History Literature / Deathmoor

* {{Anticlimax}}: After braving the frustrating challenges of the moor, slaying Arachnos, and saving the princess, what is your reward in the ending? [[spoiler:A one-paragraph congratulatory text about how the sorcerer is dead and his forces will crumble. Nothing is stated about your reward or what happens to you after you return to Arion.]] For comparison, imagine '''if''' ''Literature/KnightsOfDoom'' had this ending, which isn't far from the one in this book:
-->You slay Belgaroth with the Elven spear. His forces crumble. You have saved Ruddlestone. Thanks for playing! ~ THE END

The beautiful Princess Telessa of Arion, daughter of King Jothane, has been kidnapped by the sorcerer Arachnos, and will be executed in three days. Only the bravest, most noble of warriors can make it to Arachnos's lair, in the edge of the deadly [[TitleDrop Deathmoor]], braving through the numerous obstacles inhabiting the moor before finally confronting Arachnos himself.

You are a veteran adventurer and native to Arion, one of the King's most trusted allies and best warriors; but upon your return to Arion from an expedition in the distant Isles of Dawn, you discover that King Jothane have already commissioned the task of rescuing the princess to Fang-Zen of Jitar, a ruthless mercenary and your sworn rival. He cannot be trusted, because of his cruelty and ruthlessness, and you will have to outsmart your rival before setting out to the deadly monster-infested moor...

''Deathmoor'' is the 55[[superscript:th]] installment of the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' {{Gamebooks}} and the final gamebook writted by Robin Waterfield. The usual Robin Waterfield trademarks of a meandering path and having the players going through a checklist of compulsory item hunting is there, in the form of King Jothane's letter and three keys required to enter Arachnos's lair hidden in the moor, but taken up to eleven this time; numerical puzzles are compulsory to be solved for successful completion of the quest, and missing essential items practically puts your quest to a dead end before it can properly begin. The fact that paragraph 400 isn't the conclusion -- probably to prevent players from cheating -- makes the entire book even more confusing.

Coming right after the massively successful ''Literature/LegendOfZagor'', and being published after a series of generally well-regarded entries including ''Literature/NightDragon'', ''Literature/{{Spellbreaker}}'' and ''Literature/IslandOfTheUndead'', ''Deathmoor'' is frequently overlooked by fans due to its over-reliance on numerical puzzles and unpredictable, meandering routes, almost-random sequence of events the book decide to throw at you, essential information and items that are easy to miss rendering the game unwinnable (which isn't immediately obvious), 50/50 decisions that leads to instant deaths without any hints or warnings, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and worst of all]], a painfully unsatisfying anti-climatic final ending.

Never knew saving a princess requires the statistical skill of an expert mathematician, huh? [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle Well now you do]]!

* AlliterativeFamily: The half-giant brothers are called Otus, Oman and Ophis.
* {{Anticlimax}}: After going through the hell of a frustrating adventure of the moor, slaying Arachnos and saving the princess, what is your reward in the final conclusion? [[spoiler:A one-paragraph congratulatory text about how the sorcerer is dead and his forces will crumble. Nothing stated about your return to Arion, eventual rewards, etc.]] For comparison, imagine '''if''' ''Literature/KnightsOfDoom'' ends like this (because this is '''exactly''' how ''Deathmoor'' rewards the player for completing this excruciatingly difficult quest)...
-->You slay Belgaroth with the Elven spear. His forces crumble. You have saved Ruddlestone. Thanks for playing! ~ FINISH
* BadBoss: Arachnos has no qualms having his slaves whipped and tortured. Or feeding them to his massive pet monster, the Pool Crawler.
* BarBrawl: Fang-Zen goads you into one as you confront him in a tavern. Later on if you're unlucky you might get assaulted by two other random thugs after recovering King Jothane's letter from Fang-Zen.

* BigFancyHouse: Baron Den Snau's villa, which you infiltrate for a vital clue.

** The amoeba-like Iron Eater which previously appeared in ''Literature/TempleOfTerror'' and ''Literature/CryptOfTheSorcerer'' shows up once again, threatening to chew away your armor. In all three of its appearances, this jelly-like creature would hide on the ceiling of a dark tunnel and drops down on unwary players.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: One of the possible NonStandardGameOver have Arachnos taking over your mind and turning you into his pawn.

* TheCatfish: Oversized fishes like the Granochin inhabits the massively polluted waters of the moor.
* ContinuityNod: You return home to Arion after a Scarlet Pearl diving quest in the Isles of Dawn; setting of previous gamebooks ''Literature/BlackVeinProphecy'' and ''Literature/TheCrimsonTide''.
* DamselInDistress: Princess Telessa will be executed in 3 days should you fail to reach her on time.
* DirtyCoward: Fang-Zen, your rival turned enemy; when he's in the company of his fellow rogues he's all high-and-mighty, but if you're both on your own he'll sneakily try to spear you from behind.
* DivineIntervention: While hopelessly stuck in the marsh, you can pray to one of three deities to help you escape your predicament. Choose wisely though, pray to the wrong deity and you risk a FateWorseThanDeath...
* DemBones: You come across a field littered with skeletons, which will reanimate themselves and crawl at you. Subverted that the skeleton horde are actually neutral; if you pacify them with the right items they will actually leave you alone, and even give your LUCK a boost with their blessing. [[spoiler:Unless you offer them the wrong item, at which point they will misinterpret you as a servant of Arachnos and rip you into pieces...]]

** It's implied that the Swamp Ghosts works on the same principle, being formed from the fumes of the swamp.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: If you fail to obtain King Jothane's letter from Fang-Zen in the tavern right at the start, then your quest is literally unwinnable before it can begin!
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: The Princess' companions and friends are all massacred and hacked limb-from-limb, and their severed limbs spells a message: "WAIT". Keep in mind that the Princess is only 15 years of age, and her friends are likely her peers... [[FridgeHorror So essentially a bunch of teens just got butchered by the forces of darkness]]...
* FishPeople: The Pelagine and Pelaginette which attacks you to steal your sacred Scarlet Pearl are these. You may also encounter a race of merfolks native to the moor.

* MultipleHeadCase: The Cradoc, as seen on the front cover, is a reptilian monster with two heads, an ogre's and a dragon's. You will have to battle it twice, since both heads have their own SKILL and STAMINA values, then choose which head to sever to put it down for good. [[spoiler:You need to decapitate the ogre's head to kill it, cutting off the dragon's head allows it to regenerate and instant-kill you]].

* NintendoHard: Having a high SKILL and LUCK stat isn't going to help you when the sheer amount of instant death choices, unexpectedly difficult mathematical puzzles, easily-missable essential items and chances to lose important items you already have makes this book one of the most unforgiving in the series.
* NobodyHereButUsBirds: You can fool an ogre guard by pretending to be a dog or a cat. [[spoiler:If you pretend to be a dog, you will cause the ogre to come out an investigate, leading to a fight. Try being a cat instead...]]
* OddballInTheSeries: The first book since ''The Crimson Tide'' where the final paragraph 400 is not the concluding chapter. Also the previous 7 books ends with a climatic boss battle against the BigBad, whether by throwing dice or using essential items to engage in battle, [[spoiler:but in this book you defeat Arachnos by solving a math puzzle]].
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The Marsh Ghosts inhabiting the moor are created from the toxic fumes of the moor itself. Surprisingly they can be wounded by your sword, and disperses once bested in battle.
* PoisonedWeapon: Baron Den Snau attacks you with a poisoned sword, which affects your metabolism just by inflicting one hit on you (Your Provisions can only restore 3 points of STAMINA after that). Two hits? You're a goner.
* PressXToDie: You can actually screw up this adventure in two pages, by choosing to set off for the moor immediately without looking for clues in the city; you will then be hopelessly lost and unable to reach the princess within the 3-day-deadline. She dies, and you have failed this quest...

* TheRival: You and Fang-Zen are competing against each other for this quest.
* SetAMookToKillAMook: If you know the essential clues, you can actually instigate a fight between Otus, Oman and Ophis, causing the latter two to knock each other out and leaving only Otus to deal with.

** While crossing the swamp, it is possible to be overwhelmed by the feeling of depression and sadness, which can possibly make you decide to just sink yourself into the swamp and drown on purpose. [[Film/TheNeverendingStory Where have we heard this before]]...
** Two of the {{NPC}} are a pair of plumbers named [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Oiram and Igiul]]. Have you considered [[SdrawkcabName flipping their names backwards]]?

* SmallNameBigEgo: For the amount of trash talk Fang-Zen delivers and the self-praise he constantly heaps upon himself, in the ultimate confrontation it turns out his SKILL is always at least 2 points behind yours, and he barely lasts halfway through the quest. He didn't even manage to step foot into the titular moor, Titan be damned!
* SwampsAreEvil: The setting of this adventure is basically this, crossing the biggest, nastiest swampy moor inhabited by the scariest of creatures in Titan.

* TruthSerum: The Truthstone can force your opponents to reveal the truth, but unfortunately it can only be used once. And if you wasted it on the wrong enemy, your quest is now unwinnable. (Have we mentioned how unforgiving this book is?)

* WouldHarmASenior: Otus have no qualms beating an old woman to death after forcing her to let him spend a night in her cottage.

''Deathmoor'' is the 55[[superscript:th]] installment of the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' {{Gamebooks}} and the final gamebook writted by Robin Waterfield. The usual Robin Waterfield trademarks of a meandering path and having the players going through a checklist of compulsory item hunting is there, in the form of King Jothane's letter and three keys required to enter Arachnos's lair hidden in the moor, but taken UpToEleven this time; numerical puzzles are compulsory to be solved for successful completion of the quest, and missing essential items practically puts your quest to a dead end before it can properly begin. The fact that paragraph 400 isn't the conclusion -- probably to prevent players from cheating -- makes the entire book even more confusing.

The beautiful Princess Telessa of Arion, daughter of King Jothane, has been kidnapped by the sorcerer Arachnos, and will be executed in 3 days. Only the bravest, most noble of warriors can make it to Arachnos' lair, in the edge of the deadly [[TitleDrop Deathmoor]], braving through the numerous obstacles inhabiting the moor before finally confronting Arachnos himself.

''Deathmoor'' is the 55[[superscript:th]] installment of the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' {{Gamebooks}} and the final gamebook writted by Robin Waterfield. The usual Robin Waterfield trademarks of a meandering path and having the players going through a checklist of compulsory item hunting is there, in the form of King Jothane's letter and three keys required to enter Arachnos' lair hidden in the moor, but taken UpToEleven this time; numerical puzzles are compulsory to be solved for successful completion of the quest, and missing essential items practically puts your quest to a dead end before it can properly begin. The fact that paragraph 400 isn't the conclusion -- probably to prevent players from cheating -- makes the entire book even more confusing.

* BlobMonster: While crossing the heavily-polluted stream to reach the moor, you might encounter a slimy monster... called a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Slime Monster]].

* ContinuityNod:
** You return home to Arion after a Scarlet Pearl diving quest in the Isles of Dawn; setting of previous gamebooks ''Literature/BlackVeinProphecy'' and ''Literature/TheCrimsonTide''.
** The amoeba-like Iron Eater which previously appeared in ''Literature/TempleOfTerror'' and ''Literature/CryptOfTheSorcerer'' shows up once again, threatening to chew away your armor. In all 3 of its appearances this jelly-like creature would hide on the ceiling of a dark tunnel and drops down on unwary players.

* SwampMonster: The titular moor is filled with monsters, from a [[PrehistoricMonster prehistoric dinosaur-like fleasheater]] to [[TheCatfish giant fishes]], [[BigCreepyCrawlies oversized millipedes and spiders]], a massive [[TentacledTerror tentacled behemoth]] whose lair is filled with skeletons of it's victims, and [[BlobMonster creatures animated]] by the muck and water-dwelling reptiles.

* TooDumbToLive: If you trust Otus the giant to deliver the princess back to you, the text will reprimand your idiocy in putting too much trust and belief in the forces of evil, that its a wonder how you managed to survive throughout all your adventures given your naivety -- and then reveal the princess will be delivered to you, but in pieces. Good luck explaining that to the King!

Never know saving a princess requires the statistical skill of an expert mathematician, huh? [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle Well now you do]]!

** Its implied that the Swamp Ghosts works on the same principle, being formed from the fumes of the swamp.