Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2021 8:32:30 GMT -6
How many books like these did we own as kids? I mostly had books from the Goosebumps variation with a few miscellaneous ones from those school book fairs that were popular in the Nineties. I don't recall that I specifically had any D&D ones but there were some fantasy-themed ones.
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Post by captainjapan on Oct 22, 2021 10:26:01 GMT -6
I didn't own a single one of these as a kid but, like the host said, the school library was fully stocked with'em. The go-to books to check out, for unsophisticated pre-teen boys, were anything with sharks, anything with fighter jets, and Choose your Own Adventure. I now have about a half-dozen of the Ed Packard ones that I bought, second-hand, about a year ago. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.
One of the things that made the Choose Your Own Adventures compelling(frustrating) was, that doing the heroic/noble/helpful thing did not at all mean you were going to survive the book. The two things were not connected.
I only remember the D&D books being prettier and with a textured, long-wearing cover. I don't think I ever read one. They're probably collectors items, now.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2021 11:25:45 GMT -6
Apparently they still make books in this genre, mostly for kids and young adults. There are several collections on Amazon currently. I kind of assumed it was a fad from the eighties and nineties that's been largely superseded by digital media like video games, but then again, people believe that about pen and paper roleplaying games as well and those are experiencing a major renaissance.
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Post by tkdco2 on Oct 22, 2021 20:56:19 GMT -6
I had some of those books as a teenager, along with a couple of D&D adventure books. Later on I got the Tolkien Quest and Lone Wolf books.
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kipper
Level 3 Conjurer
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Post by kipper on Oct 23, 2021 9:07:47 GMT -6
I had a ton of these CYOA books (and a smattering their various clones) back in the early 80's.
I've re-read a few of the old CYOA books more recently and I have to say that unfortunately the old ones which are still in print are by R.A. Montgomery and, of the limited selection I tried, are not very good. The ones by Edward Packard and Richard Brightfield are still fun (but they seem to be only available on the second hand market). I haven't tried any of the newer ones.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2021 11:39:05 GMT -6
When I was a kid a friend lent me Fighting Fantasy, the Trial of Champions book, I had a lot of fun for a good while with this book, specially because although I already knew how to play rpg I didn't had too many nerd friends interested in imagining dragons flying around.
Fighting Fantasy was the only franchise that we had access in my country. Last year I've played House of Hell and rage quit after a few hours into it.
Since then I've been pondering about buying City of Thieves but I didn't up to date.
I even like the simplicity of Fighting Fantasy system, I've saw some people using the system both for traditional RPG Solo playing and for Group RPG playing, I wonder how much fun it might be with such a simple system.
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bobjester0e
Level 4 Theurgist
DDO, DCC, or more Lost City map work? Oh, the hardship of making adult decisions! ;)
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Post by bobjester0e on Oct 23, 2021 13:33:49 GMT -6
I have a smattering of the TSR Endless Quest books... (looks to the left) Oh, look what I see! (lol) "A Solo Fantasy Gamebook - Grail Quest #2, The Den of Dragons" by JH Brennan. A Dell book. 1984 "Dungeon of Dread" by Rose Estes "Dungeons & Dragons You Choose Your Paths to Adventure" TSR/EQ 1982 "Light on Quests Mountain" by Mary L Kirchoff & James M Ward "A Gamma World Adventure Book" TSR/EQ 1983 "Pillars of Pentegarn" by Rose Estes "Dungeons & Dragons You Choose Your Paths to Adventure" TSR/EQ 1982 "Return to Brookmere" by Rose Estes "Dungeons & Dragons Pick-A-Path to Adventure" TSR/EQ 1982 "Revenge of the Rainbow Dragons" by Rose Estes "A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Book" TSR/EQ 1983 "Villains of Volturnus" by Jean Blashfield "A Star Frontiers Adventure Book" TSR/EQ 1983 "Spell of the Winter Wizard" by Linda Lowery "A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Book" TSR/EQ 1983 "Dragon of Doom" by Rose Estes "A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Book" TSR/EQ 1983 The only ones that I've finished several times over are Dungeon of Dread and Lights on Quests Mountain. I barely get into the others before drifting off to sleep or I get bored of reading. I don't think they're boring, its just that I get bored of reading in my doddering old days.  One of my favorites is TRSR's "Faerie Mound of Dragon Kind", a full sized book in the pick-a-path format, although you get your choice of 3 different characters - a bard, a fighter and a wizard. Each has a hit point mark off and equipment/treasure section, and the choices in the book are more substantial; you can pick certain items up and record them on your character sheet, as they will make a difference later on. A friend had a copy of this, and I didn't get to finish it before I moved away. I have a pdf of it, but its a bit harder keeping track without a proper record sheet. lol. |
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 23, 2021 15:44:33 GMT -6
I can still remember when my dad came home from the library with an early hardcover copy of the "Third Planet from Altair":  I think this was around 3rd grade, and before I had discovered D&D, so it was as significant life event for me from a "gaming" perspective. I loved it, and soon after read others in the series, mostly paperbacks from the library. I later enjoyed the Time Machine and Interplanetary Spy series, the latter of which had a lot of puzzles to solve as part of the story. Around the time I was getting into D&D, I also discovered the Endless Quest books, although I only really remember the first four, and one or two of the Super Endless Quest books I later had (where you had a character). I only every found one Fighting Fantasy book (City of Thieves), at our local library, so I never really got into those, but I loved the long-running Lone Wolf/Magnakai series. I think I played through most of the original 12 books. But best of all were the Tolkien Quest/Middle-Earth Quest gamebooks, some of which were the pinnacle '80s gamebook design, with hex maps to explore, events based on tracked time, a character you could bring from book-to-book, and essentially an entire simple 2d6-based RPG system. I played through 5 of 6 of those (I could never find the 6th) with a dwarf named Fori I; I still have his character sheet around here somewhere. |
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Post by asaki on Oct 23, 2021 18:42:00 GMT -6
Twist-A-Plot was my introduction, in the elementary school library. There were a few CYOAs too, but I don't know if I ever finished any. I had one of the Endless Quest books (#14 Raid on Nightmare Castle), and another D&D one that's based on the cartoon. Picked up quite a few books over the years at the flea market. There were some Mario ones that I guess Pringles was giving away, and some ratty old Fighting Fantasy books. Played a lot of FF, but I don't know if I ever beat one, those were hard. Now that I'm older, from thrift shopping, I've found some G.I. Joe ones, I think a Zork one?, some more Endless Quests, CYOA, and FF, and some Lone Wolf. And, of course, lots of Tunnels & Trolls, but aside from the 5E rulebook, they're all PDFs. I even like the simplicity of Fighting Fantasy system, I've saw some people using the system both for traditional RPG Solo playing and for Group RPG playing, I wonder how much fun it might be with such a simple system. Back in middle school, I typed up a whole system for multiplayer FF and printed it out, but I'm pretty sure it's long lost. From what I can remember, it was probably just the basic FF rules, and I compiled every monster + stats from every book I had. There's also Advanced Fighting Fantasy, but it's not quite how I imagined it would be. |
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Oct 23, 2021 20:01:47 GMT -6
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Post by tkdco2 on Oct 23, 2021 21:31:33 GMT -6
I used to have that one! Fun adventure, one of two adventure books AFAIK with an elf PC. |
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Oct 27, 2021 20:18:25 GMT -6
Interesting reading "Game Wizards" seems the TSR bosses dissed Rose Estes after the first four endless quest books because she tried to exercise a stock option, I believe she then quit.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2021 15:37:19 GMT -6
Ah, that's interesting. I've started "Game Wizards" but haven't gotten that far yet. Accidentally connecting the dots with these threads!
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