Gamebook fun!

Good day to you all gamebookers! 2013 is proving to be a gamebooktastic year and here are some of the

treats that you can enjoy this October.

Fighting Fantazine issue 12! The latest issue of Fighting Fantazine is out!  Take a look at its great Sci fi adventure, read an interview with Robin Waterfield and take a look at all the latest news and reviews amongst other goodies.  Also, be sure to read all of the reviews as there are instructions to get a free pdf gamebook somewhere in them.

Windhammer competition!   There are 14 entries for this year's Winhammer competition.  Read them and vote for 3 of them.  Voting is open until 31st October.

Way of the Tiger!  In case you haven't heard, Megara Entertainment will be bringing back this classic gamebook series.  It has already raised $21676 which means that it has hit its target and also the stretch goal that the new book 7, Redeemer! will be fully illustrated.  Also, we have the treat of a prequel book, Ninja!, written by ninja maestro, David Walters.  There are many more stretch goals so head on over to the Kickstarter page and make your pledge.  It is well worth it to have these fantastic gamebooks with the added gorgeous touch that Megara gives.






Join us for Sunday, when I release a review of what I think is one of the best gamebooks of all time, if not the best.  I have mentioned it before, but on Sunday, I will go into why I think this is the case.

Turning Titan characters into magic the gathering cards

I've found an online Magic the Gathering card creator and with it, I will make Magic the Gathering cards of six famous Titan wizards - the Star Pupils and the Demonic Three.

The Healer

This character's card has pretty obvious abilities.  As a healer, it prevents damage.  He can also remove diseases in the form of -1/-1 counters.  However, his disease prevents him from actively taking part in combat.

Yaztromo

The old wizard has a few tricks up his sleeve.  As we know from Forest of Doom, he can turn you into a frog.  He also creates small magical trinkets to sell to adventurers to help them in their quests or he may teach them spells.  This is represented by his +1/+1 counter ability.










Nicodemus

Nicodemus does not like to be bothered which is why he goes away if you do not pay his upkeep cost and why he has shroud.  Nicodemus is a retired badass wizard who now hands out helpful (usually) advice to adventurers now which is why you can draw two extra cards at the beginning of your draw step but then you have to discard one as sometimes he gets things wrong.

Balthus Dire

Using my conversion table, Balthus should have a power of 4 and a toughness of 6.  Balthus makes tokens as he is rasing an army to invade the Vale of the Willow.  His collection of dangerous spells is represented by his damage ability.











Zagor

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain can come back to life if he is killed as long as he has body parts to bring him back.  He is also able to gain control of many creatures and command them to guard his mountain or conquer Allansia.

Zharradon Marr

Marr's experiments in Marrangha where he uses the parts of captured creatures in an attempt to create the ultimate weapon.  This is why he can destroy creatures.  Also, if he puts more effort into his magic, he can create better beasts.











What other characters could we make into Magic cards?

Writing the Way of the Tiger prequel part 2 - a guest post by David Walters

Good day to you all, gamebook lovers!  Today, we have another great guest post from the fantastic David Walters who is writing the prequel book to the Way of the Tiger series, Ninja!  

In case you don't know, David, Mark Smith, Jamie Thomson and the guys from Megara have all teamed up to recreate the popular 80s gamebook series, Way of the Tiger with the prequel and also book 7, Redeemer!, which means that our hero can finally get out of that blasted spider's web from book 6.  

Only 5 days in, the kickstarter has managed to raise a fantastic $15070, which puts it on its first stretch goal.  There are stretch goals that go all the way up to $100000, so your money is still needed and who can say no to a superb gamebook series crossed with beauty that graces all of Megara's works?

In case you don't know just how fantastic they are, take a look at my reviews for book 1 and book 2 on my other blog.

I'm hosting part 2 of David's series on his experience writing the prequel to an already established gamebook series.  Part 1 can be found on the blog of Brewin' and part 3 will is on Scott' Malthouse's Trollish Delver blog.  Enjoy!

Part two: the benefits in writing a prequel to an already established series:

I’m David Walters, and I was tasked with writing the prequel story to the Way of the Tiger books, a series of six ninja gamebooks set on the world of Orb. I found there were a few advantages to writing a prequel as I undertook the task, which I’ve mentioned below.

The world is already there

By writing for an already established series I found that I already had a wealth of places, characters and cultural references (including the gods of Orb) to draw on. This allowed me to concentrate my efforts more on story and character, as the setting of Orb was already richly detailed. The ninja skills and background of the main character was already detailed as well, which made it clear what kind of choices Avenger might have to available during encounters. In many ways I could use the detailed background to inspire interesting scenes.

You can explore the main character (and other characters) more

The readers may already know what Avenger does in other books, but a prequel gave me the chance to explore the backstory. This lets the reader choose what kind of events shaped Avenger into the character that they have come to know and love. I was also able to deepen some of the other characters a little: after reading the prequel the reader will hopefully better understand why in book 1 the Grandmaster of the Dawn was so willing to send Avenger out alone on such an important quest. Other characters could also be explored by having choices in dialogue that led to different information, showing more character background.

Rules

I did not need to spend any time creating rules for this gamebook as they already existed and had been extensively ‘road tested’ in the main series. This meant that I could focus more on crafting the story and its interesting choices without worrying as much on what rules to use. The rules (such as the ninja special skills) also gave a clear direction as to how to set up some of the scenes of the prequel which were to then use those skills.

Creative direction

I did not need to worry about which direction to take Avenger as it was already set out in later books. This meant that I could spend my time ensuring a good fit with the rest of the series through references to characters and situations already familiar to fans. I also had the benefit of an established backstory of Avenger’s childhood and training which meant I did not have to establish one especially for the prequel.

The Way of the Tiger Kickstarter is running until 1^st November. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1615043334/the-way-of-the-tiger-gamebooks-new-collectors-edit?ref=live

Some amateur gamebooks and their inspirations

There are loads of great amateur gamebooks out there and some of them have been inspired by a published gamebook or gamebook series.  They have drawn inspirations from their systems, their settings or their themes.

Isle of the Cyclops and The Hills of Phoros both by Andrew Wright - The way the gamebook is structured reminds me of Fabled Lands.  You have a lot of freedom to wander around and you have random encounters.

Hunger of the Wolf by Kieran Coghlan - This is a brilliant Fighting Fantasy gamebook that starts off with an origianl setting but there is a twist half way through which takes you to the site of an early Fighting Fantasy gamebook and you will also get to know more about a character from that gamebook.  The clue is in the name of the book.

Red World by Zachary Carango- This great gamebook has a brilliant and original system and a setting that is reminds me Heart of Ice.  You are living in a post apocalyptic world and are tasked to find a mysterious item where you come across all kinds of adventure.

Word Fell Silent by Kieran Coghlan- This is a well researched historical gamebook set in Jerusalem, 63AD.  It is a well written story with some good twists.  The stats for your character reminds me the Eternal Champions gamebooks .  The random encounter table on paragraph 48 also reminds me of Fabled Lands.

The Triad of Skulls by myself - My book uses the Fighting Fantasy game system and is set on Fire Island, the place where Island of the Lizard King (Fighting Fantasy 7) is set.  I also used some of the encounters from Island of the Lizard King as inspiration for what you may come across in the book - headhunters, the delerious prisoner, the cyclops, the black lions and the shaman.

The Rise of Skarlos by Ramsay Duff - This great gmaebook is a prequel to the Lovecraftian Fighting Fantasy book Beneath Nightmare Castle.

Escape Neuburg Keep by Khaxzan (online name)  - This book is set in the keep from Beneath Nightmare Castle.

The Achaeid Book 1 : The Enriyes by Ramsay Duff - This great gamebook is full of characters from Greek myths.


Beggars of Blacksand by Al Sander - This book has a great twist to it that I will not reveal here.  As well as being set in Blacksand, it also has some references to another early Fighting Fantasy.


Rampage! by Andrew Wright - The premise of this book is brilliant.  You are monster and the aim is to cause as much havoc as possible.  There is a flavourful game system to fit the monster theme.  There are some parody names of Fighting Fantasy characters (Gastromo instead of Yaztromo, The Curer instead of the Healer, Brilligan instead of Gillibran and many more.)


The Black Lobster by Andrew Wright - This book is based in the den of thieves that is Port Blacksand.

 

Way of the Tiger Kickstarter has begun

Good day to you all gamebookers!  These days, it's rare that I do another post outside of the weekly Sunday one (lots of stuff going on in real life now and also lots of writing/editing), but we have experienced such a momentous occassion, that I must blog.

Yes!  Drum roll...

The Way of the Tiger kickstarter has begun early!

And, after only a few hours, it is already on 36% of its goal!

I think Way of the Tiger is amazing.  I reviewed the first two gamebooks on the Lone Tiger Gamebook blog (which has gone a bit quiet).  You can find the review for Avenger! and Assassin! there.  The other books keep the series fresh by taking a new twist on the gameplay - you go from going on a mission to assassinate some bad guys to the ruler of a city.

There were six books released in total.  Book six ended on a cliffhanger with you trapped in a giant spider's web, which has left fans disgruntled for years.  However, we now have the chance to redress that - with enough money, book 7 will be released!

There is also a prequel book called Ninja!  to be released, written by my good friend, David Walters.  I'm really looking forward to reading that :)

So have a look at the Kickstarter page!  You can get pdfs of the prequel and book 7 for a mere $30 and whilst the print books are ezpensive, Megara produces gorgeous, high quality books with fantastic illustrations.  As someone who owns a copy of Arcana Agency, I can really see the love that they have put into their presentation.  

So go to the Kickstarter page and lets stretch goal this so much, they will have enough money to make another eight books.

Here is the Way of The Tiger Kickstarter page.

Game turned gamebook - Heroquest

The board cover (larger image here)
including all the monsters and heroes.

Heroquest is a board game set in the Warhammer Fantasy world where four heroes would descend into a dangerous dungeon to complete a quest and fight the forces of chaos.  The game was for 2-5 players.  One of the players was the 'evil wizard' who would control the various goblins, orcs, fimir, chaos warriors and undead.

 The other players would take up the mantle of one of the four heroes.  Each hero has their own strengths and weaknesses - The barbarian was tough and powerful in combat but weak against mental attacks.  The wizard could cast spells but was weak in combat.  The elf was half way between the wizard and barbarian - he could fight well and cast some spells.  Finally, the dwarf was a good fighter and could disarm traps.

A special Heroquest die

The system was quite simple.  Each character had body points (hit points) and mind points(indicating how resistant they were to mental attacks.  The barbarian had a body score of 8 and a mind score of 2.  The wizard had a body score of 4 and a mind score of 6.)

Each character had a certain number of attack dice and defence dice.  When you wanted to attack someone, you would roll the number of attack dice you had.  Each skull counted as a hit.  Your target would then roll a die for each defence die they had.  If the target was a hero, then each white shield they rolled on defence would negate one skull on attack.  If the target was a monster, it would need to roll a black shield to negate an attack.  The target lost body points equal to the number of skulls the attacker rolled - the number of appropriate shields the defender rolled.

I'll use my broadsword!

Heroes could buy equipment or use spells to increase the number of attack or defence dice they rolled.

There were various adventures to play with their own special rules.  There were also several expansion packs and also Advanced Heroquest.  If you search on the internet, you will find plenty of custom content, such as this website, this website and this website.

Heroquest has also spawned a lot of computer games such as this one.




 Dave Morris wrote three Heroquest books which had a similar format to the Knightmare books - they all included a novella and a gamebook.  The second and third books also included a scenario for the boardgame.

The first gamebook from the first book, The Fellowship of Four, was actually a multiplayer gamebook, where the reader (or several readers) could play the barbarian, dwarf, elf and wizard.  The game was designed so that the best victory could be achieved most easily with the combined talents of all of the heroes (also, since each hero could only carry either three or two items, one of which being a weapon, a solo hero would find it a massive headache to get the right items to carry.)  Plus, some situations could only be avoided if players had someone else to back them up and most combats were against multiple foes so force of numbers was also a good thing.

The gamebook was actually quite challenging but if you were daring and clever enough then you could be richly rewarded.  There was some good mileage in such a short gamebook.

I also enjoyed the story, split into five chapters.  The first four focused on one of the heroes as they came together and the last one was how they saved the world together.

The second book, the Screaming Spectre, focused solely on the wizard character.  The novella was a mystery  rather than an action packed quest and so it was a little slower, but it was still good to watch it unfold.  The mechanics of the second gamebook were also different as it focused solely on the wizard character.  The trick to success was to choose the most effective spell to overcome the situation.  Since the wizard is weak in combat, fighting is not usually an effective option.  It was also a challenging gamebook but it could be bested with some thought to your spells.

The final book, The Tyrant's Tomb, focused on the Barbarian.  The story was more action packed and involved a barbarian trying to break into a tomb to get lots of treasure.  Naturally, it all goes wrong.  Unlike the other two books, the gamebook's story is similar to the novella.  Strategy revolves more around gathering the correct items and combat as the barbarian cannot use spells.  I think this is the most difficult gamebook due to the tough opponents and the lack of healing in the book.

I don't know if there were ever going to be books based on the dwarf or the elf, but I guess Heroquest stopped being profitabe at some point.  However, typing it into google still shows that it has a cult following.


Like the Knightmare gamebooks, the Heroquest gamebooks could have been a bit longer; however, the Heroquest books are good to provide a few hours entertainment if you see them on Amazon as is the boardgame.

And if you want some free gamebooks to read, how about heading on down to the Chronicles of Arborell where this year's Windhammer Competition gamebooks are out!  There are 14 in all this year, so there will be something for everyone.  We are currently in the voting phase which will end on the 30th October.  To vote, you need to give the names of your 3 favourite books to Wayne Densley at  vote@arborell.com.

Sequels to gamebooks

I was thinking about some of the loose ends in gamebooks and I was thinking that if we saw sequels to gmaebooks, what could they be about?  Here are some sequel suggestions.  Please add more of your own.

Warlock of Firetop Mountain - Already done.  Twice.

Citidel of Chaos - Already done (it makes sense when you win the gamebook)

Forest of Doom - Take out the Wild Hill men band that attacked the dwarves - and their sinister leader...

Starship Traveller - Maybe one of the races you came across decided to try to use the black hole you went through to invade your dimension.  Maybe a race came up with the technology themselves after meeting you and arrive into your dimension and you are the only one who can stop them.

City of Thieves - You have probably made a few enemies while you wnadered around Blacksand.  Maybe they want you dead.  Or maybe you have to return to Blacksand despite the fact that you have committed several crimes and that you have a unicorn tattooed on your forehead, making you stand out a bit.

Deathtrap Dungeon - already done.  And that sequel has its own sequel.  Of course, the format seems popular so there is nothing to stop a Deathtrap Dungeon 3.

Island of the Lizard King - So you have freed the slaves, but there is still plenty of gold on Fire Island.  Maybe you will lead an expeditionary force to clear out the island and get the gold for yourself.

Scorpion Swamp - All three stories are ripe for a sequel - if you give Grimslade a load of masters' amulets, what is he going to do with them now?  If you made a map for Poomchukker, what adventures will you have on his caraven?  If you returned Antherica to Selator, how will the forces of chaos react?

Caverns of the Snow Witch - Forest of Doom was a kind of sequel to this as it is implied that Stubb will be part of the Dwarvish group sent to recover the hammer.  Unfortunately for him.

Talisman of Death - Already done.

Space Assasin - You've captured Cyrus but there's all kinds of crazy stuff going on in his ship such as a sentient pilot, an ecosystem and a deadly virus that may or may not have already been developed.

Temple of Terror - Leesha did not get enough screen time.  She rules the city of Vatos and seems to have unlimited wealth and magical power (she gives out rings that make people invulnerable to being hit in combat.)  What would happen if she decided to expand her rule?

Seas of Blood - There is no honour among pirates.  Abdul the Butcher, sick of trying to beat you fairly just tries to hunt you down and kill you.  For all you know, his crew has already ambushed your crew and sunk your ship while you were showing him your massive wealth on the mountain.  How are you going to get out of this one?

Sword of the Samurai - Hachiman is still being assaulted by barbarians.  Now that you have Singing Death, you can lead the army to victory.

Trial of the Champions - Already done.

Robot Commando - You've repelled the invasion fleet, but this may be the beginning of a large scale war.

Masks of Mayhem - The magic of the masks may be released again.

Creature of Havoc - Thugruff is still alive and he still commands a large army of chaotics.  What is he going to do now?

Beneath Nightmare Castle - Xakhaz could be released again or some other nightmarish cosmic horror god of Zagoula may be released into the world.

Crypt of the Sorcerer - Ungoth the skeleton king is still alive.  He is a powerful sorcerer in his own right and although he was just some glorified quiz host for Razaak, I bet that now he has no employer, he can be a good villain in his own right.

Slaves of the Abyss - What are your adventures involving the gods and where do you travel to in time and space?

Portal of Evil - There may be another portal that is letting in dinosaurs or another tribe.

Legend of the Shadow Warriors - How do you reintroduce Voivod to humanity?

The Crimson Tide - Your adventures as the Eyes and Ears of the God King are only just beginning.

The Sorcery! series - there is still a large dangerous army in Mampang.  Who will lead them next?

Down Among Dead Men - There are plenty of sequels here - El Draque, the sorceress on the island, the ship in the iceberg.  There's plenty of material here.

Heart of Ice - Loads of sequel material too.  Maybe you trapped yourself in time and someone has released you.  Maybe, you decided that it was a waste of time and put your talents to improving the world.  Maybe Gaia has finally got a grip or you might be able to cure the virus.

Necklace of Skulls -Whether you find your brother or not, you still have to get home.



There are a few ideas.  Anyone got any more?