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Fighting Fantasy #52
Night Dragon
The Night Dragon must not awaken!
It is a creature of pure evil from before time existed, a Dragon so immense nothing will be able to contain it. Deep beneath the savage Dragon Reaches, it is sucking in powerful magical energy which will soon allow it to cross into this world. If it succeeds, all Allansia will be crushed beneath its claws!
Even the legendary Conclave of Dragons is powerless to stop the creature. A human hero is needed — a hero like YOU! Many monstrous adversaries are ranged against you, but along the way you may find ancient artefacts to help you in your quest. Ultimately, however, only extraordinary heroism will stand against the Night Dragon. Dare YOU accept the quest?
It is a creature of pure evil from before time existed, a Dragon so immense nothing will be able to contain it. Deep beneath the savage Dragon Reaches, it is sucking in powerful magical energy which will soon allow it to cross into this world. If it succeeds, all Allansia will be crushed beneath its claws!
Even the legendary Conclave of Dragons is powerless to stop the creature. A human hero is needed — a hero like YOU! Many monstrous adversaries are ranged against you, but along the way you may find ancient artefacts to help you in your quest. Ultimately, however, only extraordinary heroism will stand against the Night Dragon. Dare YOU accept the quest?
288 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 1993
88 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 29, 2015
An epic adventure to slay a dragon
29 April 2015
Well, I am getting pretty close to the last of the Fighting Fantasy series, but with the time that I have taken reading them I have a feeling that the next few are going to end up taking almost another year. Even then, there are still a number of other gamebooks that I also wish to revisit (namely Grailquest and Lonewolf among others) and that makes me wonder if I will ever get around to completing all of them before Goodreads, and the rest of the internet, ends up dying due to some super-computer becoming sentient and destroying everything we know and love, and then sending a bunch of robots back in time to kill the mother of the child that ends up defeating it.
Who knows, maybe the internet will simply end because it all becomes obsolete due to massive advances in technology in which we either all become fused with robotic bodies, or simply wake up one day, trash all of our technology, and go back living on a farm growing our own crops because it is all so much easier. Well, I like that third option because at least I can take all my books with me and read them while watching the plants grow. Hey, I could probably do that now, and take my computer with me, but then again I don't know anything about farming, nor do I have enough money to buy a farm, unless that farm is in Vietnam, but then I probably won't have the internet.
It seems like, once again, I have got a little distracted by talking about anything except this particular book. Well, I better rectify this because this is one pretty cool gamebook. You start of in that scumhole of scumholes known as Port Blacksand where you are approached by a Dark Elf (and since it is a Dark Elf hiring you for this quest, then it must be serious) to help bring an end to a great evil (which surprises me because shouldn't Dark elves be happy that great evils are about to arise, unless of course they are in the firing line as well, which makes a lot of sense as to why they want somebody to deal with it). Anyway, you must travel overland to the frozen north, collect a sword, a shield, and some armour, and they go and kill a dragon that is bigger, more powerful, and much more nastier than any dragon that you have ever encountered before.
You can find a solution to this adventure here though this is not necessarily the only way to successfully complete it. In fact I suspect that there is another way through as you should be able to get some specific items prior to reaching certain locations, and you should also be able to destroy some other aspects of the Night Dragon's power before the ultimate combat.
The book has some additional traits, such as an honour and nemesis statistic, though I discovered that neither of those stats seem to add all that much to the adventure. While the nemesis stat did have some effect, mine never got as high that it would end up having a negative effect upon me. As for honour, well, I think there was one point where it came into play, but for the most part it was almost as if it did not exist. Another stat counts the amount of time that passes, and while it can have an effect upon the game, it is not necessarily a huge effect. However it does give you the impression that you are working against the clock, and every time you are told to increase that stat it sort of makes you want to get through a lot quicker, which could result in you missing important items. What it does do though is that after a certain point, it begins to make your final adversary a little tougher.
Like a lot of these later adventures, there are number of maths puzzles that need to be solved, so a lot of the important items have numbers attached to them, which when used at certain points you are told to manipulate the number in a certain way and then turn to the resulting paragraph. It also uses the old turn the letter into its corresponding number, add them all up, do some other things, and then turn to the resulting paragraph. Oh, a number of the monsters, to make them a little more interesting, and some rather convoluted skills, which while they are convoluted, still makes them a little more interesting that simply rolling the dice, working out who won, and then deducting the relevant stamina.
All in all, a pretty cool adventure, though like a lot of these later ones, also pretty long. That probably has something to do with them dropping a lot of the paths that the earlier ones had that would move you towards your goal, but also result in you missing a large chunk of the adventure.
29 April 2015
Well, I am getting pretty close to the last of the Fighting Fantasy series, but with the time that I have taken reading them I have a feeling that the next few are going to end up taking almost another year. Even then, there are still a number of other gamebooks that I also wish to revisit (namely Grailquest and Lonewolf among others) and that makes me wonder if I will ever get around to completing all of them before Goodreads, and the rest of the internet, ends up dying due to some super-computer becoming sentient and destroying everything we know and love, and then sending a bunch of robots back in time to kill the mother of the child that ends up defeating it.
Who knows, maybe the internet will simply end because it all becomes obsolete due to massive advances in technology in which we either all become fused with robotic bodies, or simply wake up one day, trash all of our technology, and go back living on a farm growing our own crops because it is all so much easier. Well, I like that third option because at least I can take all my books with me and read them while watching the plants grow. Hey, I could probably do that now, and take my computer with me, but then again I don't know anything about farming, nor do I have enough money to buy a farm, unless that farm is in Vietnam, but then I probably won't have the internet.
It seems like, once again, I have got a little distracted by talking about anything except this particular book. Well, I better rectify this because this is one pretty cool gamebook. You start of in that scumhole of scumholes known as Port Blacksand where you are approached by a Dark Elf (and since it is a Dark Elf hiring you for this quest, then it must be serious) to help bring an end to a great evil (which surprises me because shouldn't Dark elves be happy that great evils are about to arise, unless of course they are in the firing line as well, which makes a lot of sense as to why they want somebody to deal with it). Anyway, you must travel overland to the frozen north, collect a sword, a shield, and some armour, and they go and kill a dragon that is bigger, more powerful, and much more nastier than any dragon that you have ever encountered before.
You can find a solution to this adventure here though this is not necessarily the only way to successfully complete it. In fact I suspect that there is another way through as you should be able to get some specific items prior to reaching certain locations, and you should also be able to destroy some other aspects of the Night Dragon's power before the ultimate combat.
The book has some additional traits, such as an honour and nemesis statistic, though I discovered that neither of those stats seem to add all that much to the adventure. While the nemesis stat did have some effect, mine never got as high that it would end up having a negative effect upon me. As for honour, well, I think there was one point where it came into play, but for the most part it was almost as if it did not exist. Another stat counts the amount of time that passes, and while it can have an effect upon the game, it is not necessarily a huge effect. However it does give you the impression that you are working against the clock, and every time you are told to increase that stat it sort of makes you want to get through a lot quicker, which could result in you missing important items. What it does do though is that after a certain point, it begins to make your final adversary a little tougher.
Like a lot of these later adventures, there are number of maths puzzles that need to be solved, so a lot of the important items have numbers attached to them, which when used at certain points you are told to manipulate the number in a certain way and then turn to the resulting paragraph. It also uses the old turn the letter into its corresponding number, add them all up, do some other things, and then turn to the resulting paragraph. Oh, a number of the monsters, to make them a little more interesting, and some rather convoluted skills, which while they are convoluted, still makes them a little more interesting that simply rolling the dice, working out who won, and then deducting the relevant stamina.
All in all, a pretty cool adventure, though like a lot of these later ones, also pretty long. That probably has something to do with them dropping a lot of the paths that the earlier ones had that would move you towards your goal, but also result in you missing a large chunk of the adventure.
April 7, 2016
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read!
The book is challenging enough, yet not too difficult. As such, it may not be as exciting as titles like Legend of the Shadow Warriors or Bloodbones, but it's still good enough, and the element of time, while not critical (you don't have a deadline) makes the final enemy tougher, if you waste too much of it, which is a cool gaming element. The fights are also quite interesting because most of them add some mechanic to set them apart from the usual ones.
The setting is cool, but not terrific. It's rather generic but with a dark fantasy streak that is quite enjoyable. I didn't care much for the Loremaster, the typical uberpowerful individual that helps you in the mission despite having the power to carry it out without you and without even breaking a sweat. Or his cat.
That was the major weak point in the book. The rest was good.
The book is challenging enough, yet not too difficult. As such, it may not be as exciting as titles like Legend of the Shadow Warriors or Bloodbones, but it's still good enough, and the element of time, while not critical (you don't have a deadline) makes the final enemy tougher, if you waste too much of it, which is a cool gaming element. The fights are also quite interesting because most of them add some mechanic to set them apart from the usual ones.
The setting is cool, but not terrific. It's rather generic but with a dark fantasy streak that is quite enjoyable. I didn't care much for the Loremaster, the typical uberpowerful individual that helps you in the mission despite having the power to carry it out without you and without even breaking a sweat. Or his cat.
That was the major weak point in the book. The rest was good.
February 4, 2022
Night Dragon (FF #52) was writer Keith Martin’s sixth FF book and artist Tony Hough’s second (and his first cover, one of the very best in the entire series - I have the T-shirt). It published in 1993. Only two more years and seven more books before Puffin would pull the plug on Fighting Fantasy.
Night Dragon feels huge. I can hardly believe how so much adventure can fit into only the FF-standard 400 paragraphs. Out of all the FF books I’ve read so far, the term ‘epic’ is most applicable here.
I did find it irritating that the book required me to write so many things down and to apply so many modifiers and one-off rules. I realise that many readers love this kind of thing but it’s not for me, and Night Dragon takes such distractions to a level I’ve not seen before in FF. Nevertheless, the epic scope, strong story, memorable encounters, well-realised locations, well-defined mini-quests and awesome (and awesomely-drawn) foes (of which there is a constant barrage of very deadly ones - I don’t know how it would be possible to beat them all if you actually used dice and did the combat, which I didn’t) kept me interested.
In summary, Night Dragon displays yet more of the quality that came through from the late 30s onwards (a kind of second golden age for FF, though a golden age sadly unappreciated in sufficient numbers to sustain the series) and is a very strong entry in the original FF series as it was sputtering to its end. It would reward a deeper familiarity through multiple replays.
Night Dragon feels huge. I can hardly believe how so much adventure can fit into only the FF-standard 400 paragraphs. Out of all the FF books I’ve read so far, the term ‘epic’ is most applicable here.
I did find it irritating that the book required me to write so many things down and to apply so many modifiers and one-off rules. I realise that many readers love this kind of thing but it’s not for me, and Night Dragon takes such distractions to a level I’ve not seen before in FF. Nevertheless, the epic scope, strong story, memorable encounters, well-realised locations, well-defined mini-quests and awesome (and awesomely-drawn) foes (of which there is a constant barrage of very deadly ones - I don’t know how it would be possible to beat them all if you actually used dice and did the combat, which I didn’t) kept me interested.
In summary, Night Dragon displays yet more of the quality that came through from the late 30s onwards (a kind of second golden age for FF, though a golden age sadly unappreciated in sufficient numbers to sustain the series) and is a very strong entry in the original FF series as it was sputtering to its end. It would reward a deeper familiarity through multiple replays.
August 14, 2024
My favourite Fighting Fantasy. This is a dark and edgy instalment into the series that retains the cosiness of previous adventures and adds genius worldbuilding with excitingly imaginative enemies and locations. The way it’s written also just sucks you into its world and that world is just so much fun. Also the illustrations and cover are the most satisfyingly drawn I’ve seen in the series, they’re just as exciting to look at as reading the references.
April 14, 2024
There are some interesting story elements, but they're not organized very satisfactorily, leading to a sluggish and repetitive experience. Some interesting special rules are, like the story, not well leveraged and have little effect on gameplay. You'll be very, very tired of encounters with grey robed individuals. The illustration ranges from great to decent. 2.5 Stars.
August 5, 2023
This is a very good book, well written with some excellent world-building. If it had been an early entry in the series, it probably would have been five stars, but when a series is at book 52 you're really looking for something a bit more original than this fairly routine quest scenario.
January 20, 2024
As with its predecessor, has ambitions which outstrips the format's ability to satisfyingly deliver. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
August 30, 2013
One of the better FF books. This was seriously good.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews