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Post by a moderator on Nov 25, 2013 17:44:02 GMT
Not wishing to derail the Rebel Planet thread any further, I'm shifting the discussion of my blog to its own thread. Do you by any chance have the iHorror gamebooks?I would love to read your take on them.  I'm not familiar with that series. There are a couple of not-that-pricey iHorror books on eBay, so I might take a chance on one of them. Now I've blogged about both Terror T.R.A.X. titles I own, I'll need something new in the genre for next October. One other thing I wonder is how popular are you finding your posts on different series? Blogger gives stats for each post as you know, and as you've been blogging for quite some time, you must have a good feel for that by now. Just interested to know which are the popular ones and to get an insight into the interests of the online gamebook fanbase. The most frequently viewed playthrough posts are on Heart of Ice ( Virtual Reality Adventures), The Shamutanti Hills, City of Thieves, Island of the Lizard King, Armies of Death, Sky Lord, Seas of Blood and Treason at Helm's Deep ( Middle-earth Quest). Two non-playthrough posts are also very popular (one of them the index, which makes sense, as it's the place to go if you want to look for an entry on a specific gamebook), hence there only being 8 gamebook posts in the top 10. I'm aware of external factors that may have artificially inflated the figures for a couple of entries. Blogger stats also list Google searches that led people to the blog, and I regularly see variations on the 'first dig two graves' quotation I used as the title for the IotLK entry in there. And the Sky Lord post went up just before the previous forum got deleted, so it became something of a focus of attention until people started gravitating to this forum. Nevertheless, it's obvious that the FF posts get the bulk of the attention. Views also tend to spike any time I cover a book by an author with an online presence who notices the write-up, and tie-ins to anything with a significant non-gamebook-related fan base are likely to attract additional views - which probably explains the MeQ title in the top ten. I also tend to get an increase in attention any time I remind people at rpg.net of the blog, which usually happens when I cover a book that's been played there. Disregarding anything less than a month old, as the more recent posts haven't had time to accumulate an audience, the least frequently viewed posts are on the mini-adventures from Warlock issues 5, 7 and 8, T&T solos Sword for Hire, Dark Harbour and Circle of Ice, Proteus 8, the fourth Combat Command book, the second Freeway Warrior book and, at the very bottom, the second Sagard the Barbarian book. Ranking posts by number of '+1's rather than views, the most popular is the Marvel Super Heroes book I covered last month - the author of the book found that one and must have told his fans about it - followed by the first Sagas of the Demonspawn book. Only two FF titles make it into the top ten, plus-wise: TWoFM and (unexpectedly) Fangs of Fury. And while we're talking odd statistics, almost twice as many people viewed the write-up of The Dark Usurper part 3 as did part 2 (while part 1 got more views than the other two combined). |
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Post by paltogue on Nov 26, 2013 9:57:51 GMT
The most frequently viewed playthrough posts are on Heart of Ice ( Virtual Reality Adventures), The Shamutanti Hills, City of Thieves, Island of the Lizard King, Armies of Death, Sky Lord, Seas of Blood and Treason at Helm's Deep ( Middle-earth Quest). Two non-playthrough posts are also very popular (one of them the index, which makes sense, as it's the place to go if you want to look for an entry on a specific gamebook), hence there only being 8 gamebook posts in the top 10. I'm aware of external factors that may have artificially inflated the figures for a couple of entries. Blogger stats also list Google searches that led people to the blog, and I regularly see variations on the 'first dig two graves' quotation I used as the title for the IotLK entry in there. And the Sky Lord post went up just before the previous forum got deleted, so it became something of a focus of attention until people started gravitating to this forum. Nevertheless, it's obvious that the FF posts get the bulk of the attention. Views also tend to spike any time I cover a book by an author with an online presence who notices the write-up, and tie-ins to anything with a significant non-gamebook-related fan base are likely to attract additional views - which probably explains the MeQ title in the top ten. I also tend to get an increase in attention any time I remind people at rpg.net of the blog, which usually happens when I cover a book that's been played there. Disregarding anything less than a month old, as the more recent posts haven't had time to accumulate an audience, the least frequently viewed posts are on the mini-adventures from Warlock issues 5, 7 and 8, T&T solos Sword for Hire, Dark Harbour and Circle of Ice, Proteus 8, the fourth Combat Command book, the second Freeway Warrior book and, at the very bottom, the second Sagard the Barbarian book. Ranking posts by number of '+1's rather than views, the most popular is the Marvel Super Heroes book I covered last month - the author of the book found that one and must have told his fans about it - followed by the first Sagas of the Demonspawn book. Only two FF titles make it into the top ten, plus-wise: TWoFM and (unexpectedly) Fangs of Fury. And while we're talking odd statistics, almost twice as many people viewed the write-up of The Dark Usurper part 3 as did part 2 (while part 1 got more views than the other two combined). Very interesting. I'd've thought Lone Wolf would have been more popular. I can kind of see why the magazine adventures might be less popular, as they probably didn't have as wide a circulation or might not have been considered to be 'canon' in the same way as full gamebooks. I have to admit that the Proteus adventures haven't really interested me. |
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Post by deadshadowrunner on Nov 26, 2013 11:50:08 GMT
Here's some information about the iHorror series you might want to consider.
1:They only have 100 references.
2:They are essentially CYOA adventures(as in no stats to keep track of)though I liked them better.
3:There are some arbitrary instant deaths too,like not choosing the right weapon at the right time.
4:There are some "facts"at the end of each book about werewolves in the werewolf book,your weapons in the demon book etc.
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Post by deadshadowrunner on Nov 26, 2013 11:52:21 GMT
If you choose one,I would recommend Demon Hunter.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 26, 2013 18:02:06 GMT
I'd've thought Lone Wolf would have been more popular. I can kind of see why the magazine adventures might be less popular, as they probably didn't have as wide a circulation or might not have been considered to be 'canon' in the same way as full gamebooks. I have to admit that the Proteus adventures haven't really interested me. LW isn't unpopular - all but the most recent post on the series has over 50 views - but it doesn't compare with FF on the popularity front. The most frequently viewed of those is on the Mongoose edition of Flight from the Dark - which may in part be because I link back to it every time the '192-watch' running gag comes up. As a rule, the Mongoose mini adventures are less popular than the core series (no great surprise). The Grey Star books generally have more views than the LW ones, which may in part be due to their having been around longer. Then again, my replay of Grey Star book 1 has been viewed more often than either post on LW books 2-4, several of which pre-date it. I see your point about the Warlock magazine adventures, but why specifically those issues? I can just about see 1-4 getting attention, the first three because they're versions of 'proper' FF adventures, and 4 for being mixed in with the Dark Usurper entries, and it's just possible that the reprinting of Rogue Mage in the Yearbook makes it 'official' enough to attract additional interest. But what's so special about the one from issue 6 that it's attracted more attention than my posts on Creature and Appointment (to name just a couple of the more significant books that rank below it by views)? |
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Post by a moderator on Apr 22, 2014 13:25:56 GMT
After a much-longer-than-planned delay, the blog is active again, with a playthrough of Moonrunner.
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Post by paltogue on Apr 22, 2014 16:11:01 GMT
After a much-longer-than-planned delay, the blog is active again, with a playthrough of Moonrunner. Good to see you back at it. That's a mammoth (and enjoyable) post! |
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Post by deadshadowrunner on Apr 23, 2014 12:43:19 GMT
Yay!
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Post by a moderator on Oct 23, 2014 14:57:55 GMT
The blog is back. Again.
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Post by paltogue on Oct 23, 2014 15:12:32 GMT
And great to see it too, it's been missed. Really enjoyed your Sardath playthrough. |
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Post by a moderator on Feb 18, 2016 23:46:37 GMT
I'm back to blogging. There was a temporary problem today, when Blogger briefly mistook it for a phishing site and deleted it with extreme prejudice, but the mistake was spotted and corrected within a few hours.
Nevertheless, I have spent much of today ensuring that I have back-ups of the playthroughs.
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Post by paltogue on Feb 19, 2016 9:17:13 GMT
I'm back to blogging. There was a temporary problem today, when Blogger briefly mistook it for a phishing site and deleted it with extreme prejudice, but the mistake was spotted and corrected within a few hours. Nevertheless, I have spent much of today ensuring that I have back-ups of the playthroughs. I've been checking in periodically, good to see you're back at it. |
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Post by Pete Byrdie on Feb 19, 2016 10:24:06 GMT
Do you have a link to your blog?
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Post by deadshadowrunner on Feb 19, 2016 10:40:10 GMT
Do you have a link to your blog? It can be found here |
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,451
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Feb 19, 2016 11:08:08 GMT
Excellent  |
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Post by Pete Byrdie on Feb 19, 2016 16:12:47 GMT
Do you have a link to your blog? It can be found hereThanks! It's a fun blog. I'm enjoying reading it. |
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Post by a moderator on Feb 20, 2016 14:38:15 GMT
Sorry, Kieran. Well, sorry-ish.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,451
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Feb 21, 2016 1:07:10 GMT
Haha - in my defence, Hand of Fate is set before Deathmoor. So my revival of Fang-Zen wasn't a literal one. Not sure if that excuses it.
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Post by a moderator on Nov 29, 2022 17:10:12 GMT
I've made another of my occasional non-playthrough posts at the blog, this one on gamebooks it is impossible to fail. I say 'post', but 'rant' might be a more accurate term. |
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Post by CharlesX on Nov 29, 2022 17:31:46 GMT
I recall reading the Stainless Steel Rat gamebook at one point - but my main memory of it is it being boring, and I imagine there being no fail endings heavily didn't help. I don't see why there shouldn't be 'no fail' gamebooks so long as they are executed well (presumably Time Machine lasted so long because they had some qualities, like the blog implies).
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Do you by any chance have the iHorror gamebooks?I would love to read your take on them.
One other thing I wonder is how popular are you finding your posts on different series? Blogger gives stats for each post as you know, and as you've been blogging for quite some time, you must have a good feel for that by now. Just interested to know which are the popular ones and to get an insight into the interests of the online gamebook fanbase.
