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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9630767" data-attributes="member: 7737">Contrast The Sorcerer's Crown with its predecessor, Sceptre of Power.[ATTACH=full]401806[/ATTACH]Again, this is hard to grok when zoomed all the way out, but note the massive number of branches along the way.Recall that book 1 has two entirely separate ways to learn magic: from Thayne or at the College Arcane. (And I just noticed those rhyme.) If you choose the College Arcane then there are three entirely separate sets of spells you can learn: cantrips, weak spells, or strong spells. Armed with whatever spells you’ve learned (or not!) you then meet Dalris, enter Landor's study, summon Rufyl, and visit the crypt with the thing.Or maybe you don't learn magic whatsoever: when Beldon shows you the Door of Death, you can choose to risk it right then and there, use Landor's scrolls to bypass huge chunks of the book including any mention of Dalris, and move straight to the crypt.I didn't explore it in the previous thread, but way back in Freeton there are also 4 paths to get to Thayne in the alley and 3 paths from the market to College Arcane -- not counting deaths!Simply put, Sceptre of Power allows much more exploration en route to the golden ending. Yes, you eventually have to summon Rufyl and visit the crypt with the thing, but there are multiple survivable paths that lead to those last few numbered sections. As opposed to The Sorcerer's Crown where the golden ending requires one survivable path which itself requires that you make two specific choices much earlier in the book. (Or conceptually: that you pick up the two specific inventory items you will need.)---How does The Sorcerer's Crown compare to the ur-example of gamebooks, Fighting Fantasy #1 The Warlock of Firetop Mountain?Warlock has an extremely strong sense of place, such that it can be depicted as a literal map of the dungeon.Dyson Logos shows us <a href="https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/01/26/the-warlock-of-firetop-mountain-combined/" target="_blank">an unlabeled D&D module style map</a>.<a href="https://outspaced.fightingfantasy.net/PDFs/FF_Solution_Maps.pdf" target="_blank">This one</a> shows what's in each room.And <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/fightingfantasy/comments/esfca4/warlock_of_firetop_mountain_map/" target="_blank">here's one from someone on Reddit</a>, the second of which shows a True Path.Along the way you need to pick up keys (actual inventory items!), three of which you will use to try to unlock the warlock's treasure chest at the end of the book. There are 15 possible combinations of keys (fifteen!!!). Only 1 combination is instant death. Another 12 combinations don't quite work but do allow you to restart the dungeon at the beginning. And there are 2 successful combinations available via one of two (overlapping) golden paths.Even though there are strictly speaking only two True Paths through Firetop Mountain, it never feels as railroad-y as Sorcerer's Crown, because of the ability to retry for more keys and because of the individual choices along the way.For example, before you attempt to unlock the warlock's treasure chest you have to battle the warlock, and you can do this in multiple ways: a straight up Skill vs. Skill fight (good luck with that), use one of two different items to debuff the warlock before you attack, or Luckily notice something in the room that also debuffs him.Another example: when you meet the humanoid inhabitants of the dungeon, you are almost always offered a chance to speak to them vs. attack immediately. And although parlay is not always the best choice, you are still offered a choice.Contrast the freedom allowed in Warlock of Firetop Mountain with the lack of freedom in The Sorcerer's Crown. You might think there are multiple reasonable ways to survive various encounters based on all the spells on your character card, but there is usually only one correct choice. Or you won't even be allowed a choice and you'll starve to death in the tower because of a trap you could easily bypass, or you’ll be stuck in Wendel's hut because of six, count 'em six, gnolls at the pier you could easily defeat.Fighting Fantasy would've allowed you to fight those gnolls. And maybe it would've been a very hard fight -- like if you chose to straight up attack the warlock without debuffing him -- but at least you could've tried.---For our final comparison of gamebook paths, here is Lone Wolf #1 Flight from the Dark.<img src="https://www.projectaon.org/en/svg/lw/01fftd.svgz" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="19011x1992" style="" />(<a href="https://www.projectaon.org/en/svg/lw/01fftd.svgz" target="_blank">link</a>)If we scroll all the way to the right where the paths converge on victory at section 350, we can see 3 incoming paths (meaning three separate ways to win); a prior important node that has 4 entries (139); and a node leading to 139 that has 6 entries (007). That is a ton of freedom to choose your own path to the ultimate meeting with King Ulnar. Far more than the amount of freedom you are allowed in The Sorcerer's Crown.</blockquote>

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