Steve Jackson is my bro

[sachmo71]

[sachmo71]

and i'm sorry. sometimes it just has to be done.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Car Wars was da domb, yo.

Never much did get into "Ogre."

[sachmo71]

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/

[Pumpy Tudors]

Steve Jackson is in your bro?!?

[rkmsuf]

I prefer manzere.

Bro is too ethnic.

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Steve Jackson is in your bro?!?

That's gonna leave a mark.

[Schmidty]

I remember spending the summers of my youth continually playing football and basketball all day, and then games like Carwars, Gamma World, AD&D, and HERO (the superhero one) all night with my best friends.

Damn, I miss being a kid.

[Antmeister]

I was a huge fan of Steve Jackson games. My summers were usually spent playing Car Wars, GURPS, and Ogre. The only game outside of Steve Jackson's was Marvel Superheroes. GURPS got most of my attention since you could customize it to play any genre.

To this day, I still have a few of my campaign books and I don't even know why since I don't plan on playing them ever again. I even have hte original Cyberpunk campaign which is out of print and stirred up some controversy at its time.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

I was a huge fan of Steve Jackson games. My summers were usually spent playing Car Wars, GURPS, and Ogre. The only game outside of Steve Jackson's was Marvel Superheroes. GURPS got most of my attention since you could customize it to play any genre.

To this day, I still have a few of my campaign books and I don't even know why since I don't plan on playing them ever again. I even have hte original Cyberpunk campaign which is out of print and stirred up some controversy at its time.

Ah, yes GURPS. Generic Universal Roleplaying System. I forgot to mention that one. I actually played that one more when I was at the end of my high school career (and after) back in the early-mid 90's.

I'd still be playing RPGs, but it's hard to find good groups now days, plus I don't know any fellow nerds up here in WA.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

I'd still be playing RPGs, but it's hard to find good groups now days, plus I don't know any fellow nerds up here in WA.

You're close to Redmond, right? I'm sure there might be some lurking around there.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by cartman

You're close to Redmond, right? I'm sure there might be some lurking around there.

That's a different breed of nerd down there.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/

The memories. That bastard was the reason why I got into fantasy books. It started with that game, then it moved to roleplaying "choose your own adventure" books, then it eventually led to actually fantasy fiction where David Gemmell is still my favorite author.

Watch out sachmo, your parody thread had just got serious since I number of us are having really strong flashbacks.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

then it moved to roleplaying "choose your own adventure" books

You mean like the "Lone Wolf" series? Those books were the only things that got me through 8th and 9th grade summer school.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

You mean like the "Lone Wolf" series? Those books were the only things that got me through 8th and 9th grade summer school.

I believe so. But it was that and the AD&D books where you actually needed dice to get through the story and the bookmark was your character sheet.

[Antmeister]

And what do you know. I found a picture of it.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

And what do you know. I found a picture of it.

Holy crap, I totally forgot about those. You're bringing tears to my eyes, Ant.


Here's the series I was talking about:



I think I'm going to have to try to find all this shit on Ebay and have some sentimental fun.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

And what do you know. I found a picture of it.

I loved those books! I know I had one set in "Ravenloft" and at least a few others.

[JeeberD]

I was more into these...

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

Holy crap, I totally forgot about those. You're bringing tears to my eyes, Ant.


Here's the series I was talking about:



I think I'm going to have to try to find all this shit on Ebay and have some sentimental fun.

Damn....yes I had those books as well.

[JeeberD]

Dola-

Damn...those are big.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I can't believe that this parody thread has gone so far.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I can't believe that this parody thread has gone so far.

Never underestimate the power of a geek.

[cartman]

I had pretty much the whole set of "Choose Your Own Adventure" books back in grade school. The first pic from Jeebs was the first one I read. They are still probably in the closet of my old room at my parent's house.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Dola-

Damn...those are big.

I read most of those books when I was in the 6th grade. My teacher had a huge collection of them. I even tried to write my own that year. It's funny that you were into them as well since you are 6 frickin years younger than me. Youngin.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I can't believe that this parody thread has gone so far.

It still has a long way to go to top Oliegirl's all-time classic parody thread.

[JeeberD]

I have older siblings, old timer. They were theirs first and then got passed down to me.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by cartman

It still has a long way to go to top Oliegirl's all-time classic parody thread.

Mine had some pretty good legs...

[Schmidty]

I used to read Choose Your Own Adventure in middle school, but I always cheated, so they weren't very fun.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

I have older siblings, old timer. They were theirs first and then got passed down to me.

I wasn't implying that you couldn't have read them. I just thought it was a fad that had died six years later.

[JeeberD]

I know. I just wanted to call you old timer...

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

I know. I just wanted to call you old timer...

You Dolabastard!

[Mustang]

There should be a FOFC game night somewhere....

I'll bring the Dark Tower game.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Mustang

I'll bring the Dark Tower game.

Oh no, Brigands!

dum dum dee dum, dum dee dum dum dum

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by cartman

Oh no, Brigands!

dum dum dee dum, dum dee dum dum dum

I still can't believe the Dark Tower game was like $80 when it first came out. Might as well have been a million. I didn't get one until 2001 off Ebay for $200....

I now have 4 in my house...

My geekness has no boundaries....

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by cartman

Oh no, Brigands!

dum dum dee dum, dum dee dum dum dum

Heh! I used to play that game with just the Dark Tower, sans board, before going to bed. Man that was a fun game. I think that and "Dungeon" pretty much ruled the day as far as "fantasy" boardgames went.

These were long before the "Games Workshop" games like "Tailsman" and "Blood Bowl" came about. At least in the U.S.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

These were long before the "Games Workshop" games like "Tailsman" and "Blood Bowl" came about. At least in the U.S.

Don't forget Heros Quest by Milton Bradley with expansion packs.

[cartman]

It looks like the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books are coming back!

hxxp://chooseco.com/press.htm

You are R.A. Montgomery, creator of "Choose Your Own Adventure." You began a young reader phenomenon almost 30 years ago. Your books have sold hundreds of millions of copies.

Now the readers who grew up with your stories are becoming parents themselves. They'd love to give their children the same opportunity, but your books have been out of print for almost 10 years because your publishing company lost interest.

What should you do?

If you rest on your laurels and reminisce about the old days, don't bother turning the page.

If you ditch business as usual, start your own publishing company and sell another million on your own, keep reading.

Because for this septuagenarian, that's just the beginning.

ADVENTURES GALORE

"Choose Your Own Adventure" titles have sold at least 250 million copies around the world since the series debuted with Bantam Books in 1978, and anyone who remembers reading them probably knows why.

You were the protagonist. When you're 9 years old, that's a pretty exhilarating feeling. Your fate depended on the choices you made at the bottom of each page. Each installment had dozens of endings, and the more rabid fans (including yours truly) wanted to experience every one.

Depending on which book you chose, you could end up chasing abominable snowmen, waging war with the Evil Power Master, penetrating police states or learning the ways of the ninja.

It turns out the addiction was reciprocal, though for slightly different reasons.

"It really does stimulate kids to read and to think and to begin the process of making decisions -- to be responsible in a world that is demanding responsibility more so now than ever before," Montgomery said during an interview at his headquarters in Vermont.

Shannon Gilligan, Montgomery's wife and frequent "Adventure" author, heads up Chooseco, the publishing half of "Choose Your Own Adventure." In the three years since the duo decided to choose their own adventure, the loquacious Gilligan has almost single-handedly replaced the strong-armed publicity department of Random House, Bantam's mother ship.

When ownership of most of the "Adventure" titles reverted back to Montgomery in the late 1990s after the original pressings went out of print, Gilligan didn't intend to shun the traditional author-publisher relationship. But as she approached more and more industry Goliaths, she realized that "Adventure" stood to make more money as a David.

"We approached several major New York publishers and we even got offers from three of them," Gilligan said via e-mail. "But it was really clear from the offers that they did not 'get' Choose, nor did they see its huge potential on a re-launch to the original fans who were now becoming parents."

So Montgomery, Gilligan and their attorney Gordon Troy crunched a few numbers. To their surprise, Choose Your Own Adventure ranked second behind only Coca-Cola in a Harvard Business School study of positive brand recognition among 25- to 32-year-old readers. Nostalgia helped Montgomery's series score a 78 percent rating among that age group.

"The research company was so astounded with the numbers they got that they ran them twice," Gilligan said. "They couldn't believe that `Choose Your Own Adventure' had a recognition rating up there with Nike and Coke."

Montgomery decided to update and reissue 18 of the original Adventure books. The reward of turning this page far outweighed the risk.

LONE WOLF

"Everyone said you are crazy to do this yourself, that we weren't a publisher," Montgomery said. "We thought, `We believe in these books and we believe we can get them out there.'"

So far, getting the Adventures into young readers' hands hasn't been a problem. Montgomery has teamed up with Boston-based Sundance Publishing, which distributes books directly to schools, and used his two decades in the business to ship his stories directly to bookstores.

Scott Flora, Executive Director of the Small Publishing Association of North America, believes there's a lot more to Montgomery's plan than a cavalier business model.

"One reason to do something like this is they can make a lot more money," Flora says. "Let's say they get 50 cents to a dollar per book through a publishing company. By doing it themselves, they could get $3 a book."

Hmmm. If Montgomery and Gilligan stand to make $3 for every story, and they've shipped over 900,000 copies of their revamped lineup -- well, that sure looks like a happy ending.

Montgomery insists this isn't just about economics, though. "We wanted to have control over the rewrites, all the editing, all the interior art and the covers," he said.

The Adventure doesn't end here. Montgomery and Gilligan have even bigger plans for Chooseco. Interactive video games. Maybe even DVDs.

"We see the paradigm of interactive literature as being wider than just books itself," Montgomery said. "As we look at the electronic games that are out there right now, they are not cognitive. They are basically eye-hand coordination games. We believe that there is space for a truly open-ended cooperative cognitive electronic game."

Watch out, thirtysomethings. All that money your parents spent on Choose Your Own Adventure books was but a prelude. If Chooseco has its way, there will be even more adventures for the next generation.

Then again, the choice is yours.

[Glengoyne]

Car wars was fun, although I only played one time.

I did play the hell out of Ogre though.

[sachmo71]

I think I still have most of my old CYOA books. My favorite was Race Forever, then Space Patrol. Inside UFO 54-40 sucked.