The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Let's Play: Warlock of Firetop Mountain [CYOA]
Sir Fabulous
Malevolent Squid GodRegistered User regular
Malevolent Squid GodRegistered User regular
Hello everyone. I don't know about you, but when I was younger, I was quite into the Fighting Fantasy series. If you don't know what Fighting Fantasy is, it was a series of gamebooks made by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone that saw print originally in the 80s.
The books were choose your own adventure books with an RPG twist. You rolled for stats, rolled for combat, and sometimes rolled just because the book told you to roll. They were great fun, but the series was discontinued in 1995, but it was picked back up in 2002 by the Wizard Books. They republished many of the old books and a few new ones. Wizards ran the new series from 2002 to 2007.
After two years, Wizards started a second new series. This series is currently running, and it's brought back some old favourites as well as bringing in some new books.
Anyways, I was looking through some old books today when I stumbled on a few of my Fighting Fantasy books from long ago. I was wondering if there might be any interest in running a book through the forums. If there is an interest, I think it would be awesome to revisit the books.
The books I am able to provide are:
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
The Citadel of Chaos
Deathtrap Dungeons
Trial of Champions
Armies of Death
The Shamutanti Hills
In addition to the books, there is an online fan-magazine that has published some mini-adventures. We could use those adventures if people wanted to get a feel for how the game worked, or if people have already played through the books I have and want something new.
Right now I'm just seeing if there's an interest. I think it would be a fun little thing to do. If you think this sounds interesting, I would advise against learning too much about the adventures online. Most of the fun comes from surprises, and it's not very surprising if you already know that there's a vampire behind the door.
Thanks in advance.
Original OP in Spoilers.The books were choose your own adventure books with an RPG twist. You rolled for stats, rolled for combat, and sometimes rolled just because the book told you to roll. They were great fun, but the series was discontinued in 1995, but it was picked back up in 2002 by the Wizard Books. They republished many of the old books and a few new ones. Wizards ran the new series from 2002 to 2007.
After two years, Wizards started a second new series. This series is currently running, and it's brought back some old favourites as well as bringing in some new books.
Anyways, I was looking through some old books today when I stumbled on a few of my Fighting Fantasy books from long ago. I was wondering if there might be any interest in running a book through the forums. If there is an interest, I think it would be awesome to revisit the books.
The books I am able to provide are:
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
The Citadel of Chaos
Deathtrap Dungeons
Trial of Champions
Armies of Death
The Shamutanti Hills
In addition to the books, there is an online fan-magazine that has published some mini-adventures. We could use those adventures if people wanted to get a feel for how the game worked, or if people have already played through the books I have and want something new.
Right now I'm just seeing if there's an interest. I think it would be a fun little thing to do. If you think this sounds interesting, I would advise against learning too much about the adventures online. Most of the fun comes from surprises, and it's not very surprising if you already know that there's a vampire behind the door.
Thanks in advance.
Only a foolhardy adventurer would embark upon such a perilous quest without first finding out as much as possible about the mountain and its treasures. Before your arrival at the foot of Firetop Mountain, you spent several days with the townsfolk of a local village some two days' journey from the base. Being a likable sort of person, you found it easy to get on with the local peasants. Although they told many stories about the mysterious Warlock's sanctuary, you could not feel sure that all-or indeed any-of these were based on fact. The villagers had seen many adventurers pass through on their way to the mountain, but very few ever returned. The journey ahead was extremely dangerous, that you knew for certain. Of those who returned to the village, none contemplated going back to Firetop Mountain.
There seemed to be some truth in the rumour that the Warlock's treasure was stored in a magnificent chest with two locks, and the keys to these locks were guarded by various creatures within the dungeons. The Warlock himself was a sorcerer of great power. Some described him as old, others as young. Some said his power can from an enchanted deck of cards, others from the silky black gloves that he wore.
The entrance to the mountain was guarded by a pack of warty-face goblins, stupid creatures, fond of their food and drink. Towards the inner chambers, the creatures became more fearsome. To reach the inner chambers you would have to cross a river. The ferry service was regular, but the ferryman enjoyed a good barter, so you should save a Gold Piece for the trip. The locals also encouraged you to keep a good map of your wanderings, for without a map you would end of hopelessly lost within the mountain.
When it finally came to your day of leaving, the whole village turned out to wish you a safe journey. Tears came to the eyes of many of the women, young and old alike. You couldn't help wondering whether they were tears of sorrow shed by eyes which would never see you alive again.
Welcome to this Let's Play of Warlock of Firetop Mountain, a pbp thread in which YOU are the hero. Hopefully this will be fun for all involved.
Rules:
The game is fairly simple. I will post a section of text which will end in a decision. You will vote for the decision that you would like YOU to take. The decision that has the most votes will be the action that YOU take. The action will play out, resulting in various scenarios which will end in another decision for you to take. Repeat ad infinitum.
There are several points in the book where a dice roll is required. I will be rolling the dice at these points. Be assured that I am a completely neutral observer in these cases.
There are undoubtedly maps and walkthroughs for the book posted online. Remember that I am doing this for your enjoyment. It's no fun if you make every decision perfectly because you've been told to by a guide. As such, please do not look up guides. If you have played this game in the past, and remember parts, I ask you to use your own judgement when deciding whether to vote or note. The more specific the memory, the harder you should think about it.
During the game, you will fight monsters. Every time you or the monster deals damage, there is an option to increase the damage you deal or decrease the damage you take with a Luck Test. Since it would bog down the thread if we had to vote after every round of combat, I'm just going to hold a vote every time you are about to battle a monster. If you vote yes, then I will pause after every round to see if you want to take a Luck Test. If you vote no, I will just run the combat without ever asking about Luck Tests. If you are at 5 life or below, I will automatically ask you if you want to take a Luck Test every round.
If you have any questions, please ask me!
Advice:
It is easier to play the game if you make a map of the dungeon. I will not provide the map, so a player is going to have to make one (if they want to).
The Warlock's chest is locked. You will need keys to unlock it. You will find keys throughout the dungeon. These are important!
Some rooms are just around to dick with you. Not every room has treasure.
The game begins a little further on down the thread. See you there!
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
Sir Fabulous on
0
Posts
I'd vote for the Shamutanti hills, the Sorcery! books were amazing and I never actually got my hands on the first one. I think I still have the other three buried here somewhere actually...
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/101861/lets-play-lone-wolf-jungle-of-horror-that-xlorg-has-a-rape-face/p1
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/127660/lets-play-lone-wolf-book-21-voyage-of-the-moonstone.-goodbye-to-godhood/p1
I'm sure there would be interest in a Let's Play of the Fighting Fantasy ones.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
Same here. I had a ton of FF, Lone Wolf, Grey Star (which was a wizard in the Lone Wolf world), Way of the Ninja, and some weird British series where your character was named Pip and was full of weird British humor that I probably never understood.
The main thing I remember was that the FF books were essentially impossible to win. Let's do it!
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
I'm probably leaning towards starting with Firetop Mountain, simply because it's the easiest, most straightforward book. It was also the first Fighting Fantasy Book ever published, so there's a lot of symbolic value there.
If anyone is strongly opposed to Firetop Mountain, go ahead and tell me!
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
We had Titan...
... and it inspired us to make our own book in the format of Titan, with our own world. We created a fantasy setting, did a bunch of maps, made a bunch of lists etc. and even played a few games in it, a custom game in between CYOA and D&D of sorts.
Thanks for bringing up the memories.
Skill: 1d6 + 6 (6+6) = 12
Stamina: 2d6 + 12 (1, 5 + 12) = 18
Luck: 1d6 + 6 (1 + 6) = 7
Equipment:
Sword
Leather Armour
Backpack:
10 Provisions
Lantern
Provisions can be eaten only when instructed and only once at a time. They restore 4 Stamina points.
It is time for the first decision of the game! You are allowed to take one of the following.
Potion of Skill (Skill)
Potion of Strength (Stamina)
Potion of Fortune (Luck)
These potions will restore their respective stats to their initial levels. The potion of Fortune will also increase your initial Luck by 1 point.
Each potion has enough liquid for two doses. You can take a dose any time.
Skill: Skill represents your fighting expertise. People with higher skill will defeat monsters more easily, and will succeed in Skill Tests more frequently. This stat is affected most rarely, but is the most harmful when lowered.
Stamina: Stamina is effectively your HP. Getting hurt will lower your Stamina, and getting healed will raise it. This stat is affected most frequently, but is the least harmful when lowered.
Luck: Luck represents how lucky you are. At various points, you will be asked to test your Luck. After every Luck Test, you decrease your luck by one, resulting in less chance of passing the next Luck Test. You can use a Luck Test in battle to affect the amount of damage that's done.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
It's better to be lucky then good.
We're going to run into three deadly venoms that sap our Skill, though. Just you watch.
Twitch Stream
You never know when you may need to get lucky.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
Stamina: 18/18
Luck: 7/7
Equipment:
Sword
Leather Armour
Backpack:
10 Provisions
Lantern
Potion of Strength (Stamina) [2 doses]
At last your two day hike is over. You unsheathe your sword, lay it on the ground and sigh with relief as you lower yourself down on to the mossy rocks to sit for a moment's rest. You stretch, rub your eyes and finally look up at Firetop Mountain.
The very mountain itself looks menacing. The steep face in front of you looks to have been savaged by the claws of some gargantuan beast. Sharp rocky crags jut out at unnaturual angles. At the top of the mountain you can see the eerie red colouring-probably some strange vegetation-which has given the mountain its name. Perhaps no one will ever know exactly what grows up there, as climbing the peak must surely be impossible.
Your quest lies ahead of you. Across the clearing is a dark cave entrance. You pick up your sword, get to your feet and consider what dangers may lie ahead of you. But with determination, you thrust the sword home into its scabbard and approach the cave.
You peer into the gloom to see dark, slimy walls with pools of water on the stone floor in front of you. The air is cold and dank. You light your lantern and step warily into the blackness. Cobwebs brush your face and you hear the scurrying of tiny feet: rats, most likely. You set off into the cave. After a few yards you arrive at a junction. Will you turn:
1. West
2. East
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
With that off the table, let's head West, because the coin came up heads.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
Well, he's still right about heading west.
There is a right-hand turn to the north in the passage. Cautiously, you approach a sentry post on the corner and, as you look in, you can see a strange Goblin-like creature in leather armour asleep at his post.
Luck Test! Roll 2 dice. If the result is equal to or lower than your luck, you pass. Otherwise, you fail. [Either way, decrease your Luck by one.]
Roll: 3,5 = 8
Failure [Luck-1]
You step with a crunch on some loose ground and his eyes flick open.
The creature that has just awakened is an ORC! He scrambles to his feet and turns to grasp at a rope which is probably the alarm bell. You must attack him quickly.
Orc:
Skill: 6
Stamina: 5
(Combat is decided in the following way. Your opponent rolls 2 dice and adds his skill total. You then do the same. The person with the higher result deals two damage to their opponent. If a tie is rolled, no damage is dealt. In addition, I decided not to ask about using luck in this battle, since your luck is so low it would do more damage than good, plus this was an easy combat.)
Combat Results:
Round 2: Orc = 12 | You = 19 [Orc 1, You 18]
Round 3: Orc = 13 You = 21 [Orc dead, You 18]
You continue up the passage, leaving the body of the dead ORC behind. To your left, on the west face of the passage, there is a rough-cut wooden door. You listen at the door and can hear a rasping sound which may be some sort of creature snoring.
1. Open the door
2. Press on
In addition to this vote, I would like to ask you for input about using Luck during battle. I know that in the original post, I said that I would pause before each combat and automatically at 5 stamina or less. However, this was before the character came out with perfect Skill and lowest Luck. Failing a luck test in battle makes the battle harder, as well as decreasing your already low luck by another point. It's ultimately up to you, but it would be nice if I could get an idea about when you want the option of using luck in battles and when you don't.
Stamina: 18/18
Luck: 6/7
Equipment:
Sword
Leather Armour
Backpack:
10 Provisions
Lantern
Potion of Strength (Stamina) [2 doses]
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
Since we have such a terrible Luck score, I'd say just ignore Luck for now. I'm assuming we can boost the attribute later? If that's the case, it'd be nice to switch to your originally proposed system.
Agreed on not bothering with luck since we clearly don't have any
Although your "current" score is a fairly malleable number, it is quite rare for something to affect your "initial" score. Since your stats can't go over your "initial" score, you'll more than likely never have a Luck exceeding 7. Never say never though.
Switch Friend Code: SW-1406-1275-7906
also Dont use luck in battle as in, never.
So 1) Open the door, kill the baddie grab the loot - it that not how you play this game?
And don't use luck in battle. Maybe later when the monsters get harder but right now we don't seem to need it.