Monster: Shadow People

Good day to you all!  First, I have some blog related news.  Unfortunately, I have had to turn on the word verification for comments.  As annoying as it is, the blog is getting several spam posts a day and I jsut don't want to spend ages deleting them.  So, sorry about that.

Here is an Advanced Fighting Fantasy related post.  A lot is happening on that front.  The first Blacksand books (now with new material!) are being shipped out today and the release of the second monster compendium,  Out of the Pit 2 is imminent.

You can get updates about this and other AFF related matters on the forum.

Speaking of monsters for Advanced Fighting Fantasy, here is one that was inspired by a show from the Binnall of America podcast.

From this site.

A lot of my inspiration for gamebooks comes from podcasts about conspiracy theories, paranormal reports and paranormal experiences.  One paranormal report that fascinates me is that of the shadow people.  This was first bought to my attention by Jason Offut in his interviews on Binnall of America (you can find them here and here). 

One version of the shadow people is that they come to people as they sleep, sometimes prevent them from moving, terrify them and then drain life from them.  This seems like a pretty freaky experience.  You can read about encounters with shadow people here. 

Here is some AFF stats for a shadow person.

SHADOW PERSON

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED:  1

LOCATION:  Anywhere

REACTION:  Hostile

INTELLIGENCE:  High

CREATURE TYPE:  Spirit

SKILL:                      10

STAMINA:               4

LUCK:                      10

MAGIC:                    10

MAGIC POINTS:     30

SKILLS: Magic-Wizardry (5), Magic Lore (5), Second Sight (5), Religion Lore (2),  
Secret Signs (3), Strength (4), World Lore (5), Eldritch Lore (5),

TALENT:  Natural Mage.

SPELLS:  Darkness (1), Fear (1), Glowing Eyes (1), Lock (1), Open (1), Combine (+2), Concentrate (+2), Sleep (2), Fly (4), Grand Illusion (4), Restrain (4), Teleport (6)

WEAPON:  Draining touch, deals 3 stamina points of damage with each hit.  Non magical armour does not reduce this damage.

ARMOUR:  None.

SPECIAL:  Aura of terror:  If a shadow person activates this ability, all mortal creatures in a 5 metre radius of a shadow person will be overcome by a sense of terror and must all test their luck.  Anyone who fails will be unable to move through terror for as long as they stay within 5m of the shadow person.  This ability is very powerful and drains 6 magic points from the shadow person for every minute or part of a minute that they use it.

Immune to non magical weapons:  Normal weapons do not harm a shadow person.  Reducing a shadow person's stamina to 0 merely banishes it from the mortal realm.

 Planeswalk: Shadow people can move between their realm and the material realm. This requires 6 magic points and 10 minutes of preparation time.

Weakness to holy light:  If a shadow person comes into contact with holy light (such as light from the ability of a priest of Glatanka), they will have their skill reduced by 2 and lose 1 stamina point per combat round.  They will also not be able to cast any spells or use their aura of terror or planeswalk special ability while in the light.

Banishment:  Shadow people can be banished back to their realm if certain gods or spirits are invoked but this is difficult.  Only a character with either Religion Lore and/or the Secret Signs skills can do this.  They must make a check which can use the bonus to Religion Lore and Secret Signs.  Priests of good gods get a further +2 bonus.However, there is also a -4 penalty because it is very difficult.  If the player succeeds, the shadow person is banished.  If the player fails, then they will be affected as if they had been afflicted by the aura of terror for 1 minute.

TACTICS

A shadow person will find someone alone and asleep.  They will cast the restrain spell upon them and then, just because they are sadistic and evil, they will wake the person up and cast the fear spell upon them so that they are both paralysed and terrified as the shadow person drains their stamina.  A shadow person will never kill in this way.  They will drain half of the victim's current stamina rounded down.  If a shadow person is set upon by multiple opponents, they will try to use their aura of terror ability or try to fly or teleport away. 

OTHER

Wizards have tried to summon and control shadow people for centuries in order to utilise their power and knowledge for they know of many unearthly things.  Such summonings are likely to end in disaster as shadow people are malevolent and cunning.  A magic user who tries such a thing is a fool.

My post April A to Z reflections

Good day to you all!  Today, I'll talk about my April A to Z this year and how I think it went.  Again, I would like to thank the whole A to Z team for making it possible.  Being part of the April A to Z in the last three years has brought me a lot of followers, pageviews and connections.  It's helped me push my blog to its  limits.  This year, howver, I've not had to time to get the most from it and I will explain below.  This is nothing to do with the team, but rather to do with me and my circumstances.

The good:

As has been the case with the last two Aprils, I broke my record for blog views this month, going over 16,000.  This does not look like a dramatic rise compared to the previous months and it is not over double, like last year's A to Z, but I put this down to adding my name to the list super early and so I did not get an April A to Z rise just in April but also in February and March.  I also got a few more followers and saw a few more great blogs that I am now following.

The bad:

I think I peaked with last year's April A to Z and went downhill this year.  Last year, I sent all the wonderful participants individual sets of questions well in advance and published tons of posts.  This year, I had less time and sent everyone the same list in a big group email.  I also spent less time exploring the list of participants, which is a pain because I know that I have missed out in that respect.  I also missed a Sunday post, which is only the second time in the last 3 years (the first time was intentionally, as I was going to cut down on my posting, but didn't).

Conclusion

So basically, I din't have the time to get the most out of the April A to Z that I could have done and there is a good reason for that.

   Back in January 2012, I made a post saying that I was going to cut back on my activity on the blog, due to other commitments.  I said that I would post less than once a week, but that didn't stick, because I love posting too much and there was loads going on in the world of gamebooks.  However, I also had other writing to do, which I listed and it is taking up a huge portion of time too.

I also listed my life as a reason for cutting back on posts.  I didn't clarify then, but I will now - when I wrote that post, I knew that I had a baby on the way.

Since last year, I've been a daddy on top of doing a job and writing.  I've managed to keep going, but I'm definitely feeling the strain of too many commitments now, and it is coming across in the blog as before I might have slipped in a little midweek news update if I had a spare few minutes.  That sort of thing has not happened at all this year.  I also gave  up on the idea of writing a review for all 22 Windhammer entries last year, but maybe this year, with its extended time period, I might have a shot.

However, I will still commit to doing a post a week.  I tend to bulk write them when I have some spare time, so I can manage that.  These post will be more about analysis and less timely.  However, I'm still scouring the web for news - it will just go into Fighting Fantazine.  I will still like to do next year's April A to Z, but in what form, I don't know.

I would like to interview gamebookers, with the aim of giving them more exposure, but that does require a lot of work in March.  I could spend the whole year before planning posts or mini gamebooks for the competition, instead, but that will be less current.  I think the situation that will arise will be in the middle, where I will get some interviewees and then supplement the posts with mini gamebooks.

So there we go.  My life is very different compared to August 2010 when I wrote my first, short post about my Windhammer writing.  I think this blog peaked in 2012 when I really got into it, but I will still be here bringing some regular posts.

Until next week...toodles!

Holdfast - a new gamebook kickstarter

Good day to you, gamebookers!  Here is a post to broadcast the news that there is a new gamebook project on Kickstarter.  It is called Holdfast and I'd just like to make clear that it has nothing to do with glue.

Here is their introduction on their Kickstarter page:

Holdfast is an adventure gamebook for Print, Android, Mac and PC, following in the tradition of the old '80s and '90s greats: Lone Wolf, Fighting Fantasy, Tolkien Questand Fabled Lands. Taking up your ancestral weapons, you'll choose your path to reclaim your homeland through orc-legions, hidden grudges, and nameless horrors from the Deeps. You will delve, expand your fortress and confront a mighty army, if you have the mettle it takes to hold the realms of old.

With over 600 sections, you'll discover many different mysteries, threats and resources to aid in your rule. The book will be printed in soft and hard covers, black and white, with over 50 illustrations. We have partnered with Tin Man Games to use their excellent platform to provide the Android, Mac and PC versions of the gamebook.

It's looking very exciting, so have a look for yourself on the Kickstarter page.

You can see all of the updates here.

April A to Z - bonus interview.

Hello gamebookers!

Today we have an interview that I couldn't fit into the April A to Z.  This is from the two Steves who have iHero gamebooks and other gamebook series.
released their awesome gamebook range of

So without further ado, here is the interview.

Who you are and how you got into gamebooks?

You can find out about who we are on the website - lots of boring facts! We read the Steve Jackson/Ian Livingstone books as kids and enjoyed them. So when a publisher asked if we could come up with an interactive series to get boys reading we came up with iHero (and latterly Crime Team and Ihorror)

What you have done relating to gamebooks?

Twelve stand alone iHero. 2 lots of 4 quest books 4 crime team books and 4 i horror books! (and working on some more!)

What you plan on doing now related to gamebooks?

We are slowly getting these books into foreign markets - they ahve been translated into Dutch and French, with other publishers across the world being interested in the titles...

What you think the future of gamebooks is?

I think apps and digital media is the way forward! How cool will that be - they are already available as e books but I think even more interactivity will work brilliantly on these types of books...

You can read more about the two Steves at their website and buy books from their shop.

Happy gamebooking!

April A to Z - Z is for Zombies.

Yes, I'm sure about 78% of all A to Z blog posts today are about Zombies, but then why not?  They are very cool.

 And today, we have a gamebook author who has written a zombie apocalypse gamebook.  his name is James Schannep and his first Click Your Poison Book, Infected is available now as an ebook  or as a physical book from Createspace or Amazon.  He has also written an essay on why zombies are cool (at the bottom of this post).

And now, I'll hand you over to James...

Tell us a little about yourself.

Well, I have my "official" Amazon bio: "James Schannep (1984-) is an American novelist and screenwriter with a dozen competition wins and placements. His first screenplay was optioned in 2011 and the Click Your Poison series was launched September, 2012 with the flagship book INFECTED. A United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) graduate with a degree in English, Schannep left the service honorably to write full time. He resides with his wife along California's central coast. James has personally stopped three zombie uprisings without raising national attention."

And my "unofficial" personal website bio/writing manifesto: "Hi. My name’s James and I’m addicted to story. It started innocently enough, just a few movies at friends’ houses, books at school, getting the harder stuff from my older sisters and their boyfriends. Once I was hooked, I couldn’t get enough. I needed more, and in purer form and higher quantities. Soon I was on to whole book series and the seemingly endless RPG titles.

 It wasn’t enough to simply watch a movie anymore, I needed to know everything about it: minor characters’ names who weren’t even mentioned in the film, production notes, and trivia. Oh my, the trivia.This is when I started dealing my own stuff. Nothing big, but enough to support my habit and that of my story junky friends.

 I shared fan fiction with fellow nerds, I invented boardgames, I added my own voiceover to MST3K, made movies on the family camcorder… I created, and it felt good.Then I had what every veteran writer will identify as the “gateway thought” — not merely away from the innocent-enough world of story, but into parallel universes, into painfully deep philosophic thought, the kind that turns a dreamer into a cynic. I thought, “These stories should be better, I can do better.” I know there are other people out there, like me, addicted to story, who make their living off writing — whole cartels dedicated to story and story production — and soon, they shall know my name."

How did you get into gamebooks?

It started with the Choose Your Own Adventure and Give Yourself Goosebumps series that I read in grade school. To be honest, as a young child, books with thick pages of endless streams of words were rather intimidating. It's a big leap to go from picture books to novels. Gamebooks provides a way to read long passages, but broken up by choices. So I'd say they served as a natural progression from childhood reading into adolescent stories. 

What is your favourite gamebooks?

Another confession: After I moved on from those adolescent gamebooks, I didn't look back until I started my own series. Perhaps it's time I check out some other "adult" gamebook authors. Any suggestions? 

How did you come up with the idea of Infected?

Originally, I wrote INFECTED as a screenplay back in 2008. Back then it was just a standard genre tale, no bells and whistles. It wasn't until I started the "Click Your Poison" series, that INFECTED rose from the dead to be my first gamebook for adults. Really, zombies are so popular these days, that a gamebook allowing you the opportunity to battle your way through the apocalypse struck me as a natural choice. 

Why are gamebooks such a great medium?

First and foremost, because it's *active* reading. You can't skim a gamebook. You can't sit back and "watch" the story unfold. If a gamebook is done right, it should challenge you intellectually and emotionally. And they're a hell of a lot of fun. 

What's the most important thing you need to do when writing a gamebook?

Keep some kind of flowchart! INFECTED got too big with too many parallel universes to keep track of in my head. Luckily, I already had a flowchart built up by the time this happened--because without my "road map" I would have been truly lost!

Do you have any upcoming gamebook projects?

I do! I plan on making a whole series of Click Your Poison books, and I'm hard at work on CYP #2 a solve-if-you-can murder mystery. You can keep up with me on twitter or facebook for updates on the book's progress.

https://twitter.com/ClickYourPoison

https://www.facebook.com/CYPbooks

Okay, for the letter "Z" I bring you "Z is for Zombie" (if that's not a children's book, it should be!). I'd like to share an essay I wrote to answer a question I get a lot. "Why are zombies so popular?"

Tell Me, Why Do We Love Zombies So?

http://jamesschannep.com/2013/01/21/tell-me-why-do-we-love-zombies-so/

Why are zombies so popular? Well, for many, it’s a call to action. We’re Luke Skywalker, caught in the dregs of daily life, and the zombie apocalypse serves as the storm troopers coming to burn down our uncle’s homestead. Ready or not, time for adventure. Or (in case you’re not as big a Star Wars nerd as I am), let me put it this way: We’re not all the type to go out and join the military or the police force, but we’d like to believe that if danger came knocking on our door, we could rally to that call. The zombie apocalypse is when push comes to shove.
It’s pure escapism. Once the zombie apocalypse happens, all the things that are important to us will fall to the wayside. Unemployment, politics, failed relationships–anything that might have you “down”–all become a moot point when the dead try to eat the living. It’s a second lease on life. You get to start afresh. This is where the true You comes out, the side that’s underestimated by coworkers, family, and friends; the side that, deep down, you know is there. The unlikeliest of heroes can now come out and save the day. Were you a pimple-faced pizza delivery guy back in the day? Well, now you’re a zombie-slaying badass and everyone’s clamoring for your protection. What about the overworked and underpaid nurse stuck on the night shift with little chance of promotion on the horizon? Well, now those skills mean you’re the most valued member of your survival team.
With zombie fiction, we can experience this release all from the safety of our own home. We can escape, if only for a few precious hours. That’s part of why with INFECTED, I made YOU the main character. You get to test that measure of your true self, if only for a bit of fun. Make your choices, then see the outcome.
Are zombies at the height of their popularity? Probably… but they’ll never fully go away, even if interest starts to wane. Like everything else in our world, fads come and go, but zombies are forever.

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April A to Z - Y is for Your Adventure does NOT end here

So we are almost at the end of the April A to Z, but if you have enjoyed this odyssey through the world of gamebooks, you are still able to continue your journey.

Here are several links from last years A to Z that you can follow.

Here is a list of gamebook forums that you can enjoy taking part in.

Here is a list of gamebook Yahoo groups.

You can join the Good reads Gamebook Fans Group here.

Here is an extremely comprehensive list of gamebook links from Demian Katz's encyclopedic www.gamebooks.org.

Happy gamebooking!


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April A to Z - X is for eXtra stuff that I follow

Good day to you all, lovers of all things gamebook.  Today, I'm going to list a few of the many blogs and other sites that I enjoy reading either as they inspire and inform me about gamebooks or because I just like them.  For a more comprehensive list, you can read mu upcoming Y post or go to Deminan's links page.  So here they are:

Adventures and Shopping:  This is run by Billiam Babble, who I interviewed last year and he does a great job of telling us all about the latest great deals in RPG related goods.  He also has his own store pages so check them out.

Ashton Saylor:  This is the blog of writer, game designer and three times merit award winner for Windhammer, the awesome Ashton Saylor.  We are working together on Goblin's Bounty at the moment and Ashton has several other irons in the fire, such as his new site, Black Hat Writing, so check it out.

Fabled Lands:  The blog of gamebook writers Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson who came up with the fabulous Fabled Lands series amongst many other gamebooks and other books between them.  They are still doing lots of great gamebook related stuff, so check out their site.

From the Shadows:  I'm a big fan of UFO encounter stories and conspiracy theories, so I enjoy reading this site which chronicles many weird encounters.  Have a look.  There's more to aliens than little grey men from Zeta Reticuli, that's for sure.

Heroes Against Darkness:  This is a blog for the eponymous RPG which I have found to be very elegant, simple and extremely well put together.  It is out in physical and PDF form, so take a look.

Jonathan Green, Author:  Here is the blog of the fabulous writer, Jonathan Green, who has written several gamebooks.  His blog is updated daily, so check it out.

Trollish Delver: This is a great geek blog by Scott Malthouse which, amongst gamebooks and Tunnels and Trolls, also covers films, comics and just about anythiing you can think of.  A must for your dose of geek.

Mark Rosewater:  Mark Rosewater (or MaRo) is the head designer at Magic the Gathering, and he is so good that I still rad his column, even though I no longer play Magic the Gathering.  One of my favourite all time articles of his (I'll only mention one here because I could write a massive post on just him) is his article on how to become more creative.

Arion Games forum:  Somewhere I like to hang out.

Unofficial Fighting Fantasy Forum:  Another place I like to hang out.

Trollhalla:  Another place I like to hang out.

So there we go.  Are there any sites you guys like?

Happy gamebooking!

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