TBG Forums

It has occurred to me (and probably most of the people on this site that regularly visit the Rpg forums,) that a new type of Tbg has become quite common. That type is the Choose Your Own Adventure.

What is a CYOA?
A CYOA (Choose Your Own Adventure) is a type of RPG which, instead of each player having their own character and saying what those characters' interactions with the other characters and the story are through full sentences (hopefully), consists of the players all submitting requests for the actions of one character, and a single host narrating the results of those actions.

In short, being a normal player of a CYOA is relatively simple, but hosting/creating a CYOA is a bit more complicated.

What makes a CYOA good?
While it's quite easy to make a CYOA, making a good CYOA is another matter. Basically, there are several traits that most good CYOAs share.

1. A long story

Basically, you want a CYOA that can be played for a long time, without losing players' interest and/or being too drawn out. While having an Endgame goal is good, you don't want it to be over quickly. In fact, one good way to do this is to start the game without a practical goal, and slowly piece the goal together through the players' actions. That way, the players will already be used to the setting when you start telling them what to do.

Note: Even though that's true, it's easier if you've already planned out a bit of how you want the rest of the story to progress. Just don't plan so much that the gameplay seems restricted and linear.

2. Know your setting/game mechanics
Is your CYOA in a realistic setting? If so, then do real people just act indifferently about random dragons appearing out of nowhere? No. Don't introduce things that don't match with the world you've already introduced. Same with game mechanics. If you introduce the ability to reverse gravity at any time, but a few pages later you just act like that's impossible, players might get a bit confused on what they can and can't do.

3. Work backwards
Your story should have one main goal, with several smaller goals leading up to it.
This may seem to conflict with my earlier note, but hear me out. Let's say in your story, something is happening outside right behind a door. Now, if you're quite a way into the story, you should probably just let the player say 'Open door and go outside', but if it's near the beginning of the game, and you need to introduce the way the game is played to the players, you should think of doing something like this:

Player has to get past the door.
To open the door, you need a key.
To find the key, you need to open the fridge.
To open the fridge, you need to move a couch from in front of it.
To move the couch, you need to use the forklift.

Once you have an outline like that, take note of all visible items, and present them to player, like so:

In the room, there is a door, a refrigerator with a couch in front of it, and a forklift.

From there on, you just allow the players to figure out how to get the key from the fridge by themselves. If you want a bit more variation, you can have multiple ways to solve each step, giving the players more freedom to choose which way they want to do it.

4. Player's choice first
Throughout this whole thing, I've mentioned things like 'Don't make the story too linear' and 'Give the player more choices', and the reason for that is that a good CYOA is player driven. If you want people to play your CYOA, let them play it the way they want, not the way you planned, with obvious restrictions to the game's settings or rules. More people will like it if it's played by them, not by the story.

Nice. BUT THE CYOAs WILL NEVER CONQUER THE RPGs!

...

Okay, you may laugh now, but CYOAs could have conquered the TBGs.

Quote from: frishyOkay, you may laugh now, but CYOAs could have conquered the TBGs.

I will never not cringe while reading my posts from 2015 and before.

Quote from: jji10dino

Quote from: frishyOkay, you may laugh now, but CYOAs could have conquered the TBGs.

I will never not cringe while reading my posts from 2015 and before.

Quote from: jji10dinoNice. BUT THE CYOAs WILL NEVER CONQUER THE RPGs!

Time to make a bunch of CYOAs.

Quote from: TymewalkTime to make a bunch of CYOAs.

Time to necropost on my four year old dead threads, you mean?

Quote from: TheLastDinoNice. BUT THE CYOAs WILL NEVER CONQUER THE RPGs!

Nah, it only took three years. Even if they are probably just going to go out of fashion again in like I dunno a month? Cause they're already on the decline and they just came back. Anyways, it occurs to me now that some of the suggestions I made as a lad three years younger than I am now are a bit too general to be on a guide for CYOAs in particular, so I might edit it some time soon.