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Caverns of the Snow Witch

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Caverns of the Snow Witch
The original Puffin Books cover of Caverns of the Snow Witch
AuthorIan Livingstone
IllustratorsGary Ward
Edward Crosby
Cover artistLes Edwards
SeriesFighting Fantasy
  • Puffin number: 9
  • Wizard number: 10
GenreFantasy
Location: Allansia, Titan
Published1984
ISBN[[Special:BookSources/%7F%27%22%60UNIQ--templatestyles-00000002-QINU%60%22%27%7F%3Cdiv+class%3D%22plainlist%22%3E%3Cul%3E%3Cli%3EPuffin%3A+ISBN+0-14-031830-5%3C%2Fli%3E%3Cli%3EWizard%3A+ISBN+1-84046-432-1%3C%2Fli%3E%3C%2Ful%3E%3C%2Fdiv%3E |
  • Puffin: ISBN 0-14-031830-5
  • Wizard: ISBN 1-84046-432-1
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Caverns of the Snow Witch single-player roleplaying gamebook, written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Gary Ward and Edward Crosby and originally published in 1984 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2003. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 9th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031830-5) and 10th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-432-1).

Creation

A short version of the adventure was first published in Warlock: The Fighting Fantasy Magazine in two parts, originally as separate adventures. Livingstone later combined both parts and expanded the adventure to create the final book.

Story

File:Cavernsofthesnowwitchmap.jpg
Caverns of the Snow Witch map

On the trail of a hideous creature that is terrorising the northern trade routes, you find its last victim – still alive, but barely. With his dying breath he lays a great burden on your shoulders...

After years of searching he has found the entrance to the Crystal Caves of the evil Snow Witch, high up in the Icefinger Mountains. She must be destroyed before her dark powers bring on another ice age and Allansia slips under her dominion forever. But time is running out. Can you slay the vile Snow Witch before she becomes all powerful?

The book is split into three distinct parts:

  • In the first part, the reader is hired to kill a yeti that has been disrupting trade routes in the Icefinger Mountains of Allansia. After killing the yeti, the player finds a dying trapper who tells him of the great riches to be found in the caverns of the Snow Witch, an evil sorceress who dwells in the mountains. The player sets off to investigate the caverns, fight his way through guards and monsters, and find and kill the witch (who is really a vampire).
  • In the second part, the player must escape the witch's lair while being pursued by her minions, alongside tqwo new companions: Redswift the Elf and Stubb the Dwarf. Along the way they encounter many traps, several guards and even the spirit of the late Snow Witch herself.
  • In the third part, the three escape from the caverns and return to civilised, temperate parts of Allansia, when it is revealed that both the reader and Redswift are succumbing to the effects of a Death Spell, activated by the reading of a parchment. After Redswift perishes, the reader must seek out Pen Ty Kora, a reclusive healing wizard, to cure him of the spell, while his Stamina score gradually dwindles away. If the reader has certain items from the Snow Witch's cavern, and can pass a series of ordeals, he will be cured of the spell and successfully complete the gamebook.

Whilst Caverns of the Snow Witch was originally the ninth book in the series, it is the chronological prequel of Forest of Doom, the third book. The quest for King Gillibran's warhammer, which is the basis of the plot of Forest of Doom, begins in this book.

Criticism

Caverns of the Snow Witch is regarded by some fans as one of the weaker books in the Fighting Fantasy series.[1] It was originally published as a short adventure in Warlock magazine and later expanded to a full adventure.

The book also contains a minor inconsistency with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in that the game ends with the player climbing to the top of the eponymous mountain, but section 1 of the original book states that climbing to the top of the mountain "must surely be impossible".

See also

References

Official sites:

Footnotes

  1. ^ "This book is Ian Livingstone at his worst: a linear sequence of excessively difficult but not especially interesting encounters complete with a stupid, luck-based guessing game poorly disguised as a climactic battle."[1]
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