Martin Noutch, author of the wonderful Steam Highwayman books, is a true scholar of the craft of gamebook writing. One of the reasons his own books are so good might be because he has thoroughly analyzed the works of other writers in the field. The shoulders of giants and all that.
So that you can benefit from his studies too, Martin recently posted his story maps of the Fabled Lands books. Looking at those prompted me to dig out some of the maps I used to plan the books. Astonished that I still have this stuff after 30 years? I'm working on that hoarding obsession.
Trust me when I say that you haven't seen the full possibility of storytelling married to open world gamebooks until you've played the Steam Highwayman series.
And if you like the idea of steam-powered vehicles and picaresque adventures in an early 19th century setting (or style thereof), I recommend Keith Roberts' seminal SF novel Pavane. (It is SF, incidentally, and not steampunk, which is really a branch of fantasy because physics, but I don't want to give any spoilers. Read it and see.)
Dear Mr Morris, On another matter, how would you go about providing game rules for a more modern werewolf? The type that is a hybrid wolf-man. I know that this maybe is not in line with the fairy tale nature of Legend but I am really curious to know what these rules would look like in your view. Thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, Stanley, I've never been interested in that kind of werewolf. I think it only exists because of the limitation of special effects in 1930s movies -- they couldn't have a man turn into an actual wolf, so instead we got Lon Chaney in a furry suit. CGI could allow a return to the scarier original myths (as in, say, The Company of Wolves) but having become established the trope continued in mainstream horror movies until it reached its nadir (for me) with semi-CGIed Benicio del Toro clambering and leaping across rooftops as if he'd been bitten by a radioactive spider, not a cursed wolf :-)
DeleteThanks for the feature, Dave. An unexpected Easter treat. I loved making the Fabled Lands maps and reading through all of the books again in December in a mad blitz to manage it. Very thought provoking. That said, it would have been much simpler if you had released your originals before then :-D. Victor Antanassov said he had to agree that the density of locations in FL2 drove him a bit mad.
ReplyDeleteSorry about that, Martin. It was actually your maps that inspired me to go digging through boxes in the attic to find those originals. Your versions are a lot easier to follow!
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