For July posting daily with gamebooks and gamebook series at r/gamebooks subreddit (list of posts). Building on previous Generator Months.
Disclaimer: Rand Roll is an affiliate for DriveThru RPG and DM's Guild.
All the 31 Days of Solo RPGs with links
- Day 1 - Isle of Torment
- Day 2 - The Way of the Tiger Series
- Day 3 - Gamebooks with Spooky and Horror Themes
- Day 4 - Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks
- Day 5 -Fabled Lands
- Day 6 - The Clockwork City
- Day 7 - The Sword of the Bastard Elf
- Day 8 - Science Fiction Gamebooks
- Day 9 - DestinyQuest
- Day 10 - Lost in the City
Day 1 - Isle of Torment
First up is The Isle of Torment by Dean Moodie (kickstarted in 2021). You play a pirate captain seeking the fabled Isle of Torment (and the treasure there of course!). You get a ship, crew, first mate and surgeon.
It's a huge gamebook at 2222 sections (746 pages), and a mixture of open-world and traditional gamebook. You are free to sail between the different islands, but with a time limit before you must seek out the isle.
There are several Pirate Captains to choose from or you can create your own. You also get to choose your ship and outfit it. There is quite a bit to keep track of, and it's important as you don't want your crew to run out of provisions, water or rum!
You'll explore either on your ship or going on shore with crew (including possibly your first mate and surgeon). A lot of your time will be spent exploring islands and ports around the Sea of Resentment and Tranquil Bay.
One on one fights are fairly simple, but the ship battles are set pieces, with narrative options during the battle and many things to keep track of. I found the ship battle narratives enjoyable, but not the tracking part of them.
There are many encounters that are random, depending on location and how far into your trip you are. Others depend on what day it is when you arrive (or remain) at a location.
There's a lot here, it's well-written and complex (in a good way). You get to play a pirate with their ship. It's got different modes, different starting difficulties and lots of replayability. I've yet to complete it but have lost a couple of ships and crews.
Day 2 - The Way of the Tiger
The Way of the Tiger by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson is a series where you play a ninja. Originally written in the 1980s, it was republished more recently (my Book 3 says 2014) so is easier to get than some earlier gamebooks. It even has a wikipedia entry.
There are six books in the original series, plus book 7 (2015, with David Walters) and book 0 (2014, by David Walters). You progress from avenging ninja in the first book to looking after a city and armies in later books. The setting is medieval fantasy in the world of Orb, and sometimes that fantasy is a bit mushed together with dwarves and hobgoblins alongside the grandmasters, monks and ninjas.
You get many skills and tools to play with as a ninja, such as garottes, flash powder, poison, shuriken, arrow cutting, feigning death and escapology. These progress as you advance through the books, if you play the same character from Avenger into later titles.
The fights are more involved (in a good way) than many gamebooks. Against each foe you'll get a choice of attacking with throws, kicks or punches, with different options winning out against ogres, priests or slimes.
The writing is good, art is solid and there's a big variety in the sort of adventure you undertake, problems you face and foes to fight.
Day 3 - Gamebooks with Horror and Spooky Themes
Playing a gamebook by yourself (especially a physical one), is a good way to experience the horror genre.
Some horror / spooky gamebooks include...
- In Nightshift by Victoria Hancox you're stuck at night in a hospital, caught up in a nightmare and trying to get out. It has sequels in the Cluster of Echoes Series (The Alchemist's Folly, the Phantom Self, Behind the Weeping Wells, Shopping Maul)
- The Ghosts of Craven Manor by Joseph Daniels is a time-travelling gamebook with puzzles and multiple paths. It starts with you moving into a haunted house and trying to banish a spirit using a time-travelling amulet. The adventures are continued in the Legacy of Craven Manor and the Ingram Chronicles.
- Fighting Fantasy is possibly the best known gamebook series, with a few spooky options. House of Hell (modern, Steve Jackson), Night of the Necromancer (Jonathan Green), Blood of Zombies (modern, Ian Livingstone). Dead of Night (Jim Bambra, Stephen Hand) and Beneath Nightmare Castle (Peter Darvill-Evans) would also fit if you can find them.
- Valentino Sergi has written Edgar Allan Poe - The Horror Gamebook (also an Italian version). Explore puzzles and mysteries and stave off madness in a realm based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.
- Jonathan Green has written many gamebooks, and in the ACE Gamebook series are some spooky titles. Dracula - Curse of the Vampire, Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu and 'Twas the Krampus Night Before Christmas all qualify.
- David Lowrie writes gamebooks that are darker in tone. In Straight to Hell you are a crusader knight in the depths of hell with a lot of ways to come to a grisly end. In Psycho Killer you are trying to stop a mass murderer and avoid a gruesome fate yourself.
- Call of Cthulhu is the best-known horror roleplaying game, and you can experience it in Alone Against Nyarlathotep by Lee Wade. Lots of North Yorkshire and creepy seaside towns and villages to explore. It's available as a PDF from drivethrurpg. There's also a book option. A similar option is Heinrich's Call of Cthulhu Guide to Carcosa by Heinrich D. Moore (more of a solo rpg).
- What Dreams May Come is a Savage Realms gamebook by TroyAnthony Schermer. A nightmarish journey through a realm of dreams.
- Simon Birks has a few gamebooks. Horror ones would include Innsmouth: The Stolen Child and Curse of Cthulhu - These Strange and Deadly Shores.
Day 4 - Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks
For many these are the quintessential gamebooks. Started by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson in 1982 with the Warlock of Firetop Mountain, they have kept coming with the most recent book in 2024.
Roll up your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK, keep your sword (or other weapon) ready and use your wits, fortune to navigate the fantasy or sci-fi challenges that await. Hopefully you reach section 400.
Some books to try include....
- Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Deathtrap Dungeon or City of Thieves for the classic experience
- House of Hell, Freeway Fighter, Appointment with F.E.A.R. or Blood of the Zombies for a more modern setting
- Scorpion Swamp or The Citadel of Chaos to use some magic
- Starship Traveller, Robot Commando or Rebel Planet for a sci-fi experience
- Sword of the Samurai or Demons of the Deep for a different fantasy setting
- Crystal of Storms for a lighter tone.
- Creature of Havoc for something completely different
- Night of the Necromancer to play as someone dead
Also worth mentioning is the Roleplaying Games Advanced Fighting Fantasy, which had a 2nd Edition in print from Arion Games.
Day 5 - Fabled Lands
In 1995 Fabled Lands began with The War-Torn Kingdom by Jamie Thomson and Cities of Gold and Glory by Dave Morris. Fabled lands was the first series of open-world gamebooks, where you could take the same character between books and then back again. Free to roam at will and choose how you wanted to experience the world.
There are 6 Professions, each specialised in one Ability. Priest (Santity), Mage (Magic), Rogue (Thievery), Troubadour (Charisma), Warrior (Combat) and Wayfarer (Scouting). There were some unique quests for each class throughout the books so the experience was different for each. Skill rolls were done through 2d6 and add your score in the relevant Ability against a target number. You could increase your success rate for tests with blessings bought at temples. Your Abilities would also increase as you completed quests and increased in Rank.
You keep track of the changes through keywords (starting with a different letter for each book), titles, equipment and gold. There are quite a lot of fights, a frustrating number of insta-deaths and some pretty weird (or varied) quests. I would try to max out available blessings at every point. With enough money there was also a resurrection deal with various temples to escape death, and this was also a priority to have when I played.
At times locations are sparse in things to do and some elements a little odd. But the magic of Fabled Lands was playing it the way you wanted. You could swear loyalty to various gods, focus on exploring, captain a ship on the seas, venture into politics, make foolish investments, live life as a trader buying and selling goods. There were chances to become a noble, get a keep, be an ambassador and buy houses that people might break into.
The first six books in 1995 and 1996 by Jamie Thomson and Dave Morris were War-Torn Kingdom (medieval fantasy), Cities of Gold (medieval fantasy), Over the Blood-Dark Sea (islands and ships), The Plains of Howling Darkness (nomad steppes, ruins and a samurai city), The Court of Hidden Faces (a tiered society with cutthroat politics), Lords of the Rising Sun (samurai nation). Each book is a little harder than the last.
In 2018 Book 7, Serpent King's Domain, arrived written by Paul Gresty. It's loosely based on old south-american cultures. There are rumours that book 8 will one day arrive but don't hold your breath. There is also Keep of the Lich Lord (I just saw a copy on Amazon UK for £8), a stand-alone quest which you can use to start or supplement your Fabled Lands adventures.
As well as the physical books Fabled Lands are available on Kindle, as a digital game on steam and as pdfs on DriveThruRPG (for pretty cheap).
Day 6 - The Clockwork City
The Clockwork City is the first book of Endless Destinies (and so far only one) . Written by Corinna Keefe, game design by Joe Harris and Illustrated by Paula Zorite. It's a gamebook that often gets recommended for a younger audience.
The gamebook comes in a box with a deck of custom playing cards that are used for combat. It has some tactical depth but isn't too complex. You have a deck for your hero, which you can add to as you learn more techniques in time. The monsters get their own deck, with a different combination of cards (and actions) for each monster, making each fight quite different.
Your character is trying to fix the ills that are besetting the Clockwork City. You choose locations on the various maps to go to and investigate, rest or shop. New locations open up and some get closed off as the story progresses. The game is fun but you'll end up exploring nearly all of the locations in a full playthrough.
It's a pretty gamebook, with a distinctive art style. There's no permanent death to worry about (unless you run out of money to pay the boatman) and the storytelling is engaging.
Day 7 - The Sword of the Bastard Elf
The Sword of the Bastard Elf from "Herman S. Skull" and Two-Fisted Fantasy is illustrated by S. Jacob. Available in softback (826 pages, amazon UK had it at £25) and also a digital version (drivethrurpg)
It's a sprawling standalone epic that is not quite like any other gamebook. It's 1825 sections plus an equipment appendix and my version also has a short RPG.
In most games your an adventurer or hero or just the wrong person in the wrong situation. In this gamebook you're a young half-elf scumbag kicked from their home by their step-dad. You'll lie, cheat, avoid, steal, shag and maybe even fight your way through a variety of situations with lots of freedom.
Challenges and fights are known as Hassles and there's often a way of weaselling out of facing them. There is a lot of options to choose and those choice can take you all over the place in unexpected ways. There are multiple different endings (as opposed to deaths), some satisfying and some less so (from your character's viewpoint).
It's fantasy but a it's part weird, part funny (depending on your humour), part mundane and part bizarre. It's not for children. There's lots of items and pets to pick up and an interesting crafting system (certain items can combine into a more powerful item).
From the same author is also Star Bastards, a sci-fi gamebook in the same vein.
Day 8 - Science Fiction Gamebooks
Second genre post is Science Fiction Gamebooks. (Cyberpunk / Post-apocalytic another day. Horror was Day 3)
- The Altimer from Samuel Isaacson is the first in horror sci-fi trilogy the Entram Epic (with New Gaia and Solar War). New extra-terrestrial life has been discovered and
everyone lives in harmonythings go wrong. You get to be an astronaut leading (or not in my case) a team to New Gaia. Well written with meaningful choices. - Fighting Fantasy has Starship Traveller (Star-Trek like), Robot Commando (mechs and dinosaurs), Rebel Planet (an alien empire), Space Assassin (play as a bounty hunter), Rings of Kether (some love it, I hate it), Sky Lord and Star Strider.
- Star Smuggler by Dennis Sustare is from 1982, playing as a starship-era soldier of fortune. It looks like the author has okayed digital versions.
- Star Bastards is by the same publisher as Sword of the Bastard Elf from Day 7. You're racing, sleazing, gambling and fighting your way across the galaxy, dealing with bounty hunters that come your way.
- The Fall of District-U by Matt Beighton is a Pick Your Path book set in a mining district of the distant future. Investigate the dark alleyways, get tech upgrades and battle all manner of foes in a cyberpunk-feeling setting.
- Heavy Metal Thunder by Kyle Stiff has you as a human soldier resisting extra-terrestrial invaders. First of a trilogy. Could only find in e-book/kindle format
- The Renegade Lord by Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith is the first in the Falcon Series, where you play a time-travelling special agent. You get all sorts of equipment to start with and get missions / sub-plots in different eras of time. Picked up first book easily but others look like hard to get hold of.
- Space Brigade is a gamebook in graphic novel format split over chapters with puzzles and space soldiers. I found a Canadian site selling it.
- The Be An Interplanetary Spy books by Seth McEvoy books have been recommended for kids. But some of the more modern reprints appear to be of a far lower quality book.
Day 9 - DestinyQuest
DestinyQuest by Michael J. Ward takes the videogame format of battle, loot, power-up, repeat and puts it into gamebooks. Your character can become a Warrior, Mage or Rogue but will be doing lots of fighting in any case. These are large books (939 sections in book 1, 895 in book 2) with lots of narrative, story and choices to make.
You pick the quests you want to try from a map, picking easy to hard quests, settlements where you can pick up gear and rumours, legendary monsters and the boss fight that lets you move to the next map. (books 1 and 2 both have 3 maps). There's no permadeath in this game. If you fail a quest you just start again or pick another location on the map.
Much of the gameplay is combat, with a few puzzles too. While most of the combat revolves around who has the higher Speed, there's lots of variety in the fights. Multiple foes, carts to stop escaping, a golem that throws mud pies at you, snipers and a foe that absorbs your abilities and throws them back at you.
At the end of most fights, you get to loot one or more items. These fit a slot (head, boots, main hand etc) and boost Magic, Speed, Brawn and Armour. Many also have one or more abilities such as rerolls, boosts, hindrances to foes and healing. There are MANY abilities and a lot of the gameplay revolves around deciding what items to take and leave as the game progresses. You also get 5 backpack slots that are filled with various limited use items to help (mostly in combat).
The first three gamebooks are The Legion of Shadow, The Heart of Fire and The Eye of Winter's Fury. The Raiders of Dune Sea and Wrath of Ragnarok are the first two books of the Sands of Time trilogy. Tides of Terror came out in 2024 and is a little different. It uses a new diceless combat system and you play 2-4 heroes.
It's often recommended to start with the second one (The Heart of Fire), as there are some balance issues with the first book. Each book you start with a new character (I don't know if that's true for Wrath of Ragnarok) and there are Team Battles in Book 2 (and possibly others) where you can team up with a character from another book.
Lost in the City
Lost in the City is written and illustrated by Joseph Fry and came out this year. I've got the Noir edition which is black and white illustrations only.
It's set in modern day and as the title says, Lost in the City with a bit of mystery! You'll use clues, coin flips and symbols (that look like fruit machine icons) to navigate the city and figure out what's going on.
The gamebook has a very cohesive style, the layout and design matching the feel of the book. It's narrative driven with some puzzles, not overly long (~200 sections, most pages are 1 section but some split into two)
There's minimal rules, no ability checks, and the coin flips are mostly to determine random events (does the security guard stop you, what do you find in the crates). There are multiple endings and an achievement list at the back.
Also the writer is a regular on the r/gamebooks subreddit so easy to ask any questions too!
Finishing Up
Go and play a gamebook!
