RPG Gamebooks

[Gustaran]

The 2nd Heart of Ice character will be a Scientist, who comes with the CYBERNETICS, LORE, PILOTING, and SURVIVAL Skills.  The Visionary became a popsicle after failing too many SURVIVAL checks in the Sahara, so I'm not leaving the Appenine Inn without that Skill this time.

I feel the skills are an interesting addition in this book. I could imagine that the book becomes much easier if you create a custom character with an optimal skillset once you have the best route figured out.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

The 2nd Heart of Ice character will be a Scientist, who comes with the CYBERNETICS, LORE, PILOTING, and SURVIVAL Skills.  The Visionary became a popsicle after failing too many SURVIVAL checks in the Sahara, so I'm not leaving the Appenine Inn without that Skill this time.

I feel the skills are an interesting addition in this book. I could imagine that the book becomes much easier if you create a custom character with an optimal skillset once you have the best route figured out.

I was thinking about that as well.  Some Skills seem to be much more useful than others, particularly SURVIVAL for the wilderness scenes and PILOTING to get the Manta car.  CYBERNETICS so far is useful mainly for getting into the Great Pyramid by learning Humbaba from the Gaia laptop in Venis.  Though there is a CYBERNETICS check in the Marsay subway route, so it may be useful for characters who go west.  ESP is really the only Visionary Skill I miss in the Scientist playthrough, because you can read the minds of potentially hostile humans and monsters.


SHOOTING has a few checks throughout both playthroughs, but the Barysal Gun only has 6 charges unless there's a way to find more ammo.


I have no clue how useful the Scientist's LORE will be.  Maybe LORE checks are common in Du-En because that's where the main quest is?  The only one I've found in either playthrough is in the conversation with Fax in Marsay.



Heart of Ice has no random elements as far as I can tell, making it feel oddly close to a non-RPG Choose Your Own Adventure.  Skill, codeword, and Possessions checks are all binary, and the amount of Life Points you lose in events is consistent.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Heart of Ice Scientist Playthrough Part 4


This will surprise none of my readers, but our alliance in Du-En deteriorates quickly.  It starts when Janus Gaunt orders a xom to give us tea.  He rationalizes his necromancy by saying "They're just robots, really, except that they're made out of once-living tissue instead of plastic and metal.  They're powered by a small electrochemical implant in the chest cavity".


Kyle Boche calls the xom "an abomination against nature", and asks where to find firewood.  Janus Gaunt ignores his insult and says we should take pieces of wood from the old Du-En buildings.  "The mulberry window-shutters you are warming your hands over, for instance, date from tenth-century Persia".  How did these cultists manage to cobble together medieval artifacts for their city in the southern Sahara?  They must have stolen them somehow.


Thadra Bey "purrs" the threat "It is mine" when we get firewood.  She fires her "dart-projector" at us, and Boche saves my life by pushing me into Thadra Bey.  The dart almost hits Chaim Golgoth instead, who draws his Barysal Gun. 


"Thadra Bey rakes her fingers across your face and leaps away, levelling her dart-projector, and you hear Gaunt yelling to his xoms, 'Defend me!  Slay any who attack!"


Vajra Singh breaks up our feud with "Stop this senseless fighting now!"


"Vajra Singh stands like a demon in the snow, a great slab of a man with a darkly saturnine face and eyes like a lion's.  His silver anti-laser armor gleams in the weak sunshine.  He watches you all for a moment, scanning you as he might size up a pack of hyenas.  Then he raises his huge hand-cannon and touches the fire button".


White plasma comes out of Vajra Singh's gun and destroys the foundation of one of the building.  Janus Gaunt tells me Vajra Singh's weapon is the mantramukta.


Singh tells us we have a truce while we explore the ruins, and we're not allowed to bring "underlings or servants" because it's a test to see who deserves the Heart of Volent's power.


CHOICE #38 has the options of either saying the codeword Hourglass, or using a Medical Kit.  If I didn't have one, I could have withdrawn one from the Manta's storage locker.  The final alternative is for those who have nothing.  Hourglass is learned from the hot spring in the Sahara, so my Scientist doesn't have it.


"Your fingers show signs of frostbite and you have a dozen small bruises and sores.  You dose yourself with antibiotics and apply ointments and dressings from the medical kit".  This restores 1 Life Point, making up for the health loss on the way to Venis after CHOICE #18.  I go to the page I would have visited if I didn't use any codeword or Possession.


Chaim Golgoth and the Gargan clones are exploring as a team.  Thadra Bey and Janus Gaunt are also working together, to the surprise of both the narrator and player.  Baron Siriasis and Vajra Singh are solo.  Vajra Singh draws lots.


"We shall set off into the ruins at fifteen-minute intervals determined by the lots', he tells the others.  'You can explore individually or in groups, as you prefer.  Remember that the truce applies only here in the open.  If groups encounter each other while in the catacombs below the city, they must negotiate or else do battle".


CHOICE #39 is to either go into the catacombs now, or rest for a day.  My Life Points are at 10, and there's no point in giving the others a chance to find the Heart of Volent first.


But Kyle Boche doesn't want to travel with me.  He wants to rest for a day because the others are unlikely to find the Heart of Volent now.  "When that lot finds the Heart there's going to be a battle royal.  We'll need to be ready for that moment when it comes".


Chaim Golgoth offers to let me join his team, but the Gargan clones "glower at this".


CHOICE #40 is to either rest with Kyle Boche, go with Golgoth and the Gargan clones if I have the Enkidu codeword, or try to join them without saying anything.


My intuition tells me going with Golgoth without Enkidu will end badly.  So I'll stay with Kyle Boche.  I would recover 1 Life Point if I were injured, but the Scientist is at full health.  But now players learn that not all codewords are good.  Players who have Hourglass gain 0 Life Points and "feel feverish" from the effects of the toxic hot spring.


Janus Gaunt and Thadra Bey were exploring tunnels under the Du-En plaza, but found no clues.  Chaim Golgoth returns without the Gargan clones, and only winks when I ask what happened to them.  Vajra Singh and Baron Siriasis have been far more successful.  Both found the "temple precincts", where the Heart of Volent is likely to be.


On this page, I would delete the Uruk codeword and replace it with Enkidu if I did that quest.  But fooling around with the computers in the Great Pyramid probably destroyed any chance I had at finding those.


At night, we see "an eerie glitter of lights" that looks like "a translucent curtain draped across the cosmos".  Janus Gaunt tells me it's the "aurora cordis" created by the Heart of Volent's "paradox radiation".


According to Gaunt, the Heart of Volent could "shape worlds and shift the stars in their courses".  He claims to know these legends are true.


CHOICE #41 is a Nemesis codeword check, which I will fail. 


I can't post more right now because a thunderstorm is coming.




Character Sheet
 
Scientist
 
Life Points:  10
Possessions:  2 Cold-Weather Suits, 3 Food Packs, 2 Medical Kits
Special Items:  Manta sky-car
Money:  21 Scads
Skills:  CYBERNETICS, LORE, PILOTING, SURVIVAL
Codewords:  None

[Gustaran]

Heart of Ice has no random elements as far as I can tell, making it feel oddly close to a non-RPG Choose Your Own Adventure.  Skill, codeword, and Possessions checks are all binary, and the amount of Life Points you lose in events is consistent.

That might not be so bad. I remember the early "Fighting Fantasy" books back in the day such as "Warlock of Firetop Mountain" where you had to roll a dice in the beginning to determine character values and during combat. From what I remember, that was highly unbalanced (starting with attack of 7 or 12 made a huge difference) because even when knowing the optimal route you could easily fail through bad luck. 

Maybe that does appeal to some people, but I found it rather frustrating to fail certain fights several times, so I ended up "cheating" and allowing myself to "auto-win" every fight.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Heart of Ice has no random elements as far as I can tell, making it feel oddly close to a non-RPG Choose Your Own Adventure.  Skill, codeword, and Possessions checks are all binary, and the amount of Life Points you lose in events is consistent.

That might not be so bad. I remember the early "Fighting Fantasy" books back in the day such as "Warlock of Firetop Mountain" where you had to roll a dice in the beginning to determine character values and during combat. From what I remember, that was highly unbalanced (starting with attack of 7 or 12 made a huge difference) because even when knowing the optimal route you could easily fail through bad luck. 

Maybe that does appeal to some people, but I found it rather frustrating to fail certain fights several times, so I ended up "cheating" and allowing myself to "auto-win" every fight.

If you like the idea of Heart of Ice, try it!  It's cheap on the Kindle Store at least, and I'm having a fun time playing this. 


Fighting Fantasy sounds frustrating to play legitimately based on your description.  If I ever do those books, I might do Alternate Endings with your "auto-win" idea after a fair CANONICAL ENDING playthrough.


One interesting exercise for Heart of Ice may be to find a way for the worst possible custom character to win.  Maybe STREETWISE, ROGUERY, LORE, and CUNNING could be the Skills.  Because social Skills will help you survive in the Sahara Ice Wastes, right?  

[Gustaran]

If you like the idea of Heart of Ice, try it!  It's cheap on the Kindle Store at least, and I'm having a fun time playing this. 


Fighting Fantasy sounds frustrating to play legitimately based on your description.  If I ever do those books, I might do Alternate Endings with your "auto-win" idea after a fair CANONICAL ENDING playthrough.

I will check out the Kindle store.


I would also be interested in seeing you tackle a Fighting Fantasy book in the future.

For Fighting Fantasy, there is actually an app on Steam (as well as Google Play & Appstore) called "Fighting Fantasy Classics". It's basically the classic books in game format (digital dice, automatic scorekeeping, map).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/85688..._Classics/

A single book costs a bit more than 3 Euros, but the app comes with the book "Bloodbones" for free, so if anybody is interested in giving it a try, it's possible without spending any money.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Heart of Ice Scientist Playthrough Part 5


"The moon rises, wreathed in a haze of frost.  In the crisp cold light, the ancient halls and towers look more than half unreal.  You watch the others huddled by their campfires.  No one has much to say.  Each of them is absorbed in private hopes, dreams, and fears of what tomorrow will bring".


Vajra Singh and Thadra Bey refuse to talk.  CHOICE #42 determines who I will have a conversation with:  Chaim Golgoth, Kyle Boche, Janus Gaunt, or Baron Siriasis.  The final option is to go to sleep.


Since I've been Kyle Boche's companion from the beginning, I decide to talk to him.  I ask why he wants ultimate power, and he responds "What are you saying?  Are you having doubts?  Surely not, when we are on the verge of triumph.  You must not be so timid!"


CHOICE #42 is a Nemesis codeword check again.  If I had it, I could have made an alliance with Kyle Boche.  Instead, I have to sleep and go solo.


The following page offers a chance to regain one Life Point in exchange for a Food Pack, and a 2nd for a Medical Kit.  These are unnecessary right now.  And if I had the Hourglass codeword from the Sahara hot spring, I would lose 1 Life Point.  Never go to Tarabul via the Marsay subway!


Baron Siriasis floats out of his tent, and Kyle Boche walks with me.  Vajra Singh already set out with Golgoth.  Thadra Bey entered the subway tunnels, and no one has seen Janus Gaunt.  Siriasis, Boche, and I are forced to team up for now.  We enter the crevice next to the building Singh destroyed with his signature gun.


CHOICE #44 is a Manta car check.  Hooray for PILOTING!


But this check is not for transportation.  Instead, I need to withdraw a Flashlight and Rope.  So I'll drop 1 Food Pack and 1 Medical Kit from my Character Sheet.


Baron Siriasis points out a bridge across the chasm in the cavern.  But it won't be easy to do so.  A "thick glowing vapor is roiling around your feet".  Baron Siriasis is floating down toward the floor of the cave, and Kyle Boche is falling prey to it too.



CHOICE #45 is a doozy for any unprepared characters.  Judging by the text, the best option is to use the Enkidu codeword, and the medium one is the Talos codeword.  The last resort is my LORE Skill!  For once studying history and legends is good for something in this game.


Characters who don't have anything to deal with the "horribly twisted figure that looks like a squashed effigy of white clay" have this in store for them.


"Otherwise, there is nothing you can do to stop the phantom from reaching through your skin and extracting your life-essence, and your adventure is at an end".


But I'm a Scientist.  I can handle this.


"It is a beam phantom-the victim of a teleporter accident which has left it eternally out of phase with the rest of the world.  Such creatures suffer eternal torment because of the teleporter's mangling of their internal organs, but there is nothing that can be done for them, since they do not truly exist".


If there's one thing to learn from this encounter, it's never to teleport in the Heart of Ice setting.  Failure means going to Hell for all practical purposes.


"If you survive, you succeed in manhandling the squirming creature over to the chasm and hurling it down.  Its thin bleating cry echoes up from the depths as it falls, trailing its gleaming wisps of vapour like a comet's tail".


The Scientist loses 2 Life Points for failing to have a better option than LORE.  Notice how direct combat Skills like CLOSE COMBAT and SHOOTING are worthless in some fights.


Both of my companions survive.  Baron Siriasis says "Curious.  It seemed to be a genuine ghost, so far as I could tell.  I could not read its mind, at any rate."  Kyle Boche doesn't care, and prefers to cross the bridge.  "It's not too bad as long as you don't look down".


CHOICE #46 is either to climb down metal grilles, or cross the bridge with Siriasis and Boche.  I suspect the grilles mean Death for most characters or a shortcut for AGILITY classes.


The bridge is uneventful, and we enter a hall.  "The architecture here is the same oppressive design as on the surface:  the heavily harshly-chiselled lintels and monumental bulbous columns, the gigantic vaults and grotesque carvings".


CHOICE #47 is one of the most dreaded Choose Your Own Adventure conventions:  Let's Make a Deal without any clues as to which Door # is correct.  It's either a literal door,  the left passage, or the right passage.  I'm worried about the left option because it goes to page 3, which must have some significance in a book this long.


Going through the door reveals "a dimly lit room with a number of smaller rooms leading off of it".  This is probably where the cultists lived before Du-En became a ruin.  "Broken furniture and toppled cupboards" are indications that riots happened in this area.  People in the future have "writing-plastic" sheets instead of paper, which makes sense considering how rare trees must be in the new Ice Age.


CHOICE #48 offers an opportunity for ROGUERY characters to search the wreckage.  I could also attempt to search without that Skill, but that sounds like a terrible idea.  The alternatives are to take either of the passageways I ignored in CHOICE #47. 


The party enters a "series of galleries, each consisting of a cloister running either side of a central concourse softly illuminated by chandeliers".


Boche says the "people of Du-En went mad and turned against their leaders".  Siriasis notices an unfriendly presence.  "It sounds like chitin slithering across stone".  Before we can advance, the lights go out.


We must be astute to be able to identify the specific sound of chitin!


CHOICE #49 offers several Skill, Possessions, and codeword checks.  The best seems to be the codeword Scotopic.  Other options include ROGUERY, ESP, SHOOTING, or a Flashlight/Lantern.  The Scientist found a Flashlight in the trusty Manta Car.


"You hear a scuttling of many insectoid legs.  In the sudden flare of light you catch a glimpse of a shape like a giant black centipede, mouthparts churning like oiled blades.  Blinded by the unexpected light, it writhes and retreats in panic to the darkness of the cloisters".


We enter the iron door and slam it behind us.


In the next room, "the light seems to spill slowly, like a puddle of oil, through a zone several meters across.  In the middle stands a man in old-fashioned military dress.  Beside him on the floor lies a metal globe about the size of an egg, covered with glowing studs".


According to Siriasis, it's a stasis bomb, which slows down time in its blast radius.  The man in the odd outfit is probably a 200-year-old Du-En soldier.


CHOICE #50 is a LORE check.  Hooray for the Scientist!  Lesser options include firing a Barysal Gun, casting PARADOXING, or leaving the Du-En man behind.  (No SHOOTING is mentioned with the Barysal Gun, for some reason.)


"He is wearing the red-and-violet uniform of the Monitor Corps, personal troops of Eleazar Picard, the Volentine high priest.  Perhaps he was fighting to defend him when the populace of the city rebelled".


The cult leader was named Picard?  Maybe Dave Morris should have watched a bit less Star Trek before writing the book.    


Boo, Scientist!  You learn more about the Monitor Corps guy, but you can't do anything about it due to the lack of either weapons or psychic powers.  It's back to CHOICE #50, where I'm forced to move on without saving him.


Another passage is light by globes on the ceiling.  Siriasis thinks the source of their power is the Heart of Volent.  He tells me to take the lead in CHOICE #51.  Do I obey him, or "bridle at being ordered about"?  It's a bit late for the latter. . .


Obeying Siriasis may have been a bad idea.  I hear an explosion behind me when I've gone 30 into the tunnel.  The tunnel will cave in soon.  CHOICE #52 is a Mallet codeword check.


Failing the Mallet check leads to a contrived plot twist.  The explosion killed Siriasis, and Kyle Boche was responsible.


"I got him with a grenade.  I'd been carrying it all along, but the joke was that I didn't even know it myself.  It was the only way to foil his mind-reading, you see.  I knew the baron was heading for Du-En and that he'd be the hardest foe I'd have to face, so I got myself hypnotized to forget that I was carrying a grenade.  I had a post-hypnotic suggestion planted that I should use the grenade at a key moment.  He never knew what hit him".


Doesn't this sound a bit like Zaphod Beeblebrox's plan to steal the Heart of Gold spaceship?  I've got to watch out for Kyle Boche if he murdered one companion with a plan this convoluted.


We find the other adventurers in a "circular room with a violet starburst set in mosaic on the floor".  Vajra Singh, Thadra Bey, and Chaim Golgoth must not have taken any stealth Skills, because hover-droids are shooting lasers at them.  Vajra Singh destroys 4 robots with his mantramukta, and we all enter individual elevators to get away.


CHOICE #53 is to either tell the elevator's computer who I really am, or pretend to be a cultist.  My LORE should be able to make a good alibi. . .


But CHOICE #54 isn't a Lore check.  It's a Lunar codeword check.  CHOICE #55 is another chance to save myself.  Its options are ESP (optimal?), ROGUERY, LORE, CYBERNETICS with Little Gaia, or nothing.


With LORE, I remember Eleazar Picard repeated something constantly when he fled from the Du-En riots.


The computer asks me what the Truth is.  I say it's a flame.  The 2nd question is "What ignites the flame?"  My answer to that one is "The spark ignites the flame".  The spark is of course, the Heart of Volent.  This tricks the elevator into letting me continue.


Singh, Boche, and Golgoth join me in the next room.  Thadra Bey must have flunked the elevator quiz.


"You are in a dome so vast that it feels like a gulf in the black void of intergalactic space.  Boche's flashlight does not reach the far wall.  In the centre of the chamber, on a raised dais at the end of a ramp, lies a purple gemstone almost two metres in diameter.  Scintillant sparks stream from deep in its core, giving off a violet radiation that causes a pain at the back of your eyes".


This is the Heart of Volent.  CHOICE #56 checks whether the player has the Red, Blue, or Yellow codewords.  I have none of these.


Character Sheet
 
Scientist
 
Life Points:  8
Possessions:  2 Cold-Weather Suits, 2 Food Packs, 1 Medical Kits, Flashlight, Rope
Special Items:  Manta sky-car
Money:  21 Scads
Skills:  CYBERNETICS, LORE, PILOTING, SURVIVAL
Codewords:  None

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Heart of Ice Scientist Playthrough Part 6


"This is the moment of truth.  Four powerful adventurers all stand within reach of ultimate power.  Only one can have the Heart."


CHOICE #57 checks for either a Stun Grenade, a Stasis Bomb, or a Barysal Gun.  My Scientist is an unwilling pacifist for lack of any better options.  For reasons I don't know yet, the "no weapon" option goes to the same page as the Yellow codeword in CHOICE #56.


"Vajra Singh, whirling, makes a split-second decision as to who is his most dangerous adversary.  Pressing the power button on the mantramukta, he directs a blistering torrent of raw energy at Golgoth.  Golgoth reacts by flinging himself into a sideways roll, firing a continuous barrage at Singh as he moves.  Both blasts find their target at the same time.  Singh falls with a pencil-thin barysal burn through his eye-socket.  Golgoth is engulfed and blown to cinders."


Boche and I are the only adventurers left.  "You start to smile back, but it freezes on your face as he turns to show you the Barysal Gun he has trained on you".


My prediction at the beginning of the Visionary playthrough was correct.  Kyle Boche really is going to try to murder me in the final showdown.  CHOICE #58 is how to confront him:  SHOOTING with a Barysal Gun, PARADOXING, throwing a Knife, or nothing.  Maybe the Scientist will beg for mercy before dying.


(Maybe SHOOTING is for more difficult battles, while you can use the Barysal Gun without that Skill for lesser enemies?)


The finale for this playthrough:


"Boche waves you along beside him, keeping the gun trained on you.  'I could kill you now', he says, 'but I want someone to be alive to witness this.  After all, I'm about to become a god.'


Reaching the Heart, he kneels and embraces it.  You think this is your chance to act, but even as you rush forward you see you are too late.  Coruscating bands of energy blaze from the depths of the unearthly gem, swathing Boche in an aura of blinding violet light.  The fabric of reality is ripped apart.  You feel weightless.


A vortex spins up through the dome, sweeping away rock and air, rising up into space, out past the moon and planets.  In what seems like seconds you have been hurled like a ghost through all of creation.  You witness the birth of a new cosmos-a cosmos fashioned by Boche's whims.  He is everywhere and all-powerful, while you are but a spark that swiftly vanishes into eternity.  THE END".


At least the Scientist found an honorable Death.  Unlike the indignity of losing all Life Points and failing to see THE END, like the Visionary suffered.


In this playthrough, I learned that several Skills like ROGUERY and LORE have some use in the late game, but a non-combat SKILL character will probably fail unless there's a codeword to win the final battle or get a weapon that doesn't depend on SHOOTING or CLOSE COMBAT.


SURVIVAL isn't quite as important if you have transportation to bypass the Sahara like the Manta car.  I didn't see any checks for it in the Du-En phase of the adventure.


I may not exhaustively cover every ending for this book in the same way that I do for the shorter CYOAs in the other thread, but here's a tally for conclusions that don't depend on Life Points:


0 Good Endings

1 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings



Final Character Sheet
 
Scientist
 
Life Points:  8
Possessions:  2 Cold-Weather Suits, 2 Food Packs, 1 Medical Kits, Flashlight, Rope
Special Items:  Manta sky-car
Money:  21 Scads
Skills:  CYBERNETICS, LORE, PILOTING, SURVIVAL
Codewords:  None

[Gustaran]

"I got him with a grenade.  I'd been carrying it all along, but the joke was that I didn't even know it myself.  It was the only way to foil his mind-reading, you see.  I knew the baron was heading for Du-En and that he'd be the hardest foe I'd have to face, so I got myself hypnotized to forget that I was carrying a grenade.  I had a post-hypnotic suggestion planted that I should use the grenade at a key moment.  He never knew what hit him".

 

What on earth was the author smoking here?

My prediction at the beginning of the Visionary playthrough was correct.  Kyle Boche really is going to try to murder me in the final showdown. 

I assume you will always meet him at the final destination, even if you refuse his company earlier, right?

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Before starting the next playthrough, let's see what the other classes have to offer.


Explorer

Skills:  CLOSE COMBAT, LORE, STREETWISE, SURVIVAL
Possessions:  None


SURVIVAL could save me in the wilderness if I have to go to Du-En on foot.  LORE is a way to get past the beam-phantom in CHOICE #45 without codewords at the cost of 2 Life Points, and the final elevator in CHOICE #55.  It could come in handy for the conversation with Fax in Marsay, but going there seems unwise as the Explorer class lacks AGILITY or ESP in the CHOICE #4 jungle.


I've never seen STREETWISE or CLOSE COMBAT checks before.  The latter is especially strange, considering you'd think there would be an opportunity to use it in the final battle for the Heart of Volent.  A STREETWISE character will probably want to hang out in Venis and other cities (Karthag?  Kahira?) longer than the Scientist did.


Bounty Hunter


Skills:  CUNNING, PILOTING, SHOOTING, STREETWISE
Possessions:  Barysal Gun (6 charges)


SHOOTING is a welcome Skill for the late game, but only having 6 shots hurts unless there's a way to get more charges.  (Maybe in the Great Pyramid?)  Having advance knowledge of CHOICEs lets you avoid wasting ammo, e.g. in CHOICE #23 when you're about to go into the vault near Venis. PILOTING allows the Bounty Hunter to get the Manta car to bypass the Sahara and get a few Possessions like the Flashlight and the Rope, similar to the Scientist.  CUNNING and STREETWISE suggest another character who gathers information in cities, but I'm not sure about that yet.



Spy


Skills:  AGILITY, CYBERNETICS, ROGUERY, STREETWISE
Possessions:  None


AGILITY combined with CYBERNETICS makes me want to take this character to Marsay, and ROGUERY may have some uses in the final dungeon (searching the wreckage, solving the elevator quiz without LORE.  ROGUERY also has a check at the entrance to the Great Pyramid, suggesting a way of getting in without the Humbaba codeword.


But the thing that bothers me is that the Spy doesn't get any gadgets!  I know it's the end of the world, but couldn't Q at least supply me with a Stasis Bomb?  



Trader

Skills:  ESP, LORE, SHOOTING, STREETWISE
Possessions:  Barysal Gun (6 charges), Psionic Focus


Another STREETWISE character?  Only the Visionary, Scientist, and Mutant lack this Skill.  Oh well, at least SHOOTING and LORE make a good combination for the late game, and ESP can dodge some enemies.  Sort of a hybrid of the Visionary and the Bounty Hunter.


You'd think a Trader would have more money at the beginning than other classes, but they all start with 30 Scads.  Maybe the player character is a failed merchant?


Mutant

Skills:  AGILITY, CUNNING, PARADOXING, ROGUERY
Possessions:  Psionic Focus


This is a weird mix of Skills.  PARADOXING has checks at the Great Pyramid door, the Du-En soldier trapped in the stasis bomb field, and the final round against Kyle Boche.  There is some text about how "others would kill you if they knew your secret", but no CHOICEs have checked for character class so far, so this is probably pointless.



As for Gustaran's comment, I may check out Fighting Fantasy on Steam at some point.  There are other "Critical IF Gamebooks" like Heart of Ice that I want to get to first.  (This series was once called Virtual Reality, but they changed it, probably because it sounded dated.)