Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
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LordArioch
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Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
Being a little slow on news from Titan, I just found out about the new gamebook Assassins of Allansia. Has anyone here had a chance to play it through? Is it worth the investment, or shall I give it a pass?
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LordArioch
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Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
Hmmmm....Mustn't be all too popular...or just too new. 
Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
I bought it, along with Rhianna Pratchett's book.
Havn't had a chance to read/run it yet though. I'll let you know once I do.
Want to hear the interesting thing about that......??? .......These two books are my very first FF gamebooks I've owned, played, touched....ever!
Ironic, eh?
Havn't had a chance to read/run it yet though. I'll let you know once I do.
Want to hear the interesting thing about that......??? .......These two books are my very first FF gamebooks I've owned, played, touched....ever!
Ironic, eh?
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Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
Assassins of Allansia seems very Ian Livingstone. You are being pursued by the assassins (strong combat opponents) and have to kill the right number of them (each assassin has some token and you need to collect the right number of them to show that you have killed all of the assassins), there are lots of items to get and lots of call backs to Ian Livingstone's previous works.
In summary, how you like Assassins of Allansia depends on how you like IL books.
In summary, how you like Assassins of Allansia depends on how you like IL books.
http://virtualfantasies.blogspot.com/
A blog about writing gamebooks. My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good gamebook.
A blog about writing gamebooks. My musings on how to write a gamebook and what makes a good gamebook.
Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
Sounds good to me, but I still haven't found time to read Port of Peril yet!
Am I right that the only new books so far in the Scholastic FF series are Assassins of Allansia, Crystal of Storms, Port of Peril and Gates of Death?
When I was checking those out I saw the Blood Sword and Way of the Tiger series have been republished. Seems like gamebooks are having a bit or a renaissance.
Am I right that the only new books so far in the Scholastic FF series are Assassins of Allansia, Crystal of Storms, Port of Peril and Gates of Death?
When I was checking those out I saw the Blood Sword and Way of the Tiger series have been republished. Seems like gamebooks are having a bit or a renaissance.
Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
Currently there are quite a lot of new gamebooks being published in Europe and several old ones that are being republished.
I playread Port of Peril and I think it is quite good (on the par with City of Thieves, to make an example), but you have to "survive" a couple of bad mistakes at the beginning of the gamebook that may put you off. Once you pass that initial hiccups (that any proofreader would have spotted), it flows well.
I got the the other three new FF gamebooks last week and I will go through them soon.
I playread Port of Peril and I think it is quite good (on the par with City of Thieves, to make an example), but you have to "survive" a couple of bad mistakes at the beginning of the gamebook that may put you off. Once you pass that initial hiccups (that any proofreader would have spotted), it flows well.
I got the the other three new FF gamebooks last week and I will go through them soon.
I'm the real Nowhere man, sitting in my Nowhere land, making all my Nowhere plans for Nobody.
Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
i suspect the bounce back is because those who enjoyed them as kids/young adults are now money earners.
plus some people grew up doing stuff they loved and now have the capacity to steer those markets, directly or indirectly.
seen the recent Heroquest re-emergence? great example
but i doubt it would be as good as the memories, times have moved on after all
plus some people grew up doing stuff they loved and now have the capacity to steer those markets, directly or indirectly.
seen the recent Heroquest re-emergence? great example
but i doubt it would be as good as the memories, times have moved on after all
Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
I think that, on one hand, access to publication is much demanding than it used to be. With current platforms (print on demand etc.) you don't have to invest a lot to put a book out there as it used to be. OK.
On the other hand, I remember that Joe Dever, with his most recent Lone Wolf publications and re-publications, was amazed by how many young / first time readers were buying his gamebooks. For sure there is a nostalgia effect, but, after all, the gamebooks are a genre that can be still interesting and compelling also for people that never lived the "golden age". I'm sure we can all accept it.
On the other hand, I remember that Joe Dever, with his most recent Lone Wolf publications and re-publications, was amazed by how many young / first time readers were buying his gamebooks. For sure there is a nostalgia effect, but, after all, the gamebooks are a genre that can be still interesting and compelling also for people that never lived the "golden age". I'm sure we can all accept it.
I'm the real Nowhere man, sitting in my Nowhere land, making all my Nowhere plans for Nobody.
Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
maybe the younger readers are kids of the original readers?
books always been on the shelf, until they reach a certain age.
my son has played all manner of games which are essentially better versions of the ones i played as a kid/young adult.
it's cool either way
books always been on the shelf, until they reach a certain age.
my son has played all manner of games which are essentially better versions of the ones i played as a kid/young adult.
it's cool either way
Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
My copy arrived and something that stands out to me is the presentation inside these Scholastic FFs simply isn't up to the old Puffin books. The new printings of the Bloodsword gamebook series are large format paperbacks on nice white paper, they're better than the originals! It's unfortunate FF isn't getting that sort of treatment.
Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
I wholeheartedly agree, but it is still a clear improvement compared to the artwork of Port of Peril.
I'm the real Nowhere man, sitting in my Nowhere land, making all my Nowhere plans for Nobody.
Re: Assassins of Allansia Gamebook
One thing both books show is you don't get good results by grey-scaling colour art. The cover on this one shows the artist can do colour, even if it's only a small bit in the middle, but their work looks bad converted to black and white on the pages. Few artists are equally good at painting and ink illustration, so you need two artists, one for the cover and one for the illustrations. Which I think they always did with the old FF books. But it's not just the art; the fonts, the layout, the paper, are all poor.
One of the many stories that are interesting in You Are the Hero was how Livingstone and Jackson had to argue with Puffin to use grown up fantasy art in the gamebooks. Puffin originally wanted to make them more kiddie and it seems to me that Scholastic are falling into the same trap.
I can ignore the presentation these days and just enjoy Ian's adventure, but the illustrations in the classic books were a big part of making them come to life in your mind.
One of the many stories that are interesting in You Are the Hero was how Livingstone and Jackson had to argue with Puffin to use grown up fantasy art in the gamebooks. Puffin originally wanted to make them more kiddie and it seems to me that Scholastic are falling into the same trap.
I can ignore the presentation these days and just enjoy Ian's adventure, but the illustrations in the classic books were a big part of making them come to life in your mind.