[LP] Fighting Fantasy 46 - Tower of Destruction (Take 2!)

[SGamerz]

So...I got the information pretty late, but during the few months when I wasn't active on this board I learnt that my favourite FF author (Carl Sargent/Keith Martin) had passed away. Like I said, this is way late, since it apparently happened in September 2018, almost a year ago. Nevertheless, hearing about this made me want to run another LP of his book when I come back.

We sort of "experimented" with playing one of the FF books that was generally considered one of the more difficult ones (and coincidentally, Legend of Zagor was speculated to be written by this author too) using maximum possible stats, and I think that turned out fairly well (only 2 deaths, as I remember). Since Martin's remaining books all fall in the "difficult" category, if I were to run an LP of one of these, I would definitely be using that rule. And I will try to come up with something that can deal fairly with the notorious bug in FF58 if that one is chosen.

So the question is, are there people here interested in having a go at one of Martin's remaining books (or, in the case of FF46, which was never finished, another go)?

[Thaluikhain]

I had not known that. Also co-authored the Zagor Chronicles novels.

I'd be up for one of his, but no preference as to which.

[SlyJohnny]

Maybe I should have persisted with Tower of Destruction. I worried everyone was turned off the whole thing by the section where you can wander around and either find a non-obvious secret door, or commit suicide by jumping into the engine, but maybe I was just projecting, because I was shocked to discover how lame it was and how rose-tinted my memories were.

What's the blurb for each choice?

[angelfromanotherpin]

Hm, I was going to advocate for Tower of Destruction because my own memories of it are pretty good. But now Sly's got me doubting myself.

[SlyJohnny]

Well, take a look at the original thread and judge for yourself.

http://www.tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?p=327499

I remember it being one of my favourites, but maybe I wasn't actually rolling my way through it. Lot of tough fights.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Let's play Tower of Destruction again.

Our hero's name should be Jefferson Tallpipe.

[SGamerz]

What's the blurb for each choice?

You know about Tower of Destruction, but in case anyone hadn't read or played the previous LP:

"While you are on an expedition, the winter calm of your northern home is shattered by a blazing sphere of death. It comes flying down through winter skies in a maelstrom of fire and lightning to rain destruction upon your village. But where did it come from, who made it - and can it be stopped? YOU must take up the quest to find answers to all these questions. But beward - the sphere is only the key to a far greater danger that threatens all Allansia!"

Island of the Undead:

"The mysterious sorcerers of Solani Island have protected the local people from danger for many years. Now, it seems, their power has been usurped. An evil force holds sway across the land, an evil that seems to hold the power over life and death itself!

A hero is urgently needed to journey to Solani Island and discover what has happened to the wizards. Dare YOU be that adventurer? Who knows what terrible fate awaits you on the island where death rules? There is only one way to find out. Are YOU brave enough to solve the mystery of Solani Island?"

And Revenge of the Vampire (sequel to FF38: Vault of the Vampire - and yes, same vampire villain)

"A half-forgotten evil has arisen from the grave to stalk the Old World in search of fresh blood and new victims to enslave. Count Reiner Heydrich, undead Vampire Lord, is ancient beyond the reckoning of mortals. This time, however, there is someone on his trail, a brave hero who is determined that he shall not succeed in his evil plans. That someone is YOU!"

I remember it being one of my favourites, but maybe I wasn't actually rolling my way through it. Lot of tough fights.

Well, the maximum stats rule should help deal with the tough fights issue, if nothing else. Also, I think the last LP never got to the most flavourful part (the Ice Palace), which probably provides the best experience (despite the difficulty).

So, one poll vote and in in-thread vote for Tower of Destruction thus far. I'll probably start the book (whichever that wins by then) on Thursday night. For reference, it's now Tuesday night in my time-zone.

[SGamerz]

Alright, so it looks like Tower of Destruction is the only one that got any interest at all, so we'll go with that.

This actually makes things a lot easier for me because a lot of text can simply be copied from the last LP topic, so we can all thank SlyJohnny having run it!



Standard FF Boilerplate Rules:

Skill, Stamina, & Luck

SKILL score: Roll one die. Add 6 to the result.

STAMINA score: Roll two dice. Add 12 points to the result.

LUCK score: Roll one die. Add 6 to the result.

SKILL score reflects your expertise in combat, your ability with weapons, and your dexterity. STAMINA is your general constitution and "Life points" . LUCK score shows how lucky you are. None of them may exceed their Initial score unless specifically stated.

Eating a meal restores up to 4 points of STAMINA; you may only eat one meal at a time.

Testing your Luck: When instructed by the book to Test your Luck, roll two dice. If the result is equal to or less than your current LUCK score, you are Lucky. If the result exceeds your current LUCK score, you are Unlucky. Whatever the outcome, you must deduct one point from your current LUCK score every time you Test your Luck. The more you use your LUCK, the less likely you are to be Lucky.

All standard rules above, but as mentioned, we won't be rolling for stat because we'll be playing this adventure as a badass 12/24/12 hero!

Combat:

SKILL and STAMINA scores are given in the text for each adversary that you face.

The combat sequence is then:
1. Roll two dice for your opponent. Add the total rolled to its SKILL score. This is the Attack Strength of your enemy.
2. Roll two dice and add the total to your own current SKILL score. This is your Attack Strength.
3. If your Attack Strength is the higher, you have wounded your opponent: deduct 2 points from your opponent's STAMINA..
If your opponent's Attack Strength is higher, it has wounded you: deduct 2 points from your own STAMINA.
If both Attack Strengths are equal, you have avoided each other's blows.
4. Begin the next Combat Round, starting again at step 1. This procedure continues until either you or your opponent has a STAMINA score of zero. If your opponent's STAMINA score reaches zero, you have killed it and can continue with your adventure. If your own STAMINA score reaches zero, you are dead.

Often you will have to fight more than one opponent at a time. Sometimes you will treat them as a single opponent; at others, you will be able to fight them one at a time; and sometimes all of them will be able to attack you, while you defend yourself and may attack only one of them. Against any additional opponents you must roll for your Attack Strength as normal, but cannot damage them if you have the higher Attack Strength.

Using Luck in Combat

You can use your LUCK in combat to inflict a particularly serious wound, or to minimize a wound that has been inflicted on you.

Whenever you wound an opponent, you may Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, you have inflicted a severe wound: deduct an extra 2 points from your opponent's STAMINA. If you are Unlucky, you have merely grazed it, and you deduct 1 point less than normal from its STAMINA.

If you have been wounded, you can Test your Luck in exactly the same way. If you are Lucky, the wound upon you was only a glancing blow and you can deduct 1 less point of STAMINA than usual. If you are Unlucky, the wound is serious: deduct 1 extra point from your STAMINA.

Even the new rules for this book would be familiar to most of you if you played or read the last LP, but just a quick run-through:

Honour:

We start with 6, but there's no upper limit. We gain Honour by being helpful, and compassionate towards others, and also for being respectful to the dead, and we lose Honour by doing the opposite. Usually, we want to get as much Honour as possible, but there may be rare occasions when may have to act selfishly in order to gain helpful items or clues.

Time:

The game doesn't specifically instruct us to add time during the adventure in the text, but we're supposed keep track of how many days elapsed before we catch up with the murder-sphere. Each time we "rest for the night", an additional day is added.

The rules text makes it sound like we urgently need to reach the sphere asap, but in reality the sidetracks are more often than not more fruitful than rushing all the way, and the advantages to reaching the sphere is really quite minimal. Always felt that this was a bit of a red herring.

Equipment:

We start with a sword, a fur-padded leather armour, a lantern, a backpack, a blanket, and enough Provisions for 10 meals. We can't carry more than 10 (in some books this limitation is not stated, but in this one it is).

BACKGROUND:

It has been a long, hard trek from market in the city of Zengis, but you are almost home now. Within the hour you should be back at the family hearth, a tankard of warm mead in your hand and your furred leathers hanging in the corner of the hut. Doubtlessly our friends will come around to talk of their exploits while hunting when you were away at the market, and they will probably mock you gently for not having gone hunting with them. Still, someone had to haggle to get a good price for the furs and, as the chieftain pointed out, it might as well be someone with a few brains and a little sense. So you had got the job.

Perhaps, you imagine, life would be easier in one of the southern lands of Allansia you have heard of: wicked port Blacksand to, the south and west the endlessly Flatlands with their proud, wild horses and prouder riders; Even Arantis, so far away, with its Overpriest and teeming pirate ships. Anywhere might be better than this bitingly cold region where you have spent your life, in the shadow of the Icefinger Mountains. Perhaps, when the next caravan sets out from Zengis to the Flatlands, you may find a merchant who needs a strong and honest bodyguard. But that’s a fantasy and what is real now is the cold.

Except that now it isn't as cold as it seemed to be a minute ago. lt should be, because the sky is darkening as dusk descends it should be quite chill indeed. But why is the sky darkening? You realize that it is not long since the watery afternoon sun was at it’s zenith. And what is the horrible screeching and booming sound coming out of the sky?

You spin round and face the direction from which the ever louder sound is coming- and throw yourself down to the ground in abject terror! With a great wail like a thousand screaming demons, the black sphere of rock soars past overhead, fire and smoke raining in its wake. A chunk of molten rock plummets and crashes to the ground close to you, hissing and spitting as it embeds itself in snow and ice-hardened ground. You get up, shake the snow off your clothes and run forward to the head of the valley.

Peering down, you see that the valley is shrouded in smoke, and you can make out tongues of flame rising from the place where you know your home is. You rush on down to find out what terrible fate has befallen your home and people.

You gasp for breath as you run, flat out, to your home, even as you race down the snow covered slope, you can hear the screams and wails of the dying. Thick, black, reeking smoke is mercifully beginning to disperse, only to reveal burned corpses and still alive, but injured, villagers. Huts and cabins are either aflame or completely flattened by the passage of the Sphere. To your horror, you find your mother and father, dead, in the ruins of their home. You rage with fury and swear an oath to track the progress of the killing Sphere and find out what has brought this terrible carnage upon your people! What will you do now?

Will you:

Leave and follow the trail of the Sphere?
Look around for things that will be of help to you on your trek after the Sphere?
Look for the village wise man?
Do what you can to help the injured?

How do we start this time?

Also, there was only one suggestion for out Hero's name thus far: Jefferson Tallpipe by Darth. Any agreements/alternative suggestions?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: ???
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 24/24
LUCK 12/12
Honour: 6
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern, Backpack, Blanket
Gold: 0
Provisions: 10/10
Time Elapsed: 0 days

[angelfromanotherpin]

I support J Tail.
Also, help the injured. That worked out last time, in a way that feels like ther proper thing to do.

[Thaluikhain]

Helping seems to be the right thing to do, yeah.

(Also, Tailpipe or Tallpipe? Could go either way)

[Darth Rabbitt]

I was going with Tallpipe but I'm not picky.

Be helpful.

[SGamerz]

You help, bandaging the injured and comforting the survivors, and then you hear a feeble cry coming from a pile of rubble - a child's cry for help! You scrabble frantically at the rock and manage to get a cowering girl out from a cellar after an hour of hard work. But the brickwork and stones are very loose, and now you must Test your Luck!

Since we started with the max LUCK of 12, we automatically pass this!

Soon after you manage to rescue the child the whole hut collapses. Your rescue was in the nick of time! Gain 1 HONOUR point. The other villagers have done what they can for the other wounded; now you sit down with them to discuss what happened. Their story adds nothing to what you know already: the huge fiery Sphere passed by overhead, but seemed to dip as it flew over the village, as if to cause as much damage and distress as possible. Then it flew off northwards. No one among the villagers can pursue the murderous Sphere: many are injured and, of the fit, some must tend the wounded and the rest are already preparing to hurry to distant Zengis to buy healing and herbal medicines. They are proud of you for going on alone in pursuit of the Sphere; they cannot accompany you. They do give you some climbing gear, though: ice picks, some rope and a small hammer (note this down as Climbing Gear on your list of Possessions.) They also give you a flask of brandy: there are two large swigs of brandy here, each of which will restore 4 lost STAMINA points when drunk. Make a note of this and add the brandy to your Possessions. Finally, if you have lost any stamina, you can now eat enough Food to raise your current stamina back to it’s Initial level.

It too dark to continue now, so you spend the night asleep in one of the few dwellings left standing in the village. In the morning you set off northwards, with the good wishes of your fellows ringing in your ears.

This was most certainly the best option, and it wouldn't have been available if we picked any other option first. We'd still find the Climbing Gear if we decided to loot the place, but we lose HONOUR for doing that. Immediately leaving (and abandoning the villagers) also costs us HONOUR. The Wise Man is dead, and choosing to find him first doesn't cost us Honour, but we don't get any loot or exposition.

Further north, the Sphere has left a trail of melted snow and ice which is already freezing over again; as you plough ahead, the sun sets at the end of the day and a biting wind springs up from the north. You look around, hoping you may find shelter in the straggly clumps of pine trees dotted around. These trees look only slightly singed: the Sphere must have been flying a little higher here. You hear what sounds like the hooting of a Snow Owl on your right, you could try the trees on that side or the ones on your left.

Do we go talk to the Owl again this time?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jefferson Tallpipe
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 24/24
LUCK 11/12
Honour: 7
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern, Backpack, Blanket, Climbing Gear, Flask of Brandy (2 doses, +4 STAMINA each)
Gold: 0
Provisions: 10/10
Time Elapsed: 1 days

[Darth Rabbitt]

Talk to the owl.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Follow the prompt to the right.

[SGamerz]

Entering the group of pines, you see a huge, ghostly-white Snow Owl perched on a tall tree straight ahead. Its amber eyes glimmer in the shadows of dusk. These great birds are very territorial, so you may want to back away and make for the other group of pines, or you can move ahead regardless.

Since there's been expressed wish to talk to the owl, I'll skip forward to save time:

The unblinking eyes of the huge owl bore into you. "Following the hellfire, are you?" it asks. You nod slowly, wondering what you should say to a talking owl. "It will be easy to find, but very hard to deal with. Already the creatures the barbarians call Ice Ghosts walk the world around it," the owl says sadly. Before you can ask about Ice Ghosts, the bird continues, "Unless you are looking for death, you should talk with Tasrin the Sage; he can tell you more about it than I can. He lives in Broad Dale Valley, a day's walk over there"- the owl points a wing to the east – "go and see him tomorrow. I’ll keep watch here tonight, you can sleep safely." The owl glides into the air, patrolling the skies around you before you can even thank it for undertaking sentry duty. You settle down to a peaceful sleep. ln the morning there is no sign of the owl. The trail of the Sphere still leads north; making a detour to visit the sage will cost you precious time. Will you visit Tasrin or press on northwards?

Do we want to spend time on the sidequest this time?

[Darth Rabbitt]

I seem to recall the sage having a ring and a healing potion, one of which is useful in the meatgrinder section of this book, and the other of which may be a vital plot coupon.

So go on the sidequest.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Yes, let's go get the exposition and the healz and the ring that I assume is important.

[Thaluikhain]

Sidequest.

[SGamerz]

You must eat a meal at the start of the day. You strike our eastwards and, by the middle of the day, find yourself walking along a shallow escarpment overlooking a wide, shallow valley. In the far distance a herd of elk run off northwards; a watery sun shines down on you out of a pale blue sky but there is no heat in its rays, no warmth at all. Your breath turns to frost in the chill, clear air. You see a single, imposing log house at the far end of the valley and set off towards it. By late afternoon you are nearly there: all you need to do is skirt round a fenced-off corral and some snow-carpeted lumber piles and you will be at the front door. As you approach the entrance, roll two dice then subtract 1 from the number rolled. If the total is less than or equal to your SKILL, tum to 258. If the total is greater than your SKIL, turn to 13.

Again, starting with max stats allow us to auto-pass this test, especially since we're rolling at -1.

There is definitely something wrong here. There is only a faint wisp of woodsmoke coming from the chimney, and there is a definite aura of evil about the place - weak, yet discernible. So will you:

Back off and head away from this place?
Sneak carefully around, looking for clues?
Walk up to the front door and open it?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jefferson Tallpipe
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 24/24
LUCK 11/12
Honour: 7
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern, Backpack, Blanket, Climbing Gear, Flask of Brandy (2 doses, +4 STAMINA each)
Gold: 0
Provisions: 9/10
Time Elapsed: 2 days

[Omegonthesane]

Sneak around carefully.

[SGamerz]

You scout round the back of the cabin, past a toolshed and an outhouse, looking for anything unusual. You approach the back door on tiptoe, and there is an unmistakable smell of burning, a sulphurous stench which catches in your throat and makes your eyes water. You take a chance and fling open the door, lunging with your sword at the Smoke Demon which you now see is behind it. Your weapons strikes home; turn to 13 to finish the fight, and you may subtract 2 points from the STAMINA given for the monster in that paragraph.

Now the door is open you can see and smell you enemy; a filthy, diseased thing, reeking of burnt flesh and brimstone, fluid oozing from reddened welts on its torso. A misty coating of blue foetid smoke surrounds its body, choking and foul. The Smoke Demon is not one of the strongest of demonkind, but it may still be a match for you!

You must temporarily deduct 1 point from your SKILL when fighting the Smoke Demon because of the effect the smoke has on you; this is only temporary, and you don't suffer any permanent SKILL loss.

SMOKE DEMON SKILL 9 Stamina 12 10

If you win, you hear a choking, guttural sound coming from the room beyond. Another monster? You can go in and investigate, or you can be cautious and leave this place, finding a more wholesome place to sleep at the end of the day.

This thing gave the last hero quite a bit of trouble, but we should be able to deal with it fairly well, even with the temp SKILL penalty....

COMBAT LOG:

Smoke Demon 13, Tallpipe 17. SD is at 8.
SD 17, Tallpipe 17. Tie.
SD 16, Tallpipe 16. Tie.
SD 16, Tallpipe 21. SD is at 6.
SD 16, Tallpipe 19. SD is at 4.
SD 19, Tallpipe 13. Tallpipe is at 22.
SD 14, Tallpipe 18. SD is at 2.
SD 15, Tallpipe 20. SD is killed.

Despite rolling better than us for many rounds, it only scratched us once. The max stats are paying off!

And since we know we came for the loot, we're certainly not leaving after spending all that time and energy killing the demon. Onwards to search the house!

In the smashed-up and scorched main room of the log cabin an old man lies, gasping for breath, his singed robes half covering his clawed and wounded frail body. He is dearly beyond your help, but he beckons you to him. “Demon” he gasps, “servant of Zeverin. Madman, bringing the Hell to this world … fiery Sphere his. Servants... mindless. Demons, spawn of life-in-death Terrible, pitiless... Ice Palace. The answer is in the Ice Palace." His eyes stare wildly at you; his death is upon him. "Bottom drawer of desk ... magic help." He is about to say more, drawing at your arm with his right hand, when he slumps back in your arms, dead.

Tasrin is wearing a simple silver ring; it is of no further use to him now, so you take it (add Tasrin's Ring to your Possessions). Laying his body down, you go over to the desk and find the key to open the bottom drawer. Inside is a potion bottle - this contains a single Potion of Stamina. When you drink it, you recover STAMINA points equal to half your Initial total, rounding fractions up. Note that, if your Initial STAMINA was 19, drinking this potion could give you back up to 10 points of lost STAMINA. You cannot exceed your initial STAMINA by drinking this potion. You may drink this at any time except during combat. A pouch of 3 Gold Pieces is here too (add this to your Treasure). You also find sufficient Provisions for 3 meals in the kitchen here.

It's now late in the day; after you have buried the sage's body as best you can, you lock the doors, bolt the windows, and sleep here. Next morning you head off northwestwards to get back on the trail of the Sphere.

We've only consumed 1 meal, so we can only take one, but let's not waste any if we can help it. Since we got nicked slightly by the demon, I'm going to have Jefferson eat one of his meals to restore to full STAMINA and pick up 2 here!

It’s a long way back to the main trail, but cutting across flat countryside enables you to make up some lost time. Soon, however, grey clouds are gathering and the weather looks uncertain. Roll one die, if you roll a 3, turn to 129. If you roll 4-6, tum to 61. If you want to, you can add 2 to this dice roll by spending a point of LUCK, but then you must deduct 1 from your current LUCK score.

Do we want to spend LUCK on this random roll?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jefferson Tallpipe
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 24/24
LUCK 11/12
Honour: 7
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern, Backpack, Blanket, Climbing Gear, Flask of Brandy (2 doses, +4 STAMINA each), Tasrin's Ring, Potion of Stamina (restores 1/2 of Initial STAMINA)
Gold: 3
Provisions: 10/10
Time Elapsed: 3 days

[Darth Rabbitt]

We have the LUCK to spare, so do it.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Spend, spend, spend.

[MisterDee]

Spend the points. Also IIRC we rushed after the sphere last run, this time let's take the time to grab plot coupons and supplies on the way there.

[SGamerz]

Die roll = 4+2 = 6! Turns out that we didn't need to spend the LUCK...

The clouds begin to disperse as you stride out in search of the trail the Sphere. It takes you most of the day to get back to it, but soon the wide wake of debris left by the fiery Sphere is clearly visible ahead: singed and blackened trees and pools of iced-over water formed by the melted snow. Carefully watching you footing on such slippery and treacherous surfaces, you walk along on one side of the trail for safety.

Rolling low would have meant that we'd waste an extra day due to being snowed in by the blizzard.

At the end of the day you find a dead Snow Fox in a snare. The animal died only recently; the body is still warm but will swiftly chill. You can take the Snow Fox with you if you want to; add it to your Possessions. You scoop out a snow hole in a drift and snuggle up inside it: an old barbarian trick, but one worth knowing. You must eat a meal before you go to sleep, but your night’s rest is undisturbed. In the morning, you must eat another meal. Then you set off into the increasingly steep, rocky slopes ahead, following the fire blasted path of the fiery killer from the sky. Walking is hard work, and your calves ache with the pain; you have to stop and rub your protesting leg muscles several times during the day. At last, at the top of one peak looking down, you see a valley a good few kilometers ahead and a thick carpet of smoke. You know that the Sphere must have come to rest there, the trail leads right up to it. It will take over a day to get there, so you redouble your efforts. Struggling along, you see footprints ahead of you: a trail leading towards you and then slipping away in an obvious fall, descending to some pine scrub below. If you want to detour and investigate - losing time - turn to 31. If you want to press ahead, turn to 235.

I'm counting MisterDee's advance vote for the detour. Do the others agree?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jefferson Tallpipe
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 24/24
LUCK 10/12
Honour: 7
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern, Backpack, Blanket, Climbing Gear, Flask of Brandy (2 doses, +4 STAMINA each), Tasrin's Ring, Potion of Stamina (restores 1/2 of Initial STAMINA), Snow Fox
Gold: 3
Provisions: 8/10
Time Elapsed: 4 days