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Fighting Fantasy Gamebook
Outline
Location: Khul, Titan
References: 400
Publication Details
Author(s): Andrew Chapman

Illustrator(s): Bob Harvey
Puffin
Figfan16
Cover illustrator: Rodney Matthews
First published: July 25 1985
Number 16
ISBN: ISBN 0-14-031951-4
Previous Book: The Rings of Kether
Next Book: Appointment with F.E.A.R.
Wizard (Series 1)
Wizard (Series 2)
Scholastic


For other uses of Seas of Blood, see Seas of Blood

Seas of Blood is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Andrew Chapman, illustrated by Bob Harvey and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 16th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031951-4). There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the Scholastic series.

Creation[]

"I did ask Penguin whether they would look at a pirate book before I set out to write Seas of Blood."[1]

The Wager[]

The city of Tak is the greatest den of thieves, pirates and cut-throats that the civilized world has ever seen!

In this city of scum, there are two pirates infamous for their ruthless greed, their daring raids and their countless skirmishes with death. One of these villains is Abdul the Butcher. The other is YOU. Only one of you can be King of the Pirates. A wager is laid, a race is on. But which of you will win?

Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need for this rip-roaring adventure. YOU decide which course to sail, which dangers to risk and which monsters to fight.

Seas of Blood - Back Cover ("Dragon" Edition)


In this book, the reader takes on the role of the captain of the pirate vessel Banshee. The story begins with a contest between the reader and his or her most powerful rival pirate, Abdul the Butcher. Each will take a ship across the sea to the Isle of Nippur. Whoever makes it to the destination within the fifty day time limit with the most gold will be declared King of Pirates.

Introduction/The Map[]

The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (see Game System).

Unique Rules[]

  • The book includes rules for combat between vessels with the attributes of crew strike (1d6 plus 6) and crew strength (2d6 plus 6).[2]
  • Seas of Blood is also the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook to feature a measure of time that helps determine success or failure in the form of the log.[3]
  • There are no Provisions or Potions to restore stamina, but for every day added to the log the player can restore 1 stamina point.[4]
  • There is no instruction in this book that your skill or crew strike scores cannot exceed their Initial values.

Equipment List[]

Cover and Illustrations[]

Main article: Seas of Blood (illustrations)

Covers[]

The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Rodney Matthews.

Seas of Blood Cover Variants
1985 1987 1989 1990 1993
Figfan16 Ff16 Figfan16n Figfan16n
Adventure
Gamebooks
Dragon ver.I Dragon ver.II Dragon ver.III Dragon ver.IV
£1.751 £2.502 £X.xx £3.503 £X.xx

NOTES
  1. Price of 1st Impression
  2. Price of 7th Impression
  3. Price of 8th~9th Impressions

Illustrations[]

The interior illustrations, including the black and white map as part of the "Introduction", were by Bob Harvey. There were 32 full page illustrations and 5 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: "Introduction", 4, 23, 48, 53, 63, 77, 92, 102, 108, 120, 160, 168, 181, 184, 194, 218, 231, 236, 255, 282, 288, 298, 316, 324, 327, 333, 353, 378, 388, 391 and 400.

Intertextual References[]

Other Media[]

Main article: Seas of Blood (computer game)

The book was adapted into an AdventureSoft adventure game for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro and Acorn Electron home computers. It was branded as Fighting Fantasy Software and distributed by Adventure International (UK), the name used under license in Europe from Adventure International by AdventureSoft.

Main Characters[]

Locations[]

Encounters[]

Individual

Large Scale

Further Notes[]

  • Seas of Blood was first published using the Adventure Gamebooks banner, and although this is not in itself exceptional, what is notable is that unlike the standard green "zig-zag" stripe across the top of the cover, containing the words Adventure Gamebooks in white type and the number of the book (preceded by the word "Gamebook") also in white, with Seas of Blood the writing in the stripe was black, as was the number. This would be repeated one more time with Robot Commando.
  • Although the Inland Sea, where Seas of Blood takes place, was placed in Khul in Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World, this was not the original intention of its author, Andrew Chapman. Chapman revealed on the Rebuilding Titan Yahoo! group that he "had created a more extensive geography and history for that world which I used later in two other books, and also in the unpublished FF Deathlord". One of these other two books was Ashkar the Magnificent, which contains the same map as Seas of Blood.

Errors[]

  • Some printings of the book incorrectly instruct the player at (352) to go to (255) when it should be (225).

Dedication[]

Thanks to
Karl, Keith and Ron[5]

See Also[]


Reviews[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. Interview with Andrew Chapman at the Internet Archive record of Advancedfightingfantasy.com - Retrieved 2019-10-26
  2. Seas of Blood - pg.10
  3. Seas of Blood - pg.14
  4. 4.0 4.1 Seas of Blood - pg.15
  5. Seas of Blood - pg.5
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