So when I’m busy NOT reading stories on here, I’m also busy not reading shit I actually bought, however that’s probably going to change soon. (Actually reading my gamebooks I mean, not reading stuff here of course)
The problem is, I’ve acquired so many over the past few years, it’s a bit of tyranny of choice thing not knowing which series to start with and such. Like should I start with the most recent series I bought or the first one I bought? Should I start with a gamebook that’s a one shot and done or should I just delve into the series that connects with other books in the series?
Maybe by posting these here some of you lot might have some responses, or perhaps one of you has even played some of these and have an opinion. Ultimately the goal is to get through them all and write review of them too.
Anyway let’s go over them in no logical order other than my own.
Fabled Lands
Alright so this would technically be the oldest of all the series seeing as it originally came out in the 90s, just unfortunately never came out in the US, or at least not around where I lived. It’s been revived a few times and I even managed to play an early digital version of it back around 2010 or so. (And I think it was a somewhat altered version and only consisted of two of the books)
Arguably the biggest “gimmick” of this series is its basically like playing a sandbox RPG, just in book format. You go roaming about the land getting into adventures and each book is a separate land with its own cultures, struggles, etc. You don’t finish one book and move on to the immediate next one since they’re all part of a greater whole.
There were originally supposed to be 12 books to complete the set, but only 6 were ever published, however with this newest revival a seventh book has been added and it seems to be the thickest of the lot. Flipping through the books, I do see passages numbering in 600-800 range. The last one even hitting 1200, but these books I have are larger than the normal paperback size so they’re able to fit more entries per page and many of them aren’t very big. Still it’s obviously a lot despite the books not being as thick as you’d think with that many entries.
I’ll probably do this series a little later since it’s technically not complete even if you don’t need all the books to enjoy the series. Plus I have played some of it as I said digitally and out of all these books, there might actually be some of you that played this one. (Digital or real book) Maybe by the time I get through some of these other gamebooks, the Fabled Lands series will be complete.
Alright moving on…
The Vulcanverse
This would be the other series where all the books interconnect like giant sandbox to create a greater world. Again these books are much more oversized than a normal paperback so despite having a lot of entries, they aren’t as thick as one might think.
I only have the most basic information, but it seems to be an ancient world type setting (Greece inspired mainly). It also was based on some online game that involves (ugh) NFTs. Happily the gamebooks obviously don’t require such eye blinding cryptobro nonsense. Though the main reason why these interested me is due to being written by the same authors of Fabled Lands. Apparently they wrote these to help fund some of the Fabled Land book revival and try to get the new ones made (Like the seventh one) Do what you gotta I guess.
Set up mechanics seems similar to the Fabled Lands so I imagine these will be similar just a different world. Again I’ll probably save this series for later.
One Shots
So when I first started on my mission searching for gamebooks, Rider of the Black Sun and Sword of the Bastard Elf were among the first ones I found and bought. When I got them I didn’t expect them to be as big as they actually were.
Rider is actually the only one of these books that has a hard cover, it’s pretty sizable too. I think the entries are coming close to 1000 if not already there. From what I can tell this one might actually have a “main story” and then a “side one” you play later as a different character. I suppose it would be like if I combined Necromancer and Death Song into one story. (Hey there’s an idea for later)
Obviously haven’t played it yet, but it’s set up in chapters so it’s definitely going for a “novel” approach. Even has a built in bookmarker.
Sword is probably the biggest of all the gamebooks I have, coming in at nearly at 2000 entries along with being oversized. From what I can gather, the tone of this one is going more for humor and the character I think is more of a ne’er do well type so should hopefully be an interesting change from what all the others are like. (Hoping for a Rogues like tone)
Initial plans were definitely to play these two and…just like with all great plans shit happened so it didn’t get done. Tempted to read these ones first because of that.
As for The Castle of Blackwood Moors, I have no idea. I got that one a lot later and haven’t even looked at it much. The most recognizable thing about it is the wrap around map of the world on the front and back cover. I feel like it’s going to either be much better than expected or very meh.
Expeditionary Company
While Fabled Lands and the Vulcanverse might be an interconnected series, you technically don’t need all the books to play them. You could easily just have any one from the series and jump in.
You can’t do that with this one. You NEED the first 3 books of it. You have to think of this as a gamebook with a SHITLOAD of rules to the point where it needed two more books just to cover all the encounters AND then added a 4th book in case you want to add even MORE rules for some fucking insane reason.
Concept is you’re running a merchant caravan and traveling from city to city making profit in a fantasy setting. You need to track how long it’ll take, your supplies, your goods, your guards, the weather, etc. Obviously assail, you’ll get into unexpected adventures along the way.
Oh, also the world is fucking DYING too. This is a doomed world and shit isn’t getting much better, so I’m guessing your humble company at some point can get roped into trying to fix things so the end of the world doesn’t happen. (Or just ignore it and watch the world burn I guess)
Honestly, it’s all a great concept, but the problem is obvious. It’s complex as hell. If I’m playing this one, I better set everything else aside because it’s going to take all my focus and time.
Destiny Quest
Now these books are pretty damn thick. Most of them in that near 1000 passages range if not over it in at least one of the books. The covers look like they’re more of a fantasy novel series rather than gamebooks.
A quick glance through and they’re not really slacking in the story aspect from what I can tell so the series in general is more similar to what I saw from glancing through the Rider book. The actual game mechanics seems to allow for multiple ways to build up your character depending on your class, so there’s some variation here. The first three books don’t seem to be connected other than set in the same world I believe. The fourth and fifth books seem to be part of the “Sands of Time Trilogy.” I don’t think you’re doing some sort of Lonewolf thing of carrying your character over from one book to the next though.
The sixth book of the series appears to be a little different than the others. In fact I think it might be more of a “spinoff” rather than part of the series proper. It’s smaller for one thing and seems to focus more on combat. That one actually came with a separate “battle book” you’re supposed to use for the combat system.
This is another series I might do later, not sure if I should read these before or after something like the Fabled Lands/Vulcanverse though.
Roll On Adventures
Alright taking an “L” on these.
The reason being I think all the illustrations in these books are AI and I can’t find any named illustrator in the credits. When I first looked at the books I thought something looked a little “off” but most of the pics that were displayed in the examples seemed fine and I didn’t notice any of the obvious weird finger shit on them. Glancing through them now and I’m seeing the horrible mistakes in some of the pics.
Oh well, what’s done is done. It’s entirely possible the actual gamebooks are fine and it’s just guilty of using AI shit. I dunno though, these are probably the least thick of all the books. Probably more similar to the average paperback gamebook size found back in the 80s.
I’m definitely not motivated to play these anytime soon. Might play these dead last.
Happily I don’t have to end this on a bad note, because I recently bought this series…
Savage Realms
And this is the series that has got me in the mood to actually play all these fucking books as opposed to just buying more to sit on my shelf to look pretty.
I gotta say the covers on these probably copy the old 80s Fighting Fantasy books the most. In fact going through some of the notes made in the books, at least one of the authors mentions that’s what inspired him and has a picture of the US cover of Warlock of Firetop Mountain inside.
The books all vary in thickness, though all of them are oversized. I think the larger ones are in the 500 range with passage numbers. Six of the nine books all take place in the same fantasy world, but three of them have completely different settings. Horror, Post Apocalyptic and Science Fiction. The FF series dabbled in different settings too, so I’m interested in seeing if they succeed in designing a good science fiction gamebook which never seemed to work as well in the FF series.
The illustrations in this one are all by real artists thankfully. I think one of them actually did artwork for the FF series at one time.
Strongly leaning towards playing these first of course.
Well that’s all I got so far.
Feel free to make comments, suggestions or whatever below.
