Broken Gamebooks #14: Tower of Destruction

Brace yourself, because this may be one of the most buggy gamebooks ever - certainly of those released under the Fighting Fantasy banner, at any rate. There's a story to be told behind the writing of this one, I'm sure, although I doubt we'll ever get to hear it (it's another one written by the now sadly departed Keith Martin) - note that within what you are about to read I have not covered several notable typographical errors, including "fortunate" being used instead of "unfortunate", accidentally including the word "not" in what should have read "this is hard work", a Snow Fox turning into a Silver Fox, a case where Martin accidentally forgets one of the special rules only used in this book (to wit, hit a Demonic Servant twice in a row and it automatically dies, although the player can reasonably infer it anyway) and using the wrong attributes (such as Attack Strength instead of SKILL when there is an important distinction between the two).

Section 3: A nice easy one to start with. If you go down the right-hand passage, then this section tells you to go to 88... but it should probably be 189, as a special event will trigger if you have a certain item. Section 189 asks you if you have that item, and if you don't, then it directs you to 88.

Section 14:

It is arguable whether or not this actually constitutes an error, but it's good to be thorough; clockface 7 appears to indicate 1:30, but it should be pointing at 2. (The solution to the puzzle is based on multiplying the number of hours the clockface is indicating by the number of arrowheads, and the solution does not make sense with half numbers.)

Section 23: This section gives you a list of places you can go inside the Ice Cathedral, and states that you can only visit each location once, unless you cannot enter the location on the first attempt and find out how to get in later on (for example, if the door you try to get through is locked, you may return if you later find the key). It is hypothetically possible to get stuck at this section with nowhere you can possibly go, and the book does not make provision for that.

Section 56: This section describes the departure of some characters who first appeared in section 33, except that creates a plot hole, as it is not possible to reach both sections in the same playthrough.

Sections 72, 80, 92 & 300: These sections all give you the option of beams of different coloured light to enter; there are different colours in each room, and stepping in to them teleports you to other rooms. Stepping in to the red light sends you to section 274 in every room, except for 92, which sends you to 397 instead.

The blue light will always send you to section 167, which would suggest that this is an error; as against that, however, the white light, the green light and the purple light can all send you to section 252, depending on which light is available in the room you're currently in. Here's a table in case it helps, showing which beams are available where and which section they direct you to:

	Red light	Blue light	White light	Green light	Yellow light	Purple light
72	274	167	252	N/A	N/A	N/A
80	274	167	N/A	252	N/A	N/A
92	397	N/A	N/A	N/A	167	252
300	274	167	N/A	252	N/A	N/A

Section 152: In this section, the Skyriders take your Bronze Medallion from you, and it is not possible to avoid losing the Medallion. A little while later on the same path, however, there is a section which is only possible to reach if you have the Medallion, despite the fact it is impossible to still have it at that point.

Section 161: In this section you trigger a magical trap whilst walking down a corridor... except it is possible to revisit this section multiple times, and you will always trigger the trap, with the game seemingly making no provision for what to do if it is your second (or more) time around.

Section 200: It's another puzzle. You are given six numbers in a sequence: 0, 1, 10, 35, 84, 205, and you have to work out what comes next. The sequence starts at 0, then adds the squares of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 11; you need to add the square of 13 to reach the final number, 374 (which is the section number you should turn to). Either Keith Martin missed out the square of 9, or he meant for the puzzle to be adding up all the square primes, in which case the first addition should have been 2², not 1².

Section 306: Another nice, easy one: the end of this section directs you to 138, when it should be 4.

Section 325: And that was a nice breather before we tackle this absolute monstrosity:

You have time to cast a spell, drink some brandy, or use a magical item, but you can't use all three actions to eat (you just can't wolf food down that fast). Make up your mind what you are going to do in the free time you have left to you, then turn to 158.

The Fighting Fantasy Wiki questions whether you have one or three actions available to you, but I think it's meant to be three and it's just phrased very awkwardly. It does, however, fail to specify if you can use one or two of the actions to eat, or if you are not allowed to use any of the actions to eat at all. (One might also question the fact that the game lets you down an entire bottle of brandy on the spot and suffer no ill consequences at all.)

Section 357: This section chides you for failing to help someone trying to communicate with you, but it is entirely possible to reach this section having already dealt with the issue, or it may not have been possible for you to immediately help the person in need.

Section 366: This section is set early in the game, in the aftermath of the titular Tower's attack on your hometown. If you leave without sufficiently helping the injured townspeople, then you are directed to section 111, which gives you a penalty to your HONOUR score. If you choose to leave town in this section, then you should logically be directed to that section, but you are not and are allowed to leave home without penalty.