A gamebook is a book with a branching plot that serves as a medium for gameplay. The term "gamebook" is also used in reference to sourcebooks for other games, such as role-playing games. A chained book in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University A Chinese bamboo book, in a collection at the University of California, Riverside. ... Look up plot in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A recording medium is a physical material that holds information expressed in any of the existing recording formats. ... Tug of war is an easily organized, impromptu game that requires little equipment. ...

The reader plays the game by choosing which of the branches of the storyline to follow. This usually occurs at the end of any given page; the reader will then be prompted to choose between one of several possible courses of action for the plot to follow, and to turn to the appropriate page or section. Most gamebooks have multiple possible endings, at least one of which is a "win" with most or all of the rest being "losses"; the added replay value of gamebooks is one of the primary reasons for their popularity.

Most gamebooks are written as though the reader were the protagonist, and are written in second person narration. Some gamebooks borrow game mechanics from role-playing games, containing combat and requiring the reader to keep track of the main character's statistics and equipment, upon which certain branches of the storyline may be dependent. The main character is the central figure of a story. ... Grammatical person, in linguistics, is used for the grammatical categories a language uses to describe the relationship between the speaker and the persons or things she is talking about. ... The Narrator is the entity within a story that tells the story to the reader. ... A game mechanic is a rule or set of rules intended to produce a set of outcomes in a game. ... A role-playing game (RPG, often roleplaying game) is a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters and collaboratively create or follow stories. ...

Publication of Gamebooks series

Popular gamebook series include Choose Your Own Adventure and the role-playing gamebook series Lone Wolf and Fighting Fantasy. Author Harry Harrison has written You can be the Stainless Steel Rat, a gamebook spoof on his series of Stainless Steel Rat novels. Several less successful attempts (from a commercial point of view) at the genre, such as the Legends of Skyfall series were also released. The Cave of Time, the first Choose Your Own Adventure book. ... First Lone Wolf book, American edition Lone Wolf is a collection of 28 gamebooks, created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated (books 1-8) by Gary Chalk. ... Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, originally published by Puffin and now by Wizard Books. ... At the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005 Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, March 12, 1925 in Stamford, Connecticut) is an American science fiction author who has lived in many parts of the world including Mexico, England, Denmark and Italy. ... The Legends of Skyfall was a series of four adventure gamebooks written by David Taft and published by Armada in 1985. ...

The fantasy and horror novelist Kim Newman has written a novel for the mainstream market, Life's Lottery, which uses the format of a gamebook to explore the possible lives of its protagonist, which range into multiple genres and narrative styles. Notable features of Life's Lottery include the possibility at certain points of crossing over from one narrative strand into another, and a sequence of unlinked scenes which may explain the true story of what is happening to the protagonist. Kim Newman (born July 31, 1959) is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. ... A genre is any of the traditional divisions of art forms from a single field of activity into various kinds according to criteria particular to that form. ...

Gamebooks are often produced for franchises, like Star Wars and Transformers. A famous gamebook from the latter franchise features Windcharger accidentally ripping apart the Dinobots with his magnets. When the Alternator/Binaltech version of Windcharger (called Overdrive in Japan) came out in 2005, the situation became a meme on Transformer sites. This article is about the series. ... Transformers are fictional alien robots and the titular characters of a popular[1] Hasbro toy line and its spin-offs. ... // Transformers: Generation One (1984) Windcharger (Charger in Japan, Rapido in Canada, Lampo in Italy, Camaro in South America) was one of the original toys in the Transformers line when Hasbro started producing them in 1984. ... The Dinobots are a team of characters in the fictional Transformers Universe. ... Early 20th century Alternator made in Budapest, Hungary, in the power generating hall of a hydroelectric station. ... Alternators (BINALTECH バイナルテック in Japan) is a toyline of the Transformers series produced by Hasbro in North America and TAKARA in Japan, the primary selling point of which is the use of 1:24 scale, accurate real-world vehicle modes officially licensed from car...

First published in 1976, Buffalo Castle (using the Tunnels and Trolls role-playing system) may well have been the first gamebook ever published [1]. 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Buffalo Castle was a gamebook first published by Flying Buffalo in 1976 (ISBN 0940244012). ... Tunnels and Trolls is a role-playing game that was first released in 1975. ...

List of notable gamebook series

• Blood Sword, written by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson
• Dragontales, written by Rhondi Vilott
• Endless Quest, written by Rose Estes and others
• Fabled Lands, written by Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson
• Fighting Fantasy, written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone
• Forbidden Gateway, written by Ian and Clive Bailey
• Freeway Warrior, written by Joe Dever
• Give Yourself Goosebumps, written by R.L. Stine
• Golden Dragon, written by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson
• GrailQuest, written by J.H. Brennan
• Legends of Skyfall, written by David Tant
• Lone Wolf, written by Joe Dever
• Sagard the Barbarian, written by Gary Gygax and Flint Dille
• Sorcery!, written by Steve Jackson
• Sword of Oz, written by Darren Reid (author)
• Twistaplot, written by R.L. Stine and Douglas Colligan, among others.
• Way of the Tiger, written by Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith
• Wizards Warriors & You, written by R. L. Stine and others

Blood Sword is a series of Gamebooks created by Oliver Johnson and Dave Morris. ... The McLibel case is the nickname for an English court action filed by McDonalds Corporation against unemployed environmental activists Helen Steel and David Morris. ... Dragontales was a series of gamebooks written by Rhondi Vilott and published by Signet in the 1980s. ... Endless Quest is two series of gamebooks released by TSR. The first series of 36 books was released from 1982 to 1987, the second series of 13 from 1994 to 1996. ... Rose Estes, is the author of many fantasy and science fiction books. ... Fabled Lands is the name of a series of fantasy gamebooks written by established gamebook authors Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson and published by Pan Books, a division of Macmillan in the mid 90s. ... The McLibel case is the nickname for an English court action filed by McDonalds Corporation against unemployed environmental activists Helen Steel and David Morris. ... Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, originally published by Puffin and now by Wizard Books. ... Steve Jackson is a games reviewer and writer is one of the best known authors in the gaming industry. ... Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. ... Ian or Iain is the Scottish Gaelic version of John. ... Freeway Warrior is a gamebook series by Joe Dever Categories: | | ... Joe Dever Joe Dever (b. ... Give Yourself Goosebumps is a childrens horror fiction gamebook series by R. L. Stine. ... Robert Lawrence Stine (born October 8, 1943), better known as R. L. Stine, is an American writer. ... The McLibel case is the nickname for an English court action filed by McDonalds Corporation against unemployed environmental activists Helen Steel and David Morris. ... Grailquest is a series of gamebooks by J.H. Brennan. ... J. H. Herbie Brennan (Born Ireland, 1940) began his career as a journalist at the age of 18. ... The Legends of Skyfall was a series of four adventure gamebooks written by David Taft and published by Armada in 1985. ... First Lone Wolf book, American edition Lone Wolf is a collection of 28 gamebooks, created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated (books 1-8) by Gary Chalk. ... Joe Dever Joe Dever (b. ... Ernest Gary Gygax, 2004 Ernest Gary Gygax (born July 27, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois) is best known as the author of the well known fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), co-created with Dave Arneson and co-published with Don Kaye in 1974 under the company Tactical Studies... The final book of the Sorcery! series. ... Steve Jackson is a games reviewer and writer is one of the best known authors in the gaming industry. ... Robert Lawrence Stine (born October 8, 1943), better known as R. L. Stine, is an American writer. ... First Way of the Tiger book Way of the Tiger is the name of a series of adventure gamebooks by Mark Smith & Jamie Thomson set on the world of Orb. ... Wizards Warriors & You was a series of Choose Your Own Adventure-style childrens books, inspired by Dungeons & Dragons and early text adventure games like Zork and Colossal Cave, published by Avon Books in the 1980s. ... Robert Lawrence Stine (born October 8, 1943), known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, known mainly for books targeted at younger audiences. ...

Gamebook Software

Writing a gamebook is not an easy task. Gamebook software providers make it easier and give the writer the opportunity to concentrate on writing the plot instead of keeping a valid gamebook structure. Most of the applications that support gamebooks creation are written by gamebook fans, and are freely distributed.

The Spielbuch website [2] offers an online book creation system.

The GameBook Creator website [3] offers a downloadable software to create gamebooks.

External links

• Gamebooks.org