Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures:  Return to the Cave of Time Alternate Endings Part 23


Talking to the wolf in CHOICE #27 yields a Good Ending for a change.


"You talk softly to the wolf.  It gives a low throaty growl, but doesn't bite, so you keep talking.  Very gently, you slide your hand along its neck.  It starts-you're afraid it's going to bite-but it seems to understand you mean no harm as you rub its neck.


Meanwhile, you are watching the tiger and the other four wolves.  The tiger leaps down from its perch and lopes off into the woods.  The other wolves chase it, but the wolf you've been petting stays by your side.  The other wolves may come back.  It's not likely they will try to fight a tiger.  You'd better get to the river, where they'd lose your scent. 


'Come on, boy', you say to the wolf, and to your amazement, it trots along beside you.  You don't know it, but you have just acquired the world's first dog!  THE END".


Unlike other fiction writers, Edward Packard realizes some wolves have to be more docile than others, or else dog domestication would never have happened.


Results So Far


7 Good Endings

14 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Chance Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures:  Return to the Cave of Time Alternate Endings Part 24


What happens if I step aside in CHOICE #21 and therefore erase dog domestication from history?  "Suddenly one wolf comes at you.  You look for a stick or a rock to defend yourself, but see nothing.  The wolf is only a few feet from you when the tiger pounces on it, knocks it to the ground, and rips open half its side".


The other wolves are distracted, and the narrator hints that I could drop the improvised backpack to run away faster.  CHOICE #28 is to follow that advice on Page 145, or keep the backpack and learn a fatal lesson about greed on Page 146.  (You learn to smell the Morality Tests after reading too many gamebooks. . .)


"You've got to keep your backpack-you'll freeze or starve without it, you think.  You run into the woods, hoping to find a tree with branches low enough to climb or get down to the river so you can throw pursuing predators off the scent.  It's a good idea, except that you're out of breath after running a few hundred paces with your pack.  The wolves were late getting started, but it takes only a minute for them to pick up your scent and run you down.  THE END".


And that's why I read these stupid CYOAs live while writing:  so you can imagine my reaction when I predict a plot twist.


Results So Far


7 Good Endings

15 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Chance Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures:  Return to the Cave of Time Alternate Endings Part 25


After abandoning the backpack in CHOICE #28, I find a tall spruce tree.  CHOICE #29 is whether to climb it and wait out the predators on Page 147, or "loop around" to try to reclaim the backpack on Page 148.


"You climb the tree, making sure you get high enough so the tiger can't reach you.  Then you wait, afraid that predators might come by.  By the time a couple of hours have passed, you are stiff, cold, and hungry.  You haven't seen or heard the wolves or the tiger.  You can't spend the night up here.  You've got to come down and get your backpack.


You let yourself down to the ground and head toward where you left your pack, trying to make as little noise as possible.  You're confused as to the direction and waste an hour wandering around before you find the spot where you threw it down. 


You wish you hadn't bothered to look.  The wolves have eaten your food, torn your clothes to shreds, and defecated on what was left.  A chill wind has come up.  The night is an exceptionally cold one.  Without the clothes that were in your backpack, it's impossible to stay warm.  Vultures find your body, cold and still, in the morning.  At least you weren't eaten alive.  THE END".


I'll have to admit, the wolves pooping on my belongings was funny.  You don't get that kind of detail in most gamebooks.  The perfect insulting Death would have been a toothbrush stabbing in La Prisión, but Ramón Díez Galán wasted that opportunity.


Results So Far


7 Good Endings

16 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Chance Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures:  Return to the Cave of Time Alternate Endings Part 26


While "looping around" in CHOICE #29, I notice a mountainside that resembles the Cave of Time entrance.  The narrator tries to scare me by saying the sun might set before I can reach it.  Another path would be to continue to the river with clean water, "crayfish and watercress", and possibly other humans.  CHOICE #30's decisions:  Page 151 for the Cave of Time, or Page 149 for the river.


The Cave of Time path leads to CHOICE #2 via Page 57.  Some time I'll have to make a route showing the maximum amount of experiences our hero can have by exploiting this, similar to my time loop posts for R.A. Montgomery books.  Pages 151-152 that go to 57 are also the last pages in the book for some reason.  I would have chosen the "defecated on what was left" Death.  As for the river ending:


"You head down the slope, thinking your chances will be better if you get to the river.  By the time you get there, darkness is setting in.  You're tremendously thirsty and gulp handfuls of cool water.  You walk along the riverbank, turning over rocks, looking for crayfish.  You've just found one when you smell smoke.  There must be people up ahead!  Clutching the crayfish in one hand, you hurry on.  Soon you hear voices.  Seconds later you come upon a tent crudely fashioned out of animal skins.


'Hello!' you call.  A girl comes out of the tent.  It's Mi!  Azog and Larga are right behind her!  They run forward and happily greet you.  You soon learn that they had to interrupt their raft trip because the vines that held the logs together had come loose.  They feed you and provide you with animal skins to keep you warm during the night.  The next morning you show them how to tie the logs so they won't come apart, and the four of you set out on the raft, headed downstream.


So it is that you are fated to live with a small group of Neanderthals.  Their species will become extinct long before you were born, but not for several thousand years.  THE END".


And our hero's decisions are to blame.  It's a Good Ending since Azog, Mi, and Larga had been established as friends of the protagonist when they were living together in the tribe.


Results So Far


8 Good Endings

16 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Chance Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures:  Return to the Cave of Time Alternate Endings Part 27


According to the narrator, Neanderthals don't know how to build rafts after CHOICE #17:  "Thinking about it, you realize that the Neanderthals aren't very smart at certain things.  Or maybe the problem is that it wasn't smart of you to think they could build a sturdy raft".  Or perhaps it was the tribe's first ever attempt at building a raft in the first place?


Mi collects plants to eat as Azog and Larga fish for trout.  Mi's smile makes my character "begin to think that Neanderthals look just as good as modern people" in spite of the initial bad impression from the "bony forehead".  Once the river becomes deep enough, we drift until I hear the sound of a waterfall!  None of the Neanderthals try to paddle, or do anything at all even after I shout "Vg wamp!"  ("We must get to the shore!")


But the waterfall drops into the Cave of Time.  Don't know if Mi, Azog, and Larga lived, but the possibility is open.  When our hero wakes up, they land on a slave ship:  "Dark-skinned men and women are chained to the walls of this dank gloomy space".  "Piled one on top of another, like produce in a carton, are people dehumanized, stripped of their pride and dignity".


The player character's ethnicity is often unstated in gamebooks, but they are usually treated as the majority culture.  For example, the hero from Mystery of the Maya is likely Maya, or at least some kind of indigenous Mexican background.  Given that Fletcher Christian and Captain Bligh didn't say anything unusual about the protagonist on the Bounty, the Cave of Time hero is probably of a white English background.


CHOICE #31 is whether to try to free the African slaves on Page 54, or look for the captain of the slave ship on Page 62.


When I try to get up on the deck, some sailors push me after playing a card game, since they think I'm a stowaway.  My character tells them they're homeless and have no family, and that they want to live in America.  Captain Montague Ward orders the sailors to get back to work and greets me.  When he says the sailors have "little regard for human life", my character offers a retort about the chained slaves.  Ward isn't a real person if results from a quick search are valid. 


Ward says he only got into the slavery business because "I needed the money".  My character responds "Don't you understand that black people are no different from white people?".  Ward dismisses them as "animals", but starts to back down after I tell him about the conditions below the deck.  He thinks I should be in chains myself, but says "I admire your grit.  I'll let you work by washing dishes and cleaning the galley.  Who knows?  You might amount to something someday".


"A week later the ship arrives in Boston.  By now you've learned that it's the year 1766.  This is the time you'll be living in from now on, trying to get on with your life.  As you watch the crew leading the slaves off the ship, you see Captain Ward standing on the quarterdeck.  He notices you and comes over.  'Good luck to you', he says.  'This is my last trip on a slave ship, you can be sure'.  In that moment, as you look into his eyes, you are content.  You haven't changed history, but you're sure that at least one man can lie to himself no more.  THE END".


This counts as a minor Good Ending, I suppose.  Maybe Ward will write Amazing Grace in this timeline.  If the player character were black, perhaps this would lead to a story similar to Cinque and the Amistad?


Results So Far


9 Good Endings

16 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Chance Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures:  Return to the Cave of Time Alternate Endings Part 28


Trying to free the slaves solo doesn't work when I'm up against adult armed sailors:  "The man grips your arm and presses a dagger against your throat.  The blade cuts your skin.  You feel yourself growing faint.  You pass out".


I'm on a vessel far worse than a pirate ship, but these slavers follow cartoon pirate tradition:  "Here's what we do with scum like you', says another, tugging at your clothes.  'We make them walk the plank'.  CHOICE #32 is whether to cast the fake spell Bolero on Page 43, or the real spell Calypso on Page 56.


"The sailors set up a long wooden board so it juts several feet over the side of the ship.  They push you toward it.  You can see the captain on the afterdeck.  Apparently, he has decided to let the crew do with you what they will.  As the men push you out onto the plank, you yell at them, 'Those people on the lower deck don't deserve this.  They are human just like you.  If anything, they are better than you!'


The biggest sailor rams you with a mop handle.  'Enough of you!'  Others push at you with oars, forcing you to the end of the plank.  A second later you tumble into the sea.  There was no way you could rewrite history.  At least you were brace enough to demand justice.  THE END".


Your reward for martyrdom to the abolitionist cause is. . .the only ending so far that has an illustration!  It's a first person perspective of someone at the end of a plank staring down two sailors and a pirate captain with a classic hat, a pistol, and a sword.  The "impossible to change historical tragedies" law applies to the original Cave of Time, where you can't save the Titanic.  Have we had any other book with a walk the plank Death so far?  I don't think so.  I'll have to check.


Results So Far


9 Good Endings

17 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Chance Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures:  Return to the Cave of Time Alternate Endings Part 29


The Calypso ending in CHOICE #32 should have been the FINALE, but we still haven't followed Iaark in the Ice Age yet.


"The secret word worked!  You know that because you are back in your own time, reading this book, and you've just gotten to. . .THE END".


The plot twist is that Herman Gigglethorpe has been a Choose Your Own Adventure protagonist the whole time!  Are all the books I've read so far been past life memories?  As far as Return to the Cave of Time is concerned, it's one of the few Neutral Endings possible considering how much of the book involves permanently staying in another period.


Results So Far


9 Good Endings

17 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Chance Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures:  Return to the Cave of Time Alternate Endings Part 30


While we're escaping from the cave bear in CHOICE #15, Iaark pulls me up, says "Aug", and enters a "dark tunnel", which may be the Cave of Time.  CHOICE #33 is whether to trust Iaark and follow him on Page 120, or wait until the cave bear leaves on Page 122.


"You follow Iaark into the tunnel, hoping it will come out in the open.  'Where does this lead?' you ask, though you know he can't understand your language.  'Orgorjon', he calls back.  You have no idea what it means, but the tone of it was friendly.  Maybe he's just exploring the tunnel to see where it goes.  Iaark continues on.  You follow close behind, thinking that you may come out on the other side of the mountain.  Instead, the tunnel floor gives way.  You're falling, and Iaark is falling with you, tumbling through the Cave of Time!


Then you are waking, as if from a dream.  Once again you're just inside the entrance of a cave.  You walk out into the open air.  Something-maybe it's the smell of grass and flowers or the temperature or the sound of traffic from a nearby highway-tells you that you're back in your own time! 


'Ak lugga!' says a voice.  It's Iaark, walking toward you from the interior of the cave.  'Iaark, you're here-I can't believe it!  You'd better come with me', you call.  'You're going to need a place to stay'.  The two of you reach a road and walk along it to a nearby town.  Iaark gasps at the sight of cars and trucks going by on the highway.  Your time is stranger to him than his time is to yours!  When you reach the town and talk to a police officer standing on a street corner, you find that you are indeed back in your own time, and you'll be taking a Neanderthal boy home with you!  THE END".


Does the protagonist exploit Iaark to make money from curious anthropologists, paleontologists, and linguists?  Does Iaark star in insurance commercials?  Are both characters 3 minutes ahead of everyone else, resulting in Death by intersection crossing?  For now, it's a Good Ending, it seems.  Not many conclusions have another character coming with you through the Cave of Time, so it's likely that Azog and friends died after falling down the waterfall.


Results So Far


10 Good Endings

17 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Chance Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures:  Return to the Cave of Time FINALE


After CHOICE #33, the cave bear gives up.  Then I notice a tunnel entrance.  The final CHOICE, #34, is whether to enter the tunnel on Page 123, or leave the cave on Page 116.  Exiting the cave leads to the poisonous berry bush of CHOICE #16, so the only ending remaining is the tunnel.


"To your surprise, the tunnel only winds around for a hundred yards or so before it comes out into the open air.  The entrance is almost blocked by vines and shrubs, but you make your way through them.  You've come out on the other side of the mountain-at leas that's where you guess you are.  You're not sure if you're still in the same time.  You start down the mountain and soon reach a forest of giant pines. 


You're thirsty.  There's no sign of water.  You know that if you keep going down the mountain, you're likely to reach a river or stream.  You enter the forest and work your way down the slope.  Resting a moment, you hear a familiar sound:  running water.  A man and a woman, dressed in animal skins, are trying to spear fish with pointed sticks.  You watch quietly for a moment.  You're close enough to see that they are not Neanderthals.  They're modern humans, like you.


You step forward and call out, 'Hello there!'  They look around, smiling.  'Haru wama', the woman calls.  'Hara wu', the man says.  By the looks on their faces you know you've made friends.  THE END".


An anticlimactic Good Ending in the Ice Age.  If I didn't use the "follow a path until its end and then work backwards" method of mapping, the "player character is really the reader" ending would have been saved for last.


Don't know what the next CYOA will be, but I've found a novel that makes them sound like great literature in comparison:  The Turkey That Ate My Father.  It survived all attempts to give it to a used bookstore and a thrift store by falling out of the bag it was in.  It must be fate. . .


Return to the Cave of Time is heavy on the Deaths for a book that isn't in the horror genre, especially in the Ice Age.  I was hoping for another "future" sequence besides the traditional space travel.  The original Cave of Time book has you go to many periods, but Return to the Cave of Time focuses more on specific eras. 


Do you want to see the other U-Ventures books, or something else?



Final Results


11 Good Endings

17 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Chance Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Return to the Cave of Time CHOICE Map

 
CHOICE #1, Page 3
-Beginning of time, Page 4-6:  Go to CHOICE #2 (CLEAR)
-End of time, Page 7:  Go to CHOICE #2 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #2, Page 6, 9, 57 for time loop version
-Future, Page 14-19:  Go to CHOICE #3 (CLEAR)
-Past, Page 25:  Go to CHOICE #15 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #3, Page 19
-Pleasure in coffin, Page 23-24:  Go to CHOICE #11 (CLEAR)
-Rebel against life in coffin, Page 34-35:  Go to CHOICE #4 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #4, Page 35
-Alpha Alpha, Page 36:  INCONCLUSIVE ENDING (CLEAR, about to land on lake planet, but sent out into space indefinitely)
-Toward Earth, Page 100-101:  Go to CHOICE #5 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #5, Page 101
-Mars, Page 103:  DEATH (CLEAR, crash into Martian mountain)
-Earth, Page 102:  Go to CHOICE #6 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #6, Page 102
-Earth, Page 84-5:  Go to CHOICE #7 (CLEAR)
-Sintra, Page 90:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, Sintra is utopia)
 
CHOICE #7, Page 85
-Back into spaceship, Page 105-109:  Go to CHOICE #8 (CLEAR)
-Wait to see what robot arms do, Page 58:  DEATH (CLEAR, robot takes you to landfill)
 
CHOICE #8, Page 109
-Go to Cave of Time, Page 65-70:  Go to CHOICE #9 (CLEAR)
-Stay in Earth Healers’ time, Page 71:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, repair Earth for 200 years, then get a 3,000,000 year life span from technology)
 
CHOICE #9, Page 70
-Cross street to reach bus, Page 10-12:  Go to CHOICE #10 (CLEAR)
-Don’t risk 3 minute delay crash, Page 20-22:  GOOD ENDING?  (CLEAR, 3 minutes ahead of everyone for rest of life, but get blackboard and recorder.  Narration suggests cheating at horse race bets.)
 
CHOICE #10, Page 12
-Green means go, Page 13, 57:  Go to CHOICE #2 (CLEAR)
-Red means wait, Page 73:  DEATH (CLEAR, run into truck)
 
CHOICE #11, Page 24
-Calypso, Page 45, 48, 50-52:  Go to CHOICE #12 (CLEAR)
-Nimrod, Page 33:  DEATH (CLEAR, trapped in coffin until perishing from hunger)
 
CHOICE #12, Page 52
-Mutiny on the Bounty, Page 27-30:  Go to CHOICE #13 (CLEAR)
-Go with Captain Bligh, Page 31:  DEATH (CLEAR, illness from hunger and thirst)
 
CHOICE #13, Page 30
-Swim to Tahiti, Page 112:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, live on Tahiti with boy named Mowli)
-Stay in cabin on Bounty, Page 38-39:  Go to CHOICE #14 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #14, Page 39
-Cast Pequod, Page 125:  BAD ENDING (CLEAR, have to be farmer on isolated Pitcairn Island)
-Cast Calypso, Page 49, 57:  Go to CHOICE #2 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #15, Page 26
-Follow Iaark, Page 118:  Go to CHOICE #33 (CLEAR)
-Run out of cave, Page 116-117:  Go to CHOICE #16 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #16, Page 117
-Eat berries, Page 77:  DEATH (CLEAR, berries are poisonous)
-Reject berries, Page 78-83:  Go to CHOICE #17 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #17, Page 83
-Follow reindeer with tribe, Page 93:  Go to CHOICE #19 (CLEAR)
-Azog, Larga, and Mi’s raft, Page 94-99:  Go to CHOICE #31 (CLEAR)
-Look for “modern humans”, Page 40-41:  Go to CHOICE #18 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #18, Page 41
-Climb to rainbow, Page 86-89:  SECOND CHANCE ENDING (CLEAR, can be GOOD ENDING when you find modern humans and enjoy cave life, CHOICE #2 if you continue with story)
-Stay night in bushes, Page 44:  DEATH (CLEAR, eaten by vultures while frozen)
 
CHOICE #19, Page 93
-Cross ford in spite of Vor, Page 110:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, Vor pushes you into river, but you survive and become shaman who invents wheel)
-Return to camp, Page 60-61:  Go to CHOICE #20 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #20, Page 61
-South for the winter, Page 126-130:  Go to CHOICE #21 (CLEAR)
-Stay at camp for winter and hope Neanderthals return, Page 74:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, survive, become Neanderthal chief, and Vor is trampled by mammoth)
-Look for Cave of Time, Page 46-48, 50-52:  Go to CHOICE #12 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #21, Page 130
-Play dead, Page 131:  Go to CHOICE #22 (CLEAR)
-Stay alert, Page 142:  Go to CHOICE #27 (CLEAR)
-Step sideways, Page 150:  Go to CHOICE #28 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #22, Page 131
-Walk to rock with sabertooth tiger, Page 132:  Go to CHOICE #23 (CLEAR)
-Shout, Page 133:  Go to CHOICE #26 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #23, Page 132
-Walk sideways to get away from beasts, Page 134:  DEATH (CLEAR, eaten by sabertooth tiger)
-Sharp rock, Page 135:  Go to CHOICE #24 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #24, Page 135
-Duck to side, Page 136:  DEATH (CLEAR, try to block tiger with arm before being eaten)
-Conk sabertooth tiger with rock, Page 137:  Go to CHOICE #25 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #25, Page 137
-To woods while wolves are confused, Page 138:  DEATH (CLEAR, wolves hunt you down)
-Climb on tiger rock, Page 141:  DEATH (CLEAR, sabertooth still has more teeth)
 
CHOICE #26, Page 133
-Walk to side, Page 139:  DEATH (CLEAR, either wolves or sabertooth tiger kill you)
-Look for rock or stick, Page 140: DEATH (CLEAR, wolves tear you apart)
 
CHOICE #27, Page 142
-Kick wolf, Page 144:  DEATH (CLEAR, other 4 wolves eat you)
-Talk to wolf, Page 143:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, domesticate first dog)
 
CHOICE #28, Page 150
-Drop backpack, Page 145:  Go to CHOICE #29 (CLEAR)
-Run away with backpack, Page 146:  DEATH (CLEAR, wolves catch up)
 
CHOICE #29, Page 145
-Wait in tree, Page 147:  DEATH (CLEAR, wolves poop on belongings, then you freeze before vultures eat you)
-Loop to river, Page 148:  Go to CHOICE #30 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #30, Page 148
-Cave of Time, Page 151-152, 57:  Go to CHOICE #2 (CLEAR)
-River, Page 149:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, live with Azog, Mi, and Larga in tent)
 
CHOICE #31, Page 99
-Try to free slaves, Page 54-55:  Go to CHOICE #32 (CLEAR)
-Look for captain of slave ship, Page 62:  GOOD ENDING?  (CLEAR, convince Captain Montague Ward to no longer sail on slave ships)
 
CHOICE #32, Page 55
-Cast Bolero, Page 43:  DEATH (CLEAR, walk the plank)
-Cast Calypso, Page 56:  NEUTRAL ENDING (CLEAR, reading Return to the Cave of Time)
 
CHOICE #33, Page 118
-Follow Iaark into tunnel, Page 120:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, take Iaark with you to present)
-Wait until cave bear leaves, Page 122:  Go to CHOICE #34 (CLEAR)
 
CHOICE #34, Page 122
-Enter tunnel, Page 123:  GOOD ENDING (CLEAR, make friends with Ice Age fishers)
-Leave cave, Page 116-117:  Go to CHOICE #16 (CLEAR)