I now read a gamebook to my son at least once a week. My eldest daughter and youngest son thoroughly enjoyed both The Magical Armory and The Smugglers' Port, and now they are interested in gamebooks in general. This was exactly the approach that I was aiming for. My children felt that there was a challenge to the book and even with the convergent path that I chose that they were still in charge of their fate and not being railroaded. When test-running this approach with my children, it was met with much more positivity. Failure is still probable in my gamebooks, especially if poor choices are made, but children have a solid fighting chance to complete the book on the first read. I purposely made these encounters easier, but made many of them just enough of a nail-biter that the children playing would still feel properly challenged. I started focusing on a more story-driven approach that still encompassed skill rolls, multiple choices, and combat encounters with almost every numbered entry. When doing a test run with the old-school style, the high death count and tough challenges were met with frustration by my children, and not joy. I love many of the old-school fantasy gamebooks that I read in the 80s, which was the main inspiration for these books, but these books were highly difficult. My gamebooks are primarily intended to be fun. Why do you think kids will enjoy your gamebooks? With the help of the T&T Solo Design Guidelines, I realized that I could easily model a gamebook with a similar design principle as seen in a Telltale video game. When I thought about the storyline of those video games, I realized they were at the core just gamebooks with a convergent path design.
At this time, I was also playing several of Telltale Games' graphic adventures. I dug into this book, and when I was finished reading it, I was no longer intimidated by the prospect of writing a gamebook.
#Fabled lands drivethrurpg how to
In December of last year, Flying Buffalo Games released a solo design guide for their RPG Tunnels & Trolls entitled, T&T Solo Design Guidelines: HOW TO WRITE A SOLO, which is available on DriveThruRPG. I love gamebooks, but writing my own seemed like an insurmountable task. I had been mulling about doing a solo gamebook within the Hero Kids system, but was nervous about attempting it. After I finished my third module, I wanted to branch out and do something different. I started making Game Master adventure modules, which were well received within the Hero Kids Community. I have written several Hero Kids adventures under the Hero Kids Compatibility License. The Smugglers' Port is space fantasy, and takes place within a spaceport that evokes similarities with Mos Eisley in Star Wars. The Magical Armory embraces a familiar high fantasy feel and includes a quest where you will encounter goblins, dragons, magical items, and a small dungeon crawl. I have released two gamebooks utilizing the Hero Kids system: The Magical Armory and The Smugglers' Port. (NOTE: These are based on the Hero Kids role-playing game system.) I love the challenge of learning a new system and its mechanics, and I love seeing how authors are making innovative and unique new gamebooks. I have been playing tabletop RPGs and gamebooks for most of my life.
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