Battle at the barrows: Let's play The Way of the Tiger, Assassin, book 2, episode 3

[@fuiscklam4087]

Hi, a fan of the series here. I just want to make point about attacks and blocking. For an attack to be successful the attack roll must be HIGHER than the defense, so for defense of 7 it must be 8 or more. For successful blocking the dice roll must LOWER than the defense, so for defense of 7 it must be 6 or lower. This means that if you have 7 defense against an opponent, he needs 8 or more to hit you. But if you try blocking the blow, he needs 7 or more to still land the blow, not 8 as in the initial attack roll.

[@raphaelperry8159]

Thanks for the reminder. I'll remind myself about the attack and blocking rules before the next episode.

[@bas6628]

Thanks for continuing this

[@raphaelperry8159]

You're welcome :).

[@spellsing]

Agreed, there are some truly brutal encounters in this book, none more so than the final Ninja fight! Nasty

[@raphaelperry8159]

That's the one where I seem to remember something that's not in the book. I remember a fight against a ninja/assassin in a darkened room. Moving forwards in the darkness I felt the tip of my opponent's scabbard touch my chest. Clearly he was using it to feel about and search for me. I had two options, knock it aside and advance to strike swiftly or drop to the ground. Advancing is an autokill. The opponent has balanced his scabbard on the tip of his drawn sword. You step forwards and impale yourself. Dropping to the floor causes him to stab over your head (where you were standing) because he felt the pressure against the scabbard through his sword arm. It doesn't seem to be in this book and I can't remember which gamebook it was in. It's an old memory 'though and one that I strongly associate with this adventure. The fight against Tyuchev, Cassandra and Thaum can be tricky because you've had no healing since the previous fight (the bag man or the brigands) and because of what comes next. You know, the cover picture :). Those three back to back fights are really tough as a whole bundle but Cassanarda, Tyuchev and Thaum are such enjoyable characters. Very well rounded. They plan, think ahead, scheme, and have contingencies for when things go wrong (or are good at improvising when a plan goes south). They're also really insidious in that they've made their way into not one, not two, but three gamebook series'. Fighting Fantasy (Talisman of Death), The Way of the Tiger and that Interactive Fiction/Phoenix series (I can't remember the title right now). They are the right kind of villain that you love to hate. You appreciate them whenever they crop up next because you know that, whatever they bring, must be good. Actually Thaum was in book 1 of Duelmaster as well, tucked away in a little side area. So that's four series' that they exist in! And yes, I'll probably be talking about some, if not all of this, when they finally show their faces.

[@spellsing]

@raphaelperry8159 Yep I think that fight you describe with the balanced sword in in part 4 Overlord. Seem to remember getting into that situation. Agreed those three villans are fun and remember them from Talisman. Also I think the four heroes you encounter is Assassin are in Talisman also.

[@raphaelperry8159]

No wonder I associate that memory with Way of the Tiger :). The four heroes we encounter in Assassin are also in book 7 (the series grand finale). I've seen pictures of them with their names written on the images.

[@spellsing]

@raphaelperry8159 Awesome, I still need to get books 6 and 7

[@bas6628]

That final ninja fight was creepy as hell because the hunter becomes THE HUNTED...AND WE WERE INTRODUCED BY A NINJA FROM THE WAY OF THE SCORPION

[@bas6628]

These books were superb along side the other fighting fantasy books by ian Livingston. The mixture of oriental Japanese, pre islamic Persian with medieval European fantasy lore was amazing... Ninja's in a lord of the rings fantasy world with exotic lands and creatures captivated the mind... The series came to a sudden end with book six inferno but years later a new book was written named redeemer

[@raphaelperry8159]

It's actually funny because, in the letters column in White Dwarf, Dave Morris* once claimed "I'm not going to just drop a ninja into my medieval fantasy setting because it's flavour of the month." He explained that he'd use things relevant to the setting he was writing an adventure for. I can't remember if this was a direct dig at the Way of the Tiger or just some fantasy game authors in general who's stuff felt a little inconsistent and disconnected. *At least I think it was Dave Morris. Basically his point was, if I want to tell a ninja story I'll do a proper oriental setting instead of shoehorning it in somewhere else.

[@raphaelperry8159]

Further reply (but kept separate). Book 6 has a number of errors in it. I've never played book 6. Originally I'm not even sure I knew it existed until I discovered the pdfs many years later. I plan to play all the way to book 6 then do the prequel (book 0) and finally book 7 so that I'll be covering them in published order. Bok 7 brings an end to the series in a way that book 6 did not manage to do. Apparently there was always supposed to be a book 7 to come after 6 but it didn't happen. I don't know how close the new book 7 is to the original intentions for that book but I believe it was reasonably well received.