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Post by paulmc on Jul 15, 2021 22:26:25 GMT
I'm thinking of writing a gamebook that encapsulates all the worst tropes in fighting fantasy. It is going to be deliberately bad, (it will be well written and enjoyable) but it will be a sort of mock designed to amuse.
Things I might include: Ridiculous attribute changes that don't match the action e.g. The arrow goes right through your heart, LOSE 2 STAMINA Giving you an option to use magic, then questioning why you would take that option as you cant use magic. Weird items, enemies, and failures. Other passages that mock certain FF tropes.
What ideas would you like me to include.
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Post by philsadler on Jul 16, 2021 7:38:59 GMT
Anything from Crypt of the Sorcerer would be good:
Ridiculous 'roll or die' mechanics. Ludicrous final boss. Killing innocents. Stupid riddles. Shopping list of laughable items. Sidekicks who are obviously going to die. Ignoring your own rules. Boring enemies we've seen a thousand times.
Come to think of it, you may want to take a look at Blood of the Zombies too.
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Post by Peter on Jul 16, 2021 8:08:32 GMT
Stat increases before you've had a chance to lose any. Testing luck for an action that should be influenced by your skill, and vice versa. Inconsistent stamina gains from various foods and medicines. A Y-shaped stick.
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Post by daredevil123 on Jul 16, 2021 10:09:57 GMT
Anything from Crypt of the Sorcerer would be good: Sidekicks who are obviously going to die. To be fair, I think all the sidekicks in Crypt of the Sorcerer survive - assuming you complete the quest, of course...
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Post by philsadler on Jul 16, 2021 10:30:13 GMT
Anything from Crypt of the Sorcerer would be good: Sidekicks who are obviously going to die. To be fair, I think all the sidekicks in Crypt of the Sorcerer survive - assuming you complete the quest, of course...
Maybe I was thinking of Caverns of the Snow Witch?
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Post by daredevil123 on Jul 16, 2021 10:45:24 GMT
To be fair, I think all the sidekicks in Crypt of the Sorcerer survive - assuming you complete the quest, of course...
Maybe I was thinking of Caverns of the Snow Witch?
Even in that book, one of your sidekicks survives - Redswift dies from the Death Spell but Stubb makes it to the end.
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Jul 16, 2021 10:59:26 GMT
Maybe I was thinking of Caverns of the Snow Witch?
Even in that book, one of your sidekicks survives - Redswift dies from the Death Spell but Stubb makes it to the end. True, though the Background of Forest of Doom suggests Stubb died shortly after leaving you.
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Post by The Count on Jul 16, 2021 16:51:30 GMT
Require a maximum stat to succeed, while also needing to fail a test against that same stat to get an essential item / avoid instant death.
Create a puzzle where the solution is inside another book from a completely different author, series and publisher - or can only be found under the cap of a discarded Evian bottle that has washed up onto the shore of an obscure uninhabited island that it is impossible to visit.
Copy passages from Gates of Death.
Plot the paragraph layout by allocating random numbers to each section and not bother checking if they link up correctly. Insert an unbreakable loop where you do nothing but turn to the same half dozen paragraphs and do nothing else as a bonus.
Don't give any actual options aside from turning to the next paragraph.
Insert private anecdotes and jokes about your dullest hobby that no one else will understand or care about into the narrative.
Take inspiration from a popular TV show, include additional rules / characters that take a lot of time for the reader to create. Forget about the fighting aspect. Toss it aside halfway through writing your basic outline. Dig it up and slap on an ending when reminded it needed to be completed yesterday.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Jul 16, 2021 17:30:27 GMT
Make sure to give choices that no-one would opt for. Like 'do you question the friendly wizard ally about the crucial magic scroll? Turn to 123' ...'or do you ignore him and continue? Turn to 234'
Maybe add a few 'do you draw your sword and attack?' options in the most inappropriate places. In shops, wedding parties, orphanages etc.
Make sure that magic weapons and armour never add attack strength bonuses, but instead write something like 'the sword glows with eldritch power. Testing it, you cleave through a rock with one blow. It will undoubtedly be of great use in combat. Add 2 SKILL points'
Ridiculous attribute changes that don't match the action e.g. The arrow goes right through your heart, LOSE 2 STAMINA
Yeah! That sort of thing. Portcullises skewering you inflicting paltry damage. Also such things as: 'roll a dice and add 2, this is the number of arrows that strike you. Lose 1 STAMINA point for each.' Be a human pincushion and just wolf down a couple of meals and carry on.
Going into water wrecks all provisions meaning you lose the chance to restore potentially dozens of STAMINA points.
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Post by Peter on Jul 16, 2021 23:04:33 GMT
Be inconsistent - wading across a river wrecks all your provisions but no mention is made of them when you have to swim across a lake.
Some items will not fit in your backpack unless you leave something behind, while others will fit no matter what. For example: "if you wish to take this wand of fireballs, you will need to drop something else to make room in your pack", then elsewhere: "your search reveals a large wooden chest, a collection of throwing daggers, several packs of playing cards, some cheese, various coloured potions, an entire roast pig, three cannon balls and a bicycle. You may take these with you if you wish."
Add a new rule then don't use it anywhere. Or don't use one of the existing rules such as Testing Your Luck.
Make the reader keep track of time, maybe attribute "time points" for various actions, then don't do anything with it at the end. Or something like "when twelve days have passed, turn immediately to paragraph 250", then only have a maximum of ten days elapse, even by the slowest route.
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Post by a moderator on Jul 17, 2021 1:25:56 GMT
Give the player an item they don't know they have until you tell them they must discard it (cf the player's shield in some editions of Deathtrap Dungeon and the Spy Ray in the first print run of The Rings of Kether).
Make the penalty for not eating when told to significantly lower than the Stamina gain for eating a non-mandatory meal.
Feature a character who's supposed to be the same person that appeared in another book, but give them a completely different personality without explanation.
Arbitrarily change the names of items between when they are provided and when they are used.
Have multiple Test your Luck situations that determine whether or not the player incurs a very minor penalty, and then have a 'be Lucky or die' one just before the endgame.
If encountered in a group, opponents with Skill scores below 7 attack one at a time.
Feature characters with long names that mostly use letters from the last third of the alphabet, and get the reader worried that they'll have to translate those names using the A=1 code.
Provide an obviously useful item, and don't give the opportunity to use it when it would come in handy.
Give spurious 'justifications' for not allowing the reader to take certain turnings when different paths converge.
Include multiple situations where exactly the same thing happens no matter what decision the reader makes.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Jul 17, 2021 8:06:07 GMT
Provide an obviously useful item, and don't give the opportunity to use it when it would come in handy. Yep! A ring of wishes ideally. Or a genie. Give spurious 'justifications' for not allowing the reader to take certain turnings when different paths converge. Having been previously told you need certain crucial items to win or progress, walking east you come to a t-junction. Rather than continue east and run the risk of having to turn south at some point (God forbid!) and going back to check for stuff you might have missed,.. you decide to turn north'. Ideally you will also include a 50-50 choice of path - east or west, up or down, red or blue... and by arbitrarily choosing one of the paths you are doomed to failure much later on. Edit: Not just FF but don't forget shops in the middle of dungeons. Someone running a hot-dog stand in a mine now inhabited by undead dwarves. A little old man complaining about business not being too good these days for his antiques shop. Which is located underneath a pyramind in the middle of nowhere surrounded by shifting sands.
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Post by pip on Jul 20, 2021 15:33:41 GMT
Make sure to say in the introduction that any character can win, but you need a 12/24/12 character to stand a chance.
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kieran
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Posts: 2,435
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Jul 20, 2021 17:33:27 GMT
Absurdly long sections are broken up only by occasionally asking you if you want to give up or press on.
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Post by a moderator on Jul 20, 2021 22:28:08 GMT
Absurdly long sections are broken up only by occasionally asking you if you want to give up or press on. But no option to reconsider should be given at any point when a reasonable-looking option leads to Instant Death. Oh, and unexpected Instant Deaths should be left as vague as possible. "Something happens and you die" is all the reader needs to know.
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Post by petch on Jul 25, 2021 21:55:33 GMT
Have the protagonist hail from Bumfunland.
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Post by a moderator on Jul 25, 2021 22:46:31 GMT
Have an item inflict a hefty Skill or Luck penalty if the player takes it. Then make possession of that item essential for surviving the endgame.
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Post by bloodbeasthandler on Jul 26, 2021 18:26:28 GMT
Have an item inflict a hefty Skill or Luck penalty if the player takes it. Then make possession of that item essential for surviving the endgame. And to obtain it you have to do something awful like butcher an old man who never did any harm to anyone to get the item?
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