Catacombs of the Undercity

YOU BECOME a very unhappy thief when the local thieves’ guild catches you picking pockets at the market. The band of brigands has thrown you into the sewer (not at all a catacomb despite the name) where you’re sure to be eaten by blood rats and hagfish, or be killed by the brigands and sorcerors who live in the sewers. (No wonder they’re in such foul moods!)

Your only hope is to find the Undercity, a near-mythical underground city inhabited by the scum and misfits unfit for life above ground. And now that includes you.

Review and Opinion

A good, solid dungeon crawl of a book. It has the usual icky critters, villainous ne’er-do-wells, random loot from hapless adventurers before you, and a boss fight.

To me, it evokes Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. That is quite a compliment.

A feature I always deeply appreciate, it has multiple paths to success. There are three different mercenaries to help you out, and you can get by without them too. There are paths that have better loot, and paths that are red herrings, and beeline paths if your dice rolls are incredibly lucky. This “many paths” is something I value highly in an adventure book!

Ermahgerd! Sherk!

The illustrations aren’t something I usually talk about, but in this case they really add to the atmosphere. This book is rich in atmosphere, and when we’re talking about a sewer atmosphere counts for a lot!

Now, same as with a lot of Gamebook Adventures I have to complain about the combat system. With a maximum of 48 Vitality, tolerating 3d6 to 5d6 damage 2-3 times per fight will kill you pretty quickly. As always, I play in Adventurer a few dozen times to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the book, before I give up and play in Casual, healing myself between combats and hitting Go Back after I die.

Maps

Publication

Written by Andrew Wright

Illustrated by Pirkka Harvala

2011

Book 5 in the series

Other Adventurers and Links

• Tin Man Games’ page about Catacombs
• Champskees gives a best path walkthrough on FF Proboards