The Foundling Saga - A Fighting Fantasy Fizzle

 

In 2013 Gallimard, one of the biggest publishers in France, invited Steve Jackson to the Salon du Livre, France's huge annual literary trade fair. Gallimard had been publishing Steve's books non-stop for the last 30 years; it was about time he made the guest list. I met Steve there, and pushed a copy of my gamebook Arcana Agency: the Thief of Memories into his hands. I also tried to hustle for a little writing work, even talking about some storylines for wholly original Fighting Fantasy apps. Steve was very polite and professional with me – though in retrospect, I was a bit pushy and over-eager. I'd already had a little email contact with Steve; he very kindly said it would be okay for me to send him a more fully-developed proposal. I got to work.

The proposal I ultimately sent him was for The Foundling Saga, a story taking place in Gallantaria during The War of the Five Kingdoms. I prepared a comprehensive outline, and even went so far as to create a demo of the first part of the game using Inkle's excellent Inklewriter engine. One idea I particularly liked was the notion of an app that could be played in the second person – gamebook-style, recording stats and items – or in the third person, in a more literary style. I still feel there's some merit to that idea, even given all the extra development work it entails.

Steve didn't go for the proposal. In truth, I'm not sure he really even read through it – he mentioned it would have been difficult contractually, so it probably wasn't worth a great deal of attention. Plus I got the impression the idea just didn't grab him, and he was being diplomatic. But he was very cool with me throughout. The guy's a pro, and it's a crying shame he hasn't written any gamebooks for a while now.

So I think I'm never really going to do anything with The Foundling Saga; it is now and forevermore relegated to the status of fan-fiction. Feel free to take a look at the online playable demo I prepared for The Foundling Saga, Part 1: Return to Titan. It's a nice little gamebook in its own right, I feel, copyrighted names and places notwithstanding.

Pfft. You win some, you lose some.

(Post by Paul Gresty)

Haiku gamebook reviews!

There are already quite a few sites offering gamebook reviews, or gamebook playthroughs, and most of them are more interesting and entertaining than anything I could offer. One of my own favourites just now is Malthus Dire's Fighting Fantasy page.

Few gamebook review sites offer reviews in the format of centuries-old Japanese poetry, however. I intend to remedy that. And so, here are my three haiku gamebook reviews of the day.

THE WARLOCK OF FIRETOP MOUNTAIN, by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone

Psycho treasure hunt.

North, south, east, west - frustrating.

Sit on chest and weep.

ROBOT COMMANDO, by the other Steve Jackson

Robots in disguise

Fight enemies of the state.

Wake up, sleepyheads!

NIGHT OF THE NECROMANCER, by Jonathon Green

Ghost adventurer -

Patrick Swayze with a sword.

Choose a new body.

(Post by Paul Gresty, cross-posted at his blog.)

April A to Z - Z is for Zharradon Marr

He needs to feed his
 pets properly.

Appears in:  Creature of Havoc (Fighting Fantasy 24) by Steve Jackson.

Background:  Zharradon Marr is one of the Demonic three.  After his apprentiship ended with the murder of his master, he managed to get ownership of a gold mine and with the gold, he bought a training ground for his soldiers and mananged to capture a flying ship.  He is currently experimenting with creating new creatures with the aim of making a perfect monster for war.

Prominence:  Creature of Havoc has a very in depth background which highlights a lot of people from Marr's life.  You can meet most of these people in your wanderings.  9/10.

Hardness:  You cannot kill Zharradon Marr and if you annoy him, he will use his magic on you.  you can only win if you have a crystal club and the vapours of life.  And even then, you don't kill him.  you only destroy the portal to his dimension.  10/10.

Ambition: Marr wants to conquer Allansia 9/10.

Style:  Zharradon Marr has worked hard to get a smooth operation and a big organisation.  He has a cool flying ship, a castle in a forest and a gold mine.  His most trusted henchmen are very individual with the half troll Thugruff, the sadistic Darramous and the sick and wrong Quimmel Bone amongst many others.  8/10.

Diabolical genius:  Marr can create life forms.  You are his creation and your whole quest is a test of your abilities.  Marr has several sadistic traps such as a portal that creates endless chaos warriors, a robe that causes hunger and a zombie that shoots flames out of its eyes.  9/10.

Total score:  Marr is a tough adversary to get the better of and you don't actually kill him in the end.  You can only destroy his portal.  45/50.

April A to Z - T is for The Titanium Cyborg

How does he shower?

Appears in:  Appointment with F.E.A.R. (Fighting Fantasy 17) by Steve Jackson.

Background:  The Titanium Cyborg's real name is Vladimir Utoshki.  He is an expert in enhancing the human body with robotic parts and he is also the leader of the Federation of Euro-American Rebels (F.E.A.R.).  You need to catch him.

Prominence:  Most but not all of your criminal adversaries are working for F.E.A.R. in this book.  8/10.

Hardness:  At skill 18 (the highest in a Fighting Fantasy book), stamina 20, the Titanium cyborg is impossible to beat in normal combat.  He will also kill you within three attack rounds with his lighting eyes.  You can only win if you get a circuit jammer and then he becomes a puny skill 9 stamina 10 opponent.  8/10

Ambition:  He wants to gain control of a satellite (A Star Wars satellite - is this a comment on the Cold War?) capable of destroying cities.  He will use this to control the world.  10/10

Style:  There aren't many cyborg villains with lighting eyes.  He also has an interesting collection of super villain underlings, although the other five heads of F.E.A.R all look disappointingly normal.  8/10.

Diabolical genius  From killing JFK the unnamed president to taking over an army base to collapsing a stand at a football match(?), the Titanium Cyborg certainly has a wide array of super villains with different powers to draw on.  8/10.
:

Total score:  This guy has Titan city crawling with criminals and gets to within inches of ruling the world.  42/50

April A to Z - D is for Darramous

I think there's a picture of Darramous 
in the Trolltooth wars, but I don't 
have a copy at the moment.,
So here is a picture of a cat.

Appears in:  Creature of Havoc (Fighting Fantasy 24) by Steve Jackson.

Background:  Darramous is an undead half elf sorcerer, who, when he's not trying to get into more demographic groups, is running a gold mine for Zharradon Marr.  He took the position from a wizard called Hannicus who was far too lenient for Darramous and had strange ideas like paying the miners.  Darramous blinded Hannicus and made the miners his slaves.

Prominence:  He's in one scene in the book.  1/10.

Hardness:  Daramous cannot be killed by normal weapons and if you fail to kill him quickly, he'll use his powerful magic on you.  You can only kill him with Hannicus's ring.  8/10.

Ambition:  Can't be very high if he's content running a gold mine for someone else.  1/10.

Style:  His gold mine certainly is a sick and messed up place, crawling with weird beasts and dangerous traps.  He also gets bonus marks for being half elf, undead and a magic user.  I bet the convention for undead half elf magic users is pretty quiet.  6/10.

Diabolical genius:  Darramous doesn't really get a chance to shine since anything that you encounter might be down to his boss's diabolocal genius.  4/10.

Total score:  He's interesting, but he needs an evil plot of his own to really shine.  20/50.

April A to Z - B is for Balthus Dire

Do you work out?

Appears in:  Citadel of Chaos (Fighting Fantasy 2) by Steve Jackson, The Trolltooth Wars (Fighting Fantasy novel) by Steve Jackson.

Background:  Lives in a citadel, surrounded by chaotic creatures and wants to attack the Vale of the Willow.

Prominence:  You don't see him until the very end.  None of the inhabitants of the citadel seem to attack you on his orders.  Some of them are friendly towards you.  You can placate even his wife if you have a hairbrush.  1/10

Hardness:  When you enter Balthus's room, you must first dodge a flying trident and then fight a clawbeast, which is a difficult fight, especially as you lose you wepon when you hit it four times.  However, both of these obstacles can be negated if you have the correct spells.

Balthus is a powerful sorcerer, though, unlike other sorcerers, he is not so powerful that he can kill you with a single spell.  However, his stats are a very respectable skill of 10 (12 with his ring) and a stamina of 19 which means that he can beat most warriors is straightforward combat.

He does make some mistakes, though.  He stores a powerful magical sword in his room, ready for you to steal and use against him.  You are able to steal his ring and reduce his skill and he also dies if exposed to sunlight.

Now the last problem does not necessarily stop you being a great villain (vampires really do a lot of damage for example), but it's a fatal mistake if you make your home in the top of a tower with only curtains between you and certain death.  In fact, when you are offered the option of pulling down the curtains, it offers the idea of throwing them over his head, giving the impression that no one would think that a powerful sorcerer would  be that stupid.

If you have the correct spells, then you are able to kill Balthus Dire without any problems.  6/10

Ambition:  Invading a city state.  7/10

Style:  Lives in a quite normal (for a villain) dungeon/castle called the Black Tower (pretty normal name for a villanous base).  However, he does buck the sorcerer trend towards robes and beards and works it well.  4/10

Diabolical genius:  There are some weird things in the Black Tower, but most of them are not Dire's doing.  However, he is quite diabolical in your confrontation with him (unlike Agglax who runs away and calls for his bodyguards because mummy Sith isn't around).  3/10

Total score:  His plan is unsophisticated, his servants (and wife) don't really respect him enough to really try to kill you and he lives in a place that will kill him if a curtain rail falls down.  23/50

Your adventure ends here - Some I like

Here's some failure paragraphs which I like for some reason.  Enjoy!

The first one is from Space Assassin by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.
 
An orange glow pervades the room, reflecting off everything except the spheres which remain implacably black. Little doors materailize in front of each sphere and swallow them as they droft over their thesholds; within seconds the entire room is bereft of the spheres. The doors evaporate, leaving you easy eaccess to the other side of the room. Before you can stroll across, however, the room vanishes and you find yourself floating in a starry void, light years from anywhere. A stone tablet drifts slowly into view. It is engraved: "We eliminated seventy-seven spheres of annihilation on your account. As you do not have the means of paying your bill for this service we have taken the liberty of foreclosing and transporting you to this place. Sorry."
 
The tablet drifts away, leaving you to spin in the void. You have failed.

Why I like this ending

It's all about the 'sorry' at the end.  It adds a touch of humour to floating in eternal blackness.

This ending is from Moonrunner by Stephen Hand.

You have leaned the hard way that there is no escape from Karam Gruul's infamous wire tunic.  Your hunt for the fiend ends in a most grisly fashion.

Why I like this ending

This ending highlights what an evil genius Karam Gruul is. Anyone who has invented their own grisly infamous trap deserves respect.

The next ending is from the Citidel of Chaos (no, not that one) by Jamie Thompson.

You ave no way of entering e Overlord's World and none of the thinkers among the Champions can come up with a solution either...and time is running out.  After ten minutes or so, the double doors crash open and a veritable army of Enforcers and Cybermarines come boiling in.  The battle is epic in scale and you will go down i the annals of the Resistance forever.  But the outcome is never in doubt.  Eventually, you are all overwhelmed.  It is all over.

Why I like this ending

It is a great example of a blaze of glory ending. 

This ending is from Deathtrap Dungeon by Ian Livingstone.

You step up to the mirror and are amused by your distorted reflection. Your head looks as large as a pumpkin and your face is exceedingly strange. Suddenly, without warning, a terrible pain pounds through your head and you try to look away from the mirror but are unable to. Some evil force is keeping your eyes glued to your own reflection. You grip your head with your hands and realize with horror that it is expanding. You can withstand it no longer and, blacking out with the pain, you fall unconscious to the floor, never to wake.

Why I like this paragraph

It has an element of horror to it.  It starts off with you looking at a funny image of yourself in a mirror and ends up with you dying horribly.

The last one is from Necklace of Skulls by Dave Morris.

No expression shows on the hard ma-like face as you make your genuflection.  There is no roar of rage to show he is affronted nor flash of sullen anger in his eye.  He only raises his sceptre slowly as though to emphasize the point he is about to make.  Then, before you have a chance to move, he brings the sceptre swishing down to split your skull open like a melon.  Your adventure ends suddenly and horribly.  

Why I like this ending

This paragraph really drives home how stuffed you are and hopeless your situation is against your foe.  First of all, it contains the word genuflection.  I have no idea what it means and so my situation also becomes hopeless in a literary way. 

Then he does nothing to show off his power which is a clear indication that he has so much power that he does not need to show it off.  Oh dear.  All he does is slowly raise his sceptre.  However, even that is too quick for me and he then splits my skull open like a melon.  Which means he didn't find that too difficult. 

Next time...

A summary of what I have learnt from all these death paragraphs.

I will also post about my own writing.  Something I have done very little of during the winter, but I think I need to do it more regularly.