Games - Fabled Lands

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	Games - Fabled Lands

Fabled Lands is the name of a series of fantasy gamebooks written by established gamebook authors Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson and published by Pan Books, a division of Macmillan in the mid 90s. Cover art was by Kevin Jenkins with Russ Nicholson providing maps and illustrations.

Originally planned as a twelve-book series, only six were released between 1995 and 1996 before the series was cancelled. The first two books were also printed under the name Quest in the U.S. by publishers Price Stern Sloan.

Overview

The books deviated from other mainstream gamebooks (such as the Fighting Fantasy or Lone Wolf series) in a number of ways. The most notable of these was the open-ended, free roaming gameplay. Other gamebooks gave the character a set quest, with some leniency in how they went about accomplishing it; when they completed the quest, the gamebook ended. The Fabled Lands series gave the player an entire fantasy world to roam around in, doing whatever they wished with no limits or linearity; there was no set quest and there is no way to "finish" the series (unless the player dies). There are hundreds of quests in the six books that were published, some extremely long and some very short. The player is free to pursue these at his leisure, or spend his time doing entirely different things - wandering, trading, exploring or building up his abilities.

Each book contained a different geographic area of the Fabled Lands, and the player could easily travel between regions by switching to another book. The books became increasingly difficult as they progressed, with tougher enemies and harder quests; this was to account for the player becoming more powerful as they went through each book.

Other differences between previous gamebook series included:

A greater number of sections, 679 to 786
Large (A4) format with fold-out character sheet and colour map
Open-ended trade via marketplace goods, investment or shipping
Acquisition of large assets such as houses and ships
Plot discovery through use of uncovered keywords

System

The Fabled Lands system was fairly simple, as with most other gamebooks. The player has six basic attributes:

CHARISMA - the knack of befriending and impressing people
COMBAT - fighting skills
MAGIC - the art of casting spells
SANCTITY - the gift of divine power and wisdom
SCOUTING - the techniques of tracking and wilderness lore
THIEVERY - the talent for stealth, agility and lockpicking

The player's initial score in each of these six attributes is determined by their chosen profession. There are six different professions to choose from: Warrior, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Troubadour and Wayfarer (a wandering traveller). Each profession is proficient or weak in different abilities; for example, Priests have high SANCTITY but low COMBAT scores, and Wayfarers have high SCOUTING but low CHARISMA scores. The player has opportunities to increase these abilities throughout the books by completing quests. For example, after successfully tracking down a wild boar in a forest, the player can roll two dice, and if they score higher than their SCOUTING ability they can increase it by 1. No ability can be raised higher than 12, or drop below 1. When the player is given the opportunity to use an ability, the task is given a Difficulty rating. The player rolls two dice and adds their score in the ability; to succeed in the task, they must score higher than the ability. For example, a player wishes to calm down an angry inkeeper. This might have a CHARISMA score of 9, and the player's CHARISMA ability is 3. The player would have to roll 7 or higher to succeed. It is possible to obtain "blessings" in various abilities from different shrines and temples, which allow the player to reroll failed ability rolls. These work once only, however, and cost money.

Combat in the Fabled Lands is an extension of ability rolls; the enemy's DEFENCE is the Difficulty, and the player uses their COMBAT skill to try and defeat their opponent. The amount the player rolls above the enemy's DEFENCE is how many Stamina points the enemy loses.

The player's own DEFENCE score is equal to their Rank + their COMBAT score + the bonus for any armour they are wearing (if any). Their own Stamina score is given when they begin playing, and can be increased by going up in Rank (which gives them 1d6 Stamina).

The player's starting Rank is equal to the number of the book they begin in (i.e. a player starting in The War-Torn Kingdom begins at 1st Rank, while a player starting in Lords of the Rising Sun begins at 6th Rank). The player can increase Rank by performing extremely difficult taks, such as slaying a dragon or defeating three samurai in unarmed combat (the book will tell the player when they can increase in Rank).

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Fabled Lands ]

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Games - Fabled Lands

Overview

System

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