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Item - The Seven Serpents

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(Original (American), US 1985 reprint)
(Original (American), US 1985 reprint)
(Original (American), US 1985 reprint)
(Original (Zigzag))
(Original (Zigzag), AU 1984 2nd printing)
(Original (Dragon, Bronze text, Number front), UK 10th printing)
(Original (Dragon, Bronze text, Number front), UK 11th printing (C&W))
(Original (Dragon, White text, Number front), UK 11th printing (Clays))
(Wizard S1 (Special), UK printing (C&W))
(Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by Macmillan))
(Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by TBS))
(Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (Clays))
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Combined Summary

Series: Fighting Fantasy (2002-2007, Wizard Books Series 1) — no. 13
Fighting Fantasy (2017-, Scholastic) — no. 18
Sorcery! — no. 3
Contained In: Sorcery! Box Set (Collection)
Translated Into: FBET HNXFIM [שבעת הנחשים] (Hebrew)
Hét sárkánykígyó (Hungarian)
Sedemte drakona [Седемте дракона] (Bulgarian)
Sedm mystických Hadů (Czech)
Les Sept serpents (French)
As sete serpentes (Portuguese)
I sette serpenti (Italian)
Sichi-hiki no daija [七匹の大蛇] (Japanese)
Die sieben Schlangen (German)
Die sieben Schlangen (German)
Las siete serpientes (Spanish)
Las siete serpientes (Spanish)
De syv slanger (Danish)
Adapted Into: Crown of Kings: A Campaign for Advanced Fighting Fantasy (Role-Playing Material)
Sorcery 3: The Seven Serpents (Role-Playing Material)
Sorcery! 3 (Digital Gamebook)
Author: Jackson, Steve (United Kingdom)
Illustrators: Blanche, John (Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by Macmillan); Original (Zigzag); Original (Dragon, Bronze text, Number front), UK 10th printing; Original edition; Original (American), US 1985 reprint; Original (Zigzag), AU 1984 2nd printing; Original (Dragon, Bronze text, Number front), UK 11th printing (C&W); Original (Dragon, White text, Number front), UK 11th printing (Clays); Wizard S1 (Special), UK printing (C&W); Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (Clays); Wizard S1 (Standard), AU printing; Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by TBS))
Grant, Melvyn (Mel) (Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by Macmillan) - cover; Wizard S1 (Special), UK printing (C&W) - cover; Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (Clays) - cover; Wizard S1 (Standard), AU printing - cover; Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by TBS) - cover)
Dates: 1984 (Original (Zigzag), AU 1984 2nd printing)
August, 1984 (Original edition)
1985 (Original (American), US 1985 reprint)
2003 (Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by Macmillan))
2003 (Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by TBS))
2003 (Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (Clays))
June 2, 2003 (Wizard S1 (Special), UK printing (C&W))
April 7, 2022 (Fighting Fantasy (2017-, Scholastic) edition)
ISBNs: 014007208X / 9780140072082 (Original (American), US 1985 reprint)
0140318097 / 9780140318098 (Original (Zigzag), Original (Dragon, Bronze text, Number front), UK 10th printing, Original (Zigzag), AU 1984 2nd printing, Original (Dragon, Bronze text, Number front), UK 11th printing (C&W), Original (Dragon, White text, Number front), UK 11th printing (Clays))
0702314196 / 9780702314193 (Fighting Fantasy (2017-, Scholastic) edition)
1840464356 / 9781840464351 (Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by Macmillan), Wizard S1 (Special), UK printing (C&W), Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (Clays), Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by TBS))
Length: 498 sections (Original edition, Original (Zigzag), Original (Zigzag), AU 1984 2nd printing, Original (Dragon, Bronze text, Number front), UK 10th printing, Original (Dragon, Bronze text, Number front), UK 11th printing (C&W), Original (Dragon, White text, Number front), UK 11th printing (Clays), Wizard S1 (Special), UK printing (C&W), Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by Macmillan), Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by TBS), Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (Clays), Wizard S1 (Standard), AU printing)
511 sections (Original (American), US 1985 reprint)
Special Thanks: Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by Macmillan), Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (Clays), Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by TBS):
Thanks to Ryan Lynch for the cover images.
Wizard S1 (Special), UK printing (C&W):
Thanks to Ryan Lynch for the back cover/spine/title page verso images.
Inevitable's Thoughts:

This one's a small let down after the brilliant Kharé - Cityport of Traps. Like Kharé, The Seven Serpents features a mini-quest that has you gathering up MacGuffin's throughout the book. This time you're searching for the titular Seven Serpents, couriers for the Archmage of Mampang who are racing back to the Mampang Fortress with news of your quest.

Interestingly, you can fail, or only partially succeed, at this quest and still progress to the next book, albeit with a heavy penalty. If you manage to round up the Seven Serpents and give them a good squishing, you proceed with a considerable reward, although it should be noted that the task is quite difficult.

It all sounds great, and certainly the idea of actions in one book having over-arching impact on the story in the next is very compelling, but somehow it is lacking in the execution. For one thing, the nature of the MacGuffin is a little odd. These Serpents are supposedly racing back to the Fortress, all of them can fly, and several have powers that could undoubtedly ensure that they stay well out of your reach (for instance, one is a Serpent of Air, another has the power to alter the speed of time itself), and yet one plodding adventurer taking an extremely elliptical tour of the desert can manage to find them all lounging around and looking the other way. The other problem is that, unlike Kharé's gate poem, there aren't really much in the way of clues to lead the attentive adventurer to the various serpent lairs. Essentially, the only way a player will find them all is through repeated play and trial and error, which was probably Jackson's way of ensuring replay value, but it seems like a tremendous opportunity was missed to reward observant and careful players.

That being said, there are many good points in this book. The Baklands feel appropriately blasted and empty, and encounters offer a nice variety of interesting monsters to fight, encampments of elves to negotiate with, sub-humans to escape and plagues to catch, all of it qualitatively different from the first two books. Also, the Serpents themselves are quite fun to deal with, each of them representing a different element (or something, does "Sun" count as an element?) and possessing appropriate powers. One very nice touch is that each Serpent has a vulnerability that a clever/lucky player can exploit to conquer the beasts without fighting them.

All in all, this is a solid, if somewhat middling, entry in the series. It's better than The Shamutanti Hills, but not as well thought out as Kharé - Cityport of Traps or the exquisite Crown of Kings. A lot of fun to be had though, and the vast Baklands offers a considerable amount of replay value.

More reviews by Inevitable

Special Thanks:Thanks to the Ben Nelson for the previously-used British zigzag logo cover scan. Thanks to Ryan Lynch for most of the remainder of the images featuring the original cover art.
Users Who Own This Item: aden, Alarion, Alatar001, AlHazred, andrewholt, Aniline, auximenes, B0N0V0X, badboybaggins, BarefootJimmy, Barker1952, bonhomme, bookwormjeff (original), Braldt, casperthegoth, convict7421, Crazyscotsman, CSquared, CWCprime, Cyan, c_wickham, dArtagnan, Darth Rabbitt ("Red Banner" edition), dave2002a, dblizzard72, dbriel, DeKoovenWolf, Dirk Omnivore, domj29, Dronak (1st reissue in Sorcery! Box Set) (original Puffin red banner orange spine), Eamonn McCusker, Ed, edwebb, egokun, Erikwinslow (Zigzag), evilspoon, Fido815, firefoxpdm, Florik, Fullerton (diag #), Gamebook, Gamebook Collector, Gibraltar, gnomeza (Gold Dragon), Graham, greyarea13, Groatsworth, gryff, Haoie, Ian2405, Icedlake, JamesMulgrue, jcruelty, jdreller (ZigZag), jeff3333, Joe_TC, JoshW, jr, Jubal, juski (UK first edition), karalynn, katzcollection, khaxzan, killagarilla, kinderstef, knginatl (US orig., UK jagged, reissue) (US orig., UK jagged, reissue), le maudit, lek, liam0404, MacbthPSW, Malthus Dire, MarcusP, MasterChief, mattender, MaxSpender, mir1812, mlvoss, Morthynmir, mrtricks (Orange zigzag cover), mrwalker, Naniyue, Narananas (Zigzag), nelsondesign, nerelax, Nich, nicolau (Spanish Devir ed.), nordik (Seven Serpents), Oberonbombadil (zigzag), odo_ital, Office Linebacker_, ooklathemokk, Osirian08 (Orange spine), outspaced, peterm2, plowboy, plutonick, Pseudo_Intellectual, qazplm (reissue), redpiper05, Robert Mammone, Rozo, rpatel1976 (dragon, gold text), ryderark (Spanish Altea Version), Ryuran333, Sabreman, Salpynx, Seizure, Sir Olli, sireeyore (original), skeleton, Smidgeccfc76, snakefire77 (original with red jagged band on top), StagQuests (1st Cover), strawberry_brite, Tamerlane1396, terrysalt, thevagrant, Threepwud, tonk82, toxtethogradyworlds, Treguard, Tremendez, Trompe-l Oeil (US), twar, Twoflower, umbra682000, Wardog, wreade, Yalius
Users Who Want This Item: breity (Puffin/Penguin edition if possible) (Puffin/Penguin edition if possible), CSquared, Cyan, demon of the deep lt, domchamon, exaquint, Gamebook_Pirate (Scholastic), Gurvo, Hugues, iguanaditty (any edition), jeremydouglass, mrtricks (Original cover only), NEMO, punga, truce57, twar, Uraniborg, Von Scotty, yermither, zat
Users with Extra Copies: bookwormjeff - 2 original
gnomeza - Puffin (1984), VG, cover crease, unmarked adventure sheet
MacbthPSW
peterm2
snakefire77 - good condition (some creases, firm binding, no writing)
Surcal
Yalius

Known Editions

Fighting Fantasy (2017-, Scholastic) edition
Original edition
Original (American), US 1985 reprint
Original (Zigzag)
Original (Zigzag), AU 1984 2nd printing
Original (Dragon, Bronze text, Number front), UK 10th printing
Original (Dragon, Bronze text, Number front), UK 11th printing (C&W)
Original (Dragon, White text, Number front), UK 11th printing (Clays)
Wizard S1 (Special), UK printing (C&W)
Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by Macmillan)
Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (C&W, distributed by TBS)
Wizard S1 (Standard), UK printing (Clays)
Wizard S1 (Standard), AU printing

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Related Documents

Play Aid

Sorcery! Character Sheet

Bibliography of Items About "The Seven Serpents"

Articles

Fighting Fantasy News (Warlock #3)
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