Choose Your Own Adventure Books Find New Life

My interactive novel... I still have a dozen copies.

A very nice article recounting the history of the Choose Your Own Adventure books can be found here. I was not aware of the story behind these books; I was much more aware of interactive fiction in the game industry. TSR had a number of them, the Lone Wolf series was a classic, and of course the solo adventures from Flying Buffalo were a wonderful example of how to do it right. I even wrote an interactive novel (choosing a path, yes, but with dice rolls) for Iron Crown Enterprises, Treason at Helm's Deep (yes, it was set in Middle Earth).

The interesting part is that both of the creators of CYA books (who are no longer on speaking terms) are both trying to bring these back to life, one as Apps and the other actually reprinting the books.

Seems to me that ebooks are a perfect venue for CYA books, especially if you can jump right to the page you want. No flipping required! It's another interesting possibility for the classic pen-and-paper RPG to explore, and one that shouldn't cost a lot to develop. Interactive ebooks could be a useful marketing tool to spread the word about your RPG setting, and one that makes money in its own right. Marketing that makes money directly is my favorite kind of marketing...