aggsol
Kai Lord
Thinking about gamebooks...
Posts: 53
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Post by aggsol on May 21, 2018 19:30:14 GMT
I am a bit late but I just died again at the final Helghast. As a final battle it is a big improvement but for a first book that fight is too brutally hard. Next time I will just cheat... About the other additions I am not to sure what to think about. Being part of the attack of the monastery is great fun and an an action packed entry to the story. But things like those grenades are superfluous.
I am reading the German edition from Mantikor and I am very pleased with the new artwork. The illustration are very fitting and build the world very nicely. I always found Gary Chalk's artwork too heavy on the ugliness on the humans. The whole edition gives a fresh spin to a classic. I really like it.
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Post by johntfs on May 21, 2018 20:07:21 GMT
I suspect that even when I do eventually get this, I'll prefer the previous version. There was just something so perfect in the way that Silent/Lone Wolf screwed up his way into survival. If he'd been a more diligent Kai student, he'd have been inside the monastery and died with everyone else. But since he was less than diligent (perhaps distracted by thoughts of Kai Lady Heaving Bosum) he got sent to collect firewood and thus the seed was planted for the Darklords to fall and the Kai to be reborn. Lone Wolf: Screwing Things Up for the Better since MS 5050.
In terms of other stories and books, I really like the Autumn Snow series. In those books you begin play as a Kai Initiate, just as in the original Lone Wolf books. However, this time, you're not the "last of the Kai" and definitely not the first of the Kai. Autumn Snow starts her journey as a padawan/student/sidekick to her teacher who is into the Magnakai ranks. While you are mostly free to choose your initial equipment, one restriction placed on you by your teacher is that you may not bring a Weapon in which you have Weaponskill, because he wants you to practice with different Weapons and become a more rounded combatant. One of the keys to surviving in the Autumn Snow series is recognizing your character's limitations and weaknesses.
One other thing I really love is that along with gaining Ranks and Disciplines, you get a chance to improve your Combat Skill and Endurance Points. At the beginning of a new book after the first, pick numbers as though you were picking again for CS and EP. If your numbers are equal to or greater than your current CS and/or EP you can raise them by one point. So, if you start the Autumn Snow books with a CS of 11 and and EP of 22, any number except a 0 lets you raise your CS to a 12. Any number except a 0 or 1 lets you raise your EP to 23. The higher your scores the less likely you'll improve, but you can potentially "max out" to a basic CS of 20 and a basic EP of 30. For my part I'm using that method now for replaying the Kai/Magnakai Lone Wolf books.
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Post by Zipp on Jun 16, 2018 15:09:16 GMT
I suspect that even when I do eventually get this, I'll prefer the previous version. There was just something so perfect in the way that Silent/Lone Wolf screwed up his way into survival. If he'd been a more diligent Kai student, he'd have been inside the monastery and died with everyone else. But since he was less than diligent (perhaps distracted by thoughts of Kai Lady Heaving Bosum) he got sent to collect firewood and thus the seed was planted for the Darklords to fall and the Kai to be reborn. Lone Wolf: Screwing Things Up for the Better since MS 5050. In terms of other stories and books, I really like the Autumn Snow series. In those books you begin play as a Kai Initiate, just as in the original Lone Wolf books. However, this time, you're not the "last of the Kai" and definitely not the first of the Kai. Autumn Snow starts her journey as a padawan/student/sidekick to her teacher who is into the Magnakai ranks. While you are mostly free to choose your initial equipment, one restriction placed on you by your teacher is that you may not bring a Weapon in which you have Weaponskill, because he wants you to practice with different Weapons and become a more rounded combatant. One of the keys to surviving in the Autumn Snow series is recognizing your character's limitations and weaknesses. One other thing I really love is that along with gaining Ranks and Disciplines, you get a chance to improve your Combat Skill and Endurance Points. At the beginning of a new book after the first, pick numbers as though you were picking again for CS and EP. If your numbers are equal to or greater than your current CS and/or EP you can raise them by one point. So, if you start the Autumn Snow books with a CS of 11 and and EP of 22, any number except a 0 lets you raise your CS to a 12. Any number except a 0 or 1 lets you raise your EP to 23. The higher your scores the less likely you'll improve, but you can potentially "max out" to a basic CS of 20 and a basic EP of 30. For my part I'm using that method now for replaying the Kai/Magnakai Lone Wolf books. I like that CS and END level up system! That's super cool. It reminds me of the old Runemaster RPG, where you level by rolling a d100 and if the number rolled is higher than your current 1-100 score in that skill, you can level it up by a certain degree. They used the same system to influence The Elder Scrolls.
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aggsol
Kai Lord
Thinking about gamebooks...
Posts: 53
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Post by aggsol on Jun 18, 2018 10:57:35 GMT
I will add that house rule too, it is a great idea. I also limit the EP gained by the healing skill to 4 till the next combat.
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Post by GhostofLandar on Oct 24, 2019 17:34:11 GMT
I suspect that even when I do eventually get this, I'll prefer the previous version. There was just something so perfect in the way that Silent/Lone Wolf screwed up his way into survival. If he'd been a more diligent Kai student, he'd have been inside the monastery and died with everyone else. But since he was less than diligent (perhaps distracted by thoughts of Kai Lady Heaving Bosum) he got sent to collect firewood and thus the seed was planted for the Darklords to fall and the Kai to be reborn. Lone Wolf: Screwing Things Up for the Better since MS 5050. I think the original is also a sign of divine intervention to save at least one Kai, hitting your head on a branch was done more absurdly in the legends, but it makes sense in a way. All the mortal Planes of Existence are saved because a boy wasn't paying attention in class. By participating in a final battle at the monastery, it makes it like every other action/fantasy/sci-fi trope of the lone survivor who bravely fought. I also don't think it's realistic that anyone escapes the monastery, certainly many Kai would have seen it was hopeless and would try to flee to Holmgard or Toran to martial defenses and seek the Sommerswerd. There's also a big bump up in technology it seems, with these Kai Crystals, yet do we see Kai Crystals again? I can't remember. Certainly LW would be able to recreate these and give them to the NO GM?
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Post by anotherknight on Nov 9, 2021 16:31:23 GMT
Their claws work perfectly well, as I recall. Madelon - ...? What's wrong, I kind of like that we meet her before Book 4 and she is such a strong female character. Not exactly feisty, just noble and strong of spirit. I made the mistake of thinking it was Madelon of Book4 (she is of royal blood!) It's still a clumsy shoe-horning in of a strong female where JD originally didn't see a need. All in all, I am totally in agreement with anotherknight; Yes, this is storytelling with a sledgehammer. JD appears to be revising the original text to match more closely with Mongoose interpretations of it....? Yes, I understand your argument. You are right.
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