Gamebook store

Sunday 27 October 2013

Time's running out

"'Ere, mush, have a shufty at this little bargain. Nice, eh? It's a Kickstarter for Way of the Tiger, and you don't get many of them to a tenner. Only got a few days left on the clock, an' all, so you better get moving. Me? I'm an Old One, aren't I? Yeah, an Old One running a shop. What's wrong with that, then? Gotta make a living, en't I? I've got some nice elder things here if you're interested. Knick-knacks yer granny would love - if she's a freakin' Innsmouth mutant, that is, har har. Oh, that Lovecraft geezer, 'e gave us Old Ones such a bad press, you'd think we was all monsters, eh? Talking of 'love crafts' and that, if you want to step around back I've even got a shaggoth. Yes, I said shaggoth. 'Ere, who you callin' a perversion..?"

OK, I don't know what an Old One is doing in Way of the Tiger either. A lot of dope got smoked in the eighties. To many gamebook writers, the decade is a complete blur. Luckily, in these much sharper times you're unlikely to zone out Cheech and Chong style and miss the closing hours of the WOTT Kickstarter campaign. Still, best not take any chances. It really would be an unnameable horror to wake up on Friday and realize you failed to secure your very own gorgeous colour hardback edition. And after all, it's only a few squid.

11 comments:

  1. Oh snap, an OLD ONE.

    NOW I get it.

    Amazing what can get lost in translation, especially in books targeted at young boys.

    Luckily, Italy these days is catching up, but I wouldn't be surprised if this reference slipped past even today's translators...

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    1. Were they actually described as Old Ones in the English versions of the books, Efrem? Could be that Mark Smith just borrowed Lovecraft's idea of squid-headed monsters without importing all the Cthulhu mythos to go with it. I understand Orb has more of a D&D pantheon with multiple gods aligned with "good", "evil", "law", and so on. Lovecraft's vision was of a far less cosy universe!

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    2. Well, the book actually describes that creature as an Old One, a race of creatures "responsible for much of the evil that is in Orb". I could't imagine a more explicit reference... :)

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    3. Yep, that's D&D for you. Nothing is safe from appropriation ;-)

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    4. The whole point of Lovecraft's mythos is that it goes beyond the comforting human notions of good and evil. Mankind lives in a hostile universe populated by immeasurably more powerful beings who care nothing for our species. It was only after Lovecraft's death that August Derleth started rewriting the Cthulhu mythos as an old-fashioned good v evil scenario. Lovecraft's monsters deserve a better fate than getting put into D&D as 8 hit dice monsters.

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    5. Oh, no argument here. I'm full of admiration for HPL's work, as I said in a post a while back. D&D, on the other hand, strikes me as just a witless mess of derivative fantasy rubbish. Alignment is a concept for people who can't roleplay and have an Arcturan's idea of human nature. *Everything* deserves a better fate than getting put into D&D!

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  2. Off topic, I've been unsuccessfully trying to get hold of the audiobook version of Dark Lord: the Teenage Years, which you mentioned a few posts back, for days. Sadly, the AudioGo website has been semi-out-of-order since Saturday, at least (no checkout). Frustrating.

    I'll persevere with AudioGo - it's still a lovely price in comparison to getting the book through iTunes (helluva difference). I was really hoping to get hold of it by Thursday, though, so that Jamie could accompany me on my big weekly commute along various Paris train lines...

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    1. It's certainly worth getting, Paul. Jamie's narration is actually even better than reading the book - and that's saying something. Surprising that iTunes is so much more expensive, though.

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  3. You can get it here Paul! I think audiogo have actually gone bust, but Audible (another audio book company, owned by Amazon) now have it. Somehow :-). Something going on in the background. Anyway, get it here, though unfortunately more expensive now.

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Lord-Teenage-Years-Unabridged/dp/B00E7WQIE4/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383123745&sr=1-4&keywords=dark+lord+the+teenage+years

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    1. Audiogo went bust? I thought they were a division of the BBC!

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    2. They were, but were hived off to run on their own. Hence....

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