Has anyone tried their hand at writing a "Choose Your Own Adventure" or "Fighting Fantasy" type book?

[DAgent]

I'm kinda curious what everyone makes of these old gems that I for one grew up on. I made a point of racking my brains a few years ago and trying to collect a few other adventure gamebooks I had borrowed from school or the local library way back in my younger days to add to my own.

And I do fancy writing one of my own, and I'm curious if anyone has ever tried their hand at that?

And what would people like to see in a new adventure game book if one was made that had it's own system for combat and so on?

I for one much preferred the paragraph style layout used in "Fighting Fantasy" and "Way Of The Dragon" or "Grail Quest" or "Lone Wolf" and others over "Choose Your Own Adventures" and the numerous copycats that used a full page, but not really all the page. But I think I'd have to come up with my own combat system so as to not step on any ones toes. I'm also thinking that the average 400 paragraph totals might be a bit low for replayability, and I think if it was doubled it might offer a lot more scope for storyline and gameplay.

And then there's the artwork. Who could forgot how gorgeous the artwork usually was?

 

[Bramandin]

I once got my hands on a tool for making text adventure games, but it didn't go well.

There's a text-adventure game that was being updated a few years ago and it's amazing in scope. It's highly NSFW though.

 

[THX1138]

I remember having a novel book like that many years ago. Grail Quest sounds familiar, and the book covers are too. I got halfway through it and then went back to playing my Tunnels and Trolls solo adventures. They were a short story RPG verson of what you are talking about. Kind of sort of.

 

[Rodders]

I never tried them, but i remember that they were a thing for a while. Ian Livingston is a name that comes to mind for these, i think.

 

[Toby Frost]

I vaguely know a guy called Jon Green whose written some. I get the feeling that a huge amount of careful planning is involved (so that rules me out!).

 

[Elentarri]

I liked these when I was a kid. More pages and details would have been nice. I found 3 Tolkien Quest/ Middle Earth Quest (e.g. Spy in Isengard) a few years ago at a used book shop.
Then I also ran across this: To Be or Not to Be by Ryan North - a chooseable path adventure by Ryan North based on Hamlet.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17938417-to-be-or-not-to-be

 

[DAgent]

I once got my hands on a tool for making text adventure games, but it didn't go well.

There's a text-adventure game that was being updated a few years ago and it's amazing in scope. It's highly NSFW though.

Yeah, I think I came across one of those VERY NSFW versions for Star Trek about 15 years or so back. It let people add their own writings so it basically wound up using various different combinations of the various crews and settings and LOTS of temporal anomalies to allow it all to happen.

 

[DAgent]

I never tried them, but i remember that they were a thing for a while. Ian Livingston is a name that comes to mind for these, i think.

Yeup, he and a man called Steve Jackson wrote a lot of the Fighting Fantasy series, but other books were written by other writers. Confusingly, there was another (American) writer also called Steve Jackson who wrote some of those gamebooks, and the books never made any effort to clarify which Jackson was which.

If I recall rightly both Livingstone and Jackson (not the American) were also involved with the company behind Dungeons and Dragons.

 

[DAgent]

I liked these when I was a kid. More pages and details would have been nice. I found 3 Tolkien Quest/ Middle Earth Quest (e.g. Spy in Isengard) a few years ago at a used book shop.
Then I also ran across this: To Be or Not to Be by Ryan North - a chooseable path adventure by Ryan North based on Hamlet.
To Be or Not To Be

Now that sounds kind of wild!

 

[Toby Frost]

If I recall rightly both Livingstone and Jackson (not the American) were also involved with the company behind Dungeons and Dragons.

I think it was Games Workshop. Certainly Fighting Fantasy and GW used some of the same artwork for a while. I've got a feeling that Livingstone was part of the computer game company that created Tomb Raider, too.

 

[Dave]

There is a Stainless Steel Rat Book written by Harry Harrison - You Can Be the Stainless Steel Rat (1988)

The reader's decisions will determine whether he or she can find Prof. Geisteskrank on the planet Skraldespand and bring him back before he activates a lethal new weapon.

I thought that was reasonably good. Every other book of this kind that I've read was aimed at children, and consequently they therefore were rather childish. I never realised there were more highbrow books of this kind:

To Be or Not to Be by Ryan North - a chooseable path adventure by Ryan North based on Hamlet.

My guess was/is that the rise of computer Gaming and the Gaming industry put paid to these books, as the concept was/is ripe for turning such a story into a computer game. So, it is not very surprising to me that you say that the same people were involved writing these as were creating table top and computer games.

 

[RH-X]

There is a site where you can write and upload attempts at a Fight Fantasy novel. I've not myself - I'm too busy playing them!

FightingFantasy.Net Homepage - Welcome Adventurer!

An online project to bring the worlds of Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf, Choose Your Own Adventure and other Gamebooks to life, where you may create your own gamebooks online, or play those written by others.

fightingfantasy.net

 

[Dave]

BTW Did you all watch Black Mirror: Bandersnatch?

There is a thread for Black Mirror here: Black Mirror and Bandersnatch comments begin with post #48

That is the same kind of interactive idea, and much better than a book or a game. Really well thought out pathways.