The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (revised) - Final Thoughts & Exploring Titan 7

FINAL THOUGHTS

There's not a lot to say here that I didn't already cover in my entry for the book version of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.  Given that the revised version is mostly identical, pretty much everything I said still applies.  It's a fun, iconic adventure that perhaps makes little sense but compensates for that with atmosphere and mystery (and perhaps a bit of nostalgia).

The idea of revising Warlock is a good one.  I doubt many buyers of the magazine hadn't already read the book, so changing a few details and mixing the keys around to create a different path to victory is a good way of giving them their money's worth.  I can't help feeling, though, that not enough was changed.  Aside from switching the keys, Ian and Steve have left the adventure much the same as it was.  Initially it was fun, as I enjoyed the uncertainty of no longer knowing the exact path to victory.  Once I found the path I was a little disappointed though, as one of they keys was in exactly the same location as the book, and another was very easy to find.  I suppose I was hoping that there would be more variance.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VERSIONS
The differences between the book and magazine versions are mostly in the locations of the keys.  In the book, the keys are located as follows:

    Key 99 - In the snake box
    Key 111 - Inside the Iron Cyclops
    Key 9 - Carried by the Ogre
    Key 125 - In the room with the gas trap
    Key 66 - In a drawer in the Boat House
    Key 111 - Guarded by the Minotaur

In the magazine, they are switched around as follows:

    Key 125 - In the Orc Chieftain's chest
    Key 111 - Guarded by the Werewolf
    Key 111 - Guarded by the Minotaur   
    Key 66 - In the room with the gas trap
    Key 99 - Inside the Iron Cyclops
    Key 9 - Carried by the Giant

This switching of locations means that some places which once had keys now have different treasures.  The snake box now contains 6 gold pieces instead of a key.  The Ogre now has 3 gold pieces.  And best of all, the drawer in the Boat House now contains a silver dart, which can be hurled at enemies before battle begins.  It's also useful in battling the Wight.

There's one other difference that switching the keys around brings: you can't win the adventure with the Eye of the Cyclops.  In the book you never have to fight the Warlock on a successful play-through, because you'll always have the Eye and can blast him into oblivion.  Here you have to battle him, and consequently the book is slightly more challenging, and less of an anticlimax.

COOL STUFF I MISSED
It's difficult to think of cool things I've missed while playing this adventure, because I've literally played through every paragraph of the book.  (I do mean literally; I spent a few weeks circa 2000 playing the book over and over again until I had legitimately covered every single entry.)

I guess I've missed some things for the blog though, in my coverage of this and the book version.  The major path I never covered is one that goes through a room of magical darkness, which you need a blue candle to get through safely.  This path also contains a magical iron helmet, and an enchanted sword by the riverbed.  Oh, and a giant spider.  It's too bad that in neither version can you take this path and still win.

MISTAKES AND RED HERRINGS
There are quite a few items in this book that serve no purpose.  The black silk glove, the Y-shaped sticks, and the book from the vampire's coffin spring immediately to mind.  The glove ties into a rumour about Zagor's power, albeit a false one, and I guess it comes in handy as an item you can discard in order to pick up the shield.  The sticks and the book do nothing except take up room in your backpack.  Like the shield, you need to discard an item to pick them up, so perhaps the purpose they serve is to tempt you into dropping something that's actually useful.

There's one entry of this adventure that can't be accessed from anywhere: 192.  It's supposed to be one of the entries you go to by adding up the numbers on your keys when unlocking the Warlock's treasure chest, but there's no combination of keys that adds up to this number.  No doubt it was added in there to bump the number of entries to 400.

Speaking of key combinations, all of the possibilities are accounted for even though you can never get to the end with every key.  There are three keys that you can always find: the one in the Orc Chieftain's chest, the one guarded by the Werewolf, and the one guarded by the Minotaur.  As for the other three, you can only get one on any adventure.  The Iron Cyclops, the Giant and the room with the gas trap are all on mutually exclusive paths, which means that you can finish with four keys at most.  As such, entries 174, 186, 200, 219, 233 and 290 can't be reached legitimately.

BEST DEATH
I've already covered my genuine favourite in my entry for the book: being eaten alive by the Ghoul.  None of the other deaths quite match up, but for this entry I'll provide a solid alternative.

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

I was tempted not to give this a STAMINA rating, as it's so similar to the book, but what the hell.  Here it is for the sake of completeness.

Story & Setting: Looking at the book version, I see that I gave it a rating of 5.  That is super high, and I really don't know what I was thinking.  I was going to rate this a point higher, because the Background section is a genuine improvement that ties Firetop Mountain much more directly into the FF setting.  But I can't in honesty give this a 6.  So I'm giving it the same score, and I still think it's too high.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Toughness: It's the same well-balanced adventure as before, and garners the same score.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Aesthetics: The writing is the same, and most of the illustration have that same Russ Nicholson goodness.  Many of the illustrations are smaller, though, and much of the detail is lost.  Nicholson provides two new illustrations, but they're in a different style.  Some time after The Citadel of Chaos Nicholson started using thicker lines, and his work looks busier and more cluttered.  I've never liked it as much as the delicate linework of Warlock and Citadel of Chaos.  Throw in the ugly frontispiece illustrations from Tim Sell (that have little relevance to the adventure at all) and I have to knock this down a few points.  Rating: 4 out of 7.

Mechanics: There's no significant difference between the book and the magazine versions.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Innovation & Influence: Given that this is revising the original, I can't mark it as highly.  It's hard to know just how to rate this one to be honest, so I'm going to split it down the  middle.  Rating: 4 out of 7.

NPCs & Monsters: Again, this is little different from the book. The villagers in the introduction are a little more fleshed out, but not enough to affect the rating.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Amusement: I gave the book the full rating in this category, but if I'm being perfectly honest I enjoyed this version more because it's new to me.  I can't rate this higher than a 7, though, and it doesn't feel right to rate it equally to the book. It's enjoyable, but I can't see myself going back to it any time soon. Rating: 5 out of 7.

No bonus point for this, as it's not different enough to warrant it.  The above scores add up to 33, which doubled gives a STAMINA Rating of 66. It's a strong variant, but it can't match the influence and iconic power of the original.

EXPLORING TITAN 7

This is going to be a short one, because most of this adventure has been covered in Exploring Titan 1.  The details are mostly the same as the book version, and I've covered them already.

What is different, and greatly so, is the Background.  In the book version, the adventurer follows some rumours to a generic village, stays there for a short time, then ventures off to Firetop Mountain.  It's serviceable, but that's about it.

Now, with the setting of Allansia firmly established, Ian & Steve can rewrite this so that it fits better.  It begins with you meeting an old man while wandering the Pagan Plains.  The old man tells you that his village's crops are failing, and blames it on the evil Warlock who lives in nearby Firetop Mountain, which looms over the Moonstone Hills.  The villagers sent their bravest men to face the Warlock, but only one returned, and he was a shadow of his former self.  Not only does this tie the book into Allansia better, but it also gives the hero more motivation than simple treasure hunting.  In the book, the Warlock is just minding his own business until the hero breaks into his house and tries to murder him.  In this, he's a little more explicitly sinister, and whatever it is he's doing in Firetop Mountain is having an adverse effect on the nearby village.

The village is named explicitly as Anvil, which solves a mystery that's been bugging me for decades.  I had always known Anvil from the map in Out of the Pit, but couldn't find which book it came from. I suspected that it was supposed to be the village from Warlock, but I had also gotten the idea that it was populated by Dwarves (from the name, I suspect).  Nope, it's populated by human farmers, and it is indeed confirmed here to be the village near Firetop Mountain.  At least I was half right.

As for where this adventure fits in Fighting Fantasy "continuity" (such as it is) I have two ideas.  The first is that it's a parallel reality from, one where the keys are simply in a different place.  Of course the idea of there being any solid continuity for Fighting Fantasy is absurd given the nature of the adventures.  But if there is one, then alternate/parallel realities must be a given.  Everyone's experience of the books is different, and every play-through is unique, so there must be thousands or perhaps millions of subjective realities in the FF multiverse.

That said, I prefer something that at least ties the magazine to the book.  Rather than the book and magazine realities running in parallel, I prefer the idea that the magazine branches off from the book under specific circumstances.  In this case, the circumstances would be the Warlock killing the hero, then redistributing his keys in different places.  It's perhaps a bit laboured as an explanation, and it's absolutely unnecessary, but it's also the sort of thing obsessive nerds like me enjoy thinking about.

NEXT: I'm still mired in Warlock Magazine #2, as I'll be tackling the preview of Caverns of the Snow Witch.  Gah, I haven't done a main series Fighting Fantasy since November!

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (revised) - Attempt 3

I've rather enjoyed revisiting The Warlock of Firetop Mountain over the last few weeks, and this revised version has given me an experience that I haven't had with this adventure in many years: failure.  Twice I've defeated the Warlock, but both times I've only had two of the three keys needed to unlock his treasure chest.

I have an idea where the third key might be, though.  There's only one key that shows up in the illustrations, and it's in a dead-end room protected by a poison gas trap.  Finding that key is my goal for this attempt, and hopefully it's the one I need, because if it isn't then I'm all out of ideas.

I made some stellar rolls for my character this time around, and managed Skill 12, Stamina 21, and Luck 11.  If I fail on this attempt, there'll be no blaming it on poor stats.

I began my adventure with a concrete goal in mind, and I set my sights on it with a laser focus.  I stuck to the corridors, ignoring the many side-rooms, and I was able to make it to the portcullis without having any encounters at all.  I've never realised just how much of this book you can skip if you really want to, and how inessential most of the encounters are.  The only items that are required for victory are the keys, so there's a level of freedom to this book that a lot of later ones in the series lack.

After the portcullis I turned left, and once again proceeded to ignore as many doors and side-corridors as possible.  Soon I came to another junction, where I turned right.  This put me into territory I've yet to cover for the blog, so from here on I'll go into a little more detail.

The tunnel turned north, and I continued north at the next junction until the passage ended at a door.  Inside was a room lined with books, and an old man at a desk.  On his shoulder was a small, winged figure - a Winged Gremlin.

The old man asked me if I was game for a wager.  I had no money, so I declined.  As I was on the lookout for keys however, and I wanted to leave no room un-looted, I drew my sword for a bit of unprovoked murder.  The old man fled through a secret door, but I had to fight the Gremlin, which I killed easily.  I couldn't find the old man's escape route, but in his desk there were 5 gold pieces which I was happy to pocket.

Back at the junction I turned west, and followed the tunnel as it bent around to the north again.  The passageway ended at another door.  The room beyond was large, with a floor covered in a mosaic of tiles.  The most prominent shapes of the tiles were hands and stars.

I wanted to reach the door on the far side of the room, so I walked across.  I suspected a trap, so I was careful to walk only on the star tiles, and avoid the hands.  Nothing happened, and I was able to cross the room in safety.

At yet another junction I continued north, and the tunnel ended at a door with a leather skirt tacked along the bottom.  Inside I found what I was looking for: the room with the key!

I leaped in to grab the key, but the door slammed behind me, and the room started filling with gas.  I had to hold my breath while taking the key, but I was able to escape without inhaling any of the gas.  (This required rolling equal to or under my Skill on two dice, which was impossible to fail with my Skill of 12.)  The key had the number 66 engraved on it.

From there I continued through a couple of junctions until I came to a subterranean river.  I leaped in and was swept downstream, where I was washed up on the shore of the river, and back into familiar territory.

I crossed the river by paying the boatman, and made sure to kill the Werewolf and his Dog in order to claim key 111.  From there I chose the route with the zombies rather than the boathouse, and I mowed through them as well.  Following the zombie fight I chose to search the dead body propped in the corner.  Last time I had taken his sword and crucifix; this time I opted for his armour and gold.  The armour wasn't special, and the gold amounted to 10 gold pieces.  I had hoped there might be a key hidden on this corpse somewhere, but it looks like that's not the case.  (Unless it's in his shield, the only item I've not investigated, but I doubt it.)

I skipped right past the Vampire and the Ghoul, hurrying my way into the Maze of Zagor.  Fighting the Minotaur was a necessity, and he provided me with my first genuine challenge of the adventure, hitting me twice before I killed him.  Afterwards I searched the room, claiming 8 gold pieces and key 111.

It was a simple matter to get through the maze, and soon I was in confrontation with the Warlock's Dragon.  This time I hadn't learned Farrigo DiMaggio's Dragonfire spell, so I found myself in the rare situation of having to defeat the Dragon in battle.  I needn't have worried; it hit me once, but with the aid of a couple of Luck points I was able to knock it off quite quickly.  (This book is very generous with Luck bonuses, so the option of using Luck in battle is well worth it.)

It was time for the final confrontation: the Warlock.  I didn't fancy taking him on in a fair fight, so instead I burned his magic cards.  The weakened Warlock was a pushover, and soon I was standing in front of his treasure chest, ready to test out my keys.

I inserted key 66, and both keys marked with 111.  One by one they all turned, and the chest opened.  Success!  The treasure was mine!  As was the Warlock's book, with all of his secrets, and the rad option of staying to claim his power.  Part of me was hoping for a rewritten final entry; the Background had been redone, after all.  That said, it's an iconic ending, so it's not such a big deal. 

NEXT:

That was fun, but I'm glad it only took me three attempts.  I love this book, but even the greatest of gamebooks needs to be given a rest now and then.  I'll do a couple of quick round-up posts for this adventure, maybe an Exploring Titan, and then I'm going to move on to the preview of Caverns of the Snow Witch from Warlock #2.

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (revised) - Attempt 1, Part 2

It's been a couple of months since I tackled the first half of the revised version of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, as found in Warlock Magazine #1. Now that I'm covering Warlock #2, it's time to resume my quest.  Have I found the right keys to unlock the Warlock's chest and claim his treasure?  There's only one way to find out I suppose.

But first, here is my character as he was at the end of the first part:

SKILL: Initial - 10, Current - 10
STAMINA: Initial - 19, Current - 13
LUCK: Initial - 9, Current - 9

GOLD: 7
POTIONS: Potion of Fortune (2 doses)
PROVISIONS: 7
EQUIPMENT: Sword, Leather Armour, Backpack, Lantern, Key '125', Bow, Silver Arrow, Key '9', Boat House Keys, Key '111', Silver Dart (used before combat, hits for 2 damage on d6 roll of 1-4)

At the end of my last post on this adventure I had just fought a Wight, and I was standing at the top of a flight of stairs, which I descended to find myself in a room with three corpses.  (One of which, I knew, was the Ghoul whose illustration had so terrified me as a young tacker.)  I initiated a thorough search of the bodies, because in this new version of the book there could be keys anywhere, and I didn't want to miss one.  I wasn't surprised when the Ghoul sat up to attack me, but nevertheless I failed my Luck test, and it scratched me with its nails (dropping my Stamina to 12 and my Luck to 8).

The battle that followed was surprisingly close, and the Ghoul managed to hit me three times before I could kill it (reducing my Stamina to 6).  A fourth hit would have resulted in my paralysis, and the Ghoul eating me alive (starting with the buttocks, I kid you not).  This raises the question: if it wounded me after I failed the Luck test, then hit me three more times during the battle, should I consider myself paralysed?  A strict interpretation of the book's text says no, but the spirit of the rules says that I probably should.  I usually rule these things based on the exact wording of the text, so I let myself live.  Besides, the first scratch only did 1 point of damage, so it wasn't a full blow.  I'll keep telling myself that so I feel better about rules-lawyering my way out of an instant death.

After the battle I ate a meal (leaving me with 6, and restoring my Stamina to 10).  A full search of the corpses netted me 13 gold pieces, a pair of earrings worth 1gp, a piece of parchment and some holy water. The holy water restored my Stamina to 17 and my Luck to 9 (and it would have restored my Skill had I lost any).  The parchment was a faded map of the Maze of Zagor, with a few cryptic notations.  (I don't need a map of the Maze of Zagor. The Maze of Zagor is an intrinsic part of my psyche. I'll forget the names of my family before I forget how to navigate the Maze.)

Before continuing, I quaffed both doses of my Potion of Fortune. I didn't need it to restore my Luck, I just wanted the bonus to my Initial score. Said bonus bumped me up to 11; I really do love the double-dose potions of Warlock, and there are later books that could really use them.

After the encounter with the Ghoul I entered said Maze, and set about hitting the high points.  The card-playing Dwarves were as friendly as ever, and the Mazemaster just as cowardly.  I also fought the Minotaur, who proved to be surprisingly tough. He hit me five times before I could kill him, and I had to burn a Luck point to knock him off faster. After the battle I ate a meal, and search of his room turned up 8 gold pieces and key marked with the number '111'.  (It's a little disappointing, to be honest, that this key is in the exact same place here as in the original.  In fact, I didn't notice any changes at all in this half of the adventure.  After this encounter, my Stamina was 11, and a Luck bonus had bumped that score back up to 11 as well.)

A new illustration of the Mazemaster from Russ Nicholson

With the Maze behind me, I encountered the Warlock's Dragon, which I quickly dispatched with Farrigo Dimaggio's Dragonfire spell.  Along the way I ate two more provisions, meaning that I would be fully refreshed for my battle with the Warlock.

Said battle proved to be quite simple.  He looked impressive, but after a Luck test (reducing my score to 10) I spotted his magic cards, and burned them. With his power reduced, I was able to kill him without being hit at all (burning a Luck point in the process to get the fight over with faster).  (I also remembered to use my silver dart in this battle, which I had been neglecting to do. It can be thrown before any battle, and on a die roll of 1-4 it wounds the enemy for 2 Stamina. Pretty handy.)

The Warlock was dead, and I had but to test my keys on his treasure chest.  I had found four keys, marked with the following numbers: 125, 9, and two marked with 111.

The first combination I tested was 111, 111 and 125. Two of the keys worked, but the third didn't, and I was injured by a jet of acid (reducing my Stamina to 17).

The second combination I tried was 111, 111 and 9. Again, only two keys worked, and the jet of acid reduced my Stamina to 15.

The final combination I could try was 111, 125 and 9.  This time only one key worked, and a pair of darts flew from the chest towards me.  I dodged them with a Luck test (reducing my score to 8), but was knocked unconscious when I hit my head on the floor (reducing my Stamina to 15).

I might as well not have woken up, because those were the only keys I had.  Our Hero had no recourse but to sit on the Warlock's treasure chest and have a big sook.  Looks like I'll have to crack into this one again...

THE POST-GAME
Looking at the combinations above, the two correct keys I had were the ones marked with '111'.  One of those was found with the Boat House keys (guarded by the Werewolf and his Dog), and the other was found in the Minotaur's room.  Again, I'm disappointed that one of the correct keys is in an identical location to the original.  I have a sinking feeling that the other might be the same as well, so in my next game I'll be fighting the Iron Cyclops just to find out.  Be there!

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (revised) - Attempt 1, Part 1

In my last post, I mentioned that Warlock Magazine #1 contains the first half of a revised version of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.  I am a huge fan of WoFM.  If I had to nominate the book that has had the most influence on my life, it would be right up there.  That said, I can't get much more out of it at this point.  I've scoured every nook and cranny of Firetop Mountain, and I know all of its secrets.

That's why I'm so excited to play the revised edition.  It's basically the same book, but the keys needed to open the Warlock's treasure chest have been placed in different areas of the dungeon.  To succeed I'll have to ignore the path to success that I have etched in my memory.  When I was a child, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain felt mysterious and frightening.  I felt like it had secrets that I could never discover or understand.  In later years I did discover those secrets, but now that feeling of mystery and danger has returned (albeit less powerfully than before, but that's the way of adulthood).  I get to explore Firetop Mountain all over again, and I couldn't be more stoked about it.

The introductory illustration, as drawn by Tim Sell

While the text of the adventure might have been altered from the original, the rules remain exactly the same.  It even retains WoFM's particular idiosyncrasies, the rules that appeared there and nowhere else: you can only eat provisions one at a time, and only when instructed by the text; and whichever potion you choose to take on your adventure has two doses.

The Background section has been completely rewritten from the original.  It begins with the hero travelling across the Pagan Plains, where he meets an old man pushing a handcart.  The old man talks about his village's failing crops, and blames it on the evil emanating from Firetop Mountain.  He says that the mountain is ruled by a Warlock, who has loads of treasure, and that the villagers would be grateful if the hero could get rid of him.  The hero travels to the village (named as Anvil, which is cool; I'd always seen Anvil on the map from Out of the Pit and wondered where it came from).  From there the Background follows the same path as the original: the hero gathers rumours about the Warlock, and the womenfolk cry when he leaves for the mountain.  I like the expansion of the Background.  It ties the book closer to the rest of the series, and gives the reader a slightly more heroic reason for invading the Warlock's home.

Okay, time to roll my character: Skill 10, Stamina 19, Luck 8.  That's a more than viable character for this book, at least in its original form.  As long as none of the monsters have been altered, I should be fine.  I chose the Potion of Fortune, as usual.  Now, let the adventure begin!

Russ Nicholson re-interprets the entrance to Firetop Mountain.  So much menace!

The re-written Firetop Mountain still begins with the same old familiar T-junction.  I went east, bashed down the door at the end of the passage, and fell into a pit (reducing my Stamina to 18).  Nothing's changed here, I see.

Heading west, I encountered the Orc asleep at his post.  I failed the Luck test required to sneak past him (reducing my Luck to 7), and had to fight, but the Orc was easy pickings.  Again, this is just like the original book.

I entered a door further along the passage, and stole a wooden box from the Orc sleeping within (requiring a successful Luck test that reduced my score to 6).  As expected, the box contained a single gold coin and a mouse, which I released.  At least my Luck got restored back to 8.

The next door I entered was an uninhabited sleeping chamber, containing yet another box.  Upon opening the box I was attacked by the snake inside, and swiftly dispatched it.  I was expecting to find a key in here, perhaps with a different number than in the original book.  To my delight, I instead found 6 gold pieces.  (This was the point at which I realised that the key locations had been changed, and my interest in this revision increased a great deal.)

From there things progressed much as expected: I killed a pair of drunken orcs (learning the Dragonfire Spell afterwards), and fought the Orc Chieftain and his servant.  The servant actually hit me twice, which is somewhat embarrassing.  The trap on their chest caused me to lose a further 3 Stamina, which left me with a meagre total of 11.  The chest contained the usual 25 gold pieces (raising my total to 32), a Potion of Invisibility, and a black silk glove.  What was new was the key hidden under the glove, engraved with the number 125.  I ate one of my provisions (leaving me with 9, and raising my Stamina to 15) before continuing.

From there I went through two junctions, and killed five more Orcs in a kitchen (which reduced my Stamina back to 11; I also used a Luck point to kill one of the Orcs instantly, which reduced my score to 7).  I didn't find any new keys or items, but the bow known as the Giver of Sleep was still there, and that's nothing to scoff at.  I also got a nice Stamina bonus for my bravery (restoring my score to 16), and a Luck bonus that restored me back to 8.

More familiar territory: I saved the crazy man from imprisonment, and listened to his tales of Firetop Mountain.  I wasn't able to break down the door to the armoury, so I'm not sure if there's anything new in there (and my Stamina was reduced to 15 in the bargain).  I killed the two Goblins in the torture chamber easily enough, and claimed the cheese from their pockets.

Once through the portcullis, I opted to turn left at the junction.  Normally I would go right, but with the path to victory changed for this version it made sense to choose the alternate path.  Unless Jackson and Livingstone are trying to swerve me, and make me think I need to take a different path, when in actual fact the same old path will lead to success...  They are devious buggers, I wouldn't put it past them.  Still, left I went, and into territory that I have yet to detail in the blog.

I soon came to another junction, and opted to go north.  The passage ended at a cavern, with no path through.  At the sound of footsteps I hid in a crevice, and watched as an Ogre entered the cavern.  Not wanting to leave his pockets unrifled, I attacked the Ogre, and quite an epic battle ensued.  We had three drawn rounds, and he wounded me thrice before I could kill him (reducing my Stamina to 9).  I used my Luck twice during the battle to kill him faster, reducing my score to 6.  It hardly proved worth it, as all he had in his possession were 3 gold pieces.  I pilfered them nonetheless (raising my total to 35).

Back at the junction I turned west, then turned north.  I passed a narrow passage heading west and decided to take a look.  It didn't go anywhere; instead it just got narrower and narrower, as a ghostly voice laughed at my predicament.  I returned to the passage and continued north.  (I've often wondered if this section was thrown in just to pad the book out to 400 paragraphs.  It doesn't serve any other purpose.)

I came to yet another junction, but this one had a recess where I could sit and eat provisions, which I did (leaving me with 8, and restoring my Stamina to 13).  I chose the west passage, which later turned sharply north.  As I continued the floor collapsed beneath me, and I had to test my Luck in order to avoid falling in.  I was Unlucky (reducing my Luck to 5 and my Stamina to 12), and tumbled into the pit.  At the bottom there were two passages, but from the southern one emerged a Troll.

One of my favourite Russ Nicholson illustrations.  It's a shame the scan I got is terrible.

I was able to avoid the Troll with my Potion of Invisibility, and escape through the north tunnel.  (I didn't have a choice as to whether to use the potion or not.  I always worry when I skip a battle like this.  What if the Troll had something I need to win?  Ah well, the escape granted me a Luck bonus that restored my score to 7).

I ascended a flight of stairs, presumably bringing me back up to the main level.  There was a door at the top, and beyond it I could hear scratching.  When I opened it, I was confronted by a trio of Giant Rats.  Not to worry though, I was able to distract them with my cheese, and run through the room unharmed (restoring my Luck to 8).  (Again, I worry that I've missed something.)

At another junction I chose the north passage, which ended at a large cavern.  This cavern was home to a Giant, over three metres tall.  (In a lovely touch of verisimilitude, Ian and Steve make sure to include a hole in the ceiling, so that the Giant can actually leave his cavern.  Good thinking, lads.)  I attacked the Giant, but before I could close on him he flung a dead pig at me.  I was Lucky, however, and the carcass missed me (but my Luck was reduced to 7).  The Giant proved a strong foe, and he hit me three times before he went down (reducing my Stamina to 6).  It was all worth it, though, because in his belt I found 8 gold pieces (raising my total to 43) and a metal key engraved with the number 9 (a stroke of good fortune which restored my Luck back to 8).  (At this point, I'd like to point out that the Ogre has a higher Stamina than the Giant.  That doesn't seem right, does it?)

Back at the junction I turned east, and at another junction the book forced me to go north.  I came to the bank of an underground river, where I decided to rest and eat provisions.  But before I could take a bite, there was a turbulence beneath me, and I was attacked by a Giant Sandworm.

Russ Nicholson can't draw sand.

I only had 6 Stamina left, so this was a tense battle.  I used my Luck to kill the Sandworm more quickly (reducing my score to 7), and came through unscathed.  I was able to finish my meal (leaving me with 7 provisions, and restoring my Stamina to 10), and I also decided to take a swig from my Potion of Fortune (raising my Luck score to 9).  Then I entered the river and swam downstream.

Soon I was washed up on another beach.  Here there was a bridge, and a sign advising me to ring the bell to summon the ferryman.  I rang the bell, paid him 3 gold pieces (leaving me with 40), and he ferried me to the opposite bank.  (I'm wondering if I should have killed him.  He might have had a key. This book has me feeling guilty for not murdering people.)

(At this point, I want to point out something that's been annoying me about The Warlock of Firetop Mountain for decades.  The southern bank of the river is paragraph 218, and the northern bank of the river is paragraph 214.  As a youngster I would often reach the northern bank, then turn to 218 and find myself inexplicably back on the southern bank, in a bizarre time loop.  It doesn't trick me any more, and the problem was undoubtedly my own stupidity, but could it have hurt Ian and Steve to separate these two paragraphs a bit?)

I had two passages to choose from, and door in front of me.  I chose the north-west passage, which led to a foul-smelling room where a sleeping man was being guarded by his dog.  I coughed to wake him up, and asked what he knew about the Warlock's treasure.  This made him angry, which made his dog angry.  I tried to pacify them, but they were having none of it.  I killed the fire-breathing dog (although it burned me once, reducing my Stamina to 9) but the old man (who was actually a Werewolf) hit me twice (reducing my Stamina to 5).  I used my Luck twice to deal more damage to the Werewolf: once successfully, and once unsuccessfully (leaving me with a Luck of 7).

After the battle I ate provisions (leaving me with 6, and restoring my Stamina to 10).  On a hook on the wall I found a set of keys marked 'Boat House', and another key engraved with the number 111.  (Another key in a different location).  I raided the Werewolf's pantry, claiming a jar of pickled eggs worth two provisions (raising my total to 8), then returned to the river bank.  Normally I go through the door to the north at this point, but this time I headed east towards the boat house.

Using my keys I entered the boat house, where a large number of Skeletons were busily constructing boats.  I tried to bluff my way through, claiming that I was their new boss.  They didn't believe a word of it, and I found myself face to face with five Skeletons.  The first attacked me by himself, but the others came in pairs.  I was able to win through unscathed, much to my surprise.

I could hear more Skeletons approaching, but I had time for a quick search, and decided to look in the bench drawers.  In the original book there's a key hidden here, but in this version I found a silver throwing dart.  I had to discard an item to take it (I left the black silk glove), but it was worth taking, as it can be thrown before any battle, with a die roll of 1-4 indicating a successful hit.

I left through the north door, hiding from Skeleton reinforcements (and gaining a Luck bonus that restored my score to 9).  While hiding I ate some provisions, leaving me with 7 (and restoring my Stamina to 9).

Further on I entered a room, where a hideous-looking man was asleep (or dead) in the corner.  There was a box on a table nearby, and I tried to tiptoe across to take a look.  The creature's eyes flicked open, and it advanced on me.  The creature was a Wight, and the first blow I struck proved to be ineffectual; as an undead creature it was immune to my normal sword.  I armed myself with the 'Giver of Sleep', and with a successful Luck test (reducing my score to 8) I was able to kill it instantly with the silver arrow.  Inside the box I found 18 gold pieces (raising my total to 58), and I also received a Luck bonus that restored my score back to 9.  Before continuing I ate another provision (leaving me with 6, and restoring my Stamina to 13).

I left the room through the north door, and the passage soon bent around to the west.  Some way along there was a narrow opening the led north, and I squeezed through.to find a staircase heading downwards.

And that's where the adventure ends, for now.  My character, as it currently stands, is as follows:

Skill 10, Stamina 13, Luck 9

Gold Pieces: 58
Provisions: 6
Gear: Sword, Leather Armour, Backpack, Lantern, Potion of Fortune (one dose left), Shiny Key '125', Bow, Silver Arrow, Metal Key '9', Boat House Keys, Key '111', Silver Dart

I'm happy with this so far.  My stats are still good, I have plenty of resources left, and I've already found three keys to the Warlock's chest.  For all I know, these could be the three I need.  I suppose we'll find out when I tackle Warlock Magazine #2.

Warlock Magazine #1

I'm back from the Christmas hiatus, with a look at the first issue of Warlock magazine.  This is significant, at least to me, because as a kid I had no idea that Warlock ever existed.  Everything I've covered for the blog so far has been heavily tinged with nostalgia, and fond childhood memories.  I'm reading Warlock magazine for the first time ever, so I feel like my opinions will be a little more objective.

Before I delve in, though, it's time to hit the Wikipedia highlights.  For those who haven't heard of it, Warlock was a magazine co-published by Games Workshop and Penguin that covered fantasy gaming, with a focus on gamebooks and Fighting Fantasy in particular.  It lasted for 13 issues, running from 1983 to 1986.  I see that it was published in Australia, but I would have missed it because my FF fandom didn't begin until 1988, well after it ceased publication.  I'm surprised to see that Warlock continued in Japan until 1997.  I'd be interested to find out just what that magazine covered.  (Further research shows that there are conflicting dates as to the last issue of Warlock.  Wikipedia puts it at 1997, citing the official Fighting Fantasy website.  The FF wiki puts the date at March 1992, and gives more concrete information.  I'm far more inclined to believe the latter.)

Alright then.  Warlock issue #1.

One Step Beyond: The Origins of Fighting Fantasy: I had expected this article to reveal the process that led to the creation of the FF series, but there's not much of that here at all.  What this really is is a short history and explanation of Dungeons & Dragons, written with the goal of turning gamebook readers into tabletop gamers (and Games Workshop customers, presumably).  Ian Livingstone's Dicing With Dragons gets a mention, as does the upcoming Fighting Fantasy: The Introductory Role-Playing Game.

Out of the Pit: This article was written by Ian Livingstone, and it introduces four monsters, three of which will later be used in his own gamebooks.  The first such monster is the SENTINEL, an animated creature used to guard treasures.  It was first created by Baron Kognoy of Kaypong, a province to the east of Fang.  He hired a wizard to create a potion that could be sprinkled over any gem or metallic object: when touched by bare flesh, the item would transform into a warrior composed of the same substance (the item could, however, be safely handled with silk gloves).  The potion became so popular that Baron Kognoy started selling it, doing a roaring trade.  BIRD MEN are pretty much what it says on the tin, bird-like men who live in rocky crags and attack humans that pass by.  EARTH DEMONS are spirits that dwell beneath the ground, rising up to attack those who step on them.  They draw their strength from contact with the ground, and can be more easily defeated is separated from this source.  There's a rudimentary origin story about them being created by an alchemist spilling his chemicals.  The MESSENGER OF DEATH is the most interesting of the four: a soulless assassin with hollow eyes and a mouth filled with slime.  They sentence their victims to death by tapping them on the shoulder and whispering the word "death".  Then they hide the letters of that word along the victim's path, and if the victim reads all of those letters the Messenger will show up to drain his life force.  It's possibly the least effective assassination method there is, but at least it has character.

How To Map: This is a short article with tips on mapping gamebooks, and some symbols that can be used to represent various dangers.

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain part 1: This is the centrepiece of the issue: a reprint of the first half-or-so of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.  I was prepared to skim this one, until I discovered to my delight that it's slightly different to the original.  The keys have all been moved to completely different places, and some new treasures have been added where the keys were.  I'm looking forward to digging into this one, so look for it in my next post.

And now, for the piece de resistance...  the very first map of Allansia!

Click to embiggen.

This is a thing of beauty, even if it doesn't quite match up with the maps that will come later.  Not only does it show the locations of Book 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7, but it details some areas not yet introduced.  Appearing here for the first time: the Desert of Skulls, Anvil, the Pagan Plain, Whitewater River and the Icefinger Mountains.  I'm pretty sure that this is the first time the Moonstone Hills get named, and I'd bet the same for the Red River.  Maps will eventually become one of the coolest parts of the series, and this is the first (except for the rubbish one in Forest of Doom, which doesn't count).

The Citadel of Chaos: Final Thoughts

While The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a seminal classic of the genre, it is undoubtedly a flawed one.  The Citadel of Chaos, written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by Russ Nicholson, takes everything that worked about its predecessor and fixes most of those flaws.  The result is one of my all-time favourite gamebooks.

The basic plot is the same as in Warlock: you have to invade a wizard's stronghold and kill him.  But where the first book's adventurer had no reason to do so beyond greed, the hero of The Citadel of Chaos is trying to save his homeland from invasion.  It's a cliched set-up, but it's also a stronger one.

Firetop Mountain often felt like a series of disjointed rooms and monsters, none of which seemed to interact with each other.  The setting of the Black Tower is a much better design than Firetop Mountain.  While it shares the same structure of discrete encounters that bear little connection, everything in the citadel feels like part of a whole.  The castle setting feels much more alive, and decidedly weird.  Many of the denizens go unexplained, and the mystery of them only heightens the tension of the book.  I don't think I've ever been more afraid of a gamebook enemy than I was of the Ganjees, because I had no real idea of what they were, what they were capable of or how they could be defeated.  The Citadel of Chaos lives up to its name.

The final battle with Balthus Dire is better than that with the Warlock, and the latter confrontation was by no means done poorly.  The duel with Dire, however, is masterful, with many paths to victory or defeat.  It may be my favourite gamebook battle of all time.  Dire has personality, and he's challenging without being impossible.  There are so many fun ways to try and end his life (and a lot of fun ways he can end yours).

If the book has one flaw it's that it can feel a little short.  It has the same number of entries as Warlock, and is similarly terse in writing style, but there are fewer encounters overall because of the increased flexibility offered by the spell system.  The book feels shorter because every encounter has options galore, and I find this much preferable to the books where you are faced with unavoidable fight after unavoidable fight.  It's also been criticised for being too easy, but I don't think that's true.  Yes, once you've discovered the correct path, you can win even with a character that has minimum stats.  I consider that a strength, and a mark of great gamebook design.  Finding the correct path isn't exactly trivial, either.

Russ Nicholson once again turns in some stellar work.  He's freed here from the limits of vanilla D&D-style fantasy, and gets to inject a healthy dose of off-beat weirdness.  The Wheelies are probably the pinnacle of this, one of the greatest and most nonsensical fantasy monsters ever.

I really do love this book.  Steve Jackson delivered a stone-cold classic on his first solo outing.

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

I'm slowly going through my old posts and adding a rating system.  For further explanation of how the system works, check my final post on Island of the Lizard King.

Story & Setting: Like Warlock of Firetop Mountain, this book has a simple kill-the-evil-wizard plot, but it has a deeper backstory.  It's full of details that flesh out the Black Tower and Balthus Dire's family.  Speaking of the Black Tower, it can be very nonsensical, but there is a certain logic to its layout, and it feels much more like a place that exists outside the confines of the adventure.  I probably rated Warlock a little high here, but I'm not going to go back and change it.  Citadel gets the same rating, even though it's technically stronger in all respects.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Toughness: The balance of this book is almost perfect.  You can run through it with a character who has minimum stats, but it's still a challenge for a character who is maxed out.  The real difficulty lies not in combat and dice rolls, but in finding the narrow path to victory.  I'm tempted to give this one a perfect score, but I can't quite bring myself to do it.  The correct path is perhaps a little too narrow and frustrating for its own good.  Rating: 6 out of 7.

Aesthetics: Steve Jackson provides the weird, almost surreal atmosphere, while Russ Nicholson delivers an iconic series of illustrations.  It's difficult for me to describe what it is I love about this phase of Nicholson's work, but it's like everything in the world is ornate yet frayed by use.  And the guy does horror so well; the Ganjees still give me the willies.  Rating: 7 out of 7.

Mechanics: This book takes the already functional Fighting Fantasy system, and adds to it with a magic system that has rarely been bettered in the series.  (Sorcery! is the only other contender here.)  Not only is the magic system well-designed, but it's the core of everything in the book.  Every encounter can be influenced by it, and it grants a range of options that most gamebooks can't.  And then there's the sublime final battle with Balthus Dire.  I keep talking myself into giving this book top marks.  Rating: 7 out of 7.

Innovation & Influence: Again, this will score high, because the magic system is so well done.  It's the book's major innovation, but it's a great one.  Rating: 6 out of 7.

NPCs & Monsters: The standard array of stock fantasy monsters is present here, but Jackson has filled the book with a lot of his own creations as well.  Calacorms, Wheelies and Ganjees are as iconic to FF as Orcs and Dragons.  The thing that makes it truly great, though, is that every monster is a character in its own right.  There are very few monsters here that exist solely to fight the hero.  Top of the list, of course, is Balthus Dire.  He's not deep; who is in gamebooks?  But he's well-realised, and benefits from the best end-of-book boss battle that I can think of.  Rating: 6 out of 7.

Amusement: This book is always fun.  There are so many options per encounter that I always feel like it has something new to offer, and it never feels like a chore to begin again.  Rating: 7 out of 7.

This book gets the bonus point, because of course it does.  I love it without reservation.  The scores above add up to a total of 45, which doubled gives a STAMINA Rating of 90.

Final Rating: 90 out of 100.

Next: The Forest of Doom!

The Citadel of Chaos - Attempt 1, Part 2

 

When my last post ended, I had just reached a large dining hall that was lined with paintings and suits of armour.  This is a sort of choke point for the adventure: every path eventually leads here, and most of the really deadly encounters take place after this point, as a lead-up to the confrontation with Balthus Dire.  My adventurer was basically unscathed, and armed with an Enchanted Battlesword that made him pretty fearsome.  I was pretty sure that I could handle any battles that came my way.  Unfortunately, battles are the least of the obstacles to be encountered in the Black Tower.

I decided to ignore the suits of armour: Fighting Fantasy adventurers traditionally stick with leather armour, and besides that I was a wizard!   I studied the paintings instead, finding a portrait of Balthus Dire.  Continuing the grand tradition from The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, looking at the painting cost me 1 Stamina point due to fear.  I'm imagining some kind of rad Vigo the Carpathian-style painting here.  It did add 1 to my Luck, though.  Not that I needed it.

Two staircases provided egress to a landing above, and I made my way up using the one on the right.  Nothing untoward happened to me, so I assume that the other one was trapped.  On the landing there were three doors, and I chose the left-most one.  It was locked, but I was able to open it with my copper key (which I had earlier murdered some fellows to obtain, if you recall; it was all in self-defense).

Inside was an opulent bedroom, wherein a lovely lady was lying in bed.  Immediately she shouted at me and fired beams of liquid fire from her eyes, which is standard procedure for women whose bedrooms have been invaded.  Especially so for Balthus Dire's wife, Lucretia.

Unfazed by the approaching eyebeams, I coolly told her that I had a gift, and proffered the Gark's hairbrush.  (Again, obtained through violent means; again, I plead self-defense.)  Immediately she dispelled her eyebeams and set about combing her hair in the mirror, not seeming to care that I could now see her in her pyjamas.  While she did so, I nicked a golden fleece from her bed with a successful Luck test and dashed out the other side of the room.  Never leave adventurers unattended around golden objects, people, no matter how large and unwieldy.

I found myself at the bottom of a staircase, and climbed until I reached two doors.  I opened the right-hand door into a sort of plush living room, the walls of which were lined with animal heads.  Balthus Dire's man-cave, perhaps?  I thought that this might be a good place to wait in ambush for him, until the head of a dog started barking at me, and a carpet flew from the floor and clipped my ear.  Then one of the chairs turned into a dude and asked what I was doing there.  There was far too much weirdness going on in there for it to end well, so I got the hell out of there and tried the other door.

It opened into a room with a deep pit.  There was a chest on a platform inside the pit, and a coil of rope near the entrance.

Now this was a lot easier to take in.  I had read about the Doompit Trap in a library book earlier, so I decided to leave this room and carry on.

More stairs led upwards to a door, which opened into a dark room.  Then suddenly: GANJEES!

Just seeing that dude made me lose 1 Skill, 2 Stamina and 1 Luck point.  Which is fair enough, because that's pretty much how I feel every time I look at the illustration, another of Russ Nicholson's nightmare-inducers.  I hunted around in my backpack for an item to use, and by chance my hand closed on the jar of ointment I had looted earlier in my adventure.  The Ganjees recognised it as "The Ointment of Healing", and agreed to let me pass if I gave it to them.  I'm not sure what these ghostly figures could do with this ointment, but that face could do with a bit of moisturising.  I flung the ointment at them and high-tailed it out of there.

More stairs up, another door.  Inside the next room was a terrible foe: a six-headed HYDRA!  And a metric ass-ton of dead adventurers!

Spurred by my previous success, and operating on a rudimentary knowledge of mythology, I reached into my backpack and pulled out the golden fleece.  The Hydra snatched it from my hands and slunk away, as I bolted from the room.  This sequence of events had "end-game" written all over it.

At the foot of the stairs this time there was a sign: "HALT. None may pass but by order of Balthus Dire."  He really should put that sign before the bloody Ganjees and the Hydra; anyone who has managed to get past them isn't going to be deterred at this point.  I climbed the stairs, and came to a stop at an impregnable door with a combination lock.  Remembering my spot of research in the library, I turned the numbers and opened the door, prepared to confront Balthus Dire.

No sooner did I enter than a bloody great trident came hurtling at my throat.  I stopped it with a Shielding spell, and came face to face with the demi-sorcerer himself.

I don't care what anyone says about Balthus Dire's haircut, he is totally rad.  Just check out his spiked wristbands, they are so metal.  The first thing he did was call me an "impudent peasant", then he sicced a CLAWBEAST on me, a hairy brute with four arms that ended in vicious hooks.

While it looked fearsome, I was able to defeat it by casting a Weakness spell and casually running it through.  I decided to press my advantage and cast an ESP spell on Dire.  A few images jumbled through my mind, the most interesting being a ring on his finger and a razor-edged sword.  The images didn't last long, as he blocked me from his mind, then caused an earthquake by slapping the ground.  I countered with a Levitation spell, and rose into the air.  There were a number of places I could float to, but I opted for the window.  Again remembering my library research, I grabbed a curtain and pulled it down.  Sunlight streamed into the room, and Balthus Dire slowly died beneath the sun's wholesome rays.  Huzzah, I was a successful assassinator!  I burned Dire's battle plans and prepared to return home in victory.

Except... I had no Levitation spell left.  If I had one, I could have floated out of the window and down to the ground with ease.  (So why couldn't I have floated up the same way?)  Without it, I would be forced to try and escape through the Citadel.  But never mind that, I still got to paragraph 400 and succeeded in my mission: that counts as a victory regardless of the unknown fate that awaits me.

The Citadel of Chaos - Attempt 1, Part 1

It's time now for me to move on to the second book in the Fighting Fantasy series: The Citadel of Chaos, written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by Russ Nicholson.  Whereas the protagonist in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is motivated by nothing more than sheer greed, the one in The Citadel of Chaos is slightly more altruistic.  The evil demi-sorcerer Balthus Dire is planning to invade the Vale of Willow with his armies, and you must sneak into his stronghold and deal with him.  I did say slightly more altruistic; this is an assassination mission, after all.

The rules for determining Skill, Stamina and Luck remain unchanged from the first book.  I rolled a Skill of 10, a Stamina of 15 and a Luck of 11, a decent set of scores despite the low Stamina.  Where The Citadel of Chaos really differs is that the reader plays a wizard.  The star pupil of the Grand Wizard of Yore, in fact.  I had to determine my Magic score by rolling two dice and adding 6.  My result was 12; this is the number of spells I was allowed to take with me on my mission.

The following spells are available: Creature Copy, E.S.P., Fire, Fool's Gold, Illusion, Levitation, Luck, Shielding, Skill, Stamina, Strength and Weakness.  I took two Creature Copy spells, two Shielding spells, and one each of E.S.P., Fire, Illusion, Levitation, Luck, Stamina, Strength and Weakness.  Most of the spells are pretty self-explanatory.  Creature Copy is probably the only one that requires a bit of explanation: it creates an exact duplicate of a creature that can fight on your behalf.

For equipment I had the basics: a sword, leather armour, a backpack and a lantern. I had no provisions with which to restore Stamina, but that's what the Stamina spell listed above is for.  Similarly, I didn't get to choose a restorative potion, either; just as with Stamina, there are spells to restore Luck and Skill.

And so, armed and armoured, and brimming with eldritch power, I set forth to Craggen Rock to slay me a wizard.

The first encounter set the tone for Balthus Dire's citadel pretty early.  Meet the guardians of the gate: the DOG-APE and the APE-DOG.

There is something sublime about the pointlessness of these two animal mergers.  Is an ape any more deadly with a dog's head?  Is there any purpose to sticking an ape's head on a dog?  It's mystifying, like most of the encounters in this book.

Eschewing all basic assassination methods, I sauntered up to the front gate and opted to pose as a travelling herbalist, here to tend to a sick guardsman of the citadel.  My cover story was watertight; I even had some random weeds to wave under the Ape-Dog's nose, but the guards were skeptical and asked me who I was here to treat.  At this point I was given the option of three names, which must all be the orc equivalent of John or Tom or something: Kylltrog, Pincus or Blag.  I opted for the raddest-sounding name, which was Kylltrog, and the Ape-Dog let me inside the citadel.  Whatever benefit Balthus Dire thought he would get by merging dog with ape, it didn't extend to creating a better gate guard.

I entered a large courtyard, and again decided to bring as much attention to myself as possible.  Spying a motley group sitting around a campfire - the group was comprised of a Dwarf, an Orc and two canoodling Goblins - I sat down with them and demanded they tell me how to get inside the citadel proper.

My brash swagger must have impressed them, because the Orc gave me the password to get inside the citadel proper: 'Scimitar'.  But when I started pestering them about a potion they possessed they got very surly and attacked me.  Three-on-one odds would be pretty tough for a first encounter, but luckily for me they decided to fight me one at a time, and I slaughtered them with little difficulty.  When the fight ended I prepared to run, expecting the sounds of alarms or approaching guards or something.  Nada.  Random murders must be just another Wednesday morning around here.  Time then for looting!

These guys had 8 gold pieces, a copper key and a jar of ointment.  For reasons known only to Steve Jackson I was only able to take two of these, and I opted to leave the gold behind.  I was given no indication as to the usefulness of either item, but you have to take a key if you see one, and I have a feeling about that ointment...  There was also the potion that started this whole scuffle, which turned out to be a Potion of Magik.  It was good for two doses, and had the effect of letting me use a spell without crossing it off my list.  Sweet!

I could see two men talking nearby, so I approached them.  They were haggling quite vehemently about the price of a magic dagger.  The seller tried to rope me in by asking how much I thought it was worth.  Putting on my best "I know what I'm talking about" face, I high-balled the price at 10 gold pieces.  The buyer couldn't afford it, and neither could I, so everyone left unsatisfied.

Moving on, I was accosted by some weird lady air elemental.  I tried to ignore her, which just made her angry, so I told her heartily to piss off.  Apparently she likes seeing people get angry, because we then enjoyed a semi-romantic stroll before she buggered off to annoy someone else.

I reached the main door into the citadel, and knocked for the guard.  I was greeted by another fine specimen of Dire's eugenics program: a RHINO-MAN!  Luckily I knew the password, and the Rhino-Man let me inside.  Once again lax security rules the day here in the Citadel of Chaos.

Ignoring some steps downwards (on the spurious logic that Balthus Dire wouldn't be living underground) I went through a door and rang the bell to summon the butler.

This is not a man that I would put at my reception desk, but despite all appearances to the contrary he was rather polite when I confidently asked the way to the reception room.  I followed his directions without hesitation; surely he's a trustworthy guy, yeah?

At the end of the passage I followed there was a door, and inside a large Goblin-like creature was asleep.  I tried to sneak past, because dude was using his axe as a pillow.  I did not want to mess with a dude bad-ass enough to sleep on his axe, but unfortunately the GARK woke up.  Apparently Garks are goblin-giant crossbreeds, which hardly bears thinking about, especially as this one was advancing on me with his axe/pillow.

Thinking fast, I hit the Gark with a Weakness spell (quaffing a dose from my Potion of Magik in order to retain the spell for later).  The spell hit it hard, and I was able to slay the enfeebled Gark with ease.  On its person I found 6 gold pieces and an ornate hairbrush.  At first the brush seemed a little incongruous, but then I remembered that the Gark was sleeping on his axe.  That has to seriously mess up a dude's hair.

There were two doors leading out of the room, and I chose the one that lead to the library.  In the library I had the choice of three books to read: 'Biographies of Balthus Dire', 'Secrets of the Black Tower' or 'Creatures of the Kingdom of Craggen Rock'.  All of these sounded like essential reading, but I opted for a spot of research on the Black Tower.  I was rewarded with a whole bunch of information: apparently Balthus Dire's grandpa had built the citadel, and was later forced to  fill his tower with traps to protect himself from the evil monsters that moved in.  He also had a door with a combination lock, the code to which was 217.  Surely Balthus Dire would have changed that by now, though.

I decided to read a second book, choosing 'Biographies of Balthus Dire'.  I learned that Dire was third in a line of powerful sorcerers, and now ruled with his wife Lucretia.  (Lucretia Dire.  She really sounds like a character from a Harry Potter novel.)  Most importantly, the book contained the information that the Dire family's power only lasts at night-time, and sunlight is a poison to them.  Man, Balthus Dire really needs to keep tabs on the books in his library.  Dude is sloppy on security issues.

Feeling lucky, I decided to read a third book, but my fortune had run out.  A bunch of Orcs burst into the room, and one of them knocked me out with a blast of bad breath.

I awoke in a cell, where a two-headed lizard man was bringing me some dinner.

The creature was a CALACORM, but I ignored it while I scoffed my food.  When my hunger was sated I tried to talk to my jailer, only to be told that I would probably never be released unless it was as sport for the Ganjees.  Ganjees, eh?  They don't sound so tough.

I decided to cast a spell, going with an Illusion to make him think he was being attacked.  (I quaffed the final dose of my Potion of Magik to retain the spell.)  The illusion that appeared was that of a mouse, which at first seemed like a complete failure.  But the Calacorm climbed on his chair like that black woman in the Tom & Jerry cartoons.  I offered to get rid of the mouse if he released me, which he did, and I strolled nonchalantly out of the room.

Soon I came to a door, which I busted open with my bare hands.  Inside was a little sleeping man in green pantaloons, hovering over a table.

But before I could react, a small projectile was fired at me from a catapult.  With a surplus of Stamina points I decided not to use a spell, and the missile splattered on my forehead; it was a tomato!  After that bit of nonsense I was unsurprised to discover that the little fellow was a leprechaun name O'Seamus.  I shook his hand in greeting, only to get an electric shock and the loss of 1 Skill point.  Normally this would have been the last straw; you can mess with my Stamina all you like, but if you touch my Skill then it's WAR.  But the leprechaun obviously had powers beyond mine, so I just sighed and asked him the way onwards.  His answer was cryptic, and little help in figuring out which of the three doors ahead I ought to take.  I picked the bronze-handled door and left the little bastard far behind.

In the room beyond I was blinded by a sudden flash of light.  Some growling creature latched onto my leg with its jaws, and I lashed out with my sword.  For some reason I couldn't hit it, and it tore my leg open with its teeth.  I had the option to cast a spell, but... why was I not losing Stamina points from that wound?  I held my spell in reserve, but to my horror the creature lunged forward and tore out my throat.  My adventure ended here.

But wait, I'm alive!  It was all a practical joke perpetrated by O'Seamus, who was laughing his guts out.  I started laughing as well, but you can rest assured; I was only laughing on the outside.  O'Seamus was fooled into thinking of me as a good sport, and rewarded me with a mirror and an Enchanted Battlesword which would add 1 to my Attack Strength in battle.  Good on O'Seamus; he had made up for the electric shock he gave me earlier, and saved himself from my righteous vengeance.

I left once more, this time choosing the copper-handled door.  I emerged in a wine cellar, where I was met by a limping BLACK ELF.  No, not a Dark Elf, a BLACK ELF.

I pretended to be a guest here to sample some wine, and was offered a choice of three vintages.  I chose the red wine, and just as in real life it restored 2 Stamina points and 3 Luck.  Thanking the Elf, I left.

Further up the passage was a door, which I opened quietly.  Inside was a bit of Flintstones decor: a stone table, and three  chests resting on a pile of rocks stuck together with mud.  Guarding the whole mess was a man made of stone.

The siren song of the chests called to me, but as I neared them the stone man stirred to life.  A GOLEM!  I whipped my sword out to fight it, but it was far from the most effective weapon against a stone man, and I suffered a -1 Skill penalty for the fight.  This left me with a Skill of 8, equal to the Golem's own, and the resulting battle was a desperate one.  It battered me down to 5 Stamina before I destroyed it, but at least now the chests were mine!  What bounty lay inside?  Before finding out I cast a spell to restore my Stamina to 12.

I opened the first chest, and found a silver key.  Nice!  The second chest was locked, so I tried the key and it opened.  Inside was a green key.  I see where this is going, Jackson...  I unlocked the third chest with the green key, and found inside a glass jar containing a spider with the face of an old man.  Weird.  Someone obviously went to a lot of effort to lock this monstrosity away, so I put the jar in my pack instead of opening it.

The next door opened into a large, brightly lit dining hall, with lots of entrances.  This seems like a good point to stop for the moment.  My assassination mission will continue in the next post!

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Final Thoughts

Given that The Warlock of Firetop Mountain was my introduction to fantasy gaming as a whole, you'll understand that this is by no means an unbiased review.  I have nothing but love for it.  I killed my first orc in Firetop Mountain!  That said, I'm not blind to its flaws, and it certainly does have some.

Probably the biggest is how disjointed the setting feels.  There is some sort of structure to Firetop Mountain: orcs near the entrance, tougher monsters further in, lycanthropes near the river, undead after that, then the maze, then the warlock.  Many of the encounters are interesting, but they don't connect much at all.  This has a benefit, in that you never really know what's coming next (unless of course you're re-playing the book), but it also makes Firetop Mountain feel a bit unreal.

Structurally it's pretty simple.  The dungeon design (at least before the river) is basically a straight line, with a few branches here and there.  It wouldn't hold up for a game of Dungeons & Dragons, but it works fine for the purpose of the book.  It's obviously designed for replay value.  You need three keys at the end to unlock the warlock's treasure chest, but there's no guarantee that you will find them.  You will probably even find some fakes.  It's unlikely that the reader will complete it on the first try, but that's fine.  This isn't a gamebook that rewards intelligent decision-making; you can simply fail by choosing to go left instead of right.  What it does reward is persistence, mapping, and exploration over the course of multiple read-throughs.

From a structure standpoint, the Maze of Zagor is probably the most impressive thing in the book.  It's not a particularly difficult maze when you look at a map of it, but the way it's written makes it disorienting unless you map it out carefully, and the teleport traps strewn about make that even more difficult.  Sadly it's also the most boring and frustrating part of the book, and I've already mentioned how I used to get stuck here a lot as a kid, going around in circles.

The confrontation with the warlock is also quite well done, with a number of fun options.  You can duke it out with swords, if you feel like a very tough battle.  You can drink a Potion of Invisibility and fight him that way, or you can lessen his power by burning his enchanted cards.  Or you can do what I did and go for the insta-kill by using the Eye of the Cyclops.  Gamebooks are always improved when there are multiple paths to victory.

In terms of game-design, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain hits a good balance.  There are some tough fights, but most can be avoided.  Most importantly, the book can be completed by a character regardless of Skill, Stamina and Luck scores.  The Iron Cyclops is the toughest unavoidable combat, but I have scraped through that fight with a Skill 7 character before.  At this point in the series, the claim that any adventurer can make it through is still a true one.

Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone apparently split the writing of the book, with Ian designing the first half and Steve designing everything after the river (and rewriting Ian's text to mesh their styles).  Generally, the encounters written by Steve are more interesting, as he provides the player with more options.  Ian's half of the dungeon has a greater variety of encounters, but many of them are simple combats; you will often find yourself ambushed by a foe, with no recourse but to do battle.  The way the first half was structured allowed for more monsters and encounters to be included, and on the whole I feel like it has more moments that stuck with me from my childhood.  Steve's half comes through on atmosphere; there is some creepy stuff going on.  But the maze, while well-designed, can be tedious.  I give the points to Ian, just barely.

I also need to give props to Russ Nicholson.  In later years his style gets a lot thicker and busier, but here I love the thin line-work.  It's brilliant, atmospheric stuff, loaded with detail.

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is hardly the best of the Fighting Fantasy series; the authors are obviously still figuring out how the format works.  But it is very solid, well-designed and fun, with great illustrations.  It may be a little too much of a "funhouse dungeon" for some, but that happens to be something that I enjoy.  Hell, it's the book that turned me into a fantasy gamer for life.

THE SCORE

It should be taken as no great achievement that I completed this book on my first attempt; I basically have the whole thing memorised.  The dice were the only things that could stop me, and those came up in my favour.  I can mark The Warlock of Firetop Mountain down as won on the first attempt, but foreknowledge was a great help.  The same can be said for most of the early books; it won't be until House of Hell that I start to have trouble when it comes to picking the correct path.  As for dice rolls, they're a different story...  I'll be fine until Deathtrap Dungeon, I think, though City of Thieves could pose a problem.  That's some way off, though.  I'll be back soon with my first attempt at book 2, The  Citadel of Chaos.

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

As outlined in my final post on Island of the Lizard King, I've started rating the gamebooks I play in seven different categories, which gives me a final score I can use to compare them.  So now I'm going back and rating the books I played earlier in the blog.   Here goes!

Story & Setting: The story is bare bones but effective: there's little more basic in a fantasy RPG than killing an evil wizard.  As for the setting, it's heavy on standard D&D fantasy tropes, and there are a number of things that don't make sense.  It's the first book in the series though, it probably should be heavy on the cliches.  It also gets extra points because Firetop Mountain is truly iconic.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Toughness: This is a really well-balanced adventure.  Any gamebook that can be finished regardless of your stats is going to get extra points from me, and Warlock manages to do that while still remaining a challenge.  It's a little easy once you know the correct path, but a big part of the challenge is finding that path over multiple games.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Aesthetics: Firetop Mountain has a strong atmosphere, and enough weird, random elements that it maintains an air of mystery.  The Russ Nicholson artwork is definitive for the Fighting Fantasy series.  Rating: 6 out of 7.

Mechanics: This is the book that defined the mechanics of Fighting Fantasy, and it utilises the rules well.  On its own, I would probably give the Fighting Fantasy rules system a 4: it's functional, but a bit too reliant on the player rolling high stats.  I'm going to bump Warlock up a point, because it uses those rules well.  I like the restrictions on eating provisions, and I like that the magic swords affect Attack Strength and not Skill.  There's an attention to the rules paid here that doesn't always carry forward to the rest of the series.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Innovation & Influence: As the first in the Fighting Fantasy series, and the gamebook that started the craze, I have to give this one top marks.  Rating: 7 out of 7.

NPCs & Monsters: Most of the monsters here are the old D&D standards, but they're used memorably; there are a few throwaway encounters, particularly in the middle section from the portcullis to the river, but for the most part the encounters are well done.  The other characters aren't deep, but they are well-defined, and the book has a great villain in Zagor.  Admittedly he doesn't get much personality here, which knocks this down a bit.  Rating: 5 out of 7.

Amusement: Given that this might well be my favourite book of all time, and that I still enjoy it after nearly twenty years, I have to give it top marks here.  Rating: 7 out of 7.

In addition to the above scores, I have an ill-defined bonus point which is really only there so I can get a round score out of 50.  Basically, if I love a book it gets the point, and Warlock definitely deserves it.  Adding the scores above, plus the bonus point I get a score of 41, which doubled gives the book a STAMINA Rating of 82.

STAMINA RATING: 82 out of 100.

Next: The Citadel of Chaos!