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So you’ve decided to read a CYOA! Wait, what? Yes, brave citizen! You have chosen to read a Choose Your Own Adventure! Like the books? In a way! Instead of reading a pre-written book, and being given dozens of endings, you get to make choices live! So, the author just does what I want? Well, you aren’t the only reader! The quieter threads might have half a dozen, while Diog’s might have a full hundred voting. Wait, voting? That is correct! The writer will describe what happens from your previous action, and then the thread will argue about how to respond. This might be attacking, running away, talking, or doing something even more elaborate! How do I vote? It depends on the CYOA! Most of them explain how voting will work in the OP. How do I know what CYOA to read? We have twenty or so active ones at the moment, ranging from scifi to contemporary to bronze age. If one looks interesting, check it out! Can I participate in it too? Sometimes! Each CYOA is different. They will all incorporate the winning vote, but some also use your dialogue exactly. Some even let you make additional characters to run around with. Check with the OP to get an idea of what’s acceptable. Everyone else is voting wrong, how do I fix it? Yell at them in the chatroom here: https://client00.chat.mibbit.com/?server=EU.synirc.net%3A%2B7001&channel=%23madgod Discord chatroom here: https://discord.gg/uwUYXeE Okay, everyone agrees with me. What should I do now? Post often. Writers live for replies. Say what you like. Say what you didn't. Speculate gratuitously. Argue with the other players. Point out sections of the writing that caused feels. Point out sections that seemed weak. Stay involved You may end up using this a lot In Progress posted:
Completed posted:
The Graveyard posted:
Loel fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Nov 26, 2019 |
# ? Feb 15, 2016 00:25 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 06:47 |
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Thanks lowel.
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# ? Feb 15, 2016 02:19 |
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If I missed one, or one is in the wrong category, please let me know I plan to keep this semi-updated So you’ve decided to write your own CYOA! Congratulations! Writing can be a lot of fun, and the responsiveness of the forum can really help you get a handle of your own style. I really recommend reading a few of the other ones that have been written (Diog, myself, Tias and Beer are all pretty prolific) so you can get a feel for how it works. I tend to do short quick posts with open ended choices, for example, while Diog uses a ton of images and dozens of choices. Its’ really up to you. How do I start? Firstly, have something to write about. A lot of the CYOAs start as fanfiction - using an established universe can help a lot. This isn’t necessarily a win condition, however - I’ve made CYOAs for Supernatural and Fallen London and abandoned both. Diog writes about bronze age era mythology, and so has a lot to draw on, while Holly works with the superhero/mutant genre. Playing with the common tropes is totally okay. What if I want to do a totally original story? That’s good too! Dogkisser does some weird ones that are totally unique, and are quite popular. The important thing is to have at least some idea of what you want to see happen. I use the Dungeon World fronts http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com/fronts , and that helps a crazy amount. You don’t have to predict the players, you just need to know what’s going on around them. Okay, so I have a couple ideas, some bad guys, and some conflict. Now what? Find a nice cover picture. Really? Yup. That’s the first thing any new reader will see, and it’s important. It sets the tone and genre, and players will make decisions just from that. I would also suggest doing 3-4 posts in addition to the OP for space reasons - I like to keep an index, and I’m always running short of space. Then what? Advertise Tell the chatroom about it. Post in this thread so I can update the OP. If you have any CYOAs you follow, post there too. Most readers have several favorites, and are always up for another good fic. Your OP should have a quick summary of what the genre is, what expectations you might have (is it humorous? how strict are the decisions?) and character creation. From here on in, expect to be derailed How do I make it a good CYOA? How do I get better at writing? Keep writing. What? Yup. Keep writing. As often as you can. Regular updates keep the player base interested, and improve your skills. And if you get writer’s block, do a slice of life. What is a Slice of Life? You have a big universe in your head, and a lot of scenes going on that the main characters won’t see. Instead of getting stuck trying to write about them, change it up. Different point of view, different location, different time. Some of them might get weaved into the main plot later (foreshadowing), and some might be dropped (red herring). What is the CYOA curse? Something that inevitably strikes a CYOA writer I’ve gotten bronchitis and gone to the ER, for example. It’s random things you can’t prepare for, and slow down or derail your fic. It’s okay to end your fic, and its okay to tell the readers you need a break. I’ve taken months off before, its normal. Any other advice? Swedish Thaumocracy posted:More CYOA Tips dog kisser posted:Having completed a (sorta) CYOA in Lord of the Tower, my number one advice to make the whole process less daunting is to have an ending. I was super nervous before writing LotT because I'd never done anything like that before, and the only thing that made it bearable was well okay, I'll start it, and if people hate it I'll end it on the next floor. That was made a bit easier by the nature of the game (climb a tower, each discrete floor is a puzzle or something), but really any game could be like that. There's no need to write huge and sprawling epics, especially not to start out - if you have an idea, ! Loel fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Nov 26, 2019 |
# ? Feb 15, 2016 02:21 |
This is awesome There is a CYOA hidden in Your Candidate Sucks You Are LBJ [CYOA] - it is really interesting.
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# ? Feb 15, 2016 03:58 |
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hollylolly posted:This is awesome Thank you to both and added.
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# ? Feb 15, 2016 04:04 |
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Good advice, especially for the writing part. I eventually want to start my own... eventually... Keep up the good work!
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# ? Feb 15, 2016 05:38 |
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Good Thread
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# ? Feb 15, 2016 05:47 |
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Having completed a (sorta) CYOA in Lord of the Tower, my number one advice to make the whole process less daunting is to have an ending. I was super nervous before writing LotT because I'd never done anything like that before, and the only thing that made it bearable was well okay, I'll start it, and if people hate it I'll end it on the next floor. That was made a bit easier by the nature of the game (climb a tower, each discrete floor is a puzzle or something), but really any game could be like that. There's no need to write huge and sprawling epics, especially not to start out - if you have an idea, !
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# ? Feb 15, 2016 06:48 |
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Six Stars You know what's fun? Space. You know what else is fun? Westerns. And you know what's even more fun than westerns? Weird West. I think you can see where I'm going with this. Welcome to Six Stars, a CYOA about Weird West In Space. Or, alternatively, Deadlands Meets Firefly.
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# ? Feb 15, 2016 20:47 |
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Added
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# ? Feb 15, 2016 20:50 |
Lowel, great thread! Anyone who is interested in starting a CYOA and wants input, join us in #madgod! Clicky this link. https://client00.chat.mibbit.com/?server=EU.synirc.net%3A%2B7001&channel=%23madgod I am always happy to give input to others and the other CYOA authors are too. It is not as difficult as you may think, the only requisite is spare time!
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# ? Feb 16, 2016 00:43 |
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Like all of you spare time, because you will never stop thinking about it. Hell my cyoa has been dead two years and I'm still thinking about it.
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# ? Feb 16, 2016 00:46 |
BoneMonkey posted:Like all of you spare time, because you will never stop thinking about it. Hell my cyoa has been dead two years and I'm still thinking about it. I miss Perception, it was really cool. Murder hobo was the best
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# ? Feb 17, 2016 01:47 |
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I posted a couple of CYOAs in GBS before I realised that this subforum was a thing. Now I'm stuck reading a bunch of CYOAs, what is happening to me
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# ? Feb 17, 2016 16:18 |
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Gilganixon posted:I posted a couple of CYOAs in GBS before I realised that this subforum was a thing. Now I'm stuck reading a bunch of CYOAs, what is happening to me The same thing that happens to all of us
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# ? Feb 17, 2016 18:56 |
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More CYOA Tips Party Thoughts Party Thoughts (to my knowledge first introduced in Arkanomen's Death and Second Chances) is a mechanic whereupon the various characters that the protagonist or players regularly interact with get their say on the situation at hand, without the need for player input. It differs from Slices of Life in that the point of view is always locked to someone close at hand (whereas a slice of life can be from anywhere in the universe), and that the content is dictated more by the characters themselves than by the world at large since it is essentially their thoughts about the world writ-aloud. Perhaps you have a lot of characters that you would like to keep relevant, even if the situation at hand doesn't really allow for extended dialogue scenes. Maybe you just want to give the characters some extra characterisation, or you need an easy way to provide the players with in-character hints or small bits of lore that don't fit into Slices of Life. Perhaps you would just like the players to know what the people around them think about their current course of action, so that Inevitable Plot Twist doesn't come as a shock somewhere down the line because no one remembered to ask that specific character about their feelings. Whatever the reason, Party Thoughts is an easy to write addition that can enhance both the player and the author experience of your game. Example Thoughts: Rogue: Best be at the look out for traps! Old ruins are nearly always full of them! Best Friend: Just like that one time in Brightclover, eh old chum? Old Mentor: Remember what I told you about using magic! Fighter: I think we should keep the treasure, we fought hard for it! Cleric: But the villagers are in dire-straits! We should use the treasure to help rebuild the town!
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# ? Feb 17, 2016 21:09 |
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The Forbidden Topics Given the wide variety of CYOAs we've had, and the length that some of them have gone on, we've occasionally hit some bumps that caused a lot of thread ... let's call it uncomfortableness. So, a couple things to toss out, just as guidelines for roleplay. Sex is okay, if usually alluded to, fade to black, so on and so forth. A lot of protagonists end up getting in relationships and married, so a bit of romance is not out of place. However, Your Kink is Not My Kink (YKINMK), so we have generally avoided going into the particular details. Violence is okay, usually in gratuitous amounts. Several of the CYOAs are explicitly in warzones, and great detail is generally accepted. Pretty much every violent act or kind of death I can think of has happened to NPCs (and sometimes the protags), and largely not been a problem. The rule of thumb I use is - do they deserve it, or does it fit the scene? IE, enemy soldiers, cultists, assassins, monsters etc can have the excessive detail, but children might just get the gloss-over. And as always, gruesomeness for just gruesome's sake doesn't make for a good read. Sexual violence is not okay. I'll say it again. Sexual violence is not okay. Even if its not the protag doing it, even having the protag be aware of it - giving it any screen time - has resulted in a mess of thread drama and bad feelings. Save yourself the argument, don't write it and don't vote for it. In the same way, gratuitous rape monsters (Firefly Reavers, Dark Eldar) need little or no screen time. Torture doesn't work, and having a mob of players describing increasingly hosed up ideas on what to do with the prisoners makes for a lovely read. Dont bother with it. As a writer, there are other ways you can provide information - journals, disks, whatever - and as a reader, you can try incentives (bribes, blackmail) that aren't scenes from Hostel. I have the literal book on interrogations, you can ask me things if you want. While for a different system, this is a good read on boundaries http://buriedwithoutceremony.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Safe-Hearts.pdf Loel fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Feb 20, 2016 |
# ? Feb 19, 2016 04:58 |
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Diogines posted:Noble goons! So Diog introduced this and I rather liked it. If you really like a CYOA, or introducing people to CYOAs, its an option to buy a banner for it
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 06:33 |
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Sexual violence from the perspective of the victim seemed to work in my old rear end cyoa. Though it was only ever alluded to. I never went into to much detail but I didn't pull my punches. I would suggest people avoid secual violence. But you can make it work.
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 08:19 |
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BoneMonkey posted:Sexual violence from the perspective of the victim seemed to work in my old rear end cyoa. Though it was only ever alluded to. Yup, and I alluded to it with Amacita in my game as well. But I've seen it go badly a lot more often than be done well So for the aspiring CYOA, why jump in a swamp you dont need to?
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 08:27 |
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Perception is back guys. Twice as much Hobo magic! http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3765065
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# ? Feb 19, 2016 19:36 |
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I got 1 there's pictures in it It is called TALOS http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3765394
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# ? Feb 22, 2016 06:09 |
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After several years, I return to the format with Santa Lucha. Wrestling in a fantasy world with fantasy races. How will the masked fighter fare inside and outside the arena? Let's find out!
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# ? Feb 22, 2016 06:20 |
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Welcome edit: OP should be up to date Loel fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Feb 22, 2016 |
# ? Feb 22, 2016 15:53 |
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Doktor Per posted:After several years, I return to the format with Santa Lucha. Just started and already amazing.
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# ? Feb 22, 2016 22:10 |
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Oh no my abandoned CYOA shame.
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# ? Feb 24, 2016 01:21 |
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Two more classics: Roma: Hard Times on the Palatine Roma II: In the Shade of the Suckling Tree
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# ? Feb 24, 2016 02:23 |
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jon joe posted:Oh no my abandoned CYOA shame. I have two up there myself The curse strikes us all.
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# ? Feb 24, 2016 07:00 |
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Windows 64-bit, OSX (experimental), documentation. Changelog:
Ralith fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Jun 8, 2016 |
# ? Feb 25, 2016 06:09 |
Ralith posted:Vote scraper release 0.3.2 It keeps returning "No votes found" I'll try again and see if I'm doing it wrong somehow.
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# ? Feb 25, 2016 18:51 |
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hollylolly posted:It keeps returning "No votes found" I'll try again and see if I'm doing it wrong somehow.
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# ? Feb 25, 2016 19:57 |
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Vote scraper release 0.4.0 Windows 64-bit, OSX (experimental), documentation. Changelog:
Notes on authentication: The scraper performs a conventional log-in through SA's log-in page when you click "OK" on the log-in dialog. On success, it stores the authentication cookies and uses them for all future scrape attempts in that session. The cookies are never written to disk or transmitted elsewhere (and your actual credentials are not stored at all after the dialog closes, even in memory), so if you restart the program they'll be lost and you'll need to log in again. e: This project is now unmaintained. I encourage principled authors to use approval voting, a much simpler and more transparent method which can be easily hand-tabulated while retaining most of the advantages. Ralith fucked around with this message at 06:25 on Mar 15, 2019 |
# ? Feb 26, 2016 06:57 |
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People on these forums have voted and adventured as many beings, but can you survive the peril of being...a tree!??! http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3768416
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# ? Mar 14, 2016 23:53 |
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I honestly can't tell if this is a new high or a new low.
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# ? Mar 15, 2016 06:29 |
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How about playing a Single-Celled Demon and working our way from there?
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# ? Mar 15, 2016 17:15 |
This CYOA renaisance has helped break my hesitation to get in on the action, and helped me break my indecision about which prospective game to run. Now, help me break in my new art tablet by joining the scum of the space-lanes in Outlaws of Thoon!
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# ? Mar 22, 2016 21:46 |
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Welcome!
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# ? Mar 23, 2016 18:08 |
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I would kill someone for a Glorantha CYOA. It would be amazing.
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# ? Mar 23, 2016 18:47 |
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Deadmeat5150 posted:I would kill someone for a Glorantha CYOA. It would be amazing. You are Urox. Do you: A - Kill chaos. B - gently caress bitches.
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# ? Mar 23, 2016 22:11 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 06:47 |
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C: Both
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# ? Mar 23, 2016 23:13 |