Gamebook Friday: The Wicked Wizard of Oz

Available now from Winged Hussar Publishing in the United States is my second ACE Gamebook, The Wicked Wizard of Oz.

For the uninitiated, it's Choose Your Own Adventure meets The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by way of Dungeons & Dragons.

The Wicked Wizard of Oz is a strange sort of a book. In fact, it is a portal to another world, the Marvellous Land of Oz. As well as the book itself, you will need two dice (or a standard pack of playing cards), a pencil and an eraser. Using these tools, and a simple set of game rules contained within the book, you will take on the role of the one of the protagonists of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on a new and perilous quest as they find themselves called upon to save the world once more.

Also available now from Snowbooks is The Wicked Wizard of Oz Colouring Book.

Did you know...?

A copy of The Wicked Wizard of Oz is on display at The All Things Oz Museum in Chittenango, New York.

Museum piece.

Thought for the Day

"The essence of a role-playing game is that it is a group, cooperative experience... The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules."

~ Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons

March Fourth for GM's Day

Sunday 4th March is GM's Day, an annual event to show your GM (or DM, or Storyteller, or Referee) how much you appreciate them. It was founded in 2002, and 4th March also happens to be the anniversary of the death of Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax.

If you're a fan of multi-player role-playing games, and you're also a fan of adventure gamebooks, why not try playing my ACE Gamebooks with your gaming group? The Wicked Wizard of Oz would work particularly well; indeed, I have been thinking about turning the book into an RPG. Would you be interested in playing a game like that?

Gamebook Friday: Legend Quests Live...Is now live!

Legend Quests, the "Live" Fantasy Dungeon Adventure Game, launches today on Kickstarter.

If you're a fan of Fighting Fantasy, gamebooks, Knightmare, theatre, The Lord of the Rings, YOU ARE THE HERO, Dungeons and Dragons, or the movie Labyrinth, then you need to back this Kickstarter today.

Happy 40th Anniversary, Dungeons & Dragons!

Tie-in Tuesday: Avengers take on Dungeons & Dragons

So this is DeviantArtist The Durrrrian's high fantasy take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes. (The Durrrrian's version of the Big Bang Theory gang's pretty cool too.)

Deadlock crossed with Joe Pineapple from 2000AD's ABC Warriors, anyone?

And then there's their arch-nemesis Loki...

The Gamebook Renaissance: Knightmare

If you were a child at the end of the 80s or start of the 90s, then you probably remember Knightmare. It was, for its time, an innovative virtual reality adventure set within a magical dungeon world, and it was on children's television.

Being a loyal devotee of the cult of Fighting Fantasy it seemed obvious to me that the programme was born off the back of the success of the gamebook phenomenon (and RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons of course).

It was a much tamer experience than your average FF adventure. There were no orcs to gut or horrifically described death scenes, but there was still the wandering around a labyrinth of gothically-decorated rooms, weird quasi-medieval characters to chew the fat with, and even some monsters (like the green-screened pet tarantula).

For those of you who remember Knightmare and the dungeon master Treguard (the fantastic Hugo Myatt), then the following will probably fill you with feelings of nostalgia. If you were born after the advent of real VR interactive gameplay and the phenomenal rise of the games consoles, then you don't know what you've missed.

Except that you can find out today (and tomorrow) at 2.00pm on CITV!



I have a feeling I'll probably end up mentioning Knightmare in YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks too! ;-)

Even more love for the Spider God

The Suicide Girls love Temple of the Spider God - and Tin Man Games' other Gamebook Adventures.

I was introduced to these when the newest game in the city, Temple of the Spider God came out and the entire catalog of Gamebook Adventures went on sale. I snatched up three immediately under the assumption that if I loved playing Dungeons and Dragons I would enjoy these. I was right!

You can check out the rest of the review here.

And while we're on the subject of Gamebook Adventures, the Tin Man himself was recently interviewed by Cubed Gamers, and during the course of the interview I got a name check.

Happy. With. That.

Ralph Horsely - Dungeons & Dragons

If you're a fan of Dungeons & Dragons, Ralph Horsley or just damn fine artwork, then you should check out the album of gorgeous paintings that Ralph's posted on Facebook. You can find the album here and it includes such delights as these.

Did you know...?

Ralph and I worked together on a couple of projects for Inferno! magazine back in the late 90s, including The Siege of Giseroux and The Doom of Kazad Grund (which was turned into a window display at the old GW store in Bath). Did you? Well you do now.