Lords of Nurroth

YOU become a thief in the infamous Nurroth, Orlandes’ own version of Port Blacksand. You’re hired for a simple task of stealing a document, and are offered double your usual rate. Who would pass up a deal like that?

But what comes after the heist? That’s up to you. There are many paths to happiness. Collecting double your fee and getting out alive, is a good one. But so is foiling a plot to introduce martial law. Then again, facilitating martial law has its upsides too, for a blackguard such as yourself.

You pick what makes you happy and go for it.

Review and Opinion

On the surface, it’s a deceptively simple book. An hour after starting it, I had stolen and sold the document, collected my pay, and got the achievement for completing the book on Adventurer mode. That was it?!?

So I played some more, changed things up, and found more endings, many of them just as happy!

• Betray your employer, help neighboring troops to invade and restore order on the “city of thieves” that is Nurroth, and get paid big-time.
• Burn the evidence, and make bank when the city breaks out into war and a thief’s talents are in high demand.
• Steal evidence and blackmail a local leader, or get them killed while you get paid.
• And so many more.

Unlike most gamebooks, this one doesn’t have one big win but a whole lot of happy endings depending on your thief’s temperament. It’s not replaying trying to win… but replaying to find how many different wins there are. It’s a very enjoyable difference!

The book’s mechanics are slightly unusual, in that most times you’ll stick with your dagger, and if there is armor, I never did find it. And yet, the combat is well balanced. There are several items you can find, but most times you can do without with a lucky roll. And the new thieving skills (sneaking, stealing, persuasion, etc.) add a whole new dimension to the game.

All in all, a very enjoyable book!

Maps

Publication

Written by Dylan Birtolo

Illustrated by Simon Lissaman

2014

Book 10 in the series

Other Players and Links

• Official Gamebook Adventures page
• A review at TouchArcade