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Lone Wolf #24
Rune War
Evil Lord Vandyan of Eldenora has unearthed the lost secrets of rune magics used by Agarash the Damned during his ancient conquest of Magnamund. Empowered by his discoveries, Vandyan unleashes his armies upon the peaceful realms of the Free Alliance with swift and devastating effect. Lone Wolf, Supreme Master of the Kai, leads the crusade to defeat Vandyan before all Magnamund succumbs to his tyrannical rule.In Rune War your task is to infiltrate Skull-Tor, Lord Vandyan’s stronghold, and destroy the ancient runes from which he draws his evil power. Can you succeed in your vital mission...or will you fall foul of the traps and terrors that guard the warlord’s mighty fortress?
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
126 people want to read
About the author
Joe Dever
214 books168 followersJoe Dever was an award-winning British fantasist and game designer. Originally a musician, Dever became the first British winner of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Championship of America in 1982.
He created the fictional world of Magnamund as a setting for his Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. In 1984 he released the first book of the Lone Wolf series of young-adult gamebooks, and the series has since sold over 10.2 million copies worldwide. He experienced difficulty with his publishers as the game books market began to contract in 1995, until publication ceased in 1998 before the final four books (numbers 29-32) were released. Since 2003, however, the series has enjoyed a strong revival of interest in France, Italy, and Spain following the re-release of the gamebook series in these countries.
From 1996 onwards, Dever was involved in the production of several successful computer and console games. He also contributed to a Dungeons & Dragons-style role playing game for Lone Wolf published by Mongoose Publishing (UK) in 2004. Currently he is Lead Designer of a Lone Wolf computer game, and he is writing the final books in the Lone Wolf series. No official publication schedule exists for these works.
He created the fictional world of Magnamund as a setting for his Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. In 1984 he released the first book of the Lone Wolf series of young-adult gamebooks, and the series has since sold over 10.2 million copies worldwide. He experienced difficulty with his publishers as the game books market began to contract in 1995, until publication ceased in 1998 before the final four books (numbers 29-32) were released. Since 2003, however, the series has enjoyed a strong revival of interest in France, Italy, and Spain following the re-release of the gamebook series in these countries.
From 1996 onwards, Dever was involved in the production of several successful computer and console games. He also contributed to a Dungeons & Dragons-style role playing game for Lone Wolf published by Mongoose Publishing (UK) in 2004. Currently he is Lead Designer of a Lone Wolf computer game, and he is writing the final books in the Lone Wolf series. No official publication schedule exists for these works.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 29, 2021
Joe Dever's Lone Wolf gamebooks were a consistent presence during my formative years and have had a big influence on my reading and gaming interests. I first started reading them in 1989 and continued to do so until 1999. With the resurgence of new Lone Wolf material in recent years, I've decided to revisit these nostalgic gems of my youth.
Book 24: Rune War
(published 1995, first read 1995)
Story: 4/5
Game: 3/5
Replayability: 3/5
Book 24: Rune War
(published 1995, first read 1995)
Story: 4/5
Game: 3/5
Replayability: 3/5
July 23, 2021
This one is pretty forgettable. In fact, I had forgotten it. I owned this one as a child but, reading it now, I remembered absolutely nothing about it. Part of that is, no doubt, because I used to only ever read them in order so if I died or got bored or distracted part way through the series then I'd never get to the later ones, and this was one of the last Lone Wolf books I acquired, so I probably only read it a couple of times. But part of it is also probably down to it just not being very interesting.
It's especially disappointing because it seems, at first, as though you're getting something new and different - a chance to lead some soldiers into battle. But then you actually get a special mission that's just like every other mission you've ever been on; go to the place, infiltrate the fortress, smash the thing.
There's nothing wring with this one, it's just more of the same. The problem is that by book 24, more of the same is getting a bit old.
---
The collector's edition bonus adventure in this one, The Traitor's Reward, is a fucking embarrassment. I have no idea what's going on at Holmgard Press but they dropped the ball hard on this one. And it's a real shame because there's a lot of potential there. The Loyalty mechanic is underutilised and perhaps ill-conceived, but the fact that you can pick your side and that affects not only the ending but also several things along the way is pretty impressive. In fact, player agency is a real strong-suit of this particular adventure. There are a lot of meaningful choices and it's just a shame that, in practice, most of them come down to "how do you want to die?"
Aside from the extremely obvious lack of proofreading, the one other major flaw is the ridiculous number of cheap deaths. Many of them can be mitigated by using particular abilities, and you're usually likely to have at least one, but even when you don't die outright you often take damage. And I don't think anyone bothered to follow through and work out how much damage the average player is likely to have taken as they go, which is why even a little bit of playtesting would have gone a long way.
This book was not ready for publishing. How they had the gall to charge money for this, let alone market it as a "collector's edition", is beyond me. "Collector's edition", to me, implies that you're getting something of a higher quality standard, not a piece of half-baked shit.
It's especially disappointing because it seems, at first, as though you're getting something new and different - a chance to lead some soldiers into battle. But then you actually get a special mission that's just like every other mission you've ever been on; go to the place, infiltrate the fortress, smash the thing.
There's nothing wring with this one, it's just more of the same. The problem is that by book 24, more of the same is getting a bit old.
---
The collector's edition bonus adventure in this one, The Traitor's Reward, is a fucking embarrassment. I have no idea what's going on at Holmgard Press but they dropped the ball hard on this one. And it's a real shame because there's a lot of potential there. The Loyalty mechanic is underutilised and perhaps ill-conceived, but the fact that you can pick your side and that affects not only the ending but also several things along the way is pretty impressive. In fact, player agency is a real strong-suit of this particular adventure. There are a lot of meaningful choices and it's just a shame that, in practice, most of them come down to "how do you want to die?"
Aside from the extremely obvious lack of proofreading, the one other major flaw is the ridiculous number of cheap deaths. Many of them can be mitigated by using particular abilities, and you're usually likely to have at least one, but even when you don't die outright you often take damage. And I don't think anyone bothered to follow through and work out how much damage the average player is likely to have taken as they go, which is why even a little bit of playtesting would have gone a long way.
This book was not ready for publishing. How they had the gall to charge money for this, let alone market it as a "collector's edition", is beyond me. "Collector's edition", to me, implies that you're getting something of a higher quality standard, not a piece of half-baked shit.
January 7, 2020
After musing that the setting for the previous felt reminiscent of the Stornlands, this book takes me the reader/main character into that region. A nefarious warlord is using dark magic to invade and conquer his neighbours, destabilizing the region and threatening an ally of Sommerland & the Kai order. Most of the Kai order therefore sets out for battle, our protagonist, aka me the reader, is given a top secret mission however. This mission is of the go somewhere nasty and stop the nastiness variety of storyline. The journey there is quite low-key on the whole but the arrival becomes very nasty and the stakes are steep indeed if success is to be achieved. The victory is tainted however, because storyline, and thus the next book in the series is set up. The prose is top quality though there's a lot of glee put into some of the nastier scenes, and the death of an ally is given the solemnity and harshness is should have. I don't think I quite liked it as much as the previous book, but I think it's just down to personal preference, as it starts off a nice open charge across the land which I love, but ends in an extended dungeon scenario which I'm not so keen on.
December 29, 2021
Troppo semplice e lineare!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews