Lloyd of Gamebooks

Neo Sybaris, the hedonistic city made possible by the Cybernetic Regime of Liberty and Justice, is a living hell for the Dust, the underclass that barely survive on scraps. But some are determined to bring change.

One small group of Insurgents, with connections into the privileged Veblen Stratum, sets off on a mission where a mysterious stranger approaches.

The Insurgent he approaches is you.

Immerse yourself in this dystopian web of lies in which no-one is to be trusted.

Betrayal in Neo Sybaris: A gamebook from Samuel Isaacson : Isaacson, Sam: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Zines

Warlock Returns

The Warlock Returns is an Advanced Fighting Fantasy Zine. Issue 8 is out now as a pdf and physical version.

The Warlock Returns Issue #08 - Arion Games | Advanced Fighting Fantasy | DriveThruRPG.com

Blogs

Andrew Wright

Andrew Wright, who has written many, many Advanced Fighting Fantasy supplements is making an AFF dungeon for the Dungeon 23 challenge.

Fantasy Game Book: #Dungeon23 Inspires Dead Blog Resurrection!

Deathtraps and Dungeons

They have done Appointment with Fear.

Deathtraps and Dungeons : Appointment with F.E.A.R

Adventure Gameblog

Various gamebooks from this blog.

Adventure Gameblog (myadventuresendhere.blogspot.com)

Gamebook Odyssey

More gamebook reviews. The latest is Proteus 8.

Gamebook Odyssey (gamebookreviews.blogspot.com)

Nicholas Andriani

I think I found this on Facebook. It is a great post about interactive Midsummer Night's Dream.

A Midsummer Night’s Maze: Interactive Fiction and Narrative Design – Nicholas Andriani Rankin

Films

There's an interactive Deathtrap Dungeon film in the works!

Deathtrap Dungeon: The Golden Room | Wales Interactive

Crowdfunding

Destiny Quest

Destiny Quest book 5 is coming soon!

DestinyQuest: The Wrath of Ragnarok by Michael J Ward — Kickstarter

Box of Delights

The Box of Delights - The Roleplaying Game (Make 100) by Jonathan Green — Kickstarter

The Box of Delights - The Roleplaying Game is an adaptation of John Masefield's Christmas children's classic, written by Jonathan Green and illustrated by Tony Hough - the creators of 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas - and licensed through The Society of Authors, the Literary Representative of the Estate of John Masefield.

The Box of Delights - The Roleplaying Game is a rules-lite RPG, designed to be picked up and played with minimal preparation. Players take on the roles of Kay Harker and the Jones children as they experience the events of the book first-hand, encountering the mysterious Punch-and-Judy Man and becoming embroiled in the sinister plot being perpetrated by the wizard Abner Brown and his coven of wolf-worshipping witches around the Winter Solstice in the run up to Christmas.

The Box of Delights - The Roleplaying Game (Make 100) by Jonathan Green — Kickstarter

The Temple of Shadows

In this gamebook you'll take on the role of a young ranger who wants to protect his home village Brinthal. On your way you'll have to explore an underground temple, fight against shadow creatures, discuss with troll spirits, solve puzzles, survive traps and face a sinister threat from ancient times.

The Temple of Shadows stands within the tradition of gamebooks like Lone Wolf and Fighting Fantasy, which I've always liked. This interactive book uses modern game mechanics to create the most varied and enjoyable game experience possible. The rules of the game are intentionally kept simple. All you need for playing is two six-sided dice (2d6) and a pencil.

The Temple of Shadows - A Fantasy Gamebook by Christopher Bünte — Kickstarter

Quick and Dirties #4: The Priory of Red Peitor

That's an embarrassing thing to explain, innit? I kid. Don't worry, I'll explain the ins and outs of it, if you know what I mean.

Marching Order quick and dirties is a new type of delve. They're no nonsense adventures meant to be played in a single sitting. Each one comes on a twelve panel fold out brochure that fits real nice in your Marching Order box. If you're lucky, you'll survive your trip to the Priory and can spend some loot back in Rotbottom. But ya probably want to know who Red Pietor is, huh?

Read on, Rogue.

Quick and Dirties #4: The Priory of Red Peitor by Crumbling Keep — Kickstarter

Interactive Fiction and Gamebook Discussion group

February's book is Rulers of the NOW, by yours truly! Discuss it over at the group!

Interactive Fiction & Gamebooks Discussion Group (Book Club) | Facebook

Lindenbaum!

Entries to the Lindenbaum Compeitition close on Feb 14th!

You can see the requirements here - Lloyd of Gamebooks: 2022/2023 Lindenbaum Prize announcement

The Lindennbaum Prize is sponsored by Peter Agaopv, contributor to Lloyd of Gamebooks and owner of Augmented Reality Adventure Games who is very generously providing the first prize.

The Lindenbaum Prize is also sponsored by Crumbly Head Games who is providing free licenses to The Gamebook Authoring Tool as prizes and also has a free version of the Gamebook Authoring Tool that goes up to 100 sections.

Many thanks to Tammy Badowski for donating her time to the Lindenbaum Prize.

Adventures in social media

I found this on the Reddit gamebooks group.

Someone called Jay is mapping out the optimal paths for the Fighting Fantasy books. Have a butchers.

Graphing Fighting Fantasy

Monday, January 9, 2023

The Lindenbaum competition is way underway

Hello all! Here's a reminder that the Lindenbaum competition is underway. The deadline is 5pm GMT on the 14th February. Get writing!

Entry requirements for the 2022/2023 Lindenbaum competition

All entries must be in English.

All entries must be original works incorporating unique characters and world settings. This can include real world settings, people and events as long as they aren't the property of someone.

All entries must be previously unpublished works.

All entrants must state clearly on the first page of their entries that they are the authors of the work submitted.

~~All entries must be provided in rich text format (rtf) and sent as an email attachment~~ All entries must be in any format that I can edit and turn into a pdf and sent as an attachment and link to lindenbaumprize@gmail.com.

Formats I know I can do this with are: RTF, doc, docx, Google docs, pdf, - leave a comment if there is a format that you want to know about.

All character or status sheets provided with entries must be presented in a simple layout that does not include complex table formats.

All entries must be spell-checked and thoroughly tested prior to submission.

The total length of the entry does not exceed 100 sections and a word count of 25,000 words.

Illustrations will not be accepted as a part of an entry except in two specific circumstances.

Exception 1: Maps that are integral to navigation within the gamebook.

Exception 2: Graphics necessary as a part of puzzles or clues integral to the entry's narrative.

Graphics provided for these purposes must be in either BMP or JPG format and be included as a part of the RTF entry forwarded.

Graphics purely of an illustrative nature will not be accepted.

The entry may either be a complete stand-alone story or a self-contained excerpt from a larger gamebook adventure of your own creation.

The entry can be of any genre except erotica.

There is no entry fee.

All rights remain with the author and the author can withdraw their entry at any time during the course of the competition.

An entrant can submit one entry only.

All participants must have a valid PayPal account at the time of submission. For reasons given below you must have a valid PayPal account if you wish to receive a cash prize. Account information is not required by the organisers of this competition unless you are one of the winning entrants. Only at the time of winning a prize will you be asked for your PayPal details.

Hyperlinking

Last year, I hyperlinked most of the entries. Response was lukewarm with one entrant specifically asking not to hyperlink. It seems that for a short gamebook, hyperlinks aren't completely necessary, so I won't do it this year.

Competition deadlines for 2022/2023

16th October 2022: Competition guidelines released

6th December 2022: Entry submissions begin

14th February 2023: Entry submissions close.

21st February 2023: Voting begins.*

18th April 2023: Voting closes.*

30th April 2023: Winners announced.*

* If there are more than 14 entries, these dates will be extended.

Voting

The prize is awarded to the entrant who receives the greatest number of reader votes. This prize relies on votes provided by readers who have read enough of the entries to make a considered choice as to the relative merits of the gamebooks submitted. It is expected by the sponsor of this competition that votes will be provided on this basis. For 2022/2023 the voting system applies as follows:

A valid vote must be forwarded by email to lindenbaumprize@gmail.com. A valid vote must nominate the three gamebooks most favoured by the voter from the competition entrants. A vote with less than three nominations cannot be accepted. A vote forwarded with more than three nominations will only have the first three accounted for in the voting tabulation.

Only one voter email is allowed per reader. All votes will be checked for duplication of email addresses.

Feedback to the authors may be forwarded to the competition sponsors at lindenbaumprize@gmail.com. All feedback given will be provided to authors at the end of competition as a part of the email notification of results.

Prizes

Winning entrant

A cash prize of £100 GBP (Great British Pounds) to be paid within 48 hours into a PayPal account of the winner's choosing. If you do not have access to a valid PayPal account the cash prize cannot be paid.

A desktop licence to the Gamebook Authoring Tool which lasts for 1 year.

A First Prize certificate memorialising their success in the competition.

Merit awards

Two entries are chosen for Merit awards. These entrants receive:

A cash prize of £30 GBP (Great British Pounds) to be paid within 48 hours into a PayPal account of the Merit Award winner's choosing.

A Merit Award certificate memorialising their success in the competition,

Commendation awards

If there are 10 or more entries, there will be 3 commendation awards. The entrants receive:

A Commendation Certificate memorialising their success in the competition.

Gamebook writing help

If you haven't written a gamebook before, you might think that arranging and randomising the sections might be a problem. However, there are now good gaembook writing programs out there. One is The Gamebook Authoring Tool, which has a free version specifically designed to write a 100 section gamebook and export it to Rich Text Format. You can try it here: About The GameBook Authoring Tool – Crumbly Head Games

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

December news and upcoming January news

Hello all!

I only released the last news a few days ago, so this one will be short, but I thought I'd make a December one as well, just to keep up my one a month rate.

I'll also take this chance to wish you all a happy new year and that I hope 2023 will be a happy and prosperous year for you all.

Here's the news:

Arion Games festive sale

Arion Games is the company that releases Advanced Fighting Fantasy material.

With December well underway and both Christmas and New Year fast approaching, it is time for the annual Arion Games festive sale.

As in previous years, we have put every Arion Games pdf at DTRPG at a 40% discount for the rest of the month. In addition, we will also have FOUR brand new adventures for four different games. These will be sent free to every customer who has bought something of ours during December.

(Don't buy anything from Arion games that costs $999/£830. They are the free festive games.

The plan is to send two out next week end to all December customers to that point, another the following weekend and another the weekend after, so if you want to get all four for free, make sure you have purchased something by then!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/667/Arion-Games

Release - The Seeker of Valenreath

If you seek adventure, then enter the fantasy realm of Lorelos and embark on a quest to find an ancient relic. You are a Seeker and must choose one of multiple paths you can take to reach your goal. You will need one six-sided dice, a pencil and an eraser to keep track of your attributes, record your discoveries and determine the victor in battles. You will use a unique, 1d6 combat system to do battle with Orcs, Goblins and many other formidable foes. Your success will oftentimes be decided by your strategy and the roll of one six-sided dice, be it combat or the execution of a task or skill of your choosing. You may come across puzzles to solve and riddles to decipher. Use alchemy to overcome the many challenges you will face and discover items and potions to aid you in your quest. You will journey through the mysterious Faewood or the marshy Fens of Lorelos, before embarking on your perilous ascent of the Blackspire Mountains to find the entrance to the ancient ruins. The many challenges that you will face and the characters you will meet on your journey, are contained in this adventure gamebook of over 350 pages and 1000 paragraphs. There are multiple paths to achieve your goal and each playthrough will be different depending on your choices and selected abilities. Containing 50 hand-drawn illustrations, your friends and foes are revealed in 22 full page illustrations with many secrets to discover.

The Seeker of Valenreath: Amazon.co.uk: Makin, Matthew D: 9780645661507: Books

Release - Gamebook Collectors' Guide

Mark Lain has made a Collectors' Guide for 1000s of gamebook related items with cover art from Michael Sheppard.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BR71FN91/ref=sr_1_8?qid=1672242092&refinements=p_27%3AMark+Lain&s=books&sr=1-8&text=Mark+Lain

The Lindenbaum gamebook competition

Here is a chance to to win prizes with a gamebook writing competition! You need to write a short gamebook of up to 100 sections and 25000 words in length. The deadline for the competition is Febrary 14th 2023 at 5pm GMT.

Full details are at Lloyd of Gamebooks: 2022/2023 Lindenbaum Prize announcement

Adventures in social media

I was reminded of these blogs in the Fighting Fantazine forums.

Ludicrously Niche is a blog that covers lots of 80s and 90s memorabilia. It also has gamebook blog posts, including the broken gamebook series where the author points out the errors in different gamebooks.

http://cwickham.blogspot.com/?m=1

Deathtraps and Dungeons is an amusing blog where the writer goes through all of the Fighting Fantasy books. They have just released number 16, Seas of Blood.

Deathtraps and Dungeons

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Things for the holiday season

Hello all!

Dave Morris released a post earlier which included his free stuff to help see you through the holiday season:

Fabled Lands: Comforts and joys

I pride myself on being able to spot a good idea, so I am going to lovingly rip off his idea and add some more freebies that you could find. Some are mine and some are not. Some are gamebook related and some are not.

Whatever you are doing this holiday season, I wish you happiness for it.

If you have any other suggestions or want to drop me an email, I am on sl1605@gmail.com.

Gamebook podcasts

Free gamebook radio in your ears. Here are some gamebook podcasts:

The Podcast from Firetop Mountain (podbean.com)

Fantastic Fights — Haunted Phonograph

Podcast (magnamund.com) (The Lone Wolf podcast)

Welcome to Instadeath Survivors Support Group by Instadeath Survivors Support Group (anchor.fm)

A Mug's Gamebook - Hosted by Tom Bartlett (acast.com)

My gamebook stuff

Lloyd of Gamebooks: Stuart Lloyd's bibliography

Windhammer Competition

7 years of gamebook entries!

https://www.arborell.com/gamebook_archive.html

Lindenbaum Competition

1 year of gamebook entries!

Lindenbaum 2021/2022 - Google Drive

Also, you can spend the dark nights writing an entry for the 2022/2023 competition!

Lloyd of Gamebooks: 2022/2023 Lindenbaum Prize announcement

Fighting Fantazine

In case you missed it, issue 17 came out this year after a 5 year hiatus. If you have never heard of Fighting Fantazine, there are 17 whole issues to explore! Each one has an adventure in it!

Home (fightingfantazine.co.uk)

Non-gamebook stuff

Even the most hardened gamebook fan likes the occasional non-interactive piece of entertainment, so here are a few things I've been enjoying this year.

My Dad Wrote A Porno (not safe for work). A man and his two friends read through, and comment on, his dad's terrible erotica. Absolutely hilarious. Adult themes only. Best not to drive or operate heavy machinery whilst listening to this podcast.

Playground - OpenAI API - this is a chat GPT thing where you can ask it to write various things and enjoy.

Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell - YouTube - educational Youtube channel exploring the big ideas with cute duck animations.

November news and upcoming December news

Hi all! I'm really sorry I haven't posted for a while. I have had an intense few months in real life land and I'm sorry. Here is what was big news in November.

Kickstarters

Defenders 3: Heiress of the Tundra

This Kickstarter has finished now, but you can follow along here.

Defenders 3: Heiress of the Tundra by Derick William Dalton — Kickstarter

is the third installment in a series of fantasy choose-your-path gamenovels penned by Whitney Award-nominated Derick William Dalton.

The Defenders series is a melding of tabletop role-playing and fantasy novels. Inspired by Fighting Fantasy, Lone Wolf, and Lone Wilderlands, reader choices and hero abilities allow a range of storylines and adventure paths.

Defenders game novels have an introduction explaining the mechanics of character traits, skills, combat, use of gear, and character improvement. The story continues from the first two books, Throne of the Bandit Lord and Elusive Elixir. The tales boast diverse paths in both plot and cartography, and continue in book four.

New releases

Gregor's Sidequests

Gregor's SideQuests: A Mini Gamebook Series (Gregor's Adventures) - Kindle edition by Malak, R.. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Hired on as a caravan guard, Gregor must travel the inhospitable deserts of the Red Lands, survive the blistering heat of the four suns, and ensure the survival of Halthane, a gnomish merchant.

Smorgasboard by Barry Green

Smorgasboard | Wyrd of Mouth Comedy

Bing bong!

Welcome to the blurb! If you're looking for a synopsis, you've come to the right place. My name is Bongo, and I'm the official bard of Smorgasboard. That is, the black-and-white, interactive, adventure comedy contained within this text. It's my job to keep you entertained as you choose your route through the maze of this dark, alternate reality.

Don't just browse the cover, see you on the inside!

Yours, Bongo

"Probably the strangest book I've ever read!"

Smorgasboard is a semi-graphic adventure novella in which YOU, the reader, attempt to navigate your way through to its conclusion at Castle Smorg. Not all is as it seems, with a dangerous enemy plotting against you, native insurgents, and an array of cryptic hints hidden amongst humour. An information war wages across the board. Can you traverse the pages without coming to an untimely demise? Decipher the clues to escape or be subsumed into the narrative forever...

Nemo's fury

Nemo's Fury – The all-new interactive fiction game based on the classic adventure by Jules Verne (nemosfury.com)

Choose your own adventure with the legendary Captain Nemo on board his incredible submarine, the Nautilus.

Explore the sensational ocean depths, battle extraordinary monsters, and try to unravel the mystery of Nemo’s masterplan.

But will you survive to tell the tale? Nemo’s Fury is a survival combat adventure, the interactive fiction game where YOU are the hero.

Our game is inspired by our love of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s Fighting Fantasy books, RPG’s such as Dungeons and Dragons,

the galaxy’s greatest comic 2000AD, and of course, the adventure stories of Jules Verne.

And it was written in Ink using Inky, the same programme used to create the excellent interactive fiction adventure, 80 Days.

(Which we have nothing to do with, except have a great time playing!)

The Ticking World Adventure Calendar

The Ticking World an Adventure Calendar - Etsy UK

One part advent calendar, one part branching adventure story, The Ticking World invites you on a journey to the cold, snowy North to unravel a fantastical mystery.

Every day brings new scenes, choices and illustrations.

As each explorer makes their own choices, they will encounter different fantasy characters, locations and mysteries. No two paths are the same, but every journey will last the same number of days and, like a traditional advent calendar, end on Christmas Day.

Perennial calendar format for re-play year after year.

Spiral-bound flip calendar with metal hanger for easy display.