The Warrior's Way

Two Player Gamebook
Outline
Location	Gundobad
References	500
Publication details
Author(s)	Andrew Chapman & Martin Allen
Illustrator	John Blanche
Puffin
Cover illustrator	John Blanche
First published	August 1 1986
Number	none
ISBN	ISBN 0-14-095314-0
Reprint

The Warrior's Way is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Andrew Chapman and Martin Allen, illustrated by John Blanche and originally published in 1986 by Puffin Books. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is unnumbered in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-095314-0) and was sold as part of a boxset along with The Warlock's Way. There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the Scholastic series.

The Trial of Kingship

“	At last - a thrilling TWO-PLAYER Fighting Fantasy Adventure! YOU are Clovis, Warrior-Prince of the golden city of Gundobad. Your partner plays your twin brother and rival, Lothar, the Warlock-Prince. The time has come for one of you to succeed to the throne of Gundobad, and you must both face the Trial of Kingship. But beware! The Trial of Kingship is not for the faint-hearted! Many dangers, traps and vile monsters lie in wait for the unwary, but with your sword and your spells, you may win through. Two dice, a pencil, an eraser - and a friend! - are all you need to embark on this perilous and thrilling adventure. YOU decide - sometimes alone, sometimes with your partner - which dangers to risk and which enemies to fight.	”
—The Warrior's Way - Back Cover (1986 Boxset)

Introduction

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

Unique Rules

For information on the attributes action and status see Clash of the Princes

• Provisions only restore 2 stamina points each time.

Equipment List

No equipment list is given in the "Introduction" bar the provisions, the rest being listed in "The Trial of Kingship".

• Sword
• Horse
• 10 Provisions
• 10 Gold Pieces

Cover and Illustrations

Covers

The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by John Blanche.

The Warrior's Way Cover Variants

1986

Other

£-1

NOTES No listed price as only sold as part of £3.99 boxset

Illustrations

The interior illustrations were by John Blanche. There were 33 full page illustrations and 10 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text (the minor art is identical to the companion book The Warlock's Way). The paragraphs with a full page illustration were (* indicates an illustration identical to that of The Warlock's Way): 1, 12*, 25, 44, 57*, 72, 88*, 99, 117, 134, 149, 166, 179, 191, 210, 224, 235, 250*, 266, 286, 306, 324, 337, 357*, 370, 387, 403*, 423, 439, 456, 471, 487 and 499. Additionally, four paragraphs, (49) (74) (227) and (297), each had an additional minor illustration of a puzzle within the body of the paragraph.

The colour map on the inside front cover was by Dave Andrews.

Main Characters

YOU: Clovis

• Death that Awaits
• Dragesima the Witch-Hunter
• Imperial Tax Collector
• Lothar
• Sweeney Todd

Locations

• Dragon Hove
• Gundobad
• Isle of Orcmoot
• Kalamdar
• Northern Waste
• River Scamder
• The Great Ocean

Encounters

• Antlion
• Arms
• Black Bear
• Boar
• Carnivorous Plant
• Cavemen
• Chad
• Chameleon Man
• Cyclops
• Demon
• Dwarfs - Old/Young
• Gargoyle
• Ghosts
• Ghoul
• Giant Bat
• Giant Flies
• Giant Spider
• Giant Toad
• Gnome
• Gorilla
• Heads
• Hedge
• Humans - Druid/Henchmen/Slave-Trader/Wife/Witch/Woodmen
• Ice Warrior
• Iceworm
• Kobolds
• Leeches
• Lizardmen
• Minotaur
• Moth
• Mr Todd
• Ogres - Bert/Bill
• Orcs
• Reflection (The player fights themselves)
• Rock Giant
• Scuttlies
• Sloth
• Strangler
• Troll
• Vampire
• Werewolves
• Wight
• Wolves
• Wraiths
• Zombies

Further Notes

• Bill and Bert the Ogres have rather bizarrely different stats in the two books – Lothar fights them fighting as one relatively weak individual, but Clovis has to fight both of them separately (and they have stronger stats).

Errors

• Many of the instant death references and/or spell failures are remiss in reminding the player to alter the action and status scores to 1.
• (235) refers to possession of an object called the Cat's Eye (presumably a gemstone) that would not appear to occur anywhere else in the adventure.
• (2) gets its options mixed up - it should be turn to (256) to head towards a cluster of low hills, and turn to (140) to wander westwards through a wood.
• (274) features a tinderbox mysteriously becoming part of your equipment when it is lacking from the start.
• The colour map by Dave Andrews is (other than showing two cities called Gundobad and Kalamdar) completely at odds with large sections of the adventure. Tangible features of the adventure's text either do not appear, or are not named, and one thing that is named on the map, Dragon Hove, is not represented in the text. Comments by Andrew Chapman on Demian Katz's Yahoo! gamebook list have indicated there were communication problems between the Australia-based writers and the British publishers at the time.
• (190) says that Clovis you encounters the “dead body of a monstrous three-headed Hydra” which usually is correct. However there is an unlikely event where Lothar's transformation spell misfires, creates a nine-headed Hydra and then manages to kill the beast.
• A similar problem presents itself at (51). If Lothar goes first, creates the nine-headed Hydra then dies, Clovis should meet with that instead of the regular three-headed one.

Dedication

Thanks to Keith, Gail and Karl
Special thanks to Dennis Moyle

See Also

• Deathlord
• Sky Lord

External Links

• Character Sheet - Retrieved 2019-11-20
• Fighting Fantasy at Gamebooks.org - Retrieved 2019-11-20
• Clash of the Princes at Gamebooks.org - Retrieved 2019-11-20
• The Warrior's Way at Gamebooks.org - Retrieved 2019-11-20