Rewrite

 Earlier this year I threw myself into the experiment of writing in installments a solo adventure for Talisman Adventures. The results, "Nor Gloom of Night", can be found here. I had intended to put out installments on a weekly or fortnightly basis, and figured that the pressure of writing to a deadline would work its magic on my efforts: that it ought to be reasonably easy to put out something playable and at least mildly entertaining. It proved to be a more challenging task than I had anticipated, and took me several months to complete the three installments and 99 paragraphs of adventure. I'm conscious that the end result hardly be described as overwhelming, or even whelming. Page Views tells the sorry truth: Chapter One has had 80 views, Chapter Two 19, and the grand finale Chapter Three a mere 7. 

Undeterred however, I have decided to work on a Second Draft, using the Game Book Authoring Tool (GBAT). Just copying the paragraphs written into the program has been helpful in identifying where there is room for improvement. In particular, this is helped by the resulting Flowchart (see below for an excerpt from the beginning of NGON), which makes the next step of the redrafting process - removing redundant and repetitive entries simple and straightforward.

Current Design Goals: Follow the basic plot established, remove repetitions and generally trim down, then add small encounters and options (bringing the paragraph total back up to 99/100) to flesh the adventure out. It is intended to be an introduction to the various systems within Talisman Adventures, but I will put a little bit more emphasis on trying to make it entertaining and fun to play. I will be sure to let y'all know how I get on.

 

 

Dragonmeet 2021 - Sat 4th December

Dragonmeet is the venerable UK RPG convention held in London annually. Last year I ran an Talisman Adventures scenario at Dragonmeet Online, which was very enjoyable, and led to a short and entertaining campaign. Props to Perron the Dwarf Priest and Jewel the Ghoul Assassin.

This year, Dragonmeet is back-in-the-flesh, and thanks to some last-minute wrangling (greatly helped by my suddenly getting a lot of unplanned-for free time following an anticipated but accelerated career change...) I am going to be sitting at a table in the Demo Hall inviting all and sundry to take a look at Talisman Adventures and maybe even persuading them to have a crack at a Quick Play scenario, or if they prefer creating their own hero, or just Talking Toads & Talismen. 

10:00am - 2:00pm in the Demo Hall at the Novotel, Hammersmith, London.

Now to knock together a Quick Play scenario for the day... 

https://www.dragonmeet.co.uk/

Talisman Quick Start Rules

On Free RPG Day, Pegasus released a Quick Start version of the Talisman RPG accompanying an all new adventure by Tim Huckelbery, "Curse of the Rat Queen". Lucky individuals who supported their friendly local RPG store during the event may have gotten their charmed mitts on a copy. Less fortunate individuals (your humble correspondent included) who inhabit the wilds and outer regions need not despair - the booklet is available as a free download on DrivethruRPG. That adds to an already impressive amount of free material available for the game, and I'm hoping that the giveaway and the download help hook in new players for this original and entertaining RPG. 

The adventure is written from the standpoint of introducing new players and GMs to the systems and flow that make Talisman RPG special - in particular, how Tests work in play, and the entertaining outcomes that can proceed. It's a solid introduction to the system - and as a fresh reworking of a familiar fairy tale, ought to provide an entertaining session or two of play for new and old players of the game alike. Definitely gets the Thaumaturgical Workshop Seal of Approval.

The Great British Gamebook-Off

As my dubious effort to write a Talisman Adventures solo adventure demonstrates, I am an enthusiastic amateur adherent of the Adventure Gamebook format. Something I have dabbled in, off-and-on with at best mixed results for many-a-year.

Something that has challenged would-be gamebook author is how exactly do you go about keeping track of all the different paragraphs of the adventure, how do you jumble them up, how do you avoid dead ends or wonky and disorganised narratives in general? 

 I used to write my adventures by hand, and for "go to 32" from paragraph 1, would just leave empty space for as much as I expected the intervening paragraphs to fill. Worked OK, and once I started using a computer and writing in Word, this got a lot easier. I was dimly aware that there were more sophisticated approaches - Scrivener was a massive help (about which I may post more at some point on the subject of scenario and campaign writing), but now - very late to the party - I have tried out and am completely taken with The Gamebook Authoring Tool from Crumbly Head Games.

I'm in the process of rewriting "Nor Gloom of Night" using the GAT, and having a lot of fun with it. The software keeps a flow-chart of the adventure as you write (something I have never bothered to do when writing adventures myself even though it is always one of the key bits of advice from the pros), and allows you to randomise all the paragraphs when finished. The free version of the software will let you write a 100 paragraph adventure - which should be plenty for anyone to try the system out and see for themselves how much of a help it can be.

If you are tempted to download the GAT and get to work on your own solo adventure, you also have the ideal opportunity to motivate yourself to get an adventure finished:  blogger Lloyd of Gamebooks is running The Lindenbaum Prize for short gamebook fiction, entries open 1st December to 1st February. Even if you don't fancy taking a shot at the prize, check out the blog for some great posts about the craft of adventure gamebook writing.