History Literature / StealerOfSouls

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: This being Keith Martin's first gamebook, its oddities stick out like a sore thumb.

* WingedHumanoid: You encounter a Birdman while scaling some cliffs, and if you offer him a Silver Feather he will provide you a valuable clue.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/MortalKombat Your soul is MINE!]]]]

** While Mordraneth can cast [[PlayingWithFire fireballs]] and [[RazorFloss death threads]] at you before you can confront him, once you fight him mano-on-mano by rolling for Attack Strength he's pretty much a standard boss fight with no special moves. Later Keith Martin gamebooks will usually have the penultimate villain TurningRed or using a LastDitchMove when low on STAMINA.

* TheNecromancer: Mordraneth has the ability to enslave souls. [[spoiler:Defeating him allows a thousand souls to be freed from imprisonment]].

** While Mordraneth can cast [[PlayingWithFire fireballs]] and [[RazorFloss death threads]] at you before you can confront him, once you fight him mano-on-mano by rolling for Attack Strength he's pretty much a standard boss fight with no AntagonistAbilities or OneWingedAngel moves. Later Keith Martin gamebooks will usually have the penultimate villain TurningRed or using a LastDitchMove when low on STAMINA.

[[caption-width-right:350:As you can see, he has already stolen some unfortunate sap's soul, [[OhCrap and he's now coming for yours]]...]]

The evil wizard Mordraneth, a dangerous MasterOfIllusion and all-round powerful archmage, has found a way to unleash a magical army of fear on Titan. With this power, he seeks to TakeOverTheWorld ([[SarcasmMode yeah, I didn't see that coming, too...]]) and Alsander, the only lawful wizard capable of stopping him, has been kidnapped by Mordraneth's forces. The hero, YOU, have been entrusted by Vanestin of Pollua, a mage, to rescue Alsander from the Isle of Despair. However, you will need to face the Empire of Illusion created by Mordraneth, and eventually confront Mordraneth, the Stealer of Souls, in a fateful showdown...

... and that's pretty much it. Yeah, as Keith Martin's very first gamebook, ''Stealer of Souls'' is notably rather direct and straightforward, having the player going from point A to B to C, finishing with a FinalBoss battle. Despite being the 30[[superscript:th]]-odd entry into the series, most of ''Stealer of Souls'' feels like a throwback to the earlier, single-digit installment of ''Fighting Fantasy'', following the standard rules set by ''The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain'' without any extra STATS or attributes which would later be a Keith Martin trademark.

Treat it as an experimental piece of work, if you will, or a GenreThrowback to the early days of the franchise; its a breather of a gamebook which still provides an enjoyable, not-too-difficult challenge for FF-fans.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler: Upon Mordraneth's death, the thousands of souls he enslaved are freed from his control and collectively rises to the heavens]].

** Overall, the story seems to run on a smaller scale, since its an experimental (but still entertaining) piece of work from Keith Martin.

* HearingVoices: Thanks to Mordraneth's illusory powers this can happen to you as you attempt to navigate your way through tunnels into his lair.
* HelpfulMook: The young guard that you confront doesn't attack you immediately, and is actually quite a chatty fellow whom is willing to point you to the next room without attacking you.

* TheNecromancer: Mordraneth has the ability to enslave souls. [[spoiler: Defeating him allows a thousand souls to be freed from imprisonment]].

* SinisterSurveillance: Mordraneth can see and hear you from anywhere in his lair, and is even able to create illusions or voices to taunt you.

* YourSoulIsMine: There is a reason why Mordraneth is called the Stealer of Souls, you know. Make sure yours doesn't end up as part of his collection!

* TheNecromancer: Mordraneth’s is this, with his abilities in enslaving souls. [[spoiler: Defeating him allows a thousand souls to be freed from imprisonment]].

* YourSoulIsMine: There is a reason why Mordraneth is called the Stealer of Souls, you know. Make sure yours didn't end up as part of his collection!

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler: After you defeat Mordraneth, the thousands of souls he enslaved are freed from his control and collectively rises to the heavens]].

** The storyline is overall more straightforward and direct, instead of meandering through an intricate network of paths, and choices you can take doesn't really branch out as much.

* YourMindMakesItReal: Implied to be the effects of Mordraneth's illusions, some illusory enemies like the Illusion Bug and Illusion Skeleton have STAMINA stats and can be fought like normal enemies. Not to mention the illusion of the Snake Pit and Rodent Horde can actually harm or kill you, or the illusion of compressing walls which causes death by shock...

The evil wizard Mordraneth, a dangerous MasterOfIllusion and all-round powerful archmage, has found a way to unleash a magical army of fear on Titan. With this power, he seeks to TakeOverTheWorld ([[SarcasmMode yeah, I didn't see that coming, too...]]) and Alsander, the only lawful wizard capable of stopping him, has been kidnapped by Mordraneth's forces. The hero, YOU, have been entrusted by Vanestin of Pollua, a mage, to rescue Alsander from the Isle of Despair. However, you will need to face the Empire of Illusion created by Mordraneth, and eventually, face Mordraneth, the Stealer of Souls, in a fateful showdown...

... and that's pretty much it. Yeah, being Keith Martin's very first gamebook, ''Stealer of Souls'' is notably direct and straightforward, having the player going from point A to B to C, finishing with a FinalBoss battle. Despite being the 30[[superscript:th]]-odd entry into the series, most of ''Stealer of Souls'' feels like a throwback to the earlier, single-digit installment of ''Fighting Fantasy'', following the standard rules set by ''The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain'', without any extra STATS or attributes which would later be a Keith Martin trademark.

** While Mordraneth can cast [[PlayingWithFire fireballs]] and [[RazorFloss death threads]] at you before you can confront him, once you fight him mano-on-mano by rolling for Attack Strength he's pretty much a standard boss fight with no AntagonistAbilities or OneWingedAngel moves.

* YourMindMakesItReal: Implied to be the effects of Mordraneth's illusions, some illusory enemies like the Illusion Bug and Illusion Skeleton have STAMINA stats and can be fought like normal enemies. Not to mention the illusion of the Snake Pit and Rodent Horde can actually harm or kill you.

* HelpfulMook: The young guard that you confront doesn't attack you immediately, and is actually quite a chatty fellow whom is willing to point you to the next room without attacking you.

* The Necromancer: Mordraneth’s is this, with his abilities in enslaving souls. [[spoiler: Defeating him allows a thousand souls to be freed from imprisonment]].

* AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistance: [[spoiler: After you defeat Mordraneth, the thousands of souls he enslaved are freed from his control and collectively rises to the heavens]].

* DemBones: You confront an absurdly powerful Skeletal Warrior whose STATS are Skill 10, Stamina 12.

* ShatteringTheIllusion: You can learn a shatter Illusion spell to use in case Mordraneth use his illusions to tricke you.

* DemBones: You confront an absurdly powerful Skeletal Warrior whose STATS are Skill 10, Starmina 12.

* MasterOfIllusion: Mordraneth is this, full-stop, and he is capable of casting illusions everywhere in his lair, at one point even an illusion of a dragon!

* ShatteringTheIllusion: You can learn a shatter Illusion spell to use in case Mordranet use his illusions to tricke you.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: This being Keith Martin's first gamebook, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

** You only have the basic stats of SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK, there's no [[Literature/VaultOfTheVampire FAITH]] score, [[Literature/IslandOfTheUndead PRESENCE]] score, [[Literature/NightDragon HONOR or NEMESIS]] score or other special STATS Keith Martin is known for.

** There are no Co-Dragons or PostFinalBoss confrontations here either, the closest Mordraneth has to TheDragon is the Dark Priest which doesn't really have a lasting presence in gameplay unlike [[Literature/NightDragon the Bonestalker Mage]], [[Literature/VaultOfTheVampire Katarina Heydrich]] or [[Literature/MasterOfChaos Naas the Dark Elf]].

* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: You come across a giant animated Minotaur statue, who ripped apart an unfortunate elf from the waist. There's even a lovely, nightmare-inducing illustration for the kids...

* YourMindMakesItReal

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:

* Flying Face: A blackened, flaming skull with [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]] and spits fire attacks you at one point.

[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

... and that's pretty much it. Yeah, being Keith Martin's very first gamebook, ''Stealer of Souls'' is notably direct and straightforward, having the player going from point A to B to C, finishing with a FinalBoss battle. Despite being the 30[[superscript:th]]-odd into the series, most of ''Stealer of Souls'' feels like a throwback to the earlier, single-digit entries of ''Fighting Fantasy'', following the standard rules set by ''The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain'', without any extra STATS or attributes which would later be a Keith Martin trademark. Treat it as an experimental piece of work, if you will, or a GenreThrowback to the early days of the franchise; its a breather of an entry which still provides an enjoyable, not-too-difficult challenge for FF-fans.

* HelpfulMook
* GentleGiant