The Beast and the Forgotten Tribesman

JoshuaCalkins
Greetings and salutations, all. I'm putting up this post in the hopes that I might earn some feedback from folks on my first Gamebook on textadventures, 'The Beast and the Forgotten Tribesman'. This Gamebook is based on the short story of the same name, written by Joshua T. Calkins-Treworgy and published by Untreed Reads.

I have only one similar bit of experience with programming/game building prior to working with Quest here, and that was a copy of RPG Maker for the Playstation One game console. I'm hoping some more folks might be interested in playing the game through and letting me know what they think of this version of the story.

The Pixie
Hi. Can you give a link to it?


Entropic Pen
Just a head's up from someone who both plays and creates gamebooks: It is NEVER a good sign when one of the first choices you make in a game can kill you especially when the choice seems as innocent (and actually smart) as going up to ground level from the subway.

As for the story I have to ask: Was ''The Beast and the Forgotten Tribesman" a short story about a guy getting chased in the subway? If so, both this gamebook and short story are almost the equivalent of a low-budget monster flick. "Almost" because even monster flicks give backstory on the monster... this is literally about a monster that just kills people for the sake of killing people.

One thing I have to say is that the death scenes are very creative and visceral which is something that I can't say about a lot of other gamebooks.

JoshuaCalkins
Actually, Entropic, in the original story the Gamebook was based on, the subway was just a start point for the chase that ensued. The story offers no background for the Beast itself, though much of the odd and unsettling urban legend saturation of the place where the tale is set, Amelia City, is looked at to establish mood.

Background information isn't always necessary for short horror to be effective and engaging narrative. Try reading 'The Hellbound Heart' by Clive Barker; we learn almost nothing about the Order of the Gash, those creatures which would later become better known as the Cenobites in the Hellraiser films which were spawned from the novella. You won't hear a lot of folks complaining about the lack of background there.

My best advice would be to recommend getting a copy the short story this Gamebook was based upon and checking it out for yourself. As for the game itself, yeah, I'm kind of extremely new to all of this game-building.

Entropic Pen
Okay, you've got a point there

As for you being new to Quest, a lot of us were and if you'd like I've been publishing code that can spice up your gamebook if you'd like over at...

http://forum.textadventures.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4025

I might be publishing the gamebook quick-reaction system I've developed for my "Videogame Master" series which is kinda like a hybrid of a turn-based combat system and quick-time events... which means for your game if so choose means that the player can fight back against the monster if they're cornered.

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