[Fighting Fantasy] Bloodsword v1

[Jfdlsjfd]

Inspired by @Whizbang Dustyboots, I am starting a read-through of an old gamebook series called Bloodsword, without copying the text of course but paraphrasing the adventure (so, you'll have to bear with my limited vocabulary -- I must confess that I have trouble distinguishing a glaive-guisarme from your regular lochaber axe). It's set in the campaign world of Dragon Warrior, an RPG published in the 80's and distributed in gamebook format. More information on Wikipedia. It had a first book with the basics of the system, and several supplemental books including new classes or rule points, two campaign and a game world that is reminiscent of 9th century Europe with numbers filed off, with a 11th century crusade ongoing, but the tone is much more Charlemagne's era than Richard the Lionheart's.

A more traditional gamebook, Bloodsword, was published along the RPG. More traditional? Not really, once looked under the hood. It let the player guide a team of one to four heroes into the adventure. Much less personnification, but more choices and a more tactical approach to the game. The characters can be of one of four classes: warrior, trickster, enchanter and sage. I'll be hard pressed not to call them fighter, rogue, wizard and cleric going forward. Each (except the warrior, which is a fighting machine and has few other rules except that they lose experience when behaving dishonorably) has specific powers, both available in fights and outside.

Since having a group is something original in the game, I prefer that we read through as a full team. It comes with a drawback, as the choice are balanced by level: a single characters starts at 8th level, sorry "rank", while a team of 4 comprises only 2nd rank newbies. But with four characters, some tactics are allowed notably to exploit the basic enemy tactics: they will, unless specified otherwise, run to the nearest character and attack to the death. So some fights will allow us to exploit chokepoints and things like that, which are less common in other game series. I'll get to the rules as we need them, but here is the starting cast, given that the statistics here aren't random. Rank determines Strength.



Also, I am trying to complete the campaign. If our choices lead to a TPK, I am not against resuming at an earlier checkpoint. I seem to remember that the bookss were quite forgiving and the TPK were only if you made stupid choices, like setting fire to a powder storage on the boat you're in, in the middle of the ocean. It can turn out badly but it's kind of... expected, isn't it?

The first book is called Battlepits of Krarth.

The cover and title evokes to me the most basic adventure possible, being certainly thrown into a pit like many other contemporary gamebooks. Don't despair yet, the campaign, if I remember correctly, will be interesting, provided we survive of course.

There is an alternate cover from a later reprint:

It is not really giving us more information on what to expect.


We're starting in Krarth. Knowledge from the campaign world reminds me that Krarth is a place with Russian-like climate, that was formerly rules by a group of powerful archmages who managed to destroy themselves by playing with magic too much, blowing up most of their country (five of them remains as stars visible over their former kingdom). Nowadays, the country is still ruled by archmages, but they are just regular mages pretending to hold immense magical power and trying to recover what their predecessors lost -- because no lesson is ever learnt, i guess. The former capital was Spyte, which is now a no-go zone.

There is no "The story so far..." section, so apparently we'll start in medias res.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

The cast.


The Warrior

Warrior rank 2, FP (fighting prowess) 8, PA (psychic ability) 6, Awareness 6, Damage 1d6+1, HP 12

To attack, you must roll equal or under your own FP. If you succeed, you get to roll your damage dice. Looking at the experience table, it's obvious that damage increase with rank, so beware of the Warrior, because her feather is as strong as a sword. Warrior starts her adventure with with a money pouch (10 gp), her sword and a chainmail armour with a rating of 3. Armour in these books is ablative, so it substracts its value from incoming damage. Given our damage is 1d6+1 and we're the strongest of the team, let's hope we won't fight too many armoured opponents as we do an average of 1.5 damage per round against them -- I hope we won't encounter platemail wearing opponents before remembering that the word of Legend is set in a High Middle Ages world. We're good for another 300 years.

That's 3 items counted against the God-given limit of 10. Because you can only wear 10 of them, so it's 10 chainmails or 10 swords, or 10 little bottle of perfume. Good old times when the GM actually cared about encumberance.

Awareness is order of initiative, PA is used to resist spell or cast them but not for our warrior.

The Trickster

Trickster rank 2, FP 7, PA 6, Awareness 8, Damage 1d6, HP 12

So basically, Trickster act before Warrior -- my team is all female just to see if the book silently supposed we were male heroes, but not names for easier identification -- hits on a 7 or less (vs 8, so Trixie [damn, she got a name] hits 58% of times vs 72% for Warrior], and rolls just 1 point of damage less.

She is equipped with 5 items: a pouch with 10 gp, a sword, a studded leather armour (AR 2), a bow, and a quiver with 6 arrows. One of our power is to be trained at archery, which apparently puzzles the warrior. She can fight equally well with 19 types of polearms, including chopsticks, but she doesn't know where to point a bow. Military academies are probably coming later in the future. Arrows inflict 1d6 of damage (minus armour) and can be used at range. Also, Trixie is adept at dodging and enemies attacking her must add one to their attack roll.

Since Trixie majored in Stastitics before realizing that turning to a life of crime would increase her likelihood of not living as a peasant all her life, she realizes that given that she has exactly the same HP as Warrior, and it will stay the same up to rank 20, she's actually MORE durable than her fighting comradess. She wears (currently) a slightly lower armour but against an average fighter with, say, the same stats as warrior, she'd take 1.45 DPR vs 1.08 DPR for Warrior, but against a strong enemy doing 2d6 damage, Trixie takes 2.9 damage vs 2.88 for the Warrior. So it's better to put her in front when fighting high damage opponent. A realization she's eager to share with her travelling companions!

Also, once per fight, she can make a double attack with her quick reflexes.

The Sage

The sage is what in other games would be a multiclassed monk/cleric/culinary herb. Her stats are:

FP 7, PA 7, Awareness 6, Damage 1d6, HP 10

She was raised in the Monastery of Illumination, where they teach psi powers. Apparently, the True Faith, a monotheistical religion that all the people outside the heathen that are crusaded against and heretics practice, is quite open to the supernatural. That's good.

She starts the adventure with 5 items, a pouch with 10 gp, a quarterstaff, a ringmail armour (AR 2), a bow and quiver (6 arrows).

She practices archery as well as Trixie, but when fighting in close combat, she can channel her Qi to strike nerve points (something Friar Tuck never mentionned), so she can strike a foe by rolling 3d6 under her FP if she wishes, but in that case the foe falls down (the knee are a nerve point, apparently) so the foe only acts at the end of the next round and inflicts 1d6 additional damage. She can stun-lock a foe with a lower awareness, but the chances are low: 3d6 <= 7 is 16%, and it will never in her career reach above 36%. Seems like a trap option.

She will be invaluable to any party because she can cast healing spell. Her name is really apt... The mechanism is that you spend your own HP and multiply that number by (1d6-2), the result if positive, being the number of points she can use to lay on hand, splitting between other party members including her. With her degree, she realizes that she should never spend more than one point during each attempt, to minimize the risk of ruin, given that the number of use of this power is unlimited outside combat and can't be used during a fight.

The Enchanter

The Enchanter is a demonologist who didn't really want to take her chance with the True Faith Inquisitor.

FP 6, PA 8, Awareness 6, damage 1d6-1, HP 10

She carries a sword, a silver armour (AR 2) and... a money pouch with 10 gp.

The Enchanter can cast spells outside of combat automatically like Prediction to know the future, Detect Magic or summon a daemon. Note that the spell is exactly that, it summons the imp, it doesn't control it, so bargaining is usually in order. During combat, she must spend a round to recall a spell to mind, and one to cast it (by rolling under her PA with 2d6+ the difficulty of the spell). If the fail, she can try again next round by susbstracting 2 to the roll, making it easier. That's how she automatically succeed outside of combat.

She can skip the initial round by memorizing a spell, but it reduces her effective PA by one for each spell. Browsing at the list, we can see that spells go from difficulty 1 (White Fire, an enemy takes 2d6+2 damage) to 5 (Nemesis Bolt, an enemy takes 7d6+7 damage) when it comes to single target damage, but there are also spells that do damage to every enemy (going from Volcano rank 1, 1d6 damage, to Sheet Lightning, rank 4, 2d6+2 damage). There are spells that inflict more damage but allow a resistance roll under the victim's psychic aptitude, like Servile Enthrallment, rank 5, where theenemy must roll under PA or become mind controlled. He will just stand there while you kill him or you can order him to attack his allies but then he gets and additional roll of 1d6 and on a 6 breaks the spell.

Of immediate interest is the rank 1 Nighthowl, which must be resisted or the target must attack with 3d6 instead of 2d6 when rolling under FP -- a save or suck, single target -- and the aforementioned White Fire. Our enchanter does ranged damage at will, if memorized, and do twice the damage of the warrior. It might be worth memorizing while we're certain to meet enemies in the 10-20 HP range as befit our first adventure.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Our party meets. The fist encounter went along these lines:

Trixie: "Hi, fellow adventurer. I am a rogue, and as you all noticed, I am the one running the fastest in the party. Therefore, I am more qualified to handle the party's funds, so I can escape anyone trying to steal from us. With my recognized expertise in pickpocketing, I know all the tricks and can make sure my purse will stay safe. I therefore propose that you all hand me your funds, as we've sworn to reach the same goal, so I can keep them in safety, all the while removing for you the need to spend in inventory slot to carry your own pouch. In our world, irrespective of how many gold pieces a pouch contains, it only counts as a single item!"

Every other member quickly agreed, convinced by this display of smartness and reasoning accuracy. They had no reason to doubt her, having met her nearly 30 minutes ago.

Then, Trixie, who for some unfathomable reason decide to stick with the rest of the group instead of getting away 30 gp richer, asked what exactly they were doing in the desolate climate of the Krarthian plain. A huge, flat plain, barren and struck by a bitterly cold wind. Greed, of course, was their goal. Archmage Kalugen was holding a tournament where the local archmage would compete to determine who was the strongest, by sending team of champions into a pit to fight for the Emblem of Victory. How it was linked to them being strong isn't easily determined. So our group is hurrying toward Kalugen's Keep, where the tournament is held. The good news is that we'll arrive in time, the bad news is that the weather is so bad that if we had missed it, we'd probably have been trapped in Krarth's mire. Walking faster, we notice that the peasants emerge at this season from their gloomy huts to plant corn and rice before the huge, long winter sets in again.

Nobody remarked that the local peasants would be better off growing barley and potato instead of rice and corn. There is a reason they are peasants in a system where the more smart you are, the higher is your social station.

Since we arrive just in time for the tournament, all the archmages have already chosen their champions, except three.

Just before reaching the stand where the hiring takes place, we notice that a drunken merchant is ogling us.

Should we talk to the merchant, let our heroes use their power, either the Trickster, the Sage or the Enchanter (the Warrior is often left with no option, poor Warrior, it was already 5E in 1987), or ignore all this and just go take the gauntlet in the name of one of the three archmages?

<note: adventurers are free to shuffle their inventory outside combat. There is no reason not to do this to pool the fund right now>.

Also, dear reader, can you find a name for Warrior and Enchanter?

 

[gban007]

Thanks for this! Looking forward to reading along, while I have the set have never been able to complete them.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Thanks for this! Looking forward to reading along, while I have the set have never been able to complete them.

I completed them at the time. I read them later than other gamebook series so I didn't cheat through them, and I remember them being, with a full team, not frustratingly difficult except the last one.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

As the option to use a particular character powers when not in an emergy often gives the option to back off if there is risk involved, let's try our team's strong point.

The Enchanter tries to use her powers, and is offered the choice of predicting the future or summoning an imp called a Faltyn (or called Faltyn, it's never quite clear if it's the creature name or species... it would be odd for it not to have a name, reflected Enchanter). The Faltyn is supposed to offer bargains, so there is no harm to listen to it. The offer is quite onerous: the imp is offering a hard bargain. It will reveal to the Enchanter which magus to serve in exchange of all her gold. Reluctantly, she agrees to the deal, knowing full well that she isn't currently carrying any gold, thanks to Trixie being extremely insistant earlier to get all the party's gold into her care. It was wise! The gamebook explicitely tells that the Faltyn takes all the gold inside the Enchanter's pouch, so it's absolutely not a rule lawyering. We tricked a demon! The imp tells us to choose archmage Balthazar, who will give us a test of worth, to which we must be on the lookout for a domino cape. We dismiss the imp, because speaking to an invisible daemon is sure to attract attention. After all, who would expect a robe-clad, pointy-hat-wearing person to cast a spell in a city ruled by a magocracy...

Since we're, as expected, back to square, and paragraph, 1, it's still possible to reselect an action by the Enchanter, this time to use our divination spell. I love unlimited magic outside combat. This time, we see that in order to win the contest, we learn that one of the recruiter is a nice pallid fellow, clad in black, with blood on his lips. Probably a sun-allergic waiter who likes his meat rare. The safest choice seems to join a celebration in which we will be searching for a guest wearing a domino cape.

Then, it's Trixie turn to act. She's offered to opportunity to rob the drunken merchant of his purse. It's too good to pass up! She's only carrying 40 gold pieces -- that will be established later in the game as worth 20 nights all inclusing in an hotel, so it's just a little change, she needs to increase her considerable assets. Let's try it. (roll under Awareness, roll 4, easy!)

Trixie deftly cuts the purse of the drunken merchant, netting 50 gp. She now holds a nifty 90 gp in her pouch. Doubling her net worth each three paragraphs should net her a lot of money...

Off to the hiring stand we go (we have no choice to get back to 1, probably to avoid an endless stealing loop), but I lost the opportunity to consult Salvia. The attendants at the hiring station are trying to sell us some advice, but we are wise enough not to buy advice from the person who is trying to sell us things, aren't we? What do they think they are, insurance agents? AND YET WE HAVE NO CHOICE. Probably exhilarated by the theft, Trixie gets conned into either paying 5 gp for advice, 10 gp for, I guess, better advice, or 5 gp now, 5 gp later to listen to the recruiters.

This city is really a pit of immorality!

 

[Joshua Randall]

Wally the Warrior?
Ward the Warrior?

Oh wait, female names.

Winny the Warrior?
Wilma the Warrior?

Esmeralda the Enchantress?
Elizabeth the Enchantress?

- - -

Also, I absolutely love gamebooks where you can use divination type abilities. “Sixth Sense” was always, always on my Lone Wolf no matter what other Kai abilities he had.

Not familiar with these books but looking forward to it!

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Let's try to minize our losses.

We're still in a Trickster-only section. When you take a specific path for a character, the paragraph starts with the class of the character. So, fully expecting to trick the "advisor", Trixie says he'll have five gold pieces now, and five pieces after he's advised us.

Still, we'll lament the loss of 10% of our newly-acquired gold and are left with only 85 gp.

Trixie gives 5 gp to the stand attendant, who recommands we choose Magus Balhazar, who is humane and generous, unlike the other Magi. Then, we proceed to honor our deal, leaving the attendant with... 5 gp, since we never told that he'd have 5 different, or additional, gold pieces after the advice, only 5 before and 5 after. Note for later: let's be careful with the wording, especially in the future when dealing with Faltyn or other demons...

The attendant poorly try to say he lied and Balhazar is the worst choice. Well, too bad, we already knew that Balhazar was the best and he had a scarlet pennant, so... Actually this attendant was quite nice, he told us the truth and only asked to be honestly bribed. Well, Trixie can't certainly go around rewarding honesty, can she?

We take the pennant and are introduced to a tall man clad in red robes, stroking his moustache. Have we made the wrong choice? Moustache-twirling is very worrying at this stage. He wants to test our intellect and invite us at his mansion at night.

We arrive at the mansion at midnight (apparently, traffic jams are a huge problem around Kalugen's Keep, since it was around noon when we took the pennant). We're welcome by an usher, who leads the party to a masked party. We're challenged to find Magus Balhazar in the crowd. Easy, since we know we are looking for a domino-caped man.

We're given the choice to bribe the usher, detect thoughts using ESP, summoning a Faltyn, or use our power of deduction to work out who is Balhazar.

Since even Warrior can foresee the bad repercussion trying to bribe a test attendant, and seeing that a person called "Magus" Balhazar would probably not take kindly at us trying to read his mind, and we already summoned a Faltyn for information, let's try to use our wit to identify a domino-clad partygoer.

We're given several methods for guessing who he is, among which clothing, and we correctly pick the appropriately atired guy. He's impressed by our detective work -- I didn't notice any, we just foresaw the future, but I guess there is some other way of reaching the correct conclusion.
With a gesture, he dismisses his spell, the mascarade was just an illusion! Every guest disappear, except a dark cloaked figure lurking in the shadows. Nobody seems to care about him while he creeps toward Balhazar, dagger in hand. How possibly bad can this Magus security be?

Do we stand by to see what happens or do we act? Even if we don't care about our future employer surviving the night, there is added value of not being found by his guards looming over his dead body, plus he could be generous toward us for saving his life. Also, we're heroic and chivalrous.

This will be our first fight.

All fights are done on a tactical map like this one. Admittedly, this one is the least tactical, because there is no obstacle on it that blocks movement. The A denotes the Assasin. NPC, unless there are special rules described in the paragraph, always follow the same algorithm: they move toward the closest enemy if there is noone next to them. They attack if there is someone next to them. Characters act in order of decreasing Awareness, with ties acting at the same time.

Since we had in the introduction noticed that Trixie is actually hardier at this point than Warrior, we had put in one, Warrior in 2, Sage in 3, Mage in 4.

Oh, we are told of two special rules (for our first fight!). First, we only need to fight two round before Magus Balhazar desintegrate the Assassin. Also, the Assassin is wielding a poisoned dagger, whomever he strikes, dies at once, nothing can prevent this. Gulp.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Wally the Warrior?
Ward the Warrior?

Oh wait, female names.

Winny the Warrior?

Winny it is, because she's always whining "Why can't I do cool things, too?"

Also, I absolutely love gamebooks where you can use divination type abilities. “Sixth Sense” was always, always on my Lone Wolf no matter what other Kai abilities he had.

Sixth Sense, the ability that you absolutely need to win at one point (I had a lot of fun playing Lone Wolf too... I pestered my parents to enter all the libraries we came across during holidays in order to find out if they had book 2 in stock, in order for me to get the Sommerswerd, during like, 2 years. I didn't know back then that libraries could order books...)

 

[Joshua Randall]

Damn this game book is not messing around. “Battle one? one hit, one kill. GET SOME!”