https://projectaon.org/staff/david/

https://projectaon.org/staff/christian/gamebook.js/

which was, admittedly, a strange idea (an experimental mix between a gamebook and interactive fiction), which I explained there:

http://cjauvin.blogspot.com/2013/03/suspension-of-parser-dis...

Nowadays I would use an LLM for that, of course.

As we already had this book-independent character sheet, we decided to re-use it for the next book, carrying over all inventory and stats from the previous book, amassing a huge hoard of useful items during our journey across books.

One could call this 'cheating' - but it made the game much more fun and creative for us. What I hated about the books was that you could take a wrong turn at the beginning of the book, only to realize this at the end. "If you have a small silver key and a rope, continue on page 33, if not: you die.". Of course we got the key - we collected a few of them in previous books. And the whip we got in another book should work as a rope, too.

In an ecosystem that's been almost entirely consumed by upgrade treadmills and habit loops, it's a perfect counterpoint that is about storytelling and gameplay that's all about emphasizing craft.

I think that’s part of why the Souls games (and later Elden Ring) have such a fascinating fusion of East and West. Isolation necessitates imagination.

Does anyone remember the similar Narnia books? They were sort of in between CYOA and something like FF which are almost like a solo RPG