Continuing with monthly Gamebook Diaries. Looking at types of uncertainty and therefore replayability in gamebooks.
Joy of Uncertainty in RPGs
For me part of the joy of tabletop roleplaying games is not knowing what's going to happen, either as player or Games Master. There are certain players where's there's no telling what might happen! The best part of running an adventure module was when it went off-script and the players started doing their own thing.
This is also true of Solo Gaming, as I've been finding out in my solo playthroughs. Having no idea where the storyline or characters will end up is truly the joy of it.
Uncertainty in Gamebooks
The first time you play through a gamebook, there's lots of mystery and uncertainty. Where will this journey end up? What's in the cave? Is this character going to betray you? Seeing how good you are at guessing if guesses are.
But the second time there's less surprises and the unknowns go down as the we explore. Although significant ones keep popping up in the better gamebooks. Part of the fun of a gamebook, especially the open-world ones, is getting to know the locations, plots and characters.
In the open-world gamebook there's an added factor. The amazing part of moving from one book to another with an existing character. It's all new, but you have context and a character you care about for one reason or another. It adds to the whole world.
Increasing Uncertainty and Replayability in Gamebooks
The simplest way to increase replayability in a gamebook is to have more sections. This allows for more locations, more branching paths, more complex ideas.
But adds other overheads in the size and complexity of your writing project!
Another way is to include some randomness in what happens in the story, such as the encounters from Fabled Lands or the maze of Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
Steam Highwayman takes this further with who you meet when waiting for an ambush. It might be a private coach with a wealthy noble, a well-protected haulage wagon or the constables! Some encounters can trigger other adventures or cause you to meet (and possibly lose) old friends. The random strongboxes of the second book also add an unknown, as opposed to knowing every treasure found at the location of some gamebooks.
Options that unlock only for certain Skills or Talents, such as in Heart of Ice or the class-specific quests of Fabled Lands. Then there are choices that both have significant impact but are mutually exclusive. Even as basic as the difference between playing a warrior (no spells) or wizard (all the spells and many new options) in the Sorcery! books.
My Thoughts on Increasing Uncertainty
For my own open-world gamebook, I'm looking at a few ways to improve the play experience on different playthroughs.
- A set of NPCs that have a growing storyline and can appear in different places. So a bounty hunter and a herder you could encounter anywhere in the road. The herder might ask you to help herd some sheep the first time they meet, give you something in thanks the second, join you on a quest in the third and finally invite you to their wedding. I'll cover these more in a different Gamebook Diary
- Heavier use of use of random tables to give different results and simulate the world. For random encounters, rolls to simulate a night of carousing, random treasures and rumours.
- Starting at one of 6 communities, each with different starting circumstances and location. Plus a unique starting quest you can only get from being from that community at the start. Plus each community may open up different options in your character's future.
- Having keywords or titles that change the whole experience. Such as being the renowned champion of a town or burning a forest to the ground. Can only be done a couple of times per book. Hammer of the Sun from VulcanVerse where you can restore life to an area, opening up all sorts of new options in places you've traveled before.
- Having choices that are mutually exclusive, such as the path of Chaos or Law. Opening up different paths that can't be shared on that playthrough (but hopefully not for spurious reasons like turning left or right)
- Having Companions that travel with you, providing advice, giving extra abilities and opening up opportunities for adventure.
- Having some kind of time limit. If there's a counter of some sort, your choices become more impactful. This could be the amount of time in which to perform actions, a threat such as the plans of a villain or a wasting disease. Or the amount of injuries you can sustain before having to retire.
Finishing Up
May have to come back to this topic again, as thoughts develop!
What are your favourite gamebooks to replay? Why is this?
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