Spellbreaker

YOU become a pilgrim on your way for some rest and to think over your life choices as a mercenary. But you won’t find peace yet. While seeking shelter at a monastery, you invited a second traveler inside out of the rain – and he was evil. He stole a magic book that will unleash some really bad monster, and of course it’s on your to stop them.

Too bad you have absolutely no idea where they’ve gone. And one of the towns has a plague that will kill you if you enter.

Happy hunting!

Review and Opinion

Spellbreaker sure starts off with a bang, with a fight right there on page 1. It also has a Faith mechanic that can bring you blessings and discourage undead creatures. There’s gold, so there will be stuff to buy to keep it interesting. And there’s an herbalism crafting bit, with a dozen different herbs to discover and potions to make.

The writing is quite good too, very engaging and atmospheric. It’s a world where magic is real but religion and faith still exist too, and it feels it. There are shrines and blessings and prophetic dreams.

But after a dozen playthroughs and no hope of success, I have to admit that the shine has worn off a bit and now it feels a bit of a slog.

The herbalism system is not what I thought at first: you don’t get to brew them yourself, but it’s more like the scavenger hunt so common to these books (do you have a dandelion? no = you die) So that was a bit of a let-down. I really enjoyed how Forest of Doom and Citadel of Chaos had magic and magical items,, which could creatively buy your way out of trouble, and a real crafting system would have been wonderful! But it is not.

Then it turns out that actually winning, is a combination of tedious scavenger hunt and far-fetched luck. To survive the witch trial requires both simple luck and having the salamander potion. To get the potion, you need to survive the gauntlet at Gwythain’s Barrow in Aryll. But to survive Aryll afterward, you need the heal-all potion by making a Faith roll at Hallow’s Well which has either 1/6 or 2/6 to succeed, and also to buy the right seemingly-random herbs in the market for later. (There are items in the market to increase Faith, but once you go shopping the spring is no longer available.) So the whole adventure hinges on a few lucky Faith rolls very early on.

And there’s a keyword required to survive to the final town, which you can only get by failing to escape the guards, and by having the maximum gold so you can afford a hawk. Then there’s a second potion for the second boss fight, AFTER you have already sealed the box and destroyed the demon, which is three more herbs and a golden sickle, and of course no indication that this is a thing you’ll need.

A Skill and Luck of at least 11 is also required, due to the gauntlet of beasts and critters in the required tombs and of course the Skill 12 boss fight.

So all told, this was just a frustrating mess.

Speaking of the fights, this book holds my record for fastest death in any game book. On page 1 the game opens with fighting a demon. It only has a skill of 8, but still with bad stats and unlucky rolls I did manage to die right here on page 1. So that’s cool of them to do some pruning early on.

Still, the writing is quite good, such that I did enjoy the numerous failures. When you’re finally ready to win, just cheat and give yourself 12/24/12 and 20 gold, then pretend that you make every Faith roll, and enjoy that other adventure instead.

Hints and Tips

An overview of the required steps:

• Have the maximum 10 gold on start
• In Hallow’s Well, listen to the pilgrim’s story about Gwythain
• Also in Hallow’s Well, pass the Faith test and get the heal-all, and also buy two herbs for the salamander potion, and the hawk
• In Hallow’s Well, fail to escape the guards and get arrested so you can free a witch and get a jar of powder
• When leaving Hallow’s Well, also get the rat pipes
• Go to Aryll and survive the fire, then survive Gwythain’s  Barrow to get the skullsgrig
• Make your way through Fenford then to the Blackmire, beat the fen beast even if you weren’t asked to, get the three herbs hidden in the swamp, then meet Sam and have him craft a salamander potion and a venom’s bane potion
• Meet Karad at the Brindled Cat Inn and get the password
• At Selwick, defeat the witch and take down the raven with your hawk
• Make your way to Tallow and survive the witch trial
• … next?

Some of the noteworthy :standalone” herbs are:

• Belladonna, required if you’re bitten by a werewolf
• Scarlet Lady, +2 bonus when praying at the Tomb of Enthus

Some potions are:

• Salamander
  • resist fire, pass the witch trial in Tallow which is required to win
  • brewed by Sam, page 116
  • Skullsgrig, Drake Nettle, Phoenix Grass
• Venom’s Bane
  • cure poison, after the first boss fight, required to win
  • brewed by Sam, page 331
  • Malague, Death’s Shroud, Mistletoe (requires Golden Sickle)
• Boggart’s brew
  • healing potion after a fight
  • brewed by Sam, page 74
  • Madder, Glebe Balm, Mudcap
• Chillwarm
  • resist cold, ???
  • brewed by Sam, page 167
  • Frostflower, Toadwort, Driggen
• Aylmer’s Elixir
  • gain +2 Faith
  • brewed by Sam, page 239
  • Mistletoe (requires Golden Sickle), Sprite Weed, Scrallus
• Clearsee
  • see through illusions, e.g. wraith rider
  • brewed by Sam, page 385
  • Phoenix Grass, Eyebright, Spriteweed

The required Golden Sickle is had in Gwythain’s Barrow in Aryll, same as the magic shield and the required skullsgrig herb.

Errors

On 83 when you escape jail, you should turn to 300 and not 132.

Maps

Publication

Written by Jonathan Green

Illustrated by Alan Langford

1993

Book 53 in the series

Other Playthroughs and Links

• Seven Fourteen Seven plays Spellbreaker
• MALthus Dire reviews Spellbreaker
• Alison Cybe plays Spellbreaker
• Champskees shows the best route at FF Proboards