Gamebooks

[Ellyssa]

Hello.

I was just wondering if any of you gamers out there knew much about gamebooks (I collect and hoard them wherever I find them - EXCEPT for those crappy Choose your Own Adventure ones) and if so what your favourite kind/series is, or if there are any you'd recommend?

Though I generally prefer those with complicated rule systems and character creations, my favourite one is actually the discontinued Fabled Lands series by Dave Morris & Jamie Thomson (aka Quest in North America), because each book represents a part of the world and you can cross back and forth non-linearly. Beautiful. Anyone heard of it? Tried it?

And btw, for those who don't know what a gamebook is, it's one of those books where each paragraph(s) or page(s) is numbered, and you flip back and forth by making choices as to the path of action of your character. Most popular are the Choose Your Own Adventure ones (horrid, ugh), Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf, a couple very simplistic D&D ones, and so on. Also a bunch of cartoony ones.

[MagicalPen]

I know exactly what you are talking about. I know i have one (or had one) some time ago when i was younger, but Gods know where it is now. I also had one called Asterix or something along those lines...and English thing of course...Asterix was also a cartoon/tv-show. Had to do with him being a Viking or something, and not getting along with the Romans (if i remember correctly - not an violent thing since it was for kids). I remember the Asterix one had some dice to roll with it for various things. The other one took place in some sort of dungeon perhaps - or maybe had a Skeleton or something on the cover.

[Ellyssa]

Seen the Asterix one, I think, though I don't have it. Skeletons and dungeons? Now, that's quite the range of possible books. ;D

I enjoy those series where you can carry your character from one book to the next, I enjoy those with puzzles to solve and hidden exits which latch upon a keyword or something like always happens in Fighting Fantasy. Oh, I forgot Tunnels and Trolls, I liked that series too. Yumyum.

I don't like the too linear ones (Where it's blatantly obvious what the correct response is) or the really, really easy corny straightforward ones, especially when most of the book is written prose with a handful of two way or three way branches for 'choices'. Like CYOA. Better to give me a city, and ten entries to explore that eventually loop back to the city (or not). Good descriptions are nice to read though. I wish they didn't discontinue Fabled Lands halfway throuh the world. :'(

There are even some adultish ones online, though they are for the most part trash. Think hormonal-charged teenager writers, eek.

[Celestial Goblin]

I liked gamebooks. The ones i started with were pretty simplistic and they AFK were never translated outside Poland. Just a few months ago i managed to get my hands on scenario gamebooks for 'the fantasy trip' game and had a lot of fun getting back to one of my first games ever. (that is, fantasy trip. the scenarios were new to me.)