Weird X Arts has planned the production of some GM-less traditional Adventure GameBooks, in digital and Print-On-Demand media. This article tries to introduce gamers to this entertainment genre and to the way Weird X Arts plans to develop this kind of product.
The main difference between a normal written story and a gamebook is that the latter is divided in “numbered” sections connected in a non-sequential way and with more than one such sections as possible destinations from a single other one.
Thus, the pivotal factor is choice. The reader at some point in each section, usually at its end, has to select one path to follow between the available ones, and what s/he chooses “to do” will take her/him, the controlled story protagonist, toward different “endings”, most of them bad ones and a few good ones.
Despite the greater involvement potential on the reader’s part, writing such works is quite more difficult and demanding, especially when the author wants to challenge the audience with puzzle-like difficulties or introduce a mechanics system to determine the outcome of some, if not all, planned activities in the story.
Here is a short list of adventure gamebooks series that I know, more or less in order of complexity. Of course, those curious about the genre can search the internet for further detailed information. I recommed to visit rpggeek.com. Lazy ones can read in the near future the yet unpublished article about an adventure gamebook that I’m writing, “A Stranded Kryss”, to check about the mechanics designed for it . . .
- Endless Quest
- The Famous Five (There are two different productions based on this franchise. I played ages ago the one with the bundled custom 6-sided dice, which shows the Famous Five heads and a question mark on its sides.)
- Lone Wolf (Project Aon allows to play nor download the original british edition of this series, composed by 28 unabridged adventures, with permission from Joe Dever, the original author.)
- Super Endless Quest
- Fighting Fantasy
- Compact Adventure Gamebook series
- Falcon
- Demon Spawn
- Catacombs series
- Car Wars Gamebooks
- Cretan Chronicles
- Middle-Earth Quest
- Grailquest
- Blood Sword (In this series, up to 4 characters can be used to play the adventures.)
. . . And a shorter list of solitaire adventures using the setting and much more advanced mechanics of Pen-N-Paper Role-Playing Games
- Tunnels & Trolls series
- The Ghost Of Lion Castle (Mentzer’s Dungeon & Dragons)
- Mystery Of The Snow Pearls (Ditto. To add suspence, the module uses a “magic viewer”, red rectangular plastic “lens”, needed to read hidden text and map contents.)
- Midnight At Dagger Alley (Advanced Dungeon & Dragons. To add suspence, the module uses a “magic viewer”, red rectangular plastic “lens”, needed to read hidden text and map contents.)
- Maze Of The Riddling Minotaur (Advanced Dungeon & Dragons. To add suspence, the module uses a “magic marker”, special ink highlighting marker, needed to read hidden text and map contents.)
- At Her Majesty’s Secret Service (James Bond 007 RPG. A boxed set, full of board-gamish components.)
- Avalon Quests (PathFinder RPG. The Avalon in the title refers to the publisher and is not related to King Arthur. The author recommends to use 6 characters to play them.)
At DriveThruRPG and similar online stores are available a few free solitaire adventures in PDF or ePub format.
About TradieGB (Traditional eGamebooks Engine)
I’m creating a simple HTML(*) engine to allow an enhanced GameBooks playing experience. It’s written for Weird X Arts products and not intended (to be sold) as general production editor. (*): Maybe will be a dedicated “viewer” written in Java, instead.
Weird X Arts will release digital edition traditional hardcopy-like gamebook products, probably before completing any TradieGB variant.
TradieGB products are played almost identically to hardcopy gamebooks, see the section How To Play A TradieGB Product, below. (Almost) All the rules and mechanics management is on charge of the player/reader. The main differences are the inclusion of the following playing components inside the “book” (which is more like a rudimentary Web App):
- Dedicated “Dice-Roller” (Randomizer), if the gameplay mechanics need one.
- Text Areas where to write down notes, calculations and useful gameplay data.
- In the most modern internet browsers, data of game progress can be saved (memorized) with Web Storage (an advanced version of Cookies). Or JSON may be used instead.
- Props Tab, where any item gathered by the Character can be read nor examined at any time.
- Only the active “paragraph” is visible at any one time.
- Movement on “maps” managed with Image Maps, when possible.
- Dedicated Resolution Tables are used by inserting (indicating or filtered cross-referencing) a specific “option code” and not by direct cross-reference. Ditto for many Branching Links.
Those are the features of the average electronic version of a TradieGB product.
[INCOMPLETE] (Full Options) Features Outline and Data Structure of the TradieGB Engine
Some time after each TradieGB product release, a Print-On-Demand traditional adventure gamebook version will be available for purchase, for sure in English and after some more time, maybe, in Italian.
Why GameBooks and not “true” videogames?
The main reason is of course the production costs. “True” videogames may require a lot of animated graphics, both 2d and 3d, sound effects, voice acting, dialogue trees, user interface development, and so on. The second reason is the player mental effort necessary to play (involvement). I simply hate to play and develop games with gameplay based on pure chance or button-mashing. Third reason is compatibility with devices. Fourth reason is that the target audience for such products includes mostly people who enjoy a reading pace and RPG Game Masters.
What happened to Line-Heart (Virtual GameBooks Engine) ?
Well, this project will be on hold for a while, and maybe never completed. When it will be resumed mainly depends on how well the TradieGB products line will do in the market, because Line-Heart is a further step toward videogamish gamebook play experience. Yes, they won’t stop to be gamebooks, as they are intended to be a modern way to play active fiction, adding features not feasible nor not cheaply affordable in the hardcopy media. It’s possible that such kind of products will be developed as Visual Novels instead, probably using Ren’Py VN Engine.
How To Play A TradieGB Product
This section doesn’t explain any adventure game mechanics, but only how to manage a game using the TradieGB User Interface.
Not all products will use all the features shown here, either because they aren’t needed or the gameplay experience could be more interesting without them. However, readers are free to replace such “missing” components if they prefer so. Some products may have some features that are slightly different from what described here, and their dedicated articles will indicate if it’s the case.
A TradieGB is made of one HTML file and a folder with required images, which, with the exception of the “cover”, may be included in the HTML as Base64 resources. It’s playable in any “internet” browser produced in the last 12 years. After all, digital gamebooks aren’t very advanced when they are created with the same gameplay features of hardcopy ones . . .
It’s recommended to play them with a landscape display mode.
The Opening Screen
At game launch the product “cover” and utility commands will be shown to the player.
The player may ask to Read The Rules, Open A Bookmark, Start A New Game, Close The Game Window (Quit), Access To General Help.
In all screens except this one, there is a game menu toggler button in the upper left corner, but what options are available depends on the current screen shown.
Maybe, some screens will be just pop-up boxes appearing in the Story Screen, instead of fake full screen “tabs”, or the original split-screen layout may be used.
The Rules & Gameplay Screen
Here are found the full version of the Resolution Mechanics (the Rules) and the gamebook’s Contents Gameplay Mechanics (“reading” flow Procedures).
The Menu Buttons (All)
I believe that the names are self-explanatory. Any related description would be for their icon, and it will be replaced by the actual image when I feel like to create them and do it.
Return To Opening Screen
Previous Section
Save A (Progress) Bookmark
To Story Screen
To Resolution Screen
To Library Screen
To Notes Screen
To Props Screen
To Reference Screen
To General Help Screen
The Story Screen
A box with the current “paragraph” text, a box with an exploration map, and one or more input boxes for navigation parameters, when needed.
The Resolution Screen
A randomizer with configurable options, a button to generate the outcome, character(s) and encounter data, and the resolution tables, as scrollabe list which can be accessed by table-of-contents filter, too.
The Library Screen
A form text input box to enter a specific Setting Knowledge Entry code, and a button to visualize the related text. However, the whole Setting Knowledge Library is readable in list form. As usual, the reader should skip all the entries s/he has not been authorized to read.
The Bookmarks Screen
Up to 3 selectable boxes with an excerpt from the data saved in it, if any. The overall screen appears a bit different depending on the operation allowed, loading or saving, when accessing it.
The Notes Screen
One or more text areas where the reader can write down what the text tells to him/her, or just notes that the reader considers helpful for the adventure.
The Props Screen
One button per prop, to make it appear in the viewer area of the screen plus the one for clearing the viewer. While all the props can be looked at right from the start, the reader should only check a prop when the text gives to him/her the related identification code.
The Reference Screen
A summary of the gameplay management, rules and mechanics, with table-of-contents filter.
The General Help Screen
The same content of this section of the article but tailor-made for the specific product.
Adventure GameBook Projects
Except “A Stranded Kryss”, all gamebooks and equivalent products are “on hold” status, anyway, so don’t hold Your breath . . .
Most of the concepts aren’t recent.
Arcs may be either one or more “books” or “chapters” of a “book”.
The titles listed below are of products unrelated to the true RPG rulesets created by Weird X Arts.
“A Stranded Kryss” (up to 3 arcs), Heart Of The Land (4 arcs), Of Bloodlusty Beasts (up to 5 arcs), The Blood-stained Miracle (up to 5 arcs), Thunderblade: Atonement (1 arc), First Spell (1 arc), Professor Magnus Tyler’s Weird Post Mortem (1 arc), The Scattered Hoard Of The Rideless King (2 arcs), That Gloomy Mansion In The Middle Of The Lake (1 arc), . . .