Editing Gamebook (section)

==Description==
Gamebooks range widely in terms of the complexity of the ''game'' aspect. At one end are the branching-plot novels, which require the reader to make choices but are otherwise like regular novels (this style is exemplified by the originator of the gamebook format, ''Choose Your Own Adventure'', and is sometimes referred to as "American style").

At the other end of the spectrum are what amounts to "solitaire [[role-playing game|RPG]] adventures" or "adventure gamebooks",<ref name="gamebooks.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_faqs.php |title=FAQs – Demian's Gamebook Web Page |website=Gamebooks.org |access-date=2017-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315174056/http://gamebooks.org/show_faqs.php |archive-date=2012-03-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> which emulate a [[tabletop RPG]] in novel form and feature sophisticated rules for battling monsters and overcoming obstacles. The story can be decided by factors other than the reader's choices, such as dice rolls (or other randomization mechanics, such as leafing through the book to arrive at a random paragraph number), the lack (or presence) of equipment or other items, or by various statistics, such as running out of health points.

The latter style is most commonly associated with the British ''[[Fighting Fantasy]]'' (FF) franchise (started in 1982), which originated, codified, and popularised much of the more advanced format that many later gamebooks would follow (the geographic dichotomy led to this type of gamebook sometimes being analogously referred to as "British style"). ''CYOA'' and ''FF'' are the two most popular, successful, and enduring gamebook franchises of all time, rendering them the archetypes of their respective, clashing styles and positions on the complexity spectrum. Later series like ''[[Lone Wolf (gamebooks)|Lone Wolf]]'' and ''[[Fabled Lands]]'', typically from Britain, would take the FF formula and push the limits of what could be achieved with printed text narratives (leading to, for example, twenty-book arcs in which the same created character could be taken sequentially from one to the next, or four or more books that contain interlocking references to each other in order to create one huge world map).

In all gamebooks, the story is presented as a series of sections of printed text. These are often but not always numbered. Branching-plot novel sections often run to several pages in length, whereas solitaire and adventure gamebook sections are usually no longer than a paragraph or two. These are not intended to be read in order. Instead, at the end of a text section, the reader is typically given a choice of narrative branches that they may follow. Each branch contains a reference to the number of the paragraph or page that should be read next if that branch is chosen (e.g. to go north turn to section 98). The narrative thus does not progress linearly through the book or follow the paragraphs in numerical order. The story continues this way until a paragraph or page which ends that branch of the story. Many solitaire or adventure gamebooks feature a single "successful" ending, and the remainder are "failures".<ref name="fightingfantasygamebooks.com">{{cite web|title=What Is Fighting Fantasy?|url=http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7&Itemid=37|work=Fighting Fantasy|publisher=ICON (Wizard) Books Ltd|access-date=27 May 2012|author=Staff}}</ref> Thus, a gamebook becomes a "puzzle" since only a few or even one branching paths lead to victory. Branching plot novels, on the other hand, tend to be more concerned with narrative resolution rather than winning or losing, thus often have several endings which may be deemed equally "successful".

Gamebooks are typically written in the [[Second-person narrative|second person]] with the reader assuming the role of a character to experience the world from that character's point of view (e.g. "you walk into the cold and dark forest").

Many gamebooks form series with a common theme, trade dress, and/or ruleset. While each book is typically a stand-alone narrative, there are gamebook series such as ''[[Steve Jackson's Sorcery!]]'' that continue the narrative from the previous books in the series.