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Fighting Fantasy #15
The Rings of Kether
A dangerous undercover mission on a wild and lawless planet!
Corruption is rife in the Alpha Cygni system and the flow of the illicit narcotic Satophil-d from the spaceports of the planet Kether has grown to enormous proportions.
Several attempts have been made to crack the notorious drug rings of Kether, with no success. Now the Galactic Federation has entrusted YOU with this dangerous undercover mission in this wild and lawless place. But will YOU succeed?
Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need to make your journey. YOU decide which way to go, which dangers to risk and which enemies to fight
Corruption is rife in the Alpha Cygni system and the flow of the illicit narcotic Satophil-d from the spaceports of the planet Kether has grown to enormous proportions.
Several attempts have been made to crack the notorious drug rings of Kether, with no success. Now the Galactic Federation has entrusted YOU with this dangerous undercover mission in this wild and lawless place. But will YOU succeed?
Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need to make your journey. YOU decide which way to go, which dangers to risk and which enemies to fight
Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 27, 2019
“No coincidences - you’re a detective”
With blasters to issue the needed corrective
To fatties who traffic in Satophil-d
In a city that’s somewhat like Suva, Fiji
(Except for the people, the sky and the weather,
As it’s actually on a grim planet called Kether).
So head for the library or head for the bars,
Then race through the streets in an interesting car;
Cajole, bribe and threaten your way round the town,
And do what it takes to bring B. Babbet down.
With blasters to issue the needed corrective
To fatties who traffic in Satophil-d
In a city that’s somewhat like Suva, Fiji
(Except for the people, the sky and the weather,
As it’s actually on a grim planet called Kether).
So head for the library or head for the bars,
Then race through the streets in an interesting car;
Cajole, bribe and threaten your way round the town,
And do what it takes to bring B. Babbet down.
May 29, 2022
THE RINGS OF KETHER offered something a little different from the normal 'Fighting Fantasy' gamebook - for a start, it had a different author, and then there was the sci-fi theme. There were quite a few sci-fi variants in the long-running series (although nowhere near as many as there were fantasy). I never really gelled with them, although I do remember enjoying one called STAR CRASH.
Lookin back at it now, this isn't bad. The text is quite fun. It throws in all the space cliches you'd expect - moons, asteroids, gangsters, a canteen scene straight out of STAR WARS, tentacled aliens and more besides. But it's written as a detective story, with attempts at hard-boiled pulp, and shoot-outs and bombs going off all the while. I enjoyed the journey and it reminded me of TOTAL RECALL, and I was left wondering which came first.
I found some of the additional rules to be rather unnecessary. Much is made of space warface, with statistics for your ship's shields and weapons, but during my play I only engaged in one space battle. Still, the addition of blaster battle to hand to hand combat is one I appreciated in true STAR WARS style.
The illustrations are rather lacklustre. The dull space ships would look good filling the screen in a cinema, but look like lifeless line drawings on page. The aliens look like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon. And, although this isn't a criticism, the gameplay seems to be slightly easier than usual. I successfully finished my mission on my first ever play, although I'd been blessed with lucky dice rolls and good initial stats.
NB. On another play I enjoyed this a lot more. The hardboiled detective style makes it feel substantially different from the rest of the fantasy adventures and the speed was also faster - almost breakneck at times. The strong mystery aspect of the story adds suspense naturally to good effect.
Lookin back at it now, this isn't bad. The text is quite fun. It throws in all the space cliches you'd expect - moons, asteroids, gangsters, a canteen scene straight out of STAR WARS, tentacled aliens and more besides. But it's written as a detective story, with attempts at hard-boiled pulp, and shoot-outs and bombs going off all the while. I enjoyed the journey and it reminded me of TOTAL RECALL, and I was left wondering which came first.
I found some of the additional rules to be rather unnecessary. Much is made of space warface, with statistics for your ship's shields and weapons, but during my play I only engaged in one space battle. Still, the addition of blaster battle to hand to hand combat is one I appreciated in true STAR WARS style.
The illustrations are rather lacklustre. The dull space ships would look good filling the screen in a cinema, but look like lifeless line drawings on page. The aliens look like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon. And, although this isn't a criticism, the gameplay seems to be slightly easier than usual. I successfully finished my mission on my first ever play, although I'd been blessed with lucky dice rolls and good initial stats.
NB. On another play I enjoyed this a lot more. The hardboiled detective style makes it feel substantially different from the rest of the fantasy adventures and the speed was also faster - almost breakneck at times. The strong mystery aspect of the story adds suspense naturally to good effect.
January 24, 2021
Read this for the first time yesterday - while it's by no means up there with some of the other Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (my favourites being Deathtrap Dungeon, Scorpion Swamp and City of Thieves), it's still a good bit of fun, if a bit too easy. I won on my second try, which is unusual for these books. Still - an enjoyable, if cliched, romp through space to apprehend some smugglers.
June 27, 2015
In all of the Fighting Fantasy books up to this point, I have found something to enjoy. This is the first one that I would rate as terrible.
The plot is okayish. You play an undercover agent investigating official corruption and an illegal drug ring operating from the planet Kether. There are a lot of choices available and the investigation is mildy interesting.
Part of the problem is that there is absolutely no sense of place in this book, it's simply a series of sparsely described events that have little colour or sense of immersion. It has the standard 400 references, but was by far the shortest read to date, slightly less than an hour. It was a wholly unexceptional and lacklustre read, the final confrontation being a damp squib.
None of this is helped by the fact that the sparse dialogue is dreadful in the extreme, and worst of all is your own character's. For a supposedly smart undercover operative, he acts with all the subtlety of Jim Carrey's Ace Ventura and is, quite frankly, a moron. Thankfully, so is everyone else, so he gets away with it.
Poor.
The plot is okayish. You play an undercover agent investigating official corruption and an illegal drug ring operating from the planet Kether. There are a lot of choices available and the investigation is mildy interesting.
Part of the problem is that there is absolutely no sense of place in this book, it's simply a series of sparsely described events that have little colour or sense of immersion. It has the standard 400 references, but was by far the shortest read to date, slightly less than an hour. It was a wholly unexceptional and lacklustre read, the final confrontation being a damp squib.
None of this is helped by the fact that the sparse dialogue is dreadful in the extreme, and worst of all is your own character's. For a supposedly smart undercover operative, he acts with all the subtlety of Jim Carrey's Ace Ventura and is, quite frankly, a moron. Thankfully, so is everyone else, so he gets away with it.
Poor.
October 22, 2015
Thinly disguised drug propaganda
8 July 2012
This gamebook was in a word rubbish. It was poorly written and the character that you play is a moron and does not act or speak like the undercover detective that you are supposed to be playing. Granted, while offering some silly choices can put those foolish decisions in the hand on the player, simply having the character open his mouth to a potential source of information, and then saying something completely stupid, just simply did not seem to gel with me.
In this science-fiction book you play an intergalactic federal agent who travels to the planet of Kether to attempt to destroy a drug ring. Why is the drug bad? Well, you are not told, you are just told that it is, and the only time that you see it in action is when you use it to kill an alien. Okay, granted, drugs work differently on different people, and no doubt in a realm occupied by aliens the differing effects can be all too common, but seriously, peddling a drug that kills the user seems to be a little over the top. Granted, drug users that get too caught up in their actions usually end up dead, whether it be through an overdose or a bullet in the head, but in the end dealers have a motive in seeing their customers remain alive, and addicted.
The other thing that jumped out at me was it seemed that in the book you are playing the role of the imperial enforcer. No matter what you think of drugs (and I am not a big fan of them, having been down that road and seen the effects upon others lives, and to an extent my own), the feeling that I get from this book was that it was a part of Ronald Regan's war on drugs, namely a piece of propaganda. Granted, while I have little time or sympathy for those we call the drug barons, I do have a lot of empathy for the user and the street dealer. I have been there, and in many cases it is the result of a misjudgement and an experiment that ends up going wrong. Users and small time dealers (who are usually users themselves and have turned to dealing to maintain their habit) do not need to be incarcerated, but treated, just as an alcoholic requires treatment.
Drugs and sex are similar in many ways. I say that because both can give you the feeling of pleasure, and it is that desire for pleasure that keeps you coming back for more. However, those who promote them and those who attack them may have two different methods, but all end up with the same result, and that is to taste the forbidden fruit to find out what it is really like. In a way I would prefer somebody to approach it thinking the world of it and then being sorely disappointed as opposed to somebody who doesn't think much of it, gives it a try, and then becomes addicted.
When our media constantly bombards us with messages that 'drugs are bad' and the church bombards us with messages that say 'sex is beautiful but only in the confines of marriage' those of us who have never tried it are suddenly filled with the urge to give it a go. Drugs and sex are similar in that to experience them you need to get your hands on it, however where drugs are a commodity, with sex you need a willing participant (otherwise that would be rape). Finding the willing participant can be difficult at best, but then again so can finding somebody who is willing to sell you something that is illegal (and in many cases finding both can actually be quite easy).
8 July 2012
This gamebook was in a word rubbish. It was poorly written and the character that you play is a moron and does not act or speak like the undercover detective that you are supposed to be playing. Granted, while offering some silly choices can put those foolish decisions in the hand on the player, simply having the character open his mouth to a potential source of information, and then saying something completely stupid, just simply did not seem to gel with me.
In this science-fiction book you play an intergalactic federal agent who travels to the planet of Kether to attempt to destroy a drug ring. Why is the drug bad? Well, you are not told, you are just told that it is, and the only time that you see it in action is when you use it to kill an alien. Okay, granted, drugs work differently on different people, and no doubt in a realm occupied by aliens the differing effects can be all too common, but seriously, peddling a drug that kills the user seems to be a little over the top. Granted, drug users that get too caught up in their actions usually end up dead, whether it be through an overdose or a bullet in the head, but in the end dealers have a motive in seeing their customers remain alive, and addicted.
The other thing that jumped out at me was it seemed that in the book you are playing the role of the imperial enforcer. No matter what you think of drugs (and I am not a big fan of them, having been down that road and seen the effects upon others lives, and to an extent my own), the feeling that I get from this book was that it was a part of Ronald Regan's war on drugs, namely a piece of propaganda. Granted, while I have little time or sympathy for those we call the drug barons, I do have a lot of empathy for the user and the street dealer. I have been there, and in many cases it is the result of a misjudgement and an experiment that ends up going wrong. Users and small time dealers (who are usually users themselves and have turned to dealing to maintain their habit) do not need to be incarcerated, but treated, just as an alcoholic requires treatment.
Drugs and sex are similar in many ways. I say that because both can give you the feeling of pleasure, and it is that desire for pleasure that keeps you coming back for more. However, those who promote them and those who attack them may have two different methods, but all end up with the same result, and that is to taste the forbidden fruit to find out what it is really like. In a way I would prefer somebody to approach it thinking the world of it and then being sorely disappointed as opposed to somebody who doesn't think much of it, gives it a try, and then becomes addicted.
When our media constantly bombards us with messages that 'drugs are bad' and the church bombards us with messages that say 'sex is beautiful but only in the confines of marriage' those of us who have never tried it are suddenly filled with the urge to give it a go. Drugs and sex are similar in that to experience them you need to get your hands on it, however where drugs are a commodity, with sex you need a willing participant (otherwise that would be rape). Finding the willing participant can be difficult at best, but then again so can finding somebody who is willing to sell you something that is illegal (and in many cases finding both can actually be quite easy).
April 17, 2021
Well just found this here, and I must say it's kind of a bummer it has such a low score compared to the others. From the ones I had as a kid this one was definitely the one that stuck the most with me. Maybe it being from a different author or the detective/futuristic theme appealed to me more I'm guessing.
June 22, 2023
A gamebook with unrealized promise, despite its outdated [Space] War on Drugs vibe. The premise is cool and illustrations quite good (the space FF books tend not to be great). I was looking forward to an investigation-style FF adventure, but this one fell flat. What didn't help was the writer's overuse of $5 words and 1930s gangster lingo ("the joint packed with drunken flotsam and jetsam" and "'[A person like me wants to] get along without having to work in a regular way, see?'"), making it feel like a Chicago crime story hastily rewritten as a sci-fi adventure.
As for the main character, you're supposed to be a crack vice investigator (coughs in post-war gumshoe) working undercover, but the book's options see you blunder from situation to situation in the least covert way. Luckily, there's always someone having a conversation or coming to you with clues. So prepare to blow your cover at every opportunity in order to have fist and blaster fights, and take down a space drug ring from the inside by sauntering into their facilities, weapons blazing.
I guess conspicuous undercover work flies in the Aleph Cygni system. Just don't try it at home.
As for the main character, you're supposed to be a crack vice investigator (coughs in post-war gumshoe) working undercover, but the book's options see you blunder from situation to situation in the least covert way. Luckily, there's always someone having a conversation or coming to you with clues. So prepare to blow your cover at every opportunity in order to have fist and blaster fights, and take down a space drug ring from the inside by sauntering into their facilities, weapons blazing.
I guess conspicuous undercover work flies in the Aleph Cygni system. Just don't try it at home.
December 21, 2022
I don't think this Fighting Fantasy title deserves the hate it gets. It's got a rich narrative about interplanetary drug smuggling. You play an undercover federal operative tasked with uncovering the criminal enterprise and ending it. The playthrough is shorter than usual for FF, but that's because there are multiple paths to completion, which is how I always felt these books should work, rather than forcing the reader to walk along a linear tightrope of a narrative. On a re-read, if you make different decisions, you will be treated to whole narrative segments that you didn't experience the first time round, and that's great! Sudden death occurs only when you make bad decisions.
On the downside, it's very easy to complete. Combat occurs more sparingly than usual, and there's not much in the way of puzzles to solve. The biggest disappointment is perhaps entry 400. The player who wins should be rewarded with a little more than four lines of text. That being said, on my second playthrough I discovered an alternate ending, which was a nice surprise.
On the downside, it's very easy to complete. Combat occurs more sparingly than usual, and there's not much in the way of puzzles to solve. The biggest disappointment is perhaps entry 400. The player who wins should be rewarded with a little more than four lines of text. That being said, on my second playthrough I discovered an alternate ending, which was a nice surprise.
March 14, 2024
Ugh. Another sci-fi version.
SHIP; WEAPONS STRENGTH 11, SHIELDS 1>0, 2 Smart Missiles
Well, at least it won’t take long to die in this ship!
SKILL 7, STAMINA 20, LUCK 8
And this guy will not live long either.
So you start with a spaceship, a blaster, pep pills and 5,000 kopeks. I really hope we start calling money kopeks in the future.
Well, that was a personal best. I was destroyed in a space combat with 2 INTERCEPTORS in my SECOND paragraph! Use those Smart Missiles right away kids!
SHIP; WEAPONS STRENGTH 11, SHIELDS 1>0, 2 Smart Missiles
Well, at least it won’t take long to die in this ship!
SKILL 7, STAMINA 20, LUCK 8
And this guy will not live long either.
So you start with a spaceship, a blaster, pep pills and 5,000 kopeks. I really hope we start calling money kopeks in the future.
Well, that was a personal best. I was destroyed in a space combat with 2 INTERCEPTORS in my SECOND paragraph! Use those Smart Missiles right away kids!
January 23, 2024
The first scifi Fighting Fantasy that doesn't suck - though it's not that great either. It's got a nice premise going, I like the idea of playing a space detective and there's some good stuff it does with that idea, but it doesn't go far enough with it and ends up rather too easy in the end. Could finish the whole thing in a couple tries.
Would've been nice to know just why the drug is so bad, but cut them some slack, this was the eighties.
Would've been nice to know just why the drug is so bad, but cut them some slack, this was the eighties.
December 18, 2022
Perhaps the best SF adventure in the series. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews