Gamebook store

Wednesday 25 March 2020

Free gamebooks


OK, don't say I never did anything for you, coz the Critical IF gamebook series is free on Kindle through till Sunday. The four books are diceless, so they actually work pretty well as ebooks (hyperlinked, obviously). Not an offer to be sneezed at, eh?

And come back on Friday for Camelot Eclipsed, a complete roleplaying campaign set in the days after King Arthur's fall. That should awaken the dragon.

24 comments:

  1. Thanks, Dave. Very kind of you. As brilliant as they are, having read them circa 1995 and 2015, I'm going to save myself for the next repetition in that time cycle to read them again (assuming I'm still here). As it is, should I have to self-isolate, my Amazon basket is bulging with the collective works of John Whitbourn. I'll even press confirm this time.

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    1. John's collected works would be my first pick too, Andy. I'm still pressing him to self-publish Babylondon, which in many ways is *the* masterpiece among his many masterpieces.

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    2. Can you give me a bit more on Babylondon, please? Or do a post on it.

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    3. What I can reveal, Andy, is that I spoke to John yesterday and he told me he's currently editing the manuscript of the book. So I'm hopeful it may see the light of day later this year.

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    4. Thanks, Dave. Just before I press send on the Amazon order, John presumably has no plans to self-publish his older works? I prefer new books and the money going into his pocket, but I'll settle for used copies if necessary.

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    5. That's considerate of you, Andy. I'm not aware of John having any plans to republish A Dangerous Energy, etc, so go ahead and grab some used copies by all means.

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    6. No problem, Dave. They're on the way. Four of them ordered new cost about £50, so hopefully that's a pint for John. If only half a pint, you'll have to sub me for the other half! The other seven only cost about £20 second hand. Cheap at half the price. I've already got Binscombe. Also chucked Pavane in. Oh, and the 60s Batman TV series. Erm, for my son, obviously.

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  2. On your recommendation, Dave, I ordered and just completed the Complete Binscombe Tales. I found them quite entertaining!

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    1. Glad you liked them, Gaetano. In the genre of barroom tall tales, I think they reign supreme.

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  3. I still need to get around to reading The Age of the Triffids. Really I should first read the original The Day of the Triffids. Then I guess I need to read the 2001 Simon Clark "The Night of the Triffids." After all that I can read Whitbourn's book to complete the "Triffid trilogy."

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    1. Simon Clark's book is a different timeline from John Whitbourn's, though.

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    2. The Night of the Triffids wasn't bad at all. The Age of the Triffids is my favourite book.

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  4. I don't have a kindle but I appreciate the gesture. For my part I don't want a Kindle because any books I "buy" for it apparently aren't really mine and can be removed at the whim of Amazon. With a physical book, it's mine.

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    1. Same here. I have a Kindle, but almost never use it.

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    2. You can use the free Kindle Cloud Reader app. That's what I do.

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    3. I'll need to check that out. I'll likely still prefer paper.

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  5. Do I need to enter a promotion code or something? Just tried to get Heart of Ice, but it's not free, it's marked $0.99 US. Or is this a UK-only deal?

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    1. Actually, my bad. The other 3 books are free but for some reason Amazon won't allow me to put HOI in the deal. However, you can play it online here:

      https://woodendice.org/flamekebab/heart_of_ice/heart_of_ice_v.1.0.7.html

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    2. Thanks, Dave. Just ran through Heart of Ice at the link you posted, and I enjoyed it very much. Went ahead and made the purchase on Amazon, and will leave a positive review.

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    3. Whoops. there's a glitch in the online version: https://www.dropbox.com/s/susgwscatvk11j5/Screenshot%202020-03-29%2012.57.45.png?dl=0 There should be a live link to page 288. As it is, I can't proceed. Maybe I'll just switch to the Kindle version and proceed manually. If there's a page 288 on Kindle, and it's the right place...

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    4. Ah no, the Kindle edition only has 231 pages. I'll just start again.

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    5. There's another free version here:

      http://www.jamiethomson.com/Heart%20of%20Ice-8.htm

      but hopefully the Kindle version will be free of broken links.

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  6. Replies
    1. You're welcome, Joe. Oh, and if you feel like leaving a review on Amazon then thank you!

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