Swordquest

RANKINGS

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1. Quest for the Unicorn's Horn - Score = 5.5    Tier = OK

Attempts to beat: 2

So I begin this new series not really knowing what to expect having never heard of this back in the 80's and found the first book to be decent if nothing special. With a section count of just over 100, it's a bit on the shorter side as gamebooks go but it's a longer read than you might expect as many of the sections go on for numerous pages. The story here sees us playing as Talien (or maybe not?), a young man who has just taken over as the Kuven, or leader, of his village upon the death of his father. He is thrown into the deep end right away as after repelling an attack by Ogres he is summoned to meet the King of the land who must approve of his appointment as Kuven before it can become official. Court intrigue and politicking follow and he eventually finds himself a suspect in the poisoning of the King and must attempt to clear his name by obtaining the one item that can save the dying ruler.....the horn of a unicorn! The only known place one of these rare items may exist is deep in the territory of the Darklord (not a very original creation there I must say) and thus begins the meat of his quest.

The rules section initially makes it seem like the game aspect of the adventure will be fairly involved with 7 stats to track (Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, Charisma, and Hit Points). Rolling 3 x D6 to determine all these attributes can leave you with quite a wide range of strengths and weaknesses. Any one of these stats could then be tested during the adventure by rolling 3 x D6 to see if you pass or fail. I never came across any sections that resulted in instant death if you failed a stat check however, usually only suffering some minor penalty such as a loss of a few Hit Points or loss of a couple of gold pieces. You also have the ability to carry a maximum of 5 magical items so you might have to decide what to leave behind if you eventually come across more than that number which made for some interesting decisions near the end of the quest when you find a loaded treasure hoard.

However, all these stats really didn't seem to come into play all that much and the adventure only contains a handful of combats. This latter point might have been for the better though because the way combat works, giving you the stats of your enemy which shows what number you need to roll with 3 x D6 to hit them and what number they need to roll to hit you, made for a lot of dice rolling to decide the outcome as the numbers given are generally set pretty high for what needs to be rolled to hit. I started to picture my opponent and myself wildly flailing away as we both continually rolled under the required number time and time again. Various weapons can do different amounts of damage though should you hit which was interesting and your magical weapons can give you a +1 or +2 modifier to the number you need to roll in order to hit your opponent depending on which weapon you are using but even this didn't seem to make much difference as I spent a good portion of the combats frequently having no damage done by either me or my enemy round after round. This could have been intentional though to highlight how skilled everyone is when it comes to defending?   

As the cover states, the book is suitable for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, I guess with the plan being that you are able to import your own AD&D characters into this adventure. The book also seems to be implying you can just make up your own characters and magical items on the spot if you so choose. There is a huge problem with all this though as the book also comes with a pre-generated character (Talien) who is actually the main character of the story. Because the book is told from Talien's point of view complete with his own memories, experiences, backstory and running commentary, it would make playing as some other character quite jarring and maybe even nonsensical. 

The pre-generated stats for the Talien character also probably contribute to making the book a bit too easy. Rolling 3 x D6 to determine initial values, you would expect a character to have an average of about 10-11 for the attributes. Talien's stats however range from a low of 11 (Charisma) to a high of 16 (Constitution) along with the sky high 20 Hit Points he starts with. This allows you to pass most of the stat checks no problem and maybe this was the intent of using the Talien character but I'm guessing people could import their own creations that would be even more powerful than he is. There are also no insta-deaths that I came across (my only death coming from a huge Worm that killed me in combat) which just further served to lessen any tension that otherwise may have been created by the skill checks. 

There is not really a lot of impactful decisions to be made here either as seemingly no matter what you choose to do you end up at the same section either way a couple of page turns later. Basically the decisions you make determine if you take any damage or obtain a special item, then you meet back up at the same section regardless and continue on your way forward through the story. As such, it has that "twig swept along a mighty river" feel that many of the more linear gamebooks have. To be fair though, this adventure advertises itself as a "Fantasy Role-Playing Adventure Novel" and not a gamebook and it definitely reads that way. I'm reviewing this from the standpoint of a gamebook player though so the game aspect will factor heavily in my review regardless of the books' intention. Fortunately, there is just enough game here to make me feel like I did indeed play a gamebook. Also, completely generic "Darklord" bad guy aside, the story is actually pretty interesting and author Bill Fawcett's writing and characterization is quite good. Sadly, only a couple of suspects are given as to who could have poisoned the King and it's not really too hard to guess the culprit. While figuring that mystery out isn't really part of the quest it seems like a pretty big missed opportunity. 

There are also some strange choices for the maps which are included in the adventure. The introduction of the book includes a map of the kingdom, which is welcome and to be expected. However, it also includes a map of the final cavern section of the quest. Why is this here? How would Talien have access to this knowledge? It also removes a bit of the wonderment of exploring as you now can see ahead of time which rooms you are approaching and how close you are to your ultimate goal. There is also a map given within the pages of the adventure itself which provides the layout of a room at an inn (complete with the location of the beds) where you stay for one night and are attacked by an assassin while you try to sleep. This just stood out to me as a very odd inclusion. 

Ranking: This adventure sort of reminded me of "Prisoners of Pax Tharkas" from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons series (go figure) except with a better plot and better writing as it's more about the story than the game. The numerous statistical attributes feel kind of wasted and it left me wishing it took better advantage of its set up and game system. Still, it was a decent experience if perhaps a bit too easy for my taste. 

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2. Quest for the Dragon's Eye - Score = 5.8    Tier = OK

Attempts to beat: 4

Set in the same world as the first book (and including some of the very same characters from that story), this adventure sees us playing as Cedd, a former thief who decided to try and make a better life for himself by giving up his criminal ways to become a member of the Terverni City Guard instead. He has risen up the ranks quickly it seems as he is now the second in command to the leader of his group, Lord Durr. The generic but mostly unexplained "Darklord" from the first book returns with a scheme to unleash a demon that would destroy the land due to its destructive nature. When the story opens, the demon is being held in check in the city of Terverni by a group of wizards who have it confined within a pentagram. They can only keep it contained for so long though and with their strength waning, they need someone to retrieve the titular Dragon's Eye, a magical ruby containing the soul of the demon, located within the Temple of the Dragon in the eastern desert of the kingdom. So of course Cedd's master, Lord Durr, offers to take his group of ten warriors on this near suicidal mission to retrieve the gem. In an interesting bit of motivation, he does this not out of a sense of duty, but because he wishes to get out of town to avoid having to marry what I can only assume is his girlfriend, the annoying Lady Valencia. I wonder how his soldiers felt knowing his reasons for consigning them to almost certain death. Cmon Durr! Ive heard of  "bros before hos" before but this is ridiculous! 

Overall though, I found the story in this book to be more entertaining than the first along with some very well done encounters in the form of Endrien (a beautiful maiden you meet in the Temple of the Dragon), an Ice Dragon, a Red Dragon, and the final Demon itself of course. Even the Lizardmen you encounter were given some personality and life. The Ice Dragon also has a bit of a Smaug vibe about him (although not nearly as psychotic) as Cedd gets into some word play with the creature in order to extricate himself from its lair. That all being said, Cedd tends to come off as a bit of an idiot (I guess reflected in his low score of 9 for Wisdom). The fact he doesn't suspect the truth behind the mysterious Endrien character for so long had me wondering just how he managed to survive as long as he did. Not to mention how he inadvertently summons not one but TWO Demons (different ones from the main Demon) near the end of the quest, almost getting his travelling companion party of elves killed in the process. Oops! Heh-heh. Sorry fellas!

What I thought was another improvement from the first book is the combats. While the combat system remains the same from the first book, the number of fights here have been increased considerably as there seemed to be twice as many included. True, the majority of them are a bit on the easy side once Cedd acquires a magical +2 longsword, however there are a couple of hairy ones prior to this where you fight some decently powered foes in the form of the Imp and later a Lizardman. A notable exception to the overall ease of the combats occurs in the Demon fight around the campfire near the end of the book. This really dialed up the difficulty all of a sudden compared to what came previous and I was actually impressed by how well this fight seemed to be balanced without just giving you both equal stats. Even with your +2 sword, the Demon still has a slightly better chance of hitting you. On the other hand, you can (possibly) do more damage if you hit him thanks to the +2 sword. On the other hand, the Demon gets two attacks (one with claws and one with its bite) for each round while you only get one. On the other hand, you can begin with almost twice as many Hit Points as him. It took me 3 tries to beat him but I was struck by how close each fight was. After beating the book, I was curious so I replayed the fight 7 more times and ultimately ended with a record of 5-5 over the 10 total fights with almost all of them being very close. I have no idea if that ratio would hold over a much larger sample size but Id be interested to see if the long term odds of winning this fight would be similar. 

Once again though we are provided a map at the front of the book of a later area we will be traversing (the caverns beneath the Temple this time) and once again this serves to rob this area of a lot of its tension. Gee, I wonder if an Ice Dragon will be coming up? Also unfortunately, the game design here can be a bit on the sloppy side at times. Just a few examples I came across:

-At the very beginning of the adventure you find yourself in a fight against an Imp. Loss in this fight does not mean the end of the adventure. If you lose the fight you lose a Strength point but also have your Hit Points set back to the maximum.  However, if you WIN the fight you do not recover any Hit Points and I'm not sure why. I defeated the Imp on my first playthrough with 5 Hit Points remaining and despite travelling uneventfully for days over the next several sections and presumably getting food and rest over that time, I never recovered any points. The uneven recovery of Hit Points (or Stamina points if you will) in gamebooks is starting to grind my gears. 

-At a point near the end of the book, you are told to cross a brooch off your list of magical items. However, you were never told to add this item to your list of 5 magical items that you are allowed to carry when you first acquired it. True, it's clearly a magical brooch, but whenever you pick up any other magic items (including potions) in the adventure, you are specifically told these need to be added to this list. I assumed the reason for the original omission was because the brooch was on Cedd's cloak and not in his bag but now I'm not really sure what the author intended here.   

-There is a somewhat confusing series of events where you find both red and blue potions and can decide to drink one and take the other, or take both, or leave both, or take one at any time then return to whatever section you were on etc. There was absolutely no benefit that I could see from delaying taking the potions as they don't seem to cancel each other out or need to be taken in a specific order so this just seemed needlessly complicated. 

Ranking: It's clear now that this series of books are what they are, more novel than game (section 4 alone is 14 pages!!!) but with enough gameplay elements to keep things interesting. There is also only so much you can do gameplay wise with so few sections (only 98 this time) so unless something drastically changes, it's going to be tough for any of these books to rise above the OK level. This was still quite an enjoyable read though. 

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3. Quest for the Demon Gate - Score = 6.4    Tier = OK

Attempts to beat: 3

This installment in the battle against the Darklord sees us playing as Alynn, a cleric in the order of Cearn who is the god of Shelter and Sanctuary (unless we choose again to use a character of our own creation which I have once more decided against for narrative purposes). The Darklord's scheme this time around is somewhat similar to the previous book, only taken to extremes. In the last adventure, his plan was to unleash a demon upon the land which would cause destruction and chaos and he was eventually foiled thanks to the efforts of the city guardsman Cedd. So I guess he figured if attempting to loose one demon on the world caused the good guys so much trouble, why not try to unleash hundreds if not thousands? To that end, he is attempting to create a "demon gate" within a long deserted abbey located inside his territory. This gate would lead to the ethereal plane where demons reside and would open the floodgates for these evil beings, causing a cataclysmic event of Cthulu-like proportions. So it falls upon Alynn to seek out the deserted abbey and destroy the gate before it becomes fully operational. He is not alone however as accompanying him on the quest is a mysterious voice known only as Rhea and later a beautiful gypsy woman known as Lyla.  

This book is much more of a horror themed adventure as opposed to the first two books. There are some fantasy elements to be sure, but a great deal of the creature encounters are made up of zombies, ghouls, skeletons, mummies, banshees, wraiths, demons and deadly shadows. Full marks to author Bill Fawcett too because this book is very well written. The deserted abbey area of the book is chillingly creepy and his prose regarding the shadows and wraiths, along with his near encyclopedic descriptions of ghouls and their motivations in particular is quite enthralling. There are also a couple of twists along the way (one that I saw coming and one that caught me totally by surprise) and I always wanted to keep reading to see how everything played out. The prologue and very start of the adventure finds the abbey where Alynn resides under siege from zombies who attack every night at midnight (even with the abbey under some form of perpetual darkness). I found myself thinking this idea would be great for a whole adventure which sees the residents of the abbey becoming increasingly desperate as they repel the attacking horde night after night and their numbers dwindle. In this case though, it proves to be just the introduction but it gets the book off to a really strong start.   

Something I found interesting in this opening is that we are told that because Alynn is a cleric, he is forbidden from drawing blood and therefore cannot use a sword or dagger. Nothing in his religion forbids causing massive internal injuries apparently though as the crushing of skulls and shattering of bones is the order of the day thanks to his weapon of choice, a large heavy mace.  

Thanks to us playing as a cleric however, a welcome addition to this book is a magic system. We are provided a list of 9 spells at the start of the adventure such as Heal Wounds, Detect Traps, and the fun Spirit Hammer (a large magical hammer comes down to bonk your opponent) and can choose 3 new spells a day which you then cross off as you use them. You need to be given the option to use them first though and this introduces a bit of strategy and a certain element of trial and error as you try to figure out which spells you have the option to use and where based upon what happened in your previous attempts. Unfortunately though, because like the previous books, this adventure is a bit on the easy side therefore it doesn't take very long before you know exactly what spells you should take. Also, apparently this adventure takes place over only 2 days as you only need to select your 3 spells twice. The spells serve mainly to help you avoid combats should you choose the right one and a third of the spell choices are red herrings as you never even have the option of using them at all. Still, any bit of strategy added is always a good thing.

One thing that can't really be forgiven though is the carryover of some of the sloppiness seen in the last adventure as this book really doesn't seem to have been edited properly. As mentioned above, you are instructed to choose spells from a list at the start of the book. However, it never actually says how many spells you can select! That's a pretty big oversight. It is only when you get to dawn on the second day of the adventure that you learn that the amount is 3. The Heal Wounds spell can also bring some confusion as it's not apparent when you can actually use it. There is also at least one incorrect section reference (section 78 should lead to section 79, NOT section 119) and section 71 seems broken because if you play it exactly as written you will find yourself in an endless loop. Fortunately you should be able to (eventually) figure it all out, but still, these errors can be quite frustrating and it's a shame more care wasn't shown. 

I have enjoyed how all the books in the series so far have tied together, with the story being told from a new character's perspective each time out and showcasing their contributions to thwart the Darklord's latest scheme. The feats of the characters from previous books are mentioned and some of the characters themselves even make cameos. A fair amount of time must have passed between books though as apparently Lord Durr from the second book is now the King, and Talien from the first book is now his first minister. This all makes you feel as if you are part of a larger team with everyone playing their part and stepping up when called upon in order to stave off world domination in sort of a "next man up" progression. 

Ranking: The inclusion of the magic system to add some strategy, basic as it is, along with the very good atmospheric writing and horror themed story help to elevate this as the best book for me in the series so far. It's a bit of shame it wasn't proofread and edited a little better as a few noticeable errors bring it down some and it still leans a little too far to the easy side, but it made for yet another enjoyable read. Overall, Mr Fawcett has upped his game a little bit each time out.   

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4. Quest for the Elf King - Score = 5.0    Tier = OK

Attempts to beat: 5

So, what is that crazy Darklord up to in this week's episode? Well, this time one of his lackeys has somehow managed to put an imposter on the throne of the elf kingdom located deep within the elf wood. The story begins with us exposing this imposter (or should I say Imp-oster?) and removing him from power. However, now we must find out what happened to the real king and if he can be rescued. Playing as Lor, an elf of noble blood, we volunteer to single-handedly seek out the whereabouts of our missing liege and bring him home alive if possible. The book opens fairly well too by providing us a couple of mysteries to solve regarding the identity of a mysterious maiden we meet in the very first section along with what happened to our king. Unfortunately, it quickly sets about to ignore the first one and undermine the second.

Here we are once again back to the practice of providing a map at the front of the book which gives away the layout of an area we will be visiting (again, how would our character know this?). It's even worse this time though as we are provided a map of something called Hammett's Tower. Even more than just letting you know the layout of the tower in advance, in this case it kind of serves to spoil the mystery of the king's abduction. Through the first third of the book we are given a few options to pursue as to who took the king: Blium the leader of the gypsy people, (although the book itself seems to forget about him pretty quickly as an option unfortunately), the Werefolk who live in the north of the forest, or Hammett the illusionist. Hmm, I wonder if it's the guy who has his tower laid out in a map that is the guilty party? For the life of me I have no idea why author Bill Fawcett keeps including these tension ruining maps. 

Regarding the other mystery of the story, Lor is rescued from death at the very opening of the book from a mysterious maiden in the forest. It's clear he has fallen for her beauty and spends several moments in the first half of the book wondering who she is and how he can find her. This whole angle is unceremoniously ditched in the second half of the book though as she is barely mentioned again. It's implied who she may be at one point if you ask a particular question of a seer that you encounter (although Lor seems too dim to pick up on the clue) but this is never really resolved with any clear answer as to who she actually is and why she rescued Lor in the first place. Building up this mystery then abandoning it halfway through seems like one of many indicators of a rush job when it comes to this adventure. 

This book incredibly also repeats a very similar beat from Quest for the Dragon's Eye. Once again your first fight comes against an Imp and loss in the battle does not spell the end of the adventure, just some stat point losses and then you have your "wounds healed". I assume this means your Hit Points are set back to maximum. Once again though, if you win the fight you are not healed and do not recover any Hit Points. So once you have been hit a couple of times by the Imp you are actually better off losing the fight as you might find yourself setting off on the actual adventure with a mere handful of Hit Points available, in which case barring extraordinary luck you wont make it. It seems wrong in any fight to actually be rooting for your opponent but that can happen here.

There was also a missed opportunity here when it comes to the weapons Lor has at his disposal. Playing as an elf, we not surprisingly have access to a bow and arrows along with our sword. Consulting the weapons table at the front of the book, we find that an arrow does 1 D6 of damage when it hits. Before we set out on our adventure however, Lor's father gifts us with a family heirloom, a +1 magical long sword. This makes the bow and arrows inferior by comparison and therefore never likely to be used. There IS a great descriptive moment where Lor fights a Wyvern using his bow but this is a narrative entry and not a dice combat. I think it would have been far better (and added some great strategy) if the arrows did even more damage than the sword but we only have a certain number of them in our quiver and therefore have to think carefully about when to fire them. Oh well. 

This adventure was the most difficult one of the series but that's really not saying too much. Most of the combats in the book are actually pretty evenly matched with Lor having only a slight edge over most of his adversaries. Because there is a total lack of Hit Point recovery in the adventure however, the difficulty comes mainly from it being a war of attrition as you try not to bleed out before you reach the end.

With this book being the shortest of the series so far at 93 sections, and the story and writing not being up to par with the previous entries, this really screams rush job. Incredibly, there are also no magical items to collect aside from the +1 magical longsword we are unavoidably given before we set out. This, along with the absence of any magic system like we had in the previous book, brings the game mechanics down to a bare minimum. I have to wonder what the point of Mr Fawcett writing this at all even was. Was it to round out the series to an even 4 books as so many other series from this time seem to be? If it was to provide a conclusion to the Darklord thread it sure didn't do that. Heck, it didn't even advance it any as the story ends with the Darklord still out there presumably ready to hatch his next evil scheme. Which might just bring me to possibly the biggest failing of the series as a whole and that lies with its antagonist. Over the course of 4 books, we learn very little about the Darklord other than he craves world domination (who doesn't?). None of our characters ever even get to interact with him as we are always dealing with his minions. A shame we never got to bring down the Darklord once and for all as up to this point the books were very well written and quite entertaining even with the lighter and more linear game design elements.  

Ranking: I usually reserve the "Bad" tier for books that actually make me angry. This adventure never did that, it's just a bit of a ho-hum affair and is the first one of the series I didn't really enjoy reading all that much even for the writing and story. As such, it barely scrapes into the OK tier. It's easily the weakest of the series though which is a shame as overall the books had been getting steadily better until this one. What is it with so many of these series going out with a whimper? Sadly, this one was no exception.