Author: mazemaster

I finished playing and mapping Expedition to the Frozen Lake, another Select Your Own Timeline adventure by Chuck Tingle. We had played this one several times previously as a fun read-aloud, and we thought we had seen everything. Turns out, the folks I was letting make the choices kept choosing the same thing because it […]

Finally, on what felt like my 50th try, I have defeated Modraneth, the Stealer of Souls. I won through fair and square with a Skill of 10 and a Luck of 10, demonstrating that this one really did take a) a little luck not to get killed right on page 1, and b) mapping and […]

Welp, that power-run ended and Mordraneth, the Stealer of Souls, has claimed another soul to madness and terror. I wandered halls for some time, trying doors at random and steam-rolling over some orcs and goblins and a wizard at some point. Eventually I caught news of a captured wizard being tortured for information, which sounds […]

Continuing Stealer of Souls from yesterday, this time with 12/24/12 because I rolled 7s and 8s five times in a row, and am killed by that damn bird every time. Having finally survived as far as the beach, I hiked for two days and I am at a crossroads. I leave the path, and start […]

Since my last post, I have played Stealer of Souls two more times but rolled shitty stats: 8 / 14 / 11 and 8 / 18 / 8 Both times, that damn bird on page 1 killed me. Clearly something’s wrong with my dice that they can’t roll higher than a 2 if it’s for […]

Okay, deep breath. Roll the dice and let’s play Stealer of Souls again. And… For goodness’ sake. Skill 8 / Stamina 20 / Luck 8 The page 1 bird knocks me down to 10 stamina out of my initial 20. Brutal. Fortunately the ship’s galley then heals me back up, so I can finally start […]

Okay, so after that extremely brief failure, let’s try again with… Stealer of Souls! Roll up a brand new character: Skill 7 / Stamina 19 / Luck 7   Ah hell. Why did Vanestin hire me? Why did I take the job? Backstory. Boat. Bird attack… …and dead. I hit it a few times, but […]

Well this is almost certainly the shortest playthrough of Stealer of Souls ever. There are four pages of backstory: “we’re hiring you because a wizard took my colleague, because we were plotting to kill the wizard. Go find my colleague, who isn’t in the same place the wizard is do don’t worry about it. It’s […]

We’re playing ‘Twas, a Krampus Night Before Christmas as we do every winter solstice. When we left Debbie in yesterday’s post, she had wandered into someone’s gingerbread home in the wilderness, dressed in pajamas and holding an axe. Nothing weird here! The homeowner wasn’t there, so she helped herself to some mulled wine and reading […]

‘Tis the season to play ‘Twas, the Jonathan Green ACE gamebook. Every Christmas since I picked it up in 2019 (so, three solstice/Christmas seasons) I love to make some cocoa and play it with a friend where one of us reads, the other plays. And here, children, is tonight’s story… Once upon a time… Debbie […]

It’s taken most of two months off and on, but I’ve finally finished You Are Not Deadpool. What a fun time! As a game book it’s okay. The mechanics are a bit iffy, and it’s difficult to lose enough fights to die. More often than I like, both of the choices go to the same […]

Last night, a friend and I played The Wicked Wizard of Oz by the illustrious Jonathan Green. One of us read while the other chose, so it was a fun interactive time with the two of us. She picked the not-at-all-cowardly Lion, who is celebrating one year since he became the king of the forest. […]

Hard to believe that the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival was two weeks ago already. I couldn’t see everything, and I picked more feature-length movies this time over short films. I found almost all of the feature-length ones really boring, and I wish I had gone with the short films instead. But aside from the […]

For the last month, I’ve continued to play the Chuck Tingle Select Your Own Timeline adventures. I finished up Trouble in Tinglewood a few weeks back, and was surprised at how much is in there. There are numerous career paths, a wide variety of settings, and a lot of situations ranging from relaxed to surreal […]

Ah, Chuck Tingle. DeVry master’s degree holder. Tae kwon do grandmaster (almost black belt). And of course… the world’s greatest author. His bizarre self-published erotica features sexual encounters with dinosaurs, bigfoots, anthropomorphized objects and concepts, and more. He’s such a weirdo, and I love it. And for this last week I’ve been re-reading the first […]

These last few weeks, I and my sweetie have been playing She-Hulk Goes to Murderworld and You Are Not Deadpool, the first two and so far only two of the brand-new Marvel Multiverse Missions In both cases, in the universe you are not the superhero – you are their assistant, and they let you pick […]

My first three runs of Star Strider were so bad, that clearly that guy was the decoy agent. Here is the story of the real Star Strider whom Tracebeam sent in to get the job done. Skill 8, Stamina 22, Luck 11, Fear 12 Oh for goodness’ sake – an 8 skill and 22 stamina, […]

All righty, Star Strider (Fighting Fantasy 27). Again, I am baffled that during my last playthrough the book didn’t even seem familiar and I was legit surprised to see that I played this back in 2016. Well, that just gives me a fresh start and something new to enjoy. I’m the most elite bounty hunter […]

I’ve decided to go with one of the few science fiction Fighting Fantasy offerings: number 27, Star Strider. What’s really weird is that I grabbed it off the shelf thinking I hadn’t played it before, and had two very short plays during which it didn’t seem familiar. As I came here to blog it, I […]

And, that’s another book won: War of the Wizards, book four of the Grey Star World of Lone Wolf series. Somehow I won it on my first try, due to not meeting the Demon Master (I met him on a later playthrough) and also to figuring out that I should always sink 3 or 5 […]

I’ve been quiet lately, but not idle. I’m playing Grey Star 4, War of the Wizards and I must say, Grey Star has not fared well. 🙂 The Shianti have enough magic to pull me back to Magnamund from the Daziarn Plane, but they drop us on the western side of the continent, with no […]

I’ve been quiet lately, but not idle. I’m playing Grey Star 4, War of the Wizards and I must say, Grey Star has not fared well. 🙂 The Shianti have enough magic to pull me back to Magnamund from the Daziarn Plane, but not enough to put me where I need to be. Considering that […]

I’ve not posted in the last month, but I’ve not been idle. I played through Beyond the Nightmare Gate, book three of the Grey Star series. I wanted to like this one. The idea of the Daziarn plane, featured previously in Lone Wolf 10 The Prisoners of Time, appeals to me: Even in the world […]

Last night I finished The Forbidden City, book 2 of the Grey Star series. There’s a tedious gauntlet in the middle where you’ll certainly die if you don’t have these two specific skills, but that same gauntlet also lays on the lore and atmosphere nice ‘n’ thick. And aside from that, it’s pretty decent. There […]

I started playing Grey Star the Wizard, which is The World of Lone Wolf book 1. It’s a totally different story arc from the Kai, though many game mechanics are similar. And I’ve been too busy playing it and enjoying it, to post about it. 🙂 The story line is pretty novel: You’re a wizard […]

Tonight is my third evening playing Lone Wolf 15, The Darke Crusade. Honestly, I think I’m over the whole Lone Wolf series by now. They’ve become repetitive, with the same enemies and scenarios and the same ongoing war after 24 years. The writing is lazy, with so many sections that do literally nothing at all […]

Well, I’ve had a few more plays of Legend of the Shadow Warriors. The book itself doesn’t seem overly difficult yet, but I’ve had just the worst luck ever and haven’t been making it very far.   Skill 8 / Stamina 21 / Luck 12 Surrendered to the guards. Feigned illness to escape from jail, […]

Part 3 of my second playthrough of Legend of the Shadow Warriors Previously, I headed east to consult a hermit who told me the backstory of the warlord and an undead army. Heading south from there, I met an invulnerable vampyr-witch with an army of pumpkin-heads, then a Frankenstein wannabe. As I march southward toward […]

Part 2 of my second playthrough of Legend of the Shadow Warriors Previously, I escaped the city and consulted a hermit who then got eaten by the undead zombie of his son. And I’m back on the road to Karnstein. To make up some lost time, I decide to cut south through Hustings and Cumberside […]

My second playthrough of Legend of the Shadow Warriors. Let’s see if I can do better this time. Skill 11 / Luck 8 / Stamina 19   I dig the 11 Skill, but I remember a lot of luck tests so I dunno… So, I’m sitting in the tavern one day, a retired soldier now […]

Well, I finished mapping out Seas of Blood and I admit, I did not enjoy it. So, on to my next adventure – Legend of the Shadow Warriors. My back story is fairly ordinary: retired soldier, sword for hire, and a village terrorized by some jerks dressed up as Shadow Warrior bogeymen. Starting stats: SK […]

Well, I’ve played a few more times and Seas of Blood is really kicking my butt. About half of the time, I’ve been killed in the second scene and I’m not sure how winnable this book really is. First play today: We headed south to Enraki and I killed the abbot of the warrior-priests. Got […]

Today is a “twofer” post, being two very short playthroughs of Fighting Fantasy 16, Seas of Blood. Yeah, they were that short.   Playthrough 1 I rolled up a skill of 7 and luck 8, so I expected that my 17 stamina isn’t going to last very long. For my first venture, I decided to […]

It’s been a month and a half, between editing someone else’s book, and studying for exams, and playing Cyberpunk 2077… I just haven’t picked up a game book in two months. But it’s a quiet evening, and I’m glad to be back. Today’s book is… Seas of Blood, Fighting Fantasy number 16. I’ve never played […]

For the last week, I’ve been play-testing and proof-reading a game book for someone in the Facebook group. It’s hard work. As with any game book, I go through every option and map out what connects to what – but this time I also need to track which pages I’ve visited, so I can find […]

I’m taking a break from Lone Wolf for a bit, so I grabbed a random gamebook from my shelf… Battleblade Warrior I don’t remember this one at all, though according to my own website I played it back in 2018, and I wasn’t overly fond of it. Well, let’s try it today. The story opens […]

It’s been 2 months since my last post. I’ve been playing Lone Wolf 14, Captives of Kaag off and on. But honestly, I’ve not been enjoying it. That’s not news, if you’ve read my previous posts. Ive not enjoyed the LW books lately. I keep griping about the game balance being absurd. The Grand Master […]

So I spent a few more hours playing Plague Lords of Ruel some more, this time mapping it out. I wish I liked it more, but I admit I’m somewhat disappointed. The maps show that there’s not a lot of ground covered. Forest or caverns, either way is about 5 encounters before you land at […]

I’ve been out of it for a while, haven’t picked up a game book in some 6 weeks, having been occupied with other pursuits such as video games and summer outdoor stuff. I wanted my next adventure to be a good one, and it was: Lone Wolf 13, The Plague Lords of Ruel. It’s been […]

I picked up Curse of the Assassin on iPad back in 2016, and I really enjoyed it. So a few years later, a few months ago, I picked it up for Windows on Steam and played it all again. I must say, it’s just as good as it was 4 years ago. It develops You […]

I am the mindless and hungry Creature of Havoc and yesterday was a weird day. While hunting tasty intruders to kill and eat, I came across two bottles of smoke. While I couldn’t eat then, they imbued free will and the language into me. It’s kind of a drag. I was happy just killing and […]

I was half-joking in my previous post that it was my 100th playthrough of Creature of Havoc. By this point, I’ve played it over a dozen times and have mapped out what I believe to be everything up to meeting Darramous. But I’m still trying to really play through it and get that far honestly. […]

So, I’ve been playing Creature of Havoc for a few days now. It’s been a wild ride, and I’m still not entirely sure what I think so far. The story so far, is that I’m an armored, taloned abomination. I’m a killing machine crafted by wizards and dropped into a dungeon with random movement and […]

All righty, my second go at Choose Cthulhu 1: The Call of Cthulhu An epigrapher told me told me that the lettering on Wilcox’s bas relief, was reminiscent of Esquimaux writing. So I impulsively jumped onto a boat to Halifax, then on to Greenland. With some sweet-talking and money, I found a guide to take […]

After over a year, I’m finally sitting down with my first Choose Cthulhu book: book 1, The Call of Cthulhu. My adventure was brief but terrifying. I saw a cult summon a giant tree monster, then visited a library. I was possessed with an urge to see the unexplored depths of the Pacific Ocean and […]

I just finished Lone Wolf 12, Masters of Darkness in two evenings, on my first playthrough. I know, I’m just as baffled as you! It was a great time. It’s an epic-grade story again, with adventure on the seas, hijacking an airbeast, walking miles and miles, and of course defeating Darklord Gnaag and saving all […]

I just finished playing Lone Wolf 11, the Prisoners of Time. It was a fun time, but not the best of them. Good: A very other-worldly feel, meeting cat people and brain-things and Kai itself. Hiking through the Nothing under psychic attack. Derivative: We’re in the Phantom Zone, plain and simple. Not great: Long spans […]

We continue with Lone Wolf 11, The Prisoners of Time. The first day was almost all exposition, and it boils down to these bullet points: The Lorestones are in Tolakos, a necropolis to the north. The Lorestones are also the key to the Shadow Gate back home, which is super convenient. The Shadow Gate is […]

I didn’t post at all about my recent playthrough of Lone Wolf 10, Dungeons of Torgar. I’ve been focusing more on the reading & playing, without the distraction of also writing about it. DoT was a quick and easy adventure, due to some good luck where I found the easiest path on my first time. […]

I’ve played ToD a few more times, but since it’s the same tundra and ice castle as I’ve described a few times, I didn’t bother writing it up until I got some somewhere new. So, welcome! You’ve caught me mid-way through the adventure: I have just landed on an unguarded walkway on the Tower, and […]