Sunday 19 August 2012

Page-Sized Gamebooks


So after Kurthl33t commented on my Format of Gamebooks post I started thinking about all the page-sized adventures out there, and decided to write one myself. I find these teeny-tiny gamebooks to be a lovely way to use a minute or so. It's interesting to see how authors use their lack of space; what they consider important to the story, and what can be omitted to make more room. 
Here are a few page-sized adventure links for you to enjoy:

You can download this adventure in the proper page-size format on the My Works page, and here.

A Tiny Adventure by Jake Care
Items you may collect are in italics, note them here
Items:


1
You are reading Jake Care’s Gamebooks blog at your computer, when suddenly you realize that you have shrunk to the size of a mouse. (Send an email for help? 6) (Climb down to the floor? 2)

2
Your room is kinda messy, making it a difficult terrain to navigate. (Go under your bed 3) (Go to the bathroom? 9)  (Go to the kitchen? 14) (Out the window, if you have a grappling hook? 5)

3
Under your bed there is a copious amount of dust and other crap. The only thing of use you can lift is a pen cap. (Get back to your room? 2) (Go into the air duct? 4)

4
The ducts are claustrophobic, even for your tiny size. From here you can get to pretty much anywhere in your house. (Go to the basement? 8) (Go to your room? 2) (Go to the bathroom? 9) (Go to the kitchen? 14)

5
Outside you make your way through the grass that surrounds your house. With your small stature the tall grass seems like a forest around you.
(Run out into the street calling for help? 6) (Go into the garden? 10) (Climb the vine into your house? 2)

6
It isn’t long before people come over to see you in your shrunken state. You end up being in the newspaper and having your name in all the records books and weird phenomena archives. You live out the rest of your days with scientists doing tests on you and people taking pictures of you. The end.

7
The kitty pounces on you. It plays with your for a bit since you are so much fun before it claws you to death. Good kitty. The end.

8
Your basement is cold and dark. In one wall you see a mouse hole, other than that is empty. Better get an exterminator if you ever return to full size. (Go into the mouse hole? 11) (Go into the ducts? 4)

9
Your bathroom is nice and clean, however with your stature using the facilities is out of the question. You climb up your laundry hamper to the sink. There you find some dental floss and a safety which you make into a grappling hook. (Go to your room? 2) (Go into the ducts? 4) (Go to the kitchen? 14)

10
The garden is wondrous to explore at your stature; it’s like some kind of jungle. Suddenly through the brush a giant cat bursts towards you. (Throw it a piece of chicken, if you have one? 12) (Run? 7)

11
The mouse hole leads you through a labyrinth of passages until you come a strange dead end. All the passages seem to meet up and continue in circle except this one dead end. You tap on it and find a hollow sound. (Knock it down with a blunt instrument, if you have a pen cap? 13) (Get out? 8)

12
The cat runs after the chicken, leaving you to run off. As you are running through the garden you see a key lying beside one of the flowers. This key is small enough to fit into your shrunken hand, oddly enough. You may take the tiny key if you wish. (Run out into the street calling for help? 6) (Climb the vine into your house? 2)

13
The wall gives way and leads you into a strange alcove with a glowing box. There is a keyhole in the box and no other clues as to what to do with it. (Put the key in the keyhole, if you have a tiny key? 15) (Find your way out? 8)

14
Your kitchen hasn’t been cleaned. As soon as you return to normal size you’d better do that. In fact you find a small piece of chicken you must have dropped last night. You may take this chicken if you want. (Go to your room? 2) (Go to the bathroom? 9) (Go into the air duct? 4)

15
You put the key in the lock and turn it. Suddenly you feel yourself growing larger. You expand until you can't fit in the room! You feel the wall break behind you as you spill out onto your basement floor returning to normal size. Looking back at the remains of the wall you just broke out of you can’t find the strange box. How on earth are you going to explain this to the home repair contractors? Your house insurance sure as hell won’t cover this. The end.

6 comments:

  1. I do enjoy a good miniature gamebook and I will try the ones you listed.

    I enjoyed your gamebook :). Is 13 supposed to lead to 15 if you have the tiny key?

    Andrew Wright has also written three one page adventures - In the Shade of the Pango Tree, Debacle at Dead Man's Inn and Into the Valley of Halos. They can be found here:

    http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/titan_rebuilding/files/Amateur%20Adventures/

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it! And indeed you are right; I've just updated it to fix that error (and fixed a rogue spelling error too!)

      Thanks for pointing out those other adventures by Andrew Wright! They look great! :)

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  2. A really nice post. :0).

    I had never heard of Pagequest before, which is amazing considering the elegance of the mechanics at work.

    Will definitely have to share that one with my readership!

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    1. Glad you liked the post :)

      I found PageQuest while surfing around on gamebooks.org for titles missing from my collection :p And please do share! That's what this blog is all about ;)

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  3. The piece of chicken seems to magically turn into a granola bar in 12.

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    1. Rats! Well, this clearly demonstrates the importance of editing. (There's a long story behind that granola bar) I'll fix that up right away.

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