Get up to speed with DestinyQuest
Thanks to the recent Collectormania convention, lots of new readers have been introduced to the world of DestinyQuest. I thought I would take this opportunity to provide a helpful starter guide to get new adventurers up to speed with the DQ series…
1. Print off your hero sheet
In DestinyQuest, you take on the role of a legendary hero: the main character of the story whose actions and decisions are under your control. As your hero progresses through the book, you will acquire loot (in the form of weapons, armour and magical items), which you can use to boost your hero’s powers and help them to overcome the many deadly challenges ahead.
The hero sheet helps you to keep track of all these items and their vital statistics – and, as you can print off as many copies as you like, you don’t ever have to mark the one inside your book. (Too generous, I know.)
The hero sheet is available to download and print from the downloads page.
2. Power up your abilities
DestinyQuest is similar to a fast and furious computer game. Your hero has lots of different powers and abilities, which they can call on in combat to help them beat their opponents. No hero should leave home without knowing their blizzard from their frostbite, otherwise things could get nasty!
The glossary of abilities can also be downloaded from the the downloads page.
3. Sign up for combat training
Combat in DestinyQuest is simple and easy to learn. Each combat is divided into rounds, where you decide who hits who and who takes damage. Once the basics are understood, you can start to add in your hero’s abilities, to help you change your die-rolls, boost your powers and dodge your opponent’s attacks.
The how to play section provides a step-by-step guide to combat.
4. Get some career advice
As your hero progresses through the story, they will get to specialise in a career. This will give you extra bonuses and abilities, and help you to customise your character further. Fancy rushing headfirst into the action, whirling a pair of giant axes around your head? Or perhaps you prefer a more refined approach, frying your opponents from the side-lines with a well-aimed spell or two? Whatever your play-style there is a career for you, from the muscle-bound berserker to the fire-flinging pyromancer.
You can find out more about the various careers here.
5. Dig out the dice
There’s no getting away from it. DestinyQuest might be a super-cool reinvention of the gamebook, but you still need to roll dice. Thankfully, you won’t have to resort to any of those odd-looking ones with eight, ten or a hundred sides. Just a handful of six-sided dice will do the trick. So get looting your games cupboard to see what you can find.
6. Buy the book
Last but not least, you’re gonna need the books! All three DestinyQuest books are now available at all good bookstores and online retailers. For those purchasing The Legion of Shadow, the cover with the purple-coloured logo is the most recent, containing all the changes and updates. Amazon seems to be pushing the older edition (green logo), so unless you want a harder challenge, don’t go green, go purple!
Right, time to grab a pencil and some dice, and take the plunge into the exciting world of gamebooks!
Happy adventuring!
MJW