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| 2 DEC 2009 at 10:40pm |
GonchiSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 337
Joined: 24 SEP 2007
Status : Online | Yep, I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books, still have a bunch lying around. My favorite was Dracula's Guest, which wasn't really part of the CYOA brand, but rather a spanish series called Multi-Aventura.
I found some pictures of it here: http://librosmultiaventura.blogspot.com/2009/02/11-el-invitado-de-dracula_28.html
One of the neat things about it was that you started out with money that you could use to buy some "inventory items" which would later determine whether you could do certain things (for example, at a point in which you are attempting to escape from Dracula's castle, if you bought a rope you would be able to scale down a wall from a window, or if you bought a candle you could use it to walk through a dark cavern, those kind of things).
Another of my favorites was a Spider-Man one called As The World Burns, and you had to throw dice to determine how you did at certain points in the game. Also had The Jungle of Horrors which was much more RPG, with stats, equipment and the like.
Had some fun times with those books. I think may have to try and find them now...
But I'm not so complicated as to flee, &&or stand here in silence. &&But I'm not so simple as to not caution, &&that there aren't three minutes, or a hundred words, that could define me.&&&&[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlR-6Tw-5bE]Brief description of my person[/url] - Cuarteto de Nos
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| 2 DEC 2009 at 11:15pm |
BlountSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 271
Joined: 19 APR 2006
Status : Offline | Loved those books as a child, i still have about 20 of them, my favourite being Mystery of Chimney Rock.
Currently Playing: Dracula Origins&&&&Check out my Videogame Music Covers!! http://www.youtube.com/user/SixStringsGeek
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 12:14am |
chronotigger65Journeyman
Posts : 1143
Joined: 23 FEB 2005
Status : Offline | Boy, I remember those things. Never recall hearing about the ones mentioned already here. There's seemed to be three types of CYOA books I know in my youth.
The first was CYOA books that were aimed at children that didn't have rpg elements just choices. There was a whole lot of them maybe over 100. My brother and I read them a lot. There was one my brother bought that involved a story of green slime that ate anything and the people dealing with it. For some reason I was afraid of it due to my OCD. The fear was of me encountering the sline in real life and be eaten by it. I over came it when I started taking medicine to overcome my condition.
The second series of CYOA books were from the Fighting Fantasy series. Not very well known of this series and only see a few in my lifetime. Though a DS game was made recently based on one of the books.
The third series I'm most familiar with is the Lone Wolf book series by Joe Denver I believe. I use to play with these books all the time. They were aimed at young adults. I eventually gave them away when I felt I was too old to read them but some years ago I bought the first 14 books on ebay. Problem is I've pretty much don't read them for some reason. Finding the early number books is easy somewhat but they get harder to find with the ones passed book 10.
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 12:26am |
Agustín CordesGuild Master
Posts : 5696
Joined: 23 OCT 2002
Location: AR, Buenos Aires
Status : Offline | Gonchi, that link is awesome!! I happen to own all 20 Multiaventura books, and supposedly there was an upcoming 21 volume (called "Esper--something". One of the ultimate goals of my life is to figure out if that book was ever released.
I also own all the 70 "typical" Spanish translations of the original Choose Your Own Adventure. It's like a hobby of mine to collect these books.
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 12:31am |
Agustín CordesGuild Master
Posts : 5696
Joined: 23 OCT 2002
Location: AR, Buenos Aires
Status : Offline | Actually, I had this picture. My CYOA collection:
[img]http://i50.tinypic.com/33mubub.jpg[/img]
The first volume of Multiaventura is in a very poor state though >
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 3:16am |
HalcyonSchattenjger
Posts : 1652
Joined: 17 NOV 2006
Status : Offline | Most of those CYOA books have my copywriting on the covers, and I edited and co-authored a number of them in-house. I loved those books, and so did my kids!
_________________
Exercise your vision.
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 11:06am |
GodfreyIntergalactic Janitor
Posts : 36
Joined: 8 OCT 2009
Status : Online | The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Citadel of Chaos and City of Thieves are what started my interest in adventures. Amazingly simpole but effective books with a decent enough narrative to captivate the imagination.
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain computer game was quite good fun too, although not an adventure. I rember running around a huge maze trying to find keys, but never getting anywhere near the end.
Certainly these types of games / stories would be great with a modern outlook if they are ever produced.
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 11:43am |
FnordSchattenjger
Posts : 2751
Joined: 15 SEP 2008
Location: SE, Stockholm
Status : Offline | Actually, most of the fighting fantasy books were written by 3 different persons. Steve Jackson, Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone
While most of those books had a relatively non-linear nature, you still had certain points that you had to pass. While the city based book (don't remember it's name, and as I played the swedish version, I don't think the name would mean much to you people anyway) let you explore the city (or walk in circles) in most books an early mistake could mean that you had to re-play the entire thing. But yes, for their time, they were rather fun, and it would be interesting to see if a proper adaptation of the format could be made for computers.
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 1:08pm |
MaumPrivate Detective
Posts : 593
Joined: 2 JUN 2007
Location: UK
Status : Offline | I loved those books! I have about 50 in French that I used to spend my summer holidays playing/reading.
As mentioned there was a big issue with starting over (I remember one of my favourites was set in a manor Le Manoir de L'Enfer in French- the protagonist was stranded there during a bad thunderstorm- it was all about black magic and summoning a demon. It was a really good game but exploring the wrong part of the manor at the wrong time would lead to a dead-end death situation).
I used to cheat miserably and always go back on myself to avoid those situations. I also used to cheat in combats...
Currently playing: Dragon Age Origins, Dishonored, The Witcher, Fallout 3, Deponia
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 6:25pm |
Jenny100Guild Master
Posts : 3510
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | I'd rather have one, really good, optimal storyline than 60 different bleh storylines.
And I'd rather have one, really long, involving story than 60 short ones, or 60 mediocre variations on a theme, most of which come to a bad end.
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 6:48pm |
HalcyonSchattenjger
Posts : 1652
Joined: 17 NOV 2006
Status : Offline | These are kids books, you know, designed to motivate readers and get them involved. Most adults would find them lackluster, but kids love them (there are two lines, one for teens and one for younger kids). They were extremely innovative and commercial for their time.
And yes, this was the '80s, before video games ate the world.
_________________
Exercise your vision.
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 7:29pm |
Agustín CordesGuild Master
Posts : 5696
Joined: 23 OCT 2002
Location: AR, Buenos Aires
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Jenny100 (3 DEC 2009 6:25pm)
I'd rather have one, really good, optimal storyline than 60 different bleh storylines.
Thank you for smashing my childhood.
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 8:39pm |
karlaAdministrator
Posts : 2591
Joined: 27 JUL 2003
Location: US, Close to the Edge
Status : Offline | Where have I been? I'd never even heard of these until now. Thanks, Steve et al, for enlightening me!
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 10:16pm |
Steve VeaseySpace Cadet
Posts : 115
Joined: 30 MAY 2009
Status : Online | Well, well, well, it turns out that the UK version of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone turned out to be the guys behind Games Workshop , famous for their Warhammer miniatures series...I'm glad that a few of you were brought up on these things, and Agustin, its nice to see that one developer at least knows what I'm talking about...
My actual all time favourite of these CYOA books was a Pirate gamebook, 'Seas of Blood' where you simply had to acquire more booty through ,obviously, plunder and pillage than your non-playing adversary..it took me about ten goes to achieve this, which I think is still what made those books so wonderful, the replayability of it all
Thanks for the memories...
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 10:34pm |
Steve VeaseySpace Cadet
Posts : 115
Joined: 30 MAY 2009
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Jenny100 (3 DEC 2009 6:25pm)
I'd rather have one, really good, optimal storyline than 60 different bleh storylines.
And I'd rather have one, really long, involving story than 60 short ones, or 60 mediocre variations on a theme, most of which come to a bad end.
I think you have to realise that there was nothing, literally NOTHING. like these things around at the time so we were all glad to take whatever we could get, and the stories were aimed at nascent D & D players in their early-mid teens so it wasn't going to be Tolkien-esque stuff..
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| 3 DEC 2009 at 10:39pm |
Simo Sakari AaltonenSpace Cadet
Posts : 130
Joined: 23 APR 2004
Status : Offline | Seas of Blood was also made into a graphical text adventure for various 8-bit micros. Yes, remembering this kind of trivia is what you get for reading magazines from the old days . . .
@ Jenny100: I would rather have those 60 different variations on a theme. Being able to affect parts of a story even in small ways is for me one of the main rewards for playing adventure games. Or, indeed, the odd gamebook.
Though I should add that my favourite books of this type have been others than those mentioned so far, since Dungeons & Dragons and constant dice-rolling combat, that gamebook equivalent of action sequences, were never great "things" with me.
There were some Marvel gamebooks in the eighties or nineties, including a Spider-Man adventure by Peter David. And I like the Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries instalment, Death at Appledore Towers (Iron Crown Enterprises, 1987).
I would love more of this latter series in particular, but I only ever stumbled upon this one. Oh, and there were also two Asterix gamebooks illustrated by the original artist! Those were my favourites of this genre.
[url=http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/album.php?u=57439][i]King's Quest[/i] & [i]Space Quest[/i] galleries (Telltale Forums)[/url]&&&&[url=http://www.adventurecompanion.com]The Adventure Companion[/url]
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| 4 DEC 2009 at 1:14am |
StilerJourneyman
Posts : 1462
Joined: 27 SEP 2004
Location: US, TN
Status : Offline | I loved these types of books as a kid, it was neat going through and just making the different choices and seeing how it played out.
I think the closest an adventure game got to this feeling for me was Fahrenheit (aka Indigo Prophecy).
It was setup so you had many choices to make during gamepl which could have an affect on things lter in the game.
It also had "Chapters" wherein you could choose which character you wanted to play as during ithat chapter.
The newer game from the developers, HEavy Rain, is going in this same direction in terms of it's choices and non-linearity. A character can even be killed off and it isn't "game over" but rather it will continue and that'll be a part of the story.
You should look at some of the trailer for it if you haven't heard of it:
http://www.gametrailers.com/game/heavy-rain/2717
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| 4 DEC 2009 at 3:33am |
Jenny100Guild Master
Posts : 3510
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By TAS (3 DEC 2009 6:48pm)
These are kids books, you know, designed to motivate readers and get them involved. Most adults would find them lackluster, but kids love them (there are two lines, one for teens and one for younger kids). They were extremely innovative and commercial for their time.
I've only seen the ones for younger kids. But I still don't understand the attraction. Threading my way through multiple "losing" scenarios in order to get the best ending -- it sounds too much like avoiding multiple dead ends in a game.
Originally Posted By maum (3 DEC 2009 1:08pm)
I used to cheat miserably and always go back on myself to avoid those situations. I also used to cheat in combats...
Like reloading a save?
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| 4 DEC 2009 at 4:04am |
| Deleted User | Sadly I have to say that my generation missed out on these. On the other hand I do have an adventurous ten year old nephew who really loves to read when he’s not on the computer....I don’t suppose there is much chance of finding any of these today. Is it worth looking?
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| 4 DEC 2009 at 5:10am |
Jenny100Guild Master
Posts : 3510
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Camaroboy1968 (4 DEC 2009 4:03am)
Sadly I have to say that my generation missed out on these. On the other hand I do have an adventurous ten year old nephew who really loves to read when he’s not on the computer....I don’t suppose there is much chance of finding any of these today. Is it worth looking?
There are some at Amazon. You have to check the age recommendation of the individual books, but some say 9-12 years old and some say "first published 1979."
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| 4 DEC 2009 at 6:18pm |
Simo Sakari AaltonenSpace Cadet
Posts : 130
Joined: 23 APR 2004
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Jenny100 (4 DEC 2009 3:33am)
I've only seen the ones for younger kids. But I still don't understand the attraction. Threading my way through multiple "losing" scenarios in order to get the best ending -- it sounds too much like avoiding multiple dead ends in a game.
Well, whether the experience is like that depends on the gamebook. As with everything else, there are good and bad ones. The ones I like feature more branching than sudden deaths. So the attraction for me there is exploring the nooks and crannies of that story world.
Actually the phrase you used, variations on a theme, is appropriate, at least for me, since I feel that almost any musical theme can be transformed into something enjoyable with skillful variations. This is why I probably enjoy even mediocre interactive stories more than good non-interactive ones.
[url=http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/album.php?u=57439][i]King's Quest[/i] & [i]Space Quest[/i] galleries (Telltale Forums)[/url]&&&&[url=http://www.adventurecompanion.com]The Adventure Companion[/url]
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| 4 DEC 2009 at 11:55pm |
AndromusGuild Master
Posts : 5538
Joined: 6 NOV 2002
Status : Offline | CYOA! I was a big fan of these, and of the Time Machine books as a kid.
I recently came across a lengthy but rather interesting essay discussing the CYOA books, dealing with their design and how they changed over time.
http://samizdat.cc/cyoa/
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| 5 DEC 2009 at 11:05pm |
TechnoSpikePrivate Detective
Posts : 581
Joined: 26 APR 2005
Location: PT
Status : Offline | I love those books. I discovered them in my teen years, it was my first contact with High-Fantasy (only very later on I would experience the thrill of visiting the landscapes of Middle-Earth).
Like Maum, I would sometimes cheat misereably and often take a peak to see if I was going in the right direction or not.
My favourites were House of Hell (my first book, if I recall correctly), Appointment with F.E.A.R. (you're a super-hero in this one), Vault of the Vampire, among others like Deathtrap Dungeon and Crypt of the Sorcerer.
Recently I bought Curse of the Mummy, a very good finding, that's patiently waiting for reading during a free time, maybe during a cold and raining Saturday .
Horror and fantasy themes were my favourites. I remember also some books sci-fi themed, but they didn't appeal to me much.
There's an official website http://www.fightingfantasy.com and apparently the books are making a comeback!
The adventuring was fun, but for me the favorite parts would be the history, the twists and sometimes the very graphic ways of different deaths you could encounter!
But the best, for me at least, were the paitings. Black and white, but so full of detail, the creatures seemed to be alive in the paper pages!
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| 6 DEC 2009 at 1:38am |
Jenny100Guild Master
Posts : 3510
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Simo_Sakari (4 DEC 2009 6:18pm)
Originally Posted By Jenny100 (4 DEC 2009 3:33am)
I've only seen the ones for younger kids. But I still don't understand the attraction. Threading my way through multiple "losing" scenarios in order to get the best ending -- it sounds too much like avoiding multiple dead ends in a game.
Well, whether the experience is like that depends on the gamebook. As with everything else, there are good and bad ones. The ones I like feature more branching than sudden deaths. So the attraction for me there is exploring the nooks and crannies of that story world.
Do you remember any of the titles of the books that featured branching paths rather than sudden deaths?
What were some of your favorites?
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