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Post by johntfs on Mar 19, 2010 2:50:58 GMT
The only thing I can assume is that there were a couple of caves like that in the system or that the passages curved to the point that they came together. While not a Kai Lord, I have been in a couple of cave systems before. It's scary amazing how often passages curve back around to an insane degree.
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Post by Peregrine on Mar 19, 2010 19:47:18 GMT
Book 2's rejoining section makes perfect sense to me. Tarnalin is "the" western tunnel. It may have a couple of branches in the middle, but I think it fits the context to imagine it has only one entrance and one exit. Therefore, the branches must join again somewhere before encountering Lord Axim. So Dever's use of section 134 for both of the Helghast encounters is simply economical use of section text, and doesn't impact continuity or geography at all.
This book 3 problem sounds intriguing, though.
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Post by exaltedhighborn on Mar 20, 2010 6:42:24 GMT
Least Favourite : Book 1 -nothing much explained Most Favourite : Book 20-defeating evil gods............ ?
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Post by julystork on Mar 22, 2010 11:17:09 GMT
Least liked: FotW
'cause its either be lucky enough to gamble till 20 gold for the Port tix; or "your tragic life ends here".
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Post by johntfs on Mar 22, 2010 12:44:17 GMT
Really the key to that part is to just not wave your arms for rescue by the fishing crew. In other words, don't do the logical thing you would do in that situation. Either that or wave your arms and pray they don't spot you. That's really the problem with the whole book - there's so many situations that require you to act stupidly/illogically in order to survive them.
Along with the ticket crisis, is the Helghast and the Spear. The Szalls are all around the "poor, wounded man" and obviously desperately trying to warn you off. You see a dead Knight of the White Mountain right beside the man. His pack is right there, too. If you search it before you kill him, you just run away instead of simply finishing the guy off and taking the Magic Spear with you then.
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Post by Aarontu on Mar 24, 2010 2:43:04 GMT
Least favorite: Cauldron of Fear Not as good as any of the books before it. The story is OK, but it's also pretty linear and there's not much in the way of "multiple paths" at all, except for the part where you first arrive in Tahou (there are some interesting story branches at that part). A lot of the book is fairly uneventful travel. The coolest part of the story (the ancient underground city) is disappointingly short.
The book's biggest flaw is the ridiculous combat at the end of the book. The only feasible way to beat him is to throw the Dagger of Vashna at him, but for some reason you're not given this option if you have the Sommerswerd.
Favorite book: The CE of Flight from the Dark It's just so awesome. Joe Dever is now a much better author than he was in the 80's, and there's much more narrative and substance to this book now, and it is more difficult to complete. All the flaws in the original I can remember have been fixed, and some nice twists and additions have been added. Holmgard has been much more fleshed out, and now you get to know some of your fellow Kai before they were killed and you get some familiarity with the monastery itself (which is cool and interesting). Also, it has 550 page sections! I also love that the level of writing seems to be for an older audience than the original LW books.
Second favorite book: Dawn of the Dragons This book is so freaking epic. Joe Dever said himself in an interview, "My favorite one to read is Dawn of the Dragons, book 18, as I consider this to be the quintessential Lone Wolf adventure."
The first part of the book is a nice adventure down memory lane; there are lots of familiar characters and places in this adventure. You start on the other side of the world from Summerlund and have you travel back home to save the new order of the Kai from destruction. If you've played all the books up until this one, you'll pass a lot of familiar territory and characters.
The second part of the book is Flight from the Dark in reverse. You, Captain D'Val and a regiment of cavalry, travel through the woods to the monastery (nearly the same path you take to Holmgard in FftD), fighting Naar's minions along the way. The fight to defend the monastery itself is reminiscent of the fight at the beginning of the CE of FftD.
At the end of the book, you have to best an army of evil dragons and lavas and destroy the shadowgate, action-movie-hero-style.
This is probably one of the easiest book in the GM series (so far, anyway), and it's pretty linear at spots, but it's so awesome that I don't mind at all.
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Post by exaltedhighborn on Mar 26, 2010 7:55:26 GMT
book 20 extra -specials =
front map has semi naked fairies !!! Avarvae illustration shows transparent garments and pubic hair !!!!
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Post by askhati on Mar 26, 2010 8:11:06 GMT
...
Wow. The bot has teenage hormones!
My fav books are between The Masters of Darkness and The Darke Crusade, both of which figure plenty of Drakkarim and deliciously devious infernal devices - ironclads, a Lajaketak, Drakkar scrying devices (book 15), Kagonite armour, a Zeja-Dulag... The list goes on and on!
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Post by exaltedhighborn on Mar 26, 2010 13:39:17 GMT
yeah, all manner of contraption, save for a common battering ram device that is.
ironclad juggernaut battleship to destroy capitals !! tukodak extra elite task force !! blood frenzy + battle frenzy to stir them on like savage demons !!
BTW is there anyone who knows the location of all doomstones on Magnamund.
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Post by askhati on Mar 26, 2010 13:41:49 GMT
... Why would you need a battering ram unless you are trying to breach the defenses of a city? The Drakkarim have no opportunity for this in either of the two books I mentioned.
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Post by exaltedhighborn on Mar 26, 2010 13:49:47 GMT
i just needed to see the skull of a goat/bull perched on them machines in any one of dever's illustrations.
Siege of Darke needed a ram of sorts.
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Post by askhati on Mar 26, 2010 16:18:42 GMT
Why would the Drakkarim use a ram against their own fortifications?
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Post by bittermind on Mar 27, 2010 19:26:15 GMT
Book 13 grinds my gears. That unavoidable insta-death roll at the end where you have about a 40% chance of dying is just... surreal. Every time I play through, half my choice of starting GM disciplines goes into trying to get a bonus to survive the damn thing.
I'm not keen on any book with one or more unavoidable insta-death rolls, actually. So... that's most of the GM series.
I've always had a soft spot for Book 8. It was the second LW book I ever played, before I really knew what the series was about. It has a nice mix of urban / wilderness scenes. And palling about with Paido is just great fun.
There we go.
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Post by johntfs on Mar 28, 2010 2:36:59 GMT
I feel your Book 13 pain. I went through the entire series using my card method and posted the playthrough results. Then, I went through the whole of Book 13 and died, right there at the end. So, I made up this convoluted idea wherein I'd play through the book a second time, but without the Ishir card, though this time I'd pick Grand Huntmastery and Assimilance. Got through the book again. And then Naar-dammit if that same stupid point didn't kill me a second time. So now I've started the series from scratch and am about to go into Book 7.
I feel your affection for Book 8 as well. One thing I will do in this run-through is carry the Sommerswerd with me, not so much for the Helghast fight as for dealing with the Vordaks at the end.
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Post by exaltedhighborn on Mar 28, 2010 4:11:19 GMT
My total opinion of Lone Wolf Gamebooks is as follows : Books 1-5 is sparsely written to match the thickness (or rather thiness)of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks and this is compounded with the childish illustrations of Gary Chalk to :I Books 6-12 is still thin sized but the harsh requirements of the Lore Circles and high CS of the enemies made completing previous adventures a must.Plus one must have either the Sommerswerd or lotsa luck to complete one.We still get kiddish illustrations from Gary Chalk up to Book 8 and from Book 9 onwards we got great artwork from Brian Williams.Plot is stale up to Book 11. to Books 13-20 is thick sized (yeah!) and featured excellent artwork from brian williams.The adventures are very twisty and suspenseful in addition to being surefootedly outright easy. 0-2 death 7-9 death (rarely) .Max damage : Lose 12 endurance points.Don't forget the high rank achievable by yourself too, ditto. outstanding masterpiece. Books 21-27 are exactly like 13-20.However, 21-23 featured only long adventures and no true suspense twist (Boring !!).Things picked up from book 24 as soon as lieutenants of Agarash started causing miles mayhem heralding the dawn of the resurrection of Agarash on Southern Magnamund. :I to
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