Are We The Baddies?

[a moderator]

The recent discussion on whether the hero of Assassins of Allansia could be the Ninja from Deathtrap Dungeon got me thinking. My initial response was to think that there'd be limited appeal in playing a gamebook in which your destiny was to become one of the mooks slaughtered by the hero of another book, but then I remembered that there was once a fan-written adventure in which you play the Shape Changer from The Forest of Doom. While it's not exactly the same sort of thing, I also recall one fan writer discussing plans for writing an adventure based on the young Varek Azzur's rise to power, so there is obviously some interest in playing a recognised villain.

If you could write a prequel to an established FF book, from the perspective of one of the antagonists, whom would you make the viewpoint character, and what would be the goal of the adventure? Characters with a well-established history aren't the best candidates, as the need to avoid contradicting known lore would make for pretty linear, railroady plots.

Naas the Dark Elf from Master of Chaos could make an interesting anti-hero. How did he learn that Shanzikuul had returned from the dead, taken up residence in Kabesh, and stolen the Staff? Perhaps Vardrath the Necromancer could be involved, giving some background on why the two characters are enemies by the time of Master.

So whose backstory do you think has the potential to make a decent adventure?

[daredevil123]

I don't have my copies of You Are The Hero Parts 1 and 2 to hand, but IIRC someone - I think it was Jonathan Green - once planned an adventure in which a twist ending revealed the player character was in fact Zagor. While the Warlock is arguably the quintessential FF villain, I'd prefer a book chronicling the rise of Balthus Dire, whom I think is much better. It would also be fun to play as a member of the Cadre Infernal, Count Varcolac being the most obvious candidate. Or how about the Bum-Faced Monster from The Gates of Death? I know everyone loves him/her...

[thealmightymudworm]

Possibilities abound. Naas is definitely a good one.

It might be fun to have an adventure in which you try to win a macabre new lease of life for Doktor Kauderwelsch, with a few successful endings, only one of which involves slicing open the skull of an ex-moonrunner.

[CharlesX]

My suggestion is more practical and neat than ambitious. You could play a young Grimslade, in his apprentice years, with the Scorpion Swamp a ready-made adventure, and a source of back-story about his relationship with the peasants, the Masters, and of course himself.
   Growing up I liked the gameplay of Seas Of Blood so much I wrote a sequel in which you were challenged again. A prequel with you playing Abdul could work well.

[vastariner]

Another prequel for Seas of Blood would be your rise to being one of the top two Inland Sea pirates.

Similarly, your rise to Archmage of Mampang. Especially as that could have lots of chaos warping turning you from adventurer to evil mage.

[bloodbeasthandler]

As one possibility you've got Marr's lieutenant Vallaska Roue described in Creature of Havoc as 'a well-rounded human with a fiery temper.. a scruffy character with a will of iron who shared Marr's thirst for power'.

After initially being put in charge of the mines, Roue is sent to recruit officers for the army and he finds Thugruff in Zengis and Darramouss in Port Blacksand. And after this his mission is to find the hidden wood elf village in the forest. 

Or is this too linear a plot? 

Since he is not actually killed in FF24 maybe a book could take up his adventures after Zharradan Marr is defeated. Maybe he looks to find a way to bring back his master from the dimension he has been banished to? 

[nathanh]

In the spirit of FF being mostly heroic themed, I think we'd need to choose a character who plausibly fits into that role. In that sense, Naas is a very good choice. You could also imagine some of the various "I was xxx's servant but realised my mistake" characters. Some of the NPCs from Midnight Rogue could work, since although they're "antagonists" from the perspective of the hero from Rogue, it's just a test and they could easily be protagonist material.

For some lighter material, one of Mister Hogg or Mister Kilmarney in a string of madcap capers and constant betrayals.

[The Count]

Naas is definitely the most intriguing prospect, though playing as one of the Kuddam trying to track down Tancred's Heir could be interesting

[sylas]

One of the obvious choices not yet mentioned would be Zagor. We know his backstory as one of the Demonic Three and while we know he meddled in the dark arts given the nature of his mentor and fellow students, we don't know if he was as evil as people painted him to be. We also don't know how he got his treasure, or how he tamed a dragon, or how he became the Master of Firetop Mountain. Maybe he acquired his riches and status through legitimate (but not well-known) means and was possibly a mostly Neutral wizard before his untimely assassination. Everything we don't know about him could be an adventure itself.

[kieran]

I have actually had a Zagor backstory gamebook in mind for a while, even designed a magic system for it at one stage but no idea where the notes for that went. Essentially it would be a dungeon adventure where you, Balthus Dire and Zharradan Marr are competing to find a book of magic hidden somewhere in an ancient ruin as a test set by Volgera Darkstorm. It would culminate in the rain of knives incident, but Zagor's role would be for the reader to decide - meaning both the Creature of Havoc and Trolltooth Wars backstories would be viable.

But yeah thinking about it and actually writing the thing are different matters entirely!

I agree Naas is a good call. Master of Chaos leaves a lot of tantalising questions open for exploration. The evil priest character you can run into in Askyos could also play a role perhaps.

[thealmightymudworm]

Oct 24, 2021 11:44:31 GMT The Count said:

Naas is definitely the most intriguing prospect, though playing as one of the Kuddam trying to track down Tancred's Heir could be interesting

I haven't played it in a long time, but if the challenge was a Chasms of Malice-themed antihero adventure I'd probably write it from the perspective of the traitor. Getting that shield nicked must have taken some planning and risks, and trying to get Tancred's Heir killed without giving away your identity could have intriguing aspects.