Пристанището на гибелта

Fighting Fantasy (Scholastic) #6

by Ian Livingstone

ПРИКЛЮЧЕНИЕТО ТИ ЗАПОЧВА!!!

Зло дебне по земите на фантастичния континент Алансия. Поеми на едно епично приключение, което ще те отведе до Възвишенията на лунния камък, ще те върне по улиците на Порт Блексенд, прочут като „ГРАДЪТ НА КРАДЦИТЕ” или „ПРИСТАНИЩЕТО НА ГИБЕЛТА“, и ще те заведе до дълбините на Мрачната гора, че да застанеш пак пред най-кошмарния си враг…

Нека твоята ИЗДРЪЖЛИВОСТ никога не се изчерпва!

Genres: Gamebooks, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fiction

Paperback

About the author

Sir Ian Livingstone is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of the Fighting Fantasy series of role-playing gamebooks, and the author of many books within that series. He co-founded Games Workshop in 1975 and helped create Eidos Interactive as executive chairman of Eidos Plc in 1995.

Reviews

[Richie Brown]

I was aware of some rather angry criticism from Fighting Fantasy fans for this book, possibly that it's a little too easy with few different paths to take or that it's been dumbed down. However, I think the level is pitched precisely at that of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. It's the entry level adventure that the relaunched series needs.

The linear approach means the adventure lasts a very long time compared to other adventures, and that made it enjoyable if not immediately replayable. What was fun was the sheer number of items you can pick up. Most are completely useless but you have to work out which. That said, it's a little annoying when you're told you only have space for two of five items in one reference and then can pick up six things a few pages on. It may have been more challenging to have a hard backpack limit.

There were a few 'modern sounding' turns of phrase which grated a little here and there. Perhaps the only one that made me cringe was Yaztromo's final line where he sounds more like an obscure office supervisor trying to please than an all-powerful wizard.

The story will please fans of the series, as will the odd nod to old adventures. I'm pleased that I completed it on first go, something I hardly ever do. And, yeah, if you want a tougher challenge then try the re-released Deathtrap Dungeon (which Livingstone himself devilishly suggests to you in the closing paragraphs!)

[Martin Doychinov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Класическо фентъзи приключение, като от едно време - точно за релакс и ненатоварващо цъкане. Разбира се, сюжетно и стилово не е нещо особено, но пък ме.израдва броденето и събирането на куп боклуци. Това последното май е черта на поредицата и трябва бая голям лист за записването им. Завърших с точно 45 предмета!
Най-дразнещото е, че в последната битка с главния лошко, ако не притежаваш един конкретен предмет, си тотално прецакан и мъртъв.

[Ariya · Rating 4 out of 5]

So high on adrenaline. I was reading (playing) this book for 8 hours straight glued to the chair since I was so hyped up. It's not perfect gamebook with lots of ridiculous ill-fated chances (once my character died because boulders crushed on him on the way to the mountain, and one more time with infectious vines during the way through the wizard's tower like seriously?) but it is so addictive and I need more adventures to quench my thirst.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes in order to appreciate a book you have to know who it's for.  In this case, the audience for this book (and others, as this is part of a series that is at least six books long) is those people who grew up appreciating the Choose Your Own Adventure Books and want the same kind of experience while reading a book of fantasy literature.  The book advertises itself with the tagline:  "You Are The Hero," and if that is not an invitation to self-inserting oneself into a dramatic storyline, I do not know what could be taken as such.  That is not to say that this is a bad book--it is an enjoyable book with modest aims.  It is a book, though, that can only be appreciated by an audience that accepts both the proposition that fantasy adventures are worth reading and that choose your own adventures are a genre worth enjoying as well [1].  If both of these apply to you, then you will find this book to be well worth appreciating but not thinking too much about.  If not, then this book will not be of any interest to you whatsoever.

Coming in at about 400 pages, this book is by no means a small one, although the length of time and the amount of pages one will read within it are limited by the decisions one makes.  There are many ways to go wrong in this book--and being too greedy does not always benefit someone at all.  Some of the choices that one can make are made easier if one remembers instructions given earlier, and depending on one's skill at looting one can get very much stronger over the course of the book's plot and therefore be able to do a much better job when it comes to winning the ultimate victory against a cosmic threat at the book's conclusion.  If one has reached page 400, well done.  One is not going to complete a mission as dangerous as this one alone, and in fact, if one has done well then one will end up having at least three very powerful allies and end up being a well off and well-respected character who can hope for more adventures as well as many more square meals.  Being a hero isn't always easy, but it is something worth imagining from time to time given the frequently unheroic nature of the contemporary world.

For those who do think that a book like this is worth thinking about, this is a book that contains a fair bit of interest in providing characters with an opportunity to advance themselves through making sound decisions (one such decision that one can make at the very beginning of the story, for example, has an immense impact on the ending depending on whether you choose to buy one particular item while struggling to gain enough money to eat a square meal).  The book also provides some surprising insight on the difficulties of fighting evil and the way that cosmic evil and civic authorities are not often so far apart in sympathies as we would wish.  This is a book whose entire premise hangs upon the threat that is faced when demonic forces combine with political authorities, and if that is not something that scares you or even concerns you at all then this book is not likely to seem very relevant.  Still, for those who do take their demonology and their contemporary politics seriously, even a piece of escapist fluff like this can serve to remind one that even the most ridiculously escapist adventure literature can have a resonance with real-life concerns.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2019...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2019...

[Panda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got into reading FF again after a hiatus, and was eager to read Ian Livingstone's new book. This review is mainly for FF fans who are trying to decide if this is worth picking up. If you have not read FF before, I would not recommend starting with this book. Instead, I would recommend House of Hell or Appointment with F.E.A.R. (out of those that are currently available from Scholastic).

Let me start with the good. Port of Peril hit all the right notes for an FF and featured tried-and-true elements. City exploration, dungeon crawling though if you make a wrong turn, your dungeon crawl will come to an end really quickly... , adventuring with a companion. And I liked the many references to the established FF universe - you will meet characters from earlier books along the way. It is a familiar world and it felt nice to be back in Allansia.

Something that's unique to this book is that you can collect various armour pieces along the way. Each of these adds 1 to your Skill. You can find a helmet here, a shield there, some boots, chainmail... and pretty much have a full set of armour (and a significantly increased Skill score) by the end.

My main gripe was the internal inconsistency with stats. For instance, although you begin your adventure with Initial (i.e. full) levels of Stamina, the very first paragraph instructs you to add 1 Stamina point. This is impossible if you play by the rules of not having stats that exceed your Initial levels. Also, at one point, a wizard you'll meet will offer to buff either your Skill, Stamina, or Luck. If you choose the Skill buff, you are instructed to increase your Skill score to 12. But if you rolled a high Initial Skill and picked up a couple of armour pieces (each of which adds 1 Skill) before that point in the story , then your current skill might already be something like 14 or 15. So the buff is useless.

I was just a little upset that one of the FF founders would be so inconsistent with the mechanics surrounding Initial stats. IMHO, future books should remove the rule that stats cannot exceed Initial levels, as I've always found that rule a little dumb.

Ian Livingstone has done great work before - Legend of Zagor is one of my favourite FFs. It's a shame that Port of Peril doesn't quite live up to those standards. All in all, this is worth picking up if you are an FF completionist/hardcore fan. Otherwise, there are better FF books out there.

[Книжни Криле · Rating 5 out of 5]

Честит Международен ден на книгите-игри! На патерица, тъй като след поредното приключение вчера издръжливостта ми беше паднала почти до нула и не успях да споделя този текст :)

Книгите-игри ще си останат легендарна литературна форма за всички, които са били хлапета през 90-те. Сега доста от тези хлапета вече имат свои хлапета и идва време да извадим отново мечовете и да облечем броните (или пък в случая – да приготвим зарчетата и моливите!) и редом с новото поколение герои да разгромим злите сили във всичките им форми и из всичките невероятни светове. А един от най-невероятните и обичани светове в книгите-игри си остава фантастичния континент Алансия от култовата поредица „Битки Безброй”, или както е позната тя по света – „Fighting Fantasy”. Изпълнени с динамични сюжети, интересни врагове и прекрасни илюстрации, заглавията от „Битки Безброй” бяха сред най-любимите ми преводни книги-игри от едно време. Ето защо няма как да скрия ентусиазма си от завръщането на поредицата, благодарение на Георги Чунев и новото издателство „Гени-Джи” (Geny-G). Първата книга от възродената серия е „Пристанището на гибелта” на знаменития Иън Ливингстън. Тя идва на български с илюстрациите на Хужер Голар и пищната корица на Иън Маккейг, известен с работата си по филмови франчайзи като „Междузвездни войни”, „Хари Потър”, „Отмъстителите” и „Пазители на Галактиката”.
Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле": https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/202...

[Alexander Draganov · Rating 5 out of 5]

“П��истанището на гибелта” е върхов представител на книгите-игри и може би най-силното заглавие от новата им вълна, излизало на български, по-мощно дори от “Изкупител” на Марк Смит и Джейми Томсън, страхотно приключение, което ще допадне на всички, които обичат интерактивното фентъзи. Дали сте от онези, които помнят класическите издания на “Битки Безброй” или от новото поколение, свикнало събота да разцъква Warhammer няма чак такова значение – книгата е задължителна. И е издадена по начина, по който заслужава. Не я пропускайте.

Цялото ревю може да прочетете на линка:
https://citadelata.com/%d0%bf%d1%80%d...

[Greg]

After many years, I returned to reading/playing a Fighting Fantasy game book, only this time I played it with a friend in another country over Skype! We had a lot of fun sharing the protagonist of the story over a few hours until he got killed. Sigh! Over the course of a few hours, I did the reading, while my friend did the dice-rolling and record-keeping (equipment inventory, wounds received/healed, combat stats). We always discussed what actions we would take before proceeding so we shared in our successes and our failures. Maybe we'll give the book/game another go soon and see if we can win it, trying some alternative routes/decisions in the process.

I'll leave off rating The Port of Peril or providing more details for now as we only read/played a portion of the book. A more complete review might appear elsewhere but I'll link to it from here.

[Andy Horton · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the modern titles in the classic Fighting Fantasy gamebook series. This one's by original creator Ian Livingstone, and not nearly as hard as some of his recent ones.
You do spend much of the book mooching round searching for treasure without feeling strongly motivated before the real story kicks in, but once it does the book's quite exciting. You can find allies throughout the story.
Look out for all thew clues you can. It's usually worth putting on the various bits of armour and gear you may find round. There are a lot of random objects you can pick up - most are red herrings but some are useful or vital.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with many Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, once again you play as a sword-for-hire seeking adventure and the opportunity to earn a few coins. Unfortunately, even with the many references to events from earlier books and characters previously met, and the opportunity to revisit key locations and finally enter the legendary Black Lobster Tavern, The Port of Peril lacks genuine excitement and intrigue, never really stimulating the reader’s imagination as desired. Even when the adventure switches from a routine treasure hunt to a quest with diabolical implications, the pace of the game rightly increases but never rises beyond a satisfactory degree.

There’s a solid atmosphere of discovery throughout most of the storyline, and although the ending isn’t particularly epic, it does contain enough spectacle to wrap up the story in a manner consistent with everything that’s come before it. Also, a female companion named Hakasan Za – a treasure hunting tracker from Zengis – joins the adventure as you are leaving Skull Crag. She is a good-natured, determined and enthusiastic partner who accompanies you through the second half of the book, providing useful knowledge and information, food, combat support and a touch of humour. She’s more than decent as an adventuring companion, and provides a healthy comradeship that then generates a sense of responsibility as your chosen route may ask you to consider her welfare when making certain decisions.

Scholastic has chosen a new visual direction for the relaunched series, offering little of the tangible threat, individual quirkiness, wonder or intricacy of the imagery in the original books – a major disappointment. The adventure is overwhelmingly linear, with only a few extended opportunities to explore as you wish before the book forcibly pushes you back to the required path – or immediately plots an unexpected downfall and quickly ends your attempt. The care and attention, and the wildly imaginative, entertaining ideas that regularly infused Livingstone’s earlier gamebooks are missing here, and the written style targets a younger audience in such a manner that it reduces the overall quality and appeal for gamebook readers of any age.

[Lee Osborne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Successfully completed this one on the third attempt, using lessons learned from the first two tries.

Fighting Fantasy books are good fun, and this one was pretty enjoyable, although not one of the better ones. It was a bit slow to get going, and I think I only finished it because there was a bug in it somewhere, but it had some good moments, and parts of it are quite tricky (at least they are if you aren't cheating).

The only thing I found slightly annoying was the vast number of objects picked up along the way, most of which appeared to be useless. Otherwise, it was a pleasant way to while away a couple of hours here and there trying to get through it.

[K.J. Shadmand · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a difficult gamebook by any means, but I enjoyed it for its narrative style, plethora of evocative items, and interactions with favourite characters from previous Fighting Fantasy game-books. If there’s one thing Ian Livingstone does well, it’s writing convincing and immersive medieval scenes, as well as adding touches of humour, charm and decency to the pages. It’s also a tale of rags to riches, long journeys through town, mountain and forest, and has an epic battle at the end. Very little not to like!

[Nick Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok adventure, lots of fan service for long time readers of the books, and its nice to see companions get greater use rather than them die off after a page or two. Really enjoyed revisiting places & people from some of the older books, though the writing can jump from more adult to feeling it was aimed at a children sentence to sentence. Its affectively a sequel to city of thieves , though I suspect they didn't label it as such as you don't spend that much of the book in Port Blacksand.

Illustration wise, I prefer the traditional inked pictures, though there are still a few nice image in this book, and its certainly not the worst illustrated in the series.

As others have stated it can be quite easy, though encounter difficulty rises towards the end, so may depend more on your roles towards the end. Initially I thought this was a return to the any stats can win approach but you won't finish without a couple of mandatory 10,11,12 enemy skill fights.

Rules could have used a bit more care in the editing, for example you start the story begging for food yet the rules gives you the standard 10 starting provisions, and you regain 1 stamina on entry 1, when its impossible to have lost any health yet, so does this exclude the written cannot exceed initial values rule.

I do wish they would take more care on stating if a stats boost can exceed initial values or not, as there are a lot of magical or equipment boosts in this book, one a large 3 skill point boost before fighting a skill 12 opponent that implied to me the skill could be extended above initial, but the book didn't state either way.

All in all a decent throwback to the early books and theres fun to be had here. Look forward to the newer ones.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Port of Peril is certainly an interesting adventure.

After reading through the Wizard series, then the Wizard's Shield series, I found this book to be underwhelming. The writing felt too safe and it felt as if a lot of the adventure itself relied too heavily on referencing previous gamebooks with a cheeky nudge and a wink.

The issue is that if this is your first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, a lot of these references don't matter. It doesn't help that the final third brings back a certain someone from my favourite Fighting Fantasy book and the way that the encounter is resolved sort of undoes everything you did in the original book (lol) and it's like... why?

The book isn't awful, and it isn't bad, it's just underwhelming compared to some of Livingstone's other books. It lacked the edge that the previous titles had, and the artwork didn't really do it for me. It was a pleasant read, just not what I expected.

3/5

[RemiBlack · Rating 3 out of 5]

2022/20
Můj první gamebook (kde byly celý můj život?). Líbilo se mi, že je to takové RPG na papíře, které si můžu zahrát na dovolené nebo prostě doma. Ale na rozdíl od RPG hraných skupinou lidí je tady omezené možností možností (což dává smysl, protože jinak by kniha byla nekonečná, ale když mám nápad, jak situaci elegantně vyřešit, jenom není v nabídce, tak je to na nic).
Nemůžu porovnat s jinými díly žánru, ale přišlo mi, že tady bylo hrozně moc situací, které vyžadovaly štěstí a správnou volbu (hodně situací, které najednou bez varování měly ukončit dobrodružství), takže kolem poloviny jsem se přestala vracet, a prostě jela po správných možnostech... Líbilo se mi ale házení kostkama (i ty kostky vytištěné v knize) a vibe té knihy. Je to zase něco úplně jiného. :D

[Nis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was a middling FF adventure. The initial treasure hunt felt rather unmotivated and random, and it takes about half the book before you get introduced to the actual quest. On the other hand I felt that it was a quite fair book, with a decent amount of hints and signposting, and not too much "dead man walking". It is perhaps a bit heavy handed with the references to other titles, but it can be fun to catch as many as you can an remember other adventures.

[Jason Fawkes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of an easter egg overload, which raises questions about the timeline of the original FF books. You meet Mungo, Zantar Bone returns, the war hammer from the Forest of Doom has just been stolen.
There's something not quite satisfying about the art.

[Very Sukanová]

Byla ze mě několikanásobná mrtvola

[Willen P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've played this twice (both on my usual long Overground journeys) and am currently on my third attempt. I died once from being trapped in the cave (cavern?) and secondly, luck wasn't holding out for me, although I was getting used to how to play this one.

One thing that bothers me - the blurb doesn't seem to match the storyline? Is it really about 'undead hordes'? I thought you're just a new guy (or girl) in town looking for life, or rather treasure. And you have no food apparently although you are told you have enough provisions for 10 meals.

Anyway, wish me luck on my current third attempt. I'll update this when I win (or lose more).

Update 26/10/21:
Well I got a lot further than I thought I would. The story seems to improve once you go further on and meet more people. I lost because I didn't have a certain type of weapon *cry*. But loving the creatures you find as you go on. And I had some crucial items on me anyway. And yes, now I see the point of the undead, but that plot you don't even know about until halfway through the book. I still think the blurb should be changed.

Update 01/02/22:
Finally finished this on a train journey to Birmingham on 28/01/22. Because I'd played it a few times already, and I knew some of the correct paths already, it went quite smoothly for me. At least in this one there are likeable characters, who even stay with you until the end of the story. Some of the battle encounters were a bit difficult. I ended up enjoying this more than when I'd originally read it.