Ah, I see. Yes, I did manage to get both the Shadowcrusher and the silver ring (hope this isn't a spoiler) and only had to fight three but I still found it rather irritating. =D
Thanks for the comments Kee. Regarding the encounter with the Lich Knights, I mentioned that you can perform an action between each Knight, and there are 2 items with which to reduce the number of Lich Knights you fight, at least one of which is very easy to find (Shadowcrusher). You're right about the Gold though, and many of the battles are too difficult. My least favourite part of the book in terms of writing was the Garden of Death. I had intended to make the plants come to life and make the entire sequence more detailed, but I was running out of sections.
I've just finished Quest for the Ebony Wand after two tries, Kekataag. For a short gamebook, I found it great fun =)
I must say it's been awhile since I've played a traditional dungeon crawl though I feel that there still are parts that could be improved both in terms of storyline and gameplay.
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First off is why does the ending of the tale tell you that the Wand of Eldnor was 'what you've been looking for' when you are not even aware of its existence in the beginning of the book. I thought that perhaps it would be better if the man at the bar told you this. The second thing that bothers me is the significant amount of LUCK tests and I was unable to find a way that took only five LUCK tests coupled with that are the few SKILL tests at the end. Third was the number of enemies at the end part, bunches of five or six are really tiring after awhile. The Lich Knights were kinda overdoing it a little. Last is the insane amount of Gold you recieve but never use, I ended with a whopping 94 Gold at the end of the whole game.
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Anyways, criticism aside, your writing in the book was smooth and fluid, I didn't feel that it had a problem at any time. In terms of the delivery of the images you were trying to give without using super-long adjectives, especially during the Garden of Death. I found that you placed the STAMINA boosts at proper times in the game, especially when I needed them most.
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The part regarding drinking the green vial and finding the four spells was also very enjoyable, for me at least to be happy in glee when I found the last spell =D I feel that I must also commend you for the exciting spell list during the final encounter with the Shadow King.
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This probably ended up sounding like a review but amazing job on your book there and I'd definetly recommend it to anyone who wants a stroll in your typical dungeon.
Shadowcrusher will be ineffective against the Unknown Attacker even though the Attacker is an Undead. But if you play it a second time, doesn't this become a problem?
I'm still playing Quest of the Ebony Wand, Kekataag but I have a question.
You said that it uses old book rules right, which means we get 10 Provisions and a choice between a Potion of Skill, Strength, or Luck?
Also, there's a glitch:
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In entry 5, you state that the liquid was red whereas in the next entry, entry 32, you say to note down you've drank a green liquid. Is that intentional?
In In the Footsteps of a Hero I found the following bug:
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On the first day I visited the tailor, then the blacksmith, then was sent to the tailor again. I tired a few different paths, and this happened in all of them
How about turning it all on its head. Perhaps Santa is the villain, and you must enter his lair, battling reindeer and elves. Perhaps if you steal rudolf's nose you get special powers, and you need to collect specially positioned christmas puddings to weaken santa (Whose name, curiously, is an anagram of 'Satan'...). Perhaps there could be rules for airborne sleigh to sleigh combat, too, and for the sake of political correctness, we could add lots of other religions, culimnating in a battle between Ganesha and Santa, where Ganesha's protected by Djinn and several minor buddhas...
Wow, who would have thought it. Next year perhaps I'll start one earlier in december, 'FF Christmas Special', well they did one for Star Wars so I doubt it could be worse than that Christmas special