Let's Play Fighting Fantasy #3: The Forest of Doom

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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There's an option to New Game + if you fail your quest

New Game + if we fail
5
83%
End the LP if we fail
1
17%
 
Total votes: 6

Mr Shine
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Post by Mr Shine »

Go north, give the bandits 5 GP.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Image
Walking along the narrow path you suddenly hear the sharp crack of a twig breaking and the whispering of low voices. You draw your sword and wait anxiously with your back to a large oak tree. Then from behind the trees opposite you step four men and a woman dressed in green tunics. Each looks menacing and they stand with swords and axes in their hands. The young woman steps forward and tells you that you are trespassing on their territory and you must pay a levy of five objects from your backpack or face the consequences.

If you wish to give them what they want
If you would rather spit on the ground in reply and fight them

(One pre-emptive offer to pay them, nothing else so far. I'll wait a bit.)
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Pay up.
Starmaker
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Post by Starmaker »

Sure, give them random trash.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Treat all the items in your pack as single objects, including each Gold piece. Make the necessary deductions to your Equipment List.

(One suggestion to pay them 5 GP, and one to pay them random trash. I kind of think it would be funny to give them the map we don't need anymore, the Silver Key to the crypt we already looted bare, the 2 maggoty biscuits, and the silver box that shoots out poison gas whenever opened, but it doesn't actually matter what you give them.)

The BANDIT woman takes the items from you and steps back to let you pass. You head north again and soon notice the trees beginning to thin out on either side of the path. Eventually the path leads out of the trees into a plowed field. You are out of Darkwood Forest!
Image
The path leads through the field to a stone bridge over a clear stream. Beyond the bridge are the small cottages and wooden huts of a village. A sign on the bridge reads 'Stonebridge.' You cross the bridge and see two old dwarfs with long white beards standing by a cottage looking at you. (Dick possesses both the hammer head and the handle with the letter G inscribed in them.)

You walk up to the old dwarfs and ask them to take you to Gillibran. They eye you suspiciously but agree to do so, commenting on your wounds and torn clothing. 'You got those in Darkwood Forest I presume,' says one of the dwarfs, pointing at various gashes on your body with his long clay pipe. 'Some people never learn. Adventurers are all the same. I can't see the sense in it myself.'

You walk through the village behind the two dwarfs and are aware of many dwarfish folk watching you. They begin to follow you and a procession builds up behind. There are lots of mutterings and whispers amongst the crowd of dwarfs and expectant looks show on their faces. Soon you arrive at the foot of stone steps leading up to a stone building. Outside the building on an ornate wooden throne sits a small old man with a long beard. He is wearing a crown but looks miserable and holds his head in his hands. You run up the steps, taking the hammer head and handle from your backpack. At the sight of them the old dwarf's eyes light up and he jumps to his feet. Taking them eagerly from you he starts to shout 'My hammer! My hammer! We are saved. Now, my people, we are ready to fight the trolls.'

The whole crowd erupts into cheering, waving their axes and swords in the air. You tell Gillibran of Bigleg's misfortune and why you decided to continue his quest, and of all of the monsters you have encountered on your way. Gillibran listens and frowns at the news of Bigleg his faithful servant. Then he opens a drawer in the base of the throne and reaches into it, pulling out a small silver box and a golden winged helmet, and hands them to you. The helmet is worth hundreds of Gold Pieces and you proudly place it on your head. A great roar of approval comes from the crowd. You open the silver box and find dozens of jewels and gems. You put these in your backpack and wave to the happy dwarfs of Stonebridge. Your quest is over and you are now wealthy beyond your wildest dreams.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

OK, so this is finished. Questions, comments, concerns?
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
Starmaker
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Post by Starmaker »

The local post office did spring house cleaning and found the box of gamebooks and, when I came back with a retroactive bribe, talozin's gift.
Unfortunately, I ended up not having the Sorcery slipcase because I didn't win it on ebay (and forgot that I hadn't). Crap.
So, Forest of Doom. Aside from the obvious bullshit we encountered, it's actually decent, but it aged badly conceptually. It may be innovative as #3 in the series and thematically fresh for 1983, but the former only matters for the history of the art type (US Steve will do it properly in Scorpion Swamp) and the forest crawl has been done better countless times in media that became universally accessible over the years.

Even then, the book has a measure of naive/nostalgic charm. The magic shop at the starting location was a staple of (shitty amateur) gamebooks I wrote and read as a kid, and it worked on the same guess-what's-coming principle. A much better implementation of the same device is an item selection that changes one's available tactic and opens up alternate routes. I like that Yaztromo isn't a dick. (I like the Gnome, too. Chill dude is chill.)

I don't think the Scorpion Swamp-style grid is mandatory and I don't mind being lost in a forest, but if the choices of direction are to be meaningful, the directions should be at the very least correct and consistent.

The most bizarre location, whole scene is surreal in its (intentional?) noninteractivity, is entirely optional: there's an underground cavern populated by "clones" - hairless humanoids who grow mushrooms and "possess no will of their own" due to being "clones" - they serve an invincible mind-controlling fire demon, but the reason for their mindlessness is specifically Ian Livingstone's apparent prejudice against asexual reproduction. This cloning nonsense pisses me off more than it normally should because the main character, who's explicitly motivated by gold and magic items, has the option to become king of the clones after destroying the physical form of the demon - which is a trap option, lololol demon possesses you, game over - and if the demon was the source of mindlessness, rather than some pseudoscientific bullshit, the trap would've been significantly less dickish.

Otherwise, straight-up death is actually rare, which is commendable; failed item checks tend to lead to stamina/luck/provision loss (except anti-poison and holy water - never leave home without them).

The book has thieving brown-skinned Pygmies in grass skirts with bones through their noses, because 1980s. On the other hand, the bandit lady is a plus.

There's this weird practice of punishing assorted failure, including being nice to "evil" people such as the rival dorf or a witch, with luck loss. Losing to Quin the arm-wrestler, for example, costs an item or 10 gold pieces AND 2 LUCK, and you don't get told the Armband of Strength exists at all (it's won in an encounter, not sold at Yaztromo's, so the player can't go "oh shit, I didn't buy it so I better not participate") - or the terms of the challenge - until you irrevokably accept it. (Winning it the normal way requires succeeding on a skill check three times out of three).

Paragraph content varies from ultra-compact, with aggression, battle, looting and a new choice of direction together in a single entry, to obvious padding such as the victory over a gremlin and a choice to look at its belongings all by itself in a separate paragraph. Other than directions, though, no instances of wtf editing jumped at me.

Some nice items are of limited use and even that is underwhelming. The witch's lie detection amulet which comes with a name (The Eye of Amber) and a poem is used to avoid being extorted by a guy who tells people he's an evil wizard so they should fork over cash and items. Meeting him is completely optional, and he caves in to a single challenge. (UK Steve would have turned the amulet into an opportunity to subtract numbers in conversations throughout the book.)

The book could have benefitted from some state-saving techniques. Codewords haven't been invented yet, but "note that you have met X on your character sheet" could have served fine to both cut down on underwhelming items and make unfriendly NPCs do more than penalize Luck (breaking that vase without a potion of Stillness? An Earth Elemental gets out, no fight, -3 Luck for no reason and we never see it again).

I don't find the immersion-breaking full reset of the new game+ inherently bad for the game, but holy shot that luck test was stupid, and Yaztromo should really stock up on some healing.
Mr Shine
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Post by Mr Shine »

Would you guys be interested in doing an LP of #18 "Rebel Planet" run by me? It's IMHO the best Sci-fi based FF, although that's not too much of a high bar. It has a couple of 'correct blind choice or die' and 'roll well or die' points, but none that will keep you chugging along and screw you over much later.
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Post by Starmaker »

Mr Shine wrote:Would you guys be interested in doing an LP of #18 "Rebel Planet" run by me? It's IMHO the best Sci-fi based FF, although that's not too much of a high bar. It has a couple of 'correct blind choice or die' and 'roll well or die' points, but none that will keep you chugging along and screw you over much later.
...people probably unsubscribed from the thread once the LP ended. I can't speak for everyone else, but I'd be interested.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I'd be interested as well.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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