Deathtrap Dungeon

Deathtrap Dungeon is a single-player adventure gamebook, written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Ian McCaig and originally published in 1984 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2002. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the sixth in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031708-2) and the third in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-388-0).
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Story
* 2 Trivia
* 3 Wizard rule errors
* 4 Sequels and other references
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links

[edit] Story

Down in the dark twisting labyrinth of Fang, unknown horrors await you. Devised by the devilish mind of Baron Sukumvit, the labyrinth is riddled with fiendish traps and bloodthirsty monsters, which will test your skills almost beyond the limit of endurance.

Countless adventurers before you have taken up the challenge of the Trial of Champions and walked through the carved mouth of the labyrinth, never to be seen again. Should you come out of the labyrinth alive, you will be wealthy beyond your dreams. Do YOU dare enter?

This Fighting Fantasy gamebook is set in the usual fantasy world of Titan, in the Allansia region. The book takes place in a northern town called Fang. The baron of Fang, Sukumvit, has created a contest, the Trial of Champions, and the player takes the role of an entrant in the contest. Along with five other contestants the player must enter the terrible Deathtrap Dungeon, filled with elaborate traps and dangerous monsters (such as the Bloodbeast featured on the Puffin edition's cover), and emerge alive on the other side in order to be declared the victor. Throughout the book the player has encounters with the other participants in 'The Walk'.

The player proceeds through the dungeon, encountering numerous traps and monsters. The book also features encounters with the other participants of the contest. Some of the other participants are already eliminated by the time the player reaches them. Part way through the book the player forms a temporary alliance with Throm, one of the two barbarian competitors. This alliance is short-lived, however, as the player character and Throm are later forced by a Dwarf Trialmaster to fight each other to the death.

After this encounter, the player learns from a dying elf, another participant, that they are required to collect a certain number of gems in order to win the contest. The player must then bypass the Pit Fiend, the rival Ninja, the Bloodbeast, and also a Manticore to reach Igbut the Gnome, who is the final Trialmaster. He asks for the gems and their correct combination in order to unlock the door to victory. The player must rely on luck to survive this encounter. If successful, the player character wins the prize of 10,000 Gold Pieces.
[edit] Trivia
Deathtrap Dungeon map

Five other contestants enter the Deathtrap Dungeon labyrinth along with the player; an axe-wielding Barbarian named ‘Throm’, a second Barbarian in furs, an Elf woman, a Knight in armour and a robed Ninja.
[edit] Wizard rule errors

Some of the rules are incorrectly printed in the Wizard version of the book due to text being copied from The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The rules state that Provisions can only be eaten when instructed by the text, which is not the case. The book incorrectly states that the player has two doses of their chosen Potion at the beginning of the book, when in fact they have only one. The rules also incorrectly suggest the player begins the adventure with a lantern.
[edit] Sequels and other references

Deathtrap Dungeon is one of the most successful and popular of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, and one of the few to inspire a sequel, Trial of Champions, again by Ian Livingstone. A further follow-up, Armies of Death, follows the continuing exploits of the adventurer who completed Trial of Champions, although it is not set in Deathtrap Dungeon and bears little resemblance to the two first books.

One of the characters in the book, a troll whose name is Ivy, refers to her brother Sourbelly, who was a nasty troll guard in City of Thieves.

A Deathtrap Dungeon video game, produced by Eidos was released in 1998, as well as a multiplayer card game based on the setting. However, neither game is very similar to Livingstone's book.

In 2003, the adventure was re-written under the D20 Dungeons & Dragons rules as a 'conventional' dungeon to be run by a Dungeon Master with either a single 8th-level character or a party at 6th-level. This was written by Jamie Wallis and initially published by Myriador (ISBN: 1-904629-02-4) but is now published by Greywood Publishing in PDF format.

In 2010, Big Blue Bubble released digital interactive versions of the adventure for the iPhone and iPad.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]