Monsters of the Marsh
The planet of Skyfall is lush, beautiful - and untamed. The humans who have settled there only control small areas of this fabulous land. Vast tracts of forest, desert and mountain are inhabited by unknown tribes and fantastic creatures. Even within the borders of Delta, your own country on the shores of the Sea of Storms, there lives a race of intelligent and dangerous animals that capture and kill travellers in armed raids. Their home is in the huge swamps of the Deltan interior.
You are a young adventurer of Skyfall. Your father has vanished on a river trip through the dreaded marshes. You must set out on a journey to discover his fate, and confront the monsters that await you in the grim swamps.
In the Skyfall series of Advanced Fantasy gamebooks, you must immerse yourself in the exciting world of your character. If you reason logically from the information given to you at each turn of the plot, your chances of succeeding in your mission will be greater.
No dice-rolling is needed to play this book. Instead, a unique, quick and convenient game system using the heads and tails of coins has been introduced.
Are you ready for Skyfall and the monsters of the marsh!
Take up the challenge and prepare for adventure!
Skyfall
The kingdom of Delta is the setting for all the adventures in this series. It lies in the northern hemisphere of a planet far from our own where refugees from an exhausted and ravaged Terra survived the crash-landing of their colony ship thousands of years ago. They named the planet Skyfall, but although some Terran names survive, no one now remembers their origins.
The humans are not alone on Skyfall, although they have multiplied until they now outnumber the other intelligent races. Some of these live in peace and harmony with humans, while others are distinctly antagonistic. Almost all science has been lost over the centuries, but Magic has developed to take its place. And Magic, in Delta, is of three types.
Arcane magic, the most spectacular, is learned at great personal cost by Magicians, Sorcerors, Warlocks and Necromancers who undertake a life-long search for knowledge. Although many settle for a living by entertaining the public with simple illusions and harmless spells, a few survive the perils of meddling with the occult to master spells that make even Kings tremble at their power.
Clerical magic, mainly of the healing and supportive type, is practised by priests and bishops of the various religions flourishing amongst the human and non-human inhabitants. The village priest combines the duties of spiritual leader and doctor.
Druidical magic is quite rare and its proponents tend to live in the depths of the forests or similar lonely areas. The Druids have amazing powers over animals and all types of plants, including crops, and are fiercely protective of them.
Although the human colonists brought the flora and fauna of Terra with them, many species could not survive on Skyfall and are now extinct. In some cases, however, local plants and animals have been given Terran names due to some real or imagined similarity to the original. Of the forest trees, only the oak, ash and holly flourish on Skyfall, and are accorded considerable reverence by the Druids as a result.
One notable difference between Skyfall and Terra is the absence of a moon. Nights, as a result, are dark and fearsome times when wise folk stay indoors or close to a camp-fire. There are no tides, and winds and weather are stable and predictable.
In Delta, this has helped the development of the Doone River as the major commerce route of the country. Barges ply regularly between the main port of Starport and the capital at Tan-Delta, using the current for the downstream journey. Going upstream, the prevailing south-west wind enables them to sail through the Dunmarsh, and for the remainder of the journey they are horse-drawn.
Delta is a rich and fertile country, bordered by mountains to east and west, the Sea of Storms to the south and, a few hundred miles to the north, by the great icefields. Other settled regions lie mainly across the sea, but there are civilized countries beyond the lands of the Barbarians to the east and some hundreds of miles to the west, across the Great Void Desert. The area between Lake Fraki and the icefields is mainly tundra, roamed by animals and non-human tribes of low intelligence.
Delta is self-sufficient in food, wool and timber, but must export the gems and precious metals from its mines to obtain the iron, copper and luxury items, like silks and scents, wines and spirits which it does not produce.
Life has been good for the Deltans, and Starport is a prosperous town, with none doing better than the barge-owners.
2H means 'toss the coin twice and count the number of heads'. (0, 1 or 2)
3T means 'toss the coin three times and count the number of tails'. (0, 1, 2 or 3)
4H-T means 'toss the coin four times, count the number of heads and deduct the number of tails'. (The resulting number could be anything from +4 to -4)
Usually the result of coin-tossing will modify another score, for instance:
E+4H means 'toss the coin four times, count the number of heads and add that number to your Expertise score'.
10+4H-T means 'toss the coin four times; count the number of heads and add that number to 10, then subtract the number of tails for your answer'
(the result here could be 6, 8, 10, 12 or 14).
Combat
Inevitably, during your quest, you will have to fight evil creatures which oppose you or stand in your way. The combat procedure is very simple and runs in well-defined steps:
STEP 1: Is SURPRISE indicated in the text? If not, go straight to STEP 2. If so, 3T is subtracted from the defender's E score (the defender is the one being surprised!) for the first round of combat. Then go to STEP2.
STEP 2: Evaluate E + 4H for yourself, then E + 4H for your opponent. If your result is greater than your opponent's, go to STEP 3. If your opponent's result is greater than yours, go to STEP 4. If the two results are equal, ignore them and start STEP 2 again. (This procedure may occasionally be varied in the text if you are fighting a group of monsters.)
STEP 3: You have hit your opponent; subtract your normal weapon damage from your opponent's V score. If you wish, you may spend one Fortune (not more) to do one more damage. Then go to STEP 5.
STEP 4: Your opponent has hit you; subtract the appropriate number of Damage Points (given in the text) from your V score. If you wish, you may spend as much Fortune as you like to take one less damage per Fortune point spent; this will be automatic if the hit would otherwise kill you and you have Fortune greater than 0. If you reduce a hit's damage to 0 you no longer count as having been hit. Then go to STEP 5.
STEP 5: If you or your opponent is dead, that is the end of the combat, otherwise return to STEP 2 and repeat the procedure. Each series of five steps represents one round of combat. As soon as your opponent's V score reaches 0, you have killed it and combat is over. If your V score reaches 0, your character is dead (and I'll rewind to somewhere you had a chance to complete the adventure).
Weapon Damage
A dagger does 1 Point of Damage when it hits, and a sword 2 Points. Other weapons, and animals attacking with tooth and claw, will do damage as detailed in the text.
You always start an adventure with your Sword, a Dagger and a light leather backpack containing enough provisions (food and drink) for two days. You also have fifty feet of rope, some torches, flint, steel, and a tinderbox.
You also have three draughts of a Potion of Healing at the start of your adventure. One draught may be taken at any time (except during combat) and will heal up to 8 damage.
When the text gives you the option to eat, you may do so, reducing your Provisions by 1 day's worth and healing up to 4 damage. Apparently humans on Skyfall have mutated to eat one huge meal a day. You cannot eat multiple days' worth of food at one time.
When traveling overland, each day you automatically eat one day's Provisions, and spend 14 hours traveling. The other 10 hours go to sleeping, eating. etc.
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Okay so. This is a four-book gamebook series which, as far as I can tell, hasn't been played here before. It uses coins as effectively two-sided dice. The book acknowledges that some people can make a coin land on whichever side they want and cautions the reader that the flips are supposed to be random; as I'll be using a random number generator instead of actually flipping a coin that's not a concern.
You have three stats: Expertise, which is used in combat. Vitality, which is your health. Fortune, which is similar to Luck in Fighting Fantasy gamebooks except that it is spent rather than rolled. That is, a given passage will say something like, "Something happens that could be good or bad depending on your luck. Do you have the ability and desire to spend two Fortune points to get the good result? If so, reduce your Fortune by 2 and turn to [passage where the good result happens], if not turn to [passage where the bad result happens]."
Expertise: 12 to start, can change infinitely in either direction
Vitality: 20 to start and at maximum; if it reaches 0 you're dead
Fortune: 10+3H-T to start, can change infinitely up or down to 0; starting roll is (HTT) 9
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When you left for a winter's adventuring in the wanner lands of Skyfall to the South, the docks wore the same bustling, hectic air you had known all your life, for your father's business is shipping goods to and from the interior of Delta on his small fleet of river barges. Now you have returned to spend the late summer with him, only to find this puzzling change.
Some of the idlers are well known to you, but when you move towards them they turn away to engage someone else in conversation, or pointedly avoid your glance. Eventually you spot a close friend who looks dismayed to see you, but reluctantly halts his hurried departure at your hail. A few questions soon reveal a sinister and tragic state of affairs.
Several barges, with their crews and cargoes, have disappeared without trace in the last two months, and all within the Dunmarsh area. They were making the journey down the great Doone River from trading posts in the northern territories. At first the losses were put down to natural disasters, but a disturbing pattern soon emerged - barges carrying relatively mundane cargoes were being ignored, even if they were manned only by the bargees, but valuable cargoes have been disappearing regularly. Now anyone trying to gain safe passage for a barge carrying costly goods to or from Starport has to man it with so large a force of guards that virtually all the expected profit is exhausted by the increased wage bill.
Most of the missing barges were on the downstream run. One carried valuable timbers - ebony and sandalwood; one was loaded with hides and casks of salted meat; another carried almost the entire winter's output of the snowfox trappers' trading posts, and three more were loaded with ores of platinum, gold and gemstones. Only two barges on the inward route have been affected so far, but these, too, were valuable; one, the first barge to vanish, bore a consignment of new weapons for the Royal Armoury, while the second, manned with a dozen guards, bore in supposed secrecy twenty chests of newly-minted gold pieces for the Deltan Treasury! It is obvious that there is some form of intelligent organisation at the root of all this, but so far no-one has discovered a single clue.
There have been occasional skirmishes with the Marsh creatures in the past — small bands of Lizardmen or Frogmen have tried to board barges from time to time, but their lack of weapons and organisation has always prevented success. One or two proficient armed guards are considered sufficient protection, and the barge crews themselves are tough and able fighters. Throughout this narrative you sense that your friend is in some way being evasive and holding back some information, but you cannot pin him down. Eventually he excuses himself and leaves you to stroll pensively along the quay and into the residential area of Starport.
You recall that all river traffic is controlled by the Guild of Bargemasters, of which your father Kandow is a respected and senior member. Quite apart from the sorrow caused by the loss of the crewmen and guards, these recent developments will be causing serious business problems for the Guild and local traders. Anxious to learn how your father's business has fared, you go directly towards your home without stopping to pass further time of day with friends and acquaintances. When you get there, the house is shut! On enquiring at your neighbour's house you are horrified to learn that Kandow himself disappeared with one of his ore-barges ten days ago. The neighbours locked the house for safety and now give you the key. Now you know what your friend was keeping from you - he could not bring himself to tell you of your father's disappearance. You thank your neighbours and return to the empty house. Sadness and anger intermingle in your thoughts as you sit staring at the ashes in the hearth of your home. The Guild's troubles have suddenly become your own per sonal problem. As you eat a lonely and apparently tasteless meal, you resolve to do something about it.
Methodically you go through the motions of tidying up after your meal, all the time thinking hard about your future actions. You must go to the rescue of your father, of that you have no doubt, and it seems likely that the mystery of the barge disappearances can be solved if you are successful.
Evening is drawing in, and you decide to start your quest tomorrow, after what may well prove your last chance of a good night's rest in a proper bed for some time.
Your actions tomorrow will depend on a decision you will have to make during the night.
Set out on a secret search of the Dunmarsh on your own without informing anyone?
See if the Guild of Bargemasters can provide any information or assistance?
Also, vote on sex and name for your character.
Name: ?????
Sex: ?????
Expertise: 12
Vitality: 20/20
Fortune: 9
Equipment: Sword, dagger, fifty feet of rope, some torches, flint, steel, tinderbox, 3 doses Potion of Healing (+8 Vitality).
Provisions: 2 days
