Deryni Challenge

[Laurna]

Has anyone read "Deryni Challenge"?

I found the book referenced in a couple of places in the Codex. Mainly under the headings of Geordie Drummond and again under Jarmuth Rhydon who was a Deryni Healer who was a Companion to Geordie on his quest to find the rebel human who called himself the Gryphon of God.  For a while, I was thinking that this was a reference to some short story I failed to read. But today my curiosity got the better of me, and I started to search through all my KK books for this Elusive "Deryni Challenge". Low and behold, I had it on my shelf in paper back, I have no idea when I purchased it, it has a used book store sticker on it. So I pulled it off my shelf and gave it a thumb through. (Can't believe I don't ever recall seeing this book before.)

This book was copyright from 1988  written by Stephen Billias. with an introduction written by KK. It is an adventure game  with the reader rolling dice and choosing what move the main character, Geordie Drummond does. I took the book to work and did not realize that a six-sided dice would be required to get through the pages. I therefore got out a random number generator on my cell phone and used that. So far I was able to save  the boy Beck from going over the water fall. This should be fun to see where Geordie's adventure goes from here.

P.S.  I do find it amusing that on the cover is artwork of Geordie in proper chain-mail and tunic of the medieval year 905, facing off a Cavalier swordsman who is clearly dressed for Elizabethan London. All I can say is,  Geordie must have one heck of an adventure ahead of him. 

[Jerusha]

A while back I too started a quest to find Deryni Challenge, but with little success other than discovering that it was not a book that KK had written herself.  I'm glad to finally know what it really is.  Hope you and Geordie enjoy the adventure ahead!

[Evie]

I owned this book at one time, although I have no idea if I still have it.  I only vaguely remember it. I think I bought it when it first came out, along with several other "Choose Your Own Adventure" titles, and if it had been set in Kelson-era Gwynedd, maybe it would have stuck in my memory better, who knows? But at the time, I think I just flipped through it briefly looking for mentions of my favorite characters and then just set it aside.  Or maybe I tried playing through it a few times, but kept dying.  (That happened a lot with the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.)  If I actually played the game through to a satisfying conclusion, I don't recall anymore.

I did think about it for a brief moment recently, though. I forget if it was in KJV or in TBP, but I could swear I read a brief reference to Geordie in one of those books, which makes me wonder if the author of the adventure book decided to pick a minor character from the canonical series and then spin an adventure story around him? Or maybe I just hallucinated that reference?   

[Evie]

P.S.  I do find it amusing that on the cover is artwork of Geordie in proper chain-mail and tunic of the medieval year 905, facing off a Cavalier swordsman who is clearly dressed for Elizabethan London. All I can say is,  Geordie must have one heck of an adventure ahead of him. 

Yeah, a lot of cover art, especially in the 1960s and '70s, makes you kind of wonder if the artist took too many mind-altering drugs in his or her formative years.  Or at least if they ever bothered to actually read the book!   

[Laurna]

So far this morning Geordie has saved some poor slob from a beating and took a couple hit points himself before defeating two brutes at a village fair, and rescued the boy Berk from the magistrate who thought he was a pickpocket. The boy had coin that Geordie had given him to purchase a meal. Now they are back on the road again.  So far there is not much Deryniness in the storyline. Only a quick interview with Camber the Earl of Culdi that started Geordie on this quest. But we shall see if I can keep him alive to get to the end. 

P.S.  I do find it amusing that on the cover is artwork of Geordie in proper chain-mail and tunic of the medieval year 905, facing off a Cavalier swordsman who is clearly dressed for Elizabethan London. All I can say is,  Geordie must have one heck of an adventure ahead of him. 

Yeah, a lot of cover art, especially in the 1960s and '70s, makes you kind of wonder if the artist took too many mind-altering drugs in his or her formative years.  Or at least if they ever bothered to actually read the book!   

LOL! Lets just call it ignorance, rather than hallucinogenic. 

Prior to the 1990's, I think very few people payed attention to proper historical fashion in their correct time line. Hollywood glamorized any fashion into the unrecognizable spectacular. And because of Renaissance faires, anything "Medieval" had to be of the Tudor fashions. Only the SCA seemed to know the difference.  I think even KK makes this small error in Deryni Rising when she dresses Alaric in a "light-weight shirt of scarlet silk" and a "black velvet doublet edged with gold embroidery and pearls".  The doublet has "full, split sleeves to show the scarlet beneath." To me this is Renaissance attire and not Tunics and robes of early Medieval times. Believe me, I do not mind, as it gave Morgan such a striking poise that I fell madly in love with our hero (for thirty years), but it is also a description of clothing that is never repeated again in any of KK's other books.  So I can understand where the artwork to Deryni Challenge is Fashion Erratic. I just have to shake my head and read on +++ and roll more dice+++  I did find some real dice to play with.

[Laurna]

Well, well, It was a slow evening at work, which allowed me to assist Geordie through the perils of his quest and succeed! And I did not cheat, nor did I rescind any of the choices made.  Only once did I worry I had made a bad roll of the dice but it all worked out well in the end. Camber will be proud of Geordie. 
As for me, my curiosity is going to have me thumbing through the  but-what-if-I-had-chossen-or-rolled-that chapters.
If you can find the book have fun with it. and don't waste time on trying to understand the game rules. As you go along, most of it is self explained, only once did I have to look at the rules for combat.