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Item - Last Stand at Kirrinbahr

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Series: Miscellaneous Works by Mark Wightman
Platform: Adobe Acrobat
Author: Wightman, Mark
Date: 2006
Length: 102 pages (136 sections plus 8 maps)
Number of Endings: 3 (not counting death by loss of Health)
User Summary: You are Captain of the Guard of Cellandorn, but your city has fallen to the evil Sk'Tuish. Now you must flee, regroup, and find a way to save your home.
Demian's Thoughts:

I found this to be an extremely satisfying mini-adventure. The book opens with a minimalist but satisfying setup that conveys urgency of mission without wasting a lot of time on unnecessary backstory. This is followed by the meat of the adventure which focuses on the exploration of an old castle, and it all comes to a gratifying conclusion complete with plot twists and desperate battles. In a way it feels like a cross between Lone Wolf and Scorpion Swamp -- the basic setup and sense of urgency feels much like early Lone Wolf, while the mapping system and non-linear exploration works much like Scorpion Swamp. I enjoy both a clear sense of mission and a well-defined mapping system, so I felt right at home here.

There is some room for criticism -- the overall challenge level is fairly low, and the actual creature and NPC encounters during the central exploration portion of the book are a bit repetitive and minimalist -- but if you're not looking to spend more than a few hours playing and you don't expect a groundbreakingly original setting, this is an entertaining diversion. Definitely one of the better amateur gamebooks available in print, and better than a number of professional efforts.

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Special Thanks:Thanks to Mark Wightman for the review copy and to Ryan Lynch for the images.
Users Who Own This Item: Demian (PDF), jdreller, Sir Olli, sireeyore, waktool (paperback)

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