Sunday 3rd March 2019 - Please note that you may still pledge to receive a reward from this project, but the deadline to have your name included in the book has now passed, as has the deadline for giving play-test feedback.
Short Summary
My name is Jonathan Green and I am an author, editor and games designer. I am probably best known for my Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebooks, as well as YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, and my Pax Britannia steampunk novels.
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In Beowulf Beastslayer, my latest ACE Gamebook, you take on the role of the eponymous hero Beowulf himself. YOU decide which path to take, which risks to brave, and even which of the strange creatures you will meet along the way to engage in battle.
Success is by no means certain and you may well fail to complete the adventure at your first attempt. However, with experience, skill, and maybe even a little luck, each new attempt should bring you closer to your ultimate goal.
But whether you survive your quest and rise to the level of lauded hero, and maybe even king, or succumb to the likes of the monster Grendel and his sea-hag mother, will be down to the choices YOU make.
In addition to the book itself, you will need two six-sided dice, or a conventional pack of 52 playing cards, a pencil, an eraser, and a copy of the Beowulf Beastslayer Adventure Sheet.
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There are three different ways to play Beowulf Beastslayer, thanks to the flexible ACE Gamebooks rules system that was developed for Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and adapted for both The Wicked Wizard of Oz and NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!
1) You can play through the adventure as you would many traditional interactive gamebooks, by rolling dice to determine the outcome of battles and other events.
2) However, if you prefer, you can ditch the dice and use a traditional pack of playing cards to find out what the Fates have in store for you during the course of the adventure.
3) Last of all, if you prefer, you can ditch the dice rolling and card shuffling altogether, and simply enjoy reading through the story. But be warned, even if you choose to enjoy Beowulf Beastslayer this way, success will still be by no means certain.
You have four different attributes to keep track of during the adventure. When it comes to your Agility, Combat and Endurance scores, rather than being determined randomly, YOU decide where Beowulf's strengths and weaknesses lie.
The fourth attribute is Hero Points. You gain these by performing heroic actions, and lose them by behaving in a way unbefitting of a hero of your status. However, you may also choose to 'spend' any Hero Points you have collected, to make sure battles or death-defying feats go your way.
Beowulf Beastslayer will be illustrated by fantasy art legend Russ Nicholson. He illustrated eight Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, including the very first - The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - as well as FF novels and RPG manuals, and continues to provide the illustrations for the Fabled Lands series.
His portraiture and attention to detail - not to mention his undisputed skill at drawing caves and smoke! - make him the ideal illustrator to bring the world of Beowulf Beastslayer to life, and we are thrilled to have him join our shield company.
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Beowulf Beastslayer, by Russ Nicholson.
Risks & Challenges
I am an experienced author with more than 70 published books to my name, including 19 gamebooks. As a result you can be sure that I will see this project through to the end. I also have a formal contract with award-winning UK publisher Snowbooks Ltd to publish this book, which has already funded on Kickstarter.
I have run six successful Kickstarters before, to produce YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, ALICE'S NIGHTMARE IN WONDERLAND (the first ACE Gamebook), SHAKESPEARE VS CTHULHU (a short story anthology), THE WICKED WIZARD OF OZ (the second ACE Gamebook), YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2, and NEVERLAND - HERE BE MONSTERS! You can read some of the 130+ 5-star reviews these books have since received on Amazon here.
Although my first Kickstarter - the original YOU ARE THE HERO - was delayed, I now have a reputation for delivering my Kickstarter projects near enough on time.
A project like this succeeds if enough people get to hear about it, but of course, Beowulf Beastslayer has already funded on Kickstarter.
