The Crimson Tide

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Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks
The cover of The Crimson Tide illustrated by Alan Craddock
Outline
Location:	Isles of the Dawn, Titan
References:	400
Publication details
Author(s):	Paul Mason
Illustrator:	Terry Oakes
Puffin
Cover illustrator:	Alan Craddock
First published:	1992
Number	47
ISBN:	ISBN 0-14-034555-8
Wizard
Cover illustrator:	N/A
First published:	N/A
Number	N/A
ISBN:	N/A
List of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks

The Crimson Tide is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Paul Mason, illustrated by Terry Oakes and originally published in 1992 by Puffin Books. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 47th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-034555-8). There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the modern Wizard series.

Some elements of the book tie-in with Paul Mason's previous Fighting Fantasy book, Black Vein Prophecy.

1 Story
2 Editing error
3 Other references
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Story

Civil war wracks the Isles of the Dawn. You are a young farmer, unaffected by the turmoil until chaos strikes. A roving band of mercenaries ransacks your village, killing your father and enslaving your mother. This injustice must be righted!

Arcane creatures, martial monks and battle-hardened warriors must all be overcome, as your quest for justice leads you from your quiet village to the very Court of the God-King!

This gamebook is set in the Isles of Dawn, a region on Titan similar to ancient China. The player takes the role of a young boy seeking vengeance on the mercenaries that burned down his village, killed his father and kidnapped his mother. The character can go on to train in martial arts at a monastery and progresses through a series of adventures before finally attaining the Sacred Sword of Tsui and confronting the leader of the mercenaries.

Unlike other Fighting Fantasy books the player character ages over the course of the story, beginning as a young boy with low SKILL and STAMINA scores. As the book progresses, the player increases in age, and the scores increase to reflect this. There is also a special attibute, FURY.

Also unlike other Fighting Fantasy books is the fact that many of the premature endings to the book do not involve the death or failure of the player character. These endings include the player character living the rest of his life as a monk, a sailor or a basket weaver, without finding his mother or obtaining his revenge.

[edit] Editing error

The first enemy encountered on the critical path to the standard solution of the book is a Mudworm, with a SKILL score of 12 (at this point the highest possible SKILL which the player character could have is 6), rendering the book virtually impossible to complete without having the player cheat. This was an editing mistake by Marc Gascoigne (whom Mason later referred to as a 'dingbat' and 'a total idiot') who forgot that the player began the book as a child and altered the SKILL score of the Mudworm from 6 to 12.^[1]

[edit] Other references

The Crimson Tide ties-in with Paul Mason's previous Fighting Fantasy book, Black Vein Prophecy. The player character meets several characters from Black Vein Prophecy, including the player character from the successful ending to the earlier book, who is now a king.

The book also contains a reference to the earlier Fighting Fantasy book Sword of the Samurai. The player can encounter a character from Hachiman, the region in which the earlier book is set.