http://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/HomeBack in the 90s, when people still read for fun, I was in grade school. And I ran across a book at the library book sale that even now, 15 some odd years later, I still cherish.
What the hell am I doing talkin' 'bout books in other games? I'm talkin' Lone Wolf, that's what, perhaps the greatest Choose your Own Adventure series ever written. What sets it apart from all the other CYOA books out there is Joe Dever created a simplistic yet lovable game system to back it up. The series spans 20+ books in just the Lone Wolf saga alone (he published others but none were ever quite as popular.)
Again, why am I talking about a book on a forum devoted to video games?
Because the excellent people at Project Aon have put all his books online, with his blessings, and done tons and tons of restorative work on the series. They've written tools and programs that practically convert his books into full-fledged text adventure games on the PC.
Someone has even gone so far as to write a full program that downloads the books, arranges them on a UI with tabular format and automates all the rules systems, right down the random number table.
SeventhSense
You can customize the shit out of SeventhSense too, down to the font you want it to use, various text handling options, game play rules (normal, hardcore or custom)(dualwielding, how you hold your shield, how healing works, a ton of crap) special challenge modes....it's a very robust little program.
SeventhSense readers, always save your game before you quit the program if you allowed for it. And never, EVER hit the "Restart from scratch on this book" or "Restart the campaign from scratch" buttons unless you really mean to. It will DELETE ALL YOUR CAMPAIGN DATA. Always use "Restart this book using saved campaign data". You can't "rebuild" your LW character...you either have to start over, or start from scratch at your current book.
Also, Esc automatically exits the game, no questions asked. So don't do that either.A little background on Lone Wolf:
You're the last surviving member of a group of warrior monks, the Kai, whose sole duty is to protect Magnamund from the predations of the Darklords. Throughout time, the Kai Lords have taught the sons of nobles in the ways of the Kai, turning them into warriors without peer whose abilities border on (and eventually sky rocket over) the magical, the mystical and the super human. Without the Kai, the Darklords would have long ago conquered the world and brought humanity to its knees.
The epic of Lone Wolf begins with tragedy. With one stroke, the foul Darklords laid waste to the monastery of your brethren. The surprise attack came during the great gathering of the Kai Lords, and none escaped the Darklords' wrath.
None except you. Now it is your duty, Lone Wolf, to venture to the capital of Sommerlund and warn the King of the Darklord's impending attack. Your sole saving grace is that the Darklords believe all the Kai to be dead, and aren't yet actively searching for you.
Armed only with what you could gather from the ruins of the monastery, and the skills your Kai Masters managed to teach you before their demise, you venture off into an unknown and very lethal world.
---
So yeah. You start the book, randomly generate your health and generic combat potential, then you choose several abilities. Every ability is useful, either in a combat situation or a myriad of text situations. You get weapons, and armor, and have to carry food to eat at regular times during the story. You have an inventory with limitations on it, so you have to be picky about what you carry or what you decide to pick up along the way. As you play each book, Lone Wolf gets stronger, gets more abilities and ever cooler items. By the time you reach Book 20, you're practically a god among mortal men.
Combat, traditionally, was done by closing your eyes and picking a number of a random number table. Now, in teh future, stuff like Seventhsense automates all of the RNG, but still keeps the charts and stuff the books used as the basis for how everything is calculated.
The world itself is violent, ugly and brutal. Poor decisions, or even making the best of the worst situations, can still lead to your untimely and very grisly death. This is the kind of CYOA series where stuff like...
You see a wood box. If you want to open it, turn to page 87.
You open the box. A red blur shoots past you with lightning speed and you feel pain erupt across your arm. Out of the corner of your eye, you manage to catch sight of a deadly Swamp Viper's tail as it slithers under the bed. That's the last thing you see as its venom reaches your brain and stops your breathing. Happens on a regular basis.
If you can't tell by the amount of babbling I've done, this is a gem, both in terms of the story and as an actual game. That SeventhSense makes it into a downloadable, free, legal client means all RPG fans can play it, and should. If you're a fan of older fantasy, the classic sword and sorcery kind, and want a different kind of game to play for a while, I highly encourage you to check this out.
Here's a couple tips from a thoroughly scarred Kai veteran...spoiler'd if you'd prefer to learn the hard way.
-Discretion is the better part of valor. Don't pick fights if you don't have to, there's rarely a pay off, and running is (usually) an effective out.
-Survival, survival, survival. While combat seems really important, it's actually a minor part of success in LW, other than a few key note fights. I always take the Healing and Mental Defense abilities first.
-Sixth Sense abilities + the Tracking abilities keep you out of a lot of trouble.
-Trust no one. You're the Jason Fucking Bourne of Magnamund. Everyone is a double agent/bandit/scum bag/horrible-thing-in-disguise and "they" are always one step behind you.
-Kindness and dealing with people honorably can both help and seriously hurt you.
-No risk, no reward.
-In some books, completion is impossible without a large chunk of money. In others, it serves practically no purpose. Think about that as it relates to your inventory space. You typically don't need money to buy important stuff. You need it to bribe people, pay for services and the like.
-Never EVER let yourself get cornered. FLY YOU FOOL, FLY!
Happy reading. And
don't forget your spoiler tags!!!
Author
Topic: Lone Wolf & Project Aon: SeventhSense 1.16.1 update - Books 1-16 playable! (Read 20092 times)