My first time revisiting these books since I was a kid!
Aug 17, 2021 14:49:53 GMT
GhostofLandar likes this
Post by crimsonstain on Aug 17, 2021 14:49:53 GMT
Hi everyone! I'm a new member here, and I have been so thrilled to find this site! I was introduced to the Lone Wolf books by my uncle back when I was in 5th grade (1988-89). He died of cancer about a month ago, and in thinking about him I began searching online for information on these books...and that's how I found this site. I can't believe all of these are online!
My first book was Flight From The Dark since my uncle let us borrow that one first. My mom would let my brother and I take turns trying to get through it without dying while she read each section to us. I ended up searching for Lone Wolf books every time we went to the mall bookstore, and over the years I managed to find all of the ones that my uncle didn't have to lend to us. My second book was the first one I was able to find at the bookstore, which was the Cauldron of Fear. It was then that I realized these books were really meant to be done in order.
I would end up going through books 1 - 12 by the time I was in 7th grade, and then when the series began anew I snatched up books 13-16 at the store, but lost interest. I even had a copy of The Magnamund Companion at one point, but I tore out the perforated pages and eventually got rid of it (I learned many years later that a mint copy would fetch quite a lot on eBay, but I don't know if it's still the case).
I thought I would share my experience with going through the first 12 books again, as a 43 year old, not having read any of them since I was in high school.
1. I did not remember much at all! I remember the overall plot of the books, and I remembered bits and pieces, but I was surprised at how rarely I knew what would happen next! The one notable exception to this was the illustrations. I think I recognized every single one!
One interesting exception to this: when picking out my Kai disciplines in Book 1, I felt a strong compulsion to pick Animal Kinship even though I said to myself "But that skill is almost never used!" For some reason I felt that it would be extremely helpful at some point, even though it wouldn't be helpful any other time. Once I made it to the end of Book 2 I realized why I had chosen it. I had completely forgotten about the Noodnics even though the illustration jarred my memory once I made it there! And it was a good thing, since I had also forgotten about the fact that you need to pull the spear out of the dying soldier to have any chance at surviving; plus I had forgotten that you shouldn't give the spear to Ryger; plus I forgot that the dying soldier was actually a Helghast who would attack you once you pulled the spear out! But because I searched his body first and saw the letter written on human skin, I wasn't given the option of pulling out the spear.
2. When I would die, I would not start over at the beginning of the book; rather I would turn back a section or two and make a different choice (or fight the combat again hoping for a different result). In this manner, I made it until Book 9 by only dying once in Book 1; four times in Book 2; three times in Book 3 (stupid Kalkoth); and then I died once in Book 7. Other than that, I made it to the end of Book 9 without dying! I thought that was pretty impressive for a guy who hasn't looked at these books in probably 25 years! One really smug result for me was defeating Darklord Haakon in Book 5 with only 1 endurance point remaining at the end (I don't remember my combat ratio, but I think it was -5).
3. As for the end of Book 9...I cheated a lot as a kid on the Random Number Table and peeked right before landing my pencil on the page. So needless to say, when you're an adult and you're trying to go through these books without cheating, you can get caught off guard by how much more difficult some of these battles seem. I was appalled to see that Zakhan Kimah had 39 combat skill, and I knew I didn't have much of a chance but I gave it a go anyway (I died). I turned back a couple sections and saw that I could also throw the Dagger of Vashna and try not to miss, or if I had the Psychic Ring (which I did), I could attack him with a normal weapon. What confused me was that he only had 29 combat skill if I'm attacking with a normal weapon, but 39 combat skill if I'm attacking with the Sommerswerd! I took this to mean that Joe Dever had made a typo, and that he clearly meant to say that his combat skill was 29 either way. In this manner, I won the fight and moved on to Books 10 and then 11. But once I got to the Chaos-Master and saw his 44 combat skill, I threw up my hands and concluded I had messed up too much along the way to continue. So I resolved to start over from the very beginning.
4. My second time through, I started with 18 combat skill in Book 1 (compared to 14 my first time), and this made a huge difference later in the books. I also purposed to hoard as much alether berries and potions as I could in Book 6 and promptly store then in the Kai Monastery so they wouldn't get lost at the end of Book 7. I also held on to the distilled alether I found in Book 3, but I ended up still having it in my backpack when I finished Book 12...I never needed it! I also was intentional about completing the Lore Circles of Fire and Spirit by Book 9 on my second time through to max out my skill bonuses.
5. One thing I did differently the second time that made it much more fun: I used the Random Number Table to choose my Kai disciplines in books 1-5. I simply used the order that the disciplines were listed on the page (0 = 10), and picked them randomly. Thankfully, I still had Animal Kinship for Book 2 this time. Of course I didn't do these for the Magnakai disciplines since I was being intentional about completing the Lore Circles as quickly as possible...but it helped that I had read these forums and learned that the rules allow for players to make use of Kai disciplines in the Magnakai books, since I didn't have to take Curing to be able to heal myself by 1 endurance point on each numbered section! Whereas the first time I took Curing in Book 6, the second time I didn't take it until Book 12 (I died in Book 8 because I couldn't heal Paido, but I started over and made sure I kept Laumspur in my backpack).
Also, when I went through the second time I decided I would restart the book when I died. It was frustrating, but it also gave me the ability to choose differently on the way through so as to explore possibilities, which I enjoyed.
6. One thing I did remember was the encounter with Roark. As a kid I had mostly disliked Book 6 because I kept getting killed towards the end of the book by that guy, and I remembered that if you chose a wrong path, it would be at least several sections before you would face an unavoidable death. I found that so annoying...normally, if you choose a path that will take you to certain death, you're dead on the very next section. So when I went through Book 6 this time, I was paranoid! When I came to the junction where you choose Soren or Amory, I seemed to remember that Amory was the wrong path (I couldn't remember where Roark said he was from in the tavern, and I didn't want to turn back and look since I felt it might be cheating). I was rather pleased with myself that on my first pass through Book 6, I made it to the end without dying once! But then I promptly died on the beach at the beginning of Book 7 in a rather stupid way.
7. Speaking of Book 7, it was my least favorite book as a kid and I think it's still my least favorite book now. But I found Book 6 to be much more fun this time.
8. When going through Book 2, I remembered that the priest was the assassin, but I couldn't bring myself to attack Halvorc instead for the easier combat. That's how I was as a kid too...I always felt so dirty if I attacked the poor innocent merchant just to have an easier fight.
9. I remembered almost nothing about Book 12 aside from the fact that if you make it to Darklord Gnaag with the Sommerswerd, the sword basically does all the work for you. Of all the books, that one was the one I probably remembered the least about. It was a blast to go through again (and I did it without dying once).
10. Having gone through these books again as an adult, I think Book 1 is far and away my favorite (as a kid, I think I would have said Book 2 was my favorite). It seems to me that the first book has so much more variety and is much less linear than any of the other books. I think the Kai books are more fun than the Magnakai. Also, I did not realize how much of Book 11 is nothing more than dialogue. As a kid I remembered really enjoyed it, but as an adult I was bored when I realized I wasn't being given many choices of what to do for the first half of the book.
Again, I'm glad this site exists! I've enjoyed revisiting these books!
My first book was Flight From The Dark since my uncle let us borrow that one first. My mom would let my brother and I take turns trying to get through it without dying while she read each section to us. I ended up searching for Lone Wolf books every time we went to the mall bookstore, and over the years I managed to find all of the ones that my uncle didn't have to lend to us. My second book was the first one I was able to find at the bookstore, which was the Cauldron of Fear. It was then that I realized these books were really meant to be done in order.
I would end up going through books 1 - 12 by the time I was in 7th grade, and then when the series began anew I snatched up books 13-16 at the store, but lost interest. I even had a copy of The Magnamund Companion at one point, but I tore out the perforated pages and eventually got rid of it (I learned many years later that a mint copy would fetch quite a lot on eBay, but I don't know if it's still the case).I thought I would share my experience with going through the first 12 books again, as a 43 year old, not having read any of them since I was in high school.
1. I did not remember much at all! I remember the overall plot of the books, and I remembered bits and pieces, but I was surprised at how rarely I knew what would happen next! The one notable exception to this was the illustrations. I think I recognized every single one!
One interesting exception to this: when picking out my Kai disciplines in Book 1, I felt a strong compulsion to pick Animal Kinship even though I said to myself "But that skill is almost never used!" For some reason I felt that it would be extremely helpful at some point, even though it wouldn't be helpful any other time. Once I made it to the end of Book 2 I realized why I had chosen it. I had completely forgotten about the Noodnics even though the illustration jarred my memory once I made it there! And it was a good thing, since I had also forgotten about the fact that you need to pull the spear out of the dying soldier to have any chance at surviving; plus I had forgotten that you shouldn't give the spear to Ryger; plus I forgot that the dying soldier was actually a Helghast who would attack you once you pulled the spear out! But because I searched his body first and saw the letter written on human skin, I wasn't given the option of pulling out the spear.
2. When I would die, I would not start over at the beginning of the book; rather I would turn back a section or two and make a different choice (or fight the combat again hoping for a different result). In this manner, I made it until Book 9 by only dying once in Book 1; four times in Book 2; three times in Book 3 (stupid Kalkoth); and then I died once in Book 7. Other than that, I made it to the end of Book 9 without dying! I thought that was pretty impressive for a guy who hasn't looked at these books in probably 25 years! One really smug result for me was defeating Darklord Haakon in Book 5 with only 1 endurance point remaining at the end (I don't remember my combat ratio, but I think it was -5).
3. As for the end of Book 9...I cheated a lot as a kid on the Random Number Table and peeked right before landing my pencil on the page. So needless to say, when you're an adult and you're trying to go through these books without cheating, you can get caught off guard by how much more difficult some of these battles seem. I was appalled to see that Zakhan Kimah had 39 combat skill, and I knew I didn't have much of a chance but I gave it a go anyway (I died). I turned back a couple sections and saw that I could also throw the Dagger of Vashna and try not to miss, or if I had the Psychic Ring (which I did), I could attack him with a normal weapon. What confused me was that he only had 29 combat skill if I'm attacking with a normal weapon, but 39 combat skill if I'm attacking with the Sommerswerd! I took this to mean that Joe Dever had made a typo, and that he clearly meant to say that his combat skill was 29 either way. In this manner, I won the fight and moved on to Books 10 and then 11. But once I got to the Chaos-Master and saw his 44 combat skill, I threw up my hands and concluded I had messed up too much along the way to continue. So I resolved to start over from the very beginning.
4. My second time through, I started with 18 combat skill in Book 1 (compared to 14 my first time), and this made a huge difference later in the books. I also purposed to hoard as much alether berries and potions as I could in Book 6 and promptly store then in the Kai Monastery so they wouldn't get lost at the end of Book 7. I also held on to the distilled alether I found in Book 3, but I ended up still having it in my backpack when I finished Book 12...I never needed it! I also was intentional about completing the Lore Circles of Fire and Spirit by Book 9 on my second time through to max out my skill bonuses.
5. One thing I did differently the second time that made it much more fun: I used the Random Number Table to choose my Kai disciplines in books 1-5. I simply used the order that the disciplines were listed on the page (0 = 10), and picked them randomly. Thankfully, I still had Animal Kinship for Book 2 this time. Of course I didn't do these for the Magnakai disciplines since I was being intentional about completing the Lore Circles as quickly as possible...but it helped that I had read these forums and learned that the rules allow for players to make use of Kai disciplines in the Magnakai books, since I didn't have to take Curing to be able to heal myself by 1 endurance point on each numbered section! Whereas the first time I took Curing in Book 6, the second time I didn't take it until Book 12 (I died in Book 8 because I couldn't heal Paido, but I started over and made sure I kept Laumspur in my backpack).
Also, when I went through the second time I decided I would restart the book when I died. It was frustrating, but it also gave me the ability to choose differently on the way through so as to explore possibilities, which I enjoyed.
6. One thing I did remember was the encounter with Roark. As a kid I had mostly disliked Book 6 because I kept getting killed towards the end of the book by that guy, and I remembered that if you chose a wrong path, it would be at least several sections before you would face an unavoidable death. I found that so annoying...normally, if you choose a path that will take you to certain death, you're dead on the very next section. So when I went through Book 6 this time, I was paranoid! When I came to the junction where you choose Soren or Amory, I seemed to remember that Amory was the wrong path (I couldn't remember where Roark said he was from in the tavern, and I didn't want to turn back and look since I felt it might be cheating). I was rather pleased with myself that on my first pass through Book 6, I made it to the end without dying once! But then I promptly died on the beach at the beginning of Book 7 in a rather stupid way.
7. Speaking of Book 7, it was my least favorite book as a kid and I think it's still my least favorite book now. But I found Book 6 to be much more fun this time.
8. When going through Book 2, I remembered that the priest was the assassin, but I couldn't bring myself to attack Halvorc instead for the easier combat. That's how I was as a kid too...I always felt so dirty if I attacked the poor innocent merchant just to have an easier fight.
9. I remembered almost nothing about Book 12 aside from the fact that if you make it to Darklord Gnaag with the Sommerswerd, the sword basically does all the work for you. Of all the books, that one was the one I probably remembered the least about. It was a blast to go through again (and I did it without dying once).
10. Having gone through these books again as an adult, I think Book 1 is far and away my favorite (as a kid, I think I would have said Book 2 was my favorite). It seems to me that the first book has so much more variety and is much less linear than any of the other books. I think the Kai books are more fun than the Magnakai. Also, I did not realize how much of Book 11 is nothing more than dialogue. As a kid I remembered really enjoyed it, but as an adult I was bored when I realized I wasn't being given many choices of what to do for the first half of the book.
Again, I'm glad this site exists! I've enjoyed revisiting these books!
