Comments on: I Was A Cretan (Cretin?)

By: tom west

tom west — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:56:24 +0000

you know, i’d wondered for ages what happened to the people who wrote what is dungeons &c..

http://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home for the lone wolf books. (of which only like 5 were the first core story, and then there was a half-spinoff, and later there was a total spinoff, and dear god the first one has just been reissued in HARDCOVER .. )

By: Con Coleman

Con Coleman — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:17:51 +0000

Carsmile’s experience is worryingly close to my own. I picked up WID&D in a bookshop while on holiday with my Mum and Dad (aged 12ish) and suddenly the FF books seemed like kids stuff - this was the real thing! About the same time the famous red box version of Basic D&D came out and it was goodbye adolescence!

Some pals of mine tried the Cretin Chronicles but abandoned them for being too dull. The worst gamebooks were the ones where you always had this niggling fear that you’d missed something, a fear realised when it turned out that you should have picked up the dead rat back in 143.

For anyone who hasn’t seen it already, take a look at http://www.the-underdogs.info/gamebook.php

You used to be able to get the Lone Wolf books as a sort of online adventure with an online character sheet.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:09:03 +0000

The illustrator for Lone Wolf used to be in mod band Secret Affair!

Their ‘thing’ was that the story continued from book to book (& you could pick up a new superpower-style skill each time) - they were very much the gamers’ gamebook. I think I got up to book 6 or something BUT there were a LOT more than 10! (28!!!)

By: Pete Baran

Pete Baran — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:44:04 +0000

They ring a bell, and I think they were quite good (by Jamie and wassisface who did lot of the 2nd gen Fighting Fantasy ones). I remember them being rollicking stories - which were often the problem with FF’s Then This Happens mode of storytelling.

By: chap

chap — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:29:04 +0000

Anyone else have a bash at the Lone Wolf series? There were like ten of them. I think I got about three books in before running out of patience/money. They were set in a comparitively well-realised world, as I recall.

By: CarsmileSteve

CarsmileSteve — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:49:42 +0000

and, of course, available on amazong for £0.01! must. resist…

By: CarsmileSteve

CarsmileSteve — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:46:52 +0000

that was no “book” it was a SERIOUS GATEWAY DRUQ! before i saw WID&D? in the library i was happily tootling away with fighting fantasy, maybe the odd choose your own adventure even. then i read WID&D? and suddenly there was this whole world of REALLY EXCITING SOUNDING other stuff going on, which led to my purchase of red box basic d&d for my tenth birthday, after which it was All Down Hill…

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:34:30 +0000

I am not actually sure it was even possible to “win” these though there might have been a ‘least worst’ option.

Butterfield, Honigmann and Parker were three Eton schoolboys who also wrote the book “WHAT IS DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS?” which featured a ridiculously optimistic ‘transcript’ of a D&D session.