Even obtaining the secret of immortality which is contained in the ancient evil of Kaschuf the Deathless. Or a city of ghosts that guards the Shadar's treasure vaults. Like releasing the High King from his frozen tomb. You could find a passage to the other side, you would continue your adventure in the Plains of Howling Darkness in book four.Įxploration brought forward many interesting and sometimes bizarre quests. When you reach the high peaks of the mountains in the north of Sokara in book one and, for example, Instead, a full-fledged open world which you can roam freely across six books,Įach of the books representing a single location. There is no main arc, no plot to advance. Walked the trails of the Weeping Jungle,Ī land rarely seen by foreigners, and faced the wrath of the Serpent King, Namagal.Ī ship awaited me to take me to the wondrous lands of Harkuna where my small fortune had to be spent…įabled Lands feels like a computer game on paper. I explored the ruined Tarshesh, the city of ghosts, and wandered into Elaz Carnaquen, the spirit realm. I quickly got my hands on the aforementioned book 7, The Serpent King’s Domain, and delved into the mysteries of Ankon-Konu, the Feathered Lands. It felt like sharing a roleplaying session with an amazing DM where the story was up to the player to tell. I kept retelling the stories of my hero’s adventures to all my friends for a whole week. Also, it was full of different quests in a gorgeous setting. Oh, boy was I in for a treat! Progressing within the game was a puzzle on its own. Couldn’t shake the thought of failing a gamebook though so I gave it another try. I got frustrated quickly and threw it away. I could hardly do anything with it! Completely open world with loads of choices and not a clue what to do. There was a demo of merely 100-120 sections available for download. I discovered it when the Kickstarter campaign for book 7 was successfully funded. I am quite a late bloomer regarding the Fabled Lands. Not only that, it seemed like, although incomplete, the series spawned some of the mostįaithful fans who cherished the experience many years later. Turns out it never got translated and published in my country. I was flabbergasted when I discovered later that there is another series by Dave and Jamie called Fabled Lands. These, alongside The Way of the Tiger gamebooks, were undoubtedly the most epic series of interactive fiction for my generation during the 90s. Together they read and made choices, fought on battle grids and advanced the plot. One could be a stealthy Trickster – a master of dodging techniques and archery or an Enchanter with a list of powerful spells like Mists of Death or Nemesis Bolt. In each one up to four players could take the role of a character from a predefined set of classes. These gamebooks were very different from the ones I had. In fact, soon I’ll write a blog post on how my close friends and I resurrected the nice tradition of playing DnD regularly and how this helped me as a game dev.īack in the day the thing that came the closest to an RPG were the Bloodsword gamebooks by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson (subsequently I found Jamie Thomson was involved too). The jump from gamebooks to pen’n’paper RPGs felt like a natural evolution. And all because one of the players happened to spot the symbol for ruins in a corner of the map. Soon they’re ready to set out on a new expedition. Another considers the supplies the party will need. One of the players has the sea captain skill, and he plots a course. ‘Many claim it’s the stronghold of the legendary hero Hrugga – though that’s surely just a myth.’ Even as the Coke cans fizz and the bag of tortilla chips is being popped open, somebody looks at the mapĪnd says, ‘I hear there’s an abandoned fortress out on the tidal flats.’ Pondering how to tackle this subject, I turn for guidance to my favorite quote from Dave Morris’s Fabled Lands blog: I am more than happy to announce that Prime Games will undertake the task of delivering a full-fledged computer game based on the epic Fabled Lands series from the 90s!īut how about I step back and tell you.
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