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Virtual Reality #1
Green Blood
The evil Westermen are destroying the once beautiful and idyllic Forest of Arden. The trees are being torn down and used to fuel the raging smelters that are making deadly weapons and engines of war. In your desperate quest to prevent the annihilation of the forest you must face many dangers. But will you be able to stop the heartless mercenaries and their Infernal Machine as it smashes the very heart of the forest, the Tree of Life? Not luck but judgement! Virtual Reality Adventure Books are a new generation of interactive fiction. This unique non-random game system makes the choices all yours. There are no dice to roll, no lengthy rules to learn. All you need is the spark of your own imagination! Written by Mark Smith. (Dave Morris devised the game system.)
300 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 2, 2012
I wasn't impressed. The book claims to dispense with chance by not relying on dice rolls, but that just means that if you don't have the required skill to complete a task, you're totally out of luck. Irritating. I didn't manage to make it to the end -- I couldn't for the life of me find the right path; I seemed to loop in circles.
Disappointing.
Disappointing.
July 14, 2020
Your destiny awaits in the Forest of Arden...
The beginning of the Virtual Reality Adventure series by Dave Morris and the first instalment is Green Blood written by Mark Smith. I collected the books in the 90s, ages ago now, and thought a review has been long overdue. In each book you have to choose your skills and make a character profile or choose one already prepared. Skills such as ROGUERY, FOLKLORE or SWORDPLAY for example. This can have small advantages such as a higher life score or more GP. The story of Green Blood places you in the role of an adventurer, leaving the city of Gordono for the countryside in search of the legendary Tree of Knowledge, or also called the Tree of Life, located in the vast Forest of Arden. The quest begins after the prologue as you reach the small town of Burg featured at entry 1.
Detailed map by Leo Hartas of the Forest of Arden and nearby areas.
Green Blood, firstly focusing on the story elements, results in beginning as what you would perceive as a search for a fabled tree, and as your character learns more about how the balance present in the equilibrium and ecosystems a matter of survival with the coming of industrious and destructive invaders. In comparison the Forest of Arden is a great lung of this world, oxygen to breathe, reminiscent of how the Amazon in real life is a vital component for replenishment and regeneration. As you find out that the men from the Western plains, the Westermen, are destroying everything in their path, aided by a Moon Druid called Valerian, they seek to destroy the Tree of Life. If the tree is destroyed it isn't just the immortal elves who will all die but the whole world and its peoples would suffocate and starve. So the Lady in Grey who can be seen or spoken to near the beginning, turns out to also be known as Elanor of the Forest, seeks to find the saviour of the forest, and with her questioning and tests being correctly passed this saviour turns out to be you.
I did wonder if there was an alternative way after finding you can talk to Valerian and he tells you about the Tree and a guardian in a cave, killing the guardian will result in the knowledge from the source being yours. This information seems to only mislead as I couldn't find any cave or guardian. Always fun to see what different paths and choices can be made to discover places or characters or events previously unseen.
Elanor, the Lady of the Forest, also has a curious pool which sees into the future... Certain parts of the story, like this one for example: Nod to Galadriel here I'm thinking, reminded me of Tolkein, Fellowship of the Ring or The Two Towers with the regard for nature & balance versus industry & greed. Even some of the language made Lord of the Rings pop into my head more than once. There is an emphasis and warning here during Green Blood crafted in a similar fashion how industrialisation and destruction carried out in an extreme and ruthless manner can lead to an array of extinction events, genocide of an entire people or ultimately a barren wasteland void of life. Use up all the resources in such an aggressive careless manner and you're left with nothing in the long run, there is no time to replenish anything being used up. The story of Green Blood also features a dragon which can be befriended, the immortal elves with jewel like eyes whom are quite wary of humans, the Elf-King and numerous duels or working out his name is present, a talking enchanted owl in the service of Elanor, a talking sprite in a mirror next to a sleeping ancient female, part of some ancient race, discovered at a tower... (On the map it says it is Valerian's Tower but not sure if it is when you have a look, need AGILITY or ROGUERY to do so.)
There are sequences and entries where you can find out more about the Westermen, their goals and ambitions, their great mechanized armoured man called The Steamer, even the way they talk has a harshness to it. Slavers, burners, sadistic mercenaries... Not exactly people you can reason with. SPELLS helps find out more but not necessary towards completion.
There is a part where you can save the innkeeper, whose daughter at the Inn requests you find him, from the savage slavers/guards.
The illustrations by Terry Oakes in Green Blood have a plant-like essence and feel to them...
Green Blood has a lot of choices and routes yet it isn't the longest gamebook out there, yet doesn't have to be, the amount of variation with these makes up the meat and mettle of the book content wise. It takes about roughly 80+, can be more or less, to get to the end once you know the way. In that regard it is a fairly short one. Yet has some replay value there too with some patience. Has some descriptive paragraphs which lead to a Game Over if you're not careful.
A part in the forest where you can get lost was quite funny for some reason, a maple flute or WILDERNESS LORE is needed otherwise means having to start over.
I was having a go for a laugh and for curiosity's sake too trying GB with only one or two skills, seems it is possible to complete with a few or none. The gold pieces and the life points didn't really change at all plus there wasn't too many items in my completed run below. With hindsight and going over it Mark Smith could have added some more segments and elements to make use of these. One of the main ones with the duels you can choose put the life points into use for example but quite easy to not even have to reduce them at all if this isn't involved. The codewords work nicely to catalogue and keep track of what you have done or haven't done.
The gigantic Steamer mechanical colossus on the cover and illustration is carrying a large axe yet in the story is described as holding a ten foot sword so think there was some sort of mistake made here.
Overall, Green Blood provided plenty of nostalgia and turned out to be quite fun yesterday afternoon. I've had it for years and was refreshing to return to it, surprised also after first playing it back in the 90s how much I still remembered when reading again after so long. Not too difficult, doesn't take too long to complete yet also has some very imaginative storytelling going on. Extra points for memories from childhood with this book as well. Worth a look if you haven't played/read it before.
Green Blood and notes/walkthrough.
My solution: (Contains spoilers!)
Chosen Character= The Duellist
SKILLS: AGILITY, FOLKLORE, ROGUERY, SWORDPLAY
Money: 10 Gold Pieces
LIFE POINTS: Initial Score: 10
POSSESSIONS max 8: Sword
1) Wait by the door until you can see better,
37) Obey command,
108) Tell the truth, seeking the tree of knowledge,
124) Talk to woman in grey,
181) Say it would be a terrible thing to destroy the forest,
14) Note maple flute,
333) Find her father,
210) Turn east,
96) 131,
131) Go right,
211) Go left,
196) Mark one of the great gwelph trees with dagger,
177) I have the maple flute,
222) Investigate tower,
394) Have AGILITY and want to climb tower,
464) Tiptoe to bedside,
449) 460,
460) Accept, ask for secret lore,
268) Write codeword Speculum, break the mirror,
418) Ready to leave,
479) 454,
454) Admit you are lost,
258) Ask owl to take you to lady in grey,
241) 259,
259) I have the maple flute,
299) Say you would like to be the hero who saves the forest,
9) The forest is too beautiful to be laid to waste and will try and save it,
40) Reply forest would choke and die without ants to eat dead leaves and wood,
67) Say it is bad to kill spiders,
106) Reason without spiders to eat the birds would die, without birds to eat the berries there would be no young trees,
128) 112,
112) Knowledge must be guarded,
140) 152,
152) 166,
166) Restore life points, already full, note emerald ring, trust Elanor and leave ring on,
35) Note codeword Crabclaw,
26) Must win over dragon,
41) 70,
70) I have neither codeword,
60) Call out you are Elanor's friend looking for the immortal elves,
109) 120,
120) 180,
180) Tell them they should be pitied for the Westermen are destroying the forest,
219) Humble yourself,
436) 402,
402) 386,
386) Answer the men are killing the forest which keeps the air pure for everyone to breathe,
332) 317,
317) Bows are enough, set out alone for Westermen camp,
307) Walk down into dead valley,
439) Walk to top of the hillock,
314) Attempt to wake it up,
178) Ask for the dragon's help,
205) Remember promise of Garoshtar, note codeword Scorpion, I have no Waterbearer codeword,
21) I have FOLKLORE,
215) Guess the Elf King's name,
309) Say the Elf King's name is Eldring,
387) Insist on retaining the ring,
126) Note Elf King's ring,
232) Note codeword Waterbearer, do not have codeword Bullhorn,
42) Try to find their camp,
270) 260,
260) Sink back into forest,
134) Free him,
264) Kill the guard,
315) Tell him you must stay,
378) Be guided by Pozzo the innkeeper,
428) Otherwise sneak up to tent as a spy,
350) Stay hidden,
217) Rely on natural stealth,
462) Write/note codeword Bullhorn,
95) Head south-west,
70) I have both codewords = Waterbearer & Bullhorn,
256) I have codeword Scorpion,
11) 83,
83) Deliver back before the attack,
247) 57,
57) 434,
434) Stand ground in main column,
423) 390,
390) 369,
369) Rush between it and tree of life,
359) Use SWORDPLAY and have a sword,
295) 327,
327) Make a dash for the hose,
397) Seize moment to sever the hose,
28) 500,
500) Complete!
The beginning of the Virtual Reality Adventure series by Dave Morris and the first instalment is Green Blood written by Mark Smith. I collected the books in the 90s, ages ago now, and thought a review has been long overdue. In each book you have to choose your skills and make a character profile or choose one already prepared. Skills such as ROGUERY, FOLKLORE or SWORDPLAY for example. This can have small advantages such as a higher life score or more GP. The story of Green Blood places you in the role of an adventurer, leaving the city of Gordono for the countryside in search of the legendary Tree of Knowledge, or also called the Tree of Life, located in the vast Forest of Arden. The quest begins after the prologue as you reach the small town of Burg featured at entry 1.
Detailed map by Leo Hartas of the Forest of Arden and nearby areas.Green Blood, firstly focusing on the story elements, results in beginning as what you would perceive as a search for a fabled tree, and as your character learns more about how the balance present in the equilibrium and ecosystems a matter of survival with the coming of industrious and destructive invaders. In comparison the Forest of Arden is a great lung of this world, oxygen to breathe, reminiscent of how the Amazon in real life is a vital component for replenishment and regeneration. As you find out that the men from the Western plains, the Westermen, are destroying everything in their path, aided by a Moon Druid called Valerian, they seek to destroy the Tree of Life. If the tree is destroyed it isn't just the immortal elves who will all die but the whole world and its peoples would suffocate and starve. So the Lady in Grey who can be seen or spoken to near the beginning, turns out to also be known as Elanor of the Forest, seeks to find the saviour of the forest, and with her questioning and tests being correctly passed this saviour turns out to be you.
I did wonder if there was an alternative way after finding you can talk to Valerian and he tells you about the Tree and a guardian in a cave, killing the guardian will result in the knowledge from the source being yours. This information seems to only mislead as I couldn't find any cave or guardian. Always fun to see what different paths and choices can be made to discover places or characters or events previously unseen.
Elanor, the Lady of the Forest, also has a curious pool which sees into the future... Certain parts of the story, like this one for example: Nod to Galadriel here I'm thinking, reminded me of Tolkein, Fellowship of the Ring or The Two Towers with the regard for nature & balance versus industry & greed. Even some of the language made Lord of the Rings pop into my head more than once. There is an emphasis and warning here during Green Blood crafted in a similar fashion how industrialisation and destruction carried out in an extreme and ruthless manner can lead to an array of extinction events, genocide of an entire people or ultimately a barren wasteland void of life. Use up all the resources in such an aggressive careless manner and you're left with nothing in the long run, there is no time to replenish anything being used up. The story of Green Blood also features a dragon which can be befriended, the immortal elves with jewel like eyes whom are quite wary of humans, the Elf-King and numerous duels or working out his name is present, a talking enchanted owl in the service of Elanor, a talking sprite in a mirror next to a sleeping ancient female, part of some ancient race, discovered at a tower... (On the map it says it is Valerian's Tower but not sure if it is when you have a look, need AGILITY or ROGUERY to do so.)
There are sequences and entries where you can find out more about the Westermen, their goals and ambitions, their great mechanized armoured man called The Steamer, even the way they talk has a harshness to it. Slavers, burners, sadistic mercenaries... Not exactly people you can reason with. SPELLS helps find out more but not necessary towards completion.
There is a part where you can save the innkeeper, whose daughter at the Inn requests you find him, from the savage slavers/guards.
The illustrations by Terry Oakes in Green Blood have a plant-like essence and feel to them...Green Blood has a lot of choices and routes yet it isn't the longest gamebook out there, yet doesn't have to be, the amount of variation with these makes up the meat and mettle of the book content wise. It takes about roughly 80+, can be more or less, to get to the end once you know the way. In that regard it is a fairly short one. Yet has some replay value there too with some patience. Has some descriptive paragraphs which lead to a Game Over if you're not careful.
A part in the forest where you can get lost was quite funny for some reason, a maple flute or WILDERNESS LORE is needed otherwise means having to start over.
I was having a go for a laugh and for curiosity's sake too trying GB with only one or two skills, seems it is possible to complete with a few or none. The gold pieces and the life points didn't really change at all plus there wasn't too many items in my completed run below. With hindsight and going over it Mark Smith could have added some more segments and elements to make use of these. One of the main ones with the duels you can choose put the life points into use for example but quite easy to not even have to reduce them at all if this isn't involved. The codewords work nicely to catalogue and keep track of what you have done or haven't done.
The gigantic Steamer mechanical colossus on the cover and illustration is carrying a large axe yet in the story is described as holding a ten foot sword so think there was some sort of mistake made here.
Overall, Green Blood provided plenty of nostalgia and turned out to be quite fun yesterday afternoon. I've had it for years and was refreshing to return to it, surprised also after first playing it back in the 90s how much I still remembered when reading again after so long. Not too difficult, doesn't take too long to complete yet also has some very imaginative storytelling going on. Extra points for memories from childhood with this book as well. Worth a look if you haven't played/read it before.
Green Blood and notes/walkthrough.My solution: (Contains spoilers!)
Chosen Character= The Duellist
SKILLS: AGILITY, FOLKLORE, ROGUERY, SWORDPLAY
Money: 10 Gold Pieces
LIFE POINTS: Initial Score: 10
POSSESSIONS max 8: Sword
1) Wait by the door until you can see better,
37) Obey command,
108) Tell the truth, seeking the tree of knowledge,
124) Talk to woman in grey,
181) Say it would be a terrible thing to destroy the forest,
14) Note maple flute,
333) Find her father,
210) Turn east,
96) 131,
131) Go right,
211) Go left,
196) Mark one of the great gwelph trees with dagger,
177) I have the maple flute,
222) Investigate tower,
394) Have AGILITY and want to climb tower,
464) Tiptoe to bedside,
449) 460,
460) Accept, ask for secret lore,
268) Write codeword Speculum, break the mirror,
418) Ready to leave,
479) 454,
454) Admit you are lost,
258) Ask owl to take you to lady in grey,
241) 259,
259) I have the maple flute,
299) Say you would like to be the hero who saves the forest,
9) The forest is too beautiful to be laid to waste and will try and save it,
40) Reply forest would choke and die without ants to eat dead leaves and wood,
67) Say it is bad to kill spiders,
106) Reason without spiders to eat the birds would die, without birds to eat the berries there would be no young trees,
128) 112,
112) Knowledge must be guarded,
140) 152,
152) 166,
166) Restore life points, already full, note emerald ring, trust Elanor and leave ring on,
35) Note codeword Crabclaw,
26) Must win over dragon,
41) 70,
70) I have neither codeword,
60) Call out you are Elanor's friend looking for the immortal elves,
109) 120,
120) 180,
180) Tell them they should be pitied for the Westermen are destroying the forest,
219) Humble yourself,
436) 402,
402) 386,
386) Answer the men are killing the forest which keeps the air pure for everyone to breathe,
332) 317,
317) Bows are enough, set out alone for Westermen camp,
307) Walk down into dead valley,
439) Walk to top of the hillock,
314) Attempt to wake it up,
178) Ask for the dragon's help,
205) Remember promise of Garoshtar, note codeword Scorpion, I have no Waterbearer codeword,
21) I have FOLKLORE,
215) Guess the Elf King's name,
309) Say the Elf King's name is Eldring,
387) Insist on retaining the ring,
126) Note Elf King's ring,
232) Note codeword Waterbearer, do not have codeword Bullhorn,
42) Try to find their camp,
270) 260,
260) Sink back into forest,
134) Free him,
264) Kill the guard,
315) Tell him you must stay,
378) Be guided by Pozzo the innkeeper,
428) Otherwise sneak up to tent as a spy,
350) Stay hidden,
217) Rely on natural stealth,
462) Write/note codeword Bullhorn,
95) Head south-west,
70) I have both codewords = Waterbearer & Bullhorn,
256) I have codeword Scorpion,
11) 83,
83) Deliver back before the attack,
247) 57,
57) 434,
434) Stand ground in main column,
423) 390,
390) 369,
369) Rush between it and tree of life,
359) Use SWORDPLAY and have a sword,
295) 327,
327) Make a dash for the hose,
397) Seize moment to sever the hose,
28) 500,
500) Complete!
July 8, 2020
Very short. Brings you round in circles sometimes and story is quite predictable
December 19, 2025
Книгите от тази поредица, и въобще чуждестранните книги, почти винаги бяха нелогични, без ясна стратегия и съответно рядко се минаваха от първия път.
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