Anybody want to try this one again? I think it's a good book, probably the best non-puffin. Last time round you got into trouble due to not picking up much Amanour and missing out on special skills. I think JourneymanNoob was a bit stingy with just 1 life. I would propose a bank of 12 "help points".
2 help points will move you back 1-2 decisions.
3 points will give a full STAMINA refresh, (even from 0) or move you all the way back to the last point you still could technically win or any point you name.
4 points will take you back to what I consider the most optimal decision change you could make.
As long as your total is 1 or more can use help points even if it would take you below zero, so if you have 1 remaining you can go to -3
Copying from JourneymanNoobs start.
HOW WILL YOU START YOUR ADVENTURE?
IF YOU ARE NEW TO FIGHTING FANTASY …The book you hold in your hands is a gateway to another world – a world of dark magic, terrifying monsters, brooding castles, treacherous dungeons and untold danger, where a noble few defend against the myriad schemes of the forces of evil. Welcome to the world of FIGHTING FANTASY!
You are about to embark upon a thrilling fantasy adventure in which YOU are the hero! YOU decide which route to take, which dangers to risk and which creatures to fight. But be warned – it will also be YOU who has to live or die by the consequences of your actions.
Take heed, for success is by no means certain, and you may well fail in your mission on your first attempt. But have no fear, for with experience, skill and luck, each new attempt should bring you a step closer to your ultimate goal.
Prepare yourself, for when you turn the page you will enter an exciting, perilous FIGHTING FANTASY adventure where every choice is yours to make, an adventure in which YOU ARE THE HERO!
How would you like to begin your adventure?
IF YOU HAVE PLAYED FIGHTING FANTASY BEFORE …It’s a good idea to read through the rules which appear on pages 355-365 before you start.
ALTERNATIVE DICEMake sure you’ve read the special rules concerning AMONOUR and the Wheel of the Week on page 364 and don’t forget to enter your character’s details on the Adventure Sheet, which appears on page 366.
Obviously, a pair of dice is available for every die roll that needs to be processed in this adventure.If you do not have a pair of dice handy, dice rolls are printed throughout the book at the bottom of the pages. Flicking rapidly through the book and stopping on a page will give you a random dice roll. If you need to ‘roll’ only one die, read only the first printed die; if two, total the two dice symbols.
HOW TO FIGHT THE CREATURES OF TROLLTOOTH PASS
For the purposes of this thread, the Adventure Sheet will be hand-made and periodically displayed.Before embarking on your adventure, you must first determine your own strengths and weaknesses. However, unlike other Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, in Secrets of Salamonis, your starting scores are fixed. On page 366 there is an Adventure Sheet which you may use to record details of an adventure. You will find on it boxes for recording your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK scores.
You are advised either to record your scores on the Adventure Sheet in pencil or to make photocopies of the sheet for use in future adventures.
Those who are familiar with the Fighting Fantasy rules should note that there are some new rules in this book.
SKILL, STAMINA AND LUCK
BATTLESYour starting scores are as follows:
• Your SKILL score is 6. Enter this number in the SKILL box on the Adventure Sheet.
• Your STAMINA score is 12. Enter this number in the STAMINA box.
• Your LUCK score is 6. Enter this number in the LUCK box.
SKILL reflects your swordsmanship and fighting expertize; the higher the better. STAMINA represents your strength; the higher your STAMINA, the longer you will survive. LUCK represents how lucky a person you are. Luck – and magic – are facts of life in the fantasy world you are about to explore.
SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK scores change constantly during an adventure, so keep an eraser handy. You must keep an accurate record of these scores. But never rub out your Initial scores. Although you may receive additional SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK points, these totals may never exceed your Initial scores, except on very rare occasions, when instructed on a particular page.
FIGHTING MORE THAN ONE OPPONENTWhen you are told to fight a creature, you must resolve the battle as described below. First record the creature’s SKILL and STAMINA scores (as given on the page) in an empty box on the Enemy Encounter Sheet found on page 367. The sequence of combat is then:
1. Roll both dice once for the creature. Add its SKILL score. This total is the creature’s Attack Strength.
2. Roll both dice once for yourself. Add the number rolled to your current SKILL score. This total is your Attack Strength.
3. If your Attack Strength is higher than that of the creature, you have wounded it. Proceed to step 4. If the creature’s Attack Strength is higher, it has wounded you. Proceed to step 5. If both Attack Strength totals are the same, you have avoided each other’s blows – start the next Attack Round from step 1 above.
4. You have wounded the creature, so subtract 2 points from its STAMINA score. You may use your LUCK here to do additional damage (see ‘Using Luck in Battles’ below).
5. The creature has wounded you, so subtract 2 points from your own STAMINA score. Again, you may use LUCK at this stage (see below).
6. Make the appropriate adjustments to either the creature’s or your own STAMINA scores (and your LUCK score if you used LUCK) and begin the next Attack Round (repeat steps 1-6).
7. This continues until the STAMINA score of either you or the creature you are fighting has been reduced to zero (death).
ESCAPING FROM BATTLESIn some situations, you may find yourself facing more than one opponent in combat. Sometimes you will treat them as a single adversary; sometimes you will be able to fight each in turn; and at other times you will have to fight them all at the same time! If they are treated as a single opponent, the combat is resolved normally. If you have to fight your opponents one at a time, as soon as you defeat an enemy, the next steps forward to fight you! When you find yourself under attack from more than one opponent at the same time, each adversary will make a separate attack on you in the course of each Attack Round, but you can choose which one to fight. Attack your chosen target as in a normal battle. Against any additional opponents, you roll for your Attack Strength in the normal way, but if it is greater than your opponent’s, in this instance you will not inflict any damage. If your Attack Strength is lower than your adversary’s, you will have to settle the outcome against each additional adversary separately.
LUCKOn some pages you will be given the option of Escaping from the battle. You may only Escape if it is offered to you on the page. If you do run away, the creature automatically scores one wound on you (subtract 2 STAMINA points) as you flee. Such is the price of cowardice. You can use LUCK on this wound in the normal way (see ‘Using Luck in Battles’ below).
USING LUCK IN BATTLESSometimes you will be told to Test Your Luck. As you will discover, using LUCK is a risky business. The way you Test Your Luck is as follows:
Roll two dice. If the number rolled is equal to or less than your current LUCK score, you have been Lucky. If the number rolled is higher than your current LUCK score, you have been Unlucky.. The consequences of being Lucky or Unlucky will be found on the page. Each time you Test your Luck, you must subtract one point from your current LUCK score. So, the more you rely on luck, the riskier this becomes.
For the purposes of this Let’s Play, the attack rounds will be resolved all at once. I will generally only consider using Luck in battles if our hero has less than 7 Stamina points. For such battles, I will ask how Luck should be used to improve the odds of winning the fight. In battles where Escape is an option and our hero has less than 7 Stamina points, I will also ask when to run from the battle.In battles, you always have the option of using your LUCK either to score a more serious wound on a creature, or to minimize the effects of a wound the creature has just scored on you.
If you have just wounded the creature, you may Test your Luck as described below. If you are Lucky, subtract an extra 2 points from the creature’s STAMINA score (i.e. 4 instead of 2 normally). But if you are Unlucky, you must restore 1 point to the creature’s STAMINA (so instead of scoring the normal 2 points of damage, you have now only scored 1).
If the creature has just wounded you, you can Test your Luck to try to minimize the wound. If you are lucky, restore 1 point of your STAMINA (i.e. instead of doing 2 points of damage, it has done only 1). If you are Unlucky, subtract 1 extra STAMINA point.
Don’t forget to subtract 1 point from your LUCK score every time you Test your Luck.
RESTORING SKILL, STAMINA AND LUCK
EQUIPMENT AND MONEYSKILL
Occasionally, a page may give instructions to alter your SKILL score. A Magic Weapon may increase your SKILL, but remember that only one weapon can be used at a time! You cannot claim 2 SKILL bonuses for carrying two Magic Swords. Your SKILL score can never exceed its Initial value unless specifically instructed.
STAMINA AND PROVISIONS
Your STAMINA score will change a lot during your adventure. As you near your goal, your STAMINA level may become dangerously low and battles may be particularly risky, so be careful!
You may restore your STAMINA score by resting, drinking magic potions or eating Meals. You do not start the game with any Provisions, but you may acquire some during the course of your adventure. If you do, keep track of how many Meals you have left using the Provisions box on your Adventure Sheet. You may only eat one Meal at a time, and you may not eat Meals when you are engaged in combat. When you eat a Meal, regain up to 4 STAMINA points and deduct 1 from your Provisions.
Don’t forget that your STAMINA score may never exceed its Initial value unless specifically instructed by the text.
LUCK
You will find additions to your LUCK score awarded when you have been particularly Lucky. Remember that, as with SKILL and STAMINA, your LUCK score may never exceed its Initial value unless specifically instructed on a page.
AMONOURDuring the course of your adventure, you will doubtless come across various items that you will want to take with you. If you do, make sure that you record them in the Equipment List box on your Adventure Sheet.
Any money you collect must be recorded in the Money box on your Adventure Sheet.
You will discover what equipment you possess at the start of the adventure when you begin to read Secrets of Salamonis.
SPECIAL SKILLSAMONOUR is a term used in Salamonis and other settlements in the Vale of Willow to signify a person’s fame and fortune. Many people consider a high AMONOUR to be more valuable than gold and swear by it as an indication of genuine honesty. AMONOUR can be increased by performing daring feats of heroism but can be decreased by behaving in a dishonourable way. At the start of Secrets of Salamonis you have no reputation or fortune to speak of and so your AMONOUR score starts at zero and cannot drop below this figure.
THE WHEEL OF THE WEEKDuring the course of your adventure, you may acquire one or more Special Skills. If you do gain a Special Skill, make sure you tick it off on your Adventure Sheet. You will learn how a particular Special Skill works when you acquire it.
HINTS ON PLAYAs your adventure progresses, you will need to keep track of what day of the week it is. The first day of the Allansian week is Stormsday, followed by Moonsday, Fireday, Earthday, Windsday, Seaday and Highday. Highday is followed by Stormsday. If you are told to move the Wheel of the Week on a certain number of days, count on that number of days and make a mark in the segment you land on.
It will probably take you several attempts to make your way through Secrets of Salamonis. Make notes and draw a map as you explore – this map will be useful in future adventures and help you identify unexplored areas.
Not all locations contain treasure; many merely contain traps and creatures. There are many ‘wild-goose chase’ passages, and while you may progress through to your ultimate destination, it is by no means certain that you will win.
May the luck of the gods go with you on the adventure ahead!
TWO HEADS ARE WORSE THAN ONE
NOW TURN OVER…‘So, what do we do with it? Stick it?’
The voice is deep, gruff and menacing, and no doubt belongs to a large creature of some kind. A language user, so possessed of some intelligence, but probably none too friendly by the sounds of it. Instinct warns you to avoid whoever – or whatever – has started this conversation.
Although the light is dim, your eyes soon become accustomed to the darkness. You are in a large cavern lit only by the soft light from glowstones. An unpleasant smell hangs in the air. It is the smell of decaying food. The entrance lies a short distance away, but to reach it you will doubtless have to face the creature that calls the cave home. It is then that you notice a roughly made wooden door in the wall of the cave to your right.
‘Hungry,’ comes a second voice. ‘Eat!’
That is not what you wanted to hear. What’s more, there are at least two creatures in the cave with you. However, the second voice sounded a little softer, and not as fearsome as the first.
The creatures do not appear to be aware that you are awake, and that’s the way you would like it to stay. But you are curious to know what you are dealing with.
Your wrists and ankles have not been bound, so you get to your feet and tiptoe quietly around the edge of the cave. You peer around a large boulder, and there before your eyes is one of the most bizarre creatures you have ever seen.
An Ogre itself would be a fearsome sight, but this one has two heads. A two-headed Ogre! A rare and dangerous beast indeed, especially when both heads are angry at the same time – with each other!
YOUR ADVENTURE AWAITS!
May your STAMINA never fail!
1
‘Hungry?’ one head says gruffly, looking scornfully at the other. ‘Frannish eat too much, fat belly wench!’
The Ogress is clearly taken aback by this outburst. She fixes the other with a glare that could melt ice: ‘You drink too much Orc Ale. Wake up with sore head. Not me who make head sore. You drink all night. And fight. Frannish not want drinking or fighting. Wake up in jail! Mannish is disgrace.’
‘Ach! But you not clean cave. Home messy. Bones on floor, twigs, loincloths, Hobbit carcass. All over fur-skin sleep blanket. Cave stinks…’
‘If Mannish put things away where they belong, Frannish not fight over clean cave.’
The argument is in full flow now and looks like it could turn into an angry clubbing match at any moment. So, what to do?
Wait for the Ogre to exhaust itself, battling with itself? Turn to 22
Creep quietly around the edge of the cave and make for the exit? Turn to 63
Make a dash for the entrance? Turn to 169
Draw your sword and attack the brute? Turn to 3
Try the door to your right? Turn to 231
Since nobody voted, I will have our hero make a dash for the entrance.
169
Taking your life in your hands, you run for the exit. Your pounding footsteps echo from the cave walls and then you hear the surprised shouts and grunts of the Ogre, and then the sound of it coming after you.
With the two-headed Ogre in hot pursuit, you sprint out of the cave. As you do so, you pass a small figure crouching just inside the entrance. The little man is dressed in bright green clothes, and has pointed ears, bright orange hair and a wicked grin on his face. ‘Mind how you go,’ he says with a cheery wave as you run past him. Turn to 211.
211
Outside the cave, dusk is falling and the shadows are thickening between the trees. As you are wondering which way to go your ears prick up. In the far distance you can hear a high-pitched screeching sound.
‘Something wicked this way comes,’ says a voice at your feet. It is the little man again. He has followed you out of the cave.
The sound is getting closer. You look up at the darkening sky, peering into the night in the hope that you might catch sight of whatever is making the noise. It must be some kind of animal.
‘What is coming?’ you turn to ask your strange companion, but he has vanished.
The sound is getting very loud now. It is more like a screaming than a screeching, and you cover your ears against the terrible din. You are filled with a dreadful fear and, not really knowing what you are doing, start to run.
The trees press in on you from every side, while the noise is so loud now it is as if the whole sky is screaming. And then, in the darkness, you hit your head on a low branch. Turn to 475.
475
You open your eyes slowly. Your head is aching. The bright sunlight isn’t helping.
Bright sunlight? But night was falling just a moment ago! What is going on? Where are you?
‘Anyone know this passenger?’ comes a voice from nearby. ‘That was a nasty crack on the head. Thank the gods you’re all right. Shame the same can’t be said for your backpack.’
You feel the splash of water on your face and your vision comes into focus at last. You are in a longboat, and one of several passengers by the look of things. It wasn’t a branch that hit you on the head, it was one of the oars! (Lose 1 STAMINA point.) You’ve been dreaming! As your vision clears, so does your mind, and suddenly you know where you are.
Your journey began twelve days ago. You left your home, having saved enough to pay for the voyage eastward to the fabled Kingdom of Salamonis. This was a journey first by camel-drawn caravan across the Windward Plains and then aboard a fleet of cargo-bearing longboats moored on the Whitewater River.
Perhaps it was a little foolhardy, travelling alone at your age. Indeed, you were almost tempted to turn back on the seventh day, as you left the plains and boarded one of the boats. In the confusion, your backpack and all its contents were lost. Or perhaps stolen? You may never know the truth. But you hold out a faint hope that you will be reunited with your backpack and its contents once again. Perhaps it will turn up in Salamonis.
The pack contained some personal items of sentimental value, in particular your favourite book – Longbeard’s Legends of the Windward Plains. There was also a short sword given to you by your grandfather, a change of underwear – your mother insisted – a few personal mementos, and all the money you had in the world. Admittedly, it wasn’t a lot, but now you are penniless. Your only remaining possessions are the clothes you are wearing, and you have had nothing to eat for three days. Your mother would weep to see you in such a state.
But you were determined to reach your destination – after all, your father was firm that you should get yourself an education, and the city is famed throughout the world as a centre of learning. You were enchanted long ago by the tales of Salamonis and its great riches, which your beloved Uncle Bunkle would read to you from Longbeard’s book. But since the book disappeared with your backpack, all you have left is your memories of these wonderful stories. Of course, you knew each tale from start to finish: the heroes, the creatures, the treasures and the dangers. But you wanted to see the places described within them for yourself. To follow your dream. For you there was no turning back. Turn to 27.
27
At the dockside: Nanoc the tall Strongarm, Ruznik Ullsen whose advice will be helpful, and Healing Hans who has remedies for all ailments
It is mid-afternoon when you finally arrive at Whitewater Landing, Salamonis’s West Port. As the longboat slows and prepares to dock, the quay becomes a hive of activity. Miscellaneous wharf rat types appear from nowhere to attend to the boats. Ragged porters bustle about on the gangplanks, offering to carry luggage into town, mend leaks or swab the decks. The stevedores are an unkempt lot, generally wearing well-used clothing and worn-out sandals. They busy themselves, trying to find some way of making a few coins from the new arrivals. Enough to feed themselves or, more likely, enough to drown their sorrows at the nearest inn.
Those who are not capable of physical work become beggars. Indeed, beggars on makeshift crutches are all around the docks. They are infuriatingly persistent, hopping awkwardly alongside their victims with non-stop jabber and pleading, like a swarm of stingflies. They have learned that, if some victims are reluctant and do not make a donation straight away, just annoying them will usually get the same result in the end.
You have no luggage, so you are grateful you do not to have to deal with porters. You disembark from the longboat along with your fellow travellers: a Flatlands Barbarian by the name of Nanoc and a rotund herbalist who goes by the name Healing Hans. No sooner are you standing on the quayside than a middle-aged man wearing voluminous robes hurries over to you. ‘Would you be interested in a map of Salamonis?’ he asks. ‘No visitor to our fine city should be without one. They are only one Salacoin each, after all.’
You explain that you lost your backpack on the way here and have no money to buy anything.
‘How unfortunate,’ the man says, looking up and down. ‘You have an honest face, and never let it be said that Ruznik Ullsen abandoned anyone in need. I mean, what sort of welcome would that be to the greatest city in all Allansia? So, on this occasion, my information comes for free.’
A little local knowledge could prove invaluable, so what do you want to ask the man about Salamonis?
‘Is it true the streets are paved with gold?’ Turn to 47
‘Where can someone new to the city find work?’ Turn to 97
‘What coinage is used in Salamonis?’ Turn to 178
‘Who is in charge?’ Turn to 234
‘Can you tell me more about the great centres of learning?’ Turn to 138
Adventure Sheet
???
SKILL: 6 Initial Skill: 6
STAMINA: 11 Initial Stamina: 12
LUCK: 6 Initial Luck: 6
AMONOUR: 0
MONEY: 10 Salacoins = 1 Gold Piece
0 Gold Pieces
0 Salacoins
PROVISIONS REMAINING: 0
ITEMS OR EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Clothes
SPECIAL SKILLS:
(None)
THE WHEEL OF THE WEEK:
Stormsday
So anybody interested in trying this one again?
