The Dark Usurper - Attempt 2 & 3

Hi all, I'm back from enforced lockdown with another post on "The Dark Usurper," the serialised Fighting Fantasy adventure from White Dwarf magazine.

For this attempt, I rolled a Skill of 7, a Stamina of 17, and a Luck of 10.  Not great stats, but most of the enemies I fought in my first go-around had Skills ranging from 3 to 5, to I'm not all that worried about it.

ATTEMPT 2

As you might recall, the adventure begins with the hero, Corwin Calbraith, imprisoned in a tower while an evil brigand (who you might describe as a "dark usurper") lords it over the surrounding lands of Skeln.  Last time I escaped by knotting my bedsheets and swinging out the window; this time I decided to try prising up the floorboards. Surprisingly this worked, and I was able to create a hole and drop through to the stairwell below.  Skeln really skimped on flooring when it built this castle, but it's paid off in the long run.

After killing some goblins I escaped into the courtyard.  In the last game I ignored the armoury, figuring that it would be more likely to be guarded.  This time I checked it out, and it turned out to be a good move: I found a loyal subject there who told me all about how the evil Barnak took control of Skeln (the second part of the adventure assumes you have this knowledge regardless of whether you learn it).  He then led me through some tunnels outside of the castle, to a small chamber where my father's sword Stroma was hidden. I took the sword and climbed up into the forest, bidding my servant farewell.

After summoning my horse Aryll with a whistle, I rode off into the forest and slept the night (ending the first part of the adventure).  In the morning Aryll was gone.  Heading deeper into the forest, I met a pair of pumas, who led me to a clearing where an old man was being menaced by goblins.  I saved the old man, who was really the wizard Asmund, and he took me back to his cave, where he outfitted me with some rad clothes and told me about a prophecy saying that I would save the country.  (I gave this more detail in the previous post, but this sequence is very linear so I'm not going to go over it again.)

I left the old man and made my way to the village of Kari, where I met up with Jorkell, the captain of the local guards.  We overthrew the local goblin garrison, and went out to scout the countryside.  On our way back, we were forced to battle a small army of 200 goblins that outnumbered us four-to-one.

I decided to split my force, and attack the goblins from both sides.  I mentioned in my last post that I had some trouble deciphering the rules for mass combat; as written it seemed as though it was impossible for my army to lose.  It says to roll two dice for every 5 men you have, and on a roll of 1 or 2 you lose that many.  Then you multiply the result by the other die, and those are your casualties.  I'd been applying enemy casualties for every roll, but I on a second reading I think I'm only meant to do so when I roll a 1 or 2.  It certainly works out a lot closer when doing it that way, although it does draw the battles out a lot.  It was all a bit of a moot point anyway, because every round you have to roll for yourself and Jorkell as well, and I managed to get myself killed by rolling a 1.

ATTEMPT 3

That was a quick go, so I decided to have another crack. For my third attempt, I rolled a Skill of 11, a Stamina of 21, and a Luck of 9.

At the beginning there was one escape option I'd yet to try: attacking the guard when he brought my food.  As soon as he entered the room I kicked his sword away, then killed him with my bare hands.  After that it was a simple matter to escape the castle by going to the armoury and having my servant lead me outside.

I met the wizard Asmund, made my way to Kari to join forces with Jorkell, went out scouting, and beat the goblin army by charging right up their middle (which seems to be the best of the options for fighting them).

At the beginning of part 3, I was holed up with Jorkell and an army of 600 in Kari, awaiting the arrival of Barnell's forces.  Rather than sally forth to meet them, I decided to stay in Kari and make use of our defensive position.

The attack soon came, and the fighting seemed to be heaviest at the east wall.  I sent 100 men (the maximum possible) to reinforce, and we drove them back.  I decided then to seize the initiative and counter-attack, inflicting great losses on the enemy.(I had to roll 2d6x10 for my own casualties, and 4d6x20 for theirs.)  Having lost more men than me, the enemy fled in rout, and I sent my men in pursuit to cut them down.

With the main enemy force in retreat, I decided to go and meet Berwin, an ally with an army who I'm not sure has been mentioned prior to this moment.  My forward scouts spotted a group of 40 goblins, and we rode them down and slaughtered them.  Soon we met with Berwin and joined our armies before heading for Barnak's castle.

At the castle, I had three options: a frontal assault, a lengthy siege, or entry by subterfuge.  The third options seemed like the one to involve the least casualties, so I took ten volunteers with me through the servants' tunnels (the same ones by which I had escaped).  We reached the tunnels without being spotted (due to a successful Luck test).

Once inside the castle, I had the option of freeing Asmund, freeing Evald (the regent who let Barnak take over), or finding Barnak right away.  I figured that Evald would be useless, and besides that I had no idea if he was even alive.  I'd have liked to find Asmund, as a powerful wizard is always handy, but I had no idea where he might be.  Rather than waste time taking a guard prisoner, I decided to be done with the whole thing and go kill Barnak.

I found him in the throne room surrounded by thirty guards.  At that moment the sounds of battle grew louder: Jorkell was leading an assault on the castle.  Half of Barnak's guards left, but I decided to be patient.  While I was waiting, I spotted Asmund in a cage, and near him was a gem on a statue by the door.  I decided to take the gem from the statue and fit it in the pommel of my father's sword.  (This required an "ideas roll", a simple 50/50 shot in 1d6.  The sword previously had a magic gem in it, which I had given to Asmund in part 2.  Where this gem in the statue came from is anyone's guess, unless it's the same one.  Even then, there's no explanation for why it's been placed on a statue.)

With my father's sword pulsing with power, I turned to face Barnak.  He was a formidable opponent (Skill 9, Stamina 10, which is practically god-like by the standards of this book), but I hacked him to death with ease.  (I was already at Skill 11, and the gem in the sword boosted that to 14.)  Barnak was dead!

I freed Asmund, and went to find Evald, but I was too late: he'd already been murdered in his cell.  Emerging into the courtyard, I saw that my forces were still locked in battle with those of Barnak.  I shouted out that Barnak had been killed, and the leaderless enemy surrendered. Tired of the slaughter, I ordered them rounded up and exiled from Skeln.  It was time to assume the reins of leadership, and I became Duke of Skeln, with Jorkell and Berwin as my generals and Asmund as my chief advisor.

THE POST-GAME

Well, I'm glad that was quick.  It's all rather linear, and most of the choices don't really matter, dying in mass combat is pretty much the only way to lose unless you do something really stupid or ignore the advice of Asmund.

For reasons I'll elaborate further on below, I'm going to wrap this one up quickly and give it a S.T.A.M.I.N.A. Rating now.

S.T.A.M.I.N.A Rating:

Story & Setting: Not being set on Titan, this adventure has something of a unique flavour for FF.  It's very clearly inspired by the Crusades, and it has a real-world English/Celtic vibe.  I think some bits of magic and a few goblins and trolls are the only fantasy elements in here.  The story isn't one that FF has seen before, but it's somewhat cliched nevertheless.  It's also marred by some continuity glitches, as well as a whole load of things that never really pay off.  The authors go out of their way to give you awesome gear, some magic, and a pair of pumas that follow you around, then basically ignores them all.  Not to mention the prophecy, which is just there for no reason. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Toughness: As I mentioned above, the adventure really goes out of its way to funnel you into the right direction, as all of your choices generally lead to the same result.  It's also very difficult to lose, unless you roll badly during mass combat.  Rating: 2 out of 7.

Aesthetics: Being split across three issues of White Dwarf don't help it here, but it does have some rather nice illustrations from Bill Houston, who also illustrated Temple of Terror.  Of particular note is the painting in part two by Alan Hunter, which enhances the adventure's Celtic vibe.  Rating: 3 out of 7.

Mechanics: Mechanically this might be one of the worst gamebooks I've ever read.  There are options that point to the wrong number.  There's an entire paragraph missing from part 1 (luckily not one that's necessary to winning).  Continuity glitches are rife, especially surrounding your horse in the first part, something made especially egregious when your horse ditches you at the start of part 2.  It's a mess really, and that's before you factor in the ambiguous rules for mass combat.  Rating: 2 out of 7.

Innovation & Influence: The setting and story for this are somewhat novel for an FF, and I have to give it some props for its focus on mass combat.  The rules are a little difficult to interpret, but the choices outside of that system are fairly well done.  Rating: 3 out of 7.

NPCs & Monsters: In terms of monsters this adventure is thin on the ground, with only goblins and trolls.  It has a few NPCs, but none of them rise above the level of cliche, and Barnak is a paper-thin villain. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Amusement: I can't say I loved it, but I can say that it was short. Rating: 2 out of 7.

With no arbitrary bonus point, the above scores add up to 16; doubled that gives it a S.T.A.M.I.N.A. Rating of 32. That places it dead last, a full 4 points below such luminaries as "The Dervish Stone" and the preview version of Caverns of the Snow Witch.

NEXT: Well, I'm sorry to say that there may not be a next.  I'm currently at the beginning of six weeks of enforced lockdown, separated from my family through no choice of my own, and I'm pretty much reevaluating my entire life at this point.  You might have noticed that I sort of half-arsed this post; blogging's not really on my mind right now.  So, I'm taking a break.  Will I be back?  Honestly, I have no idea.  I enjoy blogging about various things, but it really has been taking up way too much of my time.  So I might be back, at some nebulous time in the future (possibly with a format change that sucks up less of my time).  Or this might be my final farewell, in which case, I say thanks to everyone who dropped comments over the years, especially such regulars as Ross Nolan, Ed Jolley, the mysterious Unknown, Mike, and my Best Internet Friend Tim Byrne (aka Aussiesmurf).  You guys made all the effort worth it.  I'll still be on Twitter (@NPMahney) if anyone wants to keep in touch, or hassle me into bringing this blog back to life.

The Dark Usurper - Attempt 1

Today's Fighting Fantasy installment is somewhat unusual, in that it was not part of the main series of books, not a spin-off book, and not a part of Warlock magazine; "The Dark Usurper" was serialised over three issues of White Dwarf.  At the time White Dwarf was probably the premier gaming magazine in the UK, so I can see the logic here in trying to introduce FF to gamers who might not yet be on board with the series.

"The Dark Usurper" was written by Jon Sutherland and Gareth Hill.  I can't find anything that Hill worked on aside from this, but Sutherland wrote a bunch of gamebooks, and is a name I recognise from 80s gaming.  (Although now that I'm googling him, not as much stuff is coming up as I'd expected.  Now I'm wondering why his name is recognisable to me, because I haven't read any of the gamebooks he wrote, and there's not much else to be found.)

This adventure seems to be pretty divorced from the world of Titan, and is unusual in FF canon in that you play a specific character, Corwin Calbraith, son of the Duke of Skeln.  For years Corwin has been away fighting the heathens in a crusade, an ill-fated venture that ended with the king wounded and his coffers empty.  Corwin left his lands under the rule of his trusted friend Evald Senskell, but when he returned the lands were under the rule of a new duke, and the people were sullen and strangely silent.  Corwin rushed to his castle, only to be captured by grey-skinned creatures and imprisoned at the top of the highest tower.

That's where the adventure begins.  The rules aren't provided at all, the reader is simply told that they must have access to a Fighting Fantasy gamebook.  That's one way to drive sales, I guess.  As far as I can tell, this adventure just uses the most basic of FF rules.  You don't start with any gear, so all that's required is to roll for Skill, Stamina and Luck.  For my first attempt, I rolled a Skill of 11, a Stamina of 22, and a Luck of 8.  Are those stats good enough to make it through?  I have absolutely no idea.  This is the first time I've laid eyes on this adventure, so I'm completely in the dark.

ATTEMPT 1

I lay in my cell after three months of captivity, pondering my options of escape; three months was a lot of time for pondering, and I had come up with three ingenious plans.  I could either overpower the guard on his next visit, tie my bedding into a rope and climb out the window, or start prising up the floorboards.  Of those options, I decided that going out the window would be my best bet.

After knotting up the bedding, I figured that my makeshift rope would reach about 20 feet below my window; not enough to reach the ground, but perhaps enough to make it to a window below.  I decided to risk it, and soon I was dangling precariously at the end, with a window about six feet to my left.  I swing over, and scrambled in through the window onto a staircase.  (This required a Luck test, which I succeeded at; I got a Luck bonus straight afterwards, so my total remained at its maximum of 8).

Heading down the stairs, I came to an open door.  In the room beyond were three hideous humanoids, noisily playing cards.

Despite the illustration, I don't have a sword here

I decided to sneak past (requiring a Luck test that I passed, reducing my score to 7), and in their semi-drunken state they didn't notice me.  I escaped from the prison tower out into a courtyard.

I had three options: the main gate, the armoury, or the stables.  I figured that the armoury would probably be guarded, so instead I opted to go to the stables to find Aryl, my loyal steed.  I entered carefully, and managed not to startle the horses.  Aryl was there, and I led him back to the courtyard.  It was tempting to go to the armoury to find a weapon, but instead I mounted my horse and rode for the gate.

Two large trolls were guarding the gate, and they heard my approach (as I failed a Luck test, that reduced my score to 6).  My horse knocked one of the trolls aside (after I rolled an odd number on one die), but I spurred Aryl onwards, and soon I was across the drawbridge and at the top of a nearby hill.

At the top of the hill, I saw a light flickering to my left, and dismounted to investigate.  The light led me to a trapdoor, which I opened,  Easing myself into the chamber below, I saw a chest covered with on old rug.  Inside the chest was a bundle containing a sword: it was Stroma, the sword of my father, its balance still perfect.  I strapped it to my belt and climbed back to the top of the hill.

(At this point the continuity gets really screwy, as my character decides to summon his horse with a whistle, and Aryl thunders out of the castle.  Never mind that I just rode him out of the castle a couple of entries ago, here he is escaping all over again.  I've read loads of gamebooks, and I don't know that I've ever encountered a blunder as big as this one.)

I had the option of riding to the road and the nearest village, but I figured that it would be best to keep out of sight, and headed for the woods.  Deep in the woods, and safe for a time, I settled down to sleep

(This is where part one ends, and part two begins.  The introduction to part two says that my friend Evald Senskell was tricked and imprisoned by Barnak, the titular Dark Usurper, which is news to me.  None of that was mentioned in the previous introduction, and I didn't learn anything of the sort during the adventure.)

I awoke in the morning to find that my supposedly loyal steed had disappeared in the night.  (So that whole continuity break was completely pointless!)  I headed deeper into the forest, and soon enough I was pretty sure that I had become lost.  (At this point I had to make a Luck test, which I failed; my score was reduced to 5.)  I heard a scream to the north, and rushed off to investigate.

I soon came to a clearing, where three goblins were poking a bound man with their spears.  Without hesitation I drew my father's sword and charged at them, catching them unawares.  One of them wounded me, but even with three-to-one odds I made short work of the goblins.  (The goblins were Skill 5 Stamina 4, Skill 4 Stamina 5, and Skill 5 Stamina 3.  There was no guidance as to how they should be fought, so I had them all fight me simultaneously just to make things a bit more difficult.  At the end of the fight my Stamina was 20.)

I cut the old man free.  He applied some herbs to his wounds, and gave a high-pitched whistle.  Two pumas emerged from the forest, and bounded to his side.  He introduced himself as Asmund, and told me that he knew a great deal about the problems that I faced.  He offered to take me to his home, and I graciously accepted.

Soon we reached a small clearing with a wooden house, and went inside.  There we drank cider, and Asmund offered to teach me some of his skills in exchange for the green gem in the pommel of my father's sword.  Reluctantly I handed it over, and he attached it to the end of his staff.  Seeming somehow stronger and more bold, he told me to sleep, and said that we would begin on the morrow.

In the morning I awoke to find that the old man had provided me with new gear: a surcoat, a red cloak, a wolfskin stole, a hunting lance, and a shield emblazoned with the mask of death.  I dressed myself like a total badass, and went outside to take Asmund's test.

The air was full of shimmering lights, and Asmund told me to take them from the air.  Rather than snatch at them, I held out my hand and concentrated; the lights gathered in my palm.  I had earned the gift of Asmund's Floating Spheres, and was told that to use them I should cast them at a foe and stand well back.  I was given enough for two such attacks.  (No indication was given as to what these attacks do, so I assume that at some point they'll be given as options in the text.)

Asmund told me that I should head for the village to the north and seek out Jorkell, who would help me to defeat the usurper Barnak.  He gave me some fragments of his own gem, and also the companionship of his two pumas.  Then he recited a prophecy at me:

When the fair-headed man comes forth,

His garments red as blood,

His devices strange and wild cats for kin,

Smite shall he the beast, and we shall be free.

I bid farewell to Asmund and went on my way, with his pumas loping at my side.

I headed due north, and soon came to the village of Kari.  After camping for the night, I headed toward the village.  The gate was manned by four guards, so I decided to scout around the outside of the village walls.  A lone sentry stood by a watchtower overlooking the area.  I tried to sneak up behind him, but (due to a failed Luck test that left my score at 4) he turned and saw me.  The Sentry (Skill 5, Stamina 5) was no match for me though, and I killed him easily.

There were no other entrances into Kari, and the walls were too high to climb, so I resigned myself to going in through the main gate.  The gate guards stood dumbfounded as I walked past with my pumas and my rad skull shield.  The crowd burst into cheers at my appearance, and surged towards me.  I gave a rousing speech, then went to find Jorkell, the garrison commander of Kari, who was at the barracks.  I handed Jorkell the fragment of Asmund's gem, and he placed the stone in a circular metal device, where it started to glow. (I have no idea what this is about, but Jorkell states afterwards that Barnak's sorcery is gone, so I guess it has something to do with that.  This is the first I'm hearing of Barnak being a sorcerer though.)

Together we went inside the barracks, where some frightened goblins were ready to defend themselves.  I showed them no mercy, and the goblins were put to the sword.  Jorkell waved a severed head about, and seemed entirely too into the whole thing.  He was starting to grow on me.

Jorkell offered to show me the extent of Barnak's control, and asked if I wanted to ride west or approach the castle.  I decided to check the situation to the west, and rode out with a force of 50 men.  Scouts soon reported that there were 200 creatures on the road ahead, so I decided to turn aside and head for the castle.  Upon seeing the castle, it was apparent that I'd need far more men to take it.

Before heading back to Kari, I decided to check out the village of Skelah.  It was deserted, as Barnak had taken the people as slaves.  While I was in Skelah, I got news that the enemy had cut off our lines of retreat to Kari.  If we were going to return there, we would have to fight through an army of 200 goblins.

Outnumbered four-to-one, I decided that a quick frontal attack would be the best option.  We hurtled towards the goblins in two columns, crashing into them and sending them into disarray.

(At this point the battle is resolved with mass combat rules that I'm not sure I understand.  I'll quote them in full. "There are two hundred of them, for every five troopers throw two dice: for each 1 or 2 thrown you lose 1 man, then multiply the two dice scores by each other and that is how many goblins are killed; do the same thing for you and Jorkell, a 1 only means death."  So I throw two dice for every five troopers, but am I counting the goblins or my own troops?  If it's the goblins I'm rolling 80 dice, if it's my own troops I'm rolling 20.  Either way it doesn't matter, because the way it's set up there are always loads more goblins dying than humans.  I mean, for every two dice rolled 1 or 2 men can die, and 1 to 36 goblins; I'm not sure it's possible to fail.  I reduced the goblins down to 98, and only lost 2 men, which really doesn't seem right.  I'm really not sure if it's a bad system, or if I've just interpreted it incorrectly.)

The goblins surrendered, and we rounded them up and led them back to Kari for interrogation.  I decided to head back into the forest to seek advice from Asmund, but his place was deserted.  I searched around for him, but soon came to the conclusion that he'd been captured by Barnak.  Returning to Kari, I reported the situation to Jorkell, and together we made our plans to defeat the usurper Barnak.

(Part two ended here, and part three began.)

We prepared our defenses as men flocked to my banner; I had 600 able-bodied fighters at my disposal.  At mid-morning, I was told that the enemy approached.  I decided that we should remain in the village and prepare for the attack.  Watching from the tower, I estimated that Barnak was attacking with around 2,000 men.  I placed 400 men on the walls, and held back 200 in reserve.

The enemy surrounded the walls, but their heaviest attacks came on the east side.  I erred on the side of caution, and reinforced them with 50 men.  The enemy swept my forces from the walls, and I threw the rest of my reserves into the fray rather than retreat to the citadel.  Our losses were greater, and the enemy poured through the gaps in our defense.  (I had to roll 2d6x10 for my own losses, and 3d6x10 for theirs.  The dice were unkind.)

I called the retreat to the citadel, and there with 400 men we made our last stand.  (At this point I had to make a Luck test, but with a score of 4 I had little hope of success.)  I urged my men to fight, but despair set in, and they started throwing down their weapons.  I kept fighting (prompting another Luck test that I failed, because my score was now 3), but the enemy forces were too much, and we were overwhelmed and slaughtered.  My adventure was over!

THE POST-GAME

I'm not sure if I got done in by bad decisions at the end there, or a bad Luck score.  If it's the latter, then the adventure has some real design problems, unless there are ways to restore Luck that I've missed.  (I mean, it has some design problems anyway: that continuity error with the horse is pretty bad, and the mass combat rules don't make much sense.)  I'm tempted to give myself a potion of fortune and ten provisions at the beginning; it doesn't make sense in-story, but it's technically within the rules of vanilla Fighting Fantasy.  I'll hold off on that for now, and see if the adventure is legitimately winnable first.