Flight from the Dark: Your Experience

[Eternalknight]

So, having waited six weeks for my copy of Flight from the Dark to arrive, I have now played through it twice. I am determined to do it without cheating (which means I will likely read it many, many times - and thanks for the downloadable action chart Mongoose, it's going to come in handy!)

I also plan to not start Fire on the Water until I have successfully made it through Flight from the Dark. I want to play through the series without cheating, though once I have completed a book I will consider that a 'save point'; in other words, if I die in a later book I will not start the series again, but rather return to the start of that book.

So far, I died when a Drakkar shot me with a crossbow in the Monastery, and then again by Giaks just outside of the Monastery (I was low on Endurance - I almost think the Healing discipline is somewhat required!)

What about your experiences? Did you guys make it through in one read? Two reads? Many, many reads?

 

[AguilaSaber]

I needed four tries. If you fulfill the following you will have fair chances to win:
- Healing
- Mind over Matter or Mindblast
- Hunting
- High CS (18 or 19 preferred and you will make it unless you are unlucky or have one of the lower Endurance scores, although 16 or 17 is doable with some luck)

The book is much harder to complete now, and most of the difficulties lie in the final fight.

 

[Greg Smith]

I did it on the second attempt.

I had
CS 16, End 27

6th Sense
Healing
Weaponskill
Mind over Matter
Animal Kinship

I didn't think the final fight was that difficult. It was tough, but I had more Endurance because I stopped off in Holmguard to buy a helmet and chainmail, so I started with more End than the opponent. So even though I had a low combat ratio, he was losing more End than me on most rolls.

The Monastary involves combat in almost every section early on so Weaponskill or Mindblast is essential, as is Healing. The Drakkar with the crossbow makes Mind Over Matter very, very useful indeed - I'm not sure whether you can get past him without one of the two discplines it reqires, but he killed me dead the first time when I had neither.

 

[Eternalknight]

The Drakkar with the crossbow makes Mind Over Matter very, very useful indeed - I'm not sure whether you can get past him without one of the two discplines it reqires, but he killed me dead the first time when I had neither.

I got passed him without either, but it's a 50% chance.

 

[Balgin Stondraeg]

First attempt: shot down by drakkarim crossbowman.

Second attempt: successfuly completed the adventure, managed to meet Banedon, didn't get to see the great big undead thing that Ksatria have had preview artwork up of for ages .

Third attempt: drowned in the marsh across the stream after the Drakkarim ferryman (I was exploring different paths for fun).

On my second run through (the successful one) I even forgot to use healing 'till I was outside the monastery. I didn't take a geuss and backdate myself some, I just started healing from there (and managed to pull through against the odds).

 

[AguilaSaber]

I did it on the second attempt.

I had
CS 16, End 27

6th Sense
Healing
Weaponskill
Mind over Matter
Animal Kinship

I didn't think the final fight was that difficult. It was tough, but I had more Endurance because I stopped off in Holmguard to buy a helmet and chainmail, so I started with more End than the opponent. So even though I had a low combat ratio, he was losing more End than me on most rolls.

The final fight also has a death by random number before it like the crossbow man on the courtyard. In you case I think the risk was 30% for getting killed that way.

The first time through I had a character with 19 CS, 22 EP fully healed at the time and with the Helmet and Chainmail and still lost the fight . I had 2 low rolls and the rest in the mid-section.

 

[Yogah of Yag]

Last time I read it, I was offed by a Gourgaz trying to defend the prince.
I'll have to read my new copy in a little while...

 

[Sunfire]

Doing some quick calculations on that final Helghast battle...

Helghast: cs 22 end 30

Silent Wolf with Endurance 26 (either as starting endurance or having lost a few points)

Then assuming the following:
No Weaponskill with dagger (1 in 10 chance if this discipline is picked), mindshield and constant rolls of '6'.

cs 18 / 19 combat ratio: -3/-4 SW wins in 5 rounds
cs 17 / 16 combat ratio: -5/-6 SW wins in 6 rounds (just)
cs 15 / 14 combat ratio: -7/-8 SW dies in 6 rounds (even with armour).
cs 13 / 12 combat ratio: -9/-10 SW dies in 5 rounds
cs 11 / 10 combat ratio: -11+ SW dies in 5 rounds

Who said "any player should be able to complete the mission, no matter how weak their initial COMBAT SKILL or ENDURANCE points score"?

Three of my five tend to be:
Healing, Mindshield, Mindblast

I think Weaponskill is best from book 2 where you can choose which weapon you are skilled in (?).

 

[True Bull]

I fell victim to the Drakkar crossbowman as well. In the original book I usually went Weaponskill, Sixth Sense, Tracking, Mindblast & Mindshield but for this one I thought that with the extra sections & probable extra combat it would be logical to take Healing - so i dropped Mindblast initially and died. 2nd time around CS17 End16 and swapped Mindblast for Shield - made it!

Really loved the changes made. Looking forwards to the next one. I really had to curb my usual habit of just reading/flicking through a gamebook and looking at all the options in advance. Kept the interest level high

 

[Eternalknight]

I have now made it through, on my third attempt. I had CS 17 and EP 22, with Healing, Hunting, Sixth Sense, Mindshield and Camouflage as my disciplines.

Interestingly, I don't recall ever seeing an option to use Animal Kinship...

I really like the changes. From the battle in the Monastery to the different options through Fryelund Forest, then at the Battle of Alema Bridge and through Holmgard, culminating in the court of King Ulnar, the changes are all for the better. I can only hope Joe does re-write some parts of Fire on the Water, as I really love what was done with this book.

 

[Ferital]

I did it on the the second try, with the following stats:

CS 18
EP 26

Sixth Sense
Weaponskill in Sword
Healing
Mind over Matter
Mindshield

On the first try, I died in the monastery, the only differences in stats being EP 27 and Hunting instead of Mind over Matter. As I had the same other disciplines as above (so not Mindblast too), I had to pick up a number to determine if the Drakkar would kill me with his crossbow... and indeed he did.

Except that little challenge with the Drakkar, I didn't find the book particularly difficult. I really enjoyed the new book, far better than the other. The book is more descriptive and more in accordance with the later books. The lore is more present, for example the Graveyard of the Ancient contains some Shianti hyeroglyphs, so we now know that this place was built by the Shianti. Also, Naar is mentioned, and Zagarna is really presented as THE enemy, the big boss, where the old book just speaked about 'the Darklords', Zagarna being mentioned only on a few occasions, for example when you kill him with the Sommerswerd at the end of book 2. And the Cener Druids, which are known to be present in the forest surrounding the Kai Monastery in book 13th, can now be encountered in FftD (I only saw this from a section where you fight one of them, but I didn't meet him on my read). A Cener Druid could already be encountered in the old book, but he was only mentioned as a member of en evil sect of priests. And these are not 10% of the improvements on the original...

I really think the new book is far better than the old one. Hope FotW will be as good...

 

[sweatm]

Really tough book. But, well written. It's obvious that a few decades have improved Joe Dever's storytelling skills.

 

[Balgin Stondraeg]

Oh, sorry, here's my end of book 1 Lone Wolf character sheet:

Name: Lone Wolf (formerly Silent Wolf)
Combat Skill: 16
Endurance Points: 28 (32), 29, 27, 21, 19, 13, 9, 5, 6 *

Disciplines:
Animal Kinship
Camouflage
Healing
Sixth Sense
Tracking
**
Weapons: Iron Pearl Broadsword (had to drop the +1 cs mace to pick up the magic dagger and it just seeemd right to use the replica of a heroic Kai weapon to defeat the vile naarspawn)

Backpack: 3 potions of laumspur (4), rope, kai battle crystal (explodes)

Meals: 1

Gold Crowns: 1

Special Items: map of the lastlands, gold key, golden key, crystal star pendant, mail shirt (+4 ep)

* healing in the last section after the final fight. And yes, all that damage was sustained in the last fight.
** Probably taking Mindshield for book 2 although maybe weaponskill instead.

 

[Arkansaw]

I was extremely lucky in downing the Gourzar thingee with a base score for CS, and to think that before meeting that killer I had been wondering why the revised version was so generous with +1 weapons. I chose the skills by means of random numbers and got Mindblast, Weaponskill, Healing; those skills certainly made up for a CS of 10. Hunting and MOM aren't too shabby either.

Not completed yet, but very close to the end I believe......and all that on a 1.5-hour bus trip using a digital wristwatch for as 1d10

 

[Winter Wolf]

Good luck, you are going to need it! :lol:

WW

 

[Hunting Moon]

Here is my end of Book one report:

Lone Wolf

End: (28 total, 32 with waistcoat) 8 left
CS: (18 total) 18

Disciplines:
Sixth Sense
Healing
Weaponskill (Axe)
Camoflauge
Mind over Matter

Weapons:
Axe
Dagger

Special items:
Blue crystal star pendant
Chainmail Waistcoat

I died the first time through because I did not note the numbers of certain things in the begining, after that I was fine until the approach to Holmguard. Usually I go through the Graveyard, this time I went by the river. Big mistake on my part, lost my weapons and my backpack and most of my money. Once in town I bought the coat and axe and almost died in one of those @$#% random chance of dying things. There were like 3 in a row, Honestly! I won though, but by the skin of my teeth.

Next time I will do the graveyard again, the river sucked.

 

[Koreth]

My first post on Mongoose Message boards. :twisted:

I tried the river 1st as well because I normally take the graveyard. Now I know why I take the graveyard.

Overall, the FFtD was significantly enhanced by the additional attention from Mr. Dever.

Koreth of Ruel

 

[AguilaSaber]

The river is probably the worst choice.

The King's Highway is now a much better choice I think and the best of the three.

There was a few changes in the Highway sections which makes that actions taken by LW now has proper consequences.

 

[Koreth]

I'll have to try the highway this time. Just need to get the time... :evil:

Koreth

 

[EvilRedEye]

I somehow completed the book but missed both the Banedon and Alema Bridge encounters. Should this be possible?