The Port of Peril (book)

Fighting Fantasy Gamebook
Outline
Location:	Allansia, Titan
References:	400
Publication Details
Author(s):	Ian Livingstone
Illustrator(s):	Vlado Krizan
Puffin
Wizard (Series 1)
Wizard (Series 2)
Scholastic
Cover illustrator:	Robert M. Ball
First published:	August 3 2017
Number	6
ISBN:	ISBN 1-40718-129-7
Previous Book:	House of Hell
Next Book:	Creature of Havoc

For other uses of The Port of Peril, see The Port of Peril

The Port of Peril is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Vlado Krizan and originally published in 2017 by Scholastic Books. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 6th in the Scholastic series (ISBN 1-40718-129-7).

Creation

According to the FightingFantasy.com’s online official page for the Port of Peril book, this gamebook was produced by Scholastic as both a paperback, and a limited number of "Collector’s Edition" hardbacks of The Port of Peril, alongside the standard paperback release, "featuring a brand-new piece of cover art by [Iain] McCaig." Along with this, "Leo Hartas was commissioned to revisit the map he painted for The Trolltooth Wars novel (written by Steve Jackson), back in 1989." The idea for this was that he would "produce a new version for a new generation of gamebook readers." Seeing the results, "Ian Livingstone suggested to Scholastic that the map should appear in all of the Allansia-based books, which it does."

An element of this or other books may have been inspired by the real life neighborhood Sukhumvit in Bangkok. (See the Fan Theories section for more.)

Background

“	PART STORY, PART GAME - PURE ADVENTURE! Are YOU brave enough to face the savage demons of the underworld...? Evil stalks the land as undead hordes rise from their graves to terrorize the living. Embark on an epic quest from Moonstone Hills, to the shadowy streets of Port Blacksand, to the depths of Darkwood Forest, and ultimately face your worst nightmare... May Your Stamina Never Fail!	”
—The Port of Peril - Back Cover

Collector’s Edition

A limited edition hard cover version with a newly designed McCaig cover, and a special redone Allansia (sectional) map by Hartas was commissioned to be put out in the world alongside Scholastic’s paperback release. According to the official Scholastic (UK world shop) sales page for the Port of Peril Collector’s Edition, the book is sold out—or, at least,—no copies are now available. (For more information about the Collector’s Edition, see the Creation section of this page.)

Rules

The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (see Game System).

Equipment List

See the referenced pages for the source of this equipment list,

• Sword
• Leather Armour
• Backpack
• Shield
• 10 Provisions
• Choice of one of three Potions (see Game System for generic fantasy setting choices)

Note that that this "3 potion, pick one" formula may be common across a lot of game books....as, in at least one other book allows you to choose between three potions to start—in Assassins of Allansia, you are given the option to choose one of three potions as well, to boost one of your three stats: one for Skill (a Potion of Skill), one for Stamina, and one for Luck(, although the latter two are called Potion of Strength and Potion of Fortune, respectively).

Cover and Illustrations

Main article: The Port of Peril (illustrations)

Covers

The cover was designed and illustrated Robert M. Ball. The cover of the "Collector's Edition" was by Iain McCaig.

The Port of Peril Cover Variants

2017	2017	2018
Scholastic Full	Scholastic Collector's Edition	Scholastic Circle
£6.99	£35.00	£6.99

Illustrations

The book is illustrated by Vlado Krizan. There were 20 full page illustrations and 5 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: Background, 11, 44, 56, 69, 93, 104, 118, 132, 159, 174, 187, 213, 225, 252, 265, 279, 292, 333, and 358. The full-page illustrations in the book were accompanied with a caption giving a short extract from the text.

The Brazilian edition of the book was given new illustrations by Róger Goulart, which were reused by the Hungarian edition of the book.

The Danish edition was given new illustrations by Bent Holm.

The black and white map was by Leo Hartas (and is reproduced in part again on pg.18) as was the colour map on the back cover of the "Collector's Edition".

Intertextual References

• Captain Samuel Crow is a sailor, who ferries you onboard his ship the Blue Moon, to an island at the beginning of Assassins of Allansia. This may be the same character, or a relation to, Captain Crow (the Pirate) in this book.
• The Demon Prince Zanbar Bone is the main antagonist of City of Thieves, which is also set in Port Blacksand. Lord Azzur is also mentioned in both books, and all three of these are mentioned, or feature importantly, in Assassins of Allansia (see below).
• Lord Azzur (along with Baron Sukumvit who appears with him) is also the player’s ultimate antagonist in Assassins of Allansia, and the murder of Zanbar Bone is mentioned several times in relation to Azzur’s enmity to the Hero. Port Blacksand features significantly in Assassins of Allansia as well.
• Nicodemus also appears in City of Thieves.
• Yaztromo is your ally in several previous gamebooks:  The Forest of Doom, Temple of Terror, Crypt of the Sorcerer, Return to Firetop Mountain and Legend of Zagor.
• Hippohogs are mentioned, in Assassins of Allansia: where a band of orcs are said to crash into the Hero like a bunch of "hippohogs."
• The Moonstone Hills and Deedle Water are mentioned in Creature of Havoc.
• In Assassins of Allansia, the Moonstone Hills are mentioned as well, and the main protagonist has a critical backstory in the Darkwood Forest. (In fact, because of connections to the Darkwood, Lord Azzur, and the demon Zanbar Bone, along with other things, it may be the same hero for both Port of Peril and Assassins of Allansia, making one a sort of prequel to the other. See the Fan Theories section for more on this.)
• Skullcrag, a location in the The Zagor Chronicles novels, has a similar name to Skull Crag, although spelt as one word.
• A Chaos Champion, perhaps of the same sort as Klash the Chaos Warrior (in this gamebook), features (somewhat out-of-the-blue) as a bodyguard or soldier for the undead Pirate Captain Cinnabar, who is the main enemy in Bloodbones.

Other Media

The Fighting Fantasy Classics application features Port of Peril as one of the downloadable books for purchase through its app, both on iOS and Google Play. The price is $4.49 US on Android, and $3.99 US on Apple.

Main Characters

YOU: Hero of The Port of Peril

• Baron Sukumvit
• Bartholomew Black
• Bigleg - Dwarf
• Bignose - Dwarf
• Captain Crow - Pirate
• Cris
• Crusha - Man-Orc
• Cy - Cyclops
• Dod
• Egbert
• Eryk - Sceptic
• Finbar
• Francesca de la Vette - Lady of Hog House
• Gereth Yaztromo - Wizard
• Gregor - Would-Be Treasure-Hunter
• Gurnard Jaggle - Bitter Treasure Hunter
• Hakasan Za - Ninja Tracker
• Horace Wolff - Stonemason
• Jadan Fam
• Jethro Jaggle - Jeweller
• Klash - Chaos Warrior
• Lord Azzur - ruler of Port Blacksand
• Luannah Wolff
• Mungo - Sailor
• Murgat Shurr
• Nicodemus - Wizard
• Olaff - Ogre
• Onx
• Quag-Shugguth - Lesser Demon
• Stinkfoot - Troll
• Stormheart - Horse
• Travis Traynor - Trader
• Twoteeth - Troll
• Uzzuk - Norgul
• Vermithrax - Crow
• Vermithrax Moonchaser - Archmage
• Zanbar Bone - Demon Prince

Locations

• Anvil
• Catfish River
• Chalice
• Darkwood Forest
• Deedle Water
• Fang
• Fire Island
• Flax
• Hog House
• Jethro's Jewels
• Largo
• Oyster Bay
• The Pagan Plains
• Port Blacksand
• Moonstone Hills
• Shazaar
• Silver River
• Skull Crag
• Stonebridge
• The Fat Frog
• The Sun
• Vatos
• Yaztromo's Tower
• Zengis

Encounters

• Attack Dogs
• Blue Imps
• Chaos Warrior
• Dark Elves
• Dwarf
• Giant Centipede
• Giant Lavaworm
• Goblins
• Gronks
• Hippohog
• Hill Troll
• Humans - Bandits/Robbers
• Imperial Guard Troll
• Man-Orcs
• Norgul
• Ogre
• Plague Witch
• Quag-Shugguth
• Scorpion Bug
• Vampire Bug
• Warhawk
• Wild Hill Men
• Zombie

Other Creatures

• Chumpie
• Skeleton
• Sporeball
• Terrosaur

Further Notes

• The two men playing dice in the Black Lobster Tavern are a reference to Simon and Lewis of the Yogscast who play through a Fighting Fantasy book every year during their Christmas livestreams. They played through this book in their 2017 Jingle Jam.

Errors

• In sections 1 and 268 you are instructed to add 1 point to your stamina after eating some food, even though you can't have lost any Stamina yet and cannot exceed your maximum.
• You are described as "penniless" and unable to buy anything in 247, but it is possible to have received money as a reward by then.
• In (47) you can ask about Gurnard Jaggle, while more likely than not you haven't heard that name before.
• In (43) you tell Gurnard he should visit his brother, which more likely than not you haven't met before.
• It is possible to reach reference (17) without a jar
• It is possible to reach reference (39) without a pistol
• "Plane" is consistently misspelt "Plain" (eg. "Plain of Pain").
• On both maps, Salamonis is misspelt "Salamons". Also, "Deedle Water" occupies the location of the town of Dree, as described in Creature of Havoc. Deedlewater is a river in the earlier book.
• Sukumvit is misspelt "Sukhumvit". Ironically, this is the real spelling of a somewhat thematically appropriate neighborhood of Bangkok in Thailand! (See the Fan Theories section of this page for more on this.)
• You are supposed to be penniless and hungry at the start, yet the Rules say you commence the adventure with 10 sets of provisions and a magic potion.
• When you are forced to exchange your sword at (4), you get -2 skill points. When you fetch the ornamental sword in the Hog House at (294), you don't receive any deductions. So either the ornamental sword is as good as your original one, and you should get back those 2 skill points if you lost your original sword, or it is just as bad as the one you get from the card player, in which case you should lose 2 skill points if you had your original sword with you.
• There is no mentioning of the hero going back for the sword and backpack after (377), even though the story suggest that this actually happens. It's also strange that the bandits would allow the bow and arrows to be kept.
• It's possible to reach (235) without the brass bell and the candle, in which case the hero gets stuck. The easiest way of losing both are at (229).
• At (20) we are probably walking along Lobster Wharf, not Harbour Wharf.
• At (269), the second option should say "If you think the total will be less than 7". At (237), the options should say "If the number is 7 or higher" and "If the number is 6 or less". Also, the Lucky Bones doesn't really help us on (237), so maybe in that case it should deduct 4 from the rolled number instead of adding.
• It's possible to reach (118) without finding out about the name Klash.
• There is no real reason for losing 2 skill points at (192). We get a new sword, armour, helmet and shield immediately afterwards.
• Earlier in the book it is suggested that the flintlock you have obtained has a malfunctioning flint (which could've been a lie) but also that it had no gunpowder or a lead ball loaded. Regardless, in (198) you fire your pistol effortlessly, without any check or reference in the text that it has been serviced and/or loaded with gunpowder and shot.
• You start the adventure with a shield. At (124) you are asked whether you have a bronze shield (which is obtainable earlier), or else do not have a shield. But there is no option for having only your original shield. When you pick up the bronze shield at (257), there is no mention of your original shield (i.e. whether it needs to be left behind). Alternatively, it seems likely that this is another manifestation of generic rules being copy-pasted in the Scholastic editions and you're not intended to start with a shield in the first place.
• Page 281 does not state that you cannot eat Provisions during combat, even though this is usually the case in other Fighting Fantasy books.

Dedication

none

See Also

• Casket of Souls
• Dicing with Dragons

Fan Theories

While these theories may be supported by some lines of evidence, thought or guesswork, there if no hard proof that any of the following are true. (...And there may be just as much evidence in the contrary to any of these ideas!)

• Because of a misspelling of Baron Sukumvit’s name, there is a hypothesis that the real world location of Sukhumvit in Thailand may be the source, or a source of inspiration, for Blacksand’s Port or other locations in (and around) Allansia, and the Fighting Fantasy game books!
• As there are references to a backstory in the Darkwood, the connections to Lord Azzur, and the defeating of Zanbar Bone, it is surmised that it may be the same hero who is in both this book, Port of Peril,and Assassins of Allansia, making one a sort of prequel to the other. (See the Intertextual References section on the Assassins of Allansia (book) page for more information—both on why this may be, and/or why this may fail, ultimately, to be true.)

Reviews

One reviewer online, who identifies as a long time fan—with a "deep and abiding love" for Fighting Fantasy, even to the point of humorously calling Ian Livingstone his "real dad," still goes on to describe The Port of Peril as "not an easy book to complete," and says that "Livingstone remains a fiendish and merciless Dungeon Master."

External Links

• Official FightingFantasy.com website’s product page for The Port of Peril gamebook.
• The UK Scholastic’s online shop—official page for the Collector’s Edition (hardcover) of The Port of Peril.