Literature / Cretan Chronicles

Left to Right: Bloodfeud of Altheus, At the Court of King Minos, Return of the Wanderer

Mighty Theseus is Dead!
YOU are Altheus, the brother on whom this heroic task falls. YOU thirst for action. YOU must travel across the wild seas and lands of Ancient Greece, battling with demons, mythical creatures and powerful leaders. Brave Altheus — will the gods be on your side?''

Cretan Chronicles is a trilogy of single-player role-playing fantasy Gamebooks written by John Butterfield, David Honigmann and Philip Parker, and illustrated by Dan Woods. The entire trilogy were published by Puffin between 1985 and 1986 under the Adventure Gamebooks banner, which also covered the more popular Fighting Fantasy franchise and the Sorcery! series.

The player assumes the role of Altheus, the brother of Theseus, who embarked on a quest to slay the Minotaur, only to be betrayed at the last minute by an unseen traitor. Backed by a patron god of his choice (Athena, Ares, Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo or Poseidon — you make the decision on the first page of the first book), you — Altheus the hero, will embark on a journey through ancient Greece, meet familiar figures of Greek mythology, battle monsters in treacherous seas in a three-volume thick epic adventure.

To measure the traits and attributes of Altheus, the player will use dice rolls to determine the following stats: MIGHT, PROTECTION, HONOUR, and SHAME. These stats reflects the worthiness of Altheus as a hero, and the probability of him winning against opponents.

A notable trait in Cretan Chronicles is that, unlike Lone Wolf or Fighting Fantasy, your hero's status of being alive isn't measured in health points recorded in numerical form; rather, battles are divided into "stages", where Altheus and his opponent(s) starts at HEALTHY. The battle is determined by rolling dice and comparing their scores, as always, but at the end of each Battle Round, the victor will wound the opponent and reduce their stat to WOUNDED, SERIOUSLY WOUNDED, and finally, DEAD. Therefore if Altheus gets WOUNDED or SERIOUSLY WOUNDED at the end of a battle, but emerged victorious, by the very next paragraph his stat is reset to HEALTHY.

Being an adventure through an interconnecting trilogy of books, each installment of Cretan Chronicles are known for their immense length and thickness; the average book totals to more than 600 pages each, with every book being a standalone adventure. (The book instructs any players who failed in the second or third book to start right from the beginning, but logically a player could make a note of their accumulated equipment before the start of each adventure and proceed through there, not unlike Sorcery!

The third and last book is remembered nowadays for its Downer Ending, on a Cliffhanger that is never continued...

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Cretan Chronicles provides examples of:

• 1-Up: Basically, the effects of praying to Zeus for resurrection; you start with a new Altheus with your stats reset.
• Accidental Murder: In At the Court of King Minos this can happen during the boxing match, if you accidentally reduced Kremton's Endurance score to less than zero, at which point you get arrested and hurled into the pits.
• Almost Dead Guy: When the centaur Chiron shows up before you, he is fatally wounded through the torso and lives for a few seconds for you to either help him or rob him of his spear.
• Always Someone Better: You may look up to your older brother Theseus, but you can never live up to his legacy...
• Ancient Grome: While the story is inspired mostly by Greek myths, some Roman elements tends to show as well.
• Anthropomorphic Food: Among your many enemies, one of them is a Golem made of corn. One of the corniest opponents ever, huh?
• Attack of the Monster Appendage: The Scylla Boss Battle that attacks you with her six heads, the rest of her body being hidden within a whirlpool.
• Badass Normal: Altheus, your character, naturally. You may have the assistance of the gods, but you're still a mortal man taking on monsters and entire armies.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: If you seriously wound two bandits that attacks you, they will choose to drive their knives into their stomachs rather than letting you finish them off.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Giant fire ants sent by Hephaestus are one of the many obstacles you'll face.
• Bolt of Divine Retribution: If your SHAME score is too high, you are considered unworthy by Zeus to continue partaking this quest. At which point a bolt of lightning will fry you instantly.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Sometimes, the book will directly address you for taking cowardly, dishonorable actions before reducing your HONOUR stats.
  Is amicable Altheus afraid even of the dark? (Lose 1 HONOUR point)
• Catapult Nightmare: You jolt awake from one in the first book, which is a Prophetic Dream sent from the higher powers of Olympus.
• Chariot Race: You get to partake in one in the first book, befitting the Greek setting. Try not to crash though! Alternatively, you can just watch the race and bet on its outcome.
• Climax Boss: Talos in the first book, the Minotaur in the second.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: If you save a young man about to be sacrificed to a trio of Furies (Harpies with women's heads and bird wings), the man will curse you for saving his life; the Furies are sacred creatures and its an Honour for him to be sacrificed.
• Continuity Nod: To Greek Mythology. Since the events in this book are set in a universe where Greek Myths are canon, you can find murals of Hercules performing his labours, learn of Prometheus getting his liver eaten by eagles in a fresco, and stumble across Perseus who's seeking the Medusa's head.
• Disc-One Final Boss: The Minotaur may be the penultimate encounter in this story, but given your quest is split into a trilogy of books, you still have one more adventure to complete before your journey ends.
• Divine Intervention: You can choose to pray to either of your patron deities for assistance when things go south.
• Downer Ending: The quest concludes with you returning home to Crete... only to find it completely destroyed by the Trojans, your mother and wife taken away, and none of the gods willing to help you now. But thousands of miles away, your daughter has matured enough to set off on another quest of her own.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Somehow, Athena talks like this, mixing "r" with "w" every single time she reveals herself to you.
  Athena: I gweet you, Altheus, as a bwave hewo.
• Forced Transformation:
  • Your crew's encounter with Circe have her transforming your crew into pigs, and she will attempt to do the same to you.
  • Thaisia, after getting on the gods' bad side, gets transformed into a jackal for her troubles.
• Full-Boar Action: One of your enemies in the first book is a huge, wild boar sow terrorizing the town of Crommyon.
• Gilded Cage: Ariadne, princess of Minos, is merely a tool for King Minos to be married off to foreign empires in exchange of alliances; she means nothing to him, and is forbidden to leave the palace, being observed by the watchful eyes of Lembra. She even described life in the palace as a “satin cage”.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: You can partake in the Pankration, or boxing-match, where you fight Mino's son, Prince Kremton, unarmed with only knuckles as weapons.

• Heroic Second Wind: Having Ares, the God of War, as your patron will increase your Might stats in battle.
• Hellhound: In an underground chamber, a raging black hound from the depths of hell will attack you. It's implied to be related to the Cerberus and sent by Hades. And then the Cerberus itself, which you fight in the last book.
• I Am X, Son of Y: You tend to introduce yourself like this.
  Altheus: I am Altheus the Avenger, son of King Aegues King of Athens.
• Identical Stranger: Among the fourteen youths sent to Minos to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, one of them is a young girl that resembles your mother, which makes you even more determined to slay the Minotaur and prevent the sacrifice from happening.
• Inn of No Return: Procrustes's Inn, which you can choose to spend a night in. Too bad Procrustes is an Ax-Crazy murderer who likes hacking off limbs...
• Karma Meter: The "Honour" and "Shame" stats.
• Lesser of Two Evils: The player has to abandon Ariadne before their wedding at the start of the third book. Otherwise, Altheus becomes guilty of the crime of murdering family members because of Ariadne's relatives who died by his hand in the previous book by marrying into her family. This lesser crime of breaking his vows to Ariadne results in Altheus gradually losing everything, and coming home a hollow wreck instead of a conquering hero.
• Living Statue: Talos, the Giant Bronze Man from the myths, shows up as a Boss Battle in the first book.
• The Maze: Expectedly, you will go through one of these to find and battle the Minotaur. As per the myth, you can seek Ariadne and obtain a ball of yarn from her to guide your way across.
• Mega Maelstrom: A constant danger whenever you set sail. Whirlpools will threaten to swallow your entire ship and her crew, and in the third book the whirlpool contains the Sea Monster Scylla.
• Metafiction: At one point you come across a play which depicts the death of your brother Theseus, only to remember that there is no way mortal men could've learned the true circumstances of Theseus's fate. At which point you realize the "actor" playing your brother is none other than Hermes, and the play is staged deliberately to provide you a clue.
• Ms. Fanservice: Aphrodite, every time she reveals herself to you (which is quite often if you choose her as your patron goddess) there will be an accompanying illustration of her with the text which is really easy on the eyes.
• A Mythology Is True: Naturally, since the trilogy is inspired by Greek Mythology, you can come across ancient Greek icons like Hercules or Perseus during your adventure.
• Nemean Skinning: The first possible enemy encountered by Alteus is a wolf; if killed, he can wear its pelt, which provides some armor.
• Non-Standard Game Over: Having your SHAME score overtaking your HONOUR score, and getting subsequently struck down by lightning for being unworthy as a hero.
• Ocean of Adventure: Sailing is a major plot point in the first and third books, as you travel across the Aegean sea to King Minos' Island to find out the truth behind your brother Theseus' death. On the way, you can encounter pirates, mutineers, storms and whirlpools, and a massive Sea Serpent.
• Off with His Head!: Picking a fight with a poorly armed wretch will result in you severing his head in a Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Overly Long Gag: If you choose Athena as your patron goddess, soon enough you'll be cringing Every. Single. Time. she reveals herself to you. (Who is her language coach, Tweety Bird?)
  Athena: I, your patwon, will twansport you to the Acwopolis, so you may look over my favouwite city.
  Athena: Altheus, your twip to Cwete will now be vewy wough. When you appwoach Athens, expect no help fwom me at your awwival...
• Our Sirens Are Different: Many sirens will attempt to hinder your journey home in the third book. Using a strategy you learn from Odysseus, you order your crew to stuff their ears with beeswax to avoid being hypnotized by their singing.
• Patron God: Altheus can select one of six different deities in his quest to uncover the truth behind his brother's death. The choice of deities can affect the difficulty level and outcome of gameplays — for instance, choosing Poseidon can make the first book's journey across the Aegean Seas easier, selecting Ares can increase Altheus's power level during combat situations, while having Aphrodite will have the goddess periodically showing up in Altheus' visions in order to provide him suitable advice on his actions.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: After defeating the Minotaur, your next foe is King Minos himself, who isn't very happy about you attempting to free his daughter Ariadne from his palace.
• Posthumous Character: Your brother Theseus died prior to the beginning of your quest.
• Prayer Is a Last Resort: You will do this if a battle is going really badly for you, and you're about to be slain. But this only works if your HONOUR score is high enough, and you are only allowed to do so once per book, like in Sorcery!
• Regenerating Health: Your life stat restores itself to HEALTHY the moment a battle ends. Even from being gored by the Minotaur or chomped by a Sea Serpent.
• Retractable Weapon: One of the weapons you can obtain is a twig that can extend itself into a spear, which increases your combat ability. Too bad it can only be used once.
• Sea Serpents: A massive one can devour your ship as you attempt to sail across the Aegean Sea. However, if your patron god is Poseidon the serpent is a Skippable Boss.
• Sudden Gameplay Change: Altheus' boxing match near the end of the second book is resolved with a completely different combat system than the one from all other battles.
• Too Awesome to Use: A load of examples, including enchanted weapons, magical trinkets, chances of divine protection... too bad more often than not those are for one use only.
• Transflormation: In one Non-Standard Game Over endings you end up being turned into a bolus tree by the gods.
• Tricked-Out Shoes: A variation, an assassin will attempt to kill you with a hidden, curved blade protruding from beneath his sandal.
• Video Game Caring Potential: Since your adventure is being overseen by the gods themselves, if you perform good deeds, naturally you'll be rewarded, for instance having your HONOUR stats boosted when you prevent a war from happening or saving a village from monsters.
• Video Game Cruelty Punishment: On the other hand, performing bad or shameful deeds, can increase your SHAME stat — such as being greedy, striking an opponent In the Back, or killing a king.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: One of the battles in the last book is Proteus, a Sequential Boss who can shape-shift into a panther, a boar, a lion and an eagle.
• Weather Manipulation: Aeolous, lord of the winds and water, will hinder your quest by summoning a rough storm as you set sail towards Delos. If your patron god is Poseidon you may pray to him; Poseidon has similar powers and will make your quest a bit easier.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Constantly invoked, your patron gods (especially Athena and Ares) will reprimand you for taking dishonorable actions or retreating in a battle.
• Winged Humanoid:
  • The Furies, sacred creatures of the gods.
  • The Birdmen of Thebes you can encounter in the third book, during your voyage to Egypt.

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And half a thousand miles away from the east, your daughter waits her time, and sharpens her sickle.

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