Destiny Quest World Companion Kickstarter

 

Hello all! I've got some exciting news that can't wait until the end of the month because it's about a Kickstarter.

It's the Destiny Quest World Companion!

As you may know, Destiny Quest is a series of huge gamebooks where you can create and customise your own character as you go, fighting many epic battles with a combat system with many many options. All the books are superb and beautifully produced. Now you can get to know the world of Destiny Quest even more with this awesome world companion!

The Kickstarter will launch on the 17 May at 10.00 EST (3.00 in the UK). The Kickstarter will be running for 30 days and offers a range of pledge levels to cater for different fans. 

You can sign up to be notified for the launch here.

The World Companion is a hardback collector's item, that provides the following: 

A detailed history of the world, from its creation by the celestial Fates, to the current ‘end days’ of crumbling empires and war-weary kingdoms.

A comprehensive timeline that charts the key events that have shaped the world of Dormus, right up to the present-day narratives of the gamebook series.

An overview of the magic system, detailing the chaotic forces of the Shroud and the effects of its demonic taint, as well as the runic magic of the dwarves and the dangerous arts of elemental sorcery.

Exciting character stories and biographies, exploring some of the key heroes (and villains) who have influenced the Destiny Quest world, including the legendary witchfinder, Eldias Falks, and the enigmatic archmage, Avian Dale.

Detailed summaries of the main factions that vie for power and influence within the Kingdom of Valeron, from the secretive enclaves of the Arcane Hand to the scheming masters of shadow, the Nevarin.

Whether you are a fan of the DestinyQuest series or a gamemaster looking for a new and immersive setting for your homebrew roleplaying campaign, The World Companion delivers a wealth of exciting secrets and discoveries – everything you need to arm yourselves for epic adventures ahead.

The Kickstarter is on this page: DestinyQuest: The World Companion by Michael J Ward — Kickstarter

Summer of gamebook kickstarters

It is an exciting time, gamebook friends, with no less than five gamebook kickstarters this summer. So have a look at them and get your pledges ready!

I've listed the kickstarters in reverse order of finishing date because I wanted some kind of order, but couldn't decide on what would be best, so I just went with this one. Enjoy!

The Good, the Bad and the Undead

Deadline: End of August

Status: Soft launch page up.

Ashton Saylor volunteered himself to write this western based gamebook which was an idea from Dave Morris. Dave lost hope on getting it done, but now that Ashton is on board, it looks like it will LIVE! (mwahahaha). The kickstarter will launch at he beginning of August, so keep an eye on the Facebook page for the time being. You can read a demo story for it here.

There is now a soft launch page up.



The Midnight Legion: Operation Deep Sleep

Deadline: 29th August

Status: Almost $3000 backed (out of $14500)

Aaron Emmel is a writer who is producing this sci-fi gamebook series. In this book, you wake up with no memories of your previous mission, but they gradually return to you as the story unfolds. Aaron has clearly done his groundwork, using the bits he wants from Lone Wolf and Fighting Fantasy to enhance the experience. $28 gets you one book and $50 gets you three. Have a look at his fabulous book!






Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland

Deadline: 3rd August

Status: Backed

This is a project by Jonathan Green of Fighting Fantasy fame (but he has done a lot more!). In this gamebook, you guide Alice as she returns to Wonderland and you help her explore the fantastic place. £15 gets you the ebook and £20 gets you a paperback.



Fabled Lands: The Serpent King's Domain

Deadline: 3rd August

Status: Backed (a lot!)

This is Paul Gresty's second gamebook that he is writing, has put on Kickstarter and is working with the Fabled Lands crew on. If you are new to gamebooks, the Fabled Lands series was a wide open sandbox gamebook series that was originally planned to be 12 gamebooks long. Unfortunately, it only reached 6 gamebooks before being cancelled in the mid 90s (the time when gamebooks went into hibernation for almost two decades).

This project was funded in around 45 minutes, so you will be guaranteed anything you back for. A lovely book is 35 Euros (around £25), but it will be a high quality hardback. I'm looking forward to this one!

The Frankenstein Wars

Status: Finished and backed.

I am looking forward to this one. Paul Gresty (Arcana Agency) and Dave Morris (everything) have teamed up with Cubus Games to create an interactive app that is fabulous in every way - the look, the story, the sound. The original idea is Dave's - Victor Frankenstein's technology has been stolen and it has been used to create an (almost) unstoppable army. Your job is to stop it.


The project raised its target on Kickstarter in a campaign with almost as many highs and lows as the book is going to have. I've never been as gripped as I was since I watched Distrcit 9 (good film). If you did not back it, keep an eye on the project for when it comes out.

The Wondrous Nightmare Begins!

I wonder if, one day, Summer 2015 will be remembered as The Summer of Gamebook Kickstarters. We've recently seen the Kickstarter for the interactive fiction app The Frankenstein Wars - and, as one of the people intimately involved with that project, I'm overjoyed that we (just!) managed to reach our target. Thank you, thank you, thank you, good backers. In just a few days we'll see the start of the Kickstarter for the next Fabled Lands gamebook, The Serpent King's Domain. And in the nearish future (I'll have to check my dates) we'll see a Kickstarter for the Jamie Thomson / Ashton Saylor gamebook The Good, The Bad & The Undead.

But today is the day that Jonathon Green launches his own gamebook Kickstarter for Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland. Have you read a Fighting Fantasy gamebook in the last 20 years? Then you know who Jonathon Green is, and that the quality of his writing is up there with the best.

Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland seems a wonderfully odd bird. Though it's based on a work of classic literature, it seems to place a firm focus on game mechanics and playability - it is both game and book, you might say. Uniquely, the Kickstarter's project page mentions it can be played with three different sets of rules - one using dice, one using playing cards (how flavourful!), and one without any random component at all. Curiouser and curiouser.

Enough shenanigans. Here's JG's press announcement on the book: -

On Saturday 4th July, at 1.00pm BST (which is 8.00am New York time and 10.00pm in Melbourne, Australia), I am launching my latest Kickstarter project, ALICE'S NIGHTMARE IN WONDERLAND.

ALICE'S NIGHTMARE IN WONDERLAND is a brand new nightmarish gamebook - a multi-path book, very much in the style of Choose Your Own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, in which you choose the course of the story - inspired by the works of Lewis Carroll and the Steampunk genre.

ALICE'S NIGHTMARE IN WONDERLAND is set several years after the events of 'Through the Looking Glass'. Alice finds herself back in Wonderland and called upon to save the realm from the increasingly deranged Queen of Hearts. But all is not as it first appears, and soon Alice is battling to save herself from the nightmare that is rapidly overtaking Wonderland.

If you've ever wondered what would have happened if Alice hadn’t drunk from the bottle labelled ‘Drink Me’, or if she hadn’t joined the Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse for tea, now you can find out. In ALICE'S NIGHTMARE IN WONDERLAND, rather than becoming Alice yourself, YOU guide Alice through the fluctuating dream world, deciding which route she should take, which perils to risk, and which of Wonderland’s strange denizens to fight.

But be warned – whether Alice succeeds in her quest, or meets a dire end as the nightmare escalates, will be down to the choices YOU make.

If you think this project might be for you, please check out the project's preview page here -https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1412864360/111052384?token=119fa0a4 - and set your alarm for 1.00pm on Saturday to make sure you don't miss out on your ideal reward. After all, there are some limited rewards that gamebook fans and Alice aficionados alike are going to want to get their hands on before anyone else.

(Post by Paul Gresty)

The Lone Wolf Board Game - Halfway to Success!

A quick mention that the Kickstarter for the Lone Wolf Board Game has just passed the halfway mark on its funding target. It's also nearing the halfway mark on its deadline, so I call that pretty positive progress so far. Still, if you're a fan of Lone Wolf, or board games, or Gary Chalk's artwork, get over there and get pledging, if you haven't already.

For more information, visit the Kickstarter project page, or see Richard Hetley's post on this very blog.

Also, I found it interesting to see that documents from the vermin control company in charge of my apartment building are in the same distinctive font as the Lone Wolf gamebooks.

Yeah! Wipe out those damn Noodnics!

(Post by Paul Gresty)

Lone Wolf - The Board Game by Gary Chalk live on Kickstarter

Courtesy of Demian's Gamebook Web Page

Lone Wolf has come a long way.  It keeps doing that.

Once upon a time, the names Joe Dever and Gary Chalk appeared atop this little, yet growing, gamebook series.  Then it kept growing.  It did spinoffs, even, and rumor has it that a videogame or two showed up on that newfangled ZX Spectrum.

I became aware of a resurgence years later when I heard tell of a Lone Wolf MMORPG.  "Magnamund Studios," eh?  Who are these fine folks?  Well, a short-lived bunch.  But I believe it was through the brief time I worked with them that I became aware of Project Aon, and thereafter Lone Wolf roleplaying games.  Oh, and since then, more videogames got released anyway.

But there was one game missing.  I still had my old copy of The Magnamund Companion, and I remembered the chapter "Modelling Magnamund."  Ah, real playing pieces!  Dramatic battles on the tabletop!  Yet it wasn't a real game for sale.

Funny thing about that.

Thirty years ago, Gary Chalk started developing Lone Wolf - The Board Game.  I'm pleased to share with you our Kickstarter project for the first printing, live now until December 5.

Courtesy of Gary Chalk's pen

Click this link to see the project.

Click here to see what game Gary created.  (Beta rulebook.)

Click here or click here to play it.  (Free print-and-play demo.)

I've talked with Gary during the preparation of the Kickstarter.  This is a man worth catching in conversation.  When I simply asked how to say his name, cautiously hoping that his last name wasn't pronounced some funny way, he replied "I answer to anything, up to 'Stop, thief.'"

Beyond that, he answered my questions about The Magnamund Companion.  I would have thought that the pieces were authentic "Lone Wolf tabletop game pieces," but no, there never was any such thing.  Gary either created or repurposed (and certainly repainted; a hobby which he loves) everything in those old photos.  The game we are trying to fund now is the first and only "tabletop board game" this classic fantasy world has ever seen.

Courtesy of a massive design effort

It's more of a wargame, really, but being played on a board helps it run a lot more quickly and smoothly.  Speed, in fact, is one of the main selling points, and the project page discusses how quickly it runs for such a detailed simulation of Lone Wolf.  And goodness, does it work at that latter: the premise of the game's premade scenarios is to re-enact the battles of the early gamebooks on the tabletop.  I intend to do a project update (this here is the person maintaining the page) where I bring the readers with me in preparing one such scenario.

And it almost goes without saying that Gary's art has only gotten better over the decades of practice since he illustrated the first books.  All the playing pieces are 2-D art from his pen (and brushes).  Modern sensibilities might say 3-D miniatures are necessary in such a game; perhaps the modern version of what was shown in The Magnamund Companion.  I say 3-D has its place, and there's nothing like letting an expert 2-D artist loose on a project he loves.  As it looks now, a good chunk of early project backers seem to agree.

I'm enjoying sharing this project with the world.  In part, though, the best aspect simply is getting to talk with an amazing childhood hero on a regular basis and realizing that "hero" and "amazing" do apply.

(Post by Richard S. Hetley.  When not running Kickstarter projects, which hopefully is the better part, he can be seen trying to figure out what to do with his blog.)