FFW29: Howl of the Werewolf

David Anderson
C. Gudgeon
Dean A. Marks
R. Paterson
Wanda

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[David Anderson]

While traveling through the forests of Lupravia you are bitten by a creature of the night and must find a cure or become one yourself.

This book was written by Jonathan Green, author of two of my favorite Fighting Fantasy entries, Knights of Doom and Spellbreaker, so I was raring to go right out of the gate.

The premise isn't anything unexpected; you're bitten by a werewolf and have to slay the evildoer who did it before it's too late, but Howl of the Werewolf is one of those books that takes a predictable premise and does great things with it. The book has a gothic atmosphere more effective than I've ever seen in a gamebook. The locations are creepy and yet you want to see more. A lot of the monsters are other lycanthropes, and a lot of them are pretty tough. That might worry some readers when they see how the stat maximums in this book are rather lower than most Fighting Fantasy books. That leads to the good news about being a werewolf, though.

Every so often the transformation process will spike, your Skill and Stamina will go up and you'll be able to roll a die and gain a special power. I liked how the book balanced the curse like that. For instance, your fingernails become claws so you suffer no penalty for fighting without a weapon. This is balanced, of course, with having to keep track of how far your transformation has progressed and whether it gets the better of you from time to time. I seemed to find all the places that reduce your change score on my first try, though, and I didn't have much trouble with that. And a good thing, because almost nobody you meet has any sympathy for someone dealing with lycanthropy, no matter what their intentions.

Fighting Fantasy standby Martin McKenna did the illustrations for this book. While many of the were-creatures start looking the same after a while, on the whole I was impressed.

The writing is on the whole effective, with the use of codewords to track events throughout the plot and sometimes letters-to-numbers translation to make use of special knowledge or weapons, but it didn't beat that gimmick to death like Curse of the Mummy. I wouldn't call any of the book bone-chilling, but I really liked this book and the mini-world within it. With it being over 20% larger than your average Fighting Fantasy in terms of section count, there's more to explore so even after I stamped out evil, there was a strong feeling to go back and try out other paths. Howl of the Werewolf is an excellent Fighting Fantasy book and every enthusiast ought to track down a copy.

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[C. Gudgeon]

****

Warning! Potential spoilers ahead:

I heard about this book some months before it came out. Being a fan of werewolf matters (as well as FF books), I was glad that someone had decided to turn the spotlight onto an under-used monster/concept.

As the player in this gamebook, your character becomes infected by a werewolf bite, and so has to seek a cure - which involves steering a course through the Hammer Horror-influenced land of Lupravia, and fighting the dangers present. Unfortunately, the concept of your character using the gradual werewolf infection as an advantage isn't taken far enough (why can't you have a heroic fully-fledged werewolf, Mr Green? (the author)) Also, 515 references is overdoing it somewhat.

The vermin dangers at the abbey were repulsive, yes - but felt out of step with the Hammer horror film background theme. Your character also has to kill a LOT of monsters in order to acquire all five... Well, I'll keep that secret. Just as well that treasure hunt isn't essential for success!

What I like most about this book:
1) The Hammer horror film themes - plus 'Sleep Hollow' and 'Hound Of The Baskervilles'/a phantom 'British' Black Dog.
2) The Tower of Maun.
3) Vereticus, and Katya (she should have been used more!).
4) The carriage sequence with the Werebeast, after identifying who it is!

In summary, a strong addition to the FF series. I hope one of the series authors returns to the theme. Keith Martin wrote two 'vampire' books, after all! Maybe we could have a future book where the hero is already a vampire or werewolf, hiding amongst humans, in order to fight a more evil enemy? Perhaps the hero could track down suitable humans to convert, to build up an army against the opposition?

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[Dean A. Marks]

*****

This is by far one of the best fighting fantasy books I have read/played in a long time.You play the role of a famous adventurer who has been bitten by a werewolf and must seek a cure before the next full moon.There are plenty of forests, moors, castles, towns and caves for you to explore and a huge variety of supernatural monsters for you to slay on your perilous journey to rid yourself of lycanthropy.What makes this fighting fantasy book better than most is that it is also a race against time as the longer you take to complete your quest the more wolf like you become. The combat in this book is also a lot fairer than in most other fighting fantasy books so you don't need a ridiculously high skill level in order to complete it. It is also slightly longer than most other fighting fantasy books with 515 paragraphs instead of the standard 400.It's a brilliant gothic horror adventure and a must have for all fighting fantasy fans.

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[R. Paterson]

*****

When I was younger I loved the Fighting Fantasy books, so it was a shame that they were out of print for most of the Noughties. Now reprints of the originals are available along with some new tomes, this one among them. And what a thrill it was that the central theme was werewolves, creatures that have always scared me even though I love them to bits.

In this book a lot of the normal FF rules apply; you use skill, stamina and luck scores to determine how you fare in various situations and in combat with other people or various creatures. Other factors determine how you fare too, and not just possessions you pick up. You can also pick up certain codewords through being in specific situations or gaining facets of knowledge. This can affect what route you take further on through the book. There is also the fact you are carrying the eponymous curse and your Change score determines how lycanthropic you are. How this affects things is quite complex, but pick up the book and you'll see!

Most of the action takes place in a land called Lupravia, which is much like the Transylvannia of Universal and Hammer horror movies, with a fantastical spin on it. There are other werewolves there, along with other were-creatures, vampires, ghosts, mutated versions of various animals and magical creatures. You will certainly have some fun spotting nods to various other stories; The Wolfman, Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Take particular routes and there are even times you might be tempted to think of Van Helsing, or Metz's Judderman commercial!

Punctuating the text are brilliant illustrations, as always. Some of them are bound to bring shudders - the illustration for paragraph 172 is positively stomach-churning. Going back to references, the illustration for paragraph 442 will give Dr Who fans a laugh.

What's best about this book is that you can complete your quest successfully (as I have) and then play the quest all over again and find a whole new route to take. A must for any gaming or horror nuts.

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[Wanda]

*****

This is one of the best Fighting Fantasy books I have read (and I have read all of the `new' ones and nearly all of the `old' ones). Why?

The story and plot are good - always a good sign, but some Fighting Fantasy books have barely any plot at all (not necessarily a criticism) - and it is well written. Jon Green (the author; this wasn't written by Jackson and Livingstone) does a good job, as always, of evoking the atmosphere of the gothic fantasy world in which this is set.

The combat is fair - you won't face a load of puny goblins to start off with and then have to face a completely unbeatable boss at the end. Although each combat itself can be dangerous, they are all well matched to your abilities.

There are many different ways through the book, increasing the re-playability (is that a word?). There are many different side-quests that you can do as you progress through the adventure. Also, the book doesn't rely on you having found a lot of items in order to finish. Certainly, there are some helpful items to be found, but they are not essential. To accommodate the wider scope the book is a lot bigger than most other Fighting Fantasy titles - 515 rather than 400 (this probably explains the higher cost).

Overall, I would rate this as good as Legend of Zagor and Deathtrap Dungeon.