Choose Your OOT Adventure: Chapter One

[The Armchair]

Chapter One: Fire, Voices, and Kindergarten

You are in a large room -- a gymnasium, perhaps, but there are no basketball hoops, no bleachers, no scoreboard; in fact, the room is entirely empty.

Oh, and the walls are actually not walls, but huge towers of fire. There seems to be no way out, and walking through the fire walls doesn't seem like a good idea.

Before you can figure out exactly how you got to where you are, or why you are there, or why you are still reading this post, a loud voice booms over an invisible PA system. In its best Mortal Kombat tone, the voice simply exclaims "FIGHT!"

You have nothing to fight, and seem disappointed.

Your disappointment is brief.

Behind you appear twenty-seven kindergartners. They are playing patty-cake, red rover, and duck-duck-goose. They are all wearing Yankees jerseys, except for one who is wearing a Tampa Bay Devil Rays jersey. That one is winning a disproportional number of games, not that you think it matters.

Suddenly, a child playing Red Rover slips and falls into the fiery wall -- and bounces off, unscathed. She then goes back to playing. (Naturally, having failed to break through the opposing team's chain, she now is part of that team, but that is neither here nor there.)

You stand, staring at the twenty-seven children, partially wondering where they came from, partially wondering where you came from, partially wondering why you are wondering where they came from instead of focusing more on where you came from, and entirely ignoring the fact that some voice from up on high just commanded someone, potentially you, to fight. Thankfully (perhaps), the voice reminds you:

FIGHT!

[Slow Play Ray]

Wow, Choose Your Own Adventure - GIANT blast of nostalgia.

[Claunchy]

So are you going to post the consequences of this decision and then give us another decision to make? Cause if so, this could be a very cool thread.

[The Armchair]

[ QUOTE ]
So are you going to post the consequences of this decision and then give us another decision to make? Cause if so, this could be a very cool thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

The next chapter, including consequences of this choice, will be in another post -- only because I can't put another poll in this one. But otherwise, yes.

[The Armchair]

[ QUOTE ]
So are you going to post the consequences of this decision and then give us another decision to make? Cause if so, this could be a very cool thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, and there are consequences. Your choice does matter.

[mason55]

holy [censored] this is brilliant

[Claunchy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So are you going to post the consequences of this decision and then give us another decision to make? Cause if so, this could be a very cool thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, and there are consequences. Your choice does matter.

[/ QUOTE ]
Sweet. Unless we pick the decision that makes the story end prematurely.

That always pissed me off, cause then I had to reread the story, making decisions I would otherwise never make just to feel like I got my money's (er Mom's money) worth.

[Warik]

This idea rules. How many votes before we see the next scene?

[The Armchair]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So are you going to post the consequences of this decision and then give us another decision to make? Cause if so, this could be a very cool thread.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, and there are consequences. Your choice does matter.

[/ QUOTE ]
Sweet. Unless we pick the decision that makes the story end prematurely.

That always pissed me off, cause then I had to reread the story, making decisions I would otherwise never make just to feel like I got my money's (er Mom's money) worth.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, well, I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to give you the alternative endings.

[DougOzzzz]

http://images.somethingawful.com/mjolnir/images/cg04052005/SiLeNT-T1.jpg

[The Armchair]

[ QUOTE ]
This idea rules. How many votes before we see the next scene?

[/ QUOTE ]

I set the vote clock to end at 6p tomorrow. When I get home, I'll check the results and post Chapter Two.

[IndieMatty]

GREAT IDEA!

[RunDownHouse]

I'm not sure if you understand how much work this is going to be.

[The Armchair]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure if you understand how much work this is going to be.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm most likely going to make it up as I go along, ya?

[RunDownHouse]

I guess I also meant, "I can't believe that if you understand how much work this will be, you care enough to do said work."

Props though, it should be fun.

[imported_CaseClosed326]

[ QUOTE ]
holy [censored] this is brilliant

[/ QUOTE ]

[gorie]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure if you understand how much work this is going to be.

[/ QUOTE ]

actually it's pretty simple since he could easily have the result take us to THE END no matter what. like he said, he is making it up as he goes along /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[scotty34]

You should save all of these posts and publish them afterwards.

[TheIrishThug]

if we had all of oot embodied in this one "person" we could so take 27 5 yr olds.

NOTE: i am one of the one that says the # one person could take is smaller than 27.

[scotty34]

[ QUOTE ]
if we had all of oot embodied in this one "person" we could so take 27 5 yr olds.

NOTE: i am one of the one that says the # one person could take is smaller than 27.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't want to start this argument again, but really man, think of what a 5 year old actually looks like. I could see your reasoning with 9 year olds, but 5 year olds don't have any muscle strength or coordination, and are extremely weak.

[TheIrishThug]

have u had 3 5yr olds hanging on u trying to make it so u cant move? they do the job quite well. a few sacrifice themselves to keep u from moving, the rest go for physical harm towards u.

but yeah, we don't need to get into this. everybody focus on the decision at hand.

[WackityWhiz]

excellent idea, i'm looking forward to chapter 2

[meep_42]

BIMO

-d

[The Armchair]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
if we had all of oot embodied in this one "person" we could so take 27 5 yr olds.

NOTE: i am one of the one that says the # one person could take is smaller than 27.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't want to start this argument again, but really man, think of what a 5 year old actually looks like. I could see your reasoning with 9 year olds, but 5 year olds don't have any muscle strength or coordination, and are extremely weak.

[/ QUOTE ]

I promise this will not become a "how many five year olds can you beat" story.

[The Armchair]

[ QUOTE ]
You should save all of these posts and publish them afterwards.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am.

[lem45216]

This is awesome. Reminds me of playing rpg choose your adventure type games in primary school on old BBC computers. Though obviously at primary school it wasn't quite as menacing as this scenario. It was more helping your character solve math puzzles to defeat the dragon in the castle. Not because solving the maths puzzles killed the dragon, but because solving the maths puzzles made the dragon happy again so it didn't eat you.

But yes, i can't wait for chapter 2.

[MrTrik]

Cool post. I'll watch for the next.

[ddubois]

I had an asston of Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was a kid. I loved them. I also had collections of several series of gamebooks, that basically stole/expanded-on the CYOA concept. These usually included 1) the traditional CYOA decision tree, and 2) a very simple gameplay system involving die-rolling or coin-flipping game and keeping track of your life total.

I know I had some books from each of these series in that collection:
Wizards, Warriors & You (http://www.gamebooks.org/wwylist.htm)
Swordquest (http://www.gamebooks.org/swdquest.htm)
AD&D Super Endless Quest (http://www.gamebooks.org/seqlist.htm)
Lone Wolf (http://www.gamebooks.org/lonewolf.htm)
Fighting Fantasy (http://www.gamebooks.org/fitefant.htm)

I'm sure I'd find the game play stupid now, having been spoiled by years of CRPGS, but they were the nut high when I was ~11.

On a lark, I passed them out the week before Christmas to classmates in high school (after which I'm sure they were promptly thrown away, and my reputation as a geek was even further entrenched). Now that I have kids of my own, this decision seems very regrettable, and thus this thread makes me sad.

[ddubois]

Guys, you are going to think I'm retarded, but I am so excited!! I just found out I didn't give any of my gamebooks away, just my Choose Your Own Adventure books. I actually had all my books from the various series I listed, plus Endless Quests, Hero's Challenge, Sorcery, etc. in the garage, and it wasn't until my wife told me that I remembered. I have over 75 of these suckers - YAUS!

When do you think my son will be old enough to enjoy these? 8? 10?

[BoxTree]

[ QUOTE ]
When do you think my son will be old enough to enjoy these? 8? 10?

[/ QUOTE ]

As soon as he's old enough to know that he shouldn't be passing these things around to his high school friends, he'll be old enough to enjoy them.

So...college? (You passed them out in high school??? Oy.)