Who is Lone Wolf?

[Sol]

As some may know, I am working on a Lone Wolf gamebook right now. As a fast keyboarder and an avid gamer, getting the story written will be quite doable, but the biggest challenge will be creating a story that rings true to Dever's original flavour. "You have studied the great volumes, and these have revealed many of the Kai secrets to you, but the remaining secrets cannot be learned by study alone."

So my discussion question for you (please answer with at least a word or two, or in as much detail as you like):

What makes a Lone Wolf Book a Lone Wolf Book? What sets it apart? What gives it that indescribable "spark?"

[Oiseau]

That's a tough one ... I'd say it goes along the lines of :

- A coherent world (Magnamund)
You always feel like you're living the same life, in the same universe, from book to book. Characters and places from previous books are mentioned again, and not just as gratuitous references like Port Blacksand in the FF series. Sometimes recurring characters play an important role. Sometimes they're introduced and only become important later on. Nothing ever comes out of the blue.

- Overall freedom to explore paths
Although some LW books suffer from excessive linearity (Prisoners of Time, anyone?), most set you free to complete your quest in any way you see fit. There is never a One True Path to discover and follow rigidly, as such a thing, while making it hard to win the first time, kills the replayability of the whole book.

- The Disciplines
Don't leave home without them. They define the special flavour of the whole gameplay system. As a bonus, no Discipline is ever truly 100% required (although sometimes they come close). It's strange the way they help define LW's character.

Hmmm ... What else ?

It's hard to put something like this into words, even if LW is my favorite gamebook series. In my opinion, continuity, consistency, and replayability are key. Add the character development aspect, and mix thoroughly. ;D

Not sure if this really helps ... I'm not good at waxing philosophical.

The Oiseau

[Wolf]

There are a variety of different things one could point to - a solid and consistent game world, the use of mystical skills, the consistency of character and story from book to book, even the use of the unique LW combat system and random number chart - that make the Lone Wolf books different and a cut above many of the similar gamebooks. For me, however, there were just a couple of features that really attracted me when I read my first one many moons ago.

Firstly, to be honest, there were the illustrations - these gave the book an immediate and exciting impact; you are unlikely to get Gary Chalk to illustrate yours so I'll pass on.

Secondly, and far more important in the long term, was Dever's use of language to create a vivid world. He is great at conveying a distinct atmosphere economically. Whereas, all to often, gamebooks might tell us something like:
'there are two mangy looking individuals in the room. They are Orcs. You must fight them.'
Dever never simply told us what they were in terms of race, species and function in the game. Instead there was a description of each NPC, opponent, beast or monster as it appears to the character of Lone Wolf. Similarly, he creates a vivid description of the locations that Lone Wolf visits. In particular we get nations and lands that have their own distinct atmospheres rather than simply the slightly bland cod-medieval fantasy melange that most fantasy authors (especially those writing gamebooks) manage.

Thirdly, Lone Wolf books are more than the simple dungeon bash. They tend to have narrative drive to them. Lone Wolf journeys accross Magnamund with a distinct purpose and set of objectives. Many other gambooks simply point you in the direction of the Big Bad's lair and assume your character has no motivation other than wiping out its inhabitants.

Hope some of that helps.

[Sol]

Wolf said:

Secondly, and far more important in the long term, was Dever's use of language to create a vivid world. He is great at conveying a distinct atmosphere economically. Whereas, all to often, gamebooks might tell us something like:
'there are two mangy looking individuals in the room. They are Orcs. You must fight them.'
Dever never simply told us what they were in terms of race, species and function in the game. Instead there was a description of each NPC, opponent, beast or monster as it appears to the character of Lone Wolf. Similarly, he creates a vivid description of the locations that Lone Wolf visits. In particular we get nations and lands that have their own distinct atmospheres rather than simply the slightly bland cod-medieval fantasy melange that most fantasy authors (especially those writing gamebooks) manage.

Thirdly, Lone Wolf books are more than the simple dungeon bash. They tend to have narrative drive to them. Lone Wolf journeys accross Magnamund with a distinct purpose and set of objectives. Many other gambooks simply point you in the direction of the Big Bad's lair and assume your character has no motivation other than wiping out its inhabitants.

Hope some of that helps.

Wolf,

Welcome to the board! And yes, this helps a lot! I don't think I'll get Chalk, no, but maybe I can get one of the fans to do some art for me. PurpleTurtle seems to do some cool sketches! There are usually ten large illustrations per book plus assorted smaller illustrations.

I agree on the point about the rich world and how Joe conveys it. An area needs to be fleshed out with at least the same detail as a character - this is what I am getting from you here, and I agree. At the same time Joe never drags on spouting description... every word counts. Herein lies the challenge! I may have a shot at this since my own writing style tends to be pretty sparse. Even so, if it is too sparse, then it is boring and leaves the player with no real impression of where he is.

A narrative drive to the story is also important - I agree with this as well! As far as I can tell, Joe writes 5 or 6 "short stories" per book, then links them with action and challenges. These short stories tend to give the player a reward for progressing to a certain point, always also providing information for the next stage of the adventure. This, I think, is the narrative drive you are talking about.

[Sol]

Oiseau said:

That's a tough one ... I'd say it goes along the lines of :

- A coherent world (Magnamund)
You always feel like you're living the same life, in the same universe, from book to book. Characters and places from previous books are mentioned again, and not just as gratuitous references like Port Blacksand in the FF series. Sometimes recurring characters play an important role. Sometimes they're introduced and only become important later on. Nothing ever comes out of the blue.

- Overall freedom to explore paths
Although some LW books suffer from excessive linearity (Prisoners of Time, anyone?), most set you free to complete your quest in any way you see fit. There is never a One True Path to discover and follow rigidly, as such a thing, while making it hard to win the first time, kills the replayability of the whole book.

- The Disciplines
Don't leave home without them. They define the special flavour of the whole gameplay system. As a bonus, no Discipline is ever truly 100% required (although sometimes they come close). It's strange the way they help define LW's character.

Hmmm ... What else ?

It's hard to put something like this into words, even if LW is my favorite gamebook series. In my opinion, continuity, consistency, and replayability are key. Add the character development aspect, and mix thoroughly. ;D

Not sure if this really helps ... I'm not good at waxing philosophical.

The Oiseau

Oiseau,

I like your observation that "nothing comes out of the blue." This seems very true and important. What this means is that it will be very important for me to pull my story out of the threads from the previous story(ies). Since I will be writing Book "12a" that means I need to draw from the details at the end of Book 12. One thought here is that even though the Darklords are gone, their armies did -not- immediately vanish. The Sommlending did route them, but this could be one nice idea for something that could happen in my book. I will also definitely be fleshing out the beginnings of the Second Order which is going to happen at this same time.

I like your idea of overall freedom to explore paths. I hadn't thought about this very much, but now that you have brought it up, I will strive to provide several possible paths to Book's End and try not to make it too much of a "straight line." I -am- going to be very conscious of creating just one "easy" path that will allow a weak character to win. It will surely be obscure, but I want it to be possible to win by making correct decisions.

I plan to have Banedon, Rimoah, and Ulnar as NPC's. Ulnar I am thinking about - how old would he be? The challenge here is to present familiar characters without taking undue liberty with them.

Incidentally, Oiseau, I think you would make a great philosopher.

[Roark]

I feel LW as a "living character", It´s rather different from other gamebooks anonymous characters that you pick up just for one adventure and see no more . The improving disciplines, carryng items you get in previous books help to get this feeling.

But also his lifestyle...always on the run, being chased, his constant roaming up and down through all Magnamund.

All his quests are well planned and justifed, not the usual FF excuse of..."Another necromancer wants to rule Allansia you must defeat him!".

Another great thing is the time line...you can feel really the days passing, just with a few details like meals or resting on a tavern and you got it, I think this is very simple but effective, for instance the "countdown" in Fire on the Water, just reminding as each day dawns how much time is left...I really like it!

Not forgetting the secondary characters as well the number of places you can see giving this sense of freedom.

[Zipp]

The fact that there is travel involved, something I am planning on using in my own gamebook.

The best gamebooks I have ever played, be it the Cretan Chronicles, Way of the Tiger, Lone Wolf, or even the Nintendo Adventure Series, have done more than placing you at the start of a dungeon and giving you the mission to finish it.

Dever's books do not desribe the worlds of dungeons. They describe the world beyond the dungeons, the world at large. A world filled with other inhabitants.

This is an extremely important piece of what makes Lone Wolf great.

Also, re-occuring characters. Seeing how your actions in earlier books changes the world in later books. Not revealing the entire plot in a single volume.

[Zipp]

Along these lines, I have a question. In a gamebook there are those sections which result in instant death from making the wrong choice. In a fighting fantasy, these are the normal methods of death, until you find the one true path through the book. Many times you can be heading in a path that will result in instant death no matter what, and you can continue down that path towards it's inevitable end for a very long time. In Lone Wolf the instant deaths are, well, instantaneous, always placed immediately after a bad section, saving the player time and energy continuing down a path with no good ending.

My question is, what elements do you like of both systems, or dislike?

[Oiseau]

I don't like gamebooks which don't tell you you're doomed until the end (and the "wrong choice" you made was going left instead of right at the very first intersection). What I love about Lone Wolf is the true freedom you have. Very few objects are required to win. There are always multiple paths through the book. You can enjoy the adventure as you're living it, instead of stopping every 2 minutes to add a new room/corridor to your map, eliminating everything until you see the One True Path remaining (i.e. Deathtrap Dungeon, and most other FF adventures). LW is driven by real-world choices, not by left-right, pick-discard, blue-red choices.

FF has its own feel and charm : it's a puzzle. The "game" in "gamebook" primes over the "book". In Lone Wolf, it's the opposite. Story first, game mechanics second.

There are a few exceptions, I know (LW-2 and LW-3 can send you on long paths with no good outcome), but taking those paths means you made some bad choices (selling the ring, failing to free the magician). It's never about having chosen right instead of left.

By the way, it was Lone Wolf who gave me this philosophy for writing my own gamebooks (the Xhoromag series, in French, available on my website -- yeah, yeah, shameless plug -- homepage.mac.com/siyanlis). ;D

So if you're writing some amateur LW's, keep in mind what everybody said until now -- I agree with everything. ;D

The Oiseau

[Thomas Wolmer]

Zipp said:

My question is, what elements do you like of both systems, or dislike?

Oops, I started writing a reply before The Oiseau had replied, but then forgot to press "Post" and now I see that I agree completely with him. Nothing to add.

So I'll make another point regarding sudden deaths: The LW books have way too many unavoiable deaths by random number! I see no good reason to have these in a book at all. Random number deaths that can be avoided by the right discipline/the right item/a wise choice, OK, but not unavoiable falling masts...

[Zipp]

I would certainly agree with what Thomas said about unavoidable random number deaths.

In my own endeavor to write a gamebook, I've tried to place these only in situations where the character made a bad choice or where the character is trying some sort of stunt. After all, stunts can kill you.

I've tried to plan out my book so that there is a path of least resistance, where if taken, it's nearly impossible to die, but that other paths can get you there as well.

The style is a mix of my own style, thrown in with some Ian Flemming and video games along the lines of Deus Ex.