This one is going to be unusual for our website, because normally it revolves around games in a digital form. Today we are going to talk about a ‘gamebook’. And, as might have been expected, we did not just pick one at random, but the gamebook itself: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Yet I have to tone down a bit: Actually it is already our second gamebook on the site. The other one has been hidden for about 14 years in the comics section.
A fantasy world full of castles, palaces and forests attracts the evil forces like flies to filth. This was also the case in this long forgotten part of the world at a time when people still led a simple God-fearing life. The underworld has opened its gates and sent an evil demon whose dark aura covers the land like a grey veil and threatens to suffocate life. As they prepare for the end of time, the priestess Grimhild has a vision of the white wizard Taam, who, according to her afflatus, knows salvation. The immediately informed King Rohdhis immediately sends his messengers through the entire Middleworld in search of the sorcerer. The message reaches the next town and there the handsome son Siegurd of an old-established family, who wants to take the search into his own hands. To do so, he wants to enter the king's service and sets off for Siegelhorst to his place of residence.
Former British genre market leader Level 9, under newly arrived competitive pressure of Magnetic Scrolls releasing their adventure games with lush illustrations, took the big leap into graphics with Knight Orc… Though what is unfortunately all too often overlooked is that this game broke major new ground in experimental gameplay and turned conventional storytelling upside down. So far that it still feels fresh today, but also so far that it's somewhat difficult to actually play.