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Thursday 23 May 2024

Darkness visible -- at last

It turned into a real labour of Hercules -- sorry, Herakles -- but it was worth it because now I can say: the Vulcanverse series is complete! The fifth and final book, Workshop of the Gods, is finally available in either colour hardcover edition or in paperback. As the blurb puts it:

Vulcan City is a place of striking contrasts. A metropolis where marble palaces and gilded rooftops soar against the sky, whose walls and towers seem to approaching travellers like the flanks of mountains, where gold and jewels overflow the coffers of wily merchants, and where nobles in silk finery indulge in epicurean pleasures to rival the banquets of Olympus.

But it is also a place of teeming streets and plazas where cutthroats and spies hide themselves amid the crowds, where narrow alleyways can lead to stinking, maze-like warrens where the unwary visitor is soon as lost as in the deepest wood. In candlelit taverns you may overhear whispered secrets that can make a fortune or ruin a reputation. And here in the magnificent hub at the centre of the Vulcanverse, life is often as cheap as a trinket sold on a marketplace stall.

Meet up again with old friends and bitter enemies. Uncover long-buried secrets, hunt down thieves and murderers, wrestle with demons, cross swords with assassins, join criminal gangs – even come face to face with the spectre of your own death.

Visit the puppet shows where you’ll find hints about the fate of a universe. Seek counsel from the oracle who is privy to the insight of the gods – if you can afford it. Venture into the prison that holds the cleverest man alive, knowing that you must either befriend him or kill him. Lay claim if you can to a mansion brimming with treasures and traps. Rise in society, making alliances among the ruling factions. And attend the glittering party at Vulcan's palace, whose location is hidden from the eyes of ordinary mortals, where you will set out on a perilous journey through space and time to reach the crucial, cataclysmic battle between light and darkness towards which all your choices have been leading.

This is the city where all possibilities meet, where destinies are made, where the fate of the Vulcanverse will finally be decided.

In the Vulcanverse series, as in Fabled Lands, you can begin in any region and travel freely back and forth between the books to pursue your quests. But there are significant differences from the earlier series. In Fabled Lands there's no central storyline, whereas in Vulcanverse most of the hundreds of quests feed into a plot that builds across all five books to an epic finale that occupies the second half of Workshop of the Gods. Your choices in the books have lasting consequences, altering the fate of nations and even the very landscape. You'll develop relationships with recurring characters, both friends and foes. And you will bear the scars as well as carry the glory of your exploits through all 6115 sections (more than fifteen Fighting Fantasy length gamebooks!) and three quarters of a million words. Did I say epic? It's longer than The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit combined.

And what is your ultimate goal through the series? As you'll soon discover, darkness casts a lengthening shadow over the Vulcanverse, threatening all who dwell in the five realms. Queen Nyx, with her dread sons Death and Sleep at her side, has unleashed a devastating war that will sweep away both gods and titans and leave her the unchallenged monarch of all creation. You must hone your skills, win over allies, and gather the weapons and clues that will make you into the Hero of the Age, the only mortal capable of opposing the Night Queen.

Although technically the fifth book, this is actually a good one to start your adventures in. That way you'll have a base in the city which is the hub for all the other regions. You can visit the Oracle in the temple district to get hints, and your family will introduce you to mentor characters who can help you figure out some of the major quests that you'll need to complete.

Jamie and I are keen to hear what people think of this series. So if open-world solo roleplaying is your thing, do pick up a volume or five, embark on some adventures, and tell us how you get on.

You can find a copy of the Adventure Sheet for the book here, and the books themselves (both hardcover and paperback editions) here.

24 comments:

  1. Wonderful news ! Can't wait to make the whole trip, now that the five books are available !

    Hope I'll get my hardback copy soon (I'm from France). I've just started on book 4 tonight, making a pause before entering the "real thing". I truly love this moment : brand new character, adventure sheet white and empty, on the threshold of something HUGE, every options waiting for me ! How thrilling ! (Reminds me when I first got out the cave, at the beginning of Skyrim : a whole world before me !)

    Thanks for everything, Dave (and thanks for all the nice things you said about France !!).

    You make the dreams go on :)

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    1. Thanks, Pierre. The wonderful reception I had from French fans and publishers made it easy to say nice things :) And I know exactly that feeling of being on the brink of a huge new adventure. Come back and let me know how you're getting on!

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  2. I did buy my hardcover in Amazon.es presell. I'm a bit worried, since it is still in pending state, and there is only offers of used ones at double price

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    1. It should be OK, Nacho. Because the hardcovers are printed by a different company (Ingram Spark), Amazon tend to mark them as "out of stock", but your order will be sent to Ingram Spark. It might take a week or two, as they will be getting lots of orders for the book (we hope!), but your copy should be on its way to you soon.

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    2. Thank you! Will wait for it. I hope it will be a huge succes

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    3. Thanks -- I do hope people will try these books, though I think mostly they just want more Fabled Lands!

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    4. Had to cancel my hardcover preorder. Was dealyed until august yesterday. Ordered paperback instead

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    5. I love them. They are more polished than Fabled Lands, they feel more like a interactive text adventure than the typical open world RPG

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    6. Sorry to hear about the holdup with the hardcover edition. Hopefully the paperback will arrive soon. Let me know what you think of it?

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    7. Just have started and the building names only are giving me hints related with my previous adventures. I'm having a blast, sir

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  3. Congratulations on the completion of the series! I hope that this last book will make sells finally skyrocket.

    At least, I'll buy the books next time I'm in place where it can be delivered without hassles (France). But that's in 2 months, too long.... I'm going to continue with Fabled Lands in the meantime.

    So Dave, what's your next adventure (if you can tell us)?

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    1. I'm glad you asked! I am working to get my Jewelspider RPG finished over the summer, and in the autumn I will be publishing a new version of my first gamebook, Crypt of the Vampire, to mark its 40th anniversary. After that I'm going to start work on either Shadow King or Fabled Lands book 9 (can't do book 8 as Paul Gresty is writing that). And next year is the 40th anniversary of Dragon Warriors, so I need to do something about that. It's quite a long to-do list.

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    2. Thanks for he update, what a program. It looks like that the only thing not on your plan is retirement, but I don't think anybody here will complain :).

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  4. Great news! I have been gifted the vulcanverse books 1-4 (plus Heart of Ice) last christmas, but was delaying it to start in book 5, which i just ordered :) I have all the fabled lands books as well, which have already brought lots of hours full of wonderful entertainment. Thank you for that! I'm pretty confident that the vulcanverse is my cup of tea, too :D Greetings from Germany

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    1. You've got a lot of adventuring ahead of you there, Claudio. Come back and tell me how you get on -- what you like in Vulcanverse and even (I can take it!) what you don't like.

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  5. Greetings, Mr. Morris,

    I am beginning to explore the vast world of Vulcanverse, and I must congratulate you and Mr. Thomson on this ambitious interactive work.

    I have a question (SPOILER ALERT!!): In The Hammer of the Sun, section 436, I had the opportunity to join a wedding party, where, through my decisions, I earned some pyr after watching over a wedding dress. Once that part was over, it directed me back to section 436, where nothing prevents me from experiencing the exact same story again and again, earning the pyr each time (if I pass the roll). Is this an intentional loop? If not, it would suffice to ignore the wedding party option.

    Thank you for your dedication to gamebooks and your tireless experimental spirit!

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  6. Thanks, Juan. We didn't want to lock off the wedding party because there's more than just money to be got there -- no spoilers, but it's something to do with weasels. Probably I should have built in a slightly more complex flowchart structure to prevent players getting 20 pyr every time. For example we could have linked it to the Pure codeword so that you have to go to Arcadia and back before the wedding encounter resets.

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    1. You inspired me to take another look at the wedding party sequence and I saw there's an easy fix. I just need to add a tickbox at 653 so that if the player goes there for the first time they get 20 pyr, but on subsequent attempts (until they acquire the necessary title or item to do the real quest) they just get thanks but no money. I'll make that change in future editions. Thanks for reminding me about it.

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    2. My pleasure! It makes me really proud to contribute to the refinement of this great work.

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  7. My copy arrives any day now and I'm very excited to complete this series.

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    1. I'm keen to hear what you think of the book, so please come back and let us know once you've played it.

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  8. Woo! I finally have a complete open-world gamebook series :) I had to buy the softcover since Amazon Canada wasn't stocking the hardcover for whatever reason, but it still looks great. Now I just have to find the time to play it.

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    1. Sorry about that, Armaan -- it is likely to take you a couple of months to get through the whole adventure!

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