The Demon's Claw is a great gamebook, and only a totally show-stopping oversight by the writers stops it being my best gamebook ever.
I know that's a bit of a cliche but I've completed over 100! In fact, it's the best gamebook I've ever read. The ending is excellent as is the rest of the story. The cover includes a massive, bulbous head of some creature and it is illustrated (the book, not the creature) inside by Russ Nicholson again. Occasionally, only one character type will be given information and the outcome depends whether you have a warrior, enchanter, sage or trickster in your party. It's just like a multi-choice roleplaying game but in book form. If you've not played Blood Sword before let me tell you that they can be played by up to 4 players! You only need one book though as in a multiplayer game you work as a team.
(You found the scabbard and hilt in book 2.) The adventure includes a jinni, a ship with an undead crew that sails across different planes of existence and a sword-fighting mannikin. In this book you must recover the blade of the Sword of Life, also known as the Blood Sword. It is also indirectly linked to book one ( The Battlepits of Krarth) by an old adversary. This is the third book in the Blood Sword saga and the sequel to book two ( The Kingdom of Wyrd). The following review was written in 1987 when I was a teenager and published in issue 1 of Orcs Breath, a gaming fanzine that I created and wrote. Highest recommendation, but only after the lead-in of the first two books. The end of the book, as mentioned in another review, is a wonderful lead-in to the next in the series. The depth of even minor characters created in the book is fascinating. Given the richness of the world, playing through the book on multiple occasions is a pleasure rather than a chore (as compared to certain Ian Livingstone monstrosities).
The difficulty of this book is, in a weird way, secondary. This is the book that, for me, reads most like a Dungeons and Dragons adventure, with each character having a role to play, and skilful selection of options (and not just blind luck of the dice) being vital to success. In the one adventure, you must find and negotiate with a snaky traitor, traverse and explore a magical pirate ship, deal with a genie, steal from a wizard's fortress, overcome betrayal, perform a dungeon crawl, meet your arch-foe. The scope of the world and adventure created in this book is breathtaking.
FABLED LANDS PUBLISHING SERIES
Without exaggeration, The Demon's Claw is the finest entry in the best 'ongoing story' gamebook series ever crafted, though I say this having not read the famed Fabled Lands series. (Fabled Lands Publishing reissue - cover)ĥ90 sections (Fabled Lands Publishing reissue) Combined By Edition Combined Summary Series:Īkuma no tsume o ore! (Japanese)ĭemonski nokat (Bulgarian)
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