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Fighting Fantasy (Wizard Series 1) #29
Howl of the Werewolf
Lupravia is a cursed a chill place of snow-capped mountains, brooding forests and mist-shrouded moors, haunted by the spirits of the restless dead. Only the foolhardy or insane would willingly enter. But enter you must.
320 pages, Paperback
First published September 25, 2007
4 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Green
265 books158 followersJonathan Green is a writer of speculative fiction, with more than seventy books to his name. Well known for his contributions to the Fighting Fantasy range of adventure gamebooks, he has also written fiction for such diverse properties as Doctor Who, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, Sonic the Hedgehog, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Moshi Monsters, LEGO, Judge Dredd and Robin of Sherwood.
He is the creator of the Pax Britannia series for Abaddon Books and has written eight novels, and numerous short stories, set within this steampunk universe, featuring the debonair dandy adventurer Ulysses Quicksilver. He is also the author of an increasing number of non-fiction titles, including the award-winning YOU ARE THE HERO – A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.
He has recently taken to editing and compiling short story anthologies, including the critically-acclaimed GAME OVER and SHARKPUNK, published by Snowbooks, and the forthcoming Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu.
To find out more about his current projects visit www.JonathanGreenAuthor.com and follow him on Twitter @jonathangreen.
He is the creator of the Pax Britannia series for Abaddon Books and has written eight novels, and numerous short stories, set within this steampunk universe, featuring the debonair dandy adventurer Ulysses Quicksilver. He is also the author of an increasing number of non-fiction titles, including the award-winning YOU ARE THE HERO – A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.
He has recently taken to editing and compiling short story anthologies, including the critically-acclaimed GAME OVER and SHARKPUNK, published by Snowbooks, and the forthcoming Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu.
To find out more about his current projects visit www.JonathanGreenAuthor.com and follow him on Twitter @jonathangreen.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 2, 2015
This title has immediately made it to my top ten as I started reading it. Now that I've finished it, I have to confirm my love for it. Jonathan Green has written some of my favorite Fighting Fantasy titles, the most notable of which is the beloved Bloodbones.
So what's so great about Howl of the Werewolf?
It shares a similar setting to the one we encountered in Spellbreaker, which was most definitely the strong point in that book. It also kind of reminded me of Legend of the Shadow Warriors, which is THE favorite Fighting Fantasy title I own. It is a roughly XVII century Transylvania-flavored place, where werebeasts (especially wolves, but not only) are terrorizing the small scattered villages in this cursed land. And whenever you enter one of these villages, the tension the villagers live in is palpable. Characters are very well characterized in this book, something that had made Spellbreaker shine and is something Jonathan Green always strives to do. How many Fighting Fantasy titles are there where secondary characters are no more than cardboard-thin clichés?
Plus there are some quite awesome encounters, including a frankenstein monster, a wax golem, a mysterious carnival, a treasure-hoarding spider queen and a headless rider ghost. What is there not to love?
Great writing, great atmosphere, and has several paths to victory. Finding the right items is no more a requirement to finish the adventure, but not having them makes it very difficult as you find yourself facing overwhelmingly powerful opponents. Which sounds about right, and solves a problem with those Fighting Fantasy titles that are horribly frustrating because one never manages to collect the right items. Which means basically any Fighting Fantasy written by Ian Livingstone, in case you were wondering.
Oh and the book's nemesis is not an evil wizard. Which adds points to Howl of the Werewolf if you consider that almost half of the Fighting Fantasy titles fall into that type of plot. Hooray for originality.
Very fun read, recommended if you can find it, which unfortunately is no easy task...
So what's so great about Howl of the Werewolf?
It shares a similar setting to the one we encountered in Spellbreaker, which was most definitely the strong point in that book. It also kind of reminded me of Legend of the Shadow Warriors, which is THE favorite Fighting Fantasy title I own. It is a roughly XVII century Transylvania-flavored place, where werebeasts (especially wolves, but not only) are terrorizing the small scattered villages in this cursed land. And whenever you enter one of these villages, the tension the villagers live in is palpable. Characters are very well characterized in this book, something that had made Spellbreaker shine and is something Jonathan Green always strives to do. How many Fighting Fantasy titles are there where secondary characters are no more than cardboard-thin clichés?
Plus there are some quite awesome encounters, including a frankenstein monster, a wax golem, a mysterious carnival, a treasure-hoarding spider queen and a headless rider ghost. What is there not to love?
Great writing, great atmosphere, and has several paths to victory. Finding the right items is no more a requirement to finish the adventure, but not having them makes it very difficult as you find yourself facing overwhelmingly powerful opponents. Which sounds about right, and solves a problem with those Fighting Fantasy titles that are horribly frustrating because one never manages to collect the right items. Which means basically any Fighting Fantasy written by Ian Livingstone, in case you were wondering.
Oh and the book's nemesis is not an evil wizard. Which adds points to Howl of the Werewolf if you consider that almost half of the Fighting Fantasy titles fall into that type of plot. Hooray for originality.
Very fun read, recommended if you can find it, which unfortunately is no easy task...
July 11, 2021
Infected
9 July 2021
This is probably one of the longest Fighting Fantasy books that I have read so far, and also probably one of the best. Then again, considering that this was released well into the age of the personal computer, there was certainly quite a lot of competition out there, though of course there are still quite a lot of nostalgic people who remember these books from their childhood that will go out and grab the latest one whenever they release a new batch. Still, there are some pretty good ones out there, so they certainly do have a high bar to get over with their newer ones.
The thing that makes this good is not so much its complexity, and it certainly is complex, it is that the story is somewhat different. Basically you have been bitten by a werewolf and you need to find a cure before you turn into one yourself. You have a change score which the higher it gets, the more likely you will change and when that happens it is basically game over. However, there are other things that pop up as well, such as an alarm score for one castle which you use to determine whether the occupants have been alerted to your presence.
As I indicated, this one is pretty long, though there are two ways through it – the simple way, and the complex way. The complex way involves you collecting the five silver daggers, and slaying the five members of the cult of which the master werewolf is the leader. That basically means that there are five different dungeons you have to explore, and all of them bring different challenges. Actually, there are more – as I said, it’s pretty long.
Still, I certainly wouldn’t be expecting too much more imagination than that. The name of the land is pretty dry – Luprania – they could have come up with something better, surely. However, the adventure, and some of the ideas behind it, do make this one stand out, even though I do tend to find werewolves to be somewhat boring. Oh, and some of the big baddies that you encounter have multiple special powers, and what they do to you when they hit you is determined by a dice roll.
Yeah, if you like the fighting fantasy books, then this is certainly one to check out.
9 July 2021
This is probably one of the longest Fighting Fantasy books that I have read so far, and also probably one of the best. Then again, considering that this was released well into the age of the personal computer, there was certainly quite a lot of competition out there, though of course there are still quite a lot of nostalgic people who remember these books from their childhood that will go out and grab the latest one whenever they release a new batch. Still, there are some pretty good ones out there, so they certainly do have a high bar to get over with their newer ones.
The thing that makes this good is not so much its complexity, and it certainly is complex, it is that the story is somewhat different. Basically you have been bitten by a werewolf and you need to find a cure before you turn into one yourself. You have a change score which the higher it gets, the more likely you will change and when that happens it is basically game over. However, there are other things that pop up as well, such as an alarm score for one castle which you use to determine whether the occupants have been alerted to your presence.
As I indicated, this one is pretty long, though there are two ways through it – the simple way, and the complex way. The complex way involves you collecting the five silver daggers, and slaying the five members of the cult of which the master werewolf is the leader. That basically means that there are five different dungeons you have to explore, and all of them bring different challenges. Actually, there are more – as I said, it’s pretty long.
Still, I certainly wouldn’t be expecting too much more imagination than that. The name of the land is pretty dry – Luprania – they could have come up with something better, surely. However, the adventure, and some of the ideas behind it, do make this one stand out, even though I do tend to find werewolves to be somewhat boring. Oh, and some of the big baddies that you encounter have multiple special powers, and what they do to you when they hit you is determined by a dice roll.
Yeah, if you like the fighting fantasy books, then this is certainly one to check out.
May 28, 2020
Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone Howl of the Werewolf by Jonathan Green Illustrated by Martin McKenna
The sun is blazing, the heat is rising, summer is here, yet Sol’s lustre goes unnoticed for I am roaming a cursed land, Lupravia, grim and foreboding and oozing a gothic aesthetic as captivating as it is horrifying. Only the foolhardy or the insane would enter, yet here I am, a hero on a quest, armed only with my trusty pencil and a pair of dice and there is nowhere I’d rather be, for this is Fighting Fantasy’s Howl of the Werewolf, a Gamebook in which YOU are the hero!
There is a bad moon rising and Howl of the Werewolf relishes its pulp horror atmosphere from the start. The action begins with a savage wolf attack, and as everyone knows a wolf bite transmits the curse of lycanthropy and so the race is on to find a cure in which the hero (player) must battle the beast within or succumb to the murder and madness that comes with the Howl of the Werewolf.
In playability terms HotW uses unique game mechanics to give the player a feeling of battling against lycanthropy. The attribute spread is initially narrower than most other FF gamebooks but as the adventure progresses so does the transformative nature of lycanthropy and the player can gain much needed attribute increases or even special abilities to aid in their quest, however such is the nature of curses there is always the chance of detrimental effects. For gameplay it makes for an intriguing challenge, initial weakness makes combat a tense affair, and the relief at gaining attribute increases can easily give way to despair at a punishing change that leaves the player in a precarious position. It is a great way of capturing the strange and terrifying nature of lycanthropy and really embeds the theme of metamorphosis as central to the story. The strong psychological element of metamorphosis really shines through in the action encounters. Lupravia is infested with were-creatures and encounters whether violent or emotional echo the player’s own internal struggle against madness and murder making the quest to find a cure that much more of a personal journey. It is masterful storytelling.
HotW’s gothic horror atmosphere is the perfect companion to this psychological drama. The narrative is replete with familiar horror tropes and cinematic references and the player will encounter anything from kindly saviours with dark pasts, pitchfork wielding villages, witches, headless horsemen to hunch backs and mad scientists. Lupravia is a dark and dangerous place indeed and NPC encounters can be fraught with emotional gut punches or chilling Faustian bargains as those meddling with the dark arts receive their frightful comeuppance, usually at the player’s interference. Lupravia’s tortured soul is brought vividly to life by paragraphs that are longer than usual, in fact HotW clocks in at over five hundred paragraphs, rather than the FF standard four hundred. With more space to play the narrative prose is more visually descriptive than ever before. Action packed scenes and encounters rise to a near cinematic level and the plentiful illustrations leap dynamically out from the frame bringing the reader a truly immersive experience.
As with all FF gamebooks finding the right path through to victory is a challenging experience and HotW is no different in that regard. From the start it is possible to choose the wrong action and take the wrong path that will lead to eventual failure. Choices matter, as the narrow attribute spread can make combat frustrating, and the player will be punished for mistakes. As the adventure progresses the player can acquire items and information that will be vital for success as well as code-words that can have startling effects on subsequent encounters. There are multiple ways to approach any situation and many locations to explore, but be aware not all paths can be taken and vital items and info is easily missed and sometimes being brave is not always the best approach. HotW’s dynamic structure leads to a good challenge that will most likely lead to multiple attempts and only the most determined will find the true path to victory. Overall, the balance between setting, story and gameplay makes HotW one of the best Fighting Fantasy books and it is definitely one for the fans.
But now my time in Lupravia draws to an end for at last I have found my way to the final boss, yet missing the vital info, the right item(s) and with the wrong code-word on my lips only tragedy awaits. Forlorn, I raise my weary head, outside reality beckons, Sol’s warmth a soothing balm. Yet for all its eerie landscapes, Lupravia grips me with its austere beauty and isn’t determination to succeed a hallmark of all heroes? And is that howling I hear on wind? Wish me luck I’m going back in….
The sun is blazing, the heat is rising, summer is here, yet Sol’s lustre goes unnoticed for I am roaming a cursed land, Lupravia, grim and foreboding and oozing a gothic aesthetic as captivating as it is horrifying. Only the foolhardy or the insane would enter, yet here I am, a hero on a quest, armed only with my trusty pencil and a pair of dice and there is nowhere I’d rather be, for this is Fighting Fantasy’s Howl of the Werewolf, a Gamebook in which YOU are the hero!
There is a bad moon rising and Howl of the Werewolf relishes its pulp horror atmosphere from the start. The action begins with a savage wolf attack, and as everyone knows a wolf bite transmits the curse of lycanthropy and so the race is on to find a cure in which the hero (player) must battle the beast within or succumb to the murder and madness that comes with the Howl of the Werewolf.
In playability terms HotW uses unique game mechanics to give the player a feeling of battling against lycanthropy. The attribute spread is initially narrower than most other FF gamebooks but as the adventure progresses so does the transformative nature of lycanthropy and the player can gain much needed attribute increases or even special abilities to aid in their quest, however such is the nature of curses there is always the chance of detrimental effects. For gameplay it makes for an intriguing challenge, initial weakness makes combat a tense affair, and the relief at gaining attribute increases can easily give way to despair at a punishing change that leaves the player in a precarious position. It is a great way of capturing the strange and terrifying nature of lycanthropy and really embeds the theme of metamorphosis as central to the story. The strong psychological element of metamorphosis really shines through in the action encounters. Lupravia is infested with were-creatures and encounters whether violent or emotional echo the player’s own internal struggle against madness and murder making the quest to find a cure that much more of a personal journey. It is masterful storytelling.
HotW’s gothic horror atmosphere is the perfect companion to this psychological drama. The narrative is replete with familiar horror tropes and cinematic references and the player will encounter anything from kindly saviours with dark pasts, pitchfork wielding villages, witches, headless horsemen to hunch backs and mad scientists. Lupravia is a dark and dangerous place indeed and NPC encounters can be fraught with emotional gut punches or chilling Faustian bargains as those meddling with the dark arts receive their frightful comeuppance, usually at the player’s interference. Lupravia’s tortured soul is brought vividly to life by paragraphs that are longer than usual, in fact HotW clocks in at over five hundred paragraphs, rather than the FF standard four hundred. With more space to play the narrative prose is more visually descriptive than ever before. Action packed scenes and encounters rise to a near cinematic level and the plentiful illustrations leap dynamically out from the frame bringing the reader a truly immersive experience.
As with all FF gamebooks finding the right path through to victory is a challenging experience and HotW is no different in that regard. From the start it is possible to choose the wrong action and take the wrong path that will lead to eventual failure. Choices matter, as the narrow attribute spread can make combat frustrating, and the player will be punished for mistakes. As the adventure progresses the player can acquire items and information that will be vital for success as well as code-words that can have startling effects on subsequent encounters. There are multiple ways to approach any situation and many locations to explore, but be aware not all paths can be taken and vital items and info is easily missed and sometimes being brave is not always the best approach. HotW’s dynamic structure leads to a good challenge that will most likely lead to multiple attempts and only the most determined will find the true path to victory. Overall, the balance between setting, story and gameplay makes HotW one of the best Fighting Fantasy books and it is definitely one for the fans.
But now my time in Lupravia draws to an end for at last I have found my way to the final boss, yet missing the vital info, the right item(s) and with the wrong code-word on my lips only tragedy awaits. Forlorn, I raise my weary head, outside reality beckons, Sol’s warmth a soothing balm. Yet for all its eerie landscapes, Lupravia grips me with its austere beauty and isn’t determination to succeed a hallmark of all heroes? And is that howling I hear on wind? Wish me luck I’m going back in….
July 20, 2019
Howl of the Werewolf is widely regarded as Jonathan Green’s gamebook masterpiece, and in 2011 it was voted the best Fighting Fantasy book of all time. Does it live up to the hype? Spoiler: Yes. Yes it does.
I read Howl of the Werewolf immediately after finishing the very first Fighting Fantasy book, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and it is fascinating to see how far the series has come.
The book oozes gothic atmosphere. Green’s lengthy paragraphs let him construct a detailed plot, and it is obvious that he did his research into werewolf folklore. I am a fan of his writing style too, which is evocative without being florid.
The book’s design is non-linear, and has an open world feel to it. The reader is not railroaded into taking a “true path”, and there are numerous ways to reach the final showdown, depending on the level of risk you want to take and how many side quests you want to undertake. There is not a shopping list of items required to win, though certain items will certainly smooth the path to victory.
The Change and Alarm mechanics brings to mind the Hours mechanic from Bloodbones (the only other Jonathan Green gamebook I have played). Change tracks lycanthropy’s hold on your mind and body, which adds a sense of urgency to the narrative. I found it easy to keep my Change to a low level, so none of my characters transformed into a werewolf, but my guess is that to do so would mean game over?
In terms of difficulty, I found Howl surprisingly forgiving. It took me five attempts to finish the book, and most of my deaths were due to pushing my luck rather being overwhelmed by enemies. To be honest, I felt a little overpowered once my character was buffed with armour, magical weapons, and the ability boosts which are awarded as your character’s lycanthropy progresses. The final confrontation felt somewhat underwhelming as a result, but in the story’s final moments it is revealed that there is another, more challenging way to win. Located throughout the book are four other big bad guys to confront, and five magical artefacts to discover, which allow you to perform a magic ritual to dispatch your nemesis rather than going toe-to-toe. This gives the book a lot of replay value, and a way to scale up the difficulty once you’ve won on “easy mode”.
Speaking of difficulty, I like how Green tweaked the Skill rules to create a tighter spread (8-10), meaning that bad initial rolls don’t doom your attempt like they might in other other FF books.
Martin McKenna’s art is fantastic, and helps to support the dark atmosphere that Green has created. The illustrations are drawn white on black, which gives them a moody feeling, and evokes old fashioned engravings or wood cuts. I’m not sure if that was a stylistic decision, or the artist’s usual method, but it is a perfect match for the book’s setting.
Other than the gameplay being a little easy, the only negative thing I have to say about Howl of the Werewolf is that I might have spoiled the rest of the series for myself by reading it so early in my playthrough of the books! It will be a hard act to follow.
I read Howl of the Werewolf immediately after finishing the very first Fighting Fantasy book, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and it is fascinating to see how far the series has come.
The book oozes gothic atmosphere. Green’s lengthy paragraphs let him construct a detailed plot, and it is obvious that he did his research into werewolf folklore. I am a fan of his writing style too, which is evocative without being florid.
The book’s design is non-linear, and has an open world feel to it. The reader is not railroaded into taking a “true path”, and there are numerous ways to reach the final showdown, depending on the level of risk you want to take and how many side quests you want to undertake. There is not a shopping list of items required to win, though certain items will certainly smooth the path to victory.
The Change and Alarm mechanics brings to mind the Hours mechanic from Bloodbones (the only other Jonathan Green gamebook I have played). Change tracks lycanthropy’s hold on your mind and body, which adds a sense of urgency to the narrative. I found it easy to keep my Change to a low level, so none of my characters transformed into a werewolf, but my guess is that to do so would mean game over?
In terms of difficulty, I found Howl surprisingly forgiving. It took me five attempts to finish the book, and most of my deaths were due to pushing my luck rather being overwhelmed by enemies. To be honest, I felt a little overpowered once my character was buffed with armour, magical weapons, and the ability boosts which are awarded as your character’s lycanthropy progresses. The final confrontation felt somewhat underwhelming as a result, but in the story’s final moments it is revealed that there is another, more challenging way to win. Located throughout the book are four other big bad guys to confront, and five magical artefacts to discover, which allow you to perform a magic ritual to dispatch your nemesis rather than going toe-to-toe. This gives the book a lot of replay value, and a way to scale up the difficulty once you’ve won on “easy mode”.
Speaking of difficulty, I like how Green tweaked the Skill rules to create a tighter spread (8-10), meaning that bad initial rolls don’t doom your attempt like they might in other other FF books.
Martin McKenna’s art is fantastic, and helps to support the dark atmosphere that Green has created. The illustrations are drawn white on black, which gives them a moody feeling, and evokes old fashioned engravings or wood cuts. I’m not sure if that was a stylistic decision, or the artist’s usual method, but it is a perfect match for the book’s setting.
Other than the gameplay being a little easy, the only negative thing I have to say about Howl of the Werewolf is that I might have spoiled the rest of the series for myself by reading it so early in my playthrough of the books! It will be a hard act to follow.
February 5, 2019
Probably the second favourite. Does not quite match to Moonrunner on account of having a bit too much story, with far too much to read through and memorize. But it's got the oppressive atmosphere down right, just with the curse of lycanthropy slowly taking hold rather than an evil mastermind looking to get you into another James Bond deathtrap.
December 22, 2021
Howl of the Werewolf is a fantastic addition to any Fighting Fantasy collection and a beautiful end to the Wizard's series of books.
This one is filled with atmosphere as you travel through Lupravia whilst trying to find a cure for your recently contracted lycanthropy. The environments that you travel through are wonderfully eerie and you get the feeling that there's always a pair of eyes watching you from the distance through every step of your adventure.
If you're a gamer, combine the atmosphere of Bloodborne and Resident Evil's Village and that's what you're getting yourself into. I didn't expect to love this book, but I did.
Howl of the Werewolf was done right.
5/5
This one is filled with atmosphere as you travel through Lupravia whilst trying to find a cure for your recently contracted lycanthropy. The environments that you travel through are wonderfully eerie and you get the feeling that there's always a pair of eyes watching you from the distance through every step of your adventure.
If you're a gamer, combine the atmosphere of Bloodborne and Resident Evil's Village and that's what you're getting yourself into. I didn't expect to love this book, but I did.
Howl of the Werewolf was done right.
5/5
December 1, 2024
Totally lives up to the hype. Solid puzzles, fair mechanics, and such a great mood. Some might find it corny that you are chasing werewolves in a place called Lupravania, but to me those sorts of on the nose names just adds to the whole ambiance. it is also quite do-able. I was almost a bit sad that you didn't have to complete it the complex way in order to win.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews