International Gamebook Day 2025

Gamebook Friday: DestinyQuest Raiders

Michael J Ward's latest DestinyQuest project is currently funding on Kickstarter. DestinyQuest Raiders: Tides of Terror is different from the previous five Destiny gamebooks because you lead a team of four adventurers through the story and there are no dice to roll.

To find out more, follow this link to the Kickstarter.

Gamebook Friday: New Kickstarters for fans of gamebooks and RPGs

As regular readers of this blog will know, I am often encouraging people to check out my various crowdfunding campaigns to help get some cool projects off the ground. But today I want to let you know about two Kickstarters that are currently funding that will appeal to fans of ACE Gamebooks and ACE RPGs.

DestinyQuest: The Wrath of Ragnarok, by Michael J Ward

Book 2 in 'The Sands of Time' trilogy - an epic solo role-playing experience that takes gamebooks to the next level. To find out more, click this link.

WOAD: Stone to Stone, by Arklin

Forge your own path through Mythic Cymru: a beautiful custom tarot deck is your guide to Welsh mythology in this solo journalling game. To find out more, click this link.

Gamebook Friday: The UK Games Expo 2022

Two weeks today, I will be at the UK Games Expo for the first time in three years, and I can't wait! Usually, I have one new book out at each Expo, but this time, because I've not been to one since 2019, I have three ACE Gamebooks that are new to the con, and the 'TWAS RPG.

I will be at Stand 2-T10 from Friday 3rd - Sunday 5th June, sandwiched between Ace Brushes and Atlantis Miniatures. So if you're coming along, do stop by and say hello.

Click to enlarge.

In other ACE Gamebooks-related news, next Thursday, 26 May, the special collector's edition hardback of Dracula - Curse of the Vampire goes on sale, to mark 125 years since the publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula. You can find out more here.

“This is the Rolls Royce of gamebooks!”

Chris Halliday, TTRPG designer and author

And lastly, this Gamebook Friday, congratulations to Michael J. Ward, whose DestinyQuest: The World Companion funded on Kickstarter in just four hours and is starting to unlock various Stretch Goals. If you've not seen it yet yourself, click this link.

Don't forget, tickets for Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 are going fast, so make sure you grab yours today.

Gamebook Friday: DestinyQuest - Unlucky for some

It can't have escaped your notice that today is Friday the 13th, and for one gamebook series, this week certainly seems to have come with more than its fair share of bad luck.

On Wednesday, Michael J Ward announced that Gollancz have called time on his DestinyQuest series, and that development of Book 4 is now enjoying an indefinite hiatus. DestinyQuest had been one of the gamebook success stories of recent years, re-inventing the genre for the Xbox generation and securely a print publication deal with a major genre publishing house.

But what does the cancellation of the DestinyQuest series mean for the future of gamebooks and print gamebooks in particular? While my forthcoming YOU ARE THE HERO looks back to the creation of the gamebook genre, it also considers its future. And as I have various interactive fiction ideas in development, I have a vested interest in what DestinyQuest's fate means for the future of gamebooks.

Can print gamebooks only work now as crowd-funded projects, supported by a small, but loyal and dedicated, fanbase? Does their future lie in apps only, such as Warlock's Bounty, and Temple of the Spider God? What do you think?

And while we're considering the future, consider this.

Destiny Quest in SciFiNow magazine

Destiny Quest: The Legion of Shadow, the original gamebook by Michael J Ward, has been receiving rave reviews ever since it was released in February. Well now it's received a rave review in SciFiNow magazine as well.

This is no mean feat, and all credit to Mr Ward for writing such an excellent and original gamebook for the World of Warcraft generation. I myself have yet to have a book reviewed in SciFiNow.

What's very pleasing for me is that at the end of the review, my own Night of the Necromancer is recommended to Destiny Quest fans in the box out entitled 'If You Like This Try...'

However, what is less pleasing is that during the course of the review itself, reviewer Michael O'Connor says of Destiny Quest, "It's an exciting, adventure-packed new series that instantly rivals the more established Fighting Fantasy line, and is actually a lot more enjoyable than most of them have been of late."

Excuse me, Mr O'Connor, but would you like to qualify that statement? Do you mean the recently republished FF gamebooks, originally published in the 80s, or do you mean the newest in the series, written by Yours Truly?

If you mean the latter, I would ask have you actually read any of my new titles? I'm hoping you have, having recommended Night of the Necromancer. But then what do you mean by the comment regarding the recent FF entries being less enjoyable than previous titles? My last three books have all received rave reviews elsewhere, and have been praised for updating the franchise for the 21st century. The quality of the writing has also been mentioned, particularly the increased depth of story. So, Mr O'Connor, I look forward to hearing from you soon.