Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Chapter 2

Phew, chapter 2 of my Camp Nano novel is done at last. It turned out to be a lot longer than chapter 1 but I’m going to post it anyway. Of course, despite its length you can still complete it in a few steps depending on which decisions you make.

If you’ve not done chapter 1 yet then start there (of course). I explain how this whole thing works there and I won’t repeat myself here.

If anyone has a suggestion for a title then please feel free to mention it in the comments! Also please point out any mistakes. This is a first draft and I haven’t even checked through it once yet…

P.S IT’S REALLY LONG

Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Chapter 1

I mentioned in my last posts (I almost wrote ‘recent’ instead of last, but…) that I was going to try writing a choose-your-own-adventure novel. I’ve finished the first chapter as part of Camp Nano (http://campnanowrimo.org), an event I’ve talked about in a previous post but which I will describe anyway. Participants attempt to write 50,000 words in one month. which works out as 1,616 words every day. I’m already falling behind… That is to be expected, though, as no good nanowrimo/camp nano attempt ever goes without a last-minute rush for the word count on the last day. If you’ve been meaning to get round to writing something but never quite managed it then you should definitely try it this month or in November (http://www.nanowrimo.org/). The idea is to write without editing anything, just get it on the page so you have something to work with.

Anyway, here’s chapter 1. The sections are all ordered, unlike other choose-your-own-adventures, but only because it’s easier to write it that way. I’ll jumble them up at the end. Start with section 1 and scroll down or use ctrl+f to find the section appropriate to the decisions you make. It’s not too complicated!

Note that there is a proper end because it’s only the first chapter, but you may find yourself at a section which says [end]. That would be because you’ve died (sorry).

If you find any mistakes then please point them out. Editing this will be tricky and this is just a first draft.

Enjoy.

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Untitled Adventure

[1] (start)

You wake up with your face underwater and panic. The splashing of your arms echoes around you. No-one ever taught you how to swim and your feet can’t find the floor. You sink into the cool water but as it reaches up to stroke your mouth your hand hits something and you grab onto it. It feels like a metal rail. Opening your eyes is difficult, but you do it.

You’re in one of many pools in a long room. The walls are white and the water you’re in is bright blue. Fluorescent lights flicker on the ceiling. They do a poor job of illuminating the room. The water and the air around you are cool. There is a chemical smell in the air.

These impressions bombard your senses. You feel like you’ve been asleep for a long time, so long that your senses are all brand new.

You shiver. You’re wearing a thin rubber bodysuit that stretches from your ankles to your neck and your wrists, but it isn’t enough to keep you warm.

Do you climb out [2] or investigate the pool [3]?

The Adventures of Ian ‘Feeling Lucky’ Punk, Part 2: More Death

I continue my journey as Ian ‘Feeling Lucky’ Punk (I swear this joke isn’t getting old for me) and come across another door, which of course I explore. I mean, there isn’t really anything else to do in a dungeon. The door slams shut behind me. I suspect this won’t be the last time that happens in this place. I receive a magic gold ring.

I then come to a column of light containing disembodied faces laughing maniacally.

Sure I’ll walk through it. What could go wrong? Doing so gives me a poem containing advice.

More events transpire and I acquire a dagger, run away from a giant fly, fall down a pit, find a ruby, talk to a nice old man, reach section 100 (nothing special happens) and section 87, which reads only ‘The door opens into a large room. Turn to 381’, making it fairly pointless. I suspect it’s only there to make the total number of sections 400 rather than 399.

In this room there’s a skeleton with a sword and a piece of parchment in its hand. I know what’s going to happen but I can’t resist the temptation. The Punk is feeling lucky (still not old), so he touches the parchment.

The skeleton jumps up and attacks but I somehow manage to defeat it without being too badly mauled. Winning earns me a map and some more bad poetry. This map has a room with a large monster drawn in the middle. I’m sure that will be really useful, thanks. The middle of the room, not the edge.

The Adventures of Ian ‘Feeling Lucky’ Punk, Part 1: The Adventure Begins (and ends twice)

This post is something different to anything I’ve done before, but that doesn’t mean it will be original. It’s a write-up of my progress through Deathtrap Dungeon, a choose-your-own-adventure book. (That’s one of these.) I’ll be playing the part of a character trying to navigate his way through the dungeon to reach fame, glory, wealth and so on. For these kinds of books the reader makes the decisions about what to do.

I stole this idea from a cool blog I came across, but stole it for a reason. A friend and I are writing a choose-your-own-adventure story and I’m doing ‘research’ by playing the old Fighting Fantasy game books I have. I’m going to go through them and decide what I like and dislike about them, which will help me when writing my own, with any luck.

I roll up the stats for my character a discover that luck is in plentiful supply, though nothing else is. Ian ‘Feeling Lucky’ Punk, as my character shall be called, has a pathetic 7 skill and 15 stamina but the maximum of 12 luck. He’s going to have to rely on his wits and charm to get through this alive. Oh, and possibly the old befriend-betray trick if he meets one of the other contestants in the dungeon.

Note 1: I don’t want to use dice or stats in my adventure; it’s supposed to be about making decisions, and the luck undermines that a bit. Well, not always, as when you’re low on stamina you have to play more carefully, which informs the decisions you make, but chance can punish you even if you make the right decisions. That’s not what I want to do with my adventure.