The latest addition to the downloads page is another by Tammy Badowski (author of Grekgun). It's a 200-reference FF gamebook set in Darkwood Forest and Stonebridge.
Note - the DOCX version is the original. The MS-Word version is a conversion that I made using Open Office.
Robert Douglas Wed Sep 26 15:49:08 2012 General Chat
@ Tammy,
Not sure if you follow the guestbook, but it's great to see you still writing adventures! I was surprised you didn't enter the Windhammer Competition. Look forward to reading TDL!
We were just discussing the role of females in FF - I must apologise in forgetting: you are one of them! Unless Tammy is also a boy's name (in which case I'm a bit of an ignoramus!) or that you chose it as an alias.
Right. We'll need a sample of male volunteers for significance tests, a control sample of female volunteers to know how much less escapism unmodified human females engage in in comparison to the male sample, and finally a hard-core female volunteer sample which we will modify to see which modifications result in an escapism level indistinguishable from the male sample. The final abstract would look something like this:
"We study the level of escapist activity in homo sapien females as a function of hormone injections, shower denial, facial shaving frequency, and availability, or lack thereof, of fresh clothes. We find that..."
I don't think escapism comes into it (see female romantic literature from Sheharazade to Harry Potter).
Gamebook qualities which are intrinsically masculine (with strong geek leanings):
1. solitary; 2. mathematics and statistics based; 3. puzzel based; 4. requires obssesive attention to detail; and 5. retro, obscure, sub-cultural.
Gamebook qualities which could be changed, but which are currently very masculine (with strong geek leanings):
6. violent and gory; 7. focussed on antagonism, danger, weapons and combat; 8. almost always feature male protagonist; 9. rarely feature female characters who are not either maidens, wise-women or femmes fatales (i.e. madonna, mother or whore); 10. narrative is usually of the "lone underdog saves world"/power-trip of the once-bullied variety; and 11. little emphasis on emotions, the development of relationships, or foot-wear.
Good luck guys.
Robert Douglas Fri Sep 28 12:01:59 2012 General Chat
@ Aitken,
By escapism, I was referring to the 'fantasy' part of the genre. How male players become lost for hours in playing gamebooks and computer games, enjoying the strengths and background of a fictional character. I'm not sure, but I think World of Warcraft - for example - is popular with both male and female. Many girls probably enjoy the magical and exploration side to this particular fantasy.
I'd also forgotten about Knightmare - a TV programme where some teams consisted of girls. They were either games enthusiasts, or enjoyed the social-side and solving puzzles, or both. And Time Commanders: again, some teams had women who really got into the strategy side (there was some degree of excitement on their part) but I still believe it's really more a sense of female sociability, taking part - whereas men get a little gung-ho, macho, enjoying the battle-scenes, etc.
JK Rowling's Harry Potter are great adventures but, as her characters reach teenage years, she focuses more on their relationships (circa 'Goblet of Fire'). I'm not sure what Harry Potter would have been like if the author had been a man. I think men are capable of introducing romantisicm to a story, but this is often a secondary element in their books: Ian Fleming (action/adventure/spy), James Herbert (Horror/Ghost/Thriller), Bernard Cornwell (Historical/Modern Action/Adventure), to name but a few.
I think men would emphasize footwear only if they have a foot fetish (pardon for mentioning this!).
I don't think escapism comes into it (see female romantic literature from Sheharazade to Harry Potter).
Gamebook qualities which are intrinsically masculine (with strong geek leanings):
1. solitary; 2. mathematics and statistics based; 3. puzzel based; 4. requires obssesive attention to detail; and 5. retro, obscure, sub-cultural.
Gamebook qualities which could be changed, but which are currently very masculine (with strong geek leanings):
6. violent and gory; 7. focussed on antagonism, danger, weapons and combat; 8. almost always feature male protagonist; 9. rarely feature female characters who are not either maidens, wise-women or femmes fatales (i.e. madonna, mother or whore); 10. narrative is usually of the "lone underdog saves world"/power-trip of the once-bullied variety; and 11. little emphasis on emotions, the development of relationships, or foot-wear.
Ha, having laptop troubles so couldn't post. I actually faintly remember Knightmare, I watched it when I was a kid (could have been re-runs). I never saw anyone finish it though. But at the topic at hand, I do not pretend to understand women, and I doubt I'm going to be able to any time soon. But we might have some real ground-breaking stuff here. I want my share of the riches we'll make! Maybe I'll actually have a chance then :-D
@Glen As demanding as Final Fantasy is, it is NOTHING compared to the 300+ beast that is Monster Hunter. It's a hard ass game for hard ass gamers. If you want to keep your life, DO NOT PLAY IT! It will eat your life away.
Hi all, I recently converted 'house of horror' into a game. If some of you would like to see/play it, i will post the link to it here (don't know if i can post links here). I had Gaetano's permission to use his gamebook. The game is free of course.
No harm in trying it i guess. Just pray you didn't ruin it. And i'd actually like to see Curse Of Drumer as a game. Typing this in on a phone so apologies if it looks weird in any way.
Omfg i've finally met another monster hunter player! Which one do you play? I'm doing Freedom Unite on the PSP. Not too far in yet but getting there. I think the game never really took off outside of Japan cause it was too hardcore for most people in the west. I got it for like 10 euro at gamestop. Almost as good a bargain as Final Fantasy 10 for 5 quid! Being a niche gamer is awesome.
Actually, MH was very popular among my friends. I played it by far the least. The only version I played in any depth was the PS2 edition: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/914914-monster-hunter.
I saw the PSP version in the store and it has been tempting me for quite some time, but since the birth of our little boy I haven't touched a gaming device! (Save for some gamebooks on trains.) I think they will have to wait some time for me.
Hey there Pat. Got around to playing the House of Horror game. And I'm afraid that there's one gaping problem.....
It won't go past paragraph 1. I've tried pressing space like you do to go through the other menus and tried clicking where it says to, but it won't bloody work!!!!! And the presentation seemed so promising...
Maybe I'm just doing something wrong. But the one thing I did get to see was
SPOILER
the face. Damn, that was a nice touch. Reminds me that this book was meant to be scary.
@c-star: Click on the big arrow in the hud (it turns green when your pointer goes over it), You will get a little popup-list with all the exits to choose from in it. The game has some scary effects in it, i like playing it in the dark at night ;-)
That's what I've being doing. It won't click, it won't even go green. I've tried pressing tab to see all objects that are clickable, but that doesn't work. Maybe it's just my laptop's problem?