Finally, if the ending of the adventure is played as written, the adventure may end up becoming more competitive than cooperative, a situation which may detract from the experience (though a suitably chaotic group of players may enjoy a bit of in-fighting).
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Also, a few pieces of boxed text are sloppily written, either assuming that only one character is present or referring to the characters in the third person. For one thing, there were some very simplistic and poorly integrated puzzles involving algebra and anagrams that, while appropriate in solo play, are just kind of embarrassing in group play. There are some elements of the original gamebook that translate poorly to the multiplayer format. Still, this is all in the spirit of the original gamebook, and if you have fond memories of that (or if you're just in the mood for some mindless fantasy violence), it might well be worth pulling this out for a quick session or two. There's a distinct lack of subtlety in the adventure's endless barrage of traps and things to kill, and there's more luck than cleverness involved in surviving. In fact, even if you like dungeon crawls, you might be disappointed. Basically, if you hate dungeon crawls, there is no reason to play the module. The chances of players getting killed are extremely high, so using the pregenerated characters is probably more desirable than including the adventure in an existing campaign (though notes for doing so are included). This means that there are traps and monsters galore strewn about with little logic or meaning. The dungeon itself takes up less than half of the book's forty pages, but in spite of its brevity, it's a faithful adaptation of the gamebook. The module also provides four pregenerated characters, and as a really nice touch, some of the basic d20 rules for combat and skill use are summarized on the backs of the character sheets. Unfortunately, this convenience is offset by the fact that no monster stat blocks are included in the text of the adventure, forcing the DM to refer to both an appendix of the module and to the Monster Manual. To make running the adventure especially easy, the description of every item found in the dungeon explains where else in the dungeon it can be put to use. Because the content of the dungeon is an assortment of random traps and monsters, the DM can run the module without spending hours memorizing complicated details. Perhaps more importantly, there is very little preparation needed to play. First of all, the module is best suited for a Dungeon Master and a single player there aren't too many adventures that support lone adventurers, so it fills a niche there. Fortunately, the adventure justifies its existence in two valid ways.
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Of course, interesting concept or not, it is a valid question to ask why one would bother to adapt a solitaire gamebook into a game-mastered role-playing adventure I know I was a little baffled upon first hearing the idea. For most adventurers, though, the challenge is hard to resist. Of course, there is a cash reward to anyone who can make their way through to the other side, but so far, no one has managed to survive.
FIGHTING FANTASY BOOKS REVIEW TRIAL
However, in spite of its flaws, it does have a strangely entertaining (if implausible) premise: Baron Sukumvit, ruler of the city of Fang, has built an enormous underground dungeon, and every year, he invites adventurers to enter it in what is called the Trial of Champions. My own feelings for this gamebook are rather mixed, as its merits are diminished by excessive difficulty, with the reader senselessly dying at nearly every turn. The gamebook that inspired this adventure is something of a fan favorite and was even popular enough to be adapted more than a decade after its publication into a mediocre Tomb Raider clone for the PlayStation and PC.
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Which emulates the "Test Your Luck" mechanism found in the gamebooks Īpart from this, there's nothing too surprising about the module's use Introductory pages establish a new optional character attribute, Luck,
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Within Firetop Mountain" seems to have come from the first module in the That the introduction was simply copied and pasted straight out of anĮarlier adventure a stray reference on page two to "the creatures Series, this one seems to follow the same format. However, based on what I've read about the first two entries in the Solo gamebooks, but it is the first I have seen of this product line.
FIGHTING FANTASY BOOKS REVIEW SERIES
Illustrated by Mel Grant (cover), Iain McCaig and Tony Hough (interior) and Martin McKenna and Janine Johnston (additional illustrations)ĭeathtrap Dungeon is the third of Myriador's d20-systemĪdaptations of books from the classic Fighting Fantasy series of Reviews - Deathtrap DungeonĬonverted by Jamie Wallis from the gamebook by Ian Livingstone