History Literature / SwordOfTheSamurai

''Sword of the Samurai'' is the 20[[superscript:th]] entry in the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' series of Gamebooks, written by the combined effort of Mark Smith and Jamie Thompson, this time forfeiting the traditional European fantasy setting for something closer to JidaiGeki.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: If you get captured by Tsietsin's goons, they'll take your swords, the shame of which causes the loss of 2 Honor points. If this causes your Honor to drop to 0, you automatically commit seppukku... with your swords.

* HonorBeforeReason: Such is the way of the Samurai, you will be penalized if you make dishonourable actions. Sometimes, this forces you in bad situations where running away or fighting safely from afar would be more sensible options.

* KickTheDog: If you meet the coal burners, they'll insult you and the Shogun, forcing you to teach them a possibly lethal lesson, unless you want to lose a Honor point.

* {{Seppuku}}: Paragraph 99: this is what you do if your Honor drops to 0.

* AmnesiacHero: Not you, but Elenore the Enchantress you can meet in the Enchanted Woods: she was cursed with insanity by the Dai-Oni, [[spoiler: but with the Water of Knowledge you can restore her mind, which makes her your ally]].

* ShockAndAwe: Both Ikiru and Elenore seems to make use of lightning magic, though the former has black lightning.

You are a samurai from Hachiman, in Khul, and you're the Shogun's champion. One day, you're summoned by your lord to complete a dangerous task: the kingdom of Hachiman is restless, many feudal lords are revolting against the Shogun and move war to each other, causing death and mayhem all over the country. Furthermore, dangerous beasts roam the land. All of this because the evil Master of Shadows Ikiru has stolen the Dai-Katana, the Singing Death, and is trying to use its secrets to rule over the land of Hachiman and beyond with his armies. It's your task to prevent this: you must venture forth towards Onikaru, the Pit of Demons, slay Ikiru and recover Singing Death, so that the Shogun may reaffirm his righteous rule.

* BossBonanza: Before reaching Ikiru (who's the FinalBoss) you have to face the Dai-Oni and his three champions, and the former can show up in a phantasmal form if you don't have the right amulet. Deconstructed as you physically can't defeat all of them in a row alone (if you try, the narration mentions that you manage to kill the Toad Demon and the Mantis before succombing to your wounds and fatigue) and need some allies in order to win.

* UnwinnableByMistake: An oversight in the encounter with the Dai-Oni makes the book rather more unfairly difficult than it might have been intended to be: you can recruit up to 3 allies to fight the Dai-Oni's 3 champions in your stead, plus the Ki-Rin can aid you against the Dai-Oni himself. However any allies you failed to acquire the necessary item to recruit during your adventure have to be skipped, meaning you have to fight the demon champion they were supposed to face yourself. Unfortunately, you cannot ''voluntarily'' fight a demon champion unless you have no other allies left, meaning that if you don't have the right champion for a demon, it will kill all the champions you ''do'' have before you're finally allowed to fight it, and consequently forcing you to face all the remaining ones too. And if you didn't get the Tiger or the Serpent to deal with Graalsch the toad demon, you have no choice but to watch the allies you brought to deal with K'rllk and Gargantus (and the Ki-Rin) die futilely against it before [[HopelessBossFight finally fighting the champions yourself and getting an automatic game over]].

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Averted, in the Nushi cavern you die specifically because you're rushed by three gigantic spiders at once, while the three champions together are too much for you to handle. On the other hand, the Golden Company can defeat Gargantus the Bronze Man by taking advantage of their superior numbers, although they do suffer some casualties as a result.

* RealityEnsues: No matter how much of a powerful, badass samurai you are: you cannot prevail against a large amount of enemies attacking all at once.

This book is slightly different from most of the standard entries in some aspects: first, your character is bound by duty and Honour, and thus starts with three Honour Points, which can be increased along the way or decreased (If if drops to zero you have to commit {{seppuku}}). You can also choose two of four special skills (Kyu-jutsu, Iaijutsu, Ni-to Kenjutsu and Karumijutsu), which may come in handy during the quest. Finally, unlike many books from Livingstone, there are different paths to the end (though just as many, unexpected ways to have an instant death), which allows you to replay this book in different ways.

This book is slightly different from most of the standard entries in some aspects: first, your character is bound by duty and Honor, and thus starts with three Honor Points, which can be increased along the way or decreased (If if drops to zero you have to commit {{seppuku}}). You can also choose one of four special skills (Kyu-jutsu, Iaijutsu, Ni-to Kenjutsu and Karumijutsu), which may come in handy during the quest. Finally, unlike many books from Livingstone, there are different paths to the end (though just as many, unexpected ways to have an instant death), which allows you to replay this book in different ways.

* AnimalJingoism: If you summon the giant snake against Graalsch, the Toad Demon will be too scared to react, allowing his opponent to kill hm easily.

* TheAtoner: Mochi is a former Tsietsin samurai who wants to make amend and can escort you for a while.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: Averted, in the Nushi cavern you die specifically because you're rushed by three gigantic spiders at once, while the three champions together are too much for you to handle. On the other hand, the Golden Company can defeat Gargantus the Bronze Man by taking adbvantage of their superior number.

* UnwinnableByMistake: An oversight in the encounter with the Dai-Oni makes the book rather more unfairly difficult than it might have been intended to be: you can recruit up to 3 allies to fight the Dai-Oni's 3 champions in your stead, plus the Ki-Rin can aid you against the Dai-Oni himself. However any allies you failed to acquire the necessary item to recruit during your adventure have to be skipped, meaning you have to fight the demon champion they were supposed to face yourself. Unfortunately, you cannot ''voluntarily'' fight a demon champion unless you have no other allies left, meaning that if you don't have the right champion for a demon, it will kill all the champions you ''do'' have before you're finally allowed to fight it, and consequently forcing you to face all the remaining ones too. And if you didn't get the Tiger or the Serpent to deal with Graalsch the toad demon, you have no choice but to watch the allies you brought to deal with K'rllk and Gargantus (and the Ki-Rin) die futilely against it before [[HopelessBossFight finally fighting it yourself and getting an automatic game over]].

* UnwinnableByMistake: An oversight in the encounter with the Dai-Oni makes the book rather more unfairly difficult than it might have been intended to be: you can recruit up to 3 allies to fight the Dai-Oni's 3 champions in your stead, plus the Ki-Rin can aid you against the Dai-Oni himself. However any allies you failed to acquire the necessary item to recruit during your adventure have to be skipped, meaning you have to fight the demon champion they were supposed to face yourself. Unfortunately, you cannot ''voluntarily'' fight a demon champion unless you have no other allies left, meaning that if you don't have the right champion for a demon, it will kill all the champions you ''do'' have. And if you didn't get the Tiger or the Serpent to deal with Graalsch the toad demon, you have no choice but to watch the allies you brought to deal with K'rllk and Gargantus (and the Ki-Rin) die futilely against it before [[HopelessBossFight finally fighting it yourself and getting an automatic game over]].

* HopelessBossFight: Subverted by the Silver Samurai: after attacking him three times you notice that his skin is seemingly intact despite your ferocious attack, and are given a chance to withdraw. If you press on, the Samurai will eventually surrender to you. Played straight by the battle against the Dai-Oni if you didn't bring allies with you.

''Sword of the Samurai'' is the twentieth entry in the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' series of Gamebooks, written by the combined effort of Mark Smith and Jamie Thompson, this time forfeiting the traditional european fantasy setting for something closer to JidaiGeki.

This book is slightly different from most of the standard entries in some aspects: first, your character is bound by duty and Honour, and thus starts with three Honour Points, which can be increased along the way or decreased (If if drops to Zero you have to commit {{seppuku}}). You can also choose one of four special skills (Kyu-jutsu, Iaijutsu, Ni-to Kenjutsu and Karumijutsu), which may come in handy during the quest. Finally, unlike many books from Livingstone, there are different paths to the end (though just as many, unexpected ways to have an istant death), which allows you to replay this book in different ways.

!!''Sword of the Samurai'' contains examples of:

* CreepyCentipedes: The Mukade dwelling in Tsietsin's dungeon is a monstrous, gigantic Centipede monster, as per myth.

* {{Gameplay and Story Segregation}}: If you get captured by Tsietsin's goons, they'll take your swords, the shame of which causes the loss of 2 [[AC:honour]] points. If this causes your [[AC:honour]] to drop to 0, you automatically commit seppukku... with your swords.
* GiantSpider: The Spider Fens are inhabitated by giant spiders of all sorts under the control of the terrible Nushi witch.

* KickTheDog: If you meet the coal burners, they'll insult you and the Shogun, forcing you to teach them a possibly lethal lesson, unless you want to lose a Honour point.
* KillItWithFire: K'rllk the Mantis Demon is a fearsome, lightining-fast opponent who can be easily dispatched with fire.

* {{Literal Genie}}: After defeating the Dai-Oni, you can force him to answer you one question. If you ask him how to defeat Ikiru, he'll answer "[[{{Mathematicians Answer}} Simply defeat him in battle]]."

* TheMarvelousDeer: Averted with a Giant Black Elk that immediatly attacks you on sight, a specimen that was thought as estinct. [[spoiler: You can take a piece of his antlers to defeat and obtain as an ally the Serpent in the Hub.]]

* {{Oni}}: The Dai-Oni is closer to western demons behaviour-wise, can take human form and fights you with black magic and a giant tetsubo. He can also revive as a Shura upon death.

* ShockAndAwe: Both Ikiru and Elenore seems to make use of lightining magic, though the former has black lightning.

* {{Ronin}}: One of the enemies you can meet is Ginsei, a former samurai who lives in the woods and hates other samurai.

* {{Seppuku}}: Paragraph 99: this is what you do if your Honour drops to 0.
* SwampsAreEvil: The Mizugumo Fens, or Spider Fens: hard to navigate, the risk of flood is high and costant and there are dangerous, gigantic spiders around. Walk the wrong way, and you may end up eaten by a Kraken.

* TownWithADarkSecret: The mysterious village you can run into is actually inhabitated by flesh-eating Rokuro-Kubi. They also have a [[TheUndead Forsaken One]] dwelling in their well.

* {{Wutai}}: Hachiman is the Titan counterpart to Sengoku period Japan, though it's located on the continent of Khul rather than on a separate archipelago.
* {{Youkai}}: There's a whole village of Nukekubi, though they're mistakenly referred to as Rokurokubi.

[[caption-width-right:350:None shall pass!]]]]

* EvilSorcerer: Ikiru, including being extremely thin, wearing a robe and a hood and dabbling with evil magic.

* InTheHood: Ikiru is the faceless because of the hood of his tunic, covering his face.

* HopelessBossFight: Subverted by the Silver Samurai: after attacking him three times you notice that his skin is seemingly intact despite your ferocious attack, and are given a chance to withdraw. If you press on, the Samurai will eventually surrender to you. Played straight by the battle against the Dai-Oni if you didn't brought allies with you.

* AmnesiacHero: Not you, but Elenore the Enchantress you can meet in the Enchanted Woods: she was cursed with insanity by the Dai-Oni, but with the Water of Knowledge you can restore her mind, which makes her your ally.

* KickTheDog: If you meet the coal burners, they'll insult you and the Shogun, forcing you to teach them a possibly lethal lesson.

* PantheraAwesome: One of the possible allies for the battle against the Dai-Oni is a gigantic tiger you can tame with a magical horn.
* ThePhoenix: Another possible ally for the Dai-Oni battle, a bird with fiery powers that can be hired if you're in possession of a Ruby Phoenix.

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Averted in the final battle: throwing Singing Death to Ikiru leaves you unharmed for the following battle.
* TownWithADarkSecret: The mysterious village you can run into is actually inhabitated by flesh-eating Rokuro-Kubi.