Gamebook Friday: The Evolution of a Gamebook

I can't talk about the gamebook I'm writing at the moment, because it hasn't been announced yet. But I would like to talk about how the creation of it has been, or at least felt like, a new experience, even though I have written over 30 gamebooks already.

An integral part of the adventure is that the vast majority of it is set in one building, with specific things happening at specific times. However, it is also an adventure in which you can visit different rooms within the building in pretty much any order you want. Meanwhile, other characters have their own agendas and may be found in those rooms, but only at certain times.

This has required some very details plans - based on rooms, characters, and events - which have to be continually cross-referenced. And yet, at the same time, writing it has been quite a fluid process. I have dealt with one room, or event, at a time, but when I come to other rooms or events later on, it has often necessitated me going back and making tweaks to what I have already written.

My biggest fear is that when someone reads the book, they will do something in a particular order that then breaks the gameplay. It is certainly going to need some very careful editing, proofreading, and playtesting. However, if I can pull it off, I like to think it will standout as something a bit special.

I have really enjoyed the challenge of writing this adventure, even though it has been to quite a tight deadline, and I certainly could have made things a lot easier for myself if I had written a straightforward, linear adventure, but that's not me.

In case you hadn't noticed, I love gamebooks, and I like seeing how far the genre can be stretched. I see an increasingly number of people writing their own gamebooks, and they are almost always classic, sword-and-sorcery, fantasy adventures, very much in the vein of Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf. Certainly, the more recent gamebooks that get the most attention, seem to be those that do something different with the genre, such as DestinyQuest or Steam Highwayman.

I have been fortunate to write for the FF series myself, but when it comes to my own gamebooks, I want to do something different, which is why I've written a science fiction adventure with giant robots and kaiju and another that quotes great swathes of Shakespeare.

But this latest project has been something else, and you will be able to judge for yourself whether I have succeeded in what I have attempted to do later this year.

In other news, The Tides of Innsmouth, my latest Arkham Horror adventure could do with some more reviews on Amazon, and ones that are actually about the content of the book rather than its appearance. If you've read it, please consider posting a review. Thank you.

Gamebook Friday: The Tides of Innsmouth reviewed on Cosmic Circus

After reviewing The Darkness Over Arkham last year, Cosmic Circus is back with a review of The Tides of Innsmouth.

Having given The Darkness Over Arkham a sterling 8 out of 10, The Tides of Innsmouth hasn't fared quite so well, having been given a score of 7 out of 10. But that's still very respectable as far as I'm concerned.

"This isn’t the first choose-your-own-adventure game book from Aconyte I’ve reviewed. It isn’t even the first one written by Jonathan Green. I enjoy how these books draw you in by being more involved than just “pick a number”. There are, of course, many different paths to choose from, but dice rolls, items acquired, and character attributes affect your options. This turns a simple book into a game and makes it more engaging."

To read the whole review, click here. To buy The Tides of Innsmouth, click here.

40 Years of The Crown of Kings

2025 marks 40 years since the publication of The Crown of Kings, the final volume of Steve Jackson's seminal gamebook miniseries, Sorcery!

The conclusion of the Sorcery! series starts with the Analander climbing through the Xamen Peaks to reach the Mampang Fortress, and then battle their way through the Archmage’s lair. The Crown of Kings came in at a whopping 800 references (a record yet to be broken by any other Fighting Fantasy gamebook) and was as epic an adventure as any Sorcery! fan could have hoped for. It also featured one of the most memorable (and clever) denouements of any adventure ever published, not to mention encounters with a god-headed Hydra and entire societies of birdmen and she-satyrs.

The God-headed Hydra, by John Blanche.

When pressed on the subject of which of the gamebooks he has written are his favourites, Jackson cites two: “Warlock because it was the first. And Sorcery! because it was the most complex. Creating a four-part adventure in which your actions in Book 2 might affect your choices in Book 4 was a real challenge.”

All four volumes are in print again in the UK, courtesy of Scholastic Books. And all four volumes are also now available in Portuguese, from Brazilian publisher Jambô Editora, including The Crown of Kings, which had previously been available in Brazil.

Rather like the recent Danish editions of the Sorcery! series, the Brazilian ones also come with a unique slipcase.

The Brazilian Sorcery! quartet.

The Danish Sorcery! quartet, plus Spell Book.

Gamebook Friday: JG breaks the Internet!

Okay, apologies for the clickbait-y title. What actually happened was, during the livestream of the actual play of The Tides of Innsmouth on Sunday, the stream starting glitching and Jordan Sorcery had to turn off the video feed. I think the problem was actually a combination of the heat and his beleaguered equipment.

Anyway, if you missed the livestream you can watch it again here...

And then on Wednesday night I took part in a live interview with Mathieu and Mark on Rôliste TV. However, rather lasting for the expected hour, it went on for almost two.

You can watch the interview in its entirety here...

Lastly, I was recently interviewed by Paul Semel about The Tides of Innsmouth. You can read the interview, in which I discuss things like my sources of inspiration and how I go about plotting an adventure gamebook, here.

If you've read The Tides of Innsmouth, and you are able to, please post a review of the adventure on Amazon, to help counter the damage done by people complaining about the quality of their print on demand copies (and which are not rip-offs). Thank you.

Gamebook Friday: Forthcoming Livestreams

For those who might be interested, I will be taking part in a couple of livestreams over the next few days.

On Sunday 15th June at 7:00pm, I will be joining Jordan Sorcery for a live playthrough of The Tides of Innsmouth. You can join the chat here to help decide what our Investigator does as they visit the sleepy seaside town of Innsmouth.

And then on Wednesday 18th June at 7:00pm, I will be chatting to Mathiew and Mark on the French YouTube channel Rôliste TV about my work in the gamebook genre. We will be discussing the history of Fighting Fantasy, adapting classics like Dracula, and my recent forays into the world of Arkham Horror.

Gamebook Friday: Continuing the Adventure with the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks

One of the features of the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks that makes them different from other gamebooks I have written, is that you can play through an adventure as multiple different Investigators; not just the different ones that appear in each book, but as any Investigator from any book, or any other source, including (to date) the Aconyte Books website and the Dark Horse comic The Terror at the End of Time.

But the gaming goodness doesn't end there. You can also play through multiple adventures with the same character and have them gain Experience which can then affect their stats - including their Abilities and Weaknesses - on a permanent basis.

You will find the rules for how to continue the adventure with one Investigator in this way in The Tides of Innsmouth, my latest Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks which is out now!

New Book Day: The Tides of Innsmouth

The Tides of Innsmouth, my second Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook is published today by Aconyte Books.

The book actually went on sale for the first time at the UK Games Expo at the weekend, and had sold out by 11:00am on Saturday, which was amazing.

The reviews have also started to come in and they make very satisfying reading for the person who wrote the book.

Just as The Darkness Over Arkham had the profiles of three Investigators included within it - those for Agnes Baker the Waitress, Nathaniel Cho the Boxer, and Rex Murphy the Reporter - there are three new Investiator profiles in The Tides of Innsmouth - Silas Marsh the Sailor, Kōhaku Narukami the Folklorist, and Marion Tavares the Trawler.

However, you can also play the adventure using any of the Investigators from The Darkness Over Arkham, or those that appear on the Aconyte website, or even those that appeared in the Dark Horse comic, The Terror at the End of Time.

To pick up your copy of The Tides of Innsmouth, click here.

I'm loving Joshua Cairós's cover art,
while Nick Tyler's design work is excellent as ever.