it for a while before veering off on my own.  I followed too long, and paid the price.  I'll know better next time.