The adventure gamebook genre - A genre for Christian writers to explore?

[dominicgaj]

Hello all,

I've recently announced my welcome in the new members section and touched on this topic there but I wanted to bring up an area of writing of interest to me (i.e. I write books in this genre myself) and get some feedback about it.

Is there anybody out there who have attempted to write (or have succeeded in writing) an adventure gamebook, particularly one with a Christian theme to it?

The most popular series of adventure gamebooks would be Choose your own Adventure (started in the late 1970s). Fighting Fantasy was probably the next most popular in the 1980s and 1990s.

The main crux of these books would be that you would read a section and then be asked to make a choice and then turn to a page depending on your choice. This would continue until the story ended. Choose your Own Adventure books, for example would have approx. 20-40 endings per book and therefore, had a high 're-read' value. Usually half the endings were good endings and half were bad.

Fighting Fantasy books had the choice element but also a dice element as well where you would have to make dice rolls at various stages of the book and good/bad things would happen as a result of those rolls. You win, you lose, you are injured, you find something useful etc. Fighting Fantasy books probably had more endings than choose your own adventure books (because they were usually four times the length of a CYOA book) but only ONE of the endings was a good ending. All the other endings were bad.

Apart from attempting to write these sort of books, have people actually seen this genre attempted (and published) by Christian authors? I find that there are very few (if any at all, especially recently).

Jasan

[Ransom v. Unman]

Well, I know I and at least one other person on the boards (*cough* Nessa! *cough*) have been working on RPGs in some way or another - is that what you mean by "fantasy gamebooks"? Mine is definitely Christian themed, but also fun and broad enought to (hopefully) be enjoyed by both Christians and non-Christians alike.

[tlm]

My son used to read a series written by Nintendo, with Mario Bro. or other Nintendo characters in them. This was in the mid-90s.

[tlm]

My son used to read a series written by Nintendo, with Mario Bro. or other Nintendo characters in them. This was in the mid-90s.


I haven't seen any of those books since.

[dominicgaj]

RPGs definitely cover what I was alluding to, although mine is a solo adventure gamebook to be read by an individual (it isn't done in a group environment like a lot of RPGs are). Mine is also Christian themed but can also appeal to everybody (Christian or Non-Christian). C.S.Lewis did a good job of writing to appeal to everybody but had a strong Christian theme when he wrote his Narnia books (esp Lion, Witch, Wardrobe).

[Nessa-Ciryatan]

Well, I know I and at least one other person on the boards (*cough* Nessa! *cough*) have been working on RPGs in some way or another - is that what you mean by "fantasy gamebooks"?
Lol. Yeah, you can see what Ransom means by that by clicking on the CYOA link in my sig. ;)

As for writing actual Christian Choose Your Own Adventure novels... hey, why not!? !thumbsup! I haven't ever seen such a novel in a Christian or secular bookstore, but I reckon it's about time for a CYOA come back. :D

[dominicgaj]

To Nessa,

I can see (by looking at your CYOA link) that you are definitely a fan of the adventure gamebook genre. Have you ever thought about writing a CYOA novel for publication? I enjoyed the start of your Circuit book. I must admit, Sci-Fi is not my genre, I don't write it very well. Fantasy and adventure (for kids) is my area.

I also like to take the CYOA one step further and include the gaming element (i.e. dice). It makes the reading experience more enjoyable in my opinion. I also like to write stories where there is only ONE good ending and multiple bad, this adds a real challenge to the reader.

Jasan

[Nessa-Ciryatan]

Have you ever thought about writing a CYOA novel for publication?
No, I'm having enough trouble trying to get my butt in gear for a normal novel. :p I enjoy using CYOA for writing practice, however.

I think I'd get a little dejected if I was reading a CYOA in which there is only one good ending. It's depressing until you find it, and then once you've found it once, there's no point playing it again. ;)

[dominicgaj]

If I recall, wasn't there a couple of CYOA (Super Adventures) that were released at some stage that were really long and only had one good ending?

The gamebooks that specialised in the "one good ending" were Fighting Fantasy (Lone Wolf might have been like that too) and they were often so hard to find you normally read all the bad endings before you finally won. Once you found it, though, you felt like you had climbed Mt Everest and had planted a flag at the top (i.e. You then wanted to go around and tell everybody). Probably a male thing. :-)