Plugging My Newest Blog

I should have another attempt at "Dungeon of Justice" posted on the weekend, but in the meantime I have another blog I've been working on with some regularity: Chronology X.  If you're into X-Men comics you might want to check it out, but be warned that this is extremely focused on deep-dive continuity issues and minutiae related to the passage of time.  I'm trying to construct a working X-Men timeline based on clues from within the comics, so we're talking extremely pedantic nerd bullshit here.  If that sounds like something you might enjoy, please head on over there and take a look.

Dungeon of Justice - Attempts 4 & 5

In the comments of my last post, Ed Jolley kindly informed me that at least one of the references in my PDF of "Dungeon of Justice" is pointing to the wrong section.  Commentor Sitbear also pointed me towards some other errors that were printed in the original.  I've fixed all of those, so hopefully now I'll be playing with a mistake-free version of this adventure.  Thanks, folks!  I also keep getting comments about there being some trick to this adventure, one that I might need to look up the answer for.  I have to say that this intrigues me.  As far as I can tell "Dungeon of Justice" is a straight dungeon-crawler, so I'm interested to see what my readers are hinting at.

ATTEMPT 4

For my fourth attempt at this adventure, I rolled a Skill of 11, a Stamina of 18 and a Luck of 10.  With these incredibly viable scores I went into this with some confidence that I'd at least survive long enough to get some good exploration done.

After the initial fight with the Thief, I headed north to the room with the Giant Bats.  In a previous adventure I'd explored this room after killing the bats and found a trapdoor, but due to a failed Luck test I'd been unable to open it.  I was still curious about it, so I made this my first stop for Attempt 4, and this time I was lucky enough to get the trapdoor open.  Inside I found a recess containing a cape, a ring and a phial of colourless liquid.

First I tried on the cape, which proved to be a Cape of Levitation.  (I'd been asked for this during previous attempts, and had been keeping my eye out for it ever since.)  I also put on the ring, which was identified as a Ring of Skill.  Unfortunately, the ring had long ago been cursed, and instead of increasing my Skill it reduced my Stamina by 2 and my Luck by 1.  The phial was holy water, blessed by an ancient druid, and gave me a +1 bonus to my Attack Strength.  Handy!  (As my regular readers may have figured out, my style when playing gamebooks is to try out every single thing that I can, regardless of any potential threats to my wellbeing.  I treat each attempt at a gamebook as an exploratory mission: I'm aiming to find out as much as I can so that I can determine the best possible path forward.  When presented with three items in a Fighting Fantasy, I know very well that at least one of them is going to be terrible, but I still have to try them all out.  This time around, I feel like I came out ahead pretty well.)

From that room I headed north, through the junction with the erroneous link that Ed Jolley had warned me about.  Previously it had pointed me to a corridor where I tripped and broke my shield, but the correct entry led me to a dead end.  I tried to look for secret passages, but a failed Luck test meant that I had to go back to the previous junction and head east.

This led to another junction, where I was forced to head north.  I passed a grille on the wall, but it was locked, and I was unable to open it without a brass key.  Further ahead the tunnel turned east, and after a long walk I came to a door in the north wall.

Opening the door, I found what I had been looking for: a golden idol on a tall pedestal!  The room was criss-crossed with tripwires, all connected to crossbows, but there was no way I could leave without trying to get that idol: my life depended on it.  I had no trouble making my way through the wires, but as soon as I got near the idol disappeared.  It was an illusion, and I had walked into a trap.  After an ominous rumbling, a stone slab fell on top of me, and I had no way to escape being crushed.  My adventure was over!

THE POST-GAME

Okay, so I had a pretty good idea that what I'd found was not the idol I was looking for.  I get the feeling it's not going to be that obvious, especially with the hints my readers have been dropping.  But like I said, I have to try as many options as possible, and now I can add that room to my list of places to ignore.

ATTEMPT 5

That last game was quick, so I launched right into another attempt.  This time I rolled a Skill of 11 once again (I've been on fire with these Skill rolls), a Stamina of 21, and a Luck of 7.  In most of my attempts I set a specific goal, and this time around I wanted to open the grille that I'd been unable to unlock in the last game.  I knew where the key was, it was just a matter of finding the path that links back from there to the grille.

After being thrown in the dungeon and fighting a Thief, I came to a junction and decided to go west.  This led to a room where a dog was sleeping in a basket, with a key hanging on a hook nearby.  I decided to risk sneaking through the room, but my sword struck a stone, and (due to a failed Luck test that reduced my score to 6) the dog woke up.  It was, however, no ordinary dog; the beast had two heads, and was apparently the dreaded Xlaia, thought to be extinct for centuries.  Regardless of how dreaded it was, I killed it with ease, made it properly extinct, and took the brass key with me.

The passage out of the room headed west then turned north.  I ignored a door on the east wall, and at the next junction I turned east.  Shuffling footsteps warned me of someone's approach, but it was just an old man, who had been thrown in here by the elves years ago.  I gave him directions back to the entrance, and he rewarded me with a clue: "All that glitters is not gold. There are many forms to what you seek; do not be misled by false idols."  (Thanks guy, where were you during my last attempt?)

Further along the passage I came to an alcove containing three small bottles.  One had clear liquid  inside, one golden liquid, and the last had a pale green syrup.  I, of course, decided to down them all.  The clear liquid restored my Stamina by 1 point.  The golden liquid put me to sleep for several hours.  I was not killed by any wandering monsters, and nobody came along to steal my stuff, but I did awaken in a groggy state, which meant that my Attack Strength would be reduced by 1.  The third liquid was an Elixir of Fortune, and from now on I was able to add 1 point to my dice roll every time I Tested my Luck.  (Waaaiiiit a second.  That's bad!  You want to roll low on a Luck test, to get under your score.  So either the author has gotten this wrong, or is deliberately messing with the reader.  I'll follow the text as written, I guess, but I really don't know what the intention is here.)

The tunnel soon connected with a junction (which I recognised, meaning that I was on the path towards the grille).  I headed north, then east, then north again, and came to the grille in the side of the wall.  With the brass key I was able to unlock it, but the effort required to push it open was such that I stumbled headlong into the darkness, right into a pit.  Without the Cape of Levitation in my possession I fell, and fell, and fell...  The pit was bottomless.  So while my character was technically still alive, my adventure was very much over.  (Actually, based on my map I don't think it's possible to get the brass key and the cape of levitation in the same game, unless there's a connection somewhere that I'm missing.)

THE POST-GAME

Well, I accomplished my goal, for all the good it did me.  To be honest, I feel like I've made very little progress in this adventure.  I've figured out a bunch of things not to do, but I'm no closer to a solving the adventure than I was at the beginning.  I think my next target is the combination lock on the other side of the river.  It could just be another red herring/deathtrap, but of the loose ends on my map so far it looks the most promising.

Dungeon of Justice - Attempts 2 & 3

I'm back for another go at Dungeon of Justice, the mini-adventure from Warlock #5.  For those who might have missed the last post, the adventure sees you captured by elves and accused of murdering their chieftain; to prove your innocence you need to enter a deadly dungeon and retrieve a golden idol.  Fantasy legal systems are rarely nuanced, it seems. Shouldn't they have spells that can figure this stuff out?

Last time I explored in a fairly haphazard fashion, and died when I opened a hatch that flooded the tunnel I was in. This time around I plan to make some maps and explore a bit more carefully.  I'll probably die anyway, but no attempt is wasted if I'm able to glean some new information is what I always say.

ATTEMPT 2

For my second attempt at this book, I rolled a Skill of 7, a Stamina of 19 and a Luck of 11.  There are some good rolls there, but not in the places I'd like them.  I can't see myself getting far with a Skill that low.

I started the adventure by killing a thief (an unavoidable encounter), and at the first junction I turned north. Then I turned east at the next junction, and continued east at a third junction. (Gripping stuff.) The tunnel turned north and I came to a pit, which I decided to explore.  At the bottom was a tunnel heading off to the east, where I found a golden key.

Heading back out of the pit I continued north, toward some strange lights and chanting.  Three robed figures were dancing around a large glowing crystal, and when I approached they hurled themselves at me angrily.  The Light Worshippers (Skill 9, Stamina 11) attacked me three-on-one, and my meagre swordsmanship was not enough to stop them from killing me.

THE POST GAME

There was no way out of that fight except to win, and my Skill score just wasn't up to it.  I tried to use my Luck to help, but it wasn't quite enough.  The only thing I discovered that might be of use is the golden key, so altogether this wasn't the most successful run.

ATTEMPT 3

That last attempt was quite pitiful, so I'm trying again. For my third attempt, I rolled much more respectable scores: Skill 11, Stamina 22 and Luck 10.  Of the three potions available I took the Potion of Fortune.

After being forced into the dungeon I fought and killed a Thief (Skill 7, Stamina 6), looting his corpse for 3 gold pieces (and a weird piece of mouldy fruit that I left behind).  At the first junction I came to I continued north, and I decided to head north at the next junction as well.

I soon came to a door in the west wall of the corridor, with a faint cross carved into the wood. I decided to enter, and the door opened into a room strewn with rubble. A fetid smell and a high-pitched squeal was all the warning I got before a pair of Bats (Skill 5, Stamina 7 and Skill 6, Stamina 6) swooped down to attack me.  I carved them up with ease.  (The adventure makes a big deal out of how difficult it will be for you to fight the bats with your sword, and suggests throwing your shield into the air to distract them. None of this is relevant, as after this rigmarole you just fight them as normal.)

I decided to search through the rubble, and found a heavy trapdoor in the floor. Unfortunately, I was unable to budge it, and I had to leave and continue north. (This was the result of a failed Luck test, leaving my Luck score at 9.)

I soon came to a junction with a tunnel branching west, but because the floor looked uneven that way I decided (i.e. was forced by the adventure) to continue north. Along the way I tripped and fell, and my shield got wedged into a crack in the wall. I was able to pry it loose, but it was bent out of shape. (This meant that my Attack Strength would be reduced by 2 from now on. There's no way to avoid this happening if you come this direction.)

At the next junction, I decided to go north, and found myself at the top of a cliff overlooking a subterranean river. With no way to get down, I retraced my steps to the junction and went west.  This path eventually led to another junction, and I followed the path to the north.

On the way north I was attacked by a pair of Porcupines (Skill 7, Stamina 5 and Skill 8, Stamina 5).  The first Porcupine managed to wound me with a poisoned spine (reducing my Stamina to 19), but I was able to kill them both without further injury.

The path sloped down, and I emerged at the bank of the subterranean river. The only way across was a rickety bridge that was being eaten by two-headed termites. I risked the bridge, and made it across without incident (by making a Luck test that reduced my score to 8).

On the far side I searched the beach, and was nipped by a crab for my troubles (reducing my Stamina to 17; I'd done this on my first attempt, but had since forgotten about it). There were three doors ahead; I chose the door to the east.

The tunnel beyond was partially blocked, but I was able to find a rock that I could use to smash my way through (requiring a Luck test that reduced my score to 7).  At the end of the tunnel was a door with a combination lock. I didn't know the combination, so I had no choice but to turn back.  (I found this combination during my first attempt, on the body of a hobgoblin. I had to resist the urge to look at my first Adventure Sheet and cheat the door open.)

Heading back, I decided to take the north door from the beach.  I could hear rustling feathers and whistling from behind the iron-studded door, which was locked.  (It required a gold key to open, which I didn't have. I'd found it at the bottom of a pit in my last ill-fated attempt, so I knew where to look next time.) Without a key, I had no option but to barge the door with my shoulder, which I managed without injury. (This was done by rolling a die. A result of 1-4 resulted in losing 2 Stamina, while a 5 or 6 opened the door. I rolled a 5 first try.  The adventure gives you no option but to keep battering away, so it's quite possible to die here without any option to stop from killing yourself on a bloody great iron door.)

Waiting for me in the room was a Birdman named Galon (who apparently has a "lust for metal"). The Birdman (Skill 12, Stamina 8) was obviously hostile, so I drew my sword to defend myself.  Before it closed, I drank a dose from my Potion of Fortune.  It was a desperate battle, but luck was with me, and I was able to kill the fearsome beast. (This was a tough fight, especially considering that my battered shield was lowering my Attack Strength by 2. The Birdman hit me four times, reducing my Stamina to 9. I used my Luck twice so that I could kill it faster, leaving my Luck score at 9.  Allowing myself to drink the potion before battle is a little iffy, but the rules do say that you can drink them whenever you want. I don't allow it in the middle of a fight, but right before seems fair.)

As soon as the Birdman died, a mass of wriggling maggots appeared and stripped it to the bone. Once this was done they advanced on me, and I had to find a means of escape. I was able to find a secret door to the north (with a Luck test that reduced my score to 8), and emerged in a tunnel that led to a crossroads.

Heading north from the crossroads, I came to a door with a piece of parchment nailed to it. Written in several languages was the following: "If you have come this far your courage is great. Now you must live with courage or die with courage. Knock and enter."  (This is the point where I would turn around and keep searching the dungeon, because I've obviously reached the end without finding the idol.  But Fighting Fantasy adventurers never backtrack, so I must press on.)

In the room beyond was an old man behind a desk, who rose and welcomed me. He asked if I had found the idol. I was tempted to attack him, but instead I told him that I didn't have it.

Sadly, the old man led me up a staircase to the surface. I was surrounded by hundreds of Elves, all with bows drawn and pointed in my direction. I was pronounced guilty, and died under a hail of arrows.  (If this was a game of Dungeons & Dragons, this is where I'd stubbornly insist that the DM roll every attack for those elves until I was dead. You never know when the dice will miraculously come up in your favour!)

THE POST-GAME

Well, I made it out of the dungeon at least. I don't feel like I'm any closer to finding the idol, but it is good to have a better sense of the dungeon's size, and the paths I have yet to explore.  That door with the combination lock seems like a good place to start on my next attempt.

Dungeon of Justice - Attempt 1

 

"Dungeon of Justice", written by Jonathan Ford, was the runner up in the gamebook design contest that ran in Warlock #1. That means it came in second to "The Dervish Stone", which is a little worrying.  I don't believe we'll see anything from Jonathan Ford in the future, but illustrator Bob Harvey has already worked on the main series with Talisman of Death, and will contribute to a bunch more.

The background kicks off by firmly setting this in Allansia, with the hero of the adventure determined to travel south from Oyster Bay, across the Desert of Skulls, to reach Sapphire City and its famous gemstone mines. (This adventure came out a little before Temple of Terror, so it does have the distinction of being the first adventure to do something with the Desert of Skulls.  Although technically it starts before the hero ever gets there, so I guess Temple of Terror should still get that credit.)  Along the way, the hero encounters some goblins in the process of murdering an important-looking elf. The goblins clear out just before some other elves appear, and of course the hero gets blamed for killing the elven chief. The elven legal system apparently involves retrieving a golden idol from the so-called Dungeon of Justice as proof of innocence, and the hero is lowered through a hollow tree trunk into the labyrinth below.  The mission is to find the idol and escape the dungeon, and only then will the elves set the hero free.

The rules are basic Fighting Fantasy, without any embellishments. The hero begins with the standard FF kit of a sword, shield, leather armour, and backpack. The backpack contains five provisions, which can only be eaten one at a time when the adventure says it's okay.  You also get the choice of taking one of the following three: a potion of skill, a potion of strength, or a potion of fortune, each with two doses. Very familiar territory.

I rolled an 11 for Skill, a 20 for Stamina, and an 8 for Luck.  With Luck as my obvious weakness, I chose the potion of fortune, and set off on my adventure.

With no other recourse, I set off along the torch-lit tunnel.  The tunnel twisted and turned, continuing roughly north. As I turned a corner I bumped into a man in black robes, armed with a dagger; probably someone else that the elves had put on trial. (For what?  Have the elves had multiple chiefs killed on the same day? It says he's a thief, so that solves it, I guess.).  The thief (Skill 7, Stamina 6)  lunged at me with his dagger, but I killed him easily.  (If you're making a list of things that annoy me in gamebooks, add unavoidable combats right at the beginning of adventures. Getting thrown right into a fight before making a single decision really gets to me.)

On his body were 3 gold pieces and a mouldy piece of triangular fruit. I'd never seen a fruit like it, but I suspected it might be the Xentos, the legendary fruit of longevity. Rather than risk eating it, I left it behind. (This bit is weird. You don't get a choice to eat the fruit, it's just an odd bit of setting flavour that the author throws in. It might come back later in the adventure, but I suspect that it's pointless.)

At a fork in the tunnel, I turned west into a passageway that ended at a door. The door opened into a small room with a large dog sleeping in a basket in the corner. On the far side of the room was another door, with a brass key hanging on a hook nearby. I decided to risk creeping quietly across the room. My sword made a noise when it struck a stone, but the dog didn't wake up (due to a successful Luck test that reduced my score to 7). I took the key, made it through the door, and slammed it shut as the dog snarled and slavered on the other side.  (I never understand in these sleeping animal situations why I don't get the option to just sneak over and jam my sword through the dog's neck. But I guess I only think of things like that because I am a dog-hater, a hater of all kinds of pets, and generally just soulless and evil.)

The tunnel beyond headed west before turning north. I came to a door in the east wall and decided to open it. The only thing in the room was a not-too-deep hole in the floor, with a passage leading north at the bottom. I decided to jump into the hole, but as I did my backpack caught on something and I was thrown off-balance. I managed to land well (due to a Luck test that reduced my score to 6), but I was still slightly hurt by the fall (reducing my Stamina to 19).  I took this chance to take a swig from my Potion of Fortune (increasing my initial Luck to 9, and restoring it to that number as well.)

The tunnel came to a junction, with a path branching off to the east. I went that way, down some roughly cut steps.  After a time the tunnel curved back north, and I was confronted by a dirty, fat Hobgoblin (Skill 7, Stamina 8). (With one purple eye and one green eye, he's the David Bowie of hobgoblins.) He attacked me with his sword, and I was able to kill him without a scratch. On his corpse I found 2 gold pieces (bringing my total to 5) and a scrap of parchment.

The parchment had three numbers written on it: 15, 10 and 22. I tucked it away in my pocket. (The book told me I should memorise the numbers in case I lost the parchment, but I wrote them down instead. I figure if I'm carrying the parchment with me there's no need to memorise it. If I do lose it, then I'll rub the numbers out.)

Further along the tunnel I came to a door in the east wall. It was locked, but I was able to open it with the brass key I'd taken from the dog's room. In the middle of the room beyond was a large ruby, glinting in the torchlight. Filled with greed (and also figuring that if I needed a key to get in here this ruby might be important for my quest) I walked over to pick it up. As soon as I entered the room, a gigantic Spider dropped down from the roof. I caught a glimpse of its previous victims webbed to the ceiling before it attacked me.

The Giant Spider (Skill 9, Stamina 5) was a stronger foe than those I'd previously fought, and it managed to wound me once (reducing my Stamina to 17).  When the spider was dead I grabbed the ruby, and clambered back out of the room over it's sticky corpse.

Coming to a junction, I headed east. The passage soon came to another junction, but the way south was a dead end, so I turned north. After a while the passage widened, and I found myself at the top of a cliff overlooking a large cavern with a fast river at the bottom. I had no way of getting down, so I turned back south, west, and then north. (The book asked if I had a Cape of Levitation, so that's something I'll have to look out for.)

The way north was barred by two strange beasts, giant Porcupines with poisonous quills. I had to fight them both (Skill 7, Stamina 5 and Skill 8, Stamina 5), but luckily they attacked me one at a time. I was able to kill them without being hurt by their spines. (The poison would have done 3 points of damage instead of the usual 2, due to the poison.)

The passage widened into a cavern, the same one that I had seen before from the clifftop. I went downstream along the river until I reached a bridge. Not only was the bridge rather flimsy-looking, it was also in the process of being devoured by giant, two-headed termites. I considered swimming across, but figured that the current would be too strong for me to survive.  Instead, I decided to risk crossing the bridge before it was completely destroyed.  The termites ignored me, but with each step another piece of the bridge fell away. By the time I got to the far end it was hanging by a single rope, but I was able to make it to the north riverbank (with the aid of a successful Luck test, which reduced by score to 8).

An alcove in the cliff face ahead had three doors, heading west, north and east, but first I decided to search the beach on the north riverbank. I didn't find anything, and I was nipped on the hand by a small crab (reducing my Stamina to 15).  I decided to move on, taking the west door.

The passage beyond continued west, and I ignored two branches heading off to the north. Eventually I came to a rock fall that blocked the way forward, but there was another passage north, which I took. It led to a huge cavern, in which I saw a gigantic ruby on a shelf on the far wall. The path to the ruby was lined with spikes that swivelled in and out, looking very dangerous. Figuring that I was here for a golden idol and not a ruby, I decided to leave and head back the way I came.  (Now that I think of it, that's the second ruby I've encountered so far, which seems a bit suspicious. I'm wondering now if I need to be collecting all the rubies I see.)

I went back east, past the first northern branch. I wasn't able to open the door back to the river cave, so I took the second branch to the north. It led to a room with an exit on the far wall, and a shallow pit. I jumped into the pit, and saw a low tunnel entrance under some overhanging rock. Investigating, I found a phial of blue liquid on the ground, which I drank. It was a Potion of Fortune, much like the one I already had with me. (Drinking it raised my initial Luck and my current Luck to 10.)

At the end of the tunnel was a door, and from behind it I could hear a strange gurgling noise. It felt strangely cold to the touch, but I decided to open it anyway. This proved to be a very bad idea, as a flood of water gushed out as soon as the door was opened. It was impossible to flee, and I drowned in the tunnel. My adventure was over!

THE POST-GAME

Well that was a nice, traditional dungeon crawl, which I'm always up for. Nothing out of the ordinary so far, but I don't expect a lot from these amateur contest entries. One thing I've realised that I need to do is make a map. The dungeon has a lot of doors and passages, with a decent amount of backtracking. I figured that, being a shorter adventure, I'd be able to dispense with the mapping, but I was wrong.

I'm also wondering about the rules for provisions. The rules say you're meant to eat when instructed by the text, but I never got any such instructions.  I suspect that this is an error, and that I should be able to eat whenever I'm not in battle.  It didn't matter, as I hardly sustained any damage, but it might become more important for a low-Skill character.

Warlock Magazine #5

 

Cover by Christos Achilleos

It's time to crack open another issue of Warlock, which is always a fun moment of discovery for me.  Warlock never made it to the small country town I grew up in, and I've never even seen a copy in person, so all of this stuff is new to me in ways that the first half of the FF gamebook series never can be again.  I always look forward to seeing what the magazine has to offer.

The editorial notes that the magazine is now a year old, with a circulation of around 35,000.  This is apparently an "undisputable success", but Warlock only lasts another eight issues, so I wonder what happened during that time. Did the numbers fall precipitously after this?  The final issue shipped around the same time as Creature of Havoc (late in 1986), so it wasn't the decline of the gamebook fad that did it in. It's a mystery.

"Out of the Pit" by Steve Jackson: This issue's installment presents four creatures known collectively as the Apes of Mauristatia. Mauristatia is a mountainous region to the northwest of Kakhabad, and has been previously shown on the map for the Sorcery! epic. It's said to be largely unexplored; certainly the hero of Sorcery! never went there during his adventure, so this is the first real detail we're getting about the place.

These apes are given here in conjunction with the "Search for the Mungie's Gold" game presented later in the magazine, and Steve tells readers that only the Games Master for that adventure should read the entries. Let's be real, though, Fighting Fantasy readers are unrepentant cheaters, and wouldn't hesitate to read about the monsters to get themselves a leg up.  Fair enough too, you need all the advantages you can get when dealing with Jackson and Livingstone.

The article then gives a little bit of history on how the apes were discovered: a merchant ship from Brice, while trading in Khare, overheard a story about the legendary Muttonfish, an enormous fish so tasty that those who eat it would become addicted. So the merchant captain and his crew set off to Lake Lumle to try and catch some Muttonfish, only to be blown to the north-western shore by a sudden storm. The ship was stuck in a mud bank, and only by leaving behind its cargo and some crew could it set sail again. So the captain set sail back to Khare, planning to return with a smaller rescue ship. When he got back, the cargo had been ransacked, and there was only one survivor, a crewman who ranted deliriously about the apes...  Of these apes, four are detailed.

Howl Cat: An ape with a lion-like head and rending claws. They are vicious predators, with an ear-splitting shriek that strikes terror into their prey. Each time a Howl Cat is injured it lets out this shriek, and its opponents all suffer a -1 penalty to Attack Strength in the following round. The shriek weakens the Howl Cat, though, draining it of 1 Stamina point each time.

Wraith Ape: Stealthy, nocturnal apes that hunt in packs.  Their night vision gives them a combat advantage when fighting in the dark, and they can glide silently down onto their prey with the large flaps of skin under their arms. They make particularly deadly use of the leaves of the Blade Tree, a tree with sharp leaves that are as hard as rock. Much like villains in a Bruce Lee movie, they will only attack one at a time.

The Champaque: A green-furred ape with a face resembling that of an ageing sorcerer. It hunts alone, using its uncanny ability to mimic the voices of any animal it studies. It can even mimic human speech, and will use that ability to lure adventurers to their deaths. After killing its prey it eats their brain, thus absorbing some of its intelligence. A fully fed Champaque will have a Skill of 12, so it's best taken care of immediately.

Mungies: Smaller apes that are irresistibly attracted to gold. They will steal it from adventurers, many of whom won't be able to retaliate: a Skill of 9+ (10+ at night) is required to even catch them, which is a hell of a requirement. The Mungies' propensity for stealing gold - and their lack of real use for it - has given rise to the idea that there must be a tremendous hoard hidden somewhere in Mauristatia. Which leads us to...

"In Search of the Mungies' Gold" by Steve Jackson: This is an adventure using the FF rules, that is sort of a hybrid between the FF Introductory RPG and a board game. It uses the above premise of the Mungie hoard as background for the adventure, in which six adventurers have landed their boat on the northwest coast of Lake Lumle in search of the gold in question. The Games Master has a map of Mauristatia overlayed with a grid, and 16 encounters to disperse among the various squares. The players must explore the squares, playing through the encounters they discover in their quest to find the Mungies and their gold.

The encounters include variations on all of the apes from the "Out of the Pit" article, as well as some old standards such as Skunkbears, Black Elves, Elvins and a Manticore. There are also friendly NPCs that are there to point the players in the right direction. And just in case you think Steve is slacking in the sadism department, there's a chance a player might die by walking into a blade tree by accident and cutting their throat.

As an optional final twist, Steve suggests having the players' boat half-eaten by wood beetles, so that only one of them will be able to make it back to Khare safely. The intention here is that the players will duke it out to see which of them makes it home with the gold.  I do wonder if the game as whole might not work a little better if played competitively from the beginning. Regardless, it does sound like fun, and a much stronger effort than Ian's "Market Mayhem".

"Maelstrom" by Alexander Scott: This article is a thinly veiled bit of advertising for the Maelstrom paperback, written by the book's author. I've seen ads for this book before, but never got my hands on a copy. Apparently it's a full-fledged RPG set in the 16th century, which can be played with a six-sided die and a deck of cards (to simulate a 10-sider). Unfortunately, the article doesn't really go into what makes Maelstrom different from other RPGs. There are some generalities on what makes tabletop RPGs better than solo gamebooks, but there's not room for much else.

"Fighting Fantasy News": Here's what's going in the FF world circa April 1985.

• Temple of Terror, The Rings of Kether, and Seas of Blood are all forthcoming. (I got the publishing sequence right in my notes, but I decided to do Temple of Terror first because I was keen to get back to the main series.) Appointment with F.E.A.R. is announced with the working title of "Superheroes", and Rebel Planet is also mentioned with the working title of "The Aliens of Arcadion".
• There's an item titled "FF Boobs", which is not nearly as exciting as it sounds. It asks the readers to point out mistakes, and mentions one from The Shamutanti Hills involving a Vial of Glue that the book assumes the player cannot have.
• A line of FF miniatures is in the works from Citadel Miniatures. I should do a post on them at some point, as well as some of the other non-book ephemera out there.
• Tasks of Tantalon and Casket of Souls, the PuzzleQuest books by Steve and Ian respectively, are said to be nearly done. I have a copy of Tasks of Tantalon, but not Casket of Souls, so it might be a little tricky for me to cover when the time comes.
• Something called the "Fighting Fantasy Battlegame" is mentioned as being almost done. It supposedly contains a load of polystyrene dungeon walls so you can design your own dungeons. I've never heard of this, and from some quick research I can see that it was never produced on the scale mentioned above, and just ended up as a set of dice and some rules.
• A "Forest of Doom" holiday is mentioned, which sounds a bit like a LARP. It's something I wanted to try when I was younger, but have zero interest in now that I'm a crusty old man.
• The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Boardgame is just about done. I seriously need to get myself a copy of this. I've never played it, but it looks like a lot of fun.
• The Middle Earth Roleplaying Game is being published in the UK by Games Workshop. I played it a bunch in highschool, and it's an interesting system, but I never felt like it did a good job of modelling Tolkien. My most distinct memory of it comes from the absurd critical hit tables, which resulted in my hobbit character getting an instant kill on a Balrog by shooting it in the spleen.
• Citadel of Chaos is getting a new cover, where the awesome conga-line of monsters is replaced by a lame swirly green cloud lady.
• John Blanche has produced a painted version of the Kakhabad map, and it's on sale as a poster. Have a squiz.

"The Warlock's Quill": In the letters this issue, Jonathan Dickie is mocked for submitting a list of gamebook titles that includes "The Brain of the Lost Prince"; Lawrence Gabb expresses his preference for the simplicity of FF over the complexity of D&D; Ian Jars complains that the books are too bloomin' well hard (git gud, son); Paul Johnson asks if there'll be another epic in the style of Sorcery! (no plans); and Sam Carter fails to understand that his Stamina can never go above its initial level. Probably the most interesting thing comes in the reply to Paul Johnson's letter, where it's revealed that Iain McCaig suggested doing Return to Firetop Mountain over some pints many years before it was actually published.

Miscellanea: There's a puzzle that involves guessing which FF gamebooks various images came from, an FF trivia quiz (quite hard, too), a crossword, and the continuation of the "Arkenor and Max" comic strip.

There's also the "Dungeon of Justice" solo adventure, written by Jonathan Ford and illustrated by Bob Harvey. That adventure will be the subject of my next post (and if I'm unlucky, multiple posts following that one). I've heard it's a tricky one, so I have some trepidation.

Exploring Titan 15: Temple of Terror

It's odd to think that the fourteenth Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Temple of Terror, is just the second to be specifically written with Allansia as an established setting.  Previous books such as Deathtrap Dungeon and Island of the Lizard King had minor bits of connective tissue, but it wasn't until book 9 - Caverns of the Snow Witch - that Allansia was named and things were really stitched together into a unified whole. Since that book the series has veered off into all sorts of weird places: modern-day horror, the fantasy world of Orb, vast spaceships, Mad Max post-apocalypse.  It's been a while since the series has been to Allansia, and Ian Livingstone uses that chance to revisit some previously established favourites.  I'll check in with those before I get to the new elements that Temple of Terror introduces.

(Also, it's possible this entry might not be as thorough as the ones I've written in the past. I didn't take notes during my read-through of the book, so I'm doing most of this from memory.)

YAZTROMO

Yaztromo is described in the Background section as an eccentric wizard living alone in his tower on the edge of Darkwood Forest, practising simple magic and communicating with animals. His penchant for selling magic items - literally his entire purpose for being included in The Forest of Doom - is reiterated, and here we learn what he does with the money: he buys delicious cakes from all over Allansia. This is described as pretty much his entire contact with the outside world, but after his pet crow overhears a conversation between some Dark Elves and Malbordus he's quick to rush to the village of Stonebridge to find someone to undertake the quest.

Yaztromo just about recognises the hero of Temple of Terror, implying that it's the same character from Forest of Doom.  Given the level of their interaction, it's not unreasonable that Yaztromo would only half-remember an adventurer who stopped by for a few minutes to buy some magic items.  It's perhaps a little weirder if said adventurer made multiple visits to Yaztromo, as is possible during that adventure, but it's hardly the biggest logical problem that looping back to the start of Forest of Doom presents.

Aside from being the tale's primary quest-giver, Yaztromo also serves to teach the player some spells. This is one of the most jarring things in this book. In most fantasy fiction the learning of magic is a rigorous task, requiring years of painstaking research, but here Yaztromo teaches the hero a handful of spells in what seems like a matter of hours.  This has got to be the only instance in FF where the learning of magic is treated so flippantly. For the sake of consistency, it would have been better for Yaztromo to have offered the hero a selection of magic items, much as he did in his previous appearance.  In my head I've chalked this up as a trick Yaztromo can do, a sort of temporary bestowal of magical power on someone else.

All told, I feel like Yaztromo has been greatly softened as a character here. In his previous appearance he was quite a bit less friendly, and much more prone to transforming people that annoyed him into animals. His "crotchety wizard who just wants to be left alone" bit kind of got co-opted by Nicodemus from City of Thieves, and I guess the setting does need an active wizardly quest-giver. The Grand Wizard of Yore from Citadel of Chaos might have fit the bill, but he's a Steve Jackson creation. Of Ian Livingstone's characters, Yaztromo was probably the best bet to transition into this role.

Speaking of Nicodemus, Yaztromo steals a little personality back from him by showing some absent-minded tendencies.  In City of Thieves, Nicodemus famously gives you too many ingredients for a protection spell, then can't remember which of them you should use.  Yaztromo's blunder in this book isn't quite so bad, but having him send the Hammer of Gillibran - a weapon you need to destroy the dragon artefacts sought by Malbordus - after you've been sent on your quest is not the smartest. Being charitable, I'll say that he didn't know you'd need it beforehand, and only figured that out while doing some more research.

STONEBRIDGE, DARKWOOD FOREST AND VARIOUS RIVERS

Darkwood Forest and the dwarf village of Stonebridge are presented pretty much as they were in Forest of Doom, although the forest as depicted here is a lot less dangerous than it was. That's chalked up to the hero being accompanied by Yaztromo, but it does feel a little odd for such a previously dangerous place to be reduced to a paragraph in the Background section.

Darkwood Forest is said here to be the home of the "darkside elves" that raised Malbordus (more on them later).  They must be well hidden, because there wasn't a sign of them in Forest of Doom.

Catfish River, a few hours travel south of Darkwood Forest, made it's debut in City of Thieves. I don't believe it was ever named in that book, but I could be wrong about that. It was definitely named on the map of Allansia presented in Warlock #1, where it's shown flowing from the Moonstone Hills, south past Darkwood Forest and out to the ocean. In Temple of Terror the hero can buy passage on a trade barge heading down Catfish River to Port Blacksand.

Red River was similarly named and located on that same map. I'd always assumed it was the same river that bisects Darkwood Forest in Forest of Doom, but on the map it's shown as being much closer to Stonebridge.  I guess the river in Forest of Doom is a smaller tributary.

PORT BLACKSAND

Port Blacksand is a pretty quick stop-over in this adventure, although there's still the chance to be ambushed by cutthroats or get into a barfight with a pirate. Of particular note is that this is the first book to really feature the Black Lobster Tavern. It's become one of the more famous fixtures of Blacksand, and yet in that city's most famous outing - City of Thieves - the tavern barely featured at all. It did get a full-page illustration, but the hero of that book never went inside. The hero of Temple of Terror does get to enter, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary happens. (I'd consider being stabbed in the face by  a pirate with a broken bottle to be pretty par for the course for Port Blacksand.)

THE DESERT OF SKULLS

Like the rivers mentioned above, the Desert of Skulls first appeared on that map from Warlock #1. In this book, it's very much a mash-up of desert tropes from the real-world and adventure stories, with some fantasy monsters thrown in for good measure.

The most notable inhabitants are the Nomads the hero encounters. One of them is riding a camel on his way to join a merchant caravan, and will sell the hero a canteen of water. The other is a merchant named Abjul, who sells his exotic wares from his tent. The nomads aren't given much in the way of explanation, with an Arabian flavour being pretty much their only defining characteristic.

THE LOST CITY OF VATOS

This is the where most of the action of the adventure takes place, although it's more accurate to say that the action takes place beneath the city. Vatos being a "lost city" seems a little dubious in the context of the book. Yes, it's situated in a large desert, but the hero of the book makes a direct beeline for it without ever having to learn its location.  It's possible that Yaztromo knew the location and told the hero, but none of that's in the actual story.

Concrete information about the city is pretty scarce in Temple of Terror, but it's apparently supposed to be an abandoned ruin. It's true that it doesn't seem to have much of a population, but the buildings and the surrounding wall appear to be pretty much intact. Whatever happened to Vatos that caused people to abandon it, it went easy on the infrastructure.

There are a couple of possibilities that the book presents as to cataclysmic events that might have destroyed Vatos. The first is a mural, the description of which I'll lift wholesale: "A mass of Undead, whipped by vile Orcs, are pushing back an army of men and Dwarfs. The leader of the Undead is hidden by dark robes, apart from his fleshless, reptilian skull. His cold, evil, green eyes stare threateningly from the mural. He appears to be holding a casket which is drawing in the spirit of the king of the men and Dwarfs, for whom the battle seems lost." This could be a more general scene, or it could be a depiction of the downfall of Vatos. It's a mural painted by a visiting artist, so it really could go either way. (I've pretty much always thought of this as a reference to Ian Livingstone's Casket of Souls, but having never had access to that book I had no way of knowing. Doing a little research, I see that book is set in the world of Amarillia, so it seems unlikely.)

The second of the two options comes from another piece of artwork, an intricate wooden carving of Vatos being attacked by Giant Sandworms. Given that this one specifically depicts the city, it's much more likely to be something with historical precedent. Whether it happened before or after Vatos became a ruin, or if it even happened at all, is left up in the air. This book isn't big on explanations.

Currently, the city isn't completely abandoned, and is mostly home to those who have wandered in seeking shelter and decided to stay for various reasons. There's no law or organisation in the city, with the most powerful getting their way. At present, the most powerful faction seems to be the priesthood led by Leesha.

LEESHA AND THE PRIESTHOOD

As I just mentioned above, Leesha and her priests are the current strongest faction in Vatos. (There may not be any others, as there are no other groups mentioned in the book.)  They are said to raid passing caravans for food. I do wonder where these caravans are going. Are they simply raiding from the aforementioned Nomads, or is there trade going back and forth from the lands north and south of the desert?

Described as a beautiful young woman, Leesha appears to live a life of luxury, tended to by slaves and servants. She has some considerable magical power, at least in terms of her protection magic: the only thing that can harm her is the jagged edge of a Sandworm tooth. This protective power is displayed as she holds aloft a "black, crescent-shaped object", so it's possible that her power comes from this item rather than any magical ability on her part. She's very quick to flee once the hero pulls out the Sandworm tooth, so it might be that she doesn't have any tricks aside from that one.

Aside from general cruelty and evil, Leesha's main personality trait is a love of art. Once a year she secretly invites artists to the city to perform for her. The one she likes best is awarded 300 gold pieces, while the others are sacrificed to "the Dark One".

The question of who this Dark One is is up in the air, as the book never says. One of the Demon Princes is a possibility, but the books haven't established them as a thing yet, and specific evil gods haven't been named outside of the Sorcery! epic.  One thing we do know is that one of Leesha's priests will acknowledge your authority if you show him a tapestry with a phoenix on it.  The phoenix as a mythological creature isn't usually connected to evil, so it all seems like a weird fit and makes me wonder if Leesha has hoodwinked an already existing religion and perverted it into unwitting worship of the Dark One.

One thing we do know is that she's helping Malbordus. No doubt one of the first things he did on his quest was to get in the good graces of the most powerful person in Vatos, and get their help in finding the dragon statuettes. The true extent of their relationship is never fleshed out, but I doubt it continues much beyond Malbordus' stay in Vatos, as Leesha seems pretty content with her current power base.

THE DRAGON STATUETTES

These statuettes could each be transformed into a powerful dragon with a simple incantation. There are five of them, each made from a different material: bone, crystal, silver, wood and gold. It doesn't seem as though these materials correspond to different varieties of dragon: no matter which of them you're missing at the final encounter, the dragon that Malbordus is riding is large and black.

The main question these statuettes raise is who put them there.  My first instinct is to say that they've been there since the city fell into ruin, but I'm not sure that adds up.  They're a little thematically incongruous with the trappings of the city, for starters.  Plus their hiding places don't suggest that they've been lost there for hundreds of years.  I mean, one of them's just hanging in a wooden bucket.

It seems more plausible to me that the Dark Elves placed them there for Malbordus to find. The whole thing has been set up to test his worthiness, so why not just assume that they placed the statuettes deliberately?  It does seem a little odd to make Malbordus go and find these powerful statuettes that they already had in their possession, though. It is explained that the elf magic they want to teach him kills those unworthy to use it, so it does make sense that they want to test him first.  Whichever of these possibilities you go with there are some logical problems, but I think the second scenario works a little better.

MALBORDUS

I've mentioned before that I love Malbordus' origin. He was born during a full moon with wolves howling around his mother's forest hut, and many have used this to explain his evil nature. After his mother abandoned him, he was raised by the Dark Elves of Darkwood Forest, and discovered that he had a natural talent for wicked magic. In him the Dark Elves saw great potential, and urged his magical training so that he would one day be worthy to be taught the arcane and evil magic of the ancient Elf Lords. This magic would kill the unworthy, and so they devised a test for Malbordus to prove himself.

After that intro, there's little to be said for the guy. He does leave a trap behind for you at one point, and sends some assassins to do you in, which points to a certain ruthless pragmatism. His alliance with Leesha is an intelligent one.  His confrontation with the hero is quite brief, and the only magic he displays is a thunderclap that drains the hero's skill. Following that he relies on his swordplay, and one wonders just how extensive his powers are at this point. He's said to be able to make plants wither and die by snapping his fingers, and make animals obey his piercing gaze. He obviously knows how to awaken the dragon statuettes.  Is it possible that he doesn't know much more magic than this, prior to receiving the ancient magic of the Elf Lords?

Aside from lacking in personality traits compared to other FF villains, Malbordus is also something of a fashion victim.  Check out the ornate gear being rocked by Zagor and Balthus Dire, and compare that to the drab smock that Malbordus is stuck with.  Lift your wardrobe game Malbordus!

OTHER MONSTERS

In terms of monsters that have been seen in FF before, there's a Lizard Man, a Harpy, an Air Elemental, a Giant Eagle, a Pterodactyl, a Giant Firefly, a Giant Sandworm and a Cave Troll. There was a Basilisk in Talisman of Death, but I'm pretty sure that this is the first one appearing in a book set on Titan.  The Skeleton Warriors don't appear to be at all different from regular Skeletons.  The Giant Sandworm isn't new, but it is much, much larger than those we've seen before.

Dwarves

Dwarves aren't an unusual sight in FF, but these ones are a little odd in that they comprise the crew of a ship sailing the western coast of Allansia. They're well aware of Stonebridge and King Gillibran, though it's not clear if they are his subjects. It's difficult to see who else they'd be working for, and certainly they're far too friendly to be from the other named Dwarf village of Mirewater.  It's possible they're on their own business, or working for some human power, but the book doesn't elaborate.

Dark Elves

Dark Elves have appeared in the books before, but I believe this might be the first time they've been featured. They are said to dwell in Darkwood Forest, and to possess great elven magic. I gather that later books will make them closer to their Dungeons & Dragons version (dark-skinned and dwelling underground), but here they just seem to be elves who are evil, with nothing else to distinguish them. And as I mentioned above, their powers of stealth are so great that the hero of Forest of Doom didn't catch sight of a single one.

Tentacled Thing

This creature lives in a room submerged in murky water, and has many tentacles that it uses to try to drag the hero to their doom. It's repelled by mermaid scales, and when it's blood mixes with water it becomes an acrid, poisonous vapour. It might be some kind of Octopus, but your guess is as good as mine.

Needle Fly

Giant, wasp-like insects that can be found along the coast west of the Desert of Skulls. They don't seem to have any special abilities aside from being large and pointy.

Phantom

This undead creature roams Vatos carrying a lantern. It has gaunt, skeletal features and its blood-red gaze can paralyze the unwary and drain some of their strength. Oddly enough, the Phantom doesn't do anything to its victim once they are paralyzed; it just slinks away, allowing them to eventually recover. The Phantom can be repelled by an item made from silver, but given that it doesn't follow through on its abilities it hardly seems worth the effort.

Night Horror

A deformed, one-eyed mutant that stalks the corridors of Vatos for prey after dark. It brandishes a silver rod that can shoot bolts of deadly white light. It's described as undead at one point.  For some reason, the ringing of a brass handbell causes it great agony. Whether that's due to the noise or some magical quality of the handbell is unclear. It's tempting to say that the Night Horror is some sort of undead Cyclops that found a magic staff, but who knows? It's not going to be seen in Out of the Pit, which leads me to believe that it's probably a unique creature rather than a member of an entire race.

Death Dog

As far as I can tell, it's just a big vicious dog. That's scary enough for me.

Iron-Eater

A creature made of slime that is harmless to flesh but eats through metal. From what I gather, it tends to lurk on ceilings and drop on those passing by to devour their armour, weapons, or other metallic accoutrements.

Messenger of Death

The most memorable part of the adventure by far. The Messenger of Death is a thin, horrifying creature with ragged clothes, and thick slime filling its mouth and eye sockets. It's described as an assassin, and a sadistic killer that likes to play games with its victims. In this case, it has hidden the letters of the the word DEATH around Vatos, and if you find them all it will show up and drain away your life force. It seems a little silly, but taken in context it just about works. Malbordus uses more than one assassin, and in addition to maybe killing you this one discourages you in your search for the dragon statuettes. There's a logic to it, in a dumb fantasy gamebook kind of way.

Not a lot else is said about the creature, but I'd say it must be demonic or otherwise extraplanar in nature, bound to serve the wizard that summons it. That's pure conjecture on my part though.

Eye Stinger

A round, floating creature with scaly green skin and a single eye in its centre. It's covered in venomous spines, and it uses its gaze to paralyze victims and then sting them to death. (What it does afterwards with no mouth is anyone's guess.) It seems that a single sword blow is enough to kill one, provided the wielder avoids the spines. An onyx egg will cause it close its eye and become dormant, but as with the handbell above it's not clear if this is a due to the physical properties of the egg or some magical power it might possess.

Serpent Guard

Cool-looking enough to make it onto the cover, the Serpent Guard is a snake/man hybrid that guards the gate into Vatos. Who put it there and why is a mystery that the book doesn't answer. Leesha seems like the only answer, but she's not really into the snake motif. We don't know how long Serpent Guards live, so it could have been set there centuries ago.

Skeleton Man

Undead guardians with skeletal heads and the bodies of men. They are stronger and far more intelligent than regular Skeletons. They are described as fanatics who always fight to the death, so it's not entirely clear if they're under Leesha's control or just insanely devoted to her of their own accord. Either way, ever since I was a child who loved Skeletor I've had mad respect for any Jacked Skeletons.

Fiend

This fire-breathing creature resembles a demon or devil, and guards the storerooms of the temple. The oddest thing about it to me is that it seems to live in an urn.

Mutant Orc

This is the other assassin that Malbordus sends, a large, muscular Orc that dual-wields vicious knives.  I have no idea what makes it a mutant, but it does have a much higher Skill and Stamina than your average variety of Orc.

Rat Man

We've had a Wererat in the books before, but these guys do the rat/human hybrid thing without the transformation bit. They're just big, bipedal rat dudes that live in Vatos as scavengers, and they will happily chow down on dead goblins and dead adventurers alike.

Sand Snapper

Screw this thing. It's like a Crocodile that lives beneath the desert sands and has grabbing tentacles that it uses to try and pull you into its mouth. I'm rarely grateful to Ian Livingstone for his adventure design, but in this case I extend my thanks to him for putting this creature on the non-critical path of this book. Oddly enough, the Snapper's tentacles carry its two main nerves, and when those are severed it can no longer function and falls dead. I question this biologically, and also logically: why would a creature have its vital nerves in the appendages it uses to attack?

So, that's it for my analysis of the various setting elements of Temple of Terror.  Hopefully it met with my usual standards; I think I had enough of the book in my head to do a decent job without my usual amount of notes. For the adventures going forward I'll be back to my normal, note-taking self.

NEXT: I'll take a look at the contents Warlock #5 before delving into its solo adventure.

Temple of Terror - Final Thoughts

Covers by Chris Achilleos (Puffin edition) and
Martin McKenna (Wizard edition)

When Temple of Terror was released in 1985, the series was three years old. This isn't a particularly long stretch, but in that time Ian Livingstone produced seven different gamebooks (on top of his editorial duties for White Dwarf and whatever other things he was working on).  This is a prodigious amount of work, so it's no surprise that Temple of Terror doesn't quite feel as fresh as his earlier books.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Livingstone's obviously enjoying bringing back characters and places from previous instalments (Yaztromo and Port Blacksand chief among them), and his knack for devious tricks and traps is not yet exhausted. From a personal perspective, I've always enjoyed the familiarity of Ian's work, and consider it the core identity and voice of the series.

Some of it's a little too familiar though.  The plot, with it's dungeon treasure hunt culminating in a battle against an evil wizard, is probably the most over-used in the series (and possibly the most over-used in gamebooks in general). It was practically the plot of the first book: just replace the warlock Zagor with Malbordus and the treasure chest keys with some dragon statuettes, garnish it with some Egyptian trappings, and you're done. The dungeon setting that comprises the bulk of the adventure isn't remarkably different from Ian's past dungeon delves, and suffers in comparison to his more inspired works such as Deathtrap Dungeon.  The desert setting is novel, but is really only a short stretch of the adventure.

There's an attempt to liven things up by giving the player the ability to cast spells, but it all feels a bit half-hearted. Most of the spells are only useful in two or three situations, and one of them never even comes up as an option. It's a far cry from Citadel of Chaos and the Sorcery! epic, where the spell-casting was a central element. The end battle of the book is technically wizard vs. wizard, but you wouldn't know it, as it pretty much comes down to a standard combat. It all feels like a missed opportunity.

The evil wizard in question, one Malbordus, gets a great backstory that's full of promise. He gets very little to do in the adventure itself though, and never displays much in the way of personality. The same goes for the priestess Leesha, who serves as a sort of sub-boss towards the end. She gets even less backstory and personality than Malbordus, and their connection (if they even have one) is never made clear.

To be honest the most memorable villain of the book, and its most inspired element, is the Messenger of Death, a horrific assassin sent by Malbordus to stalk the player. Its method of killing - a scavenger hunt where the player dies if they uncover all five letters of the word DEATH - is absurdly inefficient, but that hardly matters when you see the illustration with its oozing mouth and eye-sockets. As far as I'm concerned FF is at its best when mentally traumatising young children, and the Messenger of Death gets an A+ in that category.

In terms of design, this is very much an Ian Livingstone book with all the flaws that entails: a very linear path to victory with multiple unavoidable battles against high-Skill opponents. The fight with the Giant Sandworm is particularly annoying, especially because it couples that high Skill with a ridiculously high Stamina: even if you're good enough to beat it the fight is going to last for ages, and there's no way around it.

Reading over what I've written so far, I feel like I've been overly negative (a trait I've been accused of in real life my many). It's not a bad gamebook, but it does come across a bit like Ian Livingstone on autopilot, or more charitably like Ian has already used up his best ideas on earlier books. There's a lot to complain about when you break Ian's work down and analyse the structure and design, and the complaints I make have been pretty consistent across his books. Where he shines is in setting and details, with tricks and traps and monsters, and the sort of just-macabre-enough elements that get a 10-year-old's juices flowing. Those elements aren't shining quite as brightly here as they were in books like City of Thieves and Deathtrap Dungeon, but there's just enough of the old magic to make Temple of Terror worth a read, Even on autopilot, Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy books are still pretty good.

SPELL ANALYSIS

I went through the spells in Sorcery! to figure out which are the most useful, so I thought I might as well do the same for this book.  After all, with only ten spells and one book it's a much less daunting task.

Magic Arrow:

• Kills the Harpy
• Wounds the Pterodactyl
• Kills all three Needle Flies (albeit at a whopping cost of 6 Stamina)

Create Water:

• On the path through Port Blacksand, allows you to avoid Stamina loss due to thirst on two occasions.
• On the overland path, allows you to avoid Stamina loss due to thirst on three occasions.

Fire:

• Allows you to avoid the Basilisk.
• Negates Stamina loss due to the cold desert night.
• Lets you escape from the crushing ceiling in the Night Horror's room.

Read Symbols:

• Warns you about the demon of the beach.
• Allows you to read a cursed parchment, incurring a large Luck penalty.
• Warns you not to drink from the pool.
• In a roundabout way, if you've translated the "do not drink" sign it also lets you translate the signs on the sun and moon doors, which can help you avoid certain death.

Detect Trap:

• Warns you about the pit in the Rat Men lair.
• Warns you about the crossbow trap in the dark tunnel.

Light:

• Lets you avoid the crossbow trap in the dark tunnel.
• Lets you avoid the blade trap in the dark room, but at the cost of revealing a letter left by the Messenger of Death.

Open Door:

• Opens the door into Vatos, letting you avoid the Serpent Guard.
• Opens the door to the room with the empty caskets.
• Opens the door to the room with the bronze head that rewards you for answering a question.
• Helps you to escape from the crushing ceiling in the Night Horror's room 

Creature Sleep:

• Puts the Lizard Man to sleep.
• Puts the Disciples to sleep.

Jump:

• Allows you to jump the walls of Vatos, and avoid the Serpent Guard.
• Allows you to jump the pit after the Giant Centipede's room.

Language:

• This spell is not used even once. The option to use it never even comes up.

COOL STUFF I MISSED

Given how long and linear this book is, and the number of times I replayed it, I don't think I missed much at all.

MISTAKES AND RED HERRINGS

The only significant error in Temple of Terror involves the hammer-wielding stone statue, that animates as a Stone Golem if you pass it on the wrong side.  When you first see it, it's described as being made out of bronze. This would be a trivial mistake, except that the dying warrior you encounter shortly beforehand warns you to "beware the shadow of the stone".  I believe that warning is about the Stone Golem, but it's pretty useless when the thing it's warning you about isn't even described correctly.

There are a bunch of items that never get used.  From Abjul's stock, the Sealing-Wax, Ivory Beetle Charm, Silver Mirror, Ebony Facemask and Bone Flute are all worthless.  The Monkey's Tail that you find after defeating the Rat Men serves no purpose, which is fairly predictable.  The Clay Goblet has no use, and neither does the Knife you take from the Mutant Orc.  The one that's most irritating, though, is the Lantern.  The instructions say you have one, but whenever it would come in handy the book acts as though you're not carrying any kind of light source.  No doubt the instructions are in error here, and you're probably not supposed to have a lantern with you.

BEST DEATH

There are 24 instant death passages in Temple of Terror, and although some of them are satisfyingly gruesome there are few that are genuinely inspired.  I've gone with the Messenger of Death, partially because it's one of the best aspects of the book, but also because this death is almost impossible to get.  

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

Story & Setting: The plot involving Malbordus is standard FF fare, and the treasure hunt nature of things is already well-worn territory for the series. The setting, a ruined desert city occupied by a religious cult, had the potential to be great, but in practice it amounts to little more than another Ian Livingstone dungeon crawl. That's not necessarily a bad thing - I do love me some Livingstone - but it's hard to rate it all that highly. Rating: 3 out of 7.

Toughness: For most of the adventure Livingstone gets it about right, but the path to victory is very narrow, and I have to mark it down for that damn unavoidable Giant Sandworm fight. Rating: 3 out of 7.

Aesthetics: The writing here has Ian's usual style, which is just about atmospheric enough to get by. The original cover is great, but the interior illustrations by Bill Houston are a little patchy. Some, like the Messenger of Death, are all time greats, but there are others I'm not so fond of (although I do like that they have an appropriately gritty texture, almost like sand).  Rating: 4 out of 7.

Mechanics: Ian, as usual, doesn't rock the boat too much here, and sticks with the tried-and-true FF basics. He does try to liven things up a bit by letting you cast spells, but they don't get used nearly enough. It's tempting to knock a point off for having a spell that never gets used, but it's really not a big enough deal. Rating: 4 out of 7.

Innovation & Influence: The desert setting is novel, but other than that pretty much everything this book is doing has been done better somewhere else. Rating: 2 out of 7.

NPCs & Monsters: There are quite a number of excellent monsters to be found in this book, with the Messenger of Death being chief among them. Where Temple of Terror really falls down, though, is with its villains. The religious cult led by the priestess Leesha is intriguing, but never gets delved into much at all. Malbordus gets a great introduction, but the confrontation with him is so perfunctory that he ends up with almost no character at all.  Rating: 3 out of 7.

Amusement: This book is about as middle-of-the-road FF as it gets, but I happen to enjoy that sort of thing. Temple of Terror has never been a particular favourite, but it gets the job done well enough. Take out the Sandworm and I would have rated it a little higher. Rating: 3 out of 7.

Bonus Points: No bonus points for Temple of Terror.

The above scores total 22, for a S.T.A.M.I.N.A. Rating of 44. That puts it 18th out of the 23 adventures I've rated so far: of the main series, only Starship Traveller and Space Assassin are below it.  That's perhaps a little unfair, as it's not a bad adventure at all, but it's part of the nature of ratings like this for mediocrity to rate lower the further in you get.

NEXT: The next post will be an Exploring Titan where I dig into Temple of Terror's details (assuming I remember them after my long hiatus), and then it's on to Warlock #5.