Wizards, Warriors And You

[CharlesX]

Aware there is another thread for a single book in this series - for some reason this gamebooks series stuck with me a bit so I'm giving it its own thread. Technically there are many more gamebook series which we haven't listed and were bigger and better-written (Give Yourself Goosebumps for example, which I haven't read, and Real Life gamebooks, which I remember as overly technical and average).

   Wizards, Warriors And You was very eighties and very male, with you choosing weapons and spells with absolutely no\very little clue what was coming and what was best. It was to me even more simple than Choose Your Own Adventure, with simple sentences and one-dimensional good and bad guys, outcomes and plots. I enjoyed it because its world of castles and dragons and magic resonated with the kid in me who had toy knights and read Roger Lancelyn Green. It was all entertainment, at a time there were lots of fantasy adventures before Harry Potter became as big as the sun in the fantasy universe.

   Objectively it was never phenomenal writing, and had lots of illogical choices (what day of the week is it? On that basis, turn to?), but kids aren't half as pretentious as adults.

[kieran]

I generally like this series. I find the writing ok actually, better than many FFs. Design-wise they're more of a mixed bag and failing because you were reading them on the wrong day of the week is annoying. There generally also was zero strategy in decisions - a weapon or spell could work well in one situation but not in another with no obvious reasons why. But as far as simple gamebooks go, I think they're fun.

[CharlesX]

Nov 24, 2022 14:03:05 GMT kieran said:

I generally like this series. I find the writing ok actually, better than many FFs. Design-wise they're more of a mixed bag and failing because you were reading them on the wrong day of the week is annoying. There generally also was zero strategy in decisions - a weapon or spell could work well in one situation but not in another with no obvious reasons why. But as far as simple gamebooks go, I think they're fun.

I agree with everything else you've said, perhaps even more so than my own view coming from a house where gamebooks were seen as 'bad literature' and 'un-christian', but is it me or is there a lack of patriotism about FF on this site, with what feels like half or more than half preferring other gamebook series such as Lone Wolf, Virtual Reality Gamebooks or Gamebook Adventures to FF? As far as WWAY goes, we're probably on the same page - I think the design is wanting, but the writing is what you'd expect for a book aimed at little kids. If anything it immerses you the way a very serious writer such as C S Lewis wouldn't.

   Any problem with FFs hasn't been a lack of high-quality titles, because there definitely has been, but a number which have been below-average. In other words FF is variable, not unlike Choose Your Own Adventure - which doesn't take away from the achievements of the really good ones.

[kieran]

Nov 24, 2022 15:01:08 GMT CharlesX said:

is it me or is there a lack of patriotism about FF on this site, with what feels like half or more than half preferring other gamebook series such as Lone Wolf, Virtual Reality Gamebooks or Gamebook Adventures to FF?

<shrug> well, we're all FF fans even if it's not every member's favourite series. Much as I like the series, some books aren't particularly well written. I feel Space Assassin has worse writing than any WW&Y for instance though it's probably better from a design point of view.

[a moderator]

The bit in WW&Y book 3 where success or failure is determined based on when you were born is worse than the ones based on when you are reading it. You can try the book again at a different time...