Occasionally some of the gaming things I’ve acquired over the years amaze me. Case in point, digging through some old paperbacks I came upon copies of ‘Dungeon of Dread’ and ‘Mountain of Mirrors’ from TSR’s Endless Quest series. The books are as old as I am and it has to have been 16 or 17 years since I read them, yet I’m still hanging on to them.Sure, they are, uh…’classics’ in the realm of interactive fiction, but c’mon.Although, over the years I have toyed with the idea of converting ‘Dungeon of Dread’ into an adventure for a game of BD&D, I’ve always wanted to try that whole water weird & key-suspended-from-the-ceiling-over-it’s-pool trap.
Dungeon of Dread did teach us one of the fundamental rules of frping, when a thieving halfling says he can lead you to “all the treasure in the world” in exchange for his life, you should trust him and go for it.It’s called an adventure hook, people. Besides, BD&D only gives you like 5 or 10 xp for wasting a Halfling…
I so remember these and all the other "choose your own adventure books". I remember a great couple that were set in the Gamma World setting. Great reads for young role-players and I wish they'd come back.
I'll second the comment about the adventure hook. I am so tired of overly cautious players who cannot take the leap. If you are going to play any sort of RPG there have to be a few things you just do because it makes the game move. You, the player, may know it's a bad idea, but think like an adventurer.
I was more into The Warlock of Firetop Mountain although I can not remember how to navigate the maze in that book at all. Good books for those lazy days when you couldn't find a friend to roll a 20 sider with. All my books like that have indeed vanished over the years, though. Was it the Rings of Keltor or something that was written so that it was impossible to win due to a numbering error?
Long, long ago, they had all four of the Sorcery! mini-series of the Fighting Fantasy books at a nearby ½ Price Books store, but one of the employees must have been a gamer, because they were marked up to actual value as apposed to ½ price. So, the long and the sort of it was I never actually got to check out the Fighting Fantasy series, because I didn’t want to spend that much of my meager 4th grade allowance.
I was more into The Warlock of Firetop Mountain although I can not remember how to navigate the maze in that book at all. Good books for those lazy days when you couldn't find a friend to roll a 20 sider with. All my books like that have indeed vanished over the years, though. Was it the Rings of Keltor or something that was written so that it was impossible to win due to a numbering error?
Oh my god! I remember those! I used to read those back then. It's like an altervine (sp?) to Choose Your Own Adventure. I still have the First Quest series.
