Creature of Havoc

Gameplay

There are two small additions to the rules given the story circumstances: damage to the creature (the player) is reduced by 1 STAMINA point due to its tough hide, while rolling a double on the dice when determining the player's attack strength will instantly kill an enemy.

The player begins the adventure as the "creature of havoc" of the title, an unidentified, violent beast with no concept of who or where they are. Because the creature cannot make its own decisions, it is governed by instinct, and die rolls are initially used to determine which pages to turn to, rather than the player's own choice. This changes once the character finds a particular item early in the game which allows the player to make choices.

Story

The book begins with an extensive background section detailing the recent history of an area of Allansia known as the Trolltooth Pass. A necromancer named Zharradan Marr has been gathering small army; he is particularly feared as a practitioner of marrangha, a type of black magic that involves the transformation of limbs and organs from one creature to another. Three "Vapours" have been stolen from an elven village - these vapours are benevolent spirits which bestow the gifts of reason, languages and elven magic.

The player begins the adventure as the "creature of havoc" of the title, an unidentified, violent beast with no concept of who or where they are. The creature gradually recovers the ability to reason and communicate, and must learn what has happened and why.

Because the creature cannot make its own decisions, it is governed by instinct. Once it finds the Vapour of Reason, it is able to make choices. The creature proceeds through the dungeon, killing a number of adventurers before finding the Vapour of Languages, which allows the creature to understand what others are saying. The creature escapes from the dungeon, killing Darramouss, one of Marr's allies, in the process.

The creature then elects to help a group of witches by collecting a particular root. Whilst doing this, it he saves the life of a Half-Orc named Grog, who eventually returns the favour by saving the creature, at the expense of his own life. The creature picks up the bag that Grog was carrying and finds a box similar to that the Vapours of Reason and Language were encased in.

As a reward for retrieving the root, the witches lead the creature to an elf, the original thief of the Vapours, who the creature can extort for information on how to access the Galleykeep, Marr's flying vessel. Aboard the Galleykeep Marr reveals the creature's identity and demands that he surrender Grog's box, which contains the Vapour of Elven Magic. If the creature is able to defeat Marr by destroying his portal, the necromancer is banished from the world of the living and the creature reverts into their previous human self, returning to his position as commander of the Galleykeep. If the creature fails, Marr takes the vapour by force and it is implied that Marr uses it to conquer the world of Titan with the creature either as Marr's second-in-command or slaughtered by his crew.

There are several diversions, such as the Testing Grounds where crew for the Galleykeep are recruited, that although they have a long decision tree all paths lead to death.

Reception

Lawrence Schick refers to Creature of Havoc as "One of the more interesting later entries in the series", and SciFiNow named it one of the best offerings in the Fighting Fantasy series. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction comments on the experimental nature of some of the later volumes in the Fighting Fantasy series, naming Creature of Havoc as an example.

Jackson and Livingstone attributed the gamebook's popularity to its difficulty.

Other media

In 2010, an electronic version of the title was released for the iPhone and iPad by Big Blue Bubble and was discontinued in 2012, when Big Blue Bubble's license on the Fighting Fantasy series expired. New Fighting Fantasy app games were later licensed and released on Android and iOS storefronts by Tin Man Games.