Closing an educational gap - Ian Livingstone et al.

[Trantor]

Everybody has educational gaps they are unwilling to admit. For example, I have never seen Gone with the Wind or The Godfather Part II (part I was a bore to me, though). Similarly, I have never read/played the adventure books by Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone and others. Luckily, my girlfriend still has a bunch of those at her parents' home, so I was finally able to expand my horizon.

I started with Forest of Doom, then proceeded with Deathtrap Dungeon. Next was Seas of Blood, and I'm now having fun with the Island of the Lizard King. I have to admit I cheat - I just win every fight without rolling dice, and I sometimes try things I deem stupid just to see what happens (and simply go back if they prove to actually be stupid). I'm having a great time and regret that I didn't discover them 15 years ago. Also, several custom dungeons or parts of it make a lot more sense now (I'm looking at you, Linflas).

[beowuuf]

Yeah, i did as quid pro quo in secondary school with someone, they gave me a few FF books to try out, and I gave them a few LW books!

I would strongly suggest the sorcery four part series, due to its arc and spellcasting fun!

[linflas]

i have all FF+Sorcery+Grail Quest+Cretan Chronicles in english PDFs, if anyone is interested that is a one gb rar file...

[Zyx]

Deeply interested!

[Bit]

'citadel of chaos' - one of my very first computer games made on the Atari 800 - for good friends only ofc, because of copyrights Made a version for the ST later too. (Was in GFA-Basic, I think).
And - no one can bug me to make a PC-Version translated from german to english
Still got a dozen of those books. (Used them for kids that didn't like to read - worked pretty well!)

[ian_scho]

I still have a vivid memory of the ending from the Island of the Lizard King.... Don't do it Trantor, don't do it!

[Sophia]

I sometimes try things I deem stupid just to see what happens (and simply go back if they prove to actually be stupid)

This doesn't seem much different from save+reload.

I'm with you, though. My (quite limited!) gamebook experience is mostly exploring through them, and not rolling dice, like that, too. Most of those books have a "haha you cheater!" page you sometimes get sent to for people liek us.

[Narjhan]

Most of Lone Wolf books are available for free on this site: http://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Books. A must see for gamebooks fans

I was lucky enough I think to discover those books at the peak of their popularity (early to mid 80s I would say). My first ever was the House of Hell (Fighting Fantasy) and that wasnt exactly the easiest way to begin with lol.

Linflas, Im interested as well ^^

[Jan]

Most of Lone Wolf books are available for free on this site: http://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Books. A must see for gamebooks fans

Wow! Another LW fan!

I mean, you aren't a member of http://daziarn.proboards.com/index.cgi, are you?

[Giradius]

I had a load of FF books when I was at school (and have recollected many since, they occupy an entire shelf) they were one of the things that first got me into RPGs.
I remember having a particularly tough time of Vault of the Vampire (DONT EAT THE JAFFA CAKES ), I think the hardest book was considered to be Crypt of the Sorcerer (just bacause of all the items you had to find to survive your fight with Razaak at the end), but a great many of them were brilliant.

I think I had a Lone Wolf book once, are they the ones that look like each page is a Dungeon master screenshot?

[Narjhan]

Most of Lone Wolf books are available for free on this site: http://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Books. A must see for gamebooks fans

Wow! Another LW fan!

I mean, you aren't a member of http://daziarn.proboards.com/index.cgi, are you?

Oh not at all but thanks very much for the link Jan, Im gonna check it tonight

And Im not even surprised again to meet other gamebook readers here ^^ 30s something gamers usually share the shame weaknesses

[beowuuf]

Lone Wolf? Sounds familiar...need to check that out at some point....

@Giradius - Joe Dever, the writer of Lone Wolf, created another mini-game series where two sets of twin books could be played separately or apart - one set had a confrontation in a dungeon as you describe. The books are also in pdf form now, linked on the project aon site. They weren't connected to Lone Wolf.

Lone Wolf is a 20 book epic set in the world of magnamund following the slow rise to power of the last of the Kai Lord - warrior monks who fight against a great evil, and who are wiped out at the start of the first book.

Really good series, one of the draws being following a character consistently in their growth through 20 books and really getting to know the world of magnamund. The original version of the first book maybe reads like a straight gamebook more than the rest, but by book 2 it hits its epic stride in terms of storytelling. Definitely worth a look!

I mean...sounds familiar...maybe I should check those out, as should you...

[Giradius]

@Giradius - Joe Dever, the writer of Lone Wolf, created another mini-game series where two sets of twin books could be played separately or apart - one set had a confrontation in a dungeon as you describe. The books are also in pdf form now, linked on the project aon site. They weren't connected to Lone Wolf.

That was it, you fought against The Black Baron or something like that.

I Will definitely have to check out Lone wolf.

[beowuuf]

Exactly!

[Gambit37]

Lone Wolf? Sounds familiar...need to check that out at some point....

I mean...sounds familiar...maybe I should check those out, as should you...

You're such a little tinker!

[beowuuf]

[Gambit37]

I mean that in a good way.

[beowuuf]

Is it worrying that Itake that as a compliment?

[Narjhan]

A couple of thoughts about some gamebooks:

- Fighting Fantasy: since zillions of them were published, you'll more than likely read one of those.They do share the same set of rules, and in few cases the same fantasy setting (the world of Titan), but that's about it. There are Sci-Fi books, horror books, Pirates (!) books, classic sword and sworcery, etc.. Some of them are very interesting, other way less. Among those I recommend would be: Starship Traveller, a Star Trek like adventure, Freeway Fighter, a Mad Max like adventure, Appointment with F.E.A.R., a super-hero gamebook, Seas of Blood, pirates (!!!), House of Hell, a haunted house adventure.

- GrailQuest: one of my favourite collection. Clever, humorous, well written, those books are must read imho as long as you dont take offense about the way the Arthurian mythos is handled by J.H. Brennan

- Forbidden Gateway: a great but short-lived horror gamebooks collection that will satisfy many Lovecraft fans out there. Well written, with a great unnatural and chilling atmosphere.

- Cretan Chronicles: although those books had many flaws such as making you do stuff you didnt want to do, it was fun to play in a Mythic Greece setting, and meet some legendary characters.

- Lone Wolf: like Beowulf said, a great epic saga.

- Way of the Tiger: Michael Dudikoff meets Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser !! Another great epic saga (well that is if you manage to forget the really forgettable tome 6 Inferno).

- Horror Classics: 2 very good books by J..H Brennan where you can either play the Hunter (Harker or Frankeinstein) or the Hunted (Dracula or the Creature).

- Sorcery!: an ambitious, immersive, difficult, lenghty, and thrilling four books saga. The last book, Crown of Kings, can easily be considered as one of the finest gamebook ever written - not to mention the lenghtiest with 800 entries !!!

- Golden Dragon: a very solid collection similar to Fighting Fantasy. Same rules for everyone of them but different settings. Alas, only six of them were published.

- Demonspawn: a Conan like saga by J.H. Brennan. To be honest, I wasnt a big fan of this collection. The books were kinda short ( less than 200 entries if Im not mistaken), and the action was terribly slow.

[beowuuf]

Wow, you've totally avoided the straight fantasy ones, and a few of the interesting ones I would have recommended!

I would have recommended the Sorcery! four book series, creature of chaos, deathtrap dungeon, trial of champions, blackvein prophesy, and probably city of thieves. All standard fantasy setting, but either fun stories, or some have very interesting quirks to their gameplay

[Zyx]

wow, the Seventh Sense project is really interesting!

[Gambit37]

Yeah, 7th sense is very cool. I need to get back to that, I only played the first 3 books. How many have they converted now?

[Narjhan]

lol Beo I had to switch to my other computer because I had some troubles with the laptop hence the unfinished review ^^

And to be honest, I dont remember much of the stories of the straight fantasy FF. I might read again some of those in a near future though

[beowuuf]

Lol, I wondered where the other book series went!

House of Hell, you are right, that one was col - how could I forget that. For once an ordinary person in a contemporary setting, and you could die of fright!


Seventh sense - to be honest though I keep tabs on it I haven't used it, so can't remember how may books were converted! It's darn impressive though!

[Zyx]

5 books currently (the kai serie)

[Giradius]

Creature of Havoc was brilliant, such a difficult book (mainly because you start off little more than a mindless beast), it was also important from a setting perspective as it introduces the third member of the demonic three, Zharraden Marr (the other two being Zagor the warlock of Firetop Mountain, and Balthus Dire master of the citadel of chaos).

A Fighting Fantasy D20 project is something i would like to work on at some point, such an interesting setting, but then again "I want to do a D20 project of x" is a bit of a catchphase of mine.

I never played Sorcery, which is odd because its the first FF where you can choose to play a particular class (and thus you can play as a wizard) and so would have been just the sort of thing I would play, I think I have the first one, The Shamutanti hills, I will have to give it a go.

[Gambit37]

Sorcery was excellent, definitely give that a go. I've been trying to get an original set of the original wraparound John Blanche covers for years, though I'm not sure the 3rd and 4th books ever did come like that.

http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=105
http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=106
http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=107
http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=108

[linflas]

Sorcery! is probably the best series in the whole collection. Of course, my prefered author is Steve Jackson (UK). Except the boring and unfair Starship Traveller, which was my very first gamebook btw, he produced the most amazing and original stories.
Ian Livingstone wrote classic fantasy stories with nothing exceptional, most of them are dungeon crawlers, which is perfect for RTC adaptations

Some gamebooks i would suggest :
- Grahem Davis' Midnight Rogue which takes place in Blacksand and... yes, it's not by Ian *i write with my feet* Livingstone.
- Talisman of Death, the unique FF made by the excellent Way of the Tiger creators, Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith.
- Temple of Flame (my favourite book ever) and Eye of the Dragon by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson.
- and if you can read french, the gamebook i've illustrated is right here : http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_63/376 ... n_-_A5.pdf

[Jan]

- and if you can read french, the gamebook i've illustrated is right here : http://www.lulu.com/items/volume_63/376 ... n_-_A5.pdf

Unfortunately, I don't speak French - I wish I did when I look at that gamebook. I wish I could read it. The illustrations are absolutely brilliant, Linflas!

[Gambit37]

most of them are dungeon crawlers, which is perfect for RTC adaptations

Yes, I've actually been thinking about that for my own adventure. Bloodbane Rising is still too big in scope, I think I should do something more achieveable.

Ian *i write with my feet* Livingstone.

Heh he, a great mental image! He's not the best writer, is he?