Well!
What to say!
Given that this is the first book in the series, I’m going to make a few comments (both positive and negative) about the mechanics of the series generally, before pontificating about this book specifically.
Unsurprisingly, given the authors, this book has a number of common elements with the Way of the Tiger series….
Aside : If you’re reading this blog, and you haven’t checked out the Way of the Tiger series, GET ON THAT! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU!
Ahem.
In any event, this series shares a common idea with the Way of the Tiger series in that, rather than rolling for ‘starting’ scores in various attributes, there are rolls during the adventure regarding certain skills, with modifiers which can affect the result positively or negatively.
The big difference, and it is here that the Falcon series really forges its own path, is that, apart from the Fate / Luck modifier, the Way of the Tiger modifiers all relate to combat.
And when I say ‘combat’, I mean the ‘traditional’ Fighting Fantasy-esque combats which involve a number of dice rolls, assessments of damage and so forth.
By contrast, the Falcon series has NO combats in the traditional gamebook sense of the word. Rather, all confrontations are resolved by way of choices made by the player along with one or more pass-fail dice checks against the various skills, being usually either Attack or Evasion.
This lack of combat is arguably more plausible, given that two people wielding blasters (or other weapons given the time period) aren’t going to be whittling away at each other, but will rather resolve any duel in speedy fashion. However, it can, on occasion, reduce the gaming process to a brutal single dice roll (not unlike life) where, notwithstanding clever choices by the player, survival can simply come down to a lonely toss of the dice.
Aside : A great quote from Kipling :
Have gamebooks ever been summed up with more class?
In any event, the Falcon books (based on this first one) are certainly both unforgiving and interesting in that, while a single unfavourable dice roll can crucify the player, each individual roll is quite possible, and there are no passages of semi-impossible combats / rolls to confound the individual player (I’m looking at you Crypt of the Sorcerer and The Prisoners of Time).
So – onto this book individually.
As far as I can detect, this is really a book of two halves. The first half involves finding the correct path (which involves the trips to Kelados and the Mongol era) without either getting killed or wasting too much time.
There is a whodunnit / detective aspect to the first half of the book, although the deployment of red herrings means that the reader can follow the clues faithfully (especially regarding Speke) but still find themself at an unproductive dead-end. I note that there is no tangible benefit to exposing Speke (apart from eliminating him as a suspect) given that his disgrace is, no matter what, covered in a throwaway line in the book’s final paragraph.
In my opinion, it would have been ‘fairer’ to give the reader a tangible benefit to resolving the Speke subplot. Discovering a gadget carried by Speke which gave a +1 to a modifier (such as the component found near Kirik) would have been appropriate.
In any event, presuming the player manages to get through the first half of the book in one piece, the path following the detente with Bloodhound is comparatively linear. The player simply has to make the correct choices at each location (the second Khan location, Borodino and Hel) along with making the appropriately lucky dice rolls, in order to survive.
As someone who made it through the second half on the first try, I’m not sure what part of that can be attributed to making the right choices, and what part can be attributed to lucky dice rolls.
Given the way that the book is crafted as a whodunnit, I feel there would have been a benefit, say right before the ambulance overturns, to asking the reader to nominate one of the Time Lords….. *ahem* ‘Lords of Time’ as the Renegade Lord. A correct guess could have resulted in a bonus of some kind for either that confrontation or the remainder of the book, while an incorrect selection could have had the appropriately negative consequences.
Don’t get me wrong though – I thought that this gamebook was, overall, fantastic. The world-building was first-grade, and the characterisation of the NPCs (particularly the Lords of Time) was excellent.
As a reader, I really felt that each of my choices had a concrete effect on the game, rather than simply providing flavour text before a further inevitable conflict / dice roll.
On to Mechanon, which by reputation is an order of magnitude more difficult!
A personal note : A client of mine has a 7-day Trial commencing on Monday, so my ability to post updates may be limited. No promises!
Pop culture!
I know my last update was a music video, but I’ve been listening to this track a lot lately, and it is fantastic, in a bleak way.
It is the product of V.A.S.T. (Visual Audio Sensory Theater) which is a one-man brainchild, a la Nine Inch Nails of one twisted yet talented individual.
This song is the best summary of an abuser, from their point of view, that I’ve ever heard – it sums up the attraction and disgust of such a contemptible piece of slime in the most perfect way.
Explicit content warning.
Falcon Gamebooks - Playthrough 