To attack the dragon, turn to page 79 [CYOA thread!]

Monkeyfeet

Dichotomy wrote: »

now this needs to get to 79 pages and solar needs to post there

and then we all just make fun of him

premium

I used to read the goosebumps and nintendo ones all the time but I don't ever remember getting a happy ending in any of them ever. Unless I cheated.

BusterK

premium wrote: »

I used to read the goosebumps and nintendo ones all the time but I don't ever remember getting a happy ending in any of them ever. Unless I cheated.

I think you have to pay extra for a happy ending

Quoth

i think there is a whole line of these books that will give you a happy ending, in a manner of speaking

Solar

Monkeyfeet wrote: »

Dichotomy wrote: »

now this needs to get to 79 pages and solar needs to post there

and then we all just make fun of him

nooooo...

Dichotomy

I for one can't wait

ObiFett

CYOA books were the reason I went to the library when I was a kid.

The best part was that the CYOA books were pretty good at throwing curveballs at you. Good or evil choices would result in your death equally as often. I died so many times in those stories.

Help the Old Woman? Go to page 14

Kill the Old Woman? Go to page 15

Obviously not killing the old woman is the right thing to do /turns to page 14

"The Old woman turns into a dragon and bites your head off. Your family is left fatherless and starves to death. Their deaths spread the disease you were trying to cure, humanity dies a horrific, slow death from the curse of <insert your name here>."

Munkus Beaver

ObiFett wrote: »

CYOA books were the reason I went to the library when I was a kid.

The best part was that the CYOA books were pretty good at throwing curveballs at you. Good or evil choices would result in your death equally as often. I died so many times in those stories.

Help the Old Woman? Go to page 14

Kill the Old Woman? Go to page 15

Obviously not killing the old woman is the right thing to do /turns to page 14

"The Old woman turns into a dragon and bites your head off. Your family is left fatherless and starves to death. Their deaths spread the disease you were trying to cure, humanity dies a horrific, slow death from the curse of <insert your name here>."

That wasn't a good part of CYOA. There was a reason why you always had a finger on the old page. There's a difference between 'throwing you a curveball' and 'sandbagging you completely.'

The best ones where the ones that had a puzzle at the end of the book which the correct answer would lead you to the page number with the best ending.

ObiFett

Munkus Beaver wrote: »

That wasn't a good part of CYOA. There was a reason why you always had a finger on the old page. There's a difference between 'throwing you a curveball' and 'sandbagging you completely.'

The best ones where the ones that had a puzzle at the end of the book which the correct answer would lead you to the page number with the best ending.

Puzzle =/= Adventure

I wanted something I couldn't completely predict. And every CYOA had that one choice that would screw you for no reason other than to make you think about every choice from then on. I think it was a great aspect of those books.

And yes, always keep a finger on the old page was an important thing to remember. Which turned out to be good because I was already conditioned to save often when RPG videogames came out.

Caveman Paws

I went through my local libraries entire selection of CYOAs as a kid. I can't remember the title, but there was one where you are a kid at a martial arts tourny, and you get swept up into a spy vs spy situation. Before you know what's what your training your night vision in dark rooms out in the woods with other CIA assassin youth, people are killing you with poison tipped needles hidden under their finger nails, etc.

Paranoia was not a listed side effect on the cover!

Beasteh

still racking my brains to figure out my favourite fighting fantasy book

was it island of the undead?

caverns of the snow witch?

island of the lizard king?

crypt of the sorcerer?

the keep of the lich lord?

Beasteh

Beasteh wrote: »

there was a fighting fantasy book that was my absolute favourite thing when i was a kid but i honestly cant remember the name

it had a bunch of gemstones in it, you kept a tally of the number of facets for secret pages

you started shipwrecked on the foggy shore of an island

uhhhh i wish i could remember more

oh at one point there is a graveyard full of wights

found it



god damn this book was the best

Virgil_Leads_You

I remember reading a bunch of Star Wars CYOA books at my local library as a kid.
You see, I love Star Wars.

DivideByZero

TrippyJing wrote: »

Horseshoe wrote: »

shit yeah i read this one

however my favorite was



i like how it says 'can be played' on the cover

as if somehow you were going to survive for more than three pages the first time you read it

which also can be played online

wouldnta known that if it hadn't been for someone on these here boards

HA. I survived for FIVE pages.

In the '80s, even the books were Nintendo hard.


This gamebooks page is really takin' me back.

ChicoBlue

I had a few of the Goosebumps books.

When I was young I had a little chart that I filled out saying which books I had read and how long it took me and whatnot.

Whenever I tried to read a Goosebumps CYOA it fucked my chart right up.

I remember in Trapped in Batwing Hall right at the start of the book there is an option to not go with the other kids my age to their little midnight horror club and the first time I decided not to go with them. And the book ended.

Does... does this mean I can put the book down on the chart?

No, of course not.

But I finished the book.

Not really.

But I sort of did...

Dichotomy

once I read a CYOA like a regular book, page to page, ignoring the instructions at the bottom

it was surprisingly coherent

BusterK

Dichotomy wrote: »

once I read a CYOA like a regular book, page to page, ignoring the instructions at the bottom

it was surprisingly coherent

Just pretend they are interweaving stories like an episode of The Love Boat

SLyM

I remember I read a fucking starwars one of these. It was pretty fucking terrible, in retrospect.

chiasaur11

Read a bunch of them as a wee lad. Standard, Trek, Batman...

Lot of wasted hours there.

Never got to the fighting fantasy ones, though.

Seeing this, I wish I had:

Druhim

Quoth, one of your cats is meowing for your attention.

If you give it a cat treat, turn to page 57.

If you let it outdoors, turn to page 33.

Dichotomy

you know

I am inclined to believe that book's claim

Solar

Dichotomy wrote: »

you know

I am inclined to believe that book's claim

I too am impressed by the way it backs up that premise

Tossrock

DivideByZero wrote: »

Yess, UFO 54-40!

Spoiler:

Huh. Way more sexual imagery on that cover than I remember.

man, the dude's proportions are alllll fucked up

little toy legs and a torso that just keeps going

Stale

That was my shit right there. I owned every one

DivideByZero

Tossrock wrote: »

DivideByZero wrote: »

Yess, UFO 54-40!

Spoiler:

Huh. Way more sexual imagery on that cover than I remember.

man, the dude's proportions are alllll fucked up

little toy legs and a torso that just keeps going

To be fair, Paul Granger spent all his time designing the vagina-headed alien.

Krummith

As a kid I loved the old CYOA books.

That's why I was so surprised to see this at my local library:



It's a brand new adult CYOA book.

Unfortunately I find the main charater to be unpleasant.

Other than that it's been fun.

Indie Winter

DivideByZero wrote: »

Yess, UFO 54-40!

Spoiler:

Huh. Way more sexual imagery on that cover than I remember.

yes thank you this is what I want

Caveman Paws

Quoth

Druhim wrote: »

Quoth, one of your cats is meowing for your attention.

If you give it a cat treat, turn to page 57.

If you let it outdoors, turn to page 33.

i turn to page 86

that is the page where i throw it in the bedroom and shut the door

DivideByZero

Oh my god this book-



one of the endings turned you into that blue alien thing in the mirror - permanently

another ending had you de-evolved into a slime mold (also permanently!)

...the nightmares, the nightmares...

Druhim

Quoth wrote: »

Druhim wrote: »

Quoth, one of your cats is meowing for your attention.

If you give it a cat treat, turn to page 57.

If you let it outdoors, turn to page 33.

i turn to page 86

that is the page where i throw it in the bedroom and shut the door

Your cat poops in your slippers and coughs up a hairball on your pillow.

Quoth

Druhim wrote: »

Quoth wrote: »

Druhim wrote: »

Quoth, one of your cats is meowing for your attention.

If you give it a cat treat, turn to page 57.

If you let it outdoors, turn to page 33.

i turn to page 86

that is the page where i throw it in the bedroom and shut the door

Your cat poops in your slippers and coughs up a hairball on your pillow.

dang it kitty, that's the third time today

turn to page 14, get the woolite and paper towels

Veretas

Holy shit there was an Animorphs CYOA?

I must have this. I would totally be the best animorph

chiasaur11

Veretas wrote: »

Holy shit there was an Animorphs CYOA?

I must have this. I would totally be the best animorph

Actually? At least 2.

Stale

Quoth wrote: »

Druhim wrote: »

Quoth wrote: »

Druhim wrote: »

Quoth, one of your cats is meowing for your attention.

If you give it a cat treat, turn to page 57.

If you let it outdoors, turn to page 33.

i turn to page 86

that is the page where i throw it in the bedroom and shut the door

Your cat poops in your slippers and coughs up a hairball on your pillow.

dang it kitty, that's the third time today

turn to page 14, get the woolite and paper towels

Turn to page 8 to give away the uppity useless cats, and adopt a shelter dog. Congratulations. You win.

Tommy2Hands

oh man I fucking loved lone wolf when I was 10

Quoth

i think by pure numbers, adopting four homeless cats > adopting one shelter dog

or is there a cat to dog ratio to figure this out

POKÉMON MASTER WT SHERMAN

my school library had all the space hawks cyoas

in hindsight they must have been awful but i loved them at the time

BoredGamer

Eight cats to one dog.

lostwords

Nintendo used to put out boatloads of CYOA that I loved dearly as a kid. They had like inventories and cool puzzles and everything. Too bad I always just borrowed them from the library and some jackass always wrote on the book and solved the puzzles. Harumph