Gamebook Friday: 100 Aker Wood

The ninth ACE Gamebook, 100 Aker Wood, is coming to Kickstarter on Tuesday 12 May 2026.

As you will doubtless be able to tell from the title, 100 Aker Wood is inspired by the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne.

Winnie-the-Pooh was published 100 years ago this year, on 14 October 1926, and the plan is to publish 100 Aker Wood early in 2027. (Please note, the image to the right is not the final artwork for the cover but merely a placeholder.)

It is unnusual because the story is told through just 100 sections, but will still include everything you would expect from an ACE Gamebook.

It is also an interactive folk horror story, about grief and guilt. To explain much more than that at this stage would be difficult without giving away too many of the book's secrets. But rest assured that 100 Aker Wood will be a more subtle take on the idea than some other recent adaptations*, and will have a pervading atmosphere of creeping dread.

Other influences on the adventure include Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood (which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1985) and Stephen King's Pet Sematary (which the author considers his most disturbing and terrifying novel).

I'm not entirely sure what made me think of merging Winnie-the-Pooh with Pet Sematary, but what clinched it for me was when I considered how Christopher Robin misspelt 'Acre' on his map of Hundred Acre Wood, just as the children of Ludlow, Maine, misspelt 'Cemetery' on the sign they made to mark the resting place of their much-missed family pets.

If all of this has you intrigued, check out the Kickstarter preview page and click the button to be notified when the campaign launches. You could also subscribe to my newsletter.

* And I use the word loosely here.

Gamebook Friday: Vampires, Wizards, and RPGs

Another week, another Gamebook Friday. But this one has several choice snippets of news for you. 

First of all, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire was published this week. It is available now from all good bookshops and online retailers.

 

Also released this week, on 14th October in fact, was the Polish language edition of The Wicked Wizard of Oz. Or rather, Zły Czarnoksiężnik z Oz.

Zły Czarnoksiężnik z Oz.

And here it is next to the Polish edition of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland.

Lastly, but definitely not leastly, tomorrow - Saturday 16th October - is Free RPG Day.

I will be releasing two new supplements for 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas tomorrow. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King will be completely free to download, but only tomorrow, while The Christmas Owl will be given away free to subscribers to my newsletter.

If you haven't already subscribed, follow this link and do so now!

#SelfPromoSaturday - Free RPG Day Freebies!

Free RPG Day is taking place this year on 16th October 2021. Just like Free Comic Book Day, it is an initiative intended to encourage people to visit their local games store and make a purchase... or three.

However, ACE Gamebooks Roleplay doesn't have a bricks and mortar store, so for Free RPG Day this year, I am going to be giving away two new products.

The Christmas Owl is a supplement for 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, which brings a new Player Character into the game along with a new Scene to help introduce him.

Subscribers to my monthly author newsletter will receive The Christmas Owl for free on Free RPG Day.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a new adventure for the 'TWAS RPG and will be available to download from DriveThruRPG on 16th October for free! After that, you will have to pay for it.

So make sure you sign up to my author newsletter here, if you haven't already, and put a reminder in your diary to visit ACE Gamebooks Roleplay on DriveThruRPG on 16th October.

See you in a couple of weeks!

Gamebook Friday: Last Chance to Late Pledge

Today is your last chance to place a Late Pledge for DRACULA - Curse of the Vampire, and have your name appear at the end of the book.

I am currently working my way through the feedback the play-testers sent me and will be sending the manuscript to the pro proof-reader next week. And from there it will be on to the publisher to be laid out. DRACULA - Curse of the Vampire will be released this autumn.

I other ACE Gamebook-related news, I am hoping to launch my next Kickstarter next month. Why not sign up to my Newsletter to be among the first to discover when it is and what it is?

I am trying out selling my ACE Gamebooks via eBay. So if you would like a signed copy of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, or 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, visit my eBay page.

Gamebook Friday: HEOROT - Role-playing in the world of Beowulf Beastslayer

I am pleased to announce my next Kickstarter, which will be launching one week today, on Friday 29th January 2021.

HEOROT (pronounced 'Hay-or-ot') is a rules-lite RPG, designed to be picked up and played with minimal preparation. It is inspired by the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, Viking legends, Norse mythology, and the Icelandic sagas, as well as my own ACE Gamebook Beowulf Beastslayer.

I am continuing the process, begun with 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, of turning my existing ACE Gamebook properties into other games*, in this case a classic tabletop RPG.

In HEOROT, players take on the role of noble heroes and their brave companions, who are guided through their adventure by the Skald (or Gamesmaster).

There are three different ways to enjoy the game but all involve an element of storytelling. For it is through telling tall tales of their heroic deeds that players increase their Wyrd, which in turn gives them the ability to perform heroic feats during their adventures that would otherwise be beyond the capabilities of mortal men.

The Storytelling Contest format will suit shorter gaming sessions, while longer ones are ideal for extended Heroic Sagas. Alternatively, you can play through the Songs of the Skalds - traditional scenarios and campaigns that have been designed specifically for the RPG.

HEOROT is part of Kickstarter's Make 100 initiative. Every January, the platform invites its creators to launch a campaign that offers a pledge level limited to 100 rewards.

For HEOROT, this is the Trollslayer reward, which comes with a PDF and print code for the RPG, one Grendel's Mother miniature, and a print code for the HEOROT-themed deck of playing cards, plus all unlocked stretch goals.

These two will soon be joined by the Mother of Monsters herself.

Watch this space for more information about the new RPG, or sign up to my Newsletter to be notified when HEOROT goes live on Kickstarter.

* Anybody would think I had a masterplan or something...

Tie-in Tuesday: Free Scarlet Traces eBook

If you sign-up to Rebellion Publishing's newsletter you get a free eBook delivered straight to your inbox every month - and December’s free eBook is Scarlet Traces: An Anthology Based on The War of the Worlds, edited by Ian Edginton.

This wonderful anthology includes stories by Stephen Baxter, I. N. J. Culbard, Adam Roberts, Emma Beeby, James Lovegrove, Nathan Duck, Mark Morris, Dan Whitehead, Chris Roberson, Maura McHugh, Andrew Lane, and Yours Truly.

As a special Christmas treat, they even have a beautiful hardcover copy of Scarlet Traces to give away to one lucky winner! So, if you don't already, sign up for the Rebellion Publishing newsletter now to enter the giveaway.

Gamebook Friday: NaNoWriMo Progress

Today marks the halfway point for NaNoWriMo and my current work in progress is, appropriately, at around the 26,000 word mark. However, this year I've struggled to make the recommended word count each day, and the only reason I have that many words under my belt is because I wrote 10,000 of them back in June!

And there's another problem. I am already over 100 sections into Dracula - Curse of the Vampire, and I have only covered two of the forty scenes, or locations, on my plan for the adventure. Could this turn out to be my longest ACE Gamebook yet? We shall see...

Don't forget to join the ACE Gamebooks Facebook Group and sign up to my monthly Newsletter, to be kept up to date with developments regarding Dracula - Curse of the Vampire and my other gamebook projects.

Gamebook Friday: Dracula - Curse of the Vampire

November 8th is Bram Stoker's birthday, which means he would have been 172 years old today, if he were still alive. Or undead.

I am currently turning the Irishman's classic Gothic horror novel Dracula into an adventure gamebook, which the reader can play as either solicitor Jonathan Harker, his fiancée Mina Murray, or Doctor John Seward. I have taken this approach with other titles in the ACE Gamebooks series, but what makes Dracula - Curse of the Vampire different, is that you will be able to change which character you are playing as, during the course of the adventure. However, you will also be able to tackle the adventure as Count Dracula himself, who has an entirely unique mission to complete.

The book is going to be illustrated by my sometime collaborator Martin McKenna*, and the intention is that I will crowdfund it via Kickstarter during the Spring of 2020. This is the first time I have written such a book before running the crowdfunding campaign, so fingers crossed it does actually fund!

If you would like to be kept up to date with information about the forthcoming Kickstarter, please join the ACE Gamebooks Facebook group, or sign up to my monthly Newsletter, so that you don't miss the launch of the crowdfunding campaign. And you really won't want to miss the launch, as I have some unique rewards planned for those people who back within the first day, or even the first hour.

To help me crack on with the first draft of  Dracula - Curse of the Vampire, I have signed up to NaNoWriMo** again. I had a few issues to begin with*** but I'm back on track now.

* Martin illustrated three of my Fighting Fantasy gamebooks - Curse of the Mummy, Howl of the Werewolf, and Night of the Necromancer - and actually ended up producing covers for five of my books in total. Of course, he also painted the cover for YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.

** Which my wife thinks sounds like somewhere in Canada.

*** If you're using an existing project you can input the word count at the beginning of November, which I thought the website would then deduct from your NaNoWriMo word count, but it doesn't, so it looks like I'm doing better than I am. I tried to compensate for this by then deducting the original word count myself, but it just got confusing, so what you see on the Dracula - Curse of the Vampire page is the progress on the project to date.

Gamebook Friday: Dracula - Curse of the Vampire

I've been sitting on this news for a while, but having already informed subscriber's to my Newsletter, and members of the ACE Gamebooks Facebook group, earlier this week, it's now time to tell the rest of the world.

The sixth title in the ACE Gamebooks series will be Dracula - Curse of the Vampire, and will be published by Snowbooks in the autumn of 2020, following a (hopefully) successful crowdfunding campaign, which will happen early next year.

And I am delighted to announce that Martin McKenna will be illustrating the book. This will be the first time we have collaborated on a gamebook in ten years, and anyone who knows Martin's art from such classic genre titles as Vault of the Vampire, Dead of Night, Howl of the Werewolf, and Night of the Necromancer, will know that we are in for a treat!

To be kept up to date with developments, subscribe to my Newsletter and make sure you sign up to of the ACE Gamebooks Facebook group too, just to be certain.

And yes, you will be able to play the adventure as Count Dracula himself.

Jonathan Green Author Newsletter

If you've only recently started following my blog, you may not be aware that I publish a monthly newsletter, which gives you the lowdown on my various Kickstarter projects, my self-publishing endeavours with Green Man Books, and any other tidbits that take my fancy.

From the New Year I plan on introducing occasional competitions too. So, if you would like to be kept informed about what I'm currently working on, or other projects I have in the pipeline, as well as which events I'll be attending, subscribe today here.

New Newsletter - Subscribers Welcome!

Having launched my blog 11 years ago, to keep readers informed about my various projects, I've finally got round to setting up a subscriber list, so that I can keep interested parties informed even more effectively.

If you sign up to receive my Newsletter, you will get the lowdown on all the different things I'm working on - from short stories to novels, and gamebooks to anthologies - as well as advance notice of when new Kickstarter projects are launching and information about events I'll be attending.

It would be great to have you along for the ride, and if you would like to subscribe, you can do so at the end of this link.

You can read more about my Privacy Policy and how I'll use your data here.