A recent comment by Pierre Millet set me to thinking we need a medal for gamebook readers who play all the way through to the grand finale of the Vulcanverse series. Especially this:
"It still amazes me to think that, after all these hours, there are parts in these books I haven’t found a way to explore. No idea how to open that strange door in the mountains. No idea how to gain the Ooze or Oxen codewords. I saw my brother mentioned in entries I shouldn’t have read and I still scratch my head when I think of it. As for the Murmillo, I only saw him mentioned in the final battle."
My idea is that anyone who earns the medal can get talking with other champions of the Vulcanverse and compare notes on how their experience differed. Did you travel in time? Were you made Queen of the Amazons? Did you sail across the Ocean of Night or enter the land of dreams? Were you the heir of a wealthy noble family? Have you set foot on Mount Olympus or the plains of Troy? Did you get to battle a god? All of those are possible in the books depending on the choices you make.
There are many paths to the end of the Vulcanverse campaign, and multiple different endings too. If you succeed in reaching any of them, feel free to display the medal and share your experience with other Vulcanverse veterans.
Not got started yet? Create your first Vulcanverse character here.
Thank you very much for this topic, Dave ! It’s true that I’d love to share found memories from this trip !
ReplyDeleteI assume from your previous answers that every worshipped God gives access to specific quests (hence the « brother » storyline when you worship Ares). Am I right ? If so, having chosen Athena, I can’t remember which part of the story was exclusively related to her…
During the big finale, I climbed on the flying ship through the night… and to the first dawn ! I chose not to kill Daedalus – I admit I cheated, cause I couldn’t bear to have destroyed a whole family by doing so (yes, I can’t help being stupidly loyal-good in every roleplaying-game : no way I could do assassins' or even thieves’ quests in Skyrim, and in Vulcanverse, I was (to say the less) a great disappointment to Zinc.)
Being a heir of the mansion was really great, with all those visitors popping their head (yes, you’ve guessed right : I’ve been too kind with the disinherinted girl…)
By « travelling in time », do you refer to the Euphorbos quest ?
I’m puzzled to read about Olympus or Troy warfields, both of which I never saw, no ever heard of while playing !
My quest ended with the last paragraph of book V, which I thought was the « main end ». But now, I’m doubting !... :)
Another great memory : I was really helped in my battle against Nyx by the Eye of Hyperion (and what a trick it was to find this ! one of the best « hidden passage » I’ve ever read – bloody catapult !)
There are actually two places where you can travel in time, Pierre. One is the Euphorbus quest, the other involves the scrimshaw hourglass that you might get from Galatea, though it's only needed if you fail to escape from the roof of Vulcan's palace.
ReplyDeleteI do think of the final section of book 5 as the best ending, but others (some of them less heroic and "lawful good") are possible.
Was the title of this article inspired by a Bonnie Tyler song Dave? Cos now I can't get that song out of my head!
ReplyDeleteI'd rather have gone with Bowie, Nick, but "just for one day" wouldn't be nearly long enough to play Vulcanverse!
DeleteYou might need to consider a silver medal for those who complete it with an element of cheating, Dave, or a rosette perhaps! As brilliant as the books are, I'm not convinced I have the patience threshold to complete them otherwise. I've completed a few of the 12 tasks at least, which were actually in Jamie's books. I don't know whether that's because his have more self-contained quests? Another problem is my rubbish note taking! Especially if dropping off the books for a few days. My only minor quibbles I think others have either mentioned here or on Amazon reviews, being the limitation on equipment carrying and requirement to return to the storage area. Possibly the (admittedly few) complete reset death endings weren't required either. But I'm sounding negative. The writing is brilliant, from both of you. Definitely some of, if not your best work. It's just I may have to break my own house rule of leaving a review before finishing something, otherwise you may never get one. At least not this side of Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI do fear we may have given readers as arduous of a set of labours as Hercules himself, Andy. Feel free to cheat if you must -- one way several players have mentioned is writing the location numbers on the maps so you don't have to walk all the way back all the time, though I will say there are things to be found in those out-of-the-way places, especially depending on which companion is with you. But if you do a review you can have the gold medal anyway!
DeleteLocation numbers on maps makes sense, Dave. I used the same idea 20 years ago, writing cost code numbers against a narrative field as a workaround to a clunky NHS system!
DeleteWhat you completely nailed with Vulcanverse by the way is 'atmosphere'. With a nod to Nick's comment, perhaps more Joy Division than Russ Abbot.
Funnily enough, Andy, Jamie and I thought about doing Fabled Lands that way, with numbers on the map and random encounter tables for road and river travel. It would have made for more economical text but perhaps we decided it would look too much like an RPG and that would put gamebook readers off.
DeleteMaybe I should come up with a soundtrack list for Vulcanverse. I know the albums for Dragon Warriors (Clannad's Legend, for one) and Heart of Ice even has its own unique soundtrack by Krzysztof Dziemski... but I never thought about VV. (Don't say Demis Roussos!)
I've been looking up music videos of my favourite songs recently, Dave, and been surprised by the amount I've never seen before. Check out Genetic Engineering by OMD. That's your prologue.
DeleteI've left reviews on Amazon for the Vulcanverse books, Dave. Amazon in their wisdom seem to have deleted my review of The Hammer of the Sun from a few years ago, so your guess is as good as mine whether that one ever appears. Pity. 'Hammer Time' would have made a good title.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andy. That missing review is a mystery -- unless you've been saying scathing things about Amazon while Alexa is listening?
DeleteMy technology isn't that advanced, Dave! There must be some gremlin in the system though, as Amazon have rejected The Hammer of the Sun review but seemingly allowed all the others, despite the fact all reviews are the same. Oh well, four out of five isn't bad. Reviews successfully submitted that is, not the star rating I gave the books!
DeleteYou had me worried for a moment there, Andy, though really I should be grateful for 4 out of 5 scores too! I confess to talking to Alexa occasionally, but only via the TV remote. My wife wouldn't allow it to listen in on us all the time.
DeleteI think I deserve a bronze award. I made it to the big finale but I couldn't make those skill checks. Turns out there was heaps of stuff I missed. I couldn't even get my rank up to 14 to enter a specific building, and I feel like almost half of book 5 was quest resolutions from the previous 4 books. That being said, I played the first 4 approximately a year ago and hadn't taken many notes so I may have forgotten a lot. Still a fantastic series! I think a house rules random encounter chart for each book could add some more danger to the travels, and if I ever give the series another run I might try adding more combats because the fast travel options are pretty much pointless except for one (the catapult). I get the feeling you anticipated more combat at first and that's why there's so many fast travel options?
ReplyDeleteI'll have to ask Jamie about that as his books have the most fast-travel options. I think he probably thought travel by catapult (etc) would be less tedious than walking, whereas I tried to include lots of stuff that would happen on the way. Btw if you didn't get to use Daedalus's intangibugs then you missed the most fun kind of rapid transit. Anyway, wear your bronze medal with pride and I hope you give the series another go at some point.
Delete