Lost City of the Dwarves

Book excerpt: Discover a long-lost city - check. Defeat rat-man leader - check. Wipe out mutated army - check. Destroy a nightmare legend - check. This, and more, is on your to-do list when you pick up Lost City of the Dwarves Part 1: Discovery, a new gaming book that allows you to choose the path of your adventure. The first book in the Path of Legends series allows readers to create their own character, outfit them with equipment and magical items that they find in the adventure, and battle with the enemies in the book through a trimmed-down and refined d20 combat system. Similar to the solo, choose your own adventure books from the '80s, this new series is like adventuring through a novel with great artwork, likable allies, loads of enemies, plus puzzles, traps and quests, where you don't simply make choices but take risks and earn treasure for later battles. Instead of reading about a hero, the reader is the hero. There are even word puzzles in the back of the book, crosswords, word scrambles and word searches, to reinforce new vocabulary that readers will encounter in the story that is both enjoyable and suitable for all ages to read, from the juvenile to the adult reading level. Plus, solving the word puzzles leaves you with scrambled clues that lead you to bonus items which help your character through the adventure. One special feature of this new series is that you keep your character all the way through. It will be written with the intent purpose of continually using the character that you build and grow throughout each book right from the start, keeping any items that you've found along the way. How you use items like potions will always be up to you, and there are a few items that only the most avid adventurer will find while wandering this lost city. Another bonus feature of this book is the original game that comes with it. The rules for Dwarven Battle Dice are included in the Codex at the end of the story, and readers will be able to craft their own dice with artwork that can be downloaded from Young's website at penandforge.ca. So even after the story is done, readers can engage in some rousing rounds of Dwarven Battle Dice with other fellow adventurers who have also braved the depths of the Lost City of the Dwarves.