Continuing the celebrations for Dead Branches‘ second birthday, I’m going to take you back to the main body of my reading in the late 80s and early 90s. There’s a reason Thomas Tilbrook is such a fan of Fighting fantasy books in Dead Branches – it’s not only because I was, these things were absolutely huge back then. Everyone was reading them. Every bookstore sold them. Libraries had them, and a had a shelfload of them.
They’re important to the plot too. I had to create a new book in the series which is given to Thomas as a present, and he can see parallels between his life, and events in the book, particularly in the tree which is a gateway to hell in his gamebook, and the dead tree he can see from his bedroom window.
Special mention – Deathtrap Dungeon
I never read Deathtrap Dungeon as a child, but I made it the book that Thomas Tilbrook was reading in Dead Branches. Those of you that have read it will know that much of the horror in the story could potentially be in the young protagonist’s head. I wanted him reading this book because I wanted him to imagine this creature where he hears something rustling among the crops.
Now here’s the weird part. When I started teaching at my curent school, I inherited a classroom with a bookshelf full of old books. I’d already written Dead Branches by this point and was in the process of sending it out. One day, I turn the bookcase around and ind a load more books, including a copy of Deathtrap Dungeon. It’s old. It has a blue spine instead of a green one.
Something about finding that book in that place told me things would be okay. My book would find a home one day on other people’s bookshelves. And it did.
5 – Temple of Terror
Partially, I’m picking this one as it was my first. I picked it up while on holiday, and my brother picked up another title which features later on the list.
As it was my first, and for a long time only title, I played it through plenty of times. I played it honestly too: proper dice rolls and keeping track of provisions.
I remember there were loads to choose from in the shop. For this one, it was a combination of artwork and title. Fierce, axe-weilding armoured lizard AND alliteration? Count me in.
I don’t remember too much about the story, only the need to collect certain items to be able to defeat the antogonist.
4 – Crypt of the Sorcerer
This is the book my brother picked up when I got Temple of Terror. This one sticks in the mind as it seemed to be a lengthier adventure and it takes you through many of the typical locations you’d expect in a fantasy world. I also enjoyed that you had companions on the quest – Borri and Symm – who could offer holp at times and insight at others.
I don’t think I ever played this one properly though. As it wasn’t my book, I wasn’t allowed to write in it, so I skipped all of the fights.
Again, the artwork is great, the ancient sorcerer looking simultaneously decrepit and menacing.
3 – Appointment with F.E.A.R.
Mostly, I read the books with a fantasy setting, and those with some kind of monster on the front cover. This one was a gift, and while I may not have been too sure at first, it quickly became a favourite. As far as I’m aware, it’s the only one of the books to have a super-hero storyline. You get to pick which super-powers you have at the start too, which takes the story in different directions.
The play mechanics are different to some degree, and you’re solving a mystery against the clock. The activities you chose to do will earn you both hero points and encounters with villains who will give clues about where a significant event is going down. You can easily reach the point at which you need to decide where to go, and have no idea, so it took plenty of play-throughs to win this one. Then you could start over with different powers and try it all over again. Great fun.
2 – House of Hell
This one is pure horror. It thrives on haunted house clichés, even the way you stumble upon this awful house. Various staples of the haunted house are present as you journey through the house. There was an additional challenge too. You have ‘Fear Points’ and when they were exhausted, you died of fear.
Alongside all of the phosts and monsters hidden within the house there is an even more sinister story of devil-worship at its core that you have to undo in order to fight your way through to the end.
This one was hard. You’d think it would be easy to explore the house, but there were so many doors, so many passages that it became difficult to remember where things had gone so badly wrong before, but it was always a joy to start over and to be punished by the House of Hell once more.
1 – Creature of Havoc
From the first time I played through this book it wa sa favourite, even though I didn’t get very far at all. You play as the titular creaure of havoc, and as such, at first have no control over your choices, acting on on the instinct dictated by the dice-roll. Early on you can gain control over your actions, but fom that point forth, you’re on a steep learning curve to understand the world around you and how you can to be in such a state.
It’s set in Allansia, like many of the stories, but you get to witness it through different eyes, so it is simultaniously familiar and strange. I remember feeling like I was some kind of Frankenstein’s-monster-like character as I read through (even though that knowledge was based upon the Hammer House of Horror rather than Mary Shelley’s original, where the comparison is even more interesting.)
It’s a tough book. You’re given little direction, and for that reason, every play through felt like it offered new rewards.
Having given myself the opportunity to consider these books which were so important to me as a child once more through the eyes of an adult, I find it interesting that those books that struck me most were those that offered different play mechanics, going beyond the usual structure and introducing other rules.
So do you have a favourite? Is it mentioned here, or have I ruined your childhood by ignoring it? Let me know!