Fire on the Water

Lone Wolf #2

by Joe Dever

You are Lone Wolf - last of the Kai Lords. Bitter war rages through your homeland as the evil Darklords of the west lay siege to the capital.

The King has sent you on a desperate journey to retrieve the only power in Magnamund that can save your people: the Sommersword, the sword of the sun. Ahead of you lie terrible dangers - ferocious seastorms, the tunnel of Tarnalin, and the ghostly death-hulks of Vonotar the Traitor. Use your skills wisely - for only you can save your land from the devastation of the Darklords.

Genres: Fantasy, Gamebooks, Fiction, Role Playing Games, Choose Your Own Adventure, Gaming, Young Adult

358 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1984

About the author

Joe Dever was an award-winning British fantasist and game designer. Originally a musician, Dever became the first British winner of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Championship of America in 1982.

He created the fictional world of Magnamund as a setting for his Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. In 1984 he released the first book of the Lone Wolf series of young-adult gamebooks, and the series has since sold over 10.2 million copies worldwide. He experienced difficulty with his publishers as the game books market began to contract in 1995, until publication ceased in 1998 before the final four books (numbers 29-32) were released. Since 2003, however, the series has enjoyed a strong revival of interest in France, Italy, and Spain following the re-release of the gamebook series in these countries.

From 1996 onwards, Dever was involved in the production of several successful computer and console games. He also contributed to a Dungeons & Dragons-style role playing game for Lone Wolf published by Mongoose Publishing (UK) in 2004. Currently he is Lead Designer of a Lone Wolf computer game, and he is writing the final books in the Lone Wolf series. No official publication schedule exists for these works.

Reviews

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scegliete l'Affinità Animale, evitate la barca dei pescatori, non accettate offerte di cibo e documenti falsi da sconosciuti, guardate bene mappa e illustrazioni e lo finirete tranquillamente al primo tentativo.



In caso contrario, molto probabilmente, l'ultima cosa che vedrete sarà QUESTA!!!

[Lilirose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Con questo secondo volume si comincia a fare sul serio, la trama si sviluppa in più direzioni e si ha davvero la sensazione di vivere una grande avventura con qualcosa da scoprire dietro ogni angolo.
Le scelte da compiere sono tante e ci ritroveremo a sventare complotti, combattere pirati e chissà cos'altro, gli scenari tanti e sempre diversi.
Il sistema di gioco continua a funzionare e la difficoltà è ben bilanciata.

[Krell75 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dovrai percorrere un difficile percorso nelle Terre Desolate, raggiungere Hammerdal la capitale del vicino regno di Durenor per chiedere aiuto contro l'avanzata dei Signori delle Tenebre ormai prossimi ad attaccare la Holmgard la tua capitale.

[Seth Kenlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to play D&D but you don't have any friends who want to play, and no DM? The Lone Wolf series is the answer!

This is a direct sequel (meaning the story is completed in this book) to Lone Wolf #1, although you could feasibly start here if you wanted (although it's more fun to start at the beginning, I imagine).

There are no changes to the gaming system, so the game play is mostly the same. There are some new tricks the book has up its sleeve, and the tone of the story is a little different; I would say there's a heavier emphasis on survival, and the gold coins become a serious factor. I won't elaborate on any of this for fear of spoilers.

There are also some pretty major tests in here. I went in with both of my characters (two characters, two separate playthroughs) being pretty well equipped, and they still both took a pretty good beating. This is definitely a level up from the previous book.

The gaming system requires a d10, but I don't play it with physical dice; I use the http://www.rpgnow.com/product/195037/... instead, just for convenience (rolling a physical die while sitting in the economy section of a 777 airliner just isn't practical).

I highly highly recommend this book series for anyone who enjoys RPG.

[Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this second outing just as much as the first one. Felt a bit longer with more dead ends but that just made me more eager to discover the correct path.

[Nixi92 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un gioco pieno di trappole ed intrighi, mai come in questo caso sarà fondamentale la scelta delle arti Kai/Ramas! Ho sempre apprezzato anche il piccolo mistero in cui il lettore deve svelare un possibile assassino: forse uno dei migliori della serie, che ho giocato e rigiocato senza mai stancarmi.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tougher than the first book, but with a very standard plot - running across the map to find a magic sword and defeat a dark lord and somehow the situations and settings seemed a lot less absorbing. I think the number of times chance, in the form of a story fork hinging on numbers picked from a random number table, directs the action put me off especially.

[Quintin Zimmermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great deal tougher and longer than the first instalment, but way too many random number selections.

The generic quest for a powerful magical item to defeat the numero uno bad guy is so clichéd, even way back in the 80s.

Nevertheless, it was still divertingly fun and that's what counts.

[Taddow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt that this book was definitely a lot more difficult to finish than the first one (I think it took me about ten tries) and I think it was due in part to the various random rolls to determine which direction the adventure path went (which was a boon and a bane because it seemed realistic in that there were various possibilities but was frustrating if you were being true to what you rolled and got stuck on a path that you knew from a previous attempt was going to be bust). I was also *SPOLIER* frustrated that you lose your weapons fairly early on and there is only one option to get replacement weapons when you finally reach civilization, and you won't get this option if you don't choose the right street to go down to make it to the store (you figure that weapons would be a priority and the author would of had this option for all the adventure paths in the town). Overall still a great adventure.

[David Sarkies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Off to Find the Weapon
16 Feb 2022 - Adelaide

This is basically the direct sequel in that in the first book you reach the king who gives you a quest to go and locate the Summerswerd, and in this book, you make the trek to the neighbouring kingdom of Durenor to obtain the sword. You basically have forty days to complete the mission, namely because that is how long Holmgard can hold out against the Darklords’ army. So, you pretty much begin in the throne room (or presence-chamber, whatever you want to refer to it as) and go from there.

Like the first book, this book is fairly straightforward, though it is a little deadlier. In fact, some of the deaths come about due to a random chance, such as when the ship you happen to be on hits a rough patch and a mast falls on top of you. The other thing is don’t become too attached to your gold, or your items, because they disappear as well. Okay, there is a choice between losing the contents of your backpack, and your armour, or losing pretty much everything, so you can sort of work out which is the best way to go. The other way is a choice between losing all of your gold or having to fight an impossibly difficult battle, so you can sort of guess what the best choice here is as well. Other than that, most of the choices that you make (as long as they lead you closer to your destination), are moot.

Actually, these books that sort of have multiple ways through have their benefits, though the problem is that they tend to result in you reading them through rather quickly (something that I sort of appreciate). In a way, it seems to be focused more on developing your character, and choosing which combats to fight as opposed to making sure that you take the correct path through to the end.

Then there are the disciplines. I suspect you are supposed to keep the ones that you took in the previous book, and the two important ones from the previous book are just as important in this one as well. Mind you, I wonder how many people changed the skills that they had at the beginning, especially since they discover that a discipline they didn’t include is vitally important in this book (namely Animal Empathy). However, if you had completed the first book, you do get an extra discipline, so there is that.

Yeah, this one wasn’t bad, especially since Hammerdal is a city located in the centre of a cluster of mountains, and the only way to get to it is through tunnels. I guess that means if bad things happen, they just collapse the tunnels, but the problem is that when they collapse the tunnels then that would have its benefits, and its drawbacks, such as pretty much sealing itself off from the rest of the world, which means that I hope they have enough stores to keep them set for a very long time, as well as a decent water source as well.

As I said, I liked it, though it certainly isn’t a hallmark of literature, but then again it isn’t supposed to be.

[Saturn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questa volta Lupo Solitario deve affrontare un lungo e tortuoso viaggio per compiere la sua missione. La seconda avventura del cavaliere Kai è molto più complessa della prima. Stavolta ci sono voluti più tentativi per arrivare alla fine, ma dopo essere morta tre volte sotto quello stupido albero maestro (!!!) ce l'ho fatta! E adesso un'altra avventura mi attende. :D
Dovrebbero mettere un avviso all'inizio del libro: Attenzione, il prodotto può dare dipendenza. ^-^

[Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I ever finished this one as a kid, I have memories of dying on the ship so many times, and then later during the coach journey. On the whole it's not that difficult, but there's a really frustrating bit in the end when you enter the mountain tunnel, where you automatically die if you don't have the Magic Spear (which I never found in any of my playthroughs) or the Animal Kinship skill (which had been useless up to that point). I liked the fact that Lone Wolf travelled all across the map, though.

[Ал Торо · Rating 2 out of 5]

Тъй като би следвало вече да сте прочели първа книга, щом четете ревю за втора, ще пропусна детайлите за света на "Самотния вълк". В тази книга главният герой отново пътешества, като този път минава по-скоро през градове и цивилизовани територии, но пък многобройни засади го дебнат по пътя.

В тази книга и литературата, и играта, ми харесаха по-малко. Приключението е някак си по-малко интересно, има доста скучни моменти. Най-силната му част е с леки елементи на "ужас", когато главният герой трябва да се изплъзне на могъщи и зловещи немъртви създания. Цялото обикаляне по пристанищни градове, карети, плавания - не са така грабващи и напрегнати.
Минусите на играта са, че нямаш толкова интересно разучаване на територии и пътища като в първата, почти нямаш и битки. Този бът Дивър е заложил на м��огобройни случайни събития и на практика играта играе теб, а не ти нея. Не получаваш и много нови предмети, основно просто се мъчиш да не изгубиш това, което имаш. Има много директни смърти просто при лош зар, има предмети, които ако пропуснеш или загубиш си почти или напълно обречен по-късно в книгата.

[Peter Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fire on the Water Joe Dever

A vast improvement on book one. Alright, I'm still not a fan of the combat system, but that aside, this book is much better. It actually feels pretty big. It is still 350 entries, but more seems to be made of them. In contrast to book one, this isn't something you can blast through in 30 minutes or so and I like that. There may be a few less paths to follow, but it didn't seem that way.

The tone is different, too, almost as if it is aimed at a slightly mature audience, which seems unlikely, but it's as if a lot was learned between both books hitting the publisher. The visual puzzle was a nice touch and not especially difficult if you'd been paying attention to the blurb. This wasn't something based on musical notes (yes, I'm looking at you, Tower of Destruction), but just a quick study of suspects and then twigging on that you'd read something many entries before.

I enjoyed this book.

[Hayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book ups the epic scale of the first one. A lot of the first half of the book is dependent on random scenarios (I tried every way I could to not lose my backpack and items!), but once you get into the story itself, you find yourself thrust into a bigger adventure. The first book felt like you were running for your life and relatively helpless against forces of evil stronger than you. This one felt like you had quite a bit of power, even in the middle of a large scale epic naval battle (especially after you recover the OP MacGuffin Ex Machina One Sword to Rule Them All sword).

[Aily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Questo episodio è stato ancora più duro del precedente! io e il mio compagno di avventure abbiamo guidato absalom l'allegro che, sfortunatamente, è morto ma, fortunatamente, è stato resuscitato perchè ha fatto la bellezza di 3 patti con sebastian michaelis che neanche nora di noragami ma ok.. insomma, absalom si è impegnato tantissimo, così alla fine abbiamo potuto finalmente ottenere la spada del sole! che bomba. e adesso si pare con il terzo.. ci sta prendendo tantissimo tutto questo.. quindi spero che l'avventura continui in meglio <3

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sono morta in totale sei volte, non riuscivo più a uscirne. Non voglio mai più vedere una nave in vita mia.
Però è stupendo, avere la spada del sole tra le mani è un'esperienza unica.

[Spokowojtas]

Super finał, kocham

[Michael Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always found the Lone Wolf series to spin an interesting enough yarn, but to fall far short of the more vivid and intense experience offered by Fighting Fantasy.

This second book in the series is a good read, and the story is much, much better than the slightly damp squib that was the first book. It benefits from the sense of continuity, following directly on from 'Flight From the Dark', and allowing the reader's character to progress as a result of his experiences.

This book has much, much more plot than volume 1. However, the rationale for that plot is a little weak and thin. Basically, your besieged kingdom once loaned the Sommerswerd, the only weapon capable of slaying a Darklord and saving the capital city, to a neighbouring city, who promised to give it back if it was ever needed. Makes no sense to give up your only defence in my opinion. Nor does it make any sense that only this single weapon and no other in the entire world can save you now. Even if it was a hugely costly magical device, you'd invest every penny and have every wizard in the kingdom working on making more of them if it was so essential.

Anyhow, I digress. Lone Wolf is naturally the only person capable of recovering the Sommerswerd, so he's sent packing on a ship to collect it.

The book actually makes a really decent job of representing the long and hazardous journey. There are troubles and sabotage at sea, resulting in you being left clinging to a piece of driftwood. Then you may or may not get robbed and need to recover your essential items. A journey by carriage ensues, with an assassin among your fellow passengers on the coach. This aspect, and the subtle visual clue hidden in one of the illustrations rather than the text, which ultimately identities the assassin, is very well handled.

You then make your way across country, pursued by Helghast (like Nazgul, but with worse complexions), who can only be harmed by magical weapons. Finally, you are given the Sommerswerd by the neighbouring king and sent back home with a war fleet. This, naturally, is attacked by a fleet of 'death hulks' manned by undead crews. But what do you know? If you manage to leap aboard their flagship and single handedly kills its crew and scuttle it, all the others will sink too! It's a jarring moment that detracts from the sense of real danger, but the section does at least read well and keep the excitement flowing.

Then you arrive back home, stand in a watchtower and simply send out a ray of power from the Sommerwerd which incinerates the Darklord leading the enemy army in his tent and makes all his soldiers run away. Call me a cynic, but this, which should have been the climax of the book, where I was hoping for a large scale battle climaxing with a duel against the Darklord, was utterly ludicrous and entirely laughable. I wonder, had Joe Dever reached the limit of his page count?

The book also punishes the reader for being honourable. You need a magic spear to get past an unskippable encounter with Helghast. But when you first find the spear, your Sixth Sense skill if you have it, seems to warn you off taking it. Then when you do figure out on a later playthrough that you're supposed to take the thing, if you give it to an ally to protect himself while he guards your back, the Helghast will kill you. Instead, our brave hero is supposed to say, "Sod you, you'll have to fend for yourself, my skin is more important!" Hooray, selfishness rules! Who needs Darklords when Lone Wolf is your 'ally'?

Your skills are also occasionally ignored when it is convenient for the plot to do so. I can't believe that anyone of Lone Wolf's status with the Sixth Sense skill could possibly have been fooled, overpowered and robbed by the fishermen. This is bad plotting.

It also has to be said that the Sommerswerd is way, way overpowered. I suspect this will be 'adjusted' in later books in the series by simply boosting the stats of enemies. In which case, what is the point of its wondrous powers in the first place?

I have serious niggles with this book, but it does succeed in conveying the sense of a perilous journey, being hunted by assassins and worse. The sense of being part of an epic, unfolding adventure that progresses through the series of books is also compelling. Deeply flawed, and definitely the weakest of the series of gamebooks I'm currently revisiting, but readable and enjoyable for all that.

[Mathew Walls · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a real low point for the series and I'd probably give it only one star if it weren't for the power of nostalgia. Incredibly linear and full of unavoidable dangers, random events and dead-man-walking scenarios, this sequel makes the first book look like a fluke. The series does pick up again afterwards, but it's got a lot to make up for and never really recovers from some of the bigger problems introduced here - by which I pretty much mean the Sommerswerd. When the player's starting Combat Skill is a number from 10 to 19, a +8 bonus is ludicrously overpowered and every book from here on has to account for players of two vastly different ability levels.

On a first read it's probably not too bad, because you don't notice how little your decisions actually impact anything (although many other problems are going to be evident even then) and it's a quick enough read that I wouldn't recommend skipping it, even if only to get the complete story and the opportunity to pick up the Sommerswerd. I know what I said about that earlier, but it is iconic and Lone Wolf wouldn't be the same without it. Swings and roundabouts.

---

The collector's edition bonus adventure, The Crown of King Alin IV (by Vincent N Darlage, Joe Dever and Nathan Furman) is kind of a cool idea. You get to play a character from the main story (Lord-lieutenant Rhygar) but in an unrelated adventure. Unfortunately he's just not a very interesting character to play. His abilities are boring and mostly useless, and he has very little personality.

The actual adventure isn't bad though. You get a nice little chase through the city and cap it off with a decent boss fight. I wouldn't say it's worth tracking down the collector's edition for though, because there's really not a lot to it. It's fine.

[Mountainroot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Κατώτερο σε σχέση με το πρώτο. Ωραίες οι διαφορετικές τοποθεσίες αλλά το παιχνίδι είχε ένα σημείο που το καταστρέφει για μένα. Ουσιαστικά είναι ένα σημείο στο οποίο αν δεν έχεις κάτι συγκεκριμένο ή δεν έχεις βρει κάτι άλλο πιο πριν τότε απλά χάνεις αμέσως. Σε συνδιασμό ότι ότι και να κάνεις σε εκείνο το σημείο θα χάσεις σημαίνει οτι πρέπει να παίξεις αρκετές φορές μόνο και μόνο για να το συνειδητοποιήσεις.

Πέθανα 5-6 φορές σίγουρα.


Κανονικά θα του έβαζα μόνο 1 στα 5 αλλά το σώζουν οι πολλές τοποθεσίες, ο τρομακτικός εχθρός αλα Ναζγκουλ και τέλος το επικό τέλος....ειλικρινά το τέλος του βιβλίου το σώζει και δεν βάζω άσσο.


Spoiler για πιο πράγμα μιλάω
Αν δεν εχεις την ικανότητα Animal Kinship η δεν βρεις το Magic Spear αρκετά πιο πριν τότε οταν πας να περάσεις το βουνό οτι και να κάνεις θα πεθάνεις. Οποτε θα πρέπει να παίζετε το παιχνίδι μέχρι να βρείτε που είναι το Magic Spear ποιος το έχει και να καταφέρετε κιόλας να το πάρετε. Μεγάλο μείον για μένα.

[Aneta Główczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as simple and easy as 1st part (in plus in my opinion). Additional history about Rhygar wasn't too good although the chase was fun (decisions like to jump over or bypass, knowing that you can fail jump it the first case or miss the target in the second case - very nice!). I set 4/5 because i know it is not easy to write such book and despite some issues (still angry at the spear - you have to have spear to stay alive, but You may not have this spear if you decided to not heal helghast earlier.. pretty weird, also bad choiced in the tavern: you cannot go to thief fishermans after you spoke to bartender - not cool) it gave me a lot of fun.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

So after the challenge of the first book in the series, I decided to continue on with this geekdom. This one seems more reasonable until you get to a spot that seems impossible. This one took me 12 attempts. The entire series free and online in a game-book player here: http://www.projectaon.org/staff/eric/.

I know keeping track of my death count is not in the spirit of the book/game probably, but that's what's adding to the fun for me. I need an occasional diversion while I work too. Heh.
Book 1: 10 attempts
Book 2: 12 attempts

[Lucie Lacoste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Je suis morte 4 fois cette fois avant de finir ce tome. J'ai été un peu déçue car beaucoup de choix ne sont pas de mon fait mais du fait de la table du hasard contrairement au tome 1 où je pouvais plus souvent choisir moi même si je tourne à gauche/ à droite par exemple. Mais à part ça, l'histoire est super et en ayant fait l'aventure 5 fois, les choix sont variés.

En ayant réalisé l'aventure du tome 1, on peut garder tous les objets acquis et les pièces d'or ainsi que les caractéristiques et on a même un bonus : une nouvelle discipline spéciale. J'ai choisi la Communication animale :)

[Tonari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second book of the Lone Wolf series.
It is a little bit more challenging than the first one and in particular it has a "bottle-neck" in the first part of the adventure (that is an event which cannot be avoided and needs can be overcome only by luck).
There is also a puzzle which needs some thinking to be resolved. Funny.

[Roger]

this is interesting. a RPG style novella. part of the Lone Wolf series?

looks like Choose your Own Adventure combined with Dungeons and Dragons

checking Wikipedia, it looks like there's a whole series of gamebooks. cool.

[Etienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Même qualité d'histoire que le premier, un peu plus difficile à réussir par contre. La finale est très bien, on ressent vraiment le pouvoir du Glaive de Sommer lorsqu'on réussit finalement à mettre la main dessus.

[Capitalismissexy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of most awesome gamebooks ever!!

Makes the monk character class kik butt!! almost jedi knight!

Awesome series available online free due to generous author. see project aon

Really cool series that never gets old.

great addition to any rpg campaign!
When movie?

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good follow-up to the first of the series that takes place on the oceans. An exciting read for the most part.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun, long, and on occasion frustrating.