International gamebook day

[tyrion]

link


International gamebook day, don't know any more than this. Probably worth a look!

[sylas]

The link is down and probably will be whenever something on Facebook changes. It's on the official FF site too though.

[thealmightymudworm]

In case people can't get the link to work at all, the day in question is 27th August, designated as International Gamebook Day at Jonathan Green's suggestion in honour of the original publication date of TWoFM. Worth keeping an eye on.

[tyrion]

Interview with Mark Lain here

[tyrion]

Download the background for Crystal of storms here

[Wilf]

The Background section is promising. Certainly moreso than that rotten cover art. Looking forward to Crystal Of Storms a little bit more, now...

[tyrion]

Interview with Jamie Thompson here

[tyrion]

Interview with Rhianna Pratchett here

[a moderator]

And if you're not on Facebook, reduce your LUCK score to 0.

[vagsancho]

Aug 27, 2020 11:13:46 GMT Wilf said:

The Background section is promising. Certainly moreso than that rotten cover art. Looking forward to Crystal Of Storms a little bit more, now...

Am i becoming senile faster that i thought?? I did not see nothing in that background. Absolutely Nothing.

[sleepyscholar]

Aug 27, 2020 13:15:08 GMT a moderator said:

And if you're not on Facebook, reduce your LUCK score to 0.

I'm not on Facebook. But I always cheated anyway.

[tyrion]

Dave Morris put up the video with him, Jamie Thomson and the very talented and modest Paul Mason if you've not seen it (this is on youtube, not facebook).

Also, interview with Ian Livingstone

[sleepyscholar]

Aug 27, 2020 18:15:22 GMT tyrion said:

Dave Morris put up the video with him, Jamie Thomson and the very talented and modest Paul Mason if you've not seen it (this is on youtube, not facebook).

Also, interview with Ian Livingstone

I'm more of an editor than a writer. I think your sentence needs rewriting:

Dave Morris put up the video with him, Jamie Thomson and the very modestly talented Paul Mason if you've not seen it.

The only bit of the 'festivities' I caught was part of the interview with Mark Lain. For some reason, I was rather more interested in watching this than catching the further pronouncements of Ian Livingstone (or Charlie Higson, come to that).

[Peter]

Aug 27, 2020 13:03:56 GMT tyrion said:

Interview with Rhianna Pratchett here

From this interview, I see an author who understands the structure of games.  This would suggest a gamebook that starts easy and gets harder, gives you bonuses when you need them (e.g. finding extra provisions just before a difficult fight), contains punishments for making foolish decisions, etc.

I'm hoping...

[The Count]

Aug 29, 2020 7:01:24 GMT Peter said:

Aug 27, 2020 13:03:56 GMT tyrion said:

Interview with Rhianna Pratchett here

From this interview, I see an author who understands the structure of games.  This would suggest a gamebook that starts easy and gets harder, gives you bonuses when you need them (e.g. finding extra provisions just before a difficult fight), contains punishments for making foolish decisions, etc.

I'm hoping...

It sounds like a lot of thought has gone into it, and while it may be a bit more child-friendly than the original books, sounds like it will be a good read.

[thealmightymudworm]

Aug 27, 2020 10:42:12 GMT tyrion said:

Interview with Mark Lain here

I do remember watching What's Your Story with Sylvester McCoy, the show in which they just wrote the first part of the story and kids were supposed to call in and finish things off for them (lazy bastards).

They did one, maybe the first one, in which a Roman mosaic was discovered with a terrified looking dude at its centre, with some weapons or something pointed at him. There were other people in the background but his image was the striking one. Then one of the discoverers announced that she'd found there was something odd about the main figure in the mosaic – that it had been designed without him in it, or the tiles making him up were different to the rest of the mosaic.

I remember ringing up repeatedly to tell them that perhaps a dude had been magically sucked into the mosaic by a curse or something – though on reflection that seems like an idea in the way that "He eats it." is an idea in response to "A man makes a sandwich. What could happen next?".

After hitting an engaged tone any number of times, it started ringing! I waited nervously for a few seconds before a man answered in hearty, formal tone "Good afternoon! This is Birmingham University. How may I direct your call?" Several seconds of nonplussed silence followed from both ends, possibly while eight-year-old me was considering saying "Bring me Sylvester McCoy, my good man, or at least one of his fine minions to whom I may speak of cursed mosaics!" but instead I whimpered and hung up, not daring to try any more in case it was a wrong number again.

My memory is that they ended up settling on a story in which the guy in the mosaic had some kind of moral dilemma and knew that speaking the truth was going to get them killed but did it anyway. Someone made the mosaic to commemorate this, or something. It seemed like a bit of a crappy let down and I'm not sure how it fitted with the premise. Perhaps I should have kept trying as they clearly needed my help.

Anyway, that's my Abe Simpson-style ramble for the day.

[thealmightymudworm]

Aug 27, 2020 13:03:56 GMT tyrion said:

Interview with Rhianna Pratchett here

Nice interview. Makes me optimistic for the gamebook.

Amusing to find out that she was partly inspired by this story.