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Howl of the Werewolf (book)

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Fighting Fantasy Gamebook
Outline
Location: Old World, Titan
References: 515
Publication Details
Author(s): Jonathan Green
Illustrator(s): Martin McKenna
Puffin
Wizard (Series 1)
FFHowl
Cover illustrator: Martin McKenna
First published: September 6 2007
Number 29
ISBN: ISBN 1-84046-838-6
Previous Book: Spellbreaker
Next Book: Last in series
Wizard (Series 2)
HowlShield
Cover illustrator: Martin McKenna
First published: September 2 2010
Number 11
ISBN: ISBN 1-84831-194-X
Previous Book: Eye of the Dragon
Next Book: Trial of Champions
Scholastic


For other uses of Howl of the Werewolf, see Howl of the Werewolf

Howl of the Werewolf is a single-player role-playing gamebook, written by Jonathan Green, illustrated by Martin McKenna and published in 2007 by Wizard Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2010. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 29th and final title in the modern Wizard "Series 1" (ISBN 1-84046-838-6) and 11th in "Series 2" (ISBN 1-84831-194-X). There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the Scholastic series.

Creation[]

Although the book was only written recently, Green had conceived the idea before the cancellation of the series by Puffin Books.[1] Green came up with the premise, the name of the book, the beginning of the story and the very end, along with a few background details years at this earlier time, but came up with the majority of the ideas in the book when he began plotting it in 2006.

In writing the book, Green wanted to create an adventure that drew on the mythology and folklore surrounding werewolves, having found that their previous appearances in Fighting Fantasy took the form of shallow side-encounters. Green has stated that he took the criticisms of his previous work on the official Fighting Fantasy website forums into account when writing Howl of the Werewolf.

Bad Moon Rising[]

“ Lupravia is a cursed land; a chill place of snow-capped mountains, brooding forests and mist-shrouded moors, haunted by the spirits of the restless dead. Peasants struggle daily with survival, living in constant fear of attacks from ravenous wild beasts. Only the foolhardy or insane would willingly pass beyond its borders and enter that benighted realm of predators.

But enter you must, after a vicious wolf attack sets you on the path to murder and madness. Steadily succumbing to the call of the wild and the beast within, YOU must seek out a cure to your condition before the next full moon. But how long can you survive in a land where the powers of darkness hold sway and all live in fear of the Howl of the Werewolf?

Part story, part game, this is a book with a difference - one in which you become the hero! A pencil and an eraser are all you need to make your journey. YOU decide which route to take, which creatures to fight & which dangers to risk. 		”

—Howl of the Werewolf - Back Cover


Introduction[]

  • Howl of the Werewolf makes changes to how skill and stamina are calculated (see Unique Rules below for further details and see Game System for details of regular rules that are still observed).
  • In the Wizard "Series 2" edition, instead of rolling the stats for a character as per tradition in Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, the player has the option of choosing a pregenerated character from three choices (see "Further Notes" below for choices).

Unique Rules[]

  • The player calculates skill by rolling one die, dividing the number by two (rounding up) and adding 7 to that result. stamina is calculated by a 2d6 plus 10 roll.[2]
  • The player keeps track of a change score measuring how far their transformation into a Werewolf has progressed. This score begins at 0 and while it can increase and decrease, once the change has begun it cannot drop below 1. At times the player must roll dice and if rolling below the score, their Wolf nature gets the better of them.[3]
  • The book has a section detailing the use of a flintlock pistol, should the player find one.[4]
  • At various times throughout the book the player is told their change is progressing and they roll a die and consult a chart to gain a lupine ability, such as nightvision or their fingernails becoming claws thus offsetting the penalty for fighting unarmed.[5]
  • At the beginning of the book the player determines how many Gold Pieces they have by a 2d6 plus 6 roll.[6]

Equipment List[6][]

Cover and Illustrations[]

Main article: Howl of the Werewolf (illustrations)

Covers[]

The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Martin McKenna. Wizard Books 2010 edition makes use of a section of the previous edition's cover art.

Howl of the Werewolf Cover Variants
2007 2007 2010
FFHowl HowlShield
Wizard
Special		 Wizard Wizard
Shield
£4.99 £4.99 £5.99

Illustrations[]

The interior illustrations were by Martin McKenna. There were 30 full page illustrations and 7 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 1, 18, 35, 52, 69, 86, 103, 120, 137, 154, 172, 190, 208, 226, 244, 262, 280, 298, 316, 334, 352, 370, 388, 406, 424, 442, 460, 478, 496 and 513.

Intertextual References[]

The book's setting of Lupravia is another of the principalities of Mauristatia, like Mortvania which featured in the previous Fighting Fantasy book Vault of the Vampire.

Other Media[]

Main Characters[]

YOU: Hero of Howl of the Werewolf

Locations[]

Encounters[]

Further Notes[]

  • It is the first completely original Fighting Fantasy gamebook published by Wizard (Eye of the Dragon is an extended version of the adventure from Ian Livingstone's earlier book Dicing with Dragons and Bloodbones had been commissioned for Puffin Books but dropped when the range ended in 1995).
  • At one point the book's listing on Amazon.co.uk described it as "Fighting Fantasy" meets American Werewolf in London!
  • The book uses codewords (all of which are words reversed: "Watched" becomes "Dehctaw") to record events that happen in the course of the book.
  • The illustration of Meg (226) looks very much to be based on actress Helena Bonham Carter, but this is simply a happy coincidence. The model for the picture was in fact a friend of the artist.
  • The climactic ending of the Meg and "Filthy" Lucre subplot (241, 76) shares some similarities with - and was therefore likely inspired by - the 1999 Gothic horror film Sleepy Hollow.
  • The attack of the living stained-glass figure (424) duplicates a scene from the movie Young Sherlock Holmes.
  • Grimm's Fairy Tales are name checked with the book Grymm's Folk-lore of Lupravia.
  • Many of the names of people/places are a play on words, examples being: the French word for werewolf being "loup-garou" (hence Lupravia; Garoul Wulfen; Garou Gorge); "wolf" (Varcolac Wulfen; Wulfenstein); the "Báthory" family of which included several princes of Transylvania (Bathoria); "Kafka" the famous writer (Doktor Kafka); "Isolde" is a character of Arthurian legend (Countess Isolde); and "Filthy Lucre" a slang expression for money as "lucrum" is Latin for the gaining of money/wealth (Lord "Filthy" Lucre the highwayman).

Series 2 Additions[]

Errors[]

  • (46) - "north-west, south-west, north-east and north-west" should read "north-west, south-west, north-east and south-east".
  • (104) - "you much Test your Skill" should be "you must Test your Skill".
  • (310) - "or the one that is to your right (turn to 459)." should be "or the one that is to your right (turn to 496)."

Dedication[]

For Andy, Simon and Stef,
the godfathers[8]

See Also[]

Jonathan Green
Spellbreaker
FF53 Dragon No Foil		 Knights of Doom
FF56 Dragon No Foil		 Curse of the Mummy
Ff59puffin		 Bloodbones
Ff26wizard		 Howl of the Werewolf
FFHowl		 Stormslayer
StormslayerShield		 Night of the Necromancer
Ff7new sml


Reception[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. ↑ Letter from Jonathan Green at the Internet Archive record of AMYLASE - Retrieved 2019-10-27
  2. ↑ Howl of the Werewolf - pg.5
  3. ↑ Howl of the Werewolf - pg.11-12
  4. ↑ Howl of the Werewolf - 400
  5. ↑ For example: Howl of the Werewolf - 20
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Howl of the Werewolf - pg.12
  7. ↑ Howl of the Werewolf - pg.11
  8. ↑ Howl of the Werewolf - pg.2 (Wizard "Series 1" edition)/pg.4 (Wizard "Series 2" edition)
  9. ↑ "Turn to Paragraph 400", in Fighting Fantazine Issue 5, pgs.
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