Ian Livingstone (1) (1949–)

Took a shot at this for the first time and quite enjoyed it. The set up is absurd in the extreme, no-one would ever do that. Why is the dungeon there, why is the dragon there? The political economy of the dungeon makes no sense. This is a gamebook that was out of date at the time Warlock of Firetop Mountain was published, by 2004 players were expecting something more than just a funhouse dungeon. Perhaps Livingstone was trying to enculcate a taste for old school style rpgs. And given that the tweens who would have read this are now approaching middle age and the OSR is full swing, perhaps he was right.

I know this book has a bad reputation, but I am not clear why. Yes its nonsense, but I enjoyed it. The usual blend of tricks and traps and killing monsters. I didn't find the eye of the dragon so I died in pain at the very end. Maybe something is broken or utterly impossible or implausibly stupid along a path I didn;t take.… (mais)

This is one of my favourite gamebooks despite never having gotten any closer to completing it than I did last night. The magic spells choice is tricky, and I think that you might have to take a couple of them to survive. Definitely take Create Water and Open Door. I also took Detect Trap and Read Symbols, but I think next time I will take Jump instead of Detect Trap. Unlike last time I played the Messenger of Death did not Sesame Street me to death, but I only collected three dragons in the city and so Malbordus and the Dark Elves declared fiery dragon war on the world. I am unclear why the dragons needed him or he they, but there you go. Next time Malbordus!… (mais)

Um dos clássicos livro-jogos de fantasia, lido com entusiasmo na minha pré-adolescência. Reler a masmorra da morte foi uma experiência melhor do que a encomenda. Por mais simples e gratuita a premissa - entrar no labirinto, masmorra, conseguir os itens corretos, matar os monstros e sair vitorioso - as páginas fluem muito bem e é bastante divertido escolher os caminhos, passeando pelos parágrafos desse pequeno livro labirinto. Não sei o quanto esse gênero continua vivo; depois de revisitá-lo, acho que deveria.

(uma observação - nessa edição, porque recebemos provisões, se não há indicações de onde consumi-las, no livro?!)… (mais)