If you know me from the times of Newsies and Pickpockets then you know what I’m going to share. About half a year ago, I wrote a game-book by the title of That’s Swell and placed it online on a blog. That’s Swell uses a simplified version of the rules of this game as my main target then was to convince the unbelievers that role-playing a newsboy could be great fun.
A game book, you said?
Just in case, game-books are books in which you can choose the outcome of the story by deciding what the main character is going to do. The writer becomes sort of a Game Master, while the player reads the story and chooses the next paragraph according to the options given in the text, the rules and a few dice rolls.
Taken online, the thing is easier as you only need to follow the links.
And how do you write a game-book on a blog?
Publishing an online game book can be kinda hard. It’s a pain to write such a large hypertext document and unless you know your CSS, the whole thing can be enormous in size, specially if you use a word processor.
With a blog it isn’t obvious, as blog platforms add navigational aids that are very cool when you are writing posts but that only confuse the reader of a game book.
So what’s a game-book author to do?
I’ll probably be writing some article on this one, but for the time being, the trick is writing the paragraphs as Pages. Remember that most blog platforms allow you to write “pages”, often used to display your “about” information. Yet, usually, there is no limit to the number of pages you can create and, as you can link those, they make perfect sense for a game-book.
In case you are still wondering
Why don’t you just try the game-book? Just keep reading and follow the links. You will be taken to the That’s Swell website, just so you know.
And so the game begins
“That’s swell” is a “Newsies & Bootblacks” adventure you can play right here and now just by following the links. You begin by creating a character; that should take you no time at all. You will be a 12 years old young boy or girl, who lives on his own in the great city of New Paris, somewhere southwards of New York City, around 1900.
You have no parents, so you have to earn your own money by selling papers, doing errands and perhaps delivering messages in and around New Paris. But New Paris is no ordinary city, there are always some strange rumor running, sightings of ghosts, stories about foreign spies, forgotten pirate treasures, mad scientists and perhaps, just perhaps wizards.
You’ll need:
- A few old fashioned six sided dice (about four, but you can get away with just one)
- Or use some online dice roller. It will open in another page or tab.
- Something to write like pencil and paper, or just open a text editor like notepad.
The rules
Don’t worry about them, I’ll be sharing them as you go. If you are curious, let me tell you, they are a simplified version of “Newsies & Pickpockets”, which is a role-playing game, I’m designing.
Some tips.
- Bookmark this game so you can play again, or continue where you left it.
- If you find some clue in the game, just note it down, so you don’t forget it.
Set?
Then start creating your own character.