Who here remembers Choose Your Own Adventure, Fighting Fantasy, and similar things?

[skykiii]

When I was younger I was really into.... not the books named in the title, but similar: I used to like the Give Yourself Goosebumps books, enough that it got me to read the main goosebumps books, and later on I also liked reading TSR's Endless Quest books (CYOA but based on TSR properties, usually Dungeons and Dragons but there were a few based on their sci-fi games as well).

Another one I discovered later on was Fighting Fantasy, which were like CYOA but also with pen n' paper RPG elements like stats and a rudimentary battle system. Some of these actually got converted into actual computer games and are available on the Switch now, which is kinda cool though I'm not always a fan of the choices the adaptations make... the one based on Warlock of Firetop Mountain, from what I'm aware of, is actually a pretty faithful adaptation of the original book though.

(I also own a physical copy of one Fighting Fantasy book, Caverns of the Snow Witch).

There's something I've always found strange about these, something similar to a thing I noticed in text adventures: despite knowing these are books and thus have finite limits, somehow they actually feel more open and immersive than most high-end computer games. Somehow the worlds feel more living and breathing.

These actually got me into roleplaying. See, I would read these books for my friends and have then decide what happens, but at some point a friend said "why can't we do X?" and at that point, I would just make shit up. Eventually it got to where we were making up our own stories. I would find out years later that this is basically how actual Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop games worked.

Sigh....

I remember back in the early internet days, thinking that you could use simple HTML coding to make CYOA style things. I'm curious why that didn't take off. (or maybe it did and I just wasn't looking in the right places).

Anyway, your thoughts and memories?

 

[FedPostalService]

I think you can get the books recreated on Steam. I loved the FF books as a kid.

There was also the Way of the Tiger books were you played as a ninja, I loved all things ninja as a kid.

 

[skykiii]

I think you can get the books recreated on Steam. I loved the FF books as a kid.

There was also the Way of the Tiger books were you played as a ninja, I loved all things ninja as a kid.

I've never used Steam but like I said there's some digital recreations on the Nintendo Switch.

They're kind of odd... the one based on Warlock of Firetop Mountain is apparently the most "straight" recreation, just it adds a thing where instead of rolling stats, you pick a character (represented by a figurine because the game's visuals have a "pen n' paper roleplaying" aesthetic) and IIRC the characters have a special perk and I think a few need to be unlocked.

The other ones I saw are bundles... but they're not compilations, rather the description claims they combine multiple books into a big game world. I'm... not sure at all how that works. Its possible I misunderstood something and they simply allow you to keep characters between books.

 

[Tenshi Eating A Corn Dog!]

I used to read (play?) the Indiana Jones CYOA books when I was a kid. The one set in the Himalayas stuck with me the most.

 

[Jason Wynn]

I had a decent collection of them as a kid. Still remember The Mystery of Chimney Rock being legit creepy back then.

Had a handful of the D&D ones as well

 

[VanyaMotorbike]

I think you can get the books recreated on Steam. I loved the FF books as a kid.

There was also the Way of the Tiger books were you played as a ninja, I loved all things ninja as a kid.

Yeah I have played a few on Steam and they're ok, but prepare to get dicked on with RNG. I loved reading the books as a kid, but I never actually played them properly with the dice etc and just gave myself instawins on every fight and rewinds any time I made the wrong choice so I could finish and move onto the next. Luckily my school libraries were always full of these books, I really enjoyed them

 

[FedPostalService]

I've never used Steam but like I said there's some digital recreations on the Nintendo Switch.

They're kind of odd... the one based on Warlock of Firetop Mountain is apparently the most "straight" recreation, just it adds a thing where instead of rolling stats, you pick a character (represented by a figurine because the game's visuals have a "pen n' paper roleplaying" aesthetic) and IIRC the characters have a special perk and I think a few need to be unlocked.

The other ones I saw are bundles... but they're not compilations, rather the description claims they combine multiple books into a big game world. I'm... not sure at all how that works. Its possible I misunderstood something and they simply allow you to keep characters between books.

I have that one. Steam also has direct reproductions of the books (sadly you can’t cheat)

 

[User names must be unique]

I played a cyoa game on android it wasn't bad, not really my cup of tea but seems to be one of the few styles of games that work really well on touchscreen I would be surprised if there weren't tonnes of them.

I think it was this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inkle.sorcery1&hl=en_US

 

[el bandito loco]

My dad passed some of the original CYOA books to my older brother who then gave them to me. Nintendo did some too, my brother had and gave me these two Mario and zelda ones made in the early 90s he got new, these ones were cool because they had a points system and some rpg elements

and in the early 2000s I had the Zelda & Wario Land ones. they were missing the points and rpg shit, definitely more basic. I liked them though, probably because I also liked these two games.

We also had I believe 2 of these James Bond ones and when I was 11 I was disappointed you couldn't chose to fuck the shit out of any bond girls lmao

and I don't think I owned but I got the goosebumps ones from the library all the time and loved em

 

[Cyber Bowling]

I want to say a lot of Fighting Fantasy exists on Steam in some capacity. Or maybe it got reprinted or...something. For awhile, I was getting recommended videos of people playing them on YouTube, at the very least. I used to listen to a podcast that played through some of the older Nintendo ones as well.

I've played a few modern ones that are made by a group called Hosted Games (or maybe Choice of Games?) they're pretty hit or miss in terms of quality, and some of them are definitely not worth the price but can easily be acquired for free if you want to give them a try. A lot of them are original things, but there were a few VTM ones I played. Unfortunately, most of them were pretty bad, but there were a couple of gems in there.

 

[Dysnomia]

I had some of the Nintendo ones. But my favorite was a Dr. Who book about a comet. I got it at the Salvation Army back in the late 80s/early 90s and it was old at that point. I moved so many times that I don't have it anymore.

 

[Asian tech support]

I only remember the goosebumps ones. They were cool but samey. Even as an 8 year old I got bored of them quickly. Every now and then I'll come across a clickbaity video about "a first person dungeon crawler but in a BOOK" or some such title.

I think you can get the books recreated on Steam. I loved the FF books as a kid.

Neato. It's even got the aforementioned Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

I've never used Steam

 

[skykiii]

My dad passed some of the original CYOA books to my older brother who then gave them to me. Nintendo did some too, my brother had and gave me these two Mario and zelda ones made in the early 90s he got new, these ones were cool because they had a points system and some rpg elementsView attachment 5637297

Okay the guy on the cover of that "Shadow Prince" book looks a lot like Eric from Dungeons & Dragons, am I the only one that sees it?

 

[el bandito loco]

Okay the guy on the cover of that "Shadow Prince" book looks a lot like Eric from Dungeons & Dragons, am I the only one that sees it?

View attachment 5637577

I definitely see it. If I remember right the dude is Ganon himself in a magic disguise. I've never seen the D&D cartoon but it could have been made by the same people who did the Zelda cartoon, which the book seemed to draw off of so they might have had some character designers in common or something

 

[skykiii]

I definitely see it. If I remember right the dude is Ganon himself in a magic disguise. I've never seen the D&D cartoon but it could have been made by the same people who did the Zelda cartoon, which the book seemed to draw off of so they might have had some character designers in common or something

The D&D and Zelda cartoons weren't made by the same company, but they could've still shared staff.

It's also possible the cover artist for that book just saw the D&D cartoon and liked Eric's design. Can't say I blame him--in a sea of already good designs, Eric is the standout.

 

[Henri Barbusse]

The entire Lone Wolf gamebook series is available online on Project Aon with the late author's permission. They're really good, but the amount of carryover bonuses between books means that the claim that it's possible to finish every book with a fresh character is a bitter lie. Not a problem now that all the books are online, though.

 

[Bravefart]

I had the 5 Dice Man books from 2000ad and played them over and over again. You will probably get more out of them if you know a bit about the characters but you can get them all here. Doing them again recently sent me down the rabbit hole of the gamebook collection and I'm having a great time with it.

 

[Duiker]

It turns out that they are still making Fighting Fantasy books.

Also the Sorcery! four part series where your items and stats carried over was incredible.

 

[DeathsHeadFred]

Ah yes. The choose your own adventure books. The one I remember most was the Everest one where if you choose to eat local food you're fine, but if you eat a prepackaged pie you shit yourself and fall down the mountain.

 

[VanyaMotorbike]

Growing up my school libraries always had craploads of these books and I loved them. I would never play them properly with dice rolls etc, I'd just give myself instawins on every battle and rewinds anytime I made a fatal choice. There were so many books and I wanted to read them all so I didn't have the patience to get caught up with actually dying and restarting like a good boy