Of Gamebooks and Mazes

I finished The Warlock of Firetop Mountain yesterday, which I had bought recently to quench a thirst for childhood nostalgia and Dungeons & Dragons . I had my fix, I should be okay for a little while. I have to confess one thing: I had to cheat, as I got officially lost in a maze of underground passages. I found the right path here. I wonder how we used to do it without the internet and websites to help us go through it. I had never played this book, playing it was a rediscovery: gamebooks were often very challenging, especially when they had mazes, which the early ones often did. One could easily get lost in them. It was a bit of a flaw really: I got bored and frustrated and can only imagine how a child could endure it. Incidentally, in our early D&Dr games, we also used to go through too many dungeons, often too large, often with mazes in them. Still, it represents a challenge, a bit pointless perhaps, nevertheless a challenge which we rarely see in today's games. I enjoy gamebooks for the atmosphere mainly, something that I find lacking in most of games for children nowadays, but they also had other qualities: they promoted discipline, focus and patience. Especially in those darn mazes.

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

I wonder if there are other readers who were into the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks when they were younger. I was and, as you may have seen, I recently purchased a number of similar gamebooks in recent years: this one first, then that one and that one.They were horror themes gamebooks. The one I purchased recently, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, is a more classic gamebook, I mean more akin to what I usually read in childhood, medieval fantasy stuff that predates my time as a Dungeons & Dragons player. So yes, I bought this one, the very first of the series. Which I ironically never read as a child. I will read/play it eagerly, and it should somewhat calm my need to play D&Dr. At least for a while. Sure, it is not exactly James Joyce's Ulysse, but it is enjoyable naive fun wrapped in childhood nostalgia.