The Gaming Den

Votes counted, Jang Mistral will take the strawberries and poison. I will break the tie for the remaining two items and have him take the plastic hose and beer.

SGamerz wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 08, 2022 6:07 am

EDIT: Is this the first FF gamebook that gives players the option to pick up cigars?

I am not sure about that. Sorry.

40
You re-enter the Starspray – to find an enormous, very angry, very hungry-looking blob awaiting you. Since you know that your own weapons are not effective against blobs, you may make use of any items you possess to defend yourself; using the table below, add up the points for any of the following items you have in your possession. Then remove those items from your Adventure Sheet, as they are devoured by the blob!

               POINTS
flare pistol 1
chain 1
compressed-air canister 2
wrist-watch 1
club 1
chewing gum 2
tibia bone 3
robot’s metal arm 1
acid bottle 1
jar with pickled brain 1
grease-gun 1
hypodermic syringe 2
electrostatic inducer 2
flame torch 1
oxygen cylinder 2
Laminex sheet 2
3-D pictoscope 1
viscous negator 1
chair 1
blancmange 1
carving knife 1
leg of mutton 2
teapot 1
cinnamon stick 3
snooker cue 1
dumb-bell 1
cricket bat 1
medicine ball 2
skipping rope 1
darts 1
pot lant 1
strawberries 2
shovel 1
weed-killer 1
broom 1
plastic hose 2
wrench 1
hammer 1
sonic screwdriver 1
fire extinguisher 2
multifacetous aciduator 1
ball-bearings 2
revolver 1
peak cap 1
poison 2
can of beer 2
axe 1
box of cigars 2

If, before using any items to attack the blob, you have less than 13 points in total, turn to 297; otherwise, turn to 232.

Jang Mistral had 18 points in total before using any of the above items to attack the blob.

232
After a mighty tussle, you defeat the blob and jettison it into space. Then you destroy the space station. Will you continue towards Aarok in light-warp (turn to 182), or in time-warp (turn to 254)?

Please vote before 6:00 PM PDT to guarantee that it will be counted.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Jang Mistral
SKILL: 12 Initial Skill = 12
STAMINA: 18 Initial Stamina = 24
LUCK: 12 Initial Luck = 12
RATING: 5
CREDITS: 10 Initial = 10
OXYGEN SUPPLY POINTS: 10 Initial = 10
NOTES AND ITEMS:
10 Provision Tablets
RESURRECTIONS: 4[/spoiler]

Space Combat Sheet:
[spoiler]STARSHIP: STARSPRAY
DATA: 4 HIGH POWER LASERS L
12 FORCE SHIELD PODS S
YOUR VEHICLES:
None[/spoiler]

Since it doesn't seem to make any difference which one we pick, time warp.

Light warp hasn’t done much for us so far, so maybe we’re actually just always supposed to time warp.

Time warp.

Continuing towards Aarok in time-warp already received 3 votes, so Jang Mistral will do just that.

254
However, before you reach Aarok, your communicator crackles with the voice of your leader, King Vaax. ‘Another minor change in plans,’ he says. ‘Within your vicinity is the infamous space pirate, Tungsten-Klaw. He is about to raid a friendly world, and we want you to stop him! That is all!’ With a mighty rattle, you re-enter ‘real space’ in the Adelpha solar system. Your sensors immediately detect Tungsten-Klaw’s ship, the Grand Archipelago, making its way towards one of the richest planets in the system. Throttling forward, you prepare for battle. Turn to 11.

11
Soon you are detected by the massive Grand Archipelago, which roars forward to accept your challenge. At this moment, your computers flash with the following tactical data:

Starspray: Pitch -16 … Roll +22 … Yaw -31 …
Enemy: Pitch +35 … Roll +60 … Yaw +13 …
Relative Distance 7000 … Speed 1000 …

Based on this information, will you:

Maintain speed and course? Turn to 205
Accelerate to 2000, maintain course? Turn to 360
Maintain speed, yaw -10? Turn to 107

Please vote before 6:00 PM PDT to guarantee that it will be counted.

Call back the King and ask, "What the hell, you idiot? I mean to say--what the hell, Your Majesty, you idiot? I'm supposed to stop the conquest of the entire galaxy by the worst criminal our planet has known and you want me to sidetrack to chase pirates?"

Not an option? Yaw -10. (No one mistake me for someone who knows what I'm doing here.)

(Huh, I had misremembered that bit as selecting 4 items (1 for each arm) that had to be above a value, not total value)

I have no idea what we are supposed to be doing here, so don't know which options will or will not help us in doing that, except I don't like any of them.

I don't understand what pitch, roll and yaw are, or how changing those will make a difference. Was this book intended for children? Did someone really hate the children?

Might as well go with Beroli's suggestion, I guess.

Queen of Swords wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:01 pm

I don't understand what pitch, roll and yaw are, or how changing those will make a difference. Was this book intended for children? Did someone really hate the children?

Might as well go with Beroli's suggestion, I guess.

These are aircraft principal axes, which dictates the direction of current aircraft heading. Definitely advanced stuff and not one that 90% of children will know. Hope this will help with making a somewhat sensible decision.

Is making a sensible decision advised here?

Oh, this is actually a really good illustration of a pet peeve of mine in gamebooks. Our character is a pilot and presumably should understand the data and have a reasonable idea of what the goal is, but as a player we are given no context or guidance of any kind and might as well have been asked whether we want to fleem or whubble. It's like the segments in the Cretan Chronicles where you get lambasted for not personally knowing bronze age etiquette.

Yaw -10 is the only actual course change available, so take it.

Queen of Swords wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:01 pm

Was this book intended for children? Did someone really hate the children?

I suspect the Puffin editors were the only ones who prevented Martin Allen from listing condoms as one of the 3-point items that can be used to kill the blob.

I guess there's another reason why he never wrote another FF book.

****

For the current option, I'll defer to the players with superior knowledge of aircrafts than myself too.

SGamerz wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 09, 2022 1:30 am

I suspect the Puffin editors were the only ones who prevented Martin Allen from listing condoms as one of the 3-point items that can be used to kill the blob.

"Ribbed for blob satiation!"

Beroli wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:29 pm

Is making a sensible decision advised here?

I meant to say that I hoped it would help with decision making. Sorry about the confusion. I really cannot tell whether sensible decisions are advisable.

Anyway, I have registered your votes to have Jang Mistral maintain speed and change course to yaw -10.

107
Your ship is gunned by a frost-ray. Reduce your SHIELDS by 1 point permanently. Your screen now suggests:

Starspray: Pitch +19 … Roll +82 … Yaw -8 …
Enemy: Pitch +35 … Roll +60 … Yaw +13 …
Relative speed 1000 …

Will you:

Accelerate to 2000, yaw 3.5? Turn to 148
Maintain speed, roll 105, yaw 5? Turn to 203
Maintain speed, pitch 20, yaw 5? Turn to 399

Please vote before 9:00 AM PDT or a 3-vote majority is reached to guarantee that it will be counted.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Jang Mistral
SKILL: 12 Initial Skill = 12
STAMINA: 18 Initial Stamina = 24
LUCK: 12 Initial Luck = 12
RATING: 5
CREDITS: 10 Initial = 10
OXYGEN SUPPLY POINTS: 10 Initial = 10
NOTES AND ITEMS:
10 Provision Tablets
RESURRECTIONS: 4[/spoiler]

Space Combat Sheet:
[spoiler]STARSHIP: STARSPRAY
DATA: 4 HIGH POWER LASERS L
11 FORCE SHIELD PODS S
YOUR VEHICLES:
None[/spoiler]

Accelerate to 2000. On the possibly-incorrect premise that if we lost a point of shields, we made a mistake and there was a better thing to do.

Okay, so his heading numbers stayed the same, and ours changed to the sum of his numbers and ours after maneuvering. But at the same time, it's not clear if the roll/yaw numbers we're now presented with are values we can add to our current numbers, or values we can set our numbers to, or what numbers we should be trying to get to. We've also lost the relative distance value.

I pick Maintain/Pitch 20/Yaw 5

Thank you for your votes. I will break the 1-1 tie and have Jang Mistral accelerate to 2000 and set a course of yaw 3.5.

148
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Your ship is scarred by a scintillating, multi-coloured ray. Reduce your SHIELDS by 1 point permanently.

Starspray: Pitch +36.5 … Roll +112 … Yaw -5 …
Enemy: Pitch +35 … Roll +60 … Yaw +13 …
Relative Speed 2000 …

You may:

Maintain speed, pitch 17.5, roll 112, yaw -5 Turn to 336
Halve speed, pitch 2.5, roll 30 Turn to 366
Accelerate to 4000, pitch 5 Turn to 248

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Please vote before 6:00 PM PDT to guarantee that it will be counted.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Jang Mistral
SKILL: 12 Initial Skill = 12
STAMINA: 18 Initial Stamina = 24
LUCK: 12 Initial Luck = 12
RATING: 5
CREDITS: 10 Initial = 10
OXYGEN SUPPLY POINTS: 10 Initial = 10
NOTES AND ITEMS:
10 Provision Tablets
RESURRECTIONS: 4[/spoiler]

Space Combat Sheet:
[spoiler]STARSHIP: STARSPRAY
DATA: 4 HIGH POWER LASERS L
10 FORCE SHIELD PODS S
YOUR VEHICLES:
None[/spoiler]

Since nobody voted, I will have Jang Mistral maintain speed and set a course of pitch 17.5, roll 112, and yaw -5.

336
Your port retro is torn by a low-power tractor beam. Reduce your SHIELDS by 1 point permanently.

Starspray: Pitch +36.5 … Roll +52 … Yaw +6.5 …
Enemy: Pitch +35 … Roll +60 … Yaw +13 …
Relative speed 2000 …

You may:

Maintain speed, yaw +10 Turn to 217
Maintain speed, roll +50 Turn to 82
Halve speed, pitch +50 Turn to 112

Please vote before 9:00 AM PDT or a 3-vote majority is reached to guarantee that it will be counted.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Jang Mistral
SKILL: 12 Initial Skill = 12
STAMINA: 18 Initial Stamina = 24
LUCK: 12 Initial Luck = 12
RATING: 5
CREDITS: 10 Initial = 10
OXYGEN SUPPLY POINTS: 10 Initial = 10
NOTES AND ITEMS:
10 Provision Tablets
RESURRECTIONS: 4[/spoiler]

Space Combat Sheet:
[spoiler]STARSHIP: STARSPRAY
DATA: 4 HIGH POWER LASERS L
9 FORCE SHIELD PODS S
YOUR VEHICLES:
None[/spoiler]

I'm following this thread, but I can't vote because I still have no idea what difference any of the choices will make.

Queen of Swords wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:55 am

I'm following this thread, but I can't vote because I still have no idea what difference any of the choices will make.

Ditto.

In the interests of not paralyzing us here, rolling 1d3: a 1 says we maintain speed and yaw +10. Such a small variation when the enemy has already demonstrated they have us in their sights would look like a bad idea to me if I was trying to use reason here, but for obvious reasons I have forsaken doing so.

SGamerz wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:55 am

Queen of Swords wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:55 am

I'm following this thread, but I can't vote because I still have no idea what difference any of the choices will make.

Ditto.

Yeah, same here.

And here as well.

Vote registered, Jang Mistral will maintain speed and set a course with a yaw +10.

217
Your vessel is blasted by an atomic torpedo. Reduce your SHIELDS by 1 point permanently.

Starspray: Pitch +54 … Roll +82 … Yaw +3 …
Enemy: Pitch +35 … Roll +60 … Yaw +13 …
Relative speed 2000 …

You may:

Halve speed, pitch +67.5, roll +30, yaw -3.5 Turn to 112
Maintain speed, pitch +50, yaw -10 Turn to 177
Maintain speed, pitch +52.5, roll +30, yaw +27.5 Turn to 285

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Please vote before 6:00 PM PDT to guarantee that it will be counted.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Jang Mistral
SKILL: 12 Initial Skill = 12
STAMINA: 18 Initial Stamina = 24
LUCK: 12 Initial Luck = 12
RATING: 5
CREDITS: 10 Initial = 10
OXYGEN SUPPLY POINTS: 10 Initial = 10
NOTES AND ITEMS:
10 Provision Tablets
RESURRECTIONS: 4[/spoiler]

Space Combat Sheet:
[spoiler]STARSHIP: STARSPRAY
DATA: 4 HIGH POWER LASERS L
8 FORCE SHIELD PODS S
YOUR VEHICLES:
None[/spoiler]

This time a roll of 3 dictates that we...do the "turn to 285" one.