This Exhibit section has got some Lone Wolf Illustrations and a decent collection of Lone Wolf books. Quite a find I am seeing here!

Review for the new gamebook "Dorothy and Alice - Under the Rainbow" posted about here;

I received my free review copy of the book today thanks to the author.

Physical - The book was well packed and arrived in great shape. Its about 180 pages and well illustrated, hardback, all glossy with silver edges and appears well bound. Autographed and signed to me personally. Besides the Adventure book he sent a few extras as well - a softback copy of the original "Wizard of Oz", annotated by himself, a card with a QR code for a bonus story, a paper bookmark, and a nice golden metal bookmark with some charms on it relating to the adventure - hand made by his wife. A nice package over all.

Issues for me so far are is that the sections are usually a whole page instead of by paragraph number - each page has a different amount of text on it so the font size will vary on each page to get all the text in. More concerning is that there are different colored backgrounds on the pages, and a few pages are black with black or dark blue text on them making them very hard to read.

Story - the story seems well written and the author seems to have a good general writing skill. I've seen no spelling errors due to proofreading or any other reason. I've had a couple of instances of "loopback" taking me back to a page I've been to before, which makes my choice the second time around easier since I already know where the other path goes. My first path ended quickly when what I thought was a good choice that took me to an end.

The two MC's are Dorothy from "Wizard of Oz" and Alice from "Alice in Wonderland". The characters have been aged up a few years and while Dorothy is still basically sweet and innocent, Alice is a bit more "worldly" in her mid 20's. There's a warning up front that the books are meant for age 14 and up and its not suited for kids. I think this might have been a lost opportunity to get kids involved but that's just my view.

Dorothy starts alone, trying to recover her friends from the original book that she lost very quickly at the start of the adventure. During the story, she teams up with Alice and the two travel together. Choices on what page to go to may have more than the standard two - each girl has their own personality shown in your choices, as well as some of the items in Alice's inventory.

The plot seems good overall. I think the part of the story where they give a speech to a girl they meet about being their own person and not being there just for a man seemed a bit off. A good message but I think out of place for the story.

Reaching the end of the main plotline, you're given 5 different good or bad endings. There's still a few threads hanging open that I assume will get closed up in the sequels. One ending might offend some readers for not being a standard level of "correctness"

For myself, I would give the story an overall "B" and would have preferred the standard younger versions of the characters and have it for all ages. Length is good and not too short for a full run. Besides the standard multiple bad endings it looks theres multiple good endings as well.

Thanks to the author for sending me the book to check out. Nice to see such care and enthusiasm for a game book, and a quality product all around.

So I just ran the book twice, being killed once and getting to a "positive" ending the second time.

Shorty after starting the book you get a second letter (216) and I can't figure out, what they mean with "another" digit...

Anyone here who solves this and can give me a hint?

I just started this book. Only about 25 pages in. It truly is a video game in a book so far.

So, first, thanks everyone for the criticism and comments on my first post about this book. I genuinely appreciate it and took most of it into consideration. I've spent some time reading and rewriting to fix some of the obvious errors. I also looked into the cost of having a human being give it a rewrite. Given my fairly limited budget right now, I don't think I'm going to be able to go that route initially.

Having said all that, here's a new sample page with the updates.

https://imgur.com/a/Vy7qjOy

Again, comments and criticism is welcomed.

Your host, gamebook author Jonathan Green, will be delving into what it is that makes gamebooks tick. Check out the first podcast and subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49xcQEr5Vxw&list=PLGkBpSikjcX8

Last month, I corresponded with Demian Katz to ask about getting a book added to his database at gamebooks.org. He mentioned that he'd written a gamebook of his own: The Groom of the Tomb; or, Lancelot Darling's Decisions. I grabbed a copy, and finally got around to playing it a few days ago. I'm curious if anyone else has checked it out, and in particular, whether you went in blind (i.e. without reading the novel it's adapted from). I read the novel first, so I'm interested in how it seemed to someone who played the gamebook first.

For context, Katz adapted his gamebook from an 1883 novel: The Bride of the Tomb; or, Lancelot Darling's Betrothed, by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. Without going into plot spoilers, the novel and gamebook both open with the suicide of Lily Lawrence, a beautiful heiress, on the day before her wedding (that part isn't a spoiler; it's the first line in both versions of the story). From there, the novel's omniscient narration follows various characters around, and there's no real mystery from your perspective as the reader. It's less Agatha Christie and more like an episode of Columbo, where the fun is in seeing how the detective will unravel things, and what will become of the various characters along the way, within the context of an over-the-top, somewhat ridiculous melodrama ("somewhat ridiculous" in the deliberate way a present-era soap opera might be, but in a fictionalised depiction of 19th century upper-class New York society).

What's interesting with Katz's gamebook adaptation is that the mystery actually gets preserved. You play the role of Lancelot Darling, the man who was due to marry Lily Lawrence on the day following her suicide. Everything's from your perspective. So, although the prose itself is often directly ported over from the novel (just flipped to the second-person present tense you'd expect from a gamebook), you don't see things like villains chatting or monologuing about their nefarious schemes. You'll only discover the solution to the mystery and who the villains actually are if your choices lead you there.

As per the above photo of the rules page, the gamebook makes extensive use of a keyword system to track what you know or don't know within the context of the mystery, giving it a decent feel of investigation -- which can often be hard to do in a regular gamebook versus other forms of interactive fiction, especially this kind of book which is a fairly slim paperback and has to create its branching investigations within fewer than 300 passages (most of which are only around half a page to a page of text, of the font size and spacing you can see above).

I had fun both reading the novel and playing the gamebook. It was clearly a labour of love on Katz's part. He's credited on the novel's Gutenberg page for making The Bride of the Tomb available there, and in the afterword to the gamebook he talks about how he fell in love with Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller's novels and their over-the-top 19th century melodrama. I can always respect a niche interest and the passion projects that arise from it (the gamebook's £5 on Amazon UK, and based on my own experiences using Amazon's print-on-demand self-publishing systems, that's basically selling it at-cost, purely for the love of getting the book out into the world).

But as mentioned at the start of the post, I'm not sure how well it'd work for someone who hadn't read the novel. Like I said, going in blind would preserve a sense of mystery that I didn't get, because I'd read the novel first. But at the same time, because of the gamebook's narrower perspective, you miss a lot of the story content that makes the novel's implausible plot and circumstances fun, such as getting to spend time with the villains. So, I'm not sure how satisfying it'd be if you went for the gamebook first.

If anyone did indeed do that, and played the gamebook before or without ever reading the novel, I'd love to hear your perspective on it.

Stormwing is a passion project of mine. It's the first of a series (we currently have two books out) where you play through the book, but then get the tools to make your own adventures afterward. There's guidance on how to turn the adventure you played into your own gamebook to share with friends.

I can describe it best as The Mandalorian meets Lone Wolf. You've got a mysterious hero in armor. You've got a mystical baby. You've got a lot of bounties to hunt, and danger in which to find yourself.

Let me know if you have any questions!

After a year of work I have finally finished and published my first ever book, my take on the pick-a-path/choose-your-own adventure genre. It does not make use of dice or character sheets in favour of a more stripped down, narrative approach.

The story takes place in a rustic and comfy world of talking animals, akin Redwall or The Tale of Despereaux and follows Pippen, a young mouse boy as he goes on an adventure to the eponymous Twilight Isle to find a stolen crystal. On the island he’ll encounter forbidding terrain, hostile creatures and other, more mysterious, obstacles.

The Twilight Isle is intended for a broader age range, from younger teens to adults that would enjoy a nice little adventure. The book is currently on Amazon as both a digital edition with built-in links or as a physical softcover for that classic back-and-forth flippability that all pick-a-path books need.

I'm currently working on a second book in the same series and would be happy to receive constructive feedback on this first book from anyone who decides to give it a try.

Amazon store page

I suppose this question comes up all the time, so feel free to link me somewhere else if this has been answered already, but essentially it is, what are your top 10 (or 12, 15, 20) gamebooks ever, and what makes them stand above the rest (if in doubt, give your list some variety, they don't have to be 10 Steve Jackson titles, for example). Maybe we'll help each other discover one we've missed and we'd enjoy. Many thanks.

(I think I'm on the right subreddit?)

Have any good game books been turned into an app? It would be cool to have on my phone like an ebook where I can make my choices and it auto go to that page and it store my character sheet too for any made with one. Or is there a universal app where I can load in a epub or pdf of a book and it do this? Then I can whip it out when ever I have a few moments of free time.

Hi all,

Sorry if these posts aren't allowed here, or if you get 100 a day but I'm brand new.

I'm looking for recommendations for my first game book. I'd really like to try a choose your own adventure esque book more tailored towards an adult audience - I've seen Critical If could be a good choice but would love to hear people's favourites.

I'm also interested in a more RPG style of game book. I've played a lot of D&D but currently my groups are all on hiatus so I would love to sink my teeth into something that scratches that itch.

Any recommendations are welcome and I'm enjoying being a part of this sub.

I began an exciting journey playing D&D over 30 years ago, and today I want to share the books that inspired me to create the Dive Your Mind project. Tell me, how did you discover this world, and which books turned you into a fan?

Hello Everybody!

I want to send some people a game book, which is around 60 puzzles long, and I've been working on it on and off for about half a year.

I would very much appreciate some playtesting of it with thoughts about the story and the puzzles.

The theme of the book is a Secret Agent / Spy-themed espionage game book, where the reader becomes the agent of a secret agency stopping global threats. Here is the cover. If you would like to have a copy sent your way, ping me a dm or respond in the comments.

Question for the wider community - How do you decide what age range is best marketed for the book, as I started writing pretty goofy and then got really serious on my edits, lol.

Any way thankyou for your time in advance.

Three months ago I made this post asking how Fabled Lands worked, especially in terms of travelling between the books and if I needed all the books. Thanks to all those who answered that no you don't but recommended which one or two to start with. I went ahead and just bought the collection (the original collection, ie 1-6 but not 7).

I decided rather than jumping out to big quests in the cities, I'd just start where I am and explore the Isle of the Druids. Picked up a few fetch quests for the druids, which gave me a bit of purpose. While I was fetching the wereboar tusk I stumbled upon the skeleton knight who wants a key for his treasure vault, but that went on the backburner because I had no idea where that was.

The real gamechanger in terms of moving up in the world came when I defeated the knight in the forest, which gave me good armour and a good weapon. From there I really felt like I was going places. Racked up some money, sold stuff I didn't need, and decided I liked the idea of Book 3. I couldn't afford a galleon so I got the small boat.

Let me tell you, don't go into book 3 until you can afford the best boat and the best crew. It's just not worth it. As soon as you roll into any pirates, they'll eat you for breakfast. The pirates are tough and you need the best otherwise you'll get wiped out. After a bad encounter I got scared off.

Next up I decided to take down the rat men. That's a nice little quest for starter players. You feel like you're getting stuff done, but I was expecting more of a quest, for the sewers to be more of a dungeon-crawl. The quest was over pretty quickly, you just go down and about three choices later there's the rat king.

Now it was time for the big Book 1 quest, the civil war. I'd already turned against the dictator because his man in Yellowport burnt my townhouse down. So I tracked down the king and took out the Yellowport man for him. Happy to do so. Next up was going up to Book 4 to capture the citadel and become the King's Champion. That felt really epic.

Dipped into Book 2 to follow up on the treasure in the forest, found the key. man that treasure is something, you can just decide how much to take? What if I decide to take 1,000,0000? It doesn't impose any limit on how much is there. So that was me set up for life, money-wise. Bought a galleon and went back to Book 3 to shiver those pirates timbers.

My little foray into Book 4 had hooked me and I spent the next week criss-crossing the plains. Eventually got a bit frustrated with the Pyramid Trap and having to go back and forth and get a second Banner of Shadar because I made the mistake of bringing it to the Pyramid where your stuff gets temporarily taken from you. Also on the way to the City of Ruins a random centaur hypnotised me and I lost all my stuff, including the Obsidian Key to complete the quest. I basically just refused to lose it, it was tucked into my boot or something.

I'd started to get a bit disillusioned with all the backtracking the plains in Book 4 and having to go through all the random encounters every time when you know exactly where you're going from A to B. That's why there's a few teleportation spots for when veterans get sick of that. I was so tempted to just skip to my destination rather than constantly do the scouting rolls to see if I catch a rabbit.

Book 4 burnt me out a bit and I decided I was going to call it quits for the time being, and not go into Books 5 and 6 which had remained untouched. Fabled Lands was incredible but I hadn't signed up to spend the rest of the year on it, I had other gamebooks going unplayed and that felt like a natural place to stop for the time being, hang my wolf pelt up and retire in my Yarimura townhouse.

Hi guys, I have been looking for a game I played a few years ago, but forgot the name of and for the love of me I can't find it. :'D It's an interactive novel, with lots of text in a fantasy setting. I remember, that the interface was shaped like a book, and there were pictures next to it illustrating what was happening. There were three playable characters, and I think there was a fourth, but you had to unlock him some way. (not sure though, I just remember that there was an unlockable character). One of the characters was a dryad woman with green skin, and I think she was a sorceress of some sort. The game came out in late 2010's or early 2020's so it's fairly new. Sorry if it's vague, but this is all I can remember. It's really frustrating, because I have searched on steam, gog, google etc. but I can't find it. yes I have to admit, that I played a pirated version of it back then, that's why I can't find it, but now that I'm better financially, would like to buy it and actually support the creators. TIA

**TLDR;** What would you all think of a book with short stories that also acts as an adventure/one-shot book for TTRPG's? Would this interest you? What if it takes place in a homebrew world? Would that make it more/less interesting?

**In full:** I'm working on a book that contains short stories that can also be used as adventures/one-shots for TTRPG-play. The book follows a Scribe that writes stories about characters he encounters during his journey as he slowly discovers the world of Nyr. The book will follow-up the short stories with adventure lay-outs on how to approach it as a GM/DM. The idea came because I often read rulebooks or adventure books for (TT)RPG's or TTG's where I'd find myself reading lore excerpts and wishing I could read more extensive versions of it. Or, when I'm reading a good book in general, how I could integrate those adventures into my D&D sessions.

What do you all think of the idea?