Which alignment do you usually choose? Good, neutral or evil? Each one requires you to follow a different path, and each on requires you to pick up at least one vital item. Without spoiling the game too much for you, here are a few minor hints:

Good: You need to visit Tempest to pick up the vital item on this path. In order to get this item, you need to find to find another item earlier by killing a certain monster. The monster is quite near to Tempest itself, you'll probably meet it a few paragraphs before you reach the city. After collecting the item from the defeated monster, bring it to a certain shop in Tempest, and somone will use it to craft the object you need. For this path, I reccommend that you stick to the road until you reach Tempest.

Neutral: Okay, for this path, you do NOT stick to the road. First take the road through Varna, but steer off the road and avoid Tempest. This should enable to find the necessary item, though it might not look important at the time.

Evil: For this path, you should not even go near Varna. You should be travelling on one of the northern roads. The vital item lies in a place where most people won't choose to sleep in, but you'll get the option to spend the night there.

To site owner: By the way, I just replayed Midnight Deep, and realised that there used to be a map in your starting possession, but is no longer available. May I know why this is so? It may not be necessary, but I found it quite helpful in mapping your routes.

Thanks for pointing out the bug with the map, it's fixed now.

Kirtdude
Mon Jun 6 16:31:08 2005
Midnight Deep

Hmm, I have chosen good and neutral before. I think I know what the neutral item is, but I suppose all I can do is try again. By the way, if anybody wants an easy, fun, gamebook, try Impudent Peasant. It is really simple to beat, but it is quite fun. Thanks again for the help

Kirtdude
Mon Jun 6 20:00:51 2005
Midnight Deep

Yay, I just beat Midnight Deep. I chose the neutral path, I am wondering if you can beat it by choosing the good or evil paths? Thanks again for the help.

Gamebook Fanatic
Tue Jun 7 10:33:34 2005
Midnight Deep

Yes, you can beat it for all three paths. You just need to collect different items to win. I've beaten it for all three. I like the choice between different alignments for this game, but I was a bit disappointed by the fact that there seemed to be only one(successful) ending, no matter which path you choose.

I like Impudent Peasant too. For such a short book it's interesting and eventful. The lower initial stats don't matter at all since there are no really hard enemies, not even the final boss. I also feeel that the formula for rolling up your stats in this game is the one that Mr Paul Mason should have used when he wrote Crimson Tide. His formula was too harsh, and the player could end up with Skill 1, Stamina 2, with is plain ridiculous. It means your human character is as strong as a FLESH GRUB.

Kirtdude
Tue Jun 7 13:56:33 2005
Impudent Peasant!

Is there only one successful ending to Impudent Peasant? Because, if not, Iwant to see what the others are.
ON a different note, I am disappointed that Midnight Deep only has one successfulo ending. Yay, I

Kirtdude
Tue Jun 7 13:59:22 2005
Impudent Peasant!

Sorry about the typos, my computer is acting funny. Anyway, I ust started Rebels of the Dark Chasms, I wonder what will become of me in that gamebook.

Gamebook Fanatic
Tue Jun 7 15:46:40 2005
Midnight Deep

Well, Impudent Peasant is still a new game, and I've only played it a few times, so I'm not sure if there are more successful endings, but personally I don't think there are, considering how short it is. Also there appeared to be only one clear goal in this game: to collect information of the invaders. I expected Midnight Deep to have more endings because of the different alignment storyline, which might have generated different goals at the end, but I was wrong. So far, I think there's only one gamebook here with multiple successful endings, and that's Outsider, which is my personal favourite (and probably the longest book so far).

As for Rebels of the Dark Chasms, it's rather short too, only slightly longer than Impudent Peasant I believe. Once again, I don't think i should reveal too much. I'll just say that, unlike I.P, this one has a rather rigid path to success, and also more demanding in terms of your SKILL score. I didn't enjoy this as much, but that's just my personal opinion.

stirlock Wed Jun 8 03:56:28 2005 Hellfire	Hello. When playing hellfire, you have the option of choosing a restoritive potion. However, none of these actually show up in your items list. Is this a bug?
	Yes, and now I've fixed it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Holden
Sat Jun 11 03:02:44 2005
The Trial Of Allibor's Tomb

Can anyone tell me some steps or hints in beating Alibor's tomb? I almost got there today, to the part where you open the door of his resting place, and I was blasted by heat which killed me. Could you tel me how please?

Holden
Sun Jun 12 16:01:35 2005
I'm Writing A Gamebook

OK guys, I'm finally getting around to writing an FF book. One of the rules is going to be different. Luck and skill scores are still obtained by rolling the dice however you do it, I know what it is, but can't remember it at present. Anyway, you have to get double stamina, because you use guns. KIt's called the milkitary series, and i it's based n the different American wars, because they're the only ones I know about. The first one I'm writing is called Separated, and you play the part of an Englishman, whose unit left him because they thought him for dead in the trenches some time in 1916 in World War I. Anyone have any ideas on what they'd like to see in my books? Think you could get this book on the web site if it's good enough?

Well, however good it is, I'll be happy to put it on the downloads page at least when it's finished. As usual, whether there'll be an online version also depends on how closely it sticks to the standard rules, how much time I have etc.

Gamebook Fanatic
Mon Jun 13 13:50:32 2005
The Trial Of Allibor's Tomb

To Holden:

About the Trial of Alibor's Tomb,

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Good luck writing your gamebooks. I hope I'll get to play them on this site soon.

Matt
Tue Jun 14 15:22:01 2005
Impudent Peasant!

Ive started Impudent Peasant.

Kirtdude
Wed Jun 15 23:45:36 2005
Impudent Peasant!

Good luck.

Holden
Thu Jun 16 18:35:55 2005
Hellfire

Ok guys, I need your help once again. In Hellfire, I've made it to the acid river. If anyone knows where that is. All three routes are death traps, but surely there's a way to get across it. How, may I ask?

HOlden

Phil Sadler
Thu Jun 16 22:03:53 2005
Hellfire

Hellfire: acid river

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Matt
Fri Jun 17 06:19:37 2005
Impudent Peasant!

Phew...Hellfire sounds really hard. Impudent Peasent sounds good so far, congratulations whoever wrote it.

Holden
Fri Jun 17 18:52:03 2005
Hellfire

Hellfire? Probably the hardest game on the site. Phil did a good job writing it don't you think? I wish I had that kind of imagination, and I do, it's not that developed yet. And I read your exclusive interview in Riders of the Storm, Phil. You said you weren't going to write anymore gamebooks? Dude, you should really continue writing those books like h Hellfire, except with different plots and stuff. I'm telling yiou, your books are real good. Consider it dude.

Holden

Richie
Sat Jun 18 12:52:51 2005
House Of Horror

I'm having a lot of fun with House of Horror... finding lots of scary ways to die! Hope to finish it.

Kirtdude
Sat Jun 18 17:17:01 2005
House Of Horror

Yes, I die a lot in House of Horror... the deaths are not exactly the most pleasant I have experienced hahahahaha.

Gamebook Fanatic
Sun Jun 19 06:53:35 2005
Hellfire

Yeah, Hellfire is definitely the most difficult game, although Riders of the Storm comes close. Personally, I think Phil's books are all fun to read, but can be really frustrating to play. Almost all the encounters in the book are fun and memorable, but I think the difficulty is a little overdone.

There are many kinds of difficulties in a gamebook. Steve Jackson uses hidden paths and secret references in some of his most difficult books, like Creature of Havoc and House of Hell. Ian Livingstone's difficult books, like Crypt of the Sorcerer, is known for having too many difficult combats, as well as requiring too many necessary items to beat the game. Then there is the 'fail one roll and die' difficulty in Luke Sharp's Chasms of Malice, and the 'stray off the path once, and the Big Bad Demon eats you' difficulty in Paul Mason's Crimson Tide. And a few others I might have forgotten.

Phil seems to have combined practically all of these difficulty elements into one book, which possibly makes his book more difficult than all the original FF books! (though I haven't really collected the entire series yet, so I can't be sure) He doesn't use as many hidden paths/items as Steve Jackson does, but there are quite a few. There aren't as many extreme-tough combats, but the few there are are enough to frustrate the readers for keep geting killed by the same encounter. There are enough neccessary items/equipment to match Mr Livingstone's toughest books. There are quite a number of critical die rolls that could decide your fate, though they are not as unfair as Luke Sharp's infamous One-Stirke Combats. The path to success is rather narrow, and above all this game is extremely demanding on your stats. So far, while I did win a few times, I've NEVER been able to win with a SKILL less than 11, and LUCK lower then 10, even after I've mapped out the correct path. The reason for this is because many of the neccessary encounters drains your stats without giving you the chance to avoid the penalties. With a low SKILL you'll easily run out of Healing Potions. All these difficulty elements I mentioned above aren't always a bad thing by themselves, but put them all together and you can literally send your readers through Hell.

The good thing, as I said earlier, is that the encounters in the book are mostly exciting and memorable, so they were a fairly good motivation for me to come back and try to beat it again (though I have to admit that at one point, I was so frusrated that I had to take a couple of weeks' break before coming back to it). I do enjoy Riders of the Storm more though. The plot is still intriguing, more so than the first actually, although I still had a couple of questions unanswered by the end. And at least you actually can win this book without having double-figured Skill and Luck. While Phil's style of game design isn't my all-time favourite, I do think he's a good writer, since he's good at maintaining his readers' interest. Like Holden, I hope he would consider writing more.

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