IDEAS ON WRITING A GAMEBOOK 1- I wont worry about writing for a specific audience.

2- Concentrate on story opportunities not on story outcomes. 3- Make decisions mean something. 4- Railroading is inevitable, I wont worry about it. 5- Failure does not equal loss. 6- Conflict rather than action resolution. 7- Think specific rather than generic. 8- Think conflict rather than combat. 9- Allow style to dictate if necessary. 10- Dont be trapped by convention. 11- Think action rather than re-action. Player/Reader acts on information. 12- Who do you want it to be? Where to now? What do you want to hear? 13- The trick is to get the player/reader to believe that they are guiding the action rather than following a linear pathway. The story could go anywhere. 14- Death can also be a satisfactory ending. Make ALL endings as satisfactory as possible. 15- No pointless page turns or paragraphs. 16- Dont worry about cheaters; the story can be an end in itself. 17- Make it enjoyable. 18- No telegraphing events- especially with regard to note-taking. 19- Keep note-taking pertinent- adding to the story, no red herrings. Everything has a meaning and nothing is throw-a-way. 20- Each scene has a payoff, feeds into future decisions and reflects the theme. 21- Play with conflict spread out over several scenes. 22- Definitely make clear the demarcation between what a character knows and what the reader knows. 23- Perhaps think narrow focus rather than broad. 24- Dont fear the jump cut. 25- Action not words (though words can be action). 26- Make decision pathways clear. The player should be able to see trajectories, that their actions and inactions led them to this end. 27- Rewards can be more than gold. 28- I am not competing with the reader.

29- Tricking the reader and twisting rules does not do the story or the game a good service. 30- Avoid instant death pathways. 31- Remember who is being addressed. (Whether it be the Reader or the Character). 32- in regards to luck: don't make it a turning point in the story. 33- Idea of presentation: a glossy landscape book with lush manipulated photos and the rules related text (or rather Reader related text) side-barred. The main body is the character's narrative. The cover will have folds (like a dust jacket). And the art will not vanish into the centre of the spine. 34- Make it accessible without pandering or talking down to the reader. Fuck it. Make it something I would like to read. 35- Make it rules light. Perhaps diceless, and use simple keywords. 36- AN END vs. THE END. 37- the perceived Genre will dictate the audience. Is it seen as an INTERACTIVE FICTION or a CRIME NOVEL or a GAME BOOK or... 38- what interests me? Magic, Wellington, Relationships, crime, slightly offbeat things. 39- I mustn't lose sight of the fact that it is to be a game. A game that adults play? 40- it's something I want my parents and friends to read with minimal effort. 41- Rules light is the way to go. Intuitive rules. Even no rules, only the options in the sidebar. 42- if the reader reads through from start to finish they will receive an understandable, nearly coherent chain of narrative. One that will require the reader to make up their mind what is the 'truth'. They could read one path and it would be real and true and the read a totally different path and have it be equally true. 43- the reader will be the one to settle ambiguities. 44- it is not Roshoman. It does not need to be. 45- General plot of a Fighting Fantasy game-book: character is impelled to seek out the threat and this takes a journey (where all events are in relation to this journey). If the character throws down his sword and says "sod this" then there is no game. The assumption is that the character will, of course, say: "I'll do it, I'll walk into the maw of hell because that is what I must do". 46- Morally ambiguous characters are difficult to write because, by nature, they have no real need to walk into the gates of hell. Create the need in the character and the story will follow. 47- what is the plot of a noir? A man in a world he is too good for, where he must make decisions that test the strength of his moral view. 20080526 48- thinking about pathways: dont have useless page turns to paragraphs that just shift the character on. i.e. in Citadel of Chaos- the many one sentence paragraphs that return the character or shift them on to the next option tree. 49- fuck story. The interesting things in a lot of games is the mundane stuff. Driving the highways in Car Wars. Dungeon delving in any number of games. Trading in Traveller. Getting stabbed by broo in runequest.

50- a set of focused booklets. Perhaps not quite as vacant as random tables, but a series of encounters to hang games off. 51- idea: on the road, fighting gangs and mutants, meeting strangers and exploring ruins. 52- jesus, that could be for fantasy, post apocalypse or science fiction!