Gamebook store

Friday 8 September 2017

Stand and deliver


"Your adventure is only limited by your success in pursuing your own goals. You have no single quest to complete and there is no fixed 'story', but you will encounter many quests, missions, puzzles and mysteries throughout the book. Your journey through these becomes your 'story' and when it comes to an end, you can begin once more and explore what might have been."
That's new gamebook author Martin Noutch describing his upcoming project Steam Highwayman. It sounds like it will appeal to fans of open-world gamebooks, as well as to steampunk aficionados, and if either or both of those ticks your boxes, you want to head over to Kickstarter and back the first volume in the series, Smog and Ambuscade, right now.

I've seen parallels being drawn with Fabled Lands, and certainly Steam Highwayman is an open world -- more of a solo RPG than a gamebook of the Fighting Fantasy single-quest model. But Martin has made a significant innovation. Where Fabled Lands leaves you to define your own character and goals (a degree of absolute freeform that many find too daunting), Steam Highwayman is more like a structured roleplaying campaign in which you are given a pre-defined role. You're not just presented with a world and told, "Go." You're a figure in that world and your choices fill in the character background. Kind of like being given Robin Hood to play, but whether he's a peasant or a dispossessed Saxon nobleman is left up to you. And that difference will, I think, make Steam Highwayman accessible to a lot of people who wouldn't know where to start with Fabled Lands.

Still need convincing? Then try this taste of what Martin has in store:
"Steam Highwayman is an adventure gamebook in which the reader explores an alternate 19th century England on a steam motorbike. You can choose to rob the rich, give to the poor, or to pursue and punish evil-doers. Will you side with the Compact for Workers' Equality and work to bring about revolution in England? Will you find a place in high society and become famed for your gallantry and style? Will you find your own path through the smog of the cities and beneath the branches of the quiet woods?"
I detect notes of H G Wells, Keith Roberts, maybe even a dash of William Morris. It sounds like a glorious immersive adventure which Martin has enriched with a depth of characterization you just didn't get in those old '80s gamebooks. And from his proficiency with accents in that YouTube trailer, I bet his roleplaying sessions are a blast too.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for flagging this up, Dave. I have decided to support it, not least because of the author's desire to produce a 'real' book as opposed to an app, because I am old- school in that regard and always find more magic in a physical grimoire than one of Apple's shiny 'black mirrors' (mirrors, on the wall) - although I am conscious of some hypocrisy as I type this as a) without spellcheck I would have just made a hash of 'hypocrisy' and b) I am aware we are not currently corresponding by pen & paper ! But I do love the smell, sight and feel of 'proper' books :)

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    1. You'll get no argument from me on that score, John, seeing as every room in my house is lined with books. That said, I tend to buy from Amazon Marketplace these days, seeing as the books I want are typically around 1p each plus postage. Quite literally penny-pinching, I admit.

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  2. For my part, I've never really had much problem putting together a character concept for Fabled Lands. My latest persona is a Warrior named Marten Devereaux. One of his eventual goals is to become a Paladin of Ravayne. Once he does that he will likely murder the governor of Yellowport and ensure that King Nergan's forces take the Citadel of Velis Corin. He'll do this to help secure the Baroness's position by ensuring that Sokara remains weak and distracted by an ongoing state of civil war. Marten Devereaux is a cold, calculating, ruthless bastard who is far more Sun Tzu than Sir Lancelot.

    Additionally, once he becomes a Masked Lord of Uttaku he plans to free the High King (and get him the Sceptre of Kings) with an eye toward using his position as a Masked Lord to help the King conquer Uttaku and appointing him as its new military governor. Though in that case, his aide best not let in any potential murderers due to a 5 Shard bribe or they'll see the Red Garden up close and personal.

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    1. That's an excellent reminder of what Fabled Lands can provide at its best: a toolkit for creating a wide variety of alternate lives. Steam Highway is obviously narrower in its focus, giving a thin deep slice into a world as experienced by one type of character, meaning that replays will presumably explore the same themes from slightly different perspectives rather than being an opportunity to jump off to look at a completely different aspect of the setting. But remember this is just the first book in a series, and Mr Noutch may have plans to explore other roles in later books.

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  3. I've had Keith Roberts' novel Pavane sitting on my bookshelf for at least twenty years. It was highly recommended by John Whitbourn, author of the Binscombe Tales books, and recently got covered on an episode of Fictoplasm. So, finally giving in to the portents, I've started reading it. So far, so brilliant.

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