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Post by Ed on Nov 25, 2020 14:31:25 GMT
Has anyone else here played the Robin Of Sherwood game books ?
Re-watching the show recently on ITV 4 made me get one of them and its actually quite an enjoyable read.
And why wouldn't it be since both the writer and artist also worked on the FF series.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 25, 2020 16:20:42 GMT
I got them back in 1996 (this year I've been digitising some old diaries, which is how I know when it was). I played one of them on my blog here, and intend to attempt the other there at some point in the future.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 25, 2020 19:12:25 GMT
Had you seen Paul Mason talking about them for a couple of minutes in this video?
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Post by Ed on Nov 27, 2020 15:37:23 GMT
Just ordered the second one on ebay.
Some of the spin-off novels are actually quite pricey on there.
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Post by dragonwarrior8 on Nov 27, 2020 15:48:35 GMT
I picked both of these up awhile ago but havent gotten to them yet. I was surprised by how thick they are. Are these based off the same TV show that had the theme song that went "Robin......THE HOODED MAN!" ? I used to find that incredibly spooky as a kid. Right up there with the theme song from "Unsolved Mysteries".
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Post by a moderator on Nov 27, 2020 23:15:47 GMT
That's the one. And they're a lot better written than some tie-in gamebooks I could name.
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Post by dragonwarrior8 on Nov 28, 2020 19:00:36 GMT
That's the one. And they're a lot better written than some tie-in gamebooks I could name. Are you referring to the Knightmare series by any chance? I managed to pick those up as well but for whatever reason my expectations arent too high for them. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 28, 2020 20:22:58 GMT
I've only played a couple of the Knightmare books and, while they're not Dave Morris' best work, they're far from bad.
I was thinking more of some of the Doctor Who tie-in gamebooks (special mention for Michael Holt's execrable Crisis in Space), or Gross and Sutherland's LEMMINGS Adventure Gamebooks.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Nov 29, 2020 6:47:14 GMT
That's the one. And they're a lot better written than some tie-in gamebooks I could name. Are you referring to the Knightmare series by any chance? I managed to pick those up as well but for whatever reason my expectations arent too high for them. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised. I seem to remember they had something – I had a couple. There is a short thread for them, currently languishing right at the very bottom of this subforum if you want to share your thoughts once you've tried 'em.
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Post by dragonwarrior8 on Nov 30, 2020 21:36:58 GMT
Would be more than happy to once I eventually get to them. Im still working my way through all the series from the 80s. There are a lot more than I realized!
For the Lemmings books, basing a gamebook on a video game doesnt really seem like a good idea at all (why not just play the video game?). I managed to get the Sonic the Hedgehog books and realized a couple of them are written by Jonathan Green so maybe there is hope?
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,547
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Nov 30, 2020 22:33:40 GMT
I managed to get the Sonic the Hedgehog books and realized a couple of them are written by Jonathan Green so maybe there is hope? Well, it's 90s Jonathan Green so they're hard as nails. Fun reads though (co-written with other FF alumnus Marc Gascoigne). Stormin' Sonic has a similar design and concept to Stormslayer. Presumably after FF was cancelled, Jonathan used some of his ideas for Eye of the Storm in the Sonic book. The best books in that series though are the two by James Wallis. They're hilarious, almost satires in how they poke fun at the genre. Zone Rangers is one of my favourite gamebooks in any series (though its linearity slightly lets it down). And the worst are the two by Nigel Gross and Jon Sutherland. They are two of the worst gamebooks I've ever read, they're almost painful to read: bad writing, annoying bugs, feel like they go on forever etc So a very mixed bag that series! A short-lived (2 books!) but good series based on video games is Jamie Thomson's Eternal Champions series.
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Post by dragonwarrior8 on Dec 1, 2020 23:49:15 GMT
I look forward to giving them a go now Kieran. Another video game series Ive come across is the Nintendo Adventure Books series. I have no clue if they are any good or if anyone here has experience with them but boy, several of them are pricey. Not sure I want to spend that for a 60 section gamebook. I guess anything with the Nintendo name on it is going to demand a premium no matter what it is.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,547
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Dec 2, 2020 10:56:00 GMT
Another video game series Ive come across is the Nintendo Adventure Books series. They're basically puzzle books with a slight gamebook element. There's minimal stat-keeping and no dice rolling as far as I know (I've only played a couple). I'd imagine finding clean copies where the puzzles haven't been filled in would be very difficult. I think you can certainly justify skipping them for your blog.
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Post by Ed on Dec 2, 2020 15:44:20 GMT
I've left some comments on the game book odyssey blog.
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