| Title | : | Forest of Doom (Fighting Fantasy: Reissues 1, #8) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1840464291 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781840464290 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 192 |
| Publication | : | First published March 31, 1983 |
here.
The legendary Warhammer of Stonebridge lies lost and broken in the treacherous wilderness of Darkwood Forest. Without it, the Dwarves of Stonebridge are doomed...Only the foolhardy would enter the murky depths of Darkwood. But your quest will lead you into the very heart of the forest. Dare you take on the unknown perils of Darkwood, and survive the puzzles, traps and fearsome creatures that lie in wait for you? You alone must find the missing pieces of the Warhammer and save the Dwarves of Stonebridge before it is too late!
Forest of Doom (Fighting Fantasy: Reissues 1, #8) Reviews
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Still not among my most favorite ones from the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series, and the nearly endless fights list against every creature inspired the author at the time of writing this third volume, something out a classic old school fantasy rpg, with dinosaurs, goblinoids, gremlins, werewolves, and even a Balrog-like demon, made me chuckle sometimes while playing again this title after years, but I have to admit that this Ian Livingstone’s The Forest of Doom was was really well written and just not as bad as I used to remember from my teen days.
And, last but not least, it took me just three runs across the forest of Darkwood to successfully end the quest and give back the legendary Warhammer of Stonebridge to its legitimate owners.
Still a difficult one, with some encounters being survivable only by luck or remarkably good combat rolls but succeeding without external help was a real satisfaction after the stress resulting from recently playing again the two previous insane difficulty level titles of the series, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and The Citadel of Chaos.
Another two good books too, just so hard and punishing sometimes that I had to google on the internet to find a walkthrough to finish them.
Just turn east and give a coin to the talking crow when you enter the forest, and you’ll be already on the right path to success and glory.
A classic fantasy gamebook aged well and far better than I used to remember. give it a try and enjoy.
[Edit] Completing all game achievements in digital edition of The Forest of Doom from Tin Man Games, purchased on a discount sale on steam a few weeks ago, was so funny and satisfying that I'm going to rise my review to ☆☆☆ and one half.
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Brilliant escapism. Loved these books when I was a child. The reptilian shape changer on the cover Uugh! Scary. I wonder if David Icke read this book/played the game. LOL!🐯👍
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The empty-headed fungus clones in a cavern beneath the ground,
The barbarian whose ingratitude when rescued is profound;
Yaztromo's cluttered tower, the cat woman's pubic hair;
The gremlins who live at the bottom of a well; the wyvern's stinking lair.
But if you want to win, then be prepared to laugh,
Because the forest can be re-entered by a time-annulling path... -
Vivid memories of this one. It was 1991, I was 10 years old and my parents just bought me a copy of this book. They went into a garden centre. It was raining. I decided to stay in the car. I had this book, a pencil, a couple of dice (yes, I was a nerd!). I ended up being lost in another world. Roaming strange forest paths, encountering weird beasts, occasionally getting killed and trying again. Then there was the cheating - what kid wouldn't at that age?! I totally forgot where I was that afternoon, and I loved that feeling of being transported into another world.
Fond memories indeed...
NB. I've since played this adventure twice as an adult and it's held up remarkably well both times. The first time we made it to Stonebridge but missed the hammer parts, so our adventure ended in disappointment. The second time we located one of the hammer parts, but fell foul of an unending parade of strength-sapping creatures and eventually the evil machinations of a fire demon. Tremendous fun... -
I loved these books when I was younger and I wanted to see if I still found them enjoyable so I picked this up and dove in! The writing may not be the most impresssive and there are fantasy clichés all over the place but I had so much fun. The rpg mechanics and sense of adventure are absorbing and well executed. This book might not be for everyone but for me the sense of nostalga and simple, effective fun made this a fantastic experience.
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I had a little craving to read some of those old school fighting fantasy books that I used to read (and cheat at) when I was a kid. So I found an app that did the some of the books (unfortunately, not the ones with Steve Jackson, which were the best) so I could reread the books and relive the action (and couldn’t cheat, lol)!
Because these are not your traditional novel, they’re a little harder to compare to a classic story, but I really enjoyed the reading and the action. The writing is fairly basic, but they do a good job of creating enough background and character info that you can get embroiled in the action easily enough. -
Unlike most of the choose-your-own-adventure books I've reviewed on goodreads, I did not read this one as a child. I bought this as an adult, because the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series had been so good when I was a kid that I wanted to try this one when I came across it used. It's been a lot of years since then, but as I recall, I managed to win the game after only one or two reads and was disappointed and put it aside for a long time before trying again.
I must have been lucky that first or second time (or maybe I'm misremembering), because I played it five times last week without being able to get to the finish. Unlike the previously reviewed
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, this wasn't because of an annoying maze I couldn't navigate or any other cheap trick, it was just a good, challenging adventure. I did have some trouble getting my hand-made maps to line up right, and this was partly because of inconsistencies in the distances in the book, but nothing that couldn't be worked out. The book comes with a single-page blank map that would be WAY too small to use, but it would also be inconvenient to have to flip to the page to use it so I never made the mistake of trying it.
An interesting feature of the book is that you have the option to start over if your character survives the forest without finding all the pieces you need to complete your quest. Usually in a choose-your-own-adventure, if you get to the end without winning, you have failed and have to make a new character to start again. In this case, that still may be the better strategy because you won't have as many provisions or money to buy equipment if you re-use your old character, but it is a nice option. Another interesting thing is that there are several magical items you can find to increase your skill if you happen to roll low at the outset (and skill is generally the hardest thing to get along without). Some might say that makes it too easy, but I found it a handy tool.
Overall, this may not have been the very best of the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, but it should be fun for most sorcery-and-swordplay lovers willing to play with a book rather than a computer. -
The first FF that I have completed! Ok, so I didn't find the two parts of the hammer, but I lied and said I did in order to get to 400 for the first time!
I found the forest setting to be pretty similar to the previous dungeon type settings, although this story was probably the most enjoyable of the three so far.
Whilst magic was not there at the outset in this one, for all wants and purposes it was as you could purchase spells almost immediately.
Overall I enjoyed this the most of the three titles so far, but still not as good I remember... -
Got struck by a hit of nostalgia when I found a game version of this book on Steam. I had read it when I was very young, after stealing it from my brother's collection.
Unfortunately, I had only the memory that this one wasn't very good compared to other books from this series, and having re read it now I seem to have confirmed that same memory. It just isn't as great as others, you don't feel like you have much choice here, everything is much more linear.
It's still fun, though. -
After playing the latest Fighting Fantasy release, "The Gates of Death", and really enjoying it, I decided to revisit one of the classic early titles, and "The Forest of Doom" was an obvious choice - this was my introduction to the series, way back when it was first published in 1983. I was nine years old at the time, and my primary school teacher - a rather scary older lady who wasn't particularly down with the kids - introduced the books to the class in a rare display of cultural relevance. I borrowed a copy from the school and attempted to play it - I certainly didn't solve it at the time and lacked the attention span and patience to make a decent stab at it, but it was enough to make me enjoy playing these books, and I played quite a few others over the next few years.
So - how was it thirty-five years later? Pretty good, I reckon! It seems this isn't considered one of the better titles, but once again I found it quite engrossing, and it's very easy to lose yourself in it and really enjoy playing your way through. The plot of the book is that you have to find the two parts of a legendary Warhammer, and return them to the dwarf village from where they were stolen.
You start off with the option of buying a range of potions and other items that will help you in your quest - you certainly can't afford all of them and it's not clear what ones you'll need. In the cases where you get to use them, they'll make life much easier but the alternatives aren't usually fatal if your stamina score remains good.
Equipped with your items of choice, you're off into the forest. Apparently there is "one true path" through it, but you don't have to discover it straight away to be successful. The gameplay is essentially a maze, with a network of paths that join up in various places, and a range of off-path locations that you will need to explore to be successful. Do yourself a favour and attempt to map your progress, or at least record where you've been - if you don't, you'll really struggle to find your way around and risk repeating large sections on later attempts. You're very rarely given the opportunity to double back on yourself, and whichever route you take, you're eventually forced northwards to the edge of the forest, ending up in the same location, where you win if you've successfully found both parts of the hammer. If you haven't, you're rather unusually given the chance to make your way back to the start and try again, with your same character. This is certainly worth doing if you still have a reasonable level of skill, stamina and luck, and if you've found any gold along the way, you can stock up on magical items again before taking a different path.
On my first attempt, my first circuit of the forest failed to locate either part of the hammer, but I found one part on my second circuit - sadly I was killed in battle before I could find the other part. On my second attempt, I repeated the steps that led me to find the first part of the hammer, and then ended up on a second circuit before I found the other part very close to the end. This time I was able to successfully avoid the parts I'd already explored.
You'll end up fighting a LOT of battles to get through this, and although most creatures aren't very challenging to fight, there's a risk it'll hammer away at your stamina enough to drastically increase your risk of death before successfully completing the game. Unfortunately very few creatures turn out to be worth fighting or trusting, but you'll not know which ones they are the first time around! There's various items in the game that will either enhance or hamper your ability to fight, and that can make all the difference.
You can cheat a bit to make it easier to finish, but at the end of the day there's a reward to being patient enough to do it properly, and it'll greatly increase your enjoyment and satisfaction when you do solve it.
A particular criticism I have is the presentation of the Scholastic re-issues, which sadly are nowhere near as attractive as the original Puffin versions. These had much higher quality proper fantasy art in them, and the typeface and presentation was of a much higher quality. The new ones look a bit cheap in comparison, and that's a shame. Essentially, though, that's not really much of a distraction - the point of the book is playing the game, and there's much satisfaction to be had from doing that. -
The first outdoor Fighting Fantasy
12 June 2012
This is the third of the Fighting Fantasy books and Livingstone has gone back to the style that was used in
Warlock of Firetop Mountain, meaning that the adventure is a lot more mappable than was
Citadel of Chaos. Further, the quest is somewhat less morally ambiguous than the previous two (the first being a simple break and enter, the second being an assassination), namely you are looking for two pieces of a artifact that has been lost, and then returning it to the rightful owners (for whatever reason).
In this adventure your character seems to be a little more experienced than the wet-behind-the-ears characters that you played in the first two. In a way it is a little more believable, but then again all adventurers need to start off somewhere. However, despite having some experience under your belt, you do begin with the bare minimum of equipment (a sword, some food, a potion, and some leather armour). The other noticeable thing is that it is implied that you are a hunter, used to the wilds, so I guess this type of character is suitable to an adventure like Forest of Doom, where you are exploring a dark and nasty forest.
The adventure begins with you meeting a dwarf that is dying who requests that you finish the quest that he is unable to complete. You then travel to the forest and meet up with the wizard that lives in a tower at its edge. It is here that you can select a number of magic items to help you in your quest. This seemed a little like Citadel of Chaos where you selected the spells that you think you need to successfully complete the adventure. Like the spells in the earlier book, the magic items can only be used once, and really only where the option to use them are given. That is understandable as there are a number of limitations with a game book, but remember that these were released in the days before computer roleplaying games really became popular (and computers were still only in the homes of the geeks).
After reading the third book I have noticed that the style is becoming a little more mature, and easier to map. The way it works is that initially (after the Wizard's Tower) you follow a network of paths, and each of the paths end up heading north. The map has four ways to travel north, and at certain points you to jump from one northward path to another. However is only one true path through the book, and you must travel along that one true path to succeed. The adventure is also set as a series of events (and if you put that into your mind, it makes it easier to navigate, and to complete) and each of the events has a number of ways to pass through (though in some cases you can avoid it completely). The way I mapped it was to have a circle where the event begins, but not to put all options into the event, only the choice to move on to the next event. That way if you end up going along the wrong path, you can jump back to where you believe the wrong decision was made and move on in the other direction.
It is different to Citadel of Chaos where by making certain choices in that adventure you could go through a lot more events than otherwise, and the more events you pass through, the easier it was to complete the adventure. This is not the case here because there are set paths that lead to set events, and as such if you take the wrong path you go to a certain number of set events and avoid the others. What it comes down to is working out which events you need to pass through to complete the adventure. Further, this adventure does not have numbers hidden in the text that you need to find to complete it (as was the case in the first book). It makes it easier to cheat (namely because I could not find the silver key) since you don't have to dig through the whole book looking for a specific number. -
a bit of a walk down memory lane. I didn't manage to complete it in the first run through, but that's because I attacked the wizard.
never attack the wizard selling magic items.
simple solution to this book: max out your skill early and the battles you fight will be easy.
the plot issue straightforward, but it was still great. -
Book #3 in the Fighting Fantasy series, Forest of Doom is an enjoyable one, but maybe a bit too easy and straightforward? I don't like them hard (still haven't won #2 after trying like 3 times -_- ) but I don't want them too easy either... Still, it makes for a fun ride! I like to play these gamebooks while listening to medieval/RPG music on Youtube, it sets a great atmosphere :D
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I think it was very creative, fun and interesting. I read this with my brother-in-law and we had a blast! It was so much fun, i was getting so caught up in the book that i had no idea that the only thing i was doing was killing things. But the minute i died my soul died :P
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One of the better 'fighting fantasy' books out there.
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(Played the Tin Man Games digital version.) Fun, although I imagine it would have been more frustrating without the map feature or drawing my own.
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I remember that the first time I read this particular gamebook a quarter of a century ago, I managed to complete if on my very first attempt, passing through Darkwood Forest and retrieving both halves of the Dwarves' missing warhammer on the way. In consequence, I have spent the past 25+ years under the impression that this book was somehow easier than most.
Now I know that back then I just got lucky! This time round it took me several attempts, exploring the length and breadth of the forest, poking in every remote corner.
There are a LOT of different pathways through the forest. The first part of the hammer is easily found IF you follow the right path. Choose the wrong turning at the beginning, though, and you'll never find it.
The second half, in contrast, is in a location in the second half of the forest, across the river, and a large number of paths eventually pass by it, so it's not easily missed. However, you'll never know it is there unless you have picked up one particular item elsewhere on your travels, in some remote spot. And you may not even manage to enter the location to discover that you need this item unless you have discovered another particular item along the way.
The beginning of this book tries something different by giving the reader an amount of money to spend on assorted weird and wonderful items from a wizard's shop, all of which may prove useful at some point. So how you choose to spend your money will make certain encounters easier or more difficult.
As I've said, there are a very large number of branching paths and a huge array of fascinating encounters, some hostile and some just strange and wonderful. Even if you do succeed first time through, play through again and explore the wonders of the forest. It's much less linear and more fascinating than the previous two books in the series. The wood feels alive and has an atmosphere all its own, and that's quite an achievement in a book of this sort. I loved it. -
Creo que antes de nada, aunque parezca una tontería, debería explicar qué es exactamente un librojuego. Habrá quienes hayan escuchado hablar a algunos de sus conocidos o amigos sobre "esos libros que yo leía de pequeño y donde no conseguí pasar de la sala del tesoro". A primera vista estos libros no eran para nada distintos a los que los acompañaban en las estanterías, hasta el momento en el que se abrían sus tapas y se leía la primera página donde en algunos casos nos encontrábamos con este mensaje: "¡ATENCIÓN! Este libro pertenece a la colección AVENTURA SIN FIN de DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. Entre sus páginas encontrarás la emoción de vivir muchas aventuras en tierras y reinos fantásticos (...). Puedes leer el libro muchas veces y llegar a distintos finales, de modo que si tomas una decisión imprudente que te conduce a un fatal desenlace, retrocede al principio y comienza de nuevo."
Sigue leyendo:
http://www.laespadaenlatinta.com/2014/03/resena-bosque-tenebroso-livingstone-mundos-epicos-tin-man.html -
I dont know if you have heard of Ian Livingstone and his fabulous books but I loved them as a kid. These are the books where you read a page or two and then roll a dice to determine the outcome of that part of your quest. They are so addictive and you can play/read them many times with different outcomes so you will never get bored. I'm just about to buy them all again ha ha.
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Forest of Doom (Fighting Fantasy) by Ian Livingstone (2003)
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Great adventure book, infuriating that you can't go south! Miss what your looking for and there is no going back.
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Great fun! In the first tranche of 'choose your own adventure' books. I played before computer games (not that there weren't computer games, just before I had played any, if you follow?
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Foi o primeiro livro que li da colecção.
Só por isso tem um lugar especial.
Não será o melhor mas tem basicamente muita exploração. -
May your STAMINA never fail!
The fourth entry to the Fighting Fantasy series happens to be one that started my love for this series as a small kid as I used to have an old and tattered copy of it that I used to play every now and then. This alone probably raises it above some of the others in some manner.
Try 1: Killed by Volley of Arrows
Try 2: VICTORY!
In this gamebook we are tasked with finding pieces of a legendary war hammer so the nearby dwarf town of Stonebridge could hold their own against an army of goblins. Our journey starts at the local wizards place where he sells us many of the items we might need in the upcoming journey. The story has a very classic fantasy feel to it that I can always enjoy.
As to the gameplay of the book it was really fun reexperiencing everything again as an adult. It sure felt like I did not really remember all the specific paths I had to take but I did complete it suspiciously quickly. I think it was rather light in potential dangers as I always felt I was strong enough to tackle most of what was thrown at me. I mostly always seemed to have all the objects I needed to move forward - this is probably because in the beginning when we are getting ready for our journey we can get too many items from the wizard making the chances of survival better. In future playthroughs I will probably handicap myself there with some limit. Apart from the experience being a little bit easy for me it still remained fun and I had a great time. As far as game books go this is one I will likely be replaying in the future. -
Los libros de lucha ficción eran juegos de rol de consumo individual. Basados en el planteamiento clásico de
Elige tu propia aventura (que luego
Multiaventura llevó un poco más allá), en estos libros había que ir con papel y dado, y estar dispuesto a llevar un recuento de varios estadísticos (vida, fuerza, habilidad) para progresar en la aventura. Eran muy divertidos. Tras el primer recorrido respetando las normas al pie de la letra, de repente, solía pasar que empezábamos a ganar todos los combates y las tiradas de suerte (los libros estaban bien porque aunque perdieras una tirada de suerte aún podías sobrevivir e ir por otro lado de la historia, no eran todas de sí o no).
Cada libro traía varias horas de entretenimiento. Las historias eran arquetípicas (caballero mata monstruos en misión de rescate, universo Mad Max, naves espaciales que desaparecen, misión en ruinas arqueológicas...) pero eso en realidad era un plus porque te situaba perfectamente en la misión ya desde que veías la portada del libro.
En conjunto unos libros que recuerdo con mucho cariño y que merecían mucho la pena. -
A great children’s fighting fantasy book. You are the star of the story and get to make choices in order to fulfil a quest. You encounter all sorts of creative beings: gremlins, shape shifters, barbarians and more.
For those yet to explore this type of book, you roll the dice to determine your level of skill, stamina and luck. Each beast has their own level and the throw of a dice determines the outcome. Picking up extra equipment along the way helps the success of the journey.
The story is simple and fun.
I would recommend this to new readers who enjoy fantasy books or adults who read them as kids for nostalgia, like I did. It’s still as fun as it was. -
Vi måtte desværre give fortabt!
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The Forest of Doom was Ian Livingstone’s first solo Fighting Fantasy gamebook following his collaboration with Steve Jackson on the series’ inaugural title, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
The book finds your character embarking on a treacherous journey into Darkwood Forest to locate two parts of a legendary warhammer which will unite the dwarves of Stonebridge against their Troll enemies. It’s a fairly thin premise which doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny, but still a step up from Warlock’s “pillage and murder because treasure” adventure hook.
After accepting your quest you seek out a local wizard/shopkeeper called Yaztromo and go on a shopping spree for magical items. His store is surprisingly well stocked, and the items on offer are all situationally useful in Darkwood Forest, so I recommend spending large before you head into the forest.
The Forest of Doom has a layout not dissimilar to Warlock of Firetop Mountain, only without that annoying maze (which was a Steve Jackson addition). The map is even bisected by a river, just like Firetop Mountain. And in many respects the book plays like a dungeon crawl set in a forest. There are main pathways that the player can follow through the forest, with encounters to the left or right of the path, much like the rooms in a dungeon.
Another similarity with Firetop Mountain is that choosing the wrong pathway early in the book will doom the player’s attempt, even if they succeed in finding their way out of the forest. Regardless of whether you discover the “true path”, the book is easy enough that there are very few nail biting decisions to be made. None of the combats are especially challenging, and in my playthroughs I didn’t suffer any instant deaths, which made me confident about charging head-on into encounters without fear that they might be game-ending. It is also possible to skip many fights either by buying your way out of danger or choosing not to investigate a suspicious sound/lair/hut.
Unusually, for a Fighting Fantasy book, Forest of Doom doesn’t conclude with a boss fight. This makes the ending somewhat anti climatic, even more so because Livingstone gives the reader the option of walking back to the start of the forest and trying again! This loop sets up some very odd deja vu possibilities, since you might find yourself fighting monsters you have already slain, and collecting the same treasure more than once. It is a very unusual design decision, and I can only assume that Livingstone wanted to mitigate the disappointment of reaching the end with only one half of the warhammer by giving the reader a second (or third, or fourth...) chance. He didn’t feel the need for this sort of hand holding in his later books, and in fact went on to produce some of the series’ most notoriously difficult entries.
While the The Forest of Doom’s gameplay may be found wanting, Iain McCaig’s depiction of a Shape Changer on the book’s cover is damn near perfect. The watercolour’s soothing autumnal palette creates an uneasy contrast with the menacing subject matter, and the dynamic composition keeps drawing the viewer’s eye to that monstrous face. Just one thing niggles me: because one of the Shape Changer’s legs is almost completely hidden from view, I always interpret its tail as a leg. Then my brain goes “Wait, that’s not a leg, it’s a tail. So how can it stand upright if it only has one leg?” Please tell me I’m not the only one who suffers this tail/leg confusion.
The interior illustrations are courtesy of Malcolm Barter. His style is minimal, with generous white space, and linework that suggests shapes instead of describing details. Barter’s illustrations are perfectly adequate, but I can’t help wondering how the book would look if Ian McCaig had handled the interior art as well as the cover.
Of the five FF books I have played since rediscovering the series, Forest of Doom is the least cohesive. It feels like the work of an author trying to figure out what makes a good gamebook. But I am happy to forgive the book its flaws, since it paved the way for City of Thieves, Livingstone's next Fighting Fantasy outing and one of the series’ most loved books.
