The latest of my monthly musings on Gamebooks, as I move toward publishing my first one.
Types of Gamebooks
For this month I'm doing 31 Days of Gamebooks at the gamebooks subreddit (and here on Rand Roll in one article), posting daily with individual gamebooks, gamebook series and gamebooks by genre.
One thing I see is the split in expectation in certain types of gamebooks. For me there are three broad categories. Traditional gamebooks, Open-world series and Diceless gamebooks. Technically a diceless open-world series would be a 4th, but no-one's made one of those yet.
Knowing the differences can help you find the types of gamebooks you like.
There are other considerations, such as sagas such as Lone Wolf or Sorcery where you keep the same character. Ones where you are using the framework of an RPG such as Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu or Tunnels and Trolls. Or puzzles or multiple endings, but that's for another day.
Some books cross boundaries, such as DestinyQuest by Micheal J Ward or The Isle of Torment by Dean Moodie, but that's to be expected.
Traditional Gamebooks
Traditional gamebooks are branching narrative, with some sort of randomisation. whether that's six-sided dice, the random number generator of Lone Wolf, the cards of Endless Destinies or coins of Lost in the City.
Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Ninja (Mark Smith, Jamie Thomson), Shadow Thief (David Lowrie), the ACE gamebooks (Jonathan Green) and Cult of the Pajoli (Simon Birks) are all examples of Tradition Gamebooks.
Some have multiple endings, some have one true path, some have a frustrating number of insta-deaths. All have some kind of random element, a start and way forward.
Open-world Gamebooks.
Then there are the gamebook series where you can start in any book, wander from one to the other and back again. These series are a lot of work to write and there aren't many of them.
When playing these books, you have for more control over the story. It's up to you to ignore quests, spend your time as a trader, stay in one book or wander all over the place.
Fabled Lands (Dave Morris, Jamie Thomson) was the first of these. Others include Steam Highwayman, Legendary Kingdoms and VulcanVerse. Expeditionary Company too in a slightly different format, but I haven't played it yet.
The Isle of Torment is almost an open-world contained in one huge gamebook, but with a time limit. Among the Fighting Fantasy books, Scorpion Swamp and Robot Commando by Steve Jackson (USA) are the nearest you'll get.
Diceless Gamebooks
Then there are gamebooks with no random elements. I'm calling them Diceless Gamebooks here for want of a better term. Here nothing is left to chance. You get to make your choices and that's the end of it.
Some choices in the gamebook might be restricted because of your equipment or skills you've taken. There might be puzzles to solve or choices you made at the start of the book that screw you over at the end, but they were your choices.
Nightshift by Victoria Hancox is one, as is Escape from Portsrood Forest by Samuel Isaacson and Medusa's Gold by David Chandler. Heart of Ice by Dave Morris (first in Critical IF series) is probably the best known. The Beast Quest books for younger readers are short and simple with no game elements beyond your choices.
Horror seems to be a genre suited to diceless gamebooks.
Choosing Your Gamebook
You might be someone for whom any random element spoils the story. Or someone else who needs the random element to bring out the game of the gamebook. You might like the RPG-like experience of open worlds or the the tighter narrative of the traditional and diceless books.
Or you might cross these boundaries, mixing and matching or enjoying them all. Or with a preference for open-world books on Tuesdays and diceless on Fridays.
One of the most recommended gamebooks is Heart of Ice by Dave Morris. It's a great gamebook, but has no random elements. So some love it as a place where no random elements interrupt their narrative, others as an example of good gamebook design. And others dislike it because there's no random elements, pushing your luck or
It's an example of being aware of different types of gamebook and how they might impact your enjoyment of them.
Finishing Up
My original title for this month was on Tickboxes and Codewords, but that niche conversation can wait!
