fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not follow paragraphs in a linear or ordered fashion. Gamebooks are sometimes called choose your own adventure books or CYOA after the influential ''
Choose Your Own Adventure
''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...
'' series originally published by US company
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...
. Gamebooks influenced
hypertext fiction
Hypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature, characterized by the use of hypertext links that provide a new context for non-linearity in literature and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text ...
.
Production of new gamebooks in the West decreased dramatically during the 1990s as choice-based stories have moved away from print-based media, although the format may be experiencing a resurgence on mobile and ebook platforms. Such digital gamebooks are considered
interactive fiction
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
or
visual novels
A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...
.
Description
Gamebooks range from branching-plot novels, which require the reader to make choices but are otherwise like regular novels at one end, to what amounts to "solitaire RPG adventures" or "adventure gamebooks", which can feature sophisticated rules for battling monsters and overcoming obstacles. That is, in the latter category the story can be decided by other things than the reader's choices, such as dice rolls or running out of health points.
In all gamebooks, the story is presented as a series of sections of printed text. These are often but not always numbered. Branching-plot novel sections often run to several pages in length, whereas solitaire and adventure gamebook sections are usually no longer than a paragraph or two. These are not intended to be read in order. Instead, at the end of a text section, the reader is typically given a choice of narrative branches that they may follow. Each branch contains a reference to the number of the paragraph or page that should be read next if that branch is chosen (e.g. to go north turn to section 98). The narrative thus does not progress linearly through the book or follow the paragraphs in numerical order. The story continues this way until a paragraph or page which ends that branch of the story. Many solitaire or adventure gamebooks feature a single "successful" ending, and the remainder are "failures". Thus, a gamebook becomes a "puzzle" since only a few or even one branching paths lead to victory. Branching plot novels, on the other hand, tend to be more concerned with narrative resolution rather than winning or losing, thus often have several endings which may be deemed equally "successful".
Gamebooks are generally linear, meaning the reader cannot circle back to an earlier passage, which means the narrative forms what graph theory considers a '' directed rooted tree''. There are many exceptions.
Gamebooks are typically written in the second person with the reader assuming the role of a character to experience the world from that character's point of view (e.g. 'you walk into the cold and dark forest').
Many gamebooks form series with a common theme, trade dress and/or ruleset. While each book is typically a stand-alone narrative, there are gamebook series such as ''
Steve Jackson's Sorcery!
''Sorcery!'', originally titled ''Steve Jackson's Sorcery!'', is a single-player four-part adventure gamebook series written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Blanche. Originally published by Penguin Books between 1983 and 1985, the titl ...
'' that continue the narrative from the previous books in the series.
History
Origins
There are several examples of early works of art with branching narratives. The romantic novel ''
Consider the Consequences!
''Consider the Consequences!'' (published 1930) is a romantic novel in the form of an interactive novel or gamebook by the American writing partnership of (1885-1967) and Mary Alden Hopkins (1876-1960). It is the earliest known gamebook, and ha ...
'' by Doris Webster and Mary Alden Hopkins was published in the United States in 1930, and boasts "a dozen or more" different endings depending on the "taste of the individual reader". The 1936 play ''
Night of January 16th
''Night of January 16th'' (sometimes advertised as ''The Night of January 16th'') is a theatrical play by Russian-American author Ayn Rand, inspired by the death of the "Match King", Ivar Kreuger. Set in a courtroom during a murder trial, an ...
'' by
Ayn Rand
Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...
, about a trial, is unusual in that members of the audience are chosen to play the jury and deliver a verdict, which then influences the play's ending: guilty or not guilty.
Also quite early on, the possibility of having stories branching out into several different paths was suggested by
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...
in his short story "
An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain
"An Examination of the Work of Herbert Quain" (original Spanish title: "Examen de la obra de Herbert Quain") is a 1941 short story by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. It was included in the anthology ''Ficciones'', part one (''The Garden of Fo ...
" (1941). This story features an author whose novel is a three-part story containing two branch points, and with nine possible endings. Another story by Borges, titled "
The Garden of Forking Paths
"The Garden of Forking Paths" (original Spanish title: "El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan") is a 1941 short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. It is the title story in the collection ''El jardín de senderos que se bifurc ...
" (1941), also describes a book with a maze-like narrative, which may have inspired the gamebook form. The children's book ''Treasure Hunt'', published in 1945 in Britain under the name of "Alan George" (probably a pseudonym), is another early example of a story with multiple paths for the reader to follow.
Programmed learning Programmed learning (or programmed instruction) is a research-based system which helps learners work successfully. The method is guided by research done by a variety of applied psychologists and educators.Lumsdaine A.A. 1963. Instruments and media ...
materials, first proposed by
B.F. Skinner
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 – August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist, behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher. He was a professor of psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974.
...
, have been recognized as an early influence on the development of branching path books. This learning method was first applied in the TutorText series of interactive textbooks, published from the late 1950s up until the early 1970s. These books present the reader with a series of problems related to a particular area of study, allowing him or her to choose among several possible answers. If the answer to a problem is correct, the reader moves on to the next problem. If the answer is incorrect, the reader is given feedback and is asked to pick a different answer. This educational technique would form a basis for many later narrative gamebook series.
During the 1960s, authors from several different countries started experimenting with fiction that contained multiple paths and/or endings. Some literary works in this vein include the French-language novel ''L'ironie du sort'' (1961) by
Paul Guimard
Paul Guimard (3 March 1921 – 2 May 2004) was a French writer known for combining his passion for writing with his love of the sea. His most famous work was '' Les Choses de la Vie'', which was adapted for film, with a complete change of its ...
, the Spanish-language novels ''Hopscotch'' (1963) by
Julio Cortázar
Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine, nationalized French novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an ent ...
and ''Juego de cartas'' (Card Game, 1964) by
Max Aub
Max Aub Mohrenwitz (June 2, 1903, Paris – July 22, 1972 Mexico City) was a Mexican-Spanish experimentalist novelist, playwright, poet, and literary critic. In 1965 he founded the literary periodical ''Los Sesenta'' (the Sixties), with edi ...
, and the works of the French literary group known as the
Oulipo
Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle; roughly translated: ''"workshop of potential literature"'', stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works ...
(1967). Other early experiments include the short stories "Alien Territory" and "The Lost Nose: a Programmed Adventure" (both 1969) by
John Sladek
John Thomas Sladek (December 15, 1937 – March 10, 2000) was an American science fiction author, known for his satirical and surreal novels.
Life and work
Born in Waverly, Iowa, in 1937, Sladek was in England in the 1960s for the New Wave ...
, the novel''
The French Lieutenant's Woman
''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' is a 1969 postmodern historical fiction novel by John Fowles. The plot explores the fraught relationship of gentleman and amateur naturalist Charles Smithson and Sarah Woodruff, the former governess and indep ...
'' (1969) by
John Fowles
John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international renown, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others.
Aft ...
, and the collection of short stories titled ''Tante storie per giocare'' (Many Tales to Play With, 1971) by Italian author
Gianni Rodari
Giovanni Francesco "Gianni" Rodari (; 23 October 1920 – 14 April 1980) was an Italian writer and journalist, most famous for his works of children's literature, notably '' Il romanzo di Cipollino''. For his lasting contribution as a children's ...
.
Taken together, these influences may have contributed to the development of several pioneering gamebooks in the 1960s and 1970s. These include ''Lucky Les'' by E.W. Hildick (1967), ''State of Emergency'' by Dennis Guerrier and Joan Richards (1969), the Swedish-language book ''Den mystiska påsen'' (The Mysterious Bag, 1970) by Betty Orr-Nilsson, and the French-language book ''Histoires comme tu voudras'' (Stories as You Want Them, 1978) by Marie-Christine Helgerson, among others.
Breakthroughs and popularization
The first gamebook series proper appears to have been Tracker Books, published by Transworld in the UK between 1972 and 1980. This series includes adventures in a variety of genres such as science fiction, mystery, and sports. Meanwhile, in the US, ''The Adventures of You'' series appeared in 1976–77, with two titles that would later become part of the groundbreaking ''
Choose Your Own Adventure
''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...
'' series: ''Sugarcane Island'' by Edward Packard and ''Journey Under the Sea'' by
R. A. Montgomery
Raymond Almiran Montgomery Jr.Tabletop role-playing games
A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...
such as ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
'' were another early influence that would contribute in major ways to the development of the gamebook form. The first module which combined a branching-path narrative with a set of role-playing game rules was ''Buffalo Castle'' for the ''
Tunnels & Trolls
''Tunnels & Trolls'' (abbreviated ''T&T'') is a fantasy role-playing game designed by Ken St. Andre and first published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo. The second modern role-playing game published, it was written by Ken St. Andre to be a more accessib ...
'' system (1975). ''Buffalo Castle'' was innovative for its time, as it allowed the reader to experience a role-playing session without need for a referee. It has been followed by many other solitaire adventures for the T&T system, as well as solos for other tabletop role-playing games.
The first commercially successful series of gamebooks was the ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' series establishing the "American" gamebook tradition. The "British" tradition, as exemplified by the ''Fighting Fantasy'' series, was, by contrast, slightly younger. British gamebooks differ from the American tradition by having rules more strongly influenced by the game mechanics of roleplaying games.
The US (late 1970s–)
''The Adventures of You'', a two-book series, authored by Edward Packard and R.A. Montgomery and initially published by Vermont Crossroads Press, laid much of the groundwork for the later surge in popularity of the gamebook format. ''Sugarcane Island'' by Edward Packard was written in 1969 but did not see publication until 1976. This became a series when ''Journey Under the Sea'' by R. A. Montgomery was published in 1977. Two standalone gamebooks authored by Packard would follow, both published by Lippincott: ''Deadwood City'' (1978) and ''The Third Planet from Altair'' (1979). While these early efforts apparently achieved some popularity with readers, they (and the gamebook format in general) still did not have a publisher with the marketing strength required to make them available to mass audiences.
Packard and Montgomery took the idea of publishing interactive books to Bantam, and thus the ''
Choose Your Own Adventure
''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...
'' (CYOA) series was born in 1979, beginning with '' The Cave of Time''. The series became immensely popular worldwide and several titles were translated into more than 25 languages. The series reached the peak of its popularity with children in the 1980s. It was during this period that Bantam released several other interactive series to capitalize on the popularity of the medium (a few examples are: ''Choose your Own Adventure for Younger Readers'', ''
Time Machine
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
'' and ''
Be An Interplanetary Spy
''Be An Interplanetary Spy'' is a series of twelve interactive children's science fiction books designed by Byron Preiss Visual Publications and first published by Bantam Books from 1983 to 1985.
Presentation
Aimed at younger readers, these books ...
''). Many other American publishers released their own series to compete with CYOA.
One of the most popular competitors seems to have been TSR, who released several branching-path novels based on their own role-playing games. The most famous TSR series was ''
Endless Quest
The ''Endless Quest'' books were three series of gamebooks. The first one was released in the 1980s by TSR, while the following two were released by Wizards of the Coast. Originally, these books were the result of an Educational department establi ...
'' (1982–). Another strong competitor was Ballantine with their ''
Find Your Fate
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains p ...
'' series, which featured adventures in the
Indiana Jones
''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' Th ...
,
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
and
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
universes. Famous author
R. L. Stine
Robert Lawrence Stine (; born October 8, 1943), sometimes known as Jovial Bob Stine and Eric Affabee, is an American novelist, short story writer, television producer, screenwriter, and executive editor.
Stine has been referred to as the "St ...
wrote several books for this line, including ''The Badlands of Hark'', as well as for other series such as Wizards, Warriors and You. Several ''Choose your Own Adventure'' spin-offs and many competing series were translated into other languages.
The UK (early 1980s–)
One of the most influential and popular gamebook series was the ''
Fighting Fantasy
''Fighting Fantasy'' is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982.
The series distinguished itself by mixing Choos ...
'' series, which started in 1980 when a
Puffin Books
Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs t ...
representative saw a hall full of 5,000 people playing ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and asked Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson to make a book about role-playing games. They instead offered the idea of a book which simulated the experience of roleplaying games. Within a year they presented a book under the name of ''The Magic Quest'' to Puffin which Puffin agreed to publish. Having spent six more months developing the concept it was published under the name of ''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' in 1982.
Another notable UK gamebook series is ''
Lone Wolf
A lone wolf is a wolf not belonging to a pack.
Lone wolf or Lone Wolf may also refer to:
Literature
*''Lone Wolf'', a book by Kathryn Lasky, part of the series called ''Wolves of the Beyond''
*''Lone Wolf and Cub'', a 1970 Japanese graphic nov ...
'', developed by Joe Dever in 1984. Like ''Fighting Fantasy'', the writer was an experienced ''Dungeons & Dragons'' player who developed the setting of Lone Wolf for his campaigns. However the books were also inspired by medieval texts such as ''
Gawain and the Green Knight
''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is a late 14th-century chivalric romance in Middle English. The author is unknown; the title was given centuries later. It is one of the best-known Arthurian stories, with its plot combining two types of f ...
'' and ''
Le Morte d'Arthur
' (originally written as '; inaccurate Middle French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Rou ...
''.
''
Grailquest
GrailQuest is a series of gamebooks by J. H. Brennan. The books are illustrated by John Higgins. The stories follow the adventures of a young hero named Pip, who is often called upon by Merlin to right wrongs and save the realm from evil. The s ...
'' is a series of gamebooks written by J.H. Brennan (also in 1984) that were also inspired by the Arthurian legends. Set mainly on Avalon they make use of a dice based system.
''
The Way of the Tiger
The Way of the Tiger is a series of adventure gamebooks by Mark Smith (author), Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson (author), Jamie Thomson, originally published by Knight Books (an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton) from 1985. They are set on the fantasy ...
'', a Japan-themed gamebook by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson (1985), is also a notable UK publication.
Outside the English-speaking world (mid 1980s–)
Branching-path books also started to appear during the 1980s in several other countries, including Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, Chile, Denmark and Japan.
Despite the domination of works that have been translated from English in most non-English-speaking countries, a sizable number of original gamebooks—both individual books and series—have been published in various countries; this is especially the case in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
(e.g. the ''La Saga du Prêtre Jean'' series) and in Japan (e.g.
Tokyo Sogensha
is a Japanese publisher of mystery fiction, science fiction, fantasy, literary fiction and social science, based in Tokyo.
History
In 1925, a publisher called of Osaka was established with a branch in Tokyo.
In 1948, the Tokyo branch of Soge ...
's ''Super Adventure Game'' series and
Futabasha
is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Higashigokenchō, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.会社概要 " Futabasha. R ...
's ''Bouken Gamebook'' series).
In some other countries, publication both of translated series and of original books began in later years. For example, the first original books in Brazil and Italy seem to have appeared in the 1990s.
Eastern Europe (late 1980s–)
Translated editions of ''Choose your Own Adventure'', ''Fighting Fantasy'' and other English-language series only appeared in Eastern European countries after the fall of Communism.
Since the mid-1980s, about 90 gamebooks have been published in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, not only as printed books, but also as comics, e-books or mobile applications. The author of the largest number of titles (20) is Beniamin Muszyński. Polish gamebooks are regularly written by their fans and published online by Masz Wybór (publishing house which has been operating since 2010).
In the 1990s, the gamebook genre became highly popular in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
for approximately ten years. Whilst internationally well-known series such as ''
Choose Your Own Adventure
''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...
'' and ''
Fighting Fantasy
''Fighting Fantasy'' is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982.
The series distinguished itself by mixing Choos ...
'' were translated for the Bulgarian market, the works of numerous Bulgarian gamebook authors were most popular with readers.
During the popularity peak of gamebooks in Bulgaria, Bulgarian publishing houses believed that only Western authors would sell and, as a consequence, virtually all Bulgarian gamebook authors adopted English pseudonyms. This tradition persisted after their nationality was publicly disclosed. A smaller number of Hungarian authors also adopted Western pseudonyms, in addition to "official titles" that were also in English.
Several adventure gamebooks have been released in the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. In
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
, Narmin Kamal's novel, ''Open It's Me'', offers the reader a choice to either read the book as a random collection of thirty-nine short stories about the same character, or as a single novel. A photo of the book's hero is published on the final page and the author asks the reader questions about the character.
Decline and resurgence (1990s onward)
The branching-path book commercial boom dwindled in the early 1990s, and the number of new series diminished. However, new branching-path books continue to be published to this day in several countries and languages. ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' went on to become the longest running gamebook series with 185 titles. The first run of the series ended in 1998.
R. A. Montgomery started rereleasing some ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' titles in 2005. His company has also released some new titles. New books and series continue to be published in other countries to this day. Examples are the ''1000 Gefahren'' series in Germany and the ''Tú decides la aventura'' series in Spain. The sixtieth and "lost" entry in the ''Fighting Fantasy'' series, ''
Bloodbones
''Bloodbones'' is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Jonathan Green and illustrated by Tony Hough. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's ''Fighting Fantasy
''Fighting Fantasy'' is a series of single-player role-p ...
'', was finally published by Wizard in 2006.
In recent years, the format may be getting a new lease of life on mobile and ebook platforms.
Types
This type of book was seen predominantly as a form of entertainment for children. Nonetheless, there were books with more didactic purposes (ranging from historical series such as the aforementioned ''Time Machine'' to books with religious themes such as the Making Choices series). Also, a few branching-path books were aimed at adults, ranging from business simulations to works of erotica.
Mainstream fiction
Barring the aforementioned works of Dennis Guerrier in the 1960s, one of the earliest examples of the form is the five-volume ''Barcelona, Maxima Discrecion'' series, which adapted the
noir fiction
Noir fiction (or roman noir) is a subgenre of crime fiction.
Definition
In its modern form, noir has come to denote a marked darkness in theme and subject matter, generally featuring a disturbing mixture of sex and violence and death in some ...
genre to an interactive form. Published in the 1980s, this series was only available in Catalan and Spanish.
Heather McElhatton
Heather McElhatton is a writer and producer for Public Radio International. McElhatton produced the literary series '' Talking Volumes'' from 2001 to 2006. From 2005 to 2007 she hosted the live variety show ''Stage Sessions'' for Minnesota Public ...
published a bestselling gamebook for adults in 2007, called '' Pretty Little Mistakes: A Do-Over Novel''. It was followed by a sequel titled ''Million Little Mistakes'' published in 2010.
Some contemporary literary novels have used the gamebook format, including
Kim Newman
Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula (1931 ...
's ''
Life's Lottery
{{Infobox book,
, name = Life's Lottery
, image = Life's Lottery.jpg
, caption = First edition
, title_orig =
, author = Kim Newman
, cover_artist = Ian Miller
, country = England
, language = Engl ...
'' (1999) and Nicholas Bourbaki's ''If'' (2014).
Education
In 2011, McGraw-Hill Education began releasing adaptations of the original ''
Choose Your Own Adventure
''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...
'' titles as
graded reader
A graded reader book is an "easy reading" book that supports the extensive reading approach to teaching English as a second or foreign language, and other languages. While many graded reader books are written for native speaker children, more ofte ...
s. The stories were retold in simplified language and re-organized plotlines, in order to make them easier for
English as a second or foreign language
English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EF ...
readers to play. The choice format of gamebooks has proved to be popular with ESL teachers as a way to motivate reluctant students, target critical thinking skills, and organize classroom activities.
Erotica
Various
erotic
Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...
gamebooks have been published by major publishers. In 1994 ''Derrière la porte'' by Alina Reyes was published by Pocket Books France and
Éditions Robert Laffont
Éditions Robert Laffont is a book publishing company in France founded in 1941 by Robert Laffont. Its publications are distributed in almost all francophone countries, but mainly in France, Canada and in Belgium.
It is considered one of the most ...
, and later translated into English for
Grove Press
Grove Press is an United States of America, American Imprint (trade name), publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it in ...
and
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991.
History
George Weidenfeld a ...
(as ''Behind Closed Doors'') and into Italian for
Ugo Guanda Editore
Ugo is the Italian form of Hugh, a widely used name of Germanic origin. Its diminutive form is Ugolino.
It is also a Nigerian Igbo first name.
It may refer to:
People
* Vgo (stonemason), medieval stonemason
* Ugo Bassi, a Roman Catholic prie ...
(as ''Dietro le porte'').
Melcher Media
Melcher Media is a book packager and publisher in New York City, New York, founded in 1994 by Charles Melcher. The company’s focuses include theater-, movie-, and TV-related books; environmental titles; pop-up books; and DuraBooks.
The compa ...
in 2003 packaged two "Choose-Your-Own-Erotic-Adventure" books for
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Mary Anne Mohanraj, a well-known writer of erotica.
Role-playing solitaire adventures
Solitaire adventures were a parallel development. This type of book is intended to allow a single person to use the rules of a role-playing game to experience an adventure without need of a referee. The first role-playing game solitaire adventures to be published were those using the ''
Tunnels & Trolls
''Tunnels & Trolls'' (abbreviated ''T&T'') is a fantasy role-playing game designed by Ken St. Andre and first published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo. The second modern role-playing game published, it was written by Ken St. Andre to be a more accessib ...
'' system, beginning with the book ''
Buffalo Castle
''Buffalo Castle'' is a gamebook first published by Flying Buffalo in 1976 (). Using the ''Tunnels & Trolls'' role-playing system, ''Buffalo Castle'' consists of 150 paragraphs in A4 format.
Description
After a friend suggested that someone sho ...
'' in 1976, making ''Tunnels & Trolls'' the first role-playing game to support solitaire play. Flying Buffalo released 24 solo adventure books (plus several pocket size adventures) in the period 1976–1993. A number of the adventures are still in print today. They were very successful among players of role-playing games and inspired many imitators.
Another early role-playing game with solitaire modules made for it was ''
The Fantasy Trip
''The Fantasy Trip'' (''TFT'') is a tabletop role-playing game designed by Steve Jackson (American game designer), Steve Jackson and originally published by Metagaming Concepts. In 2019, ''TFT'' was republished by Steve Jackson Games as ''The F ...
''. The first such module was ''Death Test'', published in 1978. Eight adventures were released in total. One thing that set them apart was the need for miniatures and a hexmap, in order to take advantage of the combat and movement systems. These adventures were also very popular and influential.
Meanwhile, several third-party publishers started to publish solitaire adventures meant for use with popular roleplaying systems. Some of the earliest adventures in this vein were ''The Solo Dungeon'' (1978) by British author Richard Bartle, and ''Survival of the Fittest'' (1979), published by Judges' Guild in the United States. Both of these adventures were meant to be used with ''Dungeons & Dragons'' rules.
Solitaire role-playing adventures also experienced a boom in the 1980s. Many role-playing rulesets included solo adventures which were intended to teach the rules systems to the players. Some companies released lines of solitaire adventures for their own games. Examples of games with prolific solitaire lines were ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
'', ''
GURPS
The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems w ...
'', ''
Das Schwarze Auge
''The Dark Eye'' (German: ''Das Schwarze Auge'', lit. "The Black Eye") is a German tabletop role-playing game with a high fantasy theme created by Ulrich Kiesow and launched by Schmidt Spiel & Freizeit GmbH and Droemer Knaur Verlag in 1984. ...
'', '' DC Heroes'', and '' Call of Cthulhu''. Some third-party publishers continued to release solo adventures for established RPG systems (including Judges' Guild, who released solos for ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons''). Solitaire adventures were also featured quite frequently in professional RPG magazines and fanzines. Several solo adventures (such as those for ''Tunnels & Trolls'', ''Dungeons & Dragons'', and ''Das Schwarze Auge'') were translated into other languages.
As was the case with other types of gamebooks, the production of solitaire RPG adventures decreased dramatically during the 1990s. However, new solos continue to be published to this day. Some companies continue to produce solo adventures for ''Tunnels & Trolls''. There are also new solo adventures for a variety of systems, and even some influenced by the ''Fantasy Trip'' solos (such as the ones by Dark City Games). The Internet has provided a channel to distribute solitaire adventures, with both free and commercial adventures made available as electronic documents.
Adventures
Adventure gamebooks incorporate elements from ''
Choose Your Own Adventure
''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...
'' books and role-playing solitaire adventures. The books involve a branching path format in order to move between sections of text, but the reader creates a character as in a role-playing game, and resolves actions using a game-system. Unlike role-playing solitaire adventures, adventure gamebooks include all the rules needed for play in each book. Adventure gamebooks are usually not divided into numbered pages, but rather into numbered sections of text, so that several sections may fit in a single page, or a single section can span several pages.
''
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' is a single-player adventure gamebook written by Steve Jackson (UK game designer), Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and illustrated by Russ Nicholson. Originally published by Puffin Books in 1982, the titl ...
'' was published in 1982, the first of what became the ''
Fighting Fantasy
''Fighting Fantasy'' is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982.
The series distinguished itself by mixing Choos ...
'' series of gamebooks, one of the first adventure gamebook series. With over 60 titles, including a variety of spin-offs, the series popularised the gamebook format in the UK and many other countries, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, the United States, Portugal, Tanzania, Brazil, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Israel, Japan, and after the fall of communism, Eastern Europe.
Several authors in different countries continue to publish adventure gamebooks in the late 2010s. Notable examples are German fantasy authors
Wolfgang Hohlbein
Wolfgang Hohlbein (born 15 August 1953 in Weimar, Bezirk Erfurt) is a German writer of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction who lives near Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia. His wife, Heike Hohlbein, is also a writer and often works with her ...
,
Markus Heitz
Markus Heitz (born 10 October 1971) is a German fantasy, horror and science fiction author best known for his Dwarves series of novels.
Biography
Markus Heitz was born in Homburg, Germany, in 1971. He studied history, literature, and the ...
and Lemonbits, and British author Jonathan Green. Adventure gamebooks experienced a publishing boom in the 1980s, most notably in the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy and France. British series such as ''Fighting Fantasy'', ''Lone Wolf'', and ''The Way of the Tiger'' were translated into several languages and became very popular worldwide. The boom decreased considerably in the 1990s, with
Fabled Lands
Fabled Lands is a series of fantasy gamebooks written by established gamebook authors Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson and published by Pan Books, a division of Macmillan in the mid 1990s. Cover art was by Kevin Jenkins with Russ Nicholson and Arun ...
being the last major British gamebook series. In the 2000s, reissues of the ''Fighting Fantasy'' and ''Lone Wolf'' series emerged, and garnered some commercial success.
Online adaptations
Given the similar structure to html links between the pages of a website, numerous efforts have been made to create a digital equivalent to the gamebook format, with varying degrees of success. These include
visual novels
A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...
, story websites, and various experiments with audio CDs (such as
TSR, Inc
TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been ...
's short-lived "Terror TRAX" line).
One variant, though, was initially unrelated to the books, and more-or-less stumbled into a similar format. Originally an online version of party games like
Would You Rather
"Would you rather" is a conversation or party game that poses a dilemma in the form of a question beginning with "would you rather". The dilemma can be between two supposedly good options such as "Would you rather have the power of flight or the ...
or "which girl would you date", such "CYOA Games" (an acronym derived from choose-your-own-adventure) have seen a rapid evolution to the point that the more complex ones now closely resemble the character creation process in a
role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...
or even the world building of a
god game
A god game is an artificial life game that casts the player in the position of controlling the game on a large scale, as an entity with divine and supernatural powers, as a great leader, or with no specified character (as in ''Spore''), and plac ...
. Generally released pseudonymously, some of the better known titles include Aromage's "Demigod", DTA/Shirley's "Divine Trials", ZBG's "War of the Zodiac Brides" and EternalAnon's "Eternal Arms"
See also
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Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
*
Interactive movie
Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...
*
Interactive novel
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
*
List of gamebooks
{{Unreferenced, date=October 2022
This is a list of gamebook series and individual gamebooks.
Series
* '' ACE Gamebooks'', written by Jonathan Green (10+ books planned, 7 published so far)
* ''Australian Adventure Gamebooks'' (2 books advertis ...
*
Nonlinear narrative
Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique, sometimes used in literature, film, video games, and other narratives, where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other ways ...
*
Visual novel
A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...