Ever since I started researching and posting my findings on gamebook mechanics, I was looking for a way to fix the problem that "Narrative is not a game mechanic". In short, narrative on its own doesn't measure player performance. Making it to paragraph 400 is often based on pure chance, not on the skills of the gamebook reader.
To illustrate what Raph Koster is trying to say in his article on the subject, I will once again share the example I used in my previous post.
Welcome, young adventurer! In this book YOU ARE THE HERO.
Roll one die, add 6 to the result and enter the total in the SKILL box on the adventure sheet"...
- Later in the same Gamebook -
You must jump over a chasm. To check if you succeed, roll two dice! If the number is lower or equal to your SKILL, you succeed. If you fail, you are dead and have to start over from the beginning.
How is the player responsible for the outcome?
So, how do we keep the reader in the driver seat? How do we design a gamebook in such a way that success in the adventure depends on player performance, not on pure chance?
Unlike videogames, gamebook adventures can't test speed and coordination. But they can measure reader's attention, memory, logic and knowledge instead. I tried to come up with other skills to test, but I couldn't think of any beyond those four. However, there are different ways we can apply these tests in an interactive fiction.
Yes, a gamebook author can create narrative choices to test those four basic player skills. "Do you want to shoot the Vampire with a golden or a silver bullet?" is an example of testing knowledge. But how about battles and skillchecks? They have always relied on complete randomness. Sure, occasionally we award our readers some stat points that alter dice rolls. But ultimately, encounters in gamebooks still rely on chance.
See, in real life, when two karate fighters step into the ring, victory is rarely a roll of the dice. Success inevitably favors the person who has logged more hours, refined their technique, and mastered the deeper principles of the sport. How do we simulate that in a gamebook?
Until recently, I didn't think that we can engineer a fair battle in gamebooks, so we have to leave everything to our old friends - the dice. And right then, when I had given up all hope, I stumbled upon something old. Something almost as old as "The Warlock of the Firetop Mountain". Well, just about 10 years younger than our beloved villain Zagor.
I found the treasure in the most unlikely place of all. It happened while I was researching soccer gamebooks on Damian's website. I found the title "Cup Heroes" by Stephen Thraves and I started reading about it. Apparently, the book is nothing special, but one thing in the review caught my attention. "Since there is no random element to the book, this gives you an opportunity to grow in skill as you play, but remembering the right codes isn't as easy as it sounds - since you have to remember winning codes for yourself and losing codes for your opponent, it is easy to end up second-guessing yourself". What!? Grow in skill as you play? I wanted to know more about this mechanic. I had to have this book. Sadly a PDF of it was nowhere to be found and I ended up paying $50 on Ebay to have it shipped from the UK to the United States. It was worth every penny.
I liked the gamebook and I loved the system, but I don't believe Stephen Thraves himself realized what he had invented. See, "Cup Heroes" is a book from his series "Compact Adventure Game Book". He designed these books to be portable so that they could be played in the car or in other situations where a pair of dice might be inconvenient to use. So he came up with a battle chart system for randomizing outcomes without using dice. Whenever you or your opponent tries to score a goal, you are presented with a list of three codes to choose from. These codes can be looked up on a table of illustrations which show whether or not the goal went through. This "random" system fooled mostly everyone, including me. Yes, it feels like the draw of the luck, but after just a few goalscoring opportunities, the reader starts remembering that A1 doesn't score a goal, but A2 does. So, just like Damian points out in his review, the player grows in skill through trial and error. It is even possible to use deductive reasoning, "I know that at least 1 of the 3 codes in this situation will let me score a goal. I also remember that A1 and F4 are not goal scoring codes. This means that success is hiding behind code B3".
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| Goal Action Frames from "Cup Heroes" |
The gamebook "Cup Heroes" does let you grow in skill. Just like my favorite mobile soccer game "New Star Soccer" where the player starts his career as a 16 year old professional youngster who grows in skill during mini games training sessions between playing matches for the first team. But enough about soccer!
Then I thought, how could this same system be applied to a fantasy setting encounter? Well, Stephen Thraves had already done that too. In his gamebook "Shadows of Doom", he used the same battle chart code table. It was used a little differently, but nevertheless, it still allowed the reader to grow in skill through trial and error, or even deductive reasoning. Just like a real fantasy warrior would become better in his craft while learning different moves in sword fighting, after a few duels, the hero would learn that "Moonlit Riposte" and "Dragon's Bind" techniques work very well while "Whirlwind Cleave" would leave him unprotected and will result in taking damage.
Example:
This is how Stephen Thraves applied the Battle Chart in his gamebook "Shadows of Doom"
"Start the battle with this monster by choosing one of the codes given below for "1st round", after which look up the code in the BATTLE CHART. If the cell contains a picture without a resolution, choose and look up a code from "2nd round". You continue down through the rounds in this manner until you manage to kill the monster or get wounded. If you kill the monster, go to 78. If you are wounded by it, go to 142."
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| Battle Chart |
1st round B3, C2, D1, A2, E4
2nd round F2, H5, J3, G2, I3
3rd round J2, I4, D2, J1, H4
4th round A1, B5, G5, D5, E1
5th round J5, B1, D4, G3, E3
And just like that, same as many inventions in human history, Stephen Thraves stumbled upon one of the greatest treasures in gamebooks because of facing serious limitations (no dice on the go in this specific case). I don't believe he realized what he had discovered. It was a diamond in the rough. As far as I know, he never acknowledged it to be a system that lets you grow as you learn more moves. The Battle Chart is widely known as a failed game randomization system. I felt the same way about it too until the day I read that review by Damian. His words "this gives you an opportunity to grow in skill as you play" changed the frame of the whole idea. Yes, it does fail at providing randomness long term. However, it does something else. Something much more important. Something that other gamebook mechanics rarely do. It gives control back to the reader.
Stephen Thraves stumbled upon a diamond in the rough by chance, adopting it for his work. Yet it wasn't until Damian recognized its true nature—cutting and polishing it like a master jeweler in his review—that I finally recognized the battle chart system as one of the crown jewels of gamebook mechanics.
I do realize that this isn't a system to be used in every gamebook. Dice still have their place in randomizing the adventure, especially if they are being used right by the author. However, I hope more writers recognize the true value of this mechanic and incorporate similar battle systems into their own gamebooks.
One final thought before wrapping up: using my knowledge of HTML and JavaScript, along with assistance from Grok AI, I built a web-based Universal Battle Chart System compatible with any gamebook that uses a 6-sided die.
The mechanic is simple yet elegant. A random 6×6 grid (cells A1 to F6) is generated, with each square secretly storing a result from 1 to 6. Whenever a 1d6 roll is required, the app presents 5 randomly selected cells as button choices. While early picks rely purely on luck, observant readers can use memory and trial-and-error to map out the grid and turn future choices to their advantage.
Think this makes the game too easy? Try memorizing the values hidden across all 36 squares—it's far harder than it sounds. Plus, luck still plays a role, as the system won't always offer you buttons with advantageous outcomes. If you still find the grid too forgiving, you can easily adjust the difficulty: simply lower the field of available button choices from five down to three or four using the "Number of buttons" input field.
To keep things fresh, every time you enter a new name in the Gamebook Title field, you have the option to repopulate the whole battle chart with fresh numbers. This resets the entire grid, forcing you to wipe your memory clean and start the pattern recognition process all over again for a new adventure.
Happy Gamebooking my friends,
Peter Agapov
Game Designer at AugmentedRealityAdventure.com
President and Chief Executive Officer of American Limo Naperville
Former Road Captain of Marine One at Operation "Welcome You Home"
Note to myslef: Combat square/code = chart cell = skill/technique tile
