A gamebook is really just a big gaming session where instead of following the player's choices linearly, you are playing through every possibility - every choice, every outcome.
An interview with August Hahn, author of Twilight's Edge and co-host of the ?Lone Wolf Podcast. Twilight's Edge was the Feb 2026 book for the 100 Endings Book Club. Latest in series of gamebook interviews.
Disclosure - I'm a DriveThru RPG affiliate.
Chat with August Hahn
August Hahn is the co-host of the Lone Wolf podcast - Journeys Through Magnamund. He's also the author of the Lone Wolf RPG and Twilight's Edge, one of the Chronicles of Magnamund.
We have getting into the podcast, writing Twilight's Edge, writing challenges, lone wolf rpg, and favourite Lone Wolf character. Among other questions.
What was your gaming story before Lone Wolf?
I started playing D&D when I was very young. I had to mail away for a box because there were no game stores anywhere near us.
For the longest time, I played solo because we moved around a lot with my father in the Air Force. So that's what I did until I found Lone Wolf.
How did the Journeys Through Magnamund podcast come about?
Pretty much the way you might expect. We were having a meeting with the three of us who comprised Holmgard Press at the time - Ben Devere, Vincent Lazzari, and I - and the subject of talking about the books on social media came up.
I mentioned having a podcast at the time, and we rolled with the concept, eventually pulling in Jonathan and starting a whole new thing.
What 2-3 episodes of Journey Through Magnamund would you recommend for a new listener?
This is probably going to sound way too simple, but I really would recommend just listening to the first three in order.
We build on the basics in those and they have a great continuous rhythm. If I had to give another answer, it would probably the first episode and the two part Darklands War episodes. We really did some of our best work with those.
(podcast episodes on main website)
How was it to write the first venture into space for Lone Wolf?
It was amazing. Lone Wolf has always been set in a vasty universe of possibilities, but there have been precious few chances to really show that off.
Writing Twilight's Edge has been wonderful for that, and I'm thankful to finally put it out there for the fans.
What was your writing process for Twilight's Edge?
Pretty much the same as usual for me, which is I set up my excel spreadsheet for keeping track of my page numbers and then I just start writing.
A game book is really just a big gaming session where instead of following the player's choices linearly, you are playing through every possibility - every choice, every outcome. It can be a hard headspace to get into, but once I do, the pages just flow.
What were the biggest challenge(s) and highlight(s) of writing a gamebook
I would say the hardest part for me is limited options during the story. A gamebook can't take into account every possible action a player can take. As such, you have to boil things down to what 'most' players would try.
That can be extremely difficult for a lifelong GM like me to handle; limiting choices to just two or three is not easy at all.
What's the story behind the Lone Wolf RPG
(A new version of the Lone Wolf RPG was kickstarted last November, as a setting for Dragonbane)
That story is far better told during the podcast (Journeys Through Magnamund), to be honest. In a nutshell, Joe Dever was looking for someone in 2006 to help him turn Lone Wolf into a full roleplaying game.
After meeting him a few times without even knowing it was him, I was chosen by Joe to take up the role.
That's how it started and now there have been three full versions in print, one currently in production, and that doesn't even count the systems I've written for other languages like Sweden's Ensamma Vargen.
Which are your favourite Lone Wolf character?
Okay, so my favorite character over all is my canon Kai Lord Shadow Raven, made official by Joe and included in a couple of books as background and in the Anthology stories from Holmgard Press.
If I have to pick a non-OC? It would probably be Qinefer. Don't judge me. :)
What are your next big projects that you can talk about?
Well, I am currently working on the New Order series of books for the Lone Wolf saga, helping to get them ready for publication in their Definitive Editions with Holmgard Press.
I am also writing for a few other publishers like Catalyst Game Labs and Thunderbird, as well as a big project for my own RPG company - Rookhaven Studios.
Where can people find you online?
I know I really should be more approachable online, but I don't even have my own website.
I am total rubbish at promoting myself. But if people want to talk with me, I'm always available on Facebook as August Hahn and the World of LONE WOLF Discord simply as August. See? No showmanship at all. ;)
Is there anything else you would like to talk about?
I did just release the Kung Fu Panda RPG for Catalyst and that would be fun to discuss.
Finishing Up
If you haven't tried the Lone Wolf gamebooks, go and give them a try.
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