Gamebook Friday: My Most Popular ACE Gamebooks

I regularly check Amazon to see how my books are rating*. For a long time, I thought that RONIN 47 was one of my most popular ACE Gamebooks because, although it didn't have a lot of reviews, almost all of them were 5 stars. However, in my obsession with the only sci-fi ACE Gamebook to date, I had failed to notice that some of the older titles in the series were even more popular.

This prompted me to make a proper comparison. As well as looking at the average rating out of 5 on Amazon.co.uk, I considered how many ratings a title had received. So, gamebooks with the same average rating would be differentiated by how many people had rated each one.

The results may surprise you - they certainly surprised me!

ACE Gamebooks ranked by Amazon ratings:

1) NEVERLAND: Here Be Monsters! - 4.9/5 based on 46 ratings

2) 'TWAS: The Krampus Night Before Christmas - 4.9/5 based on 32 ratings

3) RONIN 47 - 4.9/5 based on 24 ratings

4) Dracula: Curse of the Vampire - 4.8/5 based on 96 ratings

5) Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come - 4.7/5 based on 5 ratings

6) Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland - 4.6/5 based on 181 ratings

7) The Wicked Wizard of Oz - 4.4/5 based on 67 ratings

8) Beowulf Beastslayer - 4.4/5 based on 60 ratings

I then wondered how ratings on Amazon compared with those on Goodreads, which gave quite a different result.

ACE Gamebooks ranked by Goodreads ratings:

1) Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come - 5/5 based on 2 ratings

2) Beowulf Beastslayer - 4.45/5 based on 11 ratings

3) Dracula: Curse of the Vampire - 4.37/5 based on 41 ratings

4) The Wicked Wizard of Oz - 4.18/5 based on 28 ratings

5) 'TWAS: The Krampus Night Before Christmas - 4.15/5 based on 27 ratings

6) Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland - 3.96/5 based on 334 ratings

7) NEVERLAND: Here Be Monsters! - 3.95/5 based on 19 ratings

8) RONIN 47 - 3.5/5 based on 6 ratings

Whenever I attend an event, people often single out one particular ACE Gamebook as being their favourite. However, what is pleasing is that each adventure is somebody's favourite. I wonder how many people will pick 100 Aker Wood as their favourite when it is published next year?

Maybe I should rank my various Fighting Fantasy gamebooks by popularity next?

* If you have read/played and enjoyed one of my ACE Gamebooks, please do post a review online, and on Amazon if you can.

Gamebook Friday: ACE Czech Gamebooks

There are currently seven ACE Gamebooks in print in English, through Snowbooks, but by the end of the year there will be six ACE Gamebooks available in Czech courtesy of Mytago, when RONIN 47 is released by the publisher. And here's the cover, featuring Neil Googe's awesome artwork...

Dracula: Curse of the Vampire is now available in Czech and recently received this fantastic review.

"This book isn't just a rehash of the original into a playable version, it's a clever and fun mix of various vampire and mythological stories. The Vampire's Curse is written in an accessible, understandable way, and as a stand-alone work it is the ideal gateway to the world of interactive novels for all new players. However, even seasoned veterans will be completely satisfied. Get ready for an unforgettable journey into the world of darkness!"

~ Petr Eller, for Imago

Click on the images below, to check out the Czech editions of the other ACE Gamebooks currently in print.

Gamebook Friday: Dragonmeet 2023

I will be attending Dragonmeet on Saturday 2nd December 2023. The event is taking place at the Novotel Hammersmith in West London. You will find me sharing a stand with Sir Ian Livingstone in the Lower Trade Hall, which will be open from 10:00am-6:00pm.

Click to enlarge.

I will have physical copies of the ACE Gamebooks Roleplay RPGs for sale, including HEOROT - Roleplaying in the World of Beowulf Beastslayer, 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, Christmas in July, and The 'TWAS Advent-ure Calendar.

I will also have copies of RONIN 47 with me and several more of my ACE Gamebooks.

At 2:30pm, I will be at the Aconyte Books stand signing copies of my new Marvel Multiverse Missions gamebook Moon Knight: Age of Anubis, so, if you're around, do stop by and say hello.

Gamebook Friday: Stock Clearance Sale

Due to an imminent house move, I am currently trying to clear as much old stock as possible. Follow this link to pick up a bargain, knockdown price ACE Gamebook hardback while you still can.

You can also pick up the PDF of the Heorot RPG at a discounted price, for the duration of Ormamánuður, Worm's Month, until 14th August 2023, over on DriveThruRPG.

Gamebook Friday: UK Games Expo

The UK Games Expo 2023 starts today at the NEC in Birmingham and I am attending with my ACE Gamebooks, specifically RONIN 47.

You will also be able to check out the new Heorot RPG. Not only that, but because June 2023 marks 30 years since my first Fighting Fantasy gamebook Spellbreaker was published, you will be able to use a special discount to get money off at ACE Gamebooks Roleplay on DriveThruRPG.

You will find me in Hall 2, at Stand 2-T21, alongside Sir Ian Livingstone, and sandwiched between Parable Games and Atlantis Miniatures.

Click to enlarge.

The expo opens on Friday 2nd June at 9:00am and closes at 4:00pm on Sunday 4th June.

This year I am helping Darren W. Pearce run the Write Like a Pro workshop on Sunday 4th June from 12:30-1:30pm.

Here's what the UKGE website has to say about it:

Join two professional writers Darren W. Pearce and Jonathan Green - both industry veterans of many years experience - to talk about modern adventure design and how to approach the art of adventure writing, as well as working with established IP holders.

The workshop is being held in The Boardroom, NEC Piazza 3. To find out more, click this link.

Write Like a Pro at the UK Games Expo 2023

The UK Games Expo 2023 starts one month today, on Friday 2nd June. I shall be there as usual, selling my latest ACE Gamebook, RONIN 47, and generally enjoying the buzz of the event.

However, this year I am going to be helping Darren W. Pearce run the Write Like a Pro workshop on Sunday 4th June from 12:30-1:30pm.

Here's what the UKGE website has to say about it:

Join two professional writers Darren W. Pearce and Jonathan Green - both industry veterans of many years experience - to talk about modern adventure design and how to approach the art of adventure writing, as well as working with established IP holders.

The workshop is being held in The Boardroom, NEC Piazza 3. To find out more, click this link.

Secrets of Salamonis on Mythical Tales From Edra

If you enjoy live readthroughs of adventure gamebooks you will want to join Ken Boyter this evening, at 6:00pm on the Mythical Tales from Edra Twitch channel, as he will be performing a readthrough of Secrets of Salamonis, the Fighting Fantasy gamebook I wrote with Steve Jackson.

And then the following evening, Julian Sparrow will be back on his Twitch channel at 9:30pm tackling RONIN 47 for the second week in a row.

In both cases, it is YOU the viewers who get to help decide which way to go, which monsters to fight, and which perils to risk. And if you have yet to purchase a copy of the aforementioned adventures yourself, simply click on then images below to rectify that situation.

RONIN 47 Readthrough - live tonight!

Tonight, at 9:30pm BST, you can join Julian Sparrow on his Twitch channel as he performs a live readthrough of my most recent ACE Gamebook, RONIN 47.

Not only that, but you can get involved, as The Chat will help to decide Julian's fate! So set an alarm and join Julian tonight, Thursday 20th April 2023, for a good dose of mecha-vs-kaiju gamebook action!

Gamebook Friday: Extra! Extra!

Ever since I crowdfunded the first ACE Gamebook, Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, back in 2015, I have tried to offer backers on Kickstarter something extra. In the case of Alice, this was my first deck of themed playing cards (which, along with bespoke dice, went on to become a feature of the series), and the first themed All Rolled Up*.

The Wicked Wizard of Oz had bookmarks that allowed you to play as different characters, including two bonus characters - the Wicked Witch of the West and the Wizard himself.

NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! had some rather cool extras, if I do say so myself. Not only was there a cloth map of Neverland, there was also a soundtrack album, of sorts.

I upped the ante with Beowulf Beastslayer, offering backers miniatures of Beowulf and Grendel, who have been joined by Grendel's Mother, since the Heorot RPG also funded on Kickstarter.

'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas offered backers the chance to purchase some Krampus Kards, rather than the traditional Christmas cards.

High level backers of the Dracula: Curse of the Vampire Kickstarter received their books in a wooden coffin, along with a stake pencil, wrapped in black tissue paper bearing the seal of the House of Dracula.

My most recent ACE Gamebooks Kickstarter, that funded production of RONIN 47, gave people the chance to buy some posters of Neil Googe's awesome artwork (coloured by Len O'Grady), as well as the usual art prints.

I'm still deliberating as to what the next ACE Gamebook will be, but rest assured that I will look for some unusual angle when it comes to what rewards I can offer to those people who support my crowdfunding projects.

* The last project to feature one of these was TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas.

Gamebook Friday: Forthcoming Appearances

I will be appearing on the Inside the Rookery livestream on Saturday, 28th January 2023, at 7:00pm GMT. I will be chatting with the Rooks about turning classic works of literature into gamebooks and RPGs, including The Box of Delights - The Roleplaying Game.

I will also be at the UK Games Expo again in the summer, and this year I will be assisting Darren Pearce with the 'Write Like a Pro' workshop. I'm also toying with the idea of getting a standee made for RONIN 47. So, somebody, anybody, please tell me not to!

In other news, I am selling some collectible gamebook items, and other things, on eBay at the moment. Check out the current crop of goodies here.

And finally, The Box of Delights RPG could do with some love. The Kickstarter has 16 days left to run and the project is currently 57 % funded. Please share it far and wide and consider pledging your support, if you haven't already done so. Thank you.

RONIN 47 Slipcases for sale

As anyone who backed the RONIN 47 Kickstarter to receive the slipcase edition of the book will already know, there were some problems when it came to producing the slipcase itself. It was supposed to be large enough to contain both a hardback and a paperback but the first one that was made only fit the hardback.

I am now selling off these very limited 'mistakes', which have the potential to become highly collectible. There is nothing wrong the books, it's just that the slipcases only fit the hardback. If you are interested in acquiring one of these slipcased hardbacks, check out my eBay page.

Gamebook Friday: Review of the Year - 2022

It's that time of the year again - can you believe it? - when I like to look back on the past year and look forward to the next.

Despite all the other books I had published this year, 2022 was only ever going to be the Year of Fighting Fantasy, as it saw the 40th anniversary of the publication of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

However, I didn't expect to find myself writing a new Fighting Fantasy gamebook - but it turned out Steve Jackson had other ideas. In January Steve asked me to help him finish the FF adventure he was writing to mark the 40th anniversary, and so Secrets of Salamonis was born, which resulted in me working with Italian illustrator Tazio Bettin for the first time (and hopefully not the last).

I also provided technical assistance for the two Marvel Multiverse Missions gamebooks published by Aconyte Books this year - You Are (Not) Deadpool and She-Hulk Goes To Murderworld.

The first quarter of 2022 saw me write the 'Making of...' features for the final graphic novels in the All Killer No Filler Deadpool Collection, the very last of which was Deadpool Does Shakespeare.

In April I attended Taunton Comic Con for the first time, and June saw me attend the UK Games Expo for the first time since 2019, which meant I sold out of a lot of stock! I also playtested a new card game with some friends which I hope to have on sale at UKGE 2023.

Summer saw the publication of RONIN 47, the first science fiction-themed ACE Gamebook.

2022 was also a year of upheaval for Family Green as in the summer as we swapped West London for the West Country, moving from the Queen of the Suburbs - a.k.a. Ealing - to the County Town of Somerset - a.k.a.Taunton.

Then September saw Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 take place, back in Ealing, and the publication of Secrets of Salamonis, alongside Sir Ian Livingstone's Shadow of the Giants.

At the end of October I visited Lucca Comics and Games Fair in Italy for the first time. It was an incredible, full-on, five day event, during which I met all sorts of wonderful people and signed numerous copies of the Italian editions of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz.

November was remarkable because it saw the Kickstarter to fund production of YOU ARE THE HERO - An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks become my most successful crowdfunding project to date! If you missed it, there's still time to place a Late Pledge.

I also finished the Heorot RPG, at long last, which will be out in time for the UK Games Expo 2023.

At the start of December I was back at Dragonmeet in London, where I hung out with Sir Ian Livingstone during the day and the Lone Wolf crew during the evening.

December also saw the 20th anniversary of the publication of my first Warhammer novel, The Dead and the Damned.

As well as publishing another title in the ACE Gamebooks series in 2022, I have continued to release new content for 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas. 

If you have yet to grab the latest supplements, you might want to make the most of the ACE Gamebooks Roleplay New Year Sale, but it's only here for a short time, so don't miss out!

New foreign language editions of ACE Gamebooks that have been published this year include the Czech translation of NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!, the Ialian The Wicked Wizard of Oz, and the Polish edition of Dracula - Curse of the Vampire. And there are even more to come in 2023!

Talking of 2023, next year marks the 30th anniversary of me becoming a published author, as Spellbreaker, my first Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook, was published in June 1993. And there are plenty more books to come next year.

I already have two gamebook projects pencilled into my schedule, while the Heorot RPG and YOU ARE THE HERO - An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks will both see print next year. And I have my next ACE Gamebooks Roleplay Kickstarter ready to go.

So it only remains for me to wish you and yours a happy and healthy New Year, and I'll see you again in 2023!