Cover
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Welcome, everybody. Just a few days ago, I managed to get a copy of book #21 out of nostalgia, which was another one of the first Fighting Fantasy gamebooks that I read. And oh boy was that a tough son of a bitch to finish. It took me at least 30 tries before I was able to win this one on my own. Since nobody has done this book yet, it will thus be the subject of this Let’s Play. Anyone wishing to join in is welcome. The plan is to update this series on a twice per day basis, with the exception of Sundays, where I will try to update more frequently on these days. However, my work duties heat up will probably cause adjustments to this proposed schedule, which I hope that everyone understands.
Preface
IntroductionWhen your small boat was rammed and crushed by an ominous-looking galley, you had no choice but to climb aboard. Faced with a crew of hardened cut-throats and their evil, scarred captain, it would have been useless to struggle.
Since that cursed day, you have been chained to a bench – just another galley-slave – rowing to the point of collapse, towards an unknown destination. Then, at last, you reach land, and are dragged from the ship out into the glaring sunlight. You have landed on Blood Island, and are now the unwilling slave of Lord Carnuss, evil brother of Baron Sukumvit, creator of Deathtrap Dungeon! The warped and twisted mind of Baron Sukumvit has completely redesigned the deadly labyrinth of Fang. New traps and terrors, mazes and monsters, await you at every turn. But even before you can enter the dungeon, you must endure your evil new master’s bloodthirsty gladiatorial games. Can you survive this Trial of Champions and free yourself from slavery?
Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all YOU need to embark on this thrilling adventure, which is complete with its elaborate combat system and a score sheet to record your gains and losses.
Many dangers lie ahead and your success is by no means certain. It’s up to YOU to decide which route to follow, which dangers to risk and which adversaries to fight!
Ian Livingstone was born in Cheshire in 1949. He is the co-founder (with Steve Jackson) of the hugely successful Games Workshop chain, which specializes in fantasy games and war games of all kinds.
For the purposes of this thread, the Adventure Sheet will be hand-made and will be periodically displayed.Before embarking on your adventure, you must first determine your own strengths and weaknesses. Use dice to determine your initial scores. On pages 16-17 there is an Adventure Sheet which you may use to record the details of an adventure. On it you will find boxes for recording your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK scores.
You are advised either to record your scores on the Adventure Sheet in pencil, or make photocopies of the sheet to use in future adventures.
Skill, Stamina and Luck
Normally, I would make the appropriate rolls and modifications to generate our hero’s Skill, Stamina, and Luck. However, characters without maximum Skill will get slaughtered by the plethora of high-skilled opponents in this adventure, so I will do everyone a favor and set our hero’s Skill to 12. I will still make rolls to determine initial Stamina and Luck scores, however.Roll one die. Add 6 to this number and enter this total in the SKILL box on the Adventure Sheet.
Roll both dice. Add 12 to the number rolled and enter this total in the STAMINA box.
There is also a LUCK box. Roll one die, add 6 to this number and enter this total in the LUCK box.
For reasons that will be explained below, SKILL, STAMINA, and LUCK scores change constantly during an adventure. You must keep an accurate record of these scores and for this reason you are advised either to write small in the boxes or to keep an eraser handy. But never rub out your Initial scores. Although you may be awarded additional SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK points, these totals may never exceed your Initial scores, except on very rare occasions, when you will be instructed on a particular page.
Your SKILL score reflects your swordsmanship and general fighting expertise; the higher the better. Your STAMINA score reflects your general constitution, your will to survive, your determination and overall fitness; the higher your STAMINA score, the longer you will be able to survive. Your LUCK score indicates how naturally lucky a person you are. Luck – and magic – are facts of life in the fantasy kingdom you are about to explore.
After making the appropriate rolls and modifications, our hero has the following initial scores:
SKILL: 12
STAMINA: 21
LUCK: 11
Fate gave us excellent Stamina and Luck scores to go with the maximum Skill that our hero has. Which is badly needed in order to have a fighting chance to survive this adventure.
Battles
Fighting More Than One CreatureYou will often come across pages in the book which instruct you to fight a creature of some sort. An option to flee may be given, but if not – or if you choose to attack the creature anyway – you must resolve the battle as described below.
First record the creature’s SKILL and STAMINA scores in the first vacant Monster Encounter Box on your Adventure Sheet. The scores for each creature are given in the book each time you have an encounter.
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 than yours, 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 over).
5. The creature has wounded you, so subtract 2 points from your own STAMINA score. Again you may use LUCK at this stage (see over).
6. Make the appropriate adjustments to either the creature’s or your own STAMINA scores (and your LUCK score if you used LUCK – see over).
7. Begin the next Attack Round by returning to your current SKILL score and repeating steps 1-6. This sequence continues until the STAMINA score of either you or the creature you are fighting has been reduced to zero (death).
LuckIf you come across more than one creature in a particular encounter, the instructions on that page will tell you how to handle the battle. Sometimes you will treat them as a single monster; sometimes you will fight each one in turn.
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 the character has less than 7 Stamina points. For such battles, I will ask whether Luck should be used to improve the odds of winning the fight. In battles where escape is an option and the character has less than 7 Stamina points, I will also ask whether the character should escape from the battle, and if so, under which conditions to do so.At various times during your adventure, either in battles or when you come across situations in which you could either be lucky or unlucky (details of these are given on the pages themselves), you may call on your luck to make the outcome more favourable. But beware! Using luck is a risky business and if you are unlucky, the results could be disastrous.
The procedure for using 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 and the result will go in your favour. If the number rolled is higher than your current LUCK score, you have been unlucky and you will be penalized.
This procedure is known as Testing your Luck. Each time you Test your Luck, you must subtract 1 point from your current LUCK score. Thus you will soon realize that the more you rely on your luck, the more risky this will become.
Using Luck in Battles
On certain pages of the book you will be told to Test your Luck and will be told the consequences of your being lucky or unlucky. However, in battles, you always have the option of using your luck either to inflict a more serious wound on a creature you have just wounded, or to minimize the effects of a wound the creature has just inflicted on you.
If you have just wounded the creature, you may Test your Luck as described above. If you are lucky, you have inflicted a severe wound and may subtract an extra 2 points from the creature’s STAMINA score. However, if you are unlucky, the wound was a mere graze and you must restore 1 point to the creature’s STAMINA (i.e. instead of scoring the normal 2 points of damage, you have now scored only 1).
If the creature has just wounded you, you may Test your Luck to try to minimize the wound. If you are lucky, you have managed to avoid the full damage of the blow. Restore 1 point of STAMINA (i.e. instead of doing 2 points of damage it has done only 1). If you are unlucky, you have taken a more serious blow. Subtract 1 extra STAMINA point.
Remember that you must subtract 1 point from your own LUCK score each time you Test your Luck.
Restoring Skill, Stamina, and Luck
Please keep all spoilers covered out of respect to those of us who want to have a blind experience. Any ties will be broken by me based on my personal instincts.Skill
Your SKILL score will not change much during your adventure. Occasionally, a page may give instructions to increase or decrease 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
Your STAMINA score will change a lot during your adventure as you fight monsters and undertake arduous tasks. As you near your goal, your STAMINA level may be dangerously low and battles may be particularly risky, so be careful!
Unlike other Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, you do not start your adventure with Provisions. However, during the course of the adventure, there will be opportunities for you to regain STAMINA points in various ways.
Remember also that your STAMINA score may never exceed its Initial value unless specifically instructed on a page.
Luck
Additions to your LUCK score are awarded through the adventure when you have been particularly lucky. Details are given on the pages of this book. Remember that, as with SKILL and STAMINA, your LUCK score may never exceed its Initial value unless specially instructed on a page.
Now this adventure is one of the hardest out of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks to complete. So I will permit our hero to have up to 6 boons from the following list to make things fair:
Rewinds: If our hero dies from any cause other than Stamina loss, the story will be reverted to the previous choice, with the Adventure Sheet being modified to what it was at that point in the story. You may use as many rewinds as you wish upon said death, with a rewind being used for each choice that you wish to go back to. For example, if our hero starts with 4 rewinds, we can rewind to a maximum of 4 choices before said death. This mechanic is to ensure that we remain careful in our decisions, as rewinds are not able to take our hero too far back from death.
Restorations: If our hero’s Stamina falls to 0 in any way, it will be restored to its initial score after reducing initial Stamina by 2. This penalty is to ensure that we act sensibly when it comes to maintaining Stamina should our hero take a restoration or two.
Extra Gold Rings: Upon entering Baron Sukumvit’s labyrinth, our hero will be on the lookout for Gold Rings. Without spoiling too much, a certain number of Gold Rings is needed to survive a certain point in this adventure, which Extra Gold Rings may be used to fulfill. Any Extra Gold Rings that our hero has which are not used to fulfill this quota will be converted to other secret benefits upon reaching the point where the Gold Rings are needed.
Background
NOW TURN OVERIt is another fiercely hot day, and the temperature in the sticky gloom below decks is unbearable. The air is thick with the acrid smell of sweating bodies. Nobody is allowed to speak, and the only noise to be heard above the monotonous creaking of the ship is the regular sharp crack of a whip and the agonized cry which follows it. ‘Row harder you dogs!’ shouts the one-eyed overseer, as he cracks the whip once again. ‘Enjoy this pleasant voyage while you can, because you’ll wish you were back on board after a day or two where you are going!’ Chained to a bench and straining hard at the long oar which you pull with two other galley-slaves, your mind drifts back to that unfortunate day one week ago when you were captured.
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You had left Port Blacksand in a small boat to sail south down the coast to Oyster Bay. As ill luck would have it, a galley appeared on the horizon heading in your direction. It drew steadily closer and it was not long before your boat was crushed under its bows and you were forced to dive into the sea. There was nothing you could do except climb up a rope that was thrown down to you, as your boat had become no more than a few pieces of broken wood floating aimlessly on the sea. It was useless to struggle as a crew of twenty hardened cut-throats surrounded you.
A gruff voice from behind them ordered them to part, and an ugly, scarred man appeared, grinning and spitting juice from chewing tobacco on to the deck. His teeth were chipped and blackened, and a foul stench wafted in the breeze from his unwashed clothes. ‘Captain Bartella always delivers the goods. You’ll make up for the one who died from the flogging yesterday. Saves me having to kidnap a landlubber. Must be my lucky day, but I wouldn’t say it was yours.’ The captain let out a laugh which was like a long, wheezing exhalation, and then barked out an order to his mate: ‘Take the rat below to meet the rest of the vermin.’
Since that cursed day, you have been chained to your oar, rowing to the point of collapse towards an unknown destination. Suddenly you hear a shout of, ‘Land ahoy!’, and begin to wonder what evil awaits you. An hour later, you feel the ship bump against a jetty and there is much shouting until the ship is finally moored. You are dragged from the ship with the other slaves, and see in the glaring sunlight that you are on a small island. A sombre-looking castle sits on top of the island, and next to it there is a semi-ruined amphitheatre. A man wearing black chainmail armour hands Captain Bartella a bag of coins. Satisfied with his payment, the wheezing captain orders his men back to the ship and you watch them set sail. The man in black armour steps forward, saying, ‘You are now the property of Lord Carnuss. It is your honour to die for his pleasure in the Arena of Death here on Blood Island. Only one of you will survive, and he or she will represent Lord Carnuss in Fang for the next Trial of Champions. Baron Sukumvit has modified his deadly labyrinth and is now offering 20,000 Gold Pieces to anybody who gets through it. Of course, Lord Carnuss will keep the prize if you get through, but you will be spared your life. Baron Sukumvit’s reputation suffered greatly last year when somebody succeeded in getting through the labyrinth, but he now boasts that nobody can survive his new dungeon. Lord Carnuss would like one of you to make Sukumvit eat his words. You must understand that he hates his brother’s fame. Now follow me.’
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You are led up the hill to a castle, where you are locked in a cell in the depths of the lower chambers. Sharing the dark cell with you are four others: a stout dwarf, a man-orc, a sinewy easterner and a bald, muscle-bound man. The mood is grim and few words are spoken as each of you ponders the impending combat. Forty-two slaves arrived by ship and only one will survive. The dubious reward is entry to a deadly dungeon.
1
At dawn the following day, you are woken by the sound of heavy footsteps approaching down the corridor. A key turns in the lock of the cell door and two guards wearing black chainmail enter, carrying trays of food. ‘Eat well,’ says one of them, ‘as you will need all your strength to survive the day. By the end of it, you may all be dead.’ The guard then turns to you and offers you some bread and a bowl of soup. If you wish to take the food, turn to 49. If you would rather try to overcome the guard and make an escape, turn to 292.
In addition to the above choice, what name do you want to give our hero, and how many boons of each type should we take? Please make your decisions before 9:00 AM PDT to guarantee that they will be counted.