I thought this might be fun for both you and me. Let's see how far we can get in a Choose Your Own Adventure story. :3
How this works
1. I post a chapter of the story with options at the end.
2. The readers vote on which option the main character should take.
3. After a few days or when there's enough responses, I post the next chapter according to the option that had the most votes. There are more options at the end of that and so on and so forth.
4. The story ends when a chosen option leads to failure (oops), death (double oops), or success (yay!). But of course you won't know which path leads to what. All I can say is use common sense and think before you leap.
5. Once a story ends I hope to get another one up sooner or later but it may take a while for me to think of another plot.
So here's an example: Spoiler
Joe was walking through a forest, as happy as he could be. But suddenly a storm strikes!
A: Joe takes shelter in a cave B: Joke takes shelter under a large tree.
If people voted A:
Joe dashes to the nearest available shelter, which happens to be a large cave. It smells funny and it's incredibly dark but at least it's dry. Something moans deeper in the cave.
A: Joe checks out the sound. B: Joe stays where he is and waits out the storm so he can go home!
And then people vote again and the story goes on.
If people voted B: (note that I won't usually let you see the outcome of both options)
Joe dashes to the nearest available shelter, which happens to be a large tree. But lightning strikes the tree and it falls on Joe, killing him. Game over.
Last edited by Piney on October 4th, 2011, 3:14:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
You are an adventurous young Magi! Instead of raising creatures and studying all day, you prefer to explore the world! Whether you’re helping someone else or looking for a new companion, you’re always happier outside in the wilderness than inside the stuffy Keep. And the more danger you put yourself in, the better! Some of the older Magi look down upon you, thinking you as nothing more than a reckless hotshot, but who listens to old fogies like them anyway?
Unfortunately, there has been little demand for adventurous Magi. The world is peaceful for once and it seems like all the previously unexplored nooks and crannies have already been combed through. A large wall in the Keep, known as the Bulletin, would normally be covered in flyers asking for the help of any willing Magi. But recently it’s as bare as an Asheover’s egg, and any piece of paper that is tacked up gets taken by another eager Magi.
One day, out of habit, you stroll by the Bulletin, only for you to recoil in shock. There’s not one, not two, but three flyers on the Bulletin! You try to contain your excitement as you rush over to examine them, in fear that someone will notice and take them away from under your nose.
The first flyer is from the leader of a small farming village in the plains north of the Keep. Recently there has been an invasion of Elephant Snails and although the villagers are trying their best to chase them away, there are simply too many of them. They’ve consumed fields after fields of precious crops and are still hungry for more. If they continue at this rate, all the crops will be eaten and the village will starve during the upcoming winter! The village can’t offer a lot of gold for your services, but a good deed like this would look good on your resume. Plus, every Magi is taught how to deal with an Elephant Snail invasion so it should be a manageable, if somewhat dull task.
The second flyer is from a noblewoman in Synara. She has lost her precious winged cat, Snowy, and is offering a hefty reward for whoever finds her. You wonder why she needs the help of Magi for such an ordinary task. But when you think about it, Synara is an extremely large and busy city. Only a Magi would have the power to sift through the thousands of beings that live there and find a particular winged cat. Plus the reward would buy you a rare creature or two, so you couldn’t decline this job just yet...
The third flyer is from a researcher. He is asking for a companion to guard him from hostiles while he searches for something in the Etainian desert. He isn’t very clear with what he’s searching for, but he promises to give you any new creature that he finds, which is a worthwhile reward. If a new creature is found. You recognize this man as someone that asks for Magi companions often but his searches never yield anything valuable or worthwhile. Many a Magi have taken up on his offer, only to come back with bugs in their boots or snow in their hair and nothing to show for it. However, you’ve never adventured with this researcher before, so perhaps things will turn out differently for you.
As much as you’d love to, you can only accept one job and must leave the rest tacked up for other Magi to take.
A. Take the first flyer from the village
B. Take the second flyer from the noblewoman.
C. Take the third flyer from the researcher.
Still on AO3 as Mathcat2 - stories for Magistream, Dragon Cave, Forest of Mirrors, and Jelle's Marble Runs, plus original fiction. New stories every Tuesday and Friday during November 2023.
Option C: Take the third flyer from the researcher.
You pull the paper from the Bulletin and head back to your keep. Scrawling a response on a separate sheet, you attach it to the flyer and tie both scrolls to a messenger queztalcoatl. The winged serpent takes off towards the south, where it will find the wayward researcher.
The Etainian Desert is a harsh place and it’s never a bad idea to over prepare. You are sure to bring enchanted cloaks to protect yourself from the heat, sun, and sand, as well as plenty of food and water. But the creatures that you bring are just as important as your equipment. There are dangerous animals that dwell in the dry land, and the only companions that will provide protection for you are the ones that can protect themselves. After careful consideration you decide to take with you a Bronze Crystalwing, a Temple Dog and a Sacred Scarab. The Crystalwing’s magical might will deter most if not all potential predators, and it would also provide transportation of both people and goods. The Temple Dog’s enhanced senses will be valuable for the exploratory nature of this adventure. And the Sacred Scarab will provide heat and light for the cold desert nights.
After making the preparations, you plan your travels so that you will arrive at the meeting place at dusk, when the desert sun would start sinking below the horizon. That would give the researcher all night to work under the light of your Scarab. On the back of your Crystalwing, you reach the rendezvous point with little trouble, and not long after you depart from the Keep you land by the campfire made by a scrawny middle-aged man.
“You must be the Magi?” He asks, and you nod. He breaks out into a toothy grin and gives you his hand to shake.
“This is great! I was surprised that someone replied so quickly, because there aren’t many people that want to risk their life to go exploring with me!”
You want to explain that maybe that’s because this researcher, Hendrick, isn’t the most reputable man out there. But you remain silent.
“Well there’s no time like the present!” Already Hendrick is packing some things and pulls a backpack onto his shoulders. “What I’m looking for is an ancient temple, described in a scroll I recently bought from a travelling merchant. Since it’s unlike any other building I’ve read about, it’s likely that this will be a completely new discovery! And you’ll be a part of it! Isn’t that exciting?”
“Yes...”
“Oh come on! You don’t sound that excited!”
“To be honest, old buildings aren’t my thing.” You tell him. Unless they’re filled with death traps and piles of gold you silently add.
“This temple! Is more than just an old building!” Hendrick sounded distressed, but his tone quickly changes into one of exuberance. He starts talking about the civilization that once lived in the desert, that is now lost through time. He eagerly chats about the contributions and inventions they’ve made, and possible causes of their downfall. You might’ve found the whole thing fascinating if he stopped using terms that you couldn’t even start to grasp the meaning of.
He pulls out an ornate scroll and brings it near the light of your Sacred Scarab. “Unfortunately the location of the temple isn’t described very clearly... Is this the right direction? ‘Follow the point of the jeweled warrior’. That should mean that the constellation Errolaus, the archer, should indicate the way, but here we are and yet there’s nothing...”
Hendrick glances up to the sky, where indeed a cluster of bright stars are right above his head. He pulls out a fancy contraption with spinning wires and glass components and starts scanning the ground with it, taking one small step every couple of minutes. The whole process is very boring and after several rounds of this you offer magical assistance.
“No! Don’t!” He almost shouts at you. “Any spell you might cast could trigger an ancient security system, or destroy what hint of archaic magic this doodad should pick up. It’s better to take this slow and steady than rush in and ruin everything.”
“Doodad? You don’t even know what that thing is?”
“I didn’t ask for its name when I bought it with the scroll. The merchant said I might need it though.”
You sigh and lean against the sleeping body of the Crystalwing. This will obviously take a while then. You wonder if the scroll and the thingymajig is part of an elaborate scam pulled on the hapless researcher.
Your eyes are starting to droop even though you try to stay awake. But luckily the Temple Dog starts to pull at your cloak. Even when awake, the dog doesn’t stop tugging, and you realize that it’s motioning at several shadows in the distance.
Ashen Shaa! A pack of them! You can recognize the glint of amber and tiger-like stripes even in the darkness. It’s strange that these vicious canines have formed a pack though. Ashen Shaa rarely tolerate company. It’s a phenomenon that should be studied, if not for the fact that the researcher is busy on his own goose chase.
For now they seem to be just watching, but you worry that they may be assessing the situation and will be closing in on their prey soon. And you don’t know if your collection of companions and your magic would be enough to stop a whole pack.
A. Stay on your guard and let Hendrick continue looking.
B. Warn Hendrick of the Ashen Shaa and perhaps leave the area.
