CYOA: An acronym for Choose Your Own Adventure, a gimmicky genre of books (typically intended for children) which allows them to direct the actions of the protagonists.The Bay12 CYOAuthorship So FarYou may be familiar with the concept of a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Have you ever considered writing one? So have I! And now we have a chance to work on one all together!
ConceptObviously, before we can make a CYOA book, we need a pitch. It requires a title, a concept, and ideally the starting scenario. Example (based on a real CYOA book):
The Genie in the Bottle
You find a genie! What will you do? The protagonist finds a bottle containing a genie while walking along the beach, and the genie begins granting wishes to him.Ideally, you'd provide a bit more detail, but hey, I won't judge if you only want to provide a few sentences. Just keep a few guidelines in mind...
1. Interesting: The concept should be, you know, interesting. At the very least, a science fair gone wrong or something.
2. AFGNCAAP: The identity of the protagonist should not be a major component of the story.
3. Open-Ended: Lots of potential things need to happen.
SystemEveryone gets to submit Actions, much like a Suggestion Game. Also like some suggestion games, general success is determined by rolling a d20. Unlike a suggestion game, everyone takes their own path (more or less).
The Coauthors (y'all) start with 5 Writer Points (WP). You spend WP to either guide the story or occasionally make new options. They can earn WP as well.
In general, you gain 1 WP. You also spend 1 WP for each previous action on that page--e.g, for the second you would break even, for the third you would net spend one, and so forth.
You also spend WP for out of character or unusual actions. Minor examples (Indy getting into a swordfight instead of shooting) may cost 1-2 WP; moderate examples (Nale shooting Elan) cost 3-4 WP; and extreme examples (damn near anyone streaking) may charge 5 WP or be barred altogether.
You can also modify the odds of success with WP. For one WP, you may eliminate any 5-number sequence from the roll--e.g, instead of rolling 1-20, you could have success rolled 6-20 or 1-15. (Or 1-8/14-20, if you're weird.) You can do this multiple times per action.
Reaching an Ending gives WP depending on how "good" it is; a happy or satisfying ending gives 3 WP, a premature and abrupt ending gives 1 WP, and an absolutely bonkers ending costs 1 WP! (Although you'd have to be trying to get that penalty...)
Additional WP may be assigned or deducted for various reasons, including clever writing, helping the GM, and developing a major plot path.
You may not spend WP on anything if you do not have at least 1 WP.
The book is currently estimated to end with 75 action pages; once we get to 40-50 I will adjust costs and possibly page goals depending on the state of the book.
CoauthorshipThe final order of "Coauthors" in the official list will be based on the following formula:
WP*(Pages Written+(Endings Written^1.5)) (minimum [Pages+Endings])
Whoever has the highest score will be first, followed by the one with the second-highest and so on. This formula may be tweaked without warning (on that note, please provide criticism), but in general the importance of saving WP for the end (eg, not spending too many), getting pages written, AND finding endings will be important. Think of this as a crude "High Score" list.
Cognition? Concepts? Condemnation?
Author
Topic: Bay12 CYOAuthorship (Read 5210 times)