The Citadel of Bureaucracy (J.D. Mitchell, 2023)

[jdmitchell]

I'm excited (and nervous) to report that my first gamebook, The Citadel of Bureaucracy, is now available in paperback! I've been playing gamebooks since before I could read (my brothers read me the entries), so this is a special one for me.


Part story, part game, this is a book in which YOU call the shots!

The Citadel of Bureaucracy holds many perils for civil servants unprepared for its labyrinthine cubicle walls. Yet enter you must. Working against the clock, you must fight unreliable transit, dodgy IT, the dreaded Canada goose, and a rising sense of nihilism in order to get paid and clear your desk for a much-needed vacation.

YOU decide which paths to take, which dangers to risk, and which colleagues to confront. May the Janus-faced God of Finance and HR be with you, for you’ll find little succour in the Citadel’s unhallowed halls.


The Citadel is fully illustrated, packed full of humour, and retails for $11.99 USD / $15.99 CAD / £9.99 GBP. You can head to my website to read a free sample and downloadable FRM-0001c (Record of Adventure).

If you do give it a try, please let me know what you think and consider giving it a rating on Goodreads or Amazon!

Cover: imgur.com/gallery/DnTRIRL

Store links:

• www.amazon.ca/dp/1778130208
  
• www.amazon.com/dp/1778130208
• www.amazon.fr/dp/1778130208
• www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-citadel-of-bureaucracy-mitchell/1143581587;jsessionid=653DF07A704D9B769E2D9DB4C52D5709.prodny_store02-atgap18?ean=9781778130205
  Hugendubel: ttps://www.hugendubel.de/de/taschenbuch/mitchell-the_citadel_of_bureaucracy-46194003-produkt-details.html
  

[CharlesX]

My late grandfather was a civil servant for forty years. This is hilarious.

   Without getting spoilery, does The Citadel Of Bureaucracy have no dice system at all like pure CYOA, or rather an advanced one incorporating combat such as FF, Lone Wolf or say Gamebook Adventures? Something which bugs me as well is how parodies could use FF creation and combat rules without running into copyright royalty plagiarism etc. issues. My guess is J&L don't take an interest unless they become unexpectedly big.

[kieran]

Jun 8, 2023 17:33:10 GMT CharlesX said:

 Something which bugs me as well is how parodies could use FF creation and combat rules without running into copyright royalty plagiarism etc. issues. My guess is J&L don't take an interest unless they become unexpectedly big.

I don't think you can copyright a game system. It's quite hard these days to create one that isn't at least somewhat reminiscent of a pre-existing one. Or at least I find it quite hard.

[a moderator]

Parody at least has a valid reason to mimic existing systems. Some of the more blatantly 'FF with the serial numbers filed off' systems of the 1980s didn't even have satirical intent as a justification for the similarities.

[CharlesX]

Jun 9, 2023 11:41:23 GMT a moderator said:

Parody at least has a valid reason to mimic existing systems. Some of the more blatantly 'FF with the serial numbers filed off' systems of the 1980s didn't even have satirical intent as a justification for the similarities.

I very much don't doubt what you're saying is true but I couldn't name any FF rip-offs (could you?) possibly because I only know actually successful series rather than the number of gamebooks which hopped on the gamebook bandwagon in the eighties with series that were both short-lived and unliked by audiences and reviewers.

   OTOH tangentially I recall Make Your Own Adventure With Doctor Who often had distinctive - even creative - puzzles and its own simple dice-based rules but remains one of the worst gamebook series. More constructively I recall liking the Falcon series, although that didn't sell because it was high-concept.

[kieran]

Jun 9, 2023 18:42:46 GMT CharlesX said:

I very much don't doubt what you're saying is true but I couldn't name any FF rip-offs

I think Proteus Magazine used the exact same game system bar Skill and Stamina were called something else and there was no Luck score.

[a moderator]

Jun 9, 2023 18:59:59 GMT kieran said:

Jun 9, 2023 18:42:46 GMT CharlesX said:

I very much don't doubt what you're saying is true but I couldn't name any FF rip-offs

I think Proteus Magazine used the exact same game system bar Skill and Stamina were called something else and there was no Luck score.

Dexterity and Strength. And you missed the other big difference: in combat you determined Fighting Power rather than Attack Strength. I mean, it was superficially similar to FF in that you generated Fighting Power by rolling two dice and adding Dexterity, and the combatant with the lower Fighting Power would lose 2 Strength, but to call it 'the exact same' when at least three of the words used are different... Please, nobody make me have to explain that I'm being sarcastic.

[jdmitchell]

Jun 8, 2023 17:33:10 GMT CharlesX said:

My late grandfather was a civil servant for forty years. This is hilarious.

   Without getting spoilery, does The Citadel Of Bureaucracy have no dice system at all like pure CYOA, or rather an advanced one incorporating combat such as FF, Lone Wolf or say Gamebook Adventures? Something which bugs me as well is how parodies could use FF creation and combat rules without running into copyright royalty plagiarism etc. issues. My guess is J&L don't take an interest unless they become unexpectedly big.

Sorry for the late reply, I must not have notifications turned on.

I'm glad you enjoy the premise! Did you pick up a copy?

The book uses the Fighting Fantasy rules with slight modifications. There's no copyright on rules so long as you don't lift source text word for word. And since this book is satire and not going to be mistaken for a Fighting Fantasy gamebook, the exterior shouldn't be a problem, particularly since they have a very different style now.

Forty years of civil service? That's... a lot. I'm struggling to hit twenty. :S

[jdmitchell]

I'm excited to post the first official Citadel of Bureaucracy review by Demian of Demian's Gamebooks! In his words when notifying me of the review: "There's a certain strange irony in having to escape a busy office job on vacation in order to play a gamebook about having a busy office job and trying to escape it for a vacation." He gets it.

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