Blood Sword is a series of five gamebooks originally written in the late 1980s by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson. Using spells, swords, guile or secret lore to overcome your foes in a combination of tabletop tactics and interactive story, the books form an epic saga for one to four players.
Banished from the world centuries ago, the True Magi have been gathering their occult forces in the space beyond the stars. Now they are ready to return to life as evil demigods. The only force that can stop them is the fabled Sword of Life. You must find and wield it on the final day or all humanity will become the Magi’s eternal slaves.
Fabled Lands Publishing reissued the first four books as new revised paperback editions in 2014, yet the final book was not included. Unfortunately, the original version of The Walls of Spyte suffered from having multiple authors working with different themes and tones, received minimal editorial oversight, had missing numbers that made the book almost unplayable, and required changes to character abilities that had been forgotten, plus edits to correct dialogue that assumed the reader(s) to be male.
This Kickstarter campaign for creating a revised limited edition full-colour hardcover version of Blood Sword 5: The Walls of Spyte will correct all known errors, improve the prose, and ensure that the tone is consistent throughout. Additionally, larger tactical maps will be featured in colour and there will also be colour plates of the new edition covers. Funds raised from the Kickstarter will pay for the editing and typesetting of this new edition. Once the hardcover copies have shipped to backers, a black & white paperback edition will then be published for purchase by the general public.
Campaign stretch goals will unlock an A4-sized The Blood Sword Battle Boards booklet featuring just the tactical maps, and a single omnibus volume of all five books – ‘Blood Sword Lite’ – incorporating simplified rules and no tactical maps for a more casual gaming experience.
The Kickstarter campaign for Blood Sword 5: The Walls of Spyte will conclude on March 16th. Details about the first four revised paperback books in the series can be found on the Fabled Lands blog.
I am more interested in the lite version. Even as single books. this is not as interesting as it sounds. Are current editions of the first books still worth my time?
Many gamebook fans rate Blood Sword as one of the best series they’ve played. The ‘lite’ version could be quite interesting, so if the concept of the gameplay doesn’t impress as is, the new version should deliver a simpler experience. Maybe you should just try playing the first book, The Battlepits of Krarth, to see if the current mechanics work for you?