Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games - Jennifer Grouling Cover [13]
Despite the lack of research on Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) itself, scholars are quick to note that D&D has been foundational to the development of other interactive texts. In fact, Aarseth (1997) states that “the Dungeons and Dragons genre might be regarded as an oral cybertext, the oral predecessor to computerized written adventure games” (p. 98). Ryan (2003) does not specifically discuss RPGs, but she does mention that “a genealogy of interactive genres leads from ... Dungeons and Dragons” (p. 310). Both Aarseth (1997) and Murray (1998) specifically credit D&D as the inspiration for adventure games. Murray (1998) discusses that the adventure game Zork is based on D&D (p. 77). That both Aarseth and Murray acknowledge D&D as a foundational text to the development of adventure games points to the importance of D&D as a specific text, and tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs) as a generic text in the development of interactive fiction. However, neither of these scholars discusses D&D or TRPGs in any detail or traces their specific influence on other genres and, ultimately, the same models may not hold true. Just as D&D has roots both in literature and games (fantasy novels and wargaming), it has also been influential in both realms. In order to see the important role that D&D has played in the development of interactive fiction, we must look more closely at the structure of the narrative itself, as well as at some narrative forms that are commonly thought of as descendants to the TRPG. In this chapter I analyze the relationship between pick-a-path gamebooks and text-based adventure games, and the TRPG and its role in the historical rise of interactive fiction in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Pick-a-Path: Selective Interactivity of Gamebooks
Very little has been written about the history of gamebooks. However, both Nick Montfort (2003) and Demian Katz (2004) credit Queneaus’s 1967 short story as the first in the gamebook format. Montfort describes this work as having 21 possible segments that the reader may encounter as he or she makes choices in the story (p. 71). In his unpublished piece on the history of gamebooks, Katz also gives credit to Hildick’sLucky Les: The Adventures of a Cat of Five Tales as the first full-fledged, published gamebook. Hildick’s book was also published in 1967, yet the concept did not take off for another several years. While gamebooks technically started before TRPGs, D&D was, nevertheless, influential on their development. Katz explains that while D&D is played with a group, gamebooks allowed for solitary play, and gamebooks began to be marketed with this in mind. Buffalo Castle, released in 1976, was the first of a series of books called Tunnels and Trolls, and an obvious parallel to Dungeons and Dragons. According to Katz, the more well-known Choose Your Own Adventure series came out soon thereafter, in 1979, and lasted until 1998. Although there are accounts of gamebooks that predate D&D, it seems clear that subsequent iterations of the genre were highly influenced by the game. Furthermore, the gamebooks that followed more closely from D&D championed greater success.
In fact, Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), the gaming company that originally owned D&D, came out with a line of pick-a-path books designed to be a version of the game in novel form. This series of books is based in the same fantasy setting as D&D; however, their structure differs somewhat from the game itself. In these books, after several pages of story, the reader is asked to make a choice. For example, in the TSR, Inc. gamebook Spell of the Winter Wizard (1983), the reader is addressed in the second person and takes on the role of a wizard’s child, Omina. The wizard has been kidnapped and the goal is to follow the path of the story so that it reaches the positive conclusion of the father-figure being rescued. At the end of the first section the reader is offered a choice:
1.