Well! We’ve made it to the end of a long and winding road!
Thank you to all who have both stayed with me since March 2016, and also those who’ve joined the journey along the way, while reading the archives.
I’ve always felt a magnificent thrill of pride when I note that some individual reader has burned through 50+ posts in one day, after discovering this little blog.
I was going to write a sweeping overview of the Way of the Tiger series, but my summaries really speak for themselves. I’ve had an extremely high level of admiration for the coherent world-building which occurs within the context of this series. Although clearly the product of the pre-existing RPG campaign of Messrs Smith and Thomson, the ability to channel this scenario into a gamebook is admirable.
Alright, this is the section where I need your participation!
I have statistics on visitors to this blog, and I can tell you that only a very VERY small percentage of readers actually leave one or more comments. There I will make this request quite explicit. EVERYONE reading this should answer one or more of the survey questions.
Here we go!
- What is your age and country of current residence?
- What was the first gamebook you ever read? Feel free to share a charming anecdote about ‘your first time’.
- Had you read any (or all) Way of the Tiger books before discovering this blog? If so, how did you come to the series?
- Do you have a favourite book in the Way of the Tiger series? If so, what made that book your favourite?
- Did you play gamebooks honestly, or did you cheat?
- What is your favourite movie?
- What is the first album you bought with your own money?
- How did you discover this blog?
- Is there anything you particularly want to mention about this blog in terms of improving it when I start on another series?
Briefly, my answers :
- 40, Australia.
- Warlock of Firetop Mountain. At the age of 7, I saw it (and Citadel of Chaos) in my primary school library and never looked back.
- Yes, duh. (although I didn’t own Warbringer! and had only borrowed it from a friend)
- Tough. I’d probably say Avenger!, just for the atmosphere and world-building or Usurper! for the dual paths and the strategy pending your palace coup.
- I would often forego dice rolls and simply play through the choices, and I found that aspect more interesting.
- Casabalanca.
- Make It Big! by Wham! – A great pop album that still stands up!
- N/A
- More Hawthorn references!
THE WAY OF THE TIGER PLAYTHROUGH 
1. 46 Australia
2. Avenger, First time was in a Sales Meeting (hid the book in my folder and read a few paragraphs)
3. no
4.Avenger, the original is always the best
5. I refuse to answer this to avoid incriminating myself
6. Madame X – Lana Turner
7. a Suzi Quatro Album, I think it was Greatest Hits
8.My lawyer
9. More Trump jokes and Cat pictures
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1) 30…and i’m from Italy
2) My first one was “Overlord!”…and i remember i bought a wrong edition…sections were only from 200 to 420!!! Not bad as my first time in the gamebook stuff, isn’t it?
3) Yes, i did.
4) Overlord! Because it was my first gamebook at all and it is incredible how action and politic melt together in this masterpiece.
5) Always honestly, at least in my first five attempts…you know what i mean, ah!
6) The Godfather
7) Iron Maiden’s “Iron Maiden”…Up the Irons and Paul Di Anno!
8) Searching for clarifications about the “Popularity” rules in “Overlord!” And then i discovered a huge world!
9)As i commented in previous posts, i’d like a great walkthorugh for the Lone Wolf Series.
Your Truly,
Matteo 🙂
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Massive Irons fan, but have to go with Bruce Dickinson as THE Iron Maiden vocalist. Live After Death is simply the greatest live rock album of all time.
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Bruce Dickinson rules, no doubt…but i have a special feeling for Di Anno…as strange as it sounds but i knew Iron Maiden thanks to that record…and in that record Paul Di Anno is the singer 🙂
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1. What is your age and country of current residence?
36, Sweden.
2. What was the first gamebook you ever read? Feel free to share a charming anecdote about ‘your first time’.
I think “Hämnaren”, the Swedish translation of Avenger!.
3. Had you read any (or all) Way of the Tiger books before discovering this blog? If so, how did you come to the series?
Some, but not all. I think I got the first book as a birthday present, or similar, by somebody who knew I was a bit into fantasy and RPGs.
4. Do you have a favourite book in the Way of the Tiger series? If so, what made that book your favourite?
I’d have to think about it. Maybe not. I’ve got the strongest connection to the first two books as the ones I’ve played most and earliest.
5. Did you play gamebooks honestly, or did you cheat?
Think I mostly played honestly.
6. What is your favourite movie?
Don’t really have one.
7. What is the first album you bought with your own money?
Don’t remember.
8. How did you discover this blog?
Comment by you, the author, on Nathan Mahney’s “Your Adventure Ends Here” blog.
9. Is there anything you particularly want to mention about this blog in terms of improving it when I start on another series?
Mostly just thanks and keep up the good works. The one thing is if it was fully tailored to my interests it might sometimes be slightly more focused on exploring different possible paths, but I’m not sure that would make it better for most people and in any case you should do what works for you.
And then, I kind of think you should do Talisman of Death at some point, and maybe you don’t have to wait until you’re through all of Lone Wolf.
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1- 34, Ireland
2- Possibly Trial of Champions. Still wonder if it’s possible to finish it without cheating.
3- Yes but not all of them. My brother borrowed Avenger! from a friend when I was about 12.
4- Avenger! was the first I did. Vastly different from Fighting Fantasy and the final confrontation with the three villains is awesome.
5- Might have been some cheating involved.
6- Couldn’t honestly say. I have a soft spot for Eastwood (both sides of the camera) and the Coen Brothers (it’s not all good though). Oh, and just because it’s one of my pet hates, Peter Jackson sucks 🙂
7- Probably Oasis – Morning Glory
8- A friend pointed me to it. And I thank him for it.
9- Nope, looking forward to Lone Wolf though. Best series in my opinion (1 to 20 at least).
Thanks for the good times.
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For what its worth, I finished it without cheatin in the book many times BUT you had to have an initially strong character to survive.
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Nice. As I recall, the fights were not the problem for me. It was finding the 9 rings and the 3 codes. I think the best I managed was 5 and 2 respectively. And that was with drawing a map etc. The horror…
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1. 36 Malaysia
2. The Gateway of Doom, 2nd book in the Grail Quest series.
3. All except for Redeemer!
4. Overlord! but Warbringer! comes close. Both were so different from every other gamebook that I’d played.
5. Cheated mostly. I read most of my gamebooks in the bookshop while my mom did her weekend shopping.
6. Hard to say…there are so many.
7. Michael Learns to Rock (Danish band that was really big in Malaysia during the 90s)
8. Stumbled here while I was Googling for “Way of the Tiger” and “Orb the Role Playing Game”.
9. Would love it if you did “Night Dragon”, “Creature of Havoc” and some Grail Quest one day.
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1) As a pen name, David Walters is 5 years old! And Scotland. Jamie Thomson sometimes refers to me as the Scottish samurai.
2) first ever was Talisman of Death, first Tiger one was Overlord
3) read all six, hated the ending so wrote two more
4) Overlord was my favourite of the originals. If there was a book 8 by me we’d see some more rulership options for sure
5) Way of the Tiger was about the only system I played by the rules as there wasn’t just random dice rolling in combat
6) Aliens
7) Seduced & Abandonned by Scottish band Hue and Cry
8) I still look for all things WOTT related
9) I too think you should do Talisman of Death before leaving Orb
Just to say the next WOTT related material should be the Orb RPG which is already over 100,000 words in draft form. For those not bothered about RPG part, it has great encyclopaedia material on the world and its history!
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For what its worth. I’ll be getting it mainly for the encyclopedia material and partly in the hope that if enough of it sell you’ll be commissioned for Book 8.
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Orb RPG!! Yay!!! Even if there’s no book 8 in the near future (sadness), fans will still be able to enjoy further adventures in that fantastic world in another medium.
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What is your age and country of current residence?
33, UK
What was the first gamebook you ever read? Feel free to share a charming anecdote about ‘your first time’.
Talisman of Death
Had you read any (or all) Way of the Tiger books before discovering this blog? If so, how did you come to the series?
I actually found one book in a bookshop in Hasting, but didn’t buy it. I came across it probably from Dave Morris’s blog.
Do you have a favourite book in the Way of the Tiger series? If so, what made that book your favourite?
Redeemer!
Did you play gamebooks honestly, or did you cheat?
Cheat cheat cheat. But that’s what you have to do when monster stats seemed to have been decided by throwing a dart at a dartboard whilst blindfolded in the 80s.
What is your favourite movie?
Time Bandits
What is the first album you bought with your own money?
Never really bought albums. I think it was a collection of Faure’s works, because that’s just how I rolled when I was 17.
How did you discover this blog?
Maybe from David Walters. I think.
Is there anything you particularly want to mention about this blog in terms of improving it when I start on another series?
Nope. Carry on what you’re doing please. Please don’t stop.
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You are a true gent as always, Stuart!
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1) Age 47 (oldest here so far, yah ). Dublin
2)Citadel of Chaos, saw it on holiday, bought it and was quickly hooked. As an aside, shortly after this my parents discovered I’d being having a rather miserable time in the neighbourhood and to try and make up my dad from then on bought me every Lone Wolf, Fighting Fantasy, Skyfall, Wott, Sorcery, Sagard book that came out so to me gamebooks are tied up in feelings of a fathers love.
3) Had played all including Ninja and Redeemer. Played Assassin first, found it strange, died several times, but loved it ever since.
4) They’re all amazingly different but its between Overlord for the city rulership and Warbringer for the AMAZING Bridgewater Battle.
5) Generally honestly, which can be frustrating, BUT in Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf I would make sure I started with good stats, don’t need to cheat so much then😉
6) Lego Movie because I watched it two days ago with son. It varies depending on what I’ve just watched/feel.
7) Either a Now compilation or Aqua (I apologise for NOTHING!).
8) David Walters recommended it on Megara’s Wott facebook page. Thanks again David.
9) I wrote a Warhammer fan book once, only my mother read it. While she enjoyed it I’m not the one to give you writing tips.
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1) Age 41, U.S.A.
2) Probably a Lone Wolf book, probably a copy of Caverns of Kalte I discovered at the library. If you don’t know the American book cover, it really got my attention: http://lonewolf.wikia.com/wiki/The_Caverns_of_Kalte
As a kid, I would read Choose Your Own Adventure AND play board games by myself (playing multiple players). Gamebooks were a natural progression.
3) I now own all the books, but have NOT read Redeemer yet. Guess I’m saving it. Haven’t read Inferno in decades. Still remembered the world-building and frustratingly intriguing combat system.
4) Warbringer! Starts with usual destroy evil threat, then it gets interesting. Choose and win an ally, decide on a battle plan, then do cool ninja stuff again before leading your troops to victory (or not).
5) My cheating is honestly accidental. As I flip through another section, I catch some interesting text, and can’t help but read it. I can now see some of the future. I also make choices and stick with them, to the point of starting over, but first read at least one path I didn’t take.
6) As a kid: Back to the Future
As an adult: Pulp Fiction
7) Probably Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever. Also, are you Deadpool?
8) Dave Morris’ Fabled Lands blog. I actually rediscovered gamebooks after decades, thanks to a stray online comment recommending Fabled Lands and DestinyQuest. Otherwise, I might have missed out on those great series and the new Way of the Tiger books.
9) I like the jokes you make, but I wonder if you’ve held back on your more … risque material. Perhaps you’re afraid we’ll think less of you. If so, push past that feeling, and make that joke. For example, here’s a joke I would have written if this were my blog, when you pass the temple of Zarahrayal, the goddess of seduction, and note the ‘rising carnal noises from within’
I can imagine a conversation between two beggars, one new to the city, the other a native:
“Is there a temple that will help a poor soul like me?”
“Yeah, you need to stop by the temple of Zarahrayl.”
“Do they worship a pious god that instructs them to feed the poor and heal the sick?”
“Who cares!”
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1. 35; Canada
2. Do CYOAs count? If yes, one of those. If not, as FF. In either case, I don’t know which specific one. The first one I ever beat though, was the Shamutanti Hills in the Sorcery series. The Sorcery books are favourites of mine.
3. I had never even heard of them. I found the blog through another blog.
4. n/a
5. Definitely cheated. I am a completionist and liked to see all of the things, so I would “bookmark” choices and then look to see what my alternatives would have been. I would also let my character ride on zero or even negative health if I knew they would get healed up.
6. Not much of a movie person, sorry!
7. Between Earth and Sky by Rhea’s Obsession.
8. Through another blog. Don’t ask which one; I don’t remember.
9. I had trouble navigating to specific entries if I had not read in a few days because there is no submenu under the month or book title in the archives to let you jump to a specific “part” easily. Also, when multiple emails came a day, there was sometimes a giveaway based on the numbering system of the title that Avenger was going to die. I like the numbering system though, because it makes it very easy to tell where you left off and that you are reading the posts in the right order.
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1) 39, UK
2) My first gamebook was probably a bunch of choose your own adventures.
3) I did read all the Way of the Tiger books back in my childhood, over and over and over again…
4) My favourite was probably Overlord, especially the political bit. It was a shock to my teenage mind that sometimes you needed to compromise rather than always follow advice from the purest good guys.
5) I started cheating early on because it was the only way I stood even half a chance in some of the Fighting Fantasy books.
6) Favourite movie: The Pianist.
7) First album: maybe The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld.
8) I came here from your comment on the Fabled Lands blog.
9) It took me a little time to work out how to get to the first post chronologically. Otherwise no suggestions, it’s great as it is!
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What is your age and country of current residence?
43 – United Kingdom
What was the first gamebook you ever read? Feel free to share a charming anecdote about ‘your first time’.
Deathtrap Dungeon, I think. It might have been the first one of the Lone Wolf series. Actually no, it was Citadel of Chaos.
Had you read any (or all) Way of the Tiger books before discovering this blog? If so, how did you come to the series?
Oh yes, I think I did them all about 3 times over the mid eighties. I remember looking for new Fighting Fantasy books in a large bookshop in a town in southern England called Reading (no that wasn’t a pun). What, 1984 or something like that? I think one or two of the Fighting Fantasy books had got a bit lame at that stage, I remember one just ended in an illogical death because there was a misprint of the reference entry number and it f*****d up the whole thing, and I had to read every entry to navigate my way back into the story, which was not worth it by then as I had read most of the surprises in order to get back to it. So I was frustrated and open to a new experience of the same format. Already liked ninjas and nunchakus and that. Bought the first two books. Remember being very excited with all that Kwon sh*t. Love it off the bat.
Do you have a favourite book in the Way of the Tiger series? If so, what made that book your favourite?
Assassin. Your man really gets his game on with extra powers and it gets all mystical and the story unfolds nicely.
Did you play gamebooks honestly, or did you cheat?
Tried to play honestly. Then got killed. Had to backtrack. Continued in denial of the wrong turn I’d took. Today such behaviour would probably be called a “hack” or somesuch godawful turn of phrase that I’m a bit too old to feel is part of me.
What is your favourite movie?
Oh, I don’t know. Pick one. Enter The Dragon? Withnail and I? Star Wars (I’m not calling it Episode IV or A New Hope – it’s just f******g Star Wars).
What is the first album you bought with your own money?
Dare by the Human League I think.
How did you discover this blog?
I honestly can’t remember. And it was only a few minutes ago.
Is there anything you particularly want to mention about this blog in terms of improving it when I start on another series?
That mystical learning the Fist of Kwon on a mountain top sh*t kicks ass, I know it’s as derivative as every other martial arts fantasy tale. The magic in the series was awesome in combination with the martial arts. But there was something in the combination of derivative elements which rendered the Way Of The Tiger series an original experience. The artwork was awesome too. Don’t know really. I suppose making the character at least three dimensional, with a real chance of experiencing and the actual experience of loss (a la Game of Thrones) would I think give it more meaning for the reader, but how you do that in the context of a first person gamebook is anybody’s guess. A very dark experience of tragedian despair where the most beloved third person character snuffs it just when victory appears within grasp, by random misfortune maybe, I don’t know, by poking his or her own eye out by mistake with their own sai or poisoning themselves by mistake, might be interesting. Good luck though. I prefer these formats, like D&D, paper based and relying on imagination a bit. Apart from all the stats. That was boring. But they were fun afternoons. The gamebooks of any description were a proxy for the true D&D peer group experience where everyone was invested in their characters and the dungeon master was enjoying it. Now I’m sounding like an old nostalgic fart. I’ll be saying “I remember when this was all just fields!” next. Bring back my youth! Where did it go?
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Thanks so much for reading! Feel free to check out the Lone Wolf page as well!
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1. USA, 35
2. The first gamebook I ever read was Lone Wolf #7, Castle Death, and I believe I picked it out simply because I thought the stupid looking ruby red sword on the American cover was “awesome”. In lieu of a cute story about my first time, I invite you to read my heartwarming story of how gamebooks helped me: http://projectaon.proboards.com/thread/2094/lone-wolf-story
3. I missed out on WOTT as a kid, but stumbled on the series after rediscovering gamebooks as an adult. All of them are proudly sitting up in my dedicated gamebook bookcase now.
4. Avenger! Is my favorite for the world-building and the way things are set up in such a way that the reader knows will be paid off in later books.
5. As a kid I automatically won every fight, had every ability, and had every dice roll go my way, though I would be scrupulously honest about whether or not I had found a particular item. These days I’m mostly on the level, with perhaps an occasional quick glance at “what might have been” (if I had only chosen better) before starting back at the beginning of a book.
6. Hmm… today I think I’ll say The Passion of Joan of Arc (make sure you watch it with the Richard Einhorn score!)
7. That’s a really good question, and all I’m certain of is that I’d be ashamed to admit to it now. The Sign by Ace of Base, maybe?
8. I saw your request to use Lone Wolf pictures on the Project Aon mailing list.
9. Mostly just keep them coming!
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Thanks for reading and commenting, Jimmy! I assume you’ve also been checking out the Lone Wolf progress…
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1. 38, Singapore!
2. Lone Wolf #10: The Dungeons of Torgar. I read that book till it fell apart.
3. Yup, owned and read them all. Found them in the book store I frequented as a kid.
4. Overlord. The political aspects of the book were very interesting to me, wish there could have been more.
5. Mostly honestly, though I did cheat sometimes (mainly when playing Fighting Fantasy)
6, Aliens
7. Sting – Fields of Gold
8. Was Googling for Way of the Tiger and this popped up. Am I glad it did!
9. Nope, love it. Hope you can keep this going!
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Thanks for reading! Check out the (in progress) Lone Wolf series at http://www.lonewolfsaga.wordpress.com
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1- 35, Italy
2- Grailquest 1, The Castle of Darkness (1984). Fell in love with it and completed the serie, then I discovered other series I loved, like “La Loi du sabre” (Samurai), and Way of the Tiger!
3- I played them all. First I found Overlord, then I decided to complete the serie… except for Inferno! A friend borrowed it to me and I totally hated that book so in my mind I decided that the serie ended with the previous book and that one never existed.
4- Avenger! … I loved it because there are several references to other gamebooks of the Duelmaster serie (in particular Arena of Death and Blood Valley). Also it’s a self contained story with an epic climax and ending.
5- Depends… I cannot play Fighting Fantasy/Sorcery! honestly at all, I even used a walkthrough for Creature of Havoc… good writing and setting but it’s a pain.
6- The Matrix
7- “Permanent Vacation” – Aerosmith
8- Looking for info on Way of the Tiger 7 (after I completed Ninja!)
9- No it’s ok, but now that you mentioned this, I’d like to read more series!
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My ex-wife also had the exact same problem, she went to have her snoring checked at a clinic and was told she could either loose the weight and the fatty tissue would also retreat or have her nasal passage widened but it does not always work and is pain full. We slept at opposite ends of a 50 foot house me doairtwnss and her upstairs, still kept me awake. My ex did not loose the weight and had no operation and still snores like a beast
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1) 38, UK
2) The Warlock of Firetop Mountain – I remember loving it at first, and then nearly being driven to distraction by that wretched maze!
3) All of the original six, but Redeemer! is on its way…
4) That’s tough as most of them have very fond memories – like many others, I did enjoy the rulership decisions in Overlord! followed by infiltrating the Valley of the Scorpions.
5) I tended to forgo dice rolls a lot of the time.
6) Pan’s Labyrinth
7) I actually can’t remember!
8) Having rediscovered gamebooks, I decided to reread TWotT, and idly googled it to see who else enjoyed them.
9) As a casual reader appearing after the event, nothing – it was a thoroughly enjoyable read!
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Hope you enjoy the [in progress] Lone Wolf series as well. Thanks for reading!
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I came, I read this article, I coquenred.
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Hi,
First, congrats on your tremendous job. Thanks to your website, I accidentally discovered that book 0 and 7 were finally published and just ordered them — restraining myself to reading only your playthrough of book 1 to 6. I’ll read the remaining books this week-end, and I owe you a big “thank you” for maintaining the playthrough (and have it referenced on google).
What is your age and country of current residence?
39, France.
What was the first gamebook you ever read? Feel free to share a charming anecdote about ‘your first time’.
One of the sorcery! book I picked up at the local library, then a few of the Fighting Fantasy. I was very intrigued by the concept of gamebooks. Then I discovered RPG adventure published in a collection of book related to the one who published gamebooks in France (and was at the time even more intrigued, but had to wait a few years to actually play RPG as I resumed reading gamebooks in the meantime).
Had you read any (or all) Way of the Tiger books before discovering this blog? If so, how did you come to the series?
I have read all of them in the late eighties. I was an fan on some series, among which way
of the tiger, grailquest, lone wolf and a short 3-book series that was afaik only published in French, “missions spéciales” (that I still enjoy to this day).
Do you have a favourite book in the Way of the Tiger series? If so, what made that book your favourite?
The wargame in book 5 was an interesting change of pace, as was the political part of Overlord!. I like them for that, with Overlord coming out on top I guess.
Did you play gamebooks honestly, or did you cheat?
On the first few playthrough, honestly, usually while discovering the book. In subsequent playthrough, I cheated as I was trying to explore all the material, including the obvious bad choice.
And now, I just read that you started a playthrough of the whole Lone Wolf books… looks like I’ll have to read them in one go as well! (but not after completing my shiny new Avenger books!).
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1. 45, Sweden
2. I think it was Avenger (but it might have been Starship Traveller), in Swedish translation. As has been pointed out several times during this blog series, translations are not always right or good. The Swedish translation of Avenger is a bit underwhelming, you get a feeling it was translated by someone who did it only because they were paid but didn’t understand the material or the genre. Either she had no understanding of basic fantasy races, or, worse, thought it needed to be dumbed down for Swedish readers. For instance, the Ogre on the pirate ship in the beginning became a “Maneater” (or “Humaneater”, depending on how you (back-)translate it). The Hobgoblin in the tower in Mortavalon’s arena became a “vätte”, a word that more evokes images of gnomes than hobgoblins. Oh, and apparently Swedish readers in the 80s would not be able to understand what ninjas are so they became “shadow-warriors” instead… Somehow, I still stayed with the game-book genre. (And if Starship Traveller could not dissuade me with pure frustration, nothing could.)
3. I had not read all of the books, even though I own the complete set from the Kickstarter (I am one of the “Grandmasters” in the dedication page). I’m not sure why I never completed it, I know I began. Probably work came in between and then they just remained in the bookshelf, half forgotten. I will re-do them now that I have read this blog.
4. As I have not read the later books I cannot really say but I really like the construction of Ninja, with the five different cities as mini-adventures that can be taken in (almost) any order and combination.
5. I play battles honestly but if (when) I die, I usually just back up a bit and take a different option instead of beginning from 1 again.
6. Single favourite film is a bit hard to pinpoint but I’ll go for Jurassic Park as it, despite inaccuracies, showed dinosaurs as real animals while still making them awesome (in the literal sense).
7. Queen: Live at Wembly Stadium
8. I follow your attempt at Lone Wolf and found this blog from talks about it there.
9. As I am way late to this blog I have nothing further…
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1. 40. Singapore
2. Does “Choose Your Own Adventure” count? If not, it will be ASSASSIN!. I chose it because it has the best-looking cover, IMO.
3. I read all the original six books in the series before discovering this blog. Though I only read Inferno about 3 years ago (an electronic copy downloaded online). Managed to get Ninja and Redeemer from Book Depository (thank God!). Got Talisman of Death from a second hand bookstore after finding out it is actually a prequel (sort of) of WOTT.
I think Blood Sword is a fantastic series too, by the way.
4. I have to say ASSASSIN!. No reason other than it is my first and I have tried every paths in it.
Overlord was my second book in the series. I enjoyed the first part (making decisions as a ruler) but I find the reason for Avenger to go looking for the two objects contrived.
5. Same. I skipped all the dice rolls and play it like a “Choose Your Own Adventure”. (I guess that counts as cheating, right?)
6. Dark Knight.
Heath Ledger is THE Joker.
7. You guys probably have never heard of them. It’s an album by a HK rock band, BEYOND.
8. Was trying to find where I can buy Ninja and Redeemer and came across the blog. Totally love it.
9. Not sure if it’s a bit late to say it, but maybe a walkthrough for Blood Sword? (Assuming you are interested in the series.)
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1/ What is your age and country of current residence?
Forty one, and I’m one of those stinking Pommies. Look on the bright side though, at least I’m not a lawyer. (I’m actually an ex-copper, who was forcibly retired due to an injury on-duty.)
2/ What was the first gamebook you ever read? Feel free to share a charming anecdote about ‘your first time’.
I can actually remember this! I had been a fan of those Choose Your Own Adventure books in my childhood and this progressed to the similar, but more developed books that were spin-offs from the most excellent children’s adventures series/gameshow, Knightmare. Instead of just choices, these books required you to collect items, keep track of your Life Force and feed it, and generally interact more with the environment than your average CYOA book had you do. Sometime after this, I stumbled across a book in my school library, somewhere around the age of thirteen or fourteen, called “Island of the Lizard-King”, which seemed to be similar. It of course turned out to be (I think) book 7 in the Fighting Fantasy series by Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson. The school library started getting more of them from this point on and they were so popular that they had a waiting list you had to get on to get one, and you just got given whichever one was available, there was no choice. I was however a bookish type, and regularly used the local village and nearby town libraries, so had the bright idea of checking those out for Fighting Fantasy content and sure enough, they had tons and didn’t bother with twattish school-type things, like waiting lists. I borrowed dozens of the bloody things without actually getting near completing any of them. Somewhere around the age of seventeen, I went on a bender with my savings and bought over a dozen of the things.
The first one I managed to get through was Sword of the Samurai, which I found widdlingly easy compared to every other one. I noticed some were harder than others and manifested their challenges more easily. In the case of some, knowing from previous experience what the optimal route was, made your likelihood of winning way higher than any chance of failing. (Sword of the Samurai, Starship Traveller – the latter of which you could complete in roughly ten minutes without a single dice roll, if you knew the correct route. Jackson must’ve been high or drunk or both when he wrote that one.) Others though, had one single route which must be found out by horrid, trying experience and you needed the maximum personal attribute rolls to have any kind of chance of getting through it, and even then it was 50/50. (Trial of Champions.) One, I think it was called Rebel Planet, was written in such a way that no-one without an A-Level in maths could even attempt the ending, because you had to fill out a binary values table and mathematically convert them to paragraph numbers to even get into the bad guy’s final building. Again, no idea what the author was thinking or what substances were in their system, at the time.
3/ Had you read any (or all) Way of the Tiger books before discovering this blog? If so, how did you come to the series?
I stumbled across Avenger in a book shop sometime in my early teens and quickly realised it was similar to this Fighting Fantasy stuff. I actually grew to love the system a great deal more though, because unlike Fighting Fantasy, the skills you ended up with were down to you to decide. It was a step closer to a full-on D&D experience! There was no chance of a chain of shitty dice rolls landing you with 7 Skill, 14 Stamina and 7 Luck, because Avenger started with a basic level of hero-tier competence and then you could improve on that as the adventure went along. Not a great deal of time after, I found Usurper and Warbringer, books three and five. No matter where I looked or how often I went back to check though, I could find no sign of Assassin and Overlord anywhere. Any enquiries about ordering them were met with the shrug and bored facial expression of the truly indifferent shop assistant, so well-parodied in the character of Carol Beer, in Little Britain.
“Computer says noooooooo….’
So books two and four were lost to me, and I wasn’t even aware that there was a book six until after I got online in 1999, at the age of twenty one. I tracked those down thanks to the advent of online shopping, and quickly realised that it had been written years ago, that there were apparently no further titles in the series (which seemed to have been abandoned by the authors) and that the ending sucked big, donkey dangly bits. I seriously could not believe that the authors would take all this time and energy to try and give people an epic ride through six epic books that each had a whole twenty more paragraphs than your average Fighting Fantasy romp, only to leave you apparently worse than dead and buried in the depths of the Rift. At some point, I sent off an email somewhere in the publishing world in the hopes that either Mark Smith or Jamie Thompson would eventually lay eyes on it, begging them to conclude the series, as the current state of affairs were bollocks and I was desperate to buy the seventh title and have a happy ending.
Also somewhere around this point, now about ten years ago I think, I finally completed Avenger to the degree that I was satisfied I had drained every possible piece of power-gain I could from it. This was harder than it looks, because my skills were always Poison Needles, Immunity to Poisons and Picking Locks, Detecting & Disarming Traps. This meant I had to climb Mount Gwalodrun to find Togawa trusting to Fate and every God-damned time I tried, I fell and impaled myself on a bloody pine tree! (Incidentally, I am making no reference or name checks in the books to confirm these details, I can recall all of them from memory!) Another sticking point was the arena. The first encounter in it was the young magician who you aren’t supposed to shake hands with. All you have to do is roll higher than 4 with two dice to hit him with a Poison Needle (I think this is the only time in the book you have to roll the dice to use this skill, rather than just automatically succeed or fail), and EVERY GODDAMN TIME I would roll 2-4. I’m not joking when I say that I missed the bugger with my needle maybe a dozen times and being the sperg-type that I am, I couldn’t go back to the game for another two months, such was my rage and frustration. Finally, I managed to both kill him with needles and climb Mount Gwalodrun without the Climbing skill, and then died fighting an Elder God or something in the dungeons of Quench-Heart Keep. It took me another two years to finally get around to beating the game perfectly, with the skills I’d chosen to be optimal for future adventures and by the time I managed that, I found I was burned out and couldn’t face doing any of the other five. That was ten years ago…. I did read books three and five quite extensively, but never to the point of managing to complete them, although I did know enough about book five to be screaming at the screen in your walkthrough of Warbringer, when you chose to attack Honoric’s Colossus, instead of falling back before it, thus losing you your chance at pursuing him, and totally annihilating the Legion of the Sword of Doom and killing Honoric for good. (Shackle-dragging tit that you are.)
4/ Do you have a favourite book in the Way of the Tiger series? If so, what made that book your favourite?
I don’t THINK so, although if you held a gun to my head, I’d probably choose Warbringer, because of all the army general stuff you have to do. It so greatly expanded upon the premise of personal combat.
5/ Did you play gamebooks honestly, or did you cheat?
That should be obvious from my descriptions above. I played honestly. I did a lot of grazing through them too, I have to be honest, just for bedtime reading usually, but when I played I played completely honestly, or it felt like I’d break the world or something.
6/ What is your favourite movie?
Very difficult. I’d probably go with either The Dambusters or Chariots of Fire. Something triumphalist and British, anyway.
7/ What is the first album you bought with your own money?
Very easy to answer, because I never bought an album until this year. One of the joys of going through ten and a bit years of uninspiring, abusive state education as an undetected “sperg”, is that there are so many things people usually take for granted and which you don’t even know exist, or completely discount. One of these for me, was music, which I was under the impression for the longest time, that I simply didn’t like. However, there is music and music and I eventually stumbled across the bizarre genius that is David Bowie, two or three years ago. I’d bought a few CDs in the past, but they were always things like four disc box sets of “Super Hits of the 80s” or something similar. However, this year, with my own cash from my own medical pension, I bought my first actual album: a vinyl 33rpm LP of David Bowie’s Hunky Dory.
8/ How did you discover this blog?
Through Googling “Way of the Tiger”, I’m sure. I’d recently been considering playing some old gamebooks again, including this and Fighting Fantasy (I’d even resolved to play Avenger from the beginning again, as I long ago lost my notes and map of it) and the old fart in me was delighted to see such a thriving online community of people who love them as much as I ever did. I was even more overjoyed to find that undoubtedly my letter of a decade or so ago had obviously got through to Mark Smith and Jamie Thompson and they’d said,
‘Such sincerity! Such passion! So wonderfully expressed a set of sentiments about our work! So obviously a stalker-psycho type that we’d better write the seventh book or one day we’ll find ourselves bound over a barrel like the Gimp in Pulp Fiction in this bloke’s cellar, or bound to a bed and hobbled like James Caan in Misery. Quick, let’s get it written!’
So I started sourcing where I could find books 0 and 7 and somehow ran across your blog and read a few of the entries in it that dealt with books I already knew. (1,3 and 5, basically.)
9/ Is there anything you particularly want to mention about this blog in terms of improving it when I start on another series?
No, it seems a fair and fine blog to me. (Again, a reference I pull out of my arse without needing to check anything.)
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Argh! I lied! My three original chosen ninja skills were Immunity to Poisons, Poison Needles and Arrow-Cutting. I think I chose Picking Locks, Detecting & Disarming Traps as my fourth skill when I defeated Yaemon.
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1. 37, UK
2. Vault of the Vampire was my first ever gamebook, I remember it being incredibly difficult but that may be because I was about eight years old at the time. I also remember it being fairly horrific, particularly some of the illustrations and death sequences.
3. I used to own the first three and had played them several time.
4. Avenger! was the only book I owned for some time and remains my favourite.
5. Both. I would often read them on long car or train journeys with family and therefore tended to skip any dice-rolling combat with the assumption I won. When I got a little older, 12-14, I’d play them honestly much more often.
6. Office Space (Mike Judge)
7. Music for the Jilted Generation – The Prodigy
8. I bought the game ‘Mark of the Ninja’ on Steam when I spotted in in a sale. That tickled my nostalgia muscle such that I thought of the WotT series, googled it, and landed here.
9. Sadly, I fear I’m too late on this one.
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Thanks for reading! Sorry it took me a few days to approve, but I certainly read and appreciate every comment!
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