tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post1193232882856817360..comments2024-03-28T21:13:53.845+00:00Comments on Fabled Lands: The Keeper of the Seven KeysDave Morrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-89711855228010224092014-05-02T20:23:10.823+01:002014-05-02T20:23:10.823+01:00"It will be realized that entries make no sen..."It will be realized that entries make no sense if read in numerical order..." You were warned!Paltoguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00961821462981797028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-34052089588166804772014-05-02T14:58:00.515+01:002014-05-02T14:58:00.515+01:00Yes, it's all flooding back now. I wasn't ...Yes, it's all flooding back now. I wasn't specifically thinking of the infamous, unbeatable mudworm that appears right at the beginning - I was thinking more of the book's mechanic that you have pick up codewords as you go along (à la Fabled Lands and various others)... except that if you were travelling along the 'victorious' route, the codewords formed a sentence in their own right that gave you an extra, secret option towards the end of the book. Fiendish, fiendish gameplay.<br /><br />I read an interview with Paul Mason somewhere where he said that with The Crimson Tide he set out to write the most difficult Fighting Fantasy book ever. If so, he succeeded. After much frustration, I once sat and read every single paragraph in the book, in order, cover to cover, trying to figure out how to reach the book's victorious conclusion. I still didn't find it. That devilish, secret option really was well hidden. <br /><br />Had no idea that Paul Mason shared an RPG pedigree with yourself, Jamie and Mark Smith, however. Ah, yet more trivia to store up in my brain.<br /><br />Just glancing through a few reviews of The Crimson Tide, by the way, I don't think the adventure took place in Hachiman. But that country certainly gets a name check. Some marauding baddies from that country appear, or somesuch.Paul Grestyhttp://pwgresty.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-10504455882122248762014-05-02T11:25:51.214+01:002014-05-02T11:25:51.214+01:00And how could I forget, Ed Jolley has given it one...And how could I forget, Ed Jolley has given it one of his always-interesting reviews also:<br /><br />http://myadventuresendhere.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/men-shall-die-for-this.htmlDave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-46008366770697978382014-05-02T11:23:29.423+01:002014-05-02T11:23:29.423+01:00Btw some reviews of The Crimson Tide. The mudworm ...Btw some reviews of The Crimson Tide. The mudworm that kills everyone was apparently added by the ferocious android himself, editor Marc Gascoigne:<br /><br />http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=91<br /><br />http://www.mrsgiggles.com/gamebooks/mason_tide.html<br /><br />("Makes Jonathan Green look like a benevolent fairy godmother." Lol - always get smashingly written reviews from Mrs Giggles.)Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-87123501190698736012014-05-02T11:18:18.959+01:002014-05-02T11:18:18.959+01:00And... The Crimson Tide was written by Paul Mason,...And... The Crimson Tide was written by Paul Mason, who played Karunaz, bodyguard to Jamie's Baron Jadhak, in our Tekumel campaign. Karunaz appeared in one of the Blood Sword books IIRC, and Jadhak's closest ally in the campaign was General Tlangten hiSsanyusa, played by Mark Smith, creator of Orb.<br /><br />Well, you did mention trivia, Paul!<br /><br />If there are any similarities between Hachiman (wtf, btw!) and Akatsurai they are purely coincidental, as I based the latter's Japanese elements on the culture and ghost stories of the Heian Period, whereas I bet the influences in FF are Muromachi and Edo. Just a hunch based on the bits of Japanese history that role-players & gamebook authors tend to cherry-pick ;-)Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-66952660763547145412014-05-02T09:43:47.100+01:002014-05-02T09:43:47.100+01:00"I don't think Jamie is any more familiar..."I don't think Jamie is any more familiar with the official FF world than I am. All his books in the series were set in Orb."<br /><br />False! Ah-hah! 'Sword of the Samurai' was set in the land of Hachiman - which, being in one of the earlier FF books, was soon integrated into the canoncial world setting. As part of the continent of Khul. Being essentially set in a fantasy version of feudal Japan, it was really, really similar to some parts of Orb, or even Akatsurai. I'm guessing a bit of cut-and-paste went on with the setting. <br /><br />I think the land of Hachiman did show up in another FF book many years later, 'The Crimson Tide' - probably the hardest, most frustrating gamebook I've ever played. That's not a good point.<br /><br />Man, I've memorised a lot of gamebook trivia in my life.Paul Grestyhttp://pwgresty.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-19770098011081869442014-04-29T23:42:22.655+01:002014-04-29T23:42:22.655+01:00Jamie and I left Eidos before we got the opportuni...Jamie and I left Eidos before we got the opportunity to develop it further. I was adapting it anyway to be a "design a crime for a friend to solve" game rather than the original concept of a dungeon built to a points limit. But I'm sure somebody must have released a game like that in the intervening two decades!Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-75452499867774738042014-04-29T19:55:50.785+01:002014-04-29T19:55:50.785+01:00The really interesting bit in this post is the Dun...The really interesting bit in this post is the Dungeon Builder game. Did that ever get released?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-85674825157719042292014-04-28T17:04:40.453+01:002014-04-28T17:04:40.453+01:00Hmmm...Hmmm...Paltoguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00961821462981797028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-59426485646340910702014-04-28T15:32:56.314+01:002014-04-28T15:32:56.314+01:00You mean Blood of the Zombies wasn't enough fo...You mean Blood of the Zombies wasn't enough for ya? :-)Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-37390841849870835092014-04-28T15:21:03.982+01:002014-04-28T15:21:03.982+01:00Glad you like it! How about you & Jamie, IL &a...Glad you like it! How about you & Jamie, IL & SJ, and Tin Man get together and create a brand new FF app of it?!<br /><br />I know, I know, it's never going to happen, but wouldn't it be good if it did. Some new, high-quality, app-based, original FF adventures would be very welcome.<br /><br />I'll see what I can do about updating the Wiki page if someone hasn't beaten me to it already.Paltoguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00961821462981797028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-19748859874897581592014-04-27T20:13:31.250+01:002014-04-27T20:13:31.250+01:00Btw the FF wiki could do with an update on those &...Btw the FF wiki could do with an update on those "lost" gamebooks. I've written up a lot of them on this blog, but most of the links are broken:<br />http://fightingfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Unpublished_Fighting_Fantasy_GamebooksDave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-86920489050601220552014-04-27T20:11:47.608+01:002014-04-27T20:11:47.608+01:00Even though I'm not at all familiar with the F...Even though I'm not at all familiar with the FF world, I got a kick out of reading your great article, Paltogue. <br /><br />And how about other FF fans out there - would anyone else like to weigh in on this question?Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-26958697168282016282014-04-27T13:50:11.022+01:002014-04-27T13:50:11.022+01:00OK, so for a bit of fun, and as a response to Jami...OK, so for a bit of fun, and as a response to Jamie's tweet about the location of Arkand in the Fighting Fantasy world, I've done a blog post suggesting where it might have been had Seven Keys become an FF gamebook. We can only dream!<br /><br />http://worldoffightingfantasy.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/where-on-titan-is-arkand.htmlPaltoguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00961821462981797028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-50436061475136586142014-04-27T10:59:46.148+01:002014-04-27T10:59:46.148+01:00Novels are definitely the focus of Jamie's and...Novels are definitely the focus of Jamie's and my company, Steve - as you can read about in this post from just a few weeks back:<br />http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-wrong-side-of-galaxy-and-eternal.html<br /><br />The Dark Lord books derive from the same interests and inspirations that led us to come up with The Keeper of the Seven Keys, and in fact we're considering turning it into a gamebook, app or boardgame (or all three) with Dirk Lloyd taking the place of Karabane.<br /><br />Meantime, my own personal focus these days is comics and interactive fiction - not necessarily at the same time. Having worked as both a professional writer and game designer, I'd like to do more with interactive stories, which suffer from being technical exercises more often than compelling entertainment - with some notable exceptions. So that's probably the direction I'll explore. Things like Blood Sword and Fabled Lands really are just spare-time projects for the fans.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-51522358677590070022014-04-27T08:24:17.022+01:002014-04-27T08:24:17.022+01:00Hi Dave,
Great post! How about turning it into a n...Hi Dave,<br />Great post! How about turning it into a novel ? Generally speaking, do you have any plans to release (fantasy) novels in the near future or will you focus essentially in gamebook-related projects such as Blood Sword ? Thanks.<br /><br />Best regards, Steve<br />Stevenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-38069882198123025622014-04-26T15:05:03.856+01:002014-04-26T15:05:03.856+01:00I don't think Jamie is any more familiar with ...I don't think Jamie is any more familiar with the official FF world than I am. All his books in the series were set in Orb. The exception was Keep of the Lich Lord, but IIRC we just made up all our own characters and places (Chaideshu was Jack Bramah's character in our Tekumel campaign, for example) and one of the Puffin editors, probably Marc Gascoigne, suggested where it could all fit into their setting.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-22307431133684909522014-04-26T13:39:15.602+01:002014-04-26T13:39:15.602+01:00Fair enough, I suspected that might the answer! If...Fair enough, I suspected that might the answer! If Jamie has any thoughts, I'd be interested to know.Paltoguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00961821462981797028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-44588358572438804702014-04-26T13:08:43.524+01:002014-04-26T13:08:43.524+01:00I'm wondering why we never tried to work it in...I'm wondering why we never tried to work it into the Fabled Lands series. Probably because those were all about open-structured, multi-quest adventures, but we could at least have used a variant on the core concept to deal with an attack on the player's stronghold or something. Just to try out the idea, really.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-80629288643385494502014-04-26T13:07:05.162+01:002014-04-26T13:07:05.162+01:00It would have been hard to do as a gamebook, but I...It would have been hard to do as a gamebook, but I think we could have pulled it off. I wish Puffin had taken a punt on it, as Jamie and I really wanted to write it - which probably explains why we didn't take no for an answer first time. We could still do it as a boardgame or an app, mind you.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-91843958153323632902014-04-26T13:04:50.174+01:002014-04-26T13:04:50.174+01:00Btw, while Ian and Steve often picked names from p...Btw, while Ian and Steve often picked names from people they worked with or their holiday destinations, and I generally used character names from my role-playing games, I really don't know where Jamie and I plucked Chemco from! Must have been struggling for inspiration that day.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-29630027945229826002014-04-25T21:23:43.378+01:002014-04-25T21:23:43.378+01:00I don't even know what Khul is, I'm afraid...I don't even know what Khul is, I'm afraid, though I'm guessing it's a continent in the Fighting Fantasy "world of Alan" :-)Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-35636922648859912802014-04-25T14:58:26.165+01:002014-04-25T14:58:26.165+01:00This is brilliant, Dave, and should have happened!...This is brilliant, Dave, and should have happened! What an amazing addition to FF it could have been.<br /><br />I don't suppose you would offer an opinion as to where in Khul the Tower of Doom, Arkand, Sariandor, Kelados and Fernor might be? I've always fancied the large (undocumented) area between Hachiman and Corda in the east of the continent, where we might expect people with such varied names as Chemcho, Fudoshin, Morgesh, Hsao and Kalara to co-occur.Paltoguehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00961821462981797028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-4306205999109780722014-04-25T12:48:06.017+01:002014-04-25T12:48:06.017+01:00Sounds amazing would have loved to have played it ...Sounds amazing would have loved to have played it a nice twist on the Fighting Fantasy adventuresRob Barbernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2141372262111342844.post-85883784022112622142014-04-25T11:30:20.289+01:002014-04-25T11:30:20.289+01:00That sounds awesome. I can imagine this as an iPad...That sounds awesome. I can imagine this as an iPad game and being lots of fun. Although the book sounds cool too!James O'Gradyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06293956084685099045noreply@blogger.com