Blood of the Zombies

Thantsants

Member
So how many of you Oldhammerers out there are or have also been erstwhile adventurers in the land of Allansia?

As I mentioned on my blog these gamebooks were probably my first taste of fantasy and gaming so I was most excited that Ian Livingstone had written a new adventure to celebrate Fighting Fantasy's 30th anniversary. I'm in the process of writing up a post on my thoughts on the changes made in Blood of the Zombies but thought I'd get a little discussion going on here.

Basically the main change is the combat system. Instead of rolling up stats for Skill, Stamina and Luck you only roll up a beefed up Stamina score. Combat is no longer done by adding 2D6 roll to your skill score and comparing it with your enemy's. Most of the opponents (zombies in one form or another) that you meet in BOTZ have only 1 stamina point each. As they are slow you always get to strike first and depending on what weapon you are using take out a certain number of zombies - a baseball bat causes something like D6-1 damage while a grenade causes 2D6+1 damage - you lose a stamina point for each zombie left standing after your initial attack. I think this chimes in rather well with the idea that the odd random zombie isn't much of a threat but a shuffling horde of 23 zombies is going to hurt!

Think I got fairly far on my first attempt and have since read that, now the first print run has sold out, Mr Livingstone has decreed that it was a little difficult and that the next print run will have the initial stamina score upped from 2D6+12 to 2D6+20, and that you can exceed that initial score by using medikits. Time for another bash methinks :evil:

There is another twist in the tale in that you have to kill every single zombie in the castle - I gather there are various endings for if you do or don't, all of which are by no means happy...

So any of you read it yet or planning on giving it a go. Would you download the app for your mobile phone (smells a bit like heresy to to me!)? What do you make of the changes?
 

Just John

Moderator
I loved those books when I was a kid, I used to get them in a second hand book shop. Your blog post brought back some pleasant memories. I might see about getting the new one, although it not being on Allansia is a bit of a turn off. Then again I like anything with zombies in it.
 

treps

Member
I will probably buy it, but I would like to see if it is translated to French first, not for me as reading English is not really a problem, but my 9 year old daughter really like to read this kind of books since she stumbled on my old gaming books this spring !

Bruno
 

Thantsants

Member
John - the non-Allansian setting was a bit of a shame. In one of the videos that Ian Livingstone shot for the release he mentioned that he'd considered another visit to the Warlock of Firetop Mountain, but decided against working on it without Steve Jackson.

Mind you having said that I've read that many of the futuristic ones, and of course House of Hell, that I didn't really mind it - as much as I love the world of Titan. If you like zombies you'll love it, although I must say I wasn't sure about the ones wielding weapons... good fun though!

Good work Bruno - nice to see a new generation being educated! My two are constantly fascinated by "Daddy's Monsters and Monster books" so shuldn't be too hard a job once they're reading...
 

Orlygg

Member
I love Fighting Fantasy... I still play them (though they have to be green spined originals) on long haul plane flights. I am a old school mapper and really enjoy plotting out the paths through the books. I remember beating Forest of Doom on my last holiday to St Lucia. To be honest, I have only really played the first 10 or so titles and consider the Citadel of Chaos as my personal favourite as an adult. As a child, I loved The Trial of the Champions and its sequel, the Armies of Death.

I am a teacher by profession and can reassure you that every year I have one or two boys in my class who bring in a copy of Warlock or Dungeon... They live on...
 

Thantsants

Member
Hmm might have to ask for some of our Literacy budget and invest at our place too - I was reading somewhere about the Educational resources Steve Jackson put together from Fighting Fantasy. I'll have to see if I can find the link again.

I fell at the final hurdle in Trial of the Champions not so long ago - bloody wizard at the end... :mad:

Need to have another go at Armies of Death too, and of course the ultimate - Deathtrap Dungeon!
 

Orlygg

Member
Only a few years ago I used Fighting Fantasy and Heroquest as inspiration for adventure stories... They loved it!

Shame when I left the school they kept my battleworn edition of the game!

Never mind...
 

Thantsants

Member
Shame when I left the school they kept my battleworn edition of the game!

Now that's quite a sacrifice to make in the name of education! :o

We got a lot of mileage out of the Hobbit last year and I mentioned elsewhere on the forum that we made cool little Photostory "animations" of the kids' paper armies on the papier mache Mountain terrain they'd made - think I enjoyed it more than the kids and they loved it!

Definitely going to have to work in some FF this year - my Year group partner (we have two classes per year) already thinks I'm a total geek so it should be laugh! :twisted:
 

willlucv

Member
I got a copy of Titan the Fighting Fantasy World for my birthday when I was about 10, 1987 or thereabouts. I loved it, read it so many times it was my gateway in harder fantasy like Warhammer. I've still got my copy now.

I loved all the FF books. I also had the novel (forgotten the name) but an exciting read iirc.
 

Thantsants

Member
Titan was a great book, but it was Out of the Pit that I really coveted as a lad - until I tracked it down on ebay a few years ago :mrgreen:

I think there were three novels - the best was the Trolltooth Wars - fantastic read and a story I'd like to translate to the tabletop, possibly in 10mm if I can't afford 28mm...

There were two sequels called Demonstealer and Shadowmaster - not quite as epic in scope but fun nonetheless.
 

willlucv

Member
It was the Trolltooth Wars. I've still got my copy of that too, although it is rather well thumbed. It does cram an amazing amount of plot and fluff into a fairly slim volume, most fantasy novels are about three inches thick these days.
 

DaImp

Member
I used to love the Fighting Fantasy books as a kid. I also had the Titan book and the book that gave you the rules to roleplay in the FF world. Was very simple system but good fun, never got to play it much though.
 

Erny

Member
Just had a run through Sorcery! again unfortunately got stuck on a lake with nowhere to go. Even if I could remember the correct page number for the ferry I certainly wouldn't cheat myself.

Speaking of Titan, it was one of the five books needed for AFF. I understand the new version of dungeonier uses the magic system from Sorcery!
 

Zhu Bajie

Member
I loves me some FF.

Didn't pick up BoZ because I'm not really interested in the survival horror genre, I'd have rather seen Ian take on Zagor or Sukumvit yet again, or perhaps they could have got Steve Jackson to write a sequel to Sorcery! and had Blanche illustrate it.

Anyone remember the Field of Battle war game in Warlock? I played that back in the day with my plastic skeleton horde and my mates dwarves. Think we ended up punching each other.
 
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