One of the greatest treasures in Gamebook Mechanics was always hidden in plain sight

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?

The old 1980s computer game Karateka
doesn't measure speed or coordination.
It is all about timing.

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".

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."  

Battle Chart

RoundCodes

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 discovered 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 game, especially if they are being used the correct way by the designer of the adventure. However, I hope more authors recognize the true value of this mechanic and build similar battle systems for 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.

http://1d6.sipkoamerica.com

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

Sponsor's Award Lindenbaum Competition 2023/2024

I am glad to announce that Operation "Dead Dawn" by Tom Perrett is awarded the Sponsor's Award for the 2023/2024 Lindenbaum Competition.

You can download this gamebook in PDF format here

I came up with the idea about this award, because I felt it was very unfair that such a great gamebook didn't win any of the first three places in the competition. My personal analysis for this phenomenon is that most fans of the genre LOVE fantasy. I am assuming that the subject of fighting zombies didn't appeal to the judges as much simply because it diverts away from the traditional focus of this genre.

There are no current plans to make the Sponsor's Award an annual thing, but I do reserve the right to give an award if I do like a gamebook more that the rest and I feel that it was unfairly left without recognition.

along with the Certificate, the author received
a monetary award in the amount of 40.00 USD

 

The gamebook "Dead Dawn" was my favorite for winning the prize this year by a lot. This short gamebook is a piece of art in every way - writing, twists and turns, difficult choices, battle mechanics and so on. I've never been a fan of zombies in books, movies or games, but this adventure was so well done, I couldn't put it down.

 Here is what I praise Operation "Dead Dawn" for.

1. Very well done encounter mechanics. I would have preferred to have simpler rules, but I don't have a good suggestion on how this could have been accomplished here. Given the nature of the adventure and the specific focus on zombies, it probably couldn't be any easier on mechanics.

2. Excellent literary style, story line, and suspense. I was masterfully kept on my toes by getting enough foreshadowing without giving away any specifics. This made me keep turning to the next paragraph, rushing to find out what happens next.

3. I enjoyed having the difficult choices that didn't have a positive outcome either way. Example, shoot the Female Scientist when she got infected or try to carry out my orders and bring her home dead or alive. Also, when one of my soldiers died at the end, this evoked strong feelings of loss. I found myself mourning a friend and wondering if I could have saved him somehow. Love the way it was done.

4. Presence of Resource Management. I think this is an aspect that is overlooked in many gamebooks. Making decisions how to preserve resources during encounters always creates more suspense and gives the player choices outside of the narrative. Well done!

5. This brings me to the Battle Mechanics. Very well thought out with plenty of decision making, risk management and damage control. Combined with limited resources, the battle mechanics create a game within the actual game. Excellent work there!

6. Perfect balance between traditional literature and gamebook mechanics.

Final words.

What a great gamebook! It diversifies the traditional focus of fantasy into a completely different subject. Given the combination of suspense, great style, excellent choices and well done encounter mechanics, Operation "Dead Dawn" would be a perfect introduction to gamebooks for new, younger fans.

I, personally, can't wait for the next issue of the Lindenbaum Competition to see Tom Perrett's next gamebook.

If you have not yet played this gamebook, you can download the PDF from here

Special thanks to Stuart Lloyd for allowing me to go ahead with this award. And most importantly, thank you Stuart for running the Lindenbaum Competition and for keeping our beloved gamebooks alive!

P.S. Tom, if you have anything else published, please share it with us in the comments below! I am already a huge fan of your work. 

Peter Agapov
Contributor at LloydOfGamebooks.com
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"

Gamebook Theory: fixing the lack of Player Agency in gamebooks (Dice Flick)

Welcome, young adventurer! In this book YOU ARE THE HERO.

Roll one dice. Add 6 to the number rolled and enter this total in the SKILL box on the adventure sheet"...

- Later in the 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 reader responsible for the outcome? I hope that we don't expect him to take responsibility for the dice result. Let's talk about player agency in gamebooks!

Should gamebooks be like one of my favorite board games: "Dungeon!"? Winning the session is a matter of luck, not the result of good decision making. It is still fun, but very little depends on player's decisions. My personal opinion is that gamebooks can do much better than falling into the category of player protagonism - "the sense of special investment in one token on the board over all the rest".

Like the lack of player involvement in the outcome of the adventure isn't enough, many gamebooks are impossible to beat without cheating. See Grave Mistake #2 (Level of Difficulty).

A few days ago, I found the following thread on reddit: How often did you cheat when playing your first gamebooks? The last comment under the post reads, "I never cheated as a teen in the 80s – either rolling initial stats or continuing on after a defeat... I always felt that I had to play gamebooks the right way, without cheating, to 'earn' any successful completion. I also found most of them too difficult to finish, and lacked the desire to keep at it after frustration had taken over."

I also think that most gamebooks aren't balanced well and reading that opinion made me feel that I am not alone.

Of course, our good old friend - cheating - is always an option. Even the Great One in the Gamebooks Realm (read Stuart Lloyd) says so in his blogpost on the subject of Cheating..?

Yes, some of us claim proudly that they read a gamebook for the story, not for the gameplay. Seriously!? Why don't you read Tolkien instead? His narrative and literature are much better than any of the gamebooks out there.

The truth is that we play games for the satisfaction of participating in the adventure and there is no participation in "Roll to determine your skill. Now roll for a skillcheck!"

 Ideally, to fix the Player Agency problem from now on, gamebooks would be testing the reader's attention, memory, knowledge and logic. However, there are so many old gamebooks worth playing, but sadly, the participation in them boils down to rolling dice. Like that isn't enough of a problem, many of those adventures lack gameplay balance. And that is to the extent of the reader rolling against the odds all the time. So, how do we fix those worthy gamebooks? 

See, Stuart Lloyd was kind enough to rework one of them -  Coils of Hate - for the reason of giving the player more agency. However, somehow I doubt that he would have the time to rewrite all of the gamebooks from the past.

So, I was also very amused by the solution user "liverem" found for fixing the lack of Player Agency and Level of Difficulty in the comments section under the above mentioned thread. He said, "I had some d10, but I used the table (printed at the end of the book) instead AND I got pretty good at "randomly" pointing at the correct digit (usually a 0?). I did however see that as kind of a sport, and if I accidentally did point at the wrong digit I took the consequences. Not that I think that happened very often, but I do remember dying and starting over every now and then when my random aim was not good enough."

Way to go, liverem! You found your own way to influence the outcome and that also fixed the fact, at least partially, that most of the old gamebooks were impossible to beat if the reader didn't cheat at all.

But I am extremely proud to announce that I found a much better and very universal solution. We now have a tool for adding some Player Agency and fixing the Level of Difficulty in most of the old gamebooks (and all the unbalanced ones in the future) without having to re-write all of them. I call it Dice Flick...

You can download the PDF version here: DiceFlick.pdf

 

This is a very simple dexterity game which allows you to flick a coin and get a result between 1 and 6, depending on the aim and power of your flick.

 

To use this gamebook supplement, download and print the one page PDF on a letter size or A4 paper. Put a quarter (or a coin of equivalent size) in the silver circle. Flick the coin, using your finger, and get a result from 1 to 6.

 

Use this dexterity game to resolve skillchecks, determine attack score and calculate inflicted damage during an encounter. You can, and probably should, roll old fashioned dice for all other gameplay needs.

There are some variations for increased or decreased difficulty - flick from the green or the red coin circle or re-flick the coin if it doesn't land on any of the circles (consider the die cocked and flick again just like you would re-roll the dice).

Also, if your target is a lower number, use the result on the printed dice in the colored circles instead of the numbers printed there. This is very handy for skillchecks when you need a score lower that the skill you are testing.

Using Dice Flick adds another level of player agency to any gamebook, but I would only use it for books that are impossible to beat without cheating. As a matter of fact, from now on, I would give every gamebook the benefit of the doubt and will play it the way it was meant to be played at least once. If I feel that the adventure relies mostly on chance and lucky rolls, I would use this supplement to try giving myself better chances for success.

Of course, Dice Flick doesn't fix all the instant death encounters. To influence those in the favor of the reader, I would flick a coin before I start a new adventure and I would use the result as a starting value of a Blessing stat. I would allow myself to disregard any instant death paragraphs, let's pretend that a guardian angel comes down from the skies and saves your sinful soul, at the expense of 1 Blessing Point.

See, we finally have a way to influence the outcome even in an unfairly designed gamebook. After all, there is no greater satisfaction than completely immersing in the fictional world of a book, experiencing the narrative in first person and knowing that the satisfactory happened because of your own participation and influence over the course of the adventure.

Happy Gamebooking, my friends!

P.S. Dice Flick is intellectual property of LloydOfGamebooks.com and AugmentedRealityAdventure.com

It is free for personal use, but if you are a gamebook author and would like to print it as a supplement to your future adventures, please ask Stuart Lloyd or Peter Agapov for commercial use permission! You know how to reach us.

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"

A road well traveled: basic structure of a linear Gamebook Adventure

There are many branching patterns in Gamebooks. Some of them are listed in the following blogpost: Standard Patterns in Choice-Based Games. I happened to think of them as either Heavily Branched Trees or Linear Train Tracks.

Both "Fighting Fantasy" and "Choose Your Own Adventure" utilize Heavy Branching. They require of the reader to keep track of where he's been and what he's done by either drawing a map of the game world or creating a diagram of his previous choices. My main problem with this kind of branching is that the outcome depends on multiple trial and error attempts. The one ultimate path must be discovered at the expense of many failures. In other words, Heavily Branched games don't evaluate gamer's performance. They don't test his skills. Instead, they test reader's patience and masochistic tendencies (he will discover many different ways to kill the protagonist before finding the path to victory).

I happened to believe that a more linear approach, just like the Delayed Branching theory by Choice of Games, creates a better environment for testing the player's performance. I have already written extensive posts on the theory of Logical Conclusion Choice and on the subject of evaluating Attention, Memory, Knowledge and Logic. The time has come to show how those can be put together to create a great linear gamebook adventure.

The following is a very simplified formula for creating a linear GAMEbook by utilizing variable stats:

Create the Stats and Inventory
0. Before you start writing the adventure and designing the game, you must invent the final encounter and hide the skillcheck behind secret skills. You will find out how I did that at the end of the example game below.

Building up the Protagonist's Stats

1. Initialize the skills through (Blind) Shell Choices: by definition, these kind of choices are always blind. The outcome doesn't depend on the choice. It would be good if you still incorporate some kind of logic here. However, it is still highly unlikely that the reader would be able to guess the author's logic on the first read.

2. Increase the skills through (Blind or Educated Guess) Apples or Oranges Choices: increase the skills by giving a choice to the reader. The choise has transparent logic in it. Still, neither option is good or bad, they are just different.

3. Adjust the stats to the reader's liking through (Transparent) Apples or Oranges Choices: spell out the boost for the stats in the given choices. Naturally, all the options must be equally good.

4. Further adjust the stats through Logical Conclusion Choices: reward the reader with more skillpoints for good thinking and have him decide how to apply those points to the stats.

Final Outcome for the Protagonist

5. Tactical Choice: no ultimate good choice. The outcome depends on the superior category of skills.

6. Final Test: reveal the secret formula for skillchecks and test for win/lose conditions

Example Gamebook

0. Create the Stats and Inventory
0.1. Invent the main subject of the story: Let's make this story about revenge. The protagonist's family was killed and he is going to find and punish the bad guys.
0.2. Invent the Tactical Choice in the Final Encounter: Shoot the DrugLord from a distance or assault his compound, get to his bedroom and kill him there. Because this is a Tactical Choice, the outcome in each of those options is going to depend on a skillcheck of the previously accumulated stats during the course of the adventure.
0.3. Invent the necessary skills that will be checked at the Final Encounter: in order to not spoil your game, I am not going to reveal my final stat intentions just yet. I will explain the logic behind the following two stats at the end of the game below. For now, just write down the following skills and possible inventory:

Stats and Inventory

> Survival Skill = 0

> Meditation Skill = 0

[Automatic Weapon] or [Long Barrel Rifle]

Intro

The protagonist was a team leader in the Special Forces and some time ago, he was ordered to take his squad and put a stop to a drug cartel supply chain. Eventually, the head of the cartel found out the identities of the troops and sent assassins to make them pay for damaging his business. One day, your car was blown up to pieces. At that very moment, you weren't in the vehicle, but you lost your wife and daughter in the explosion. After losing the most important people, you are determined to revenge their deaths. It is time to start the game at paragraph 1.

1. Building up the Protagonist's Stats
Initialize the Skills through (Blind) Shell Choices
The following is a typical Shell Choice: the outcome of the choice is unrelated to the options presented. It would be very bad if you reward the reader for choosing one and punish him for the other. However, if you make the outcome of both to be positive, but different, this type of choice is a great way to initialize the stats of the main character. It would be nice if you still incorporate some kind of logic behind the effect of this choice. It is highly unlikely that the reader would be able to guess the author's logic on the first read, but once he finds out what happens, he would accept it as an expected outcome. The exact reasoning behind this approach is explained in great detail in my previous article: creating a traitor instead of a hero.

- 1 -

Naturally, you are devastated. You can mourn in one of the following two ways. If you prefer to stay home, not see anybody for weeks, and get drunk by yourself every night, go to 2 now. If you want to go out and get drunk at a bar every night, you can see what happens to you at paragraph 3. 

- 2 -

Staying home, you get very comfortable being all by yourself for long periods of time. Eventually, you find a way to overcome your grief on your own. Increase your meditation skill by +1 and go to paragraph 4.

- 3 -

Going to a bar every night and getting drunk, your nights end up in a physical confrontation quite often. You even get arrested a couple of times. Increase your survival skill points by +1 and go straight to 4 now!

2. Increase the Protagonist's Stats
(Educated Guess) Apples or Oranges Choices: giving a transparent strong logic choice to the reader. The reader should be able to guess, without having it spelled out in the text, what the possible outcome would be. Still, neither option is good or bad, it is just different. I will not share the exact logic behind this choice with you just yet. I simply don't want to spoil your game. However, you will find out how this choice affects the final outcome soon enough.

- 4 -

A few months later, you have overcome your grieving stage and it is now time for revenge. You go to one of your buddies from the armed forces, who is now in the arms dealing business. You can get either a small automatic weapon (go to 5) or a long barrel rifle (go to 6).

- 5 -

Make a note that you own an automatic weapon and go on to 7!

- 6 - 

Make a note that you own a long barrel rifle and go on to 7!

3. Adjust the stats to the reader's liking
(Transparent) Apples or Oranges Choices: spell out the possible gain of points in the text of the choices present. Naturally, all the options must be equally good. This step should allow the reader to relate to the protagonist quite a bit.

- 7 -

It is the last night before the mission. If you prefer to spend it meditating (+1 meditation skill) go to 8. If you want to go to the gym (+1 point survival skill), go to 9 now!

- 8 -

You meditate the whole night. Add +1 point to your meditation skill and go to 10.

- 9 -

You work out for a few hours. Add +1 to your survival skill and go to 10.

4. Give a boost for good performance
Logical Conclusion Choices: boost up the stats, if the reader makes the right choices, and let him decide exactly how to apply the gained points to the stats. This is the first time in the game when we would reward or punish the reader, depending on the choice he makes. Read more on how to create this kind of choices here: Theory of Logical Conclusion Choice

- 10 -

The next morning you leave on a long journey. You take a map with the exact location of the DrugLord's compound. His fortress was built deep into the woods. When you get to the middle of the forest, you must go south to find it. You are now headed to paragraph 11.

- 11 -

When you get close to the location, you take the main road that splits the forest in two halves. By early evening, you are already in the center of the woods. There are beautiful snowcap mountains standing proud in the far distance straight ahead. To make this beautiful nature's painting even more spectacular, the sun is setting down right behind the snowy peaks. It would be nice to have more time, so you could enjoy this gorgeous landscape, but you must get to your destination before dark. You take a look around. There is a dirt road crossing the main paved road. If you choose to keep walking straight ahead on the asphalt, go to 12 now. If you decide to go left on the dirt road, turn to 13 now. If you prefer to start walking to the right, turn to 14 now.

- 12 -

You keep walking for a long time, but you can't find the drug cartel's compound. It takes you the whole night to get there and your exhaustion is resulting in loss of energy. You should have realized that you were facing west, because the sun is setting there. If you remembered that the drug cartel fortress is to the south, you should have turned left to get there. You must remove -1 point from your Survival skill or Meditation Skill due to the exhaustion. It is your choice which one will be affected. After applying the required changes to your stats, go directly to 15.

- 13 -

After a couple hours, you are close to the drug cartel's compound. You made the right choice and got here fast, so add +1 point to a stat by your choice (Survival Skill or Meditation Skill), because you managed to preserved energy and then go to 15.

- 14 -

You keep walking for a long time, but you can't find the drug cartel's compound. It takes you the whole night to get there and your exhaustion is resulting in loss of energy. You should have realized that you were facing west, because the sun is setting there. If you remembered that the drug cartel fortress is to the south, you should have turned left to get there. You must remove -1 point from your Survival skill or Meditation Skill due to the exhaustion. It is your choice which one will be affected. After applying the required changes to your stats, go directly to 15.

Final Encounter and Outcome 

5. Present a Tactical Choice
It is not a good idea to have a Final Encounter with Ultimate Good or Bad Choice. The success in the adventure should depend on the superior category of skills and the reader must be able to make an Educated Guess which choice relates to which specific protagonist's stat.

- 15 -

Finally, you make it to the compound. To your surprise, it is not heavily guarded. The DrugLord's personal security detail is either out on a different assignment or the criminal is just a little bit too careless. He probably feels safe here, because this location is nearly impossible to find in the thick dark woods. Either way, you don't want to take any unnecessary risks and decide to carry out your mission during the dark of the night. It is time to make your final choice. Do you want to shoot the DrugLord from a distance. You can do that when he gets to his bedroom. You wouldn't have to even get inside the compound - go to 16. The only alternative is to get in there under the cover of the night, make your way to his personal quarters and shoot him to his death. You may have to kill a few guards before you get to him, but as already mentioned, there aren't too many of them, so it shouldn't be impossible for you to execute this plan. If you want to do the latter, go to 17.

6. Final Skillcheck of the Stats
It is now time to reveal the secret formula for skillchecks and test for win/lose conditions

- 16 -

You chose to shoot the DrugLord from a distance. You are lucky to find a tree that is relatively close to the window of his personal quarters. It requires great self control to be sharpshooting from a distance. Convert your Meditation Skill points to Sniper Skill points now! If you have a long barrel rifle, add +2 points to your Sniper Skill. To find out if you are successful, roll 1d6 and add to it your score for Sniper Skill. If the result is greater than 6, you win the game. Otherwise, you lose.

- 17 -

You chose to assault the compound. You need serious brute force to be able to execute this mission. Convert your Survival Points to Brute Force now! There are only 5 guards on the premises, but it would still help you greatly if you have an automatic weapon instead of a single shot rifle. If you do, add +2 points to your Brute Force points! To find out if you are successful, roll 1d6 and add to it your score for Brute Force. If the result is greater than 6, you win the game. Otherwise, you lose.

This is where you find out how each different weapon relates to each Tactical Choice. Please note how I changed the name of the stats at the end of the adventure! Had we given [Sniper Skill] and [Brute Force Stat] to the reader in the very beginning of the adventure, he would have not guessed, but would have most certainly known which of the Tactical Options is more beneficial to him. Hide the Secret Formula of the Stats by applying some "fog of war" theory from the Logical Conclusion Choice post! Otherwise, the last choice in the game becomes a Cake or Death choice instead of Tactical (Strategic) Choice.

Before I finish, let me stress out that this was a very short example of how to build a good linear adventure. A good gamebook must have multiple choces of each kind and they should be well mixed. Don't follow the above formula to the letter! Also, keep in mind that a lengthy adventure will inevitably have a chain of multiple mini-gamebooks one after another. For an example, one of the mini-adventures could lead to a Tactical Choice for succeeding in the investigation of who killed your family. Another mini-game could be related to successfully obtaining enough weapons. A third mini-adventure could be ending with a check to find out if you were able to collect enough information to locate the compound at all. Of course, if the gamebook is of extended length and it incorporates so many mini-games, a larger number of more complicated stats would be required. The more stats you create, the more they will interject with each other and the more interesting your gamebook will be. However, be careful not too incorporate too many stats! If you do so, the reader will be too distracted by those variables and he wouldn't be able to immerse in the adventure experience.

One last example. A good, lengthy gamebook will have a skillcheck that looks like this: 1d6 + patience + meditation - stress. If the result is greater than X, then you succeed. Hell, add to it your health stat, if you want! Just make sure that all the stats and formulas make logical sense and that you have a lengthy enough adventure to develop and build up all those skills and points!

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"

Trap for Winners: a gamebook that turned into a computer game

Most of the time, I write about Gamebook Theory and I enjoy every single keystroke on that subject. However, this month, my post will be about a very good gamebook, which just recently became a computer game.

Let me first start with a little bit of gamebook history from the 1990s!

 After the fall of the Soviet Union, most of Eastern Europe suffered serious economic problems. In the winter of 1996/1997, Bulgaria's recession went even further and the country was hit by a few months of hyper-inflation. As a result, nobody could afford to buy a computer or a game console. These, otherwise unfortunate events, allowed the more affordable form of gaming - branching narrative literature - to become the kid's main choice for personal entertainment in that era and created a whole new generation of gamebook fans. In the midst of those events, a true legend emerged: the gamebook author Michael Mindcrime. According to his own words, after reading a gamebook for the first time, he though "This sucks! I can write a much better one". The rest is history. He became the most recognized, the most published and the most notorious gamebook author in Bulgaria.

You are probably thinking that Mindcrime doesn't sound like an Eastern-European name. You are correct. Back then, the consumers disregarded anything that was made in the Eastern Block, so many of the local authors were forced to use fake English names or western hemisphere sounding nicknames, if you prefer. His real name is Dimitar, but his family called him Misho. That is short for Mikhail, which in English is spelled as Michael. He came up with the last name of his pseudonym while working on his first gamebook. The whole time, he was listening to the album "Operation Mindcrime" by Queensrÿche. And there you go! Now the whole world knows how and why Dimitar Slaveykov became Michael Mindcrime.

"Trap for Winners" was his 22nd officially published gamebook. It saw the light of day sometime back in 1997 and it is one of his best works in the genre. For reasons I can't explain, I didn't get to read it back then, but everything else from that author was standing out from all other Bulgarian and English gamebooks I've ever seen. He is famous for perfectly balancing the difficulty in his gamebooks, for creating great informed choices and successfully integrating many logic puzzles and riddles in his adventures. The outcome in his games always depends on the player's choices and performance, not on blind guessing and pure chance.

So, when about an year ago, PrimeGames announced that they were about to make a computer game based on a Michael Mindcrime's book, I was absolutely ecstatic. I dug deep into my gamebook collection and there it was - the original, paper version of "Trap for Winners". I wasn't disappointed. It was a great read and I dare to say that the message it carries is more relevant nowadays than it was back when it was first realeased in 1997.

So, "Trap for Winners" puts the reader in the shoes of an undercover agent for the Department of Foreign Civilizations, who is dispatched to an enemy world. The adventure takes place sometime in the future when our home planet is trying to apply for membership in the Galactic Union of Advanced Civilizations.

After a devastating war with an alien race, Earth has emerged victorious and hastaken over  the hostile planet Dorya. As a part of Earth's Occupying Corps, the reader will have to investigate all the suspicious circumstances that have shaped the course of the war. He, playing as the undercover agent Steve Harrison, will have to balance between the pursuit of knowledge and securing the superiors' favor; between suppressing violent rebels and his own conscience. And what he'll discover just might change Earth's destiny forever.

See, even though, the book (published in 1997) precedes the War in the Middle East, many of the choices are similar to the problems the United States Military had to face there. The moral dilemmas of treating the enemy with respect or brutality are probably as old as the world. Also, should the locals, seemingly peaceful citizens, be treated as innocent people or handled with an iron fist? Would you be easy on the prisoners of war, let them rest and feed them well or would you rather push them to work harder in the prison camps? There are many choices like the ones above in "Trap for Winners". Neither one of them is entirely right or wrong. Depending on the reader, his preference and performance, there are three different victory endings available. Got you interested yet?

There are also many good things to be said about the computer adaptation by Prime Games too. First and most importantly, the translation from Bulgarian to English is excellent. Mindcrime was never famous for his literature, but his writing style is nevertheless pretty good. The translation and further editing allowed the quality of the text to be elevated at least one level up. It is easy to read, but not at all simplistic. The soundtrack is also very well selected. It helps the reader to unconsciously emerge into the world of the book. The gameplay is very intuitive. The few pictures in the game could have been done a little bit better and I wish there were more of those, but I also understand that this is one of the greatest expenses in the game design industry.

There is, however, one major difference between the gamebook and its adaptation for the personal computer and that is the minigame, which takes place during every mission on the planet Dorya. I've heard some complaints from fans that this addition to the original book distracts and takes the focus away from the actual story, but in my personal opinion, it is a well needed break from reading blocks of text. It took me a couple of failures to get the hang of it, but once mastered, I started enjoying these minigame missions.

Before I finish this post, I must say that Michael Mindcrime published a total of 30 gamebooks between the years of 1993 and 1999. Unfortunately for all his fans, he no longer writes interactive adventures. According to his own words, gamebooks can't provide enough income and he has moved on to other endeavors. However, 29 of his books remain unpublished in English, so I am hoping that the people at Prime Games would chose to translate and adapt many more of them in the near future.

In conclusion, I'd like to add that I've mentioned Michael Mindcrime, as an example of an outstanding gamebook designer, many times in my posts on Gamebook Theory, but never had a reference point to him for all my English speaking friends. I am going to be eternally grateful to Prime Games for translating his work into English and for making one of my childhood dreams - to play a computer game designed by Michael Mindcrime - a reality.

The game "Trap for Winners" is now available for purchase on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1038100/Trap_for_Winners/

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"

Gamebook Theory: Mistake #5 (creating a traitor instead of a hero)

This month, I'd like to take a look at the evolution of establishing the main character's stats in the gamebook genre. Unfortunately, the limitations of the medium don't allow us to test the player's speed and coordination, so we are stuck testing the protagonist's stats instead. The final outcome of the adventure very often depends on those numbers. Therefore, it is of vital importance that the reader has a way to influence the protagonist's stats. Otherwise, the eventual success in the game depends mostly on luck instead of player's performance.

Lets take a look at the evolution of establishing stats in the genre, starting with the oldest method and moving towards the newer and more effective ones!

1. Randomizing the stats, using dice rolls.

I still clench my teeth when remembering the bad dice rolls I had during character initialization in Fighting Fantasy books. I can't believe that some of my fellow authors still use the same outdated mechanic today. Its no fun being doomed because of bad luck in the very beginning of the adventure. This mechanic played its role in the dawn of the genre, but it should never be used in modern gamebooks.

Example: To determine your Initial SKILL, STAMINA, and LUCK scores:
SKILL Roll one die. Add 6 to the number and enter this total in the SKILL box
STAMINA Roll two dice. Add 12 to the number, box on the Adventure Sheet.
LUCK Roll one die. Add 6 to the number and enter this total in the LUCK box.

Using this method, with a little bit of bad luck, it is easy to create a traitor protagonist, whose skills work against the reader's interest instead of helping him achieve victory. Not fair, is it?


2. Building a hero by distributing a given number of stat points.

This method is much better and fair to the readers. It is better because they can create a protagonist in accordance with their own preference. It is fair because the final outcome of the adventure depends on the reader's decision how to apply the available points during the process of creating the main character. However, there is initially no way for the reader to know which skills would be vitally important for success in the game. Therefore, on the first couple of attempts, the outcome still depends on some luck and blind guessing, not on informed decisions. Another problem associated with this mechanic is the significant time consumption in preparation before the start of the game.

Example: Distribute 10 points between the following three skills however you please:
1.Swordfighting
2.Archery
3.Hand to hand Combat

Later in the adventure, the reader could be prompted to chose between sneaking into the chief's tent to strangle him, openly challenge the chief to a sword fight or killing him from a distance. Depending on the choice, a different skill would be tested.


3. Choosing a hero from a pool of pregenerated characters.

This method avoids time consumption and blind guessing in the beginning of the adventure. It is naturally expected that the author has done the heavy lifting for his readers and has created different protagonists with comparable chance of success. The outcome of the game should then be dependent on series of tactical choices in accordance with the main character, which was selected in the beginning.

Example: Chose one of the following:
Forest Elf: [Swordfighting: 3] [Archery: 6] [Hand to Hand Combat: 1]
Medieval Knight: [Swordfighting: 5] [Archery: 1] [Hand to Hand Combat: 4]
Desert Barbarian: [Swordfighting: 3] [Archery: 1] [Hand to Hand Combat: 6]

Once again, Later in the adventure, the reader could be prompted to chose between sneaking into the chief's tent to strangle him, openly challenge the chief to a sword fight or killing him from a distance. Depending on the choice, a different skill would be tested.

This method could be easily combined with the previous one by first choosing one of few possible main characters and then freely distributing a set number of points between their preassigned skills.


4. Train the hero and build up his stats during the adventure

My personal favorite method is building up the stats as the adventure progresses. Using this method, the faith of the main character falls entirely into the hands of the reader and the decisions he makes throughout of the adventure. When fighting the final boss at the end of the book, success depends on the stats accumulated during the course of the game.

Example:

- 1 -

You are a young and brave teenager. Your little beloved sister was recently abducted by the Evil Wizard from the North. You leave on the quest to find her and bring her back home. On your way out of the village you could stop by your cousin, who is one of the finest soldiers this land has ever seen (go to 2); you may decide to visit your grandfather, who was once part of the archer battalion (go to 3) or alternatively, you could see your uncle, who is the blacksmith (episode 4)

- 2 -

Your cousin gives you his enchanted wristband of power. Add 5 points to your Hand to Hand Combat skill and leave the village on paragraph 5!

- 3 -

 Your grandpa takes his old army bow down from the wall and hands it to you. It is enchanted. Add 5 points to your Archery skill and leave the village on paragraph 5!

- 4 -

Your uncle, the blacksmith, gifts you one of the newest swords he's made. There is an enchanted stone built into the handle. Add 5 points to your Swordfighting skill and leave the village on paragraph 5!

 -5-

On your way out of the village, you must decide which path you'll take. If you want to go through the Forest of the Elves (+5 Archery skill), turn to 6. If you prefer to cross the Desert of the Barbarians (+5 Hand to Hand Combat), turn to 7 or you could head out to the Castle of the Great Knight on paragraph 8 (+5 Swordfighting).

Yada, yada, yada...

- 100 -

You set a beautiful virgin from captivity in the Dark Castle. Before she heads home, she gives you a kiss on the cheek. Your self esteem is boosted. Distribute 5 points to skills any way you prefer and keep reading!

And so on...

At the end of the adventure: Chose between sneaking into the chief's tent to strangle him (Hand to Hand Combat > 7 requred), openly challenge the chief to a sword fight (Swordfighting skill > 7 required) or killing him from a distance (Archery skill > 7 required).

Note: The gains in the examples above are too obvious, because I wanted to illustrate the idea of building up the protagonist's stats. Apply some "fog of war" at your discretion to make the choices less predictable to your readers!


Of course, this method could also be combined with the two mentioned above: choosing a pregenerated character, distributing additional points between his skills and then receiving bonus points throughout the adventure.

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"

Gamebook Theory: Grave Mistake #4 (branching alone isn't enough)

As I promised in my previous post, this month we'll talk about branching in gamebooks and here is a very bold statement about that:

Branching creates choices, but choices alone don't create a game.

To better illustrate what I am trying to say, I will give you the following two examples:

Example 1:

1. You are at a crossroads. If you want to turn left, go to 2! If you prefer to turn right, go to paragraph 3!

2. You found a Magic Sword. Continue to paragraph 4!

3. You fall into a trap. Your adventure ends here.

4. Using your newly found Sword, you defeat the bad guy and you win fame and glory. The end.

Is this example interactive? Yes, it sure is, because there is a choice to be made.

Is the outcome a direct result of the reader's performance? No, it is not. The outcome here depends on pure chance, because the reader had no way of guessing which choice leads to death and which choice leads to cake. This is rather a "Which Door Choice". Note: see the gamebook choice classification by Ashton Saylor!

Do you see what is missing? There is no test of performance. The outcome depends entirely on luck.

Example 2:

1. The local Elder tells you that according to a centuries old legend, the Magic Sword could be found in the lands to the north. You leave the village and the beautiful sunset behind your back. Soon you are standing at a crossroads. If you want to turn left, go to 2! If you prefer to turn right, go to 3!

2. You continue walking to the north. A little bit later you find a Magic Sword. Turn to 4!

3. You continue walking to the south. A little bit later you fall into a trap. Game Over.

4. Using your newly found Sword, you defeat the bad guy and you win fame and glory. The end.

Do you see the difference? Do you see how we tested the reader's general knowledge, attention span, memory and logic?

a) General Knowledge: it is a well known fact that the sun always sets to the west.

b) Attention Span: the reader had to notice the clues buried in the text: the sun is setting behind his/her back.

c) Short Term Memory: the reader had to memorize the information from the village Elder and the fact that the Magic Sword is in the lands to the north.

d) Logic: if the sunset is behind the protagonist, then he is facing east and therefore must turn left (to the north).

Of course, we don't have to test all four in every choice. We could test just the memory by mentioning in the introduction that there is a Magic Sword in the lands to the north. A hundred paragraphs later we could ask the reader if he wants to go north or south. Actually, in this example, we would also be testing the attention, not only the memory, but you get the idea.

I was very surprised to find out that many authors complain that they come up with too many choices for a given situation and they have a hard time bringing the number down to acceptable levels. Imagine that in the example above at the crossroads, we ask the reader if he wants to 1. Climb the nearby tree; 2. Dig a hole in the ground; 3. Kill the ant crawling on his arm; 4. Break the crossroads sign; 5 Stare at the clouds.

Sure, all those are valid action possibilities, but what difference does any of those choices make in the grand scheme of things? Each one of those scenarios simply redirects the reader to a separate narrative line, but it makes no difference for the final outcome of the adventure. Those choices are irrelevant to the actual game part of the gamebook and should be removed from it. This is like the Chekhov's Gun Principle: "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired". Otherwise, it should have not been mentioned at all on the first place.

I have the exact opposite problem: I can't come up with many enough (at least 2 or ideally 3) meaningful options, because every single choice in a gamebook must make a difference one way or another (change of stats, finding an item, gaining valuable information and so on).

In conclusion, I am eager to remind you that unlike traditional literature, the goal of a gamebook isn't to surprise the reader unexpectedly at the end of the story. It is the exact opposite. A good gamebook author would lead the readers hand-in-hand through the MODERATE CHALLENGES of the game and HELP them achieve ultimate success at the end of the adventure.

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"