Create Your Own Adventure

[twiglet4frog]

Does anyone remember create your own adventure books from authors like steve jackson?

I saw reprints of the old ones lately in ottakers and wondered what happened to these, i used to love them as a kid and had nearly a hundred titles but all i see if any at all are the old ones in reprint and very few of them at least. I know that computer games and consols have replaced these books but i miss them and feel that we have lost a great adventure and game that helped me develope my literacy at the time. i enjoyed reading an adventure which i was the hero and i chose the desicions at the end of the page than that of reading an normal book that bored me.

Does anyone know of any out there still being written or any website groups that produce anything similar??

[LeMarchand]

They stopped publishing them due to a slump in sales caused by (as you surmised) PC & Console gaming. AFAIK the reprints are doing OK, but I wonder if the people buying them are older people looking for a nostalgia hit or "new" people.

 

Not sure about any new web or print additions to the genre, but a few years back Kim Newman wrote "Life's Lottery", which was a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book for adults. It should be available to order (alas, his books are hard to find "on the shelf"), and is quite an interesting literary experiment that enables you to shape a man's life from his schooldays (do you say you prefer Napoleon Solo or Ilya Kuryakin?) through teenage years (do you take advantage of that drunk girl?) through adulthood. I can't say that I ever got a "good" conclusion :-(.

 

You might also consider "Tabletop" RPG's (like "Dungeons & Dragons"), which are similar but more interactive, and you need a number of players. Their reputation is a bit geeky, but they can be great fun, and games are available in a huge variety of genres: SF, Cyberpunk, Fantasy, Historical etc etc (plus many based on TV & Films like Farscape, Buffy and Angel). I'd particulary recommend "Call of the Cthulhu" (horror based on H.P. Lovecraft) and "On The Edge" (very wierd conspiracies etc).

[stoo_pid]

Yep, you can still buy them. I bought my nephew a comic a couple of months back that had a shorter version of "Warlock of Firetop Mountain" as a free gift. I've since noticed them in Waterstones & W H Smith and on Amazon. Dunno if they're new adventures or just re-issues. Reading your comment on PC games, its a little ironic that the 1st PC game I ever bought was WOFTM (for the Spectrum!)

[Pinotage]

http://www.ryman-novel.com/

 

253 by Geoff Ryman is a web-novel about a tube train journey and the 253 characters on it where you follow the tale as you wich by following the links. 

 

For he sequel, he is inviting readers to write a chapter wach and send it in. See the web site for more info. 

[crafty]

Man those books were amazing. I have the complete set. City of Thieves was my favourite - The author called Ian Livingstone did the first ones. Jackson came later and did more futuristic ones.

[fat robert]

Steve Jackson co-wrote Warlock of Firetop Mountain and wrote the second book Citadel of Chaos and the fourth Starship Traveller...

[crafty]

I think i am gonna have to dig them out and work my way through them again!!
It was always really difficult to except you had made the wrong decision and died without cheating and going back to the other options - Thats why it's a great book to read to your kids !!!!

[crafty]

Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Citadel of Chaos 
Deathtrap Dungeon
Creature of Havoc
City of Thieves
Crypt of the Sorcerer
House of Hell
Forest of Doom
Sorcery! 1: The Shamutanti Hills
Caverns of the Snow Witch �
Sorcery! 2: Khare Cityport of Traps Trial of Champions Sorcery! 3: The Seven Serpents
Armies of Death �4.99 ADD
Sorcery! 4: The Crown of Kings �5.99 ADD
Return to Firetop Mountain �4.99 ADD
Island of the Lizard King �4.99 ADD

[crafty]

Search under 'Fighting Fantasy' on GOOGLE - all of the books are available (For about 4.99)

[twiglet4frog]

I have all the old original books but wondered if they made new ones, will check that link out tho, sounds interesting. Did anyone find a way to win house of hell cos i am sure it was unfinishible.

My favourites were the Lone Wolf series and also the Mad Max style books called omega zone etc, anyone remember these?

[crafty]

Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson wrote 100 of these books between them - i don't know if they have done any new ones - but i do know that Ian Livingstone is now creative director at the software giant Eidos (Tomb raider game / shellshock etc etc)!!
Search - 'fighting fantasy - wizard books' online

[crafty]

house of hell was a bitch - never did it.
here is a link and a quote...........
Publishing News - News Page... Now, more than 20 years later, the first new Fighting Fantasy gamebook for a decade is scheduled to be published by Wizard Books in April, this time written as ...
www.publishingnews.co.uk/pn/pno_news9.asp - 20k - 10 Nov 2004 -

[splodge24]

I'm sure you can still get them, i bought something similar a while back...an Enid Blyton Famous Five book where at the end of each page you decided what action to take and therefore what page you turned to next. It came with all sorts of goodies like code crackers etc to help you through. I remember them as a kid so i was really happy to see this one in the shops!

[Jamie Lewis]

I have got the first 50 choose your own adventure books at home. I found them at my mum's house a year or so ago. She had kept the for me. Isn't the first one called The cave of Time of something?