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Post by CharlesX on Aug 17, 2021 19:57:19 GMT
In about 99% of gamebooks the artwork and writing describes you as male. Possibly I'm being quite woke even bringing this up (my theory is the golden age of gamebooks, the 80s and 90s, were overly laissez-faire), but does anyone have a favourite gamebook in which you play the fairer sex?
I was a huge fan of Deadwood City, a CYOA set in the wild west, where the artwork is pretty androgynous, a very baby-faced teen with hair well past the shoulders. Twist Of Fate (Virtual Reality) at one point gives female readers\characters the option of being a harem!
Women are definitely at least as good as guys at writing gamebooks, particularly in Endless Quests (Rose Estes) and CYOA. I can't think of 1 female FF writer; but FF has always seemed to me very boyish, with its dark, cruel writing, emphasis on combat, and single fully successful ending.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,458
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Aug 17, 2021 20:05:14 GMT
I can't think of 1 female FF writer. Rhianna Pratchett is the only one and she's very late to the table. Female gamebook authors seem a lot more common in US gamebooks series than British for some reason. |
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Post by CharlesX on Aug 17, 2021 20:10:24 GMT
Of course R. Pratchett! Crystal Of Storms is really good as well, after the disappointing work of celebrity authors Livingstone and Higson, R. Pratchett wrote a work which is a fitting tribute to 80s and 90s gamebooks, not a failed one.
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Post by a moderator on Aug 17, 2021 22:21:57 GMT
The second book in the Legends of Skyfall series makes the sex of the reader's character a plot point (and acknowledges the possibility of being either). One of the toughest fights in the book can potentially be avoided if you've disguised yourself with a robe found in the eponymous pyramid, but the embroidery on men's robes is a different colour from the embroidery on women's robes. If you're a man in women's robes or vice versa, your cover is blown and you're probably doomed. Aren't some of the pre-generated characters in the second lot of Wizard FF books female? I know that your character is explicitly identified as male in The Rings of Kether (Zera Gross refers to you as 'him'), Black Vein Prophecy and Legend of Zagor, but are there any others that actually specify? |
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Post by Law on Aug 17, 2021 22:35:49 GMT
The second book in the Legends of Skyfall series makes the sex of the reader's character a plot point (and acknowledges the possibility of being either). One of the toughest fights in the book can potentially be avoided if you've disguised yourself with a robe found in the eponymous pyramid, but the embroidery on men's robes is a different colour from the embroidery on women's robes. If you're a man in women's robes or vice versa, your cover is blown and you're probably doomed. Aren't some of the pre-generated characters in the second lot of Wizard FF books female? I know that your character is explicitly identified as male in The Rings of Kether (Zera Gross refers to you as 'him'), Black Vein Prophecy and Legend of Zagor, but are there any others that actually specify? I remember role-playing through some of the earlier FF books as a female after seeing the option in 'Stormslayer'. Mostly the authors are very good at retaining the ambiguity of your sex until you see a big-man hand in one of the illustrations!
Off the top of my head, you are only referred to as explicitly male in 'Seas of Blood' and 'Return to Firetop Mountain'
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Post by philsadler on Aug 18, 2021 7:35:34 GMT
Off the top of my head, you are only referred to as explicitly male in 'Seas of Blood' and 'Return to Firetop Mountain'
Maybe Midnight Rogue as well? |
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Post by Law on Aug 18, 2021 11:28:32 GMT
Off the top of my head, you are only referred to as explicitly male in 'Seas of Blood' and 'Return to Firetop Mountain'
Maybe Midnight Rogue as well? I can't remember dialogue-wise... But flicking through it quickly there is a great illustration of your climbing rope getting cut and you clearly have the hands of a forty-year-old bricklayer with a Y chromosome. Guess he turned to thievery pretty late in life! |
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,458
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Aug 18, 2021 12:50:35 GMT
The second book in the Legends of Skyfall series makes the sex of the reader's character a plot point (and acknowledges the possibility of being either). One of the toughest fights in the book can potentially be avoided if you've disguised yourself with a robe found in the eponymous pyramid, but the embroidery on men's robes is a different colour from the embroidery on women's robes. If you're a man in women's robes or vice versa, your cover is blown and you're probably doomed. Aren't some of the pre-generated characters in the second lot of Wizard FF books female? I know that your character is explicitly identified as male in The Rings of Kether (Zera Gross refers to you as 'him'), Black Vein Prophecy and Legend of Zagor, but are there any others that actually specify? The butler in Citadel of Chaos refers to you as "Sir" but his "heh, heh" afterwards could imply he's making some sort of joke. |
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Post by Law on Aug 18, 2021 14:55:09 GMT
The second book in the Legends of Skyfall series makes the sex of the reader's character a plot point (and acknowledges the possibility of being either). One of the toughest fights in the book can potentially be avoided if you've disguised yourself with a robe found in the eponymous pyramid, but the embroidery on men's robes is a different colour from the embroidery on women's robes. If you're a man in women's robes or vice versa, your cover is blown and you're probably doomed. Aren't some of the pre-generated characters in the second lot of Wizard FF books female? I know that your character is explicitly identified as male in The Rings of Kether (Zera Gross refers to you as 'him'), Black Vein Prophecy and Legend of Zagor, but are there any others that actually specify? The butler in Citadel of Chaos refers to you as "Sir" but his "heh, heh" afterwards could imply he's making some sort of joke. He is truly dastardly!
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Post by CharlesX on Aug 18, 2021 17:14:40 GMT
In Night Of The Necromancer, as well as one ready-made character being female (probably the strongest), you can take over Bertild, the cool female blacksmith who has both a strong avatar and an extra-powerful (albeit non-magical) weapon.
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sylas
Baron
"Don't just adventure for treasure; treasure the adventure!"
Posts: 1,678 
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy, Way of the Tiger
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Post by sylas on Aug 19, 2021 19:16:25 GMT
For some reason in tabletop rpgs (including Fighting Fantasy) I always find it a lot more fun and easier to play as female characters. It would be great if FF included more opportunities to play as female heroes. I'd like to believe that we are past being a 'male only' audience by now.
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Post by a moderator on Aug 20, 2021 0:25:53 GMT
I'd like to believe that we are past being a 'male only' audience by now. Were we ever one? Except in the eyes of whoever decided to change Jallarial to Sallazar? |
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Post by The Count on Aug 22, 2021 12:51:15 GMT
I'm surprised there wasn't the opportunity in at least one gamebook to play as a female character and require use of feminine wiles (probably flashing a shapely thigh or leaning over to reveal a cavernous cleavage) to get through one encounter. The closest to going down that path was used by villain and you being brazenly seduced by Katarina Heydrich in Vault of the Vampire, though the option to kiss the Baboan Sith goes down a similar route.
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Post by CharlesX on Aug 22, 2021 13:06:34 GMT
I'm surprised there wasn't the opportunity in at least one gamebook to play as a female character and require use of feminine wiles (probably flashing a shapely thigh or leaning over to reveal a cavernous cleavage) to get through one encounter. The closest to going down that path was used by villain and you being brazenly seduced by Katarina Heydrich in Vault of the Vampire, though the option to kiss the Baboan Sith goes down a similar route. As I mentioned in my first post Twist Of Fate by D. Morris permits female readers to pose as a harem girl at one point, with helpful results if they\you go for it. I believe there's a semi-clothed illustration at that point if that interests you  . |
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