I just wanted to say that as a long-time fan of FF, I am really enjoying these stories (House of Horror was quite nasty - can't make even one one wrong move and there are plenty of red herrings).

asgardian
Sun Jun 18 01:35:44 2006
Midnight Deep

Well, I've finished Impudent Peasant and Black Lobster, both of which were quite good given the limited timeframe. Midnight Deep was more challenging. Like the old FF books, it really traded on the fact that certain scores were high. You need a Skill of 12 and then be able to find the extra 4 points that can go to Luck to survive. That's fine, but it debunks this myth that characters with low stats can survive. Curse of the Yeti was tad odd, as once a certain item was found it led to a very easy win.

On another note, I think it a real shame that Mark J. Popp's site is gone. It was a great read. I salvaged what I could from the link for later reading. I wonder if Wizard had it closed down with the revival of the FF line? I hope Mark didn't close the door thinking FF was finally gone and actually miss the rebirth.

Anyway, onward.

I remember well that the original gamebooks contained a statement to the effect that they could be completed fairly easily, whatever the initial dice rolls were. This was nearly always a lie of course, and the same seems to be true of the amateur gamebooks. The notable exception is House Of Horror, but as you have noticed Midnight Deep and Andrew Wright's gamebooks avoid the problem altogether by having different mechanisms for determining the initial values.

I have no inside information about what happened to Mark J. Popp's site, but I tend to think that if Wizard had wanted to steal his domain name they would have done so when they first started publishing FF (then they could have put it on the books). The available evidence is consistent with the idea that Mark simply lost interest a long time ago and let the domain lapse, or maybe even sold it.

asgardian
Sun Jun 18 06:53:39 2006
Bodies In The Docks

Just played Bodies on the Docks. Handled it flawlessly until...the cavern. Two Cultists, OK. But two Deep Ones with those stats? Even with a Skill of 12 and a gun and the silver knife, survival is unlikely. You need a Stamina of 24 to have a chance! I think had the fight taken place later after finding some First Aid, it would have been more reasonable. Otherwise, a good read.

chexss
Thu Jun 22 07:52:18 2006
General Chat

Just wanted to say that I've been a fan of interactive fiction since my childhood in the '80s. Towards the end of that decade, I had a hard time finding the Fighting Fantasy and Sorcery! book series in the United States. For years afterwards, I would roam used bookshops every now and then to no avail. I stumbled upon your website and I was pleasantly surprised to see the lastest projects! Your efforts are appreciated.

asgardian
Sat Jun 24 03:41:21 2006
The Trial Of Allibor's Tomb

Just finished the Trial of Allibor's Tomb. I thought it had potential but need more thought. Once again, another adventure that requires the adventurer to have a SKILL and LUCK of 12 and a reasonably high degree of STAMINA to survive. I think that the author of Midnight Deep had it right when you as the player could choose how to allocate the points.

The final boss was also very predictable and as such boring. SKILL 12 and STAMINA 24. How do you beat him with a SKILL of 7? I think the journey would have been far more interesting if there been several items in the dungeon that at the time seemed worthless but actually depowered him in various ways. The gameplay needed another level.

That said, I am now ready to try the much-talked about Hellfire. Wish me luck!

asgardian
Sat Jun 24 03:44:28 2006
Bodies In The Docks

Oh, re: Bodies on the Docks...

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Gamebook Fanatic
Sat Jun 24 10:08:40 2006
The Trial Of Allibor's Tomb

Regarding Trial of Allibor's Tomb, there actually is a way to weaken the final boss. Obviously, you're still not going to win with a Skill of 7 (how often can you do that in FF books?), but a Skill of 10 should give you a reasonable chance of victory.

Luck, though, you definitely need 11 or 12, (or possibly 10, but with the Potion of Fortune to boost it when it goes beyond 7), there are too many necessary or critical Luck tests.

asgardian
Sat Jun 24 21:50:11 2006
The Trial Of Allibor's Tomb

Ah, many thanks. Played through again and explored something I used to just pass. Sure enough, the necessary item was there. But...once again, and this goes to your point, you really need a LUCK of 12. Perhaps if you were able to choose which Potion you could carry?

Gamebook Fanatic
Sun Jun 25 10:15:17 2006
The Trial Of Allibor's Tomb

Yes, I didn't dispute that it's a difficult book, just pointing out something that you might have missed. :)

I generally "cheat" by restarting the book until I start out with the Potion of Fortune. It's kind of ironic that the book actually gives you full restores for the other two stats in the middle, but not for the one you need most. It would have been okay if the author had given you some bonus Luck points during the book for making the right choices, but I counted no more than 2 Luck restores throughout the whole book (by the true path), and one of then you don't really need yet as it's right near the beginning. This book would have been more adequately balanced in terms of difficulty with a couple more Luck restores (just a few random points, not necessarily full restores).

I think this book slants towards the "unfairly difficult" category, though it's not quite the worst in this area (at least you'd know which stat you should focus on after a few plays, whereas in some other books you need ALL 3 of your stats to be at the max.). I'd consider a book to be "unfairly difficult" if you are still likely to die even after you've mapped out the true path, which I think does apply to Trial of Allibor's Tomb (unless you cheat by continuously restarting). Books like House of Horror may be quite difficult when you've just started playing, but once you know the true path you should have no problem solving it multiple times.

And since you are about to start on Hellfire, I'd suggest you try starting out with higher stats(all 3 of them) for your character. I don't want to spoil anything, but if you start with low stats, you're likely to be too busy dying to map out the book.

asgardian
Mon Jun 26 07:37:46 2006
Hellfire

Ah...Hellfire. I now understand all those previous comments. I actually did pretty well until I got to the infamous wall and went what the? The key to success is...nasty...as you have to do something that is really against type. Also, why would X only give Y and not Z if about to you know what? Anyways. Doing pretty well and used the scroll at the river but I've yet to get back to it and see if a revisit provides a solution. At any rate, it's fun.

Ibrahim Thu Jun 29 08:06:51 2006 General Chat	I don't suppose we'd be looking at another book on this website later this summer?
	No, sorry. The in-tray is empty and we are halfway through summer already.

asgardian
Fri Jun 30 05:20:33 2006
Hellfire

On Hellfire, does anyone know exactly WHERE these rusty gauntlets can be found? I'm guessing it is an area that requires a scroll to open, but so far no luck.

Gamebook Fanatic
Fri Jun 30 11:53:22 2006
Hellfire

I don't know how I can pinpoint the exact location to you without drawing out a whole map. Besides, I haven't played it for a while now so my memories may not be too accurate. As far as I can remember:

SPOILER

END SPOILER

I heard that the location isn't quite the same as the one in the original Word Doc. Not too sure about that though, since I never actually completed the Word version.

Shadow Dragon
Fri Jun 30 20:03:40 2006
General Chat

Go here for some excellent soundtracks from videogames. I only post this here because there's so many soundtracks and there's plenty of them you could listen to while playing FF books. Its a really nice site. I like to listen to some songs from guilty gear isuka while playing hellfire.
http://gh.ffshrine.org?r=16553

also.

SPOILER

END SPOILER

asgardian
Sat Jul 1 01:13:24 2006
Hellfire

Well, I've finished Hellfire. Quite a challenge with a great many red herrings. Stray from the path and miss a crucial item and it's over. Still, I think there are a few things that are decidedly unfair:

SPOILER

END SPOILER

That said, a good read.

Sealgirl Sat Jul 1 19:52:36 2006 General Chat	Wow. This is a fantastic place! Some of those adventures are of the most torturous and complex nature (you know which one I'm talking about). Much applause to the creators! (And now I can't help wanting to write one myself.) adventures, for fish Sealgirl
	Thanks. And if you do write one, please feel free to send it here. I would be more than happy to put it on the downloads page, and maybe do an online version if it is suitable and time permits.

dark
Thu Jul 6 00:46:14 2006
General Chat

Hi.

I'm very sorry if this is an out of order question, as it doesn't concern this site, but what's going on with "Age of fable"

whenever I try to start the game I get a very odd error message. Furthermore there's nothing whatsoever about who runs the site, whether the game is a work in progress or an abandoned project, absolutely no info whatsoever apart from info about the game (which isn't working).

I know that you have litle or nothing to do with that project Gbf, but I was wondering if either you or somebody else here could let me know what's going on with "Age of fable" and who I might contact reguarding it.

It looks like a really promising project, so I hope it's either a technical hitch, or that the game is stil in developement and will appear soon.

Sorry about the severe case of off topicitude of this post.

asgardian
Fri Jul 7 01:34:56 2006
Riders Of The Storm

Tried Riders of the Storm but wasn't impressed. I found the story and the execution to be quite sloppy with too many "sudden death" entries. A player should be killed for making a silly decision - not for simply taking a wrong turn. To my mind that is lazy writing. I read the self-interview that Sadler conducted and it's obvious he burnt out after the excellent Hellfire. ROTS is just too much of a yawn for me to finish. A shame, but then not every story can be a winner.

christopher
Sat Jul 8 10:22:33 2006
General Chat

a great website with some really cool downloads.

Age of Fable.
Tue Jul 11 02:40:49 2006
General Chat

Hi,
In case anyone else wants to know (other than dark, above):

It's a work in progress, which I do a little bit on when I can - usually one encounter a weekend.

The frequent error messages are because if I put one comma wrong, the entire file will fail to load. So if you get an error message, that's because you're playing it as I'm working on it.

The sudden and unexplained 'THE END's you'll get are because it's a work in progress.

My contact is news@apolitical.info

Thanks,
James
www.ageoffable.net

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