Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  House of Danger Alternate Endings Part 18


Entering the House of Danger with Ricardo and Lisa in CHOICE #16 instead of going with them in CHOICE #1 changes reality once again.  Only one more CHOICE left to go! 


We're forced to enter the dark basement once the chimps back us into a corner.  Once the lights are on, we see blueprints labeled:


TOP SECRET INVASION PLANS
EARTH-WESTERN HEMISPHERE
PHASE ALPHA


Of course aliens would write their TOP SECRET INVASION PLANS. . .in one of the most common languages of the species they want to conquer.  Clearly not the kind of extraterrestrials who are smarter than puny humans.


The alien who greets us looks a bit like a Grey.  He says "Ah, my inquisitive friends, I see you are examining our plans.  Go ahead, be my guests.  Look all you want.  It does not matter.  Our plans are already in motion".


While gloating about his TOP SECRET INVASION PLANS, he offers to let us join the conquest, probably to offer us a position in the alien regime.  The corpse was a man who refused to take their offer.  CHOICE #19 is to pretend to accept, or openly refuse.


The alien says I'll have "job security, and even a pension after a certain number of years".  Many Earthlings would accept their takeover if he announced that openly rather than bother with TOP SECRET INVASION PLANS.  Positions include Earth project manager and Invasion Commander.  (The alien recruiter is the latter.)


"As he is talking, the man walks over and opens the outside door.  He beckons to you go out.  As you step out, you realize that you are in big trouble.  The sky is almost covered by an enormous space vehicle.  It is bright gold in color and it hovers overhead with a low humming sound.  You wonder if you will enjoy your new life.  The End".


Besides their abysmal cryptography, these alien invaders may not be so bad!  The fact that they offer other species the position of Invasion Commander suggests that they respect them somewhat.  At least in this timeline.  The final ending where you refuse is more like an old Twilight Zone episode.  You know the one.


(Though this book is so inconsistent regarding the House of Danger, that you can't assume even the results of the same CHOICE occur within the same reality.)


The last line of this ending is about as Inconclusive as you can get.  The illustration is of a roughly blimp-shaped spaceship with fins near the back floating over the ground.



Results So Far


10 Good Endings

5 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

3 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  House of Danger Finale


The last House of Danger ending is infamous among CYOA fans, so why not save it for the finale?  Refusing the alien invader's offer goes like this:


"No, thanks', you say.  'We're not interested.'  'You refuse, do you?' shouts the creature.  'Well, we have another use for humans.  In fact, it is our main use for humans.'


With that, he takes a small device from his pocket and aims it at the three of you.  A beam of incredibly cold light-its temperature hundreds of degrees below zero-freezes you, Lisa, and Ricardo into solid blocks of ice.  Then the man takes out a rubber stamp from his other pocket and stamps your forehead:


HUMAN MEAT
GALACTIC PRIME SOURCE-PLANET EARTH
GRADE A


The End".



A misprint in the cookbook How to Cook for 40 Humans had grisly consequences.  The entire proofreading staff was sentenced to hyperspace prison, with psychic chimpanzees as their cellmates.


House of Danger isn't what I'd call a "good" gamebook, but I enjoyed reading about the holographic chimps and chimp counterfeiters.  It's easy to see why they chose this book to adapt into a party board game.


As for the "99% chance of death" remark, House of Danger isn't that fatal.  The chance of Death is only 30%, and in fact there's a 50% chance of a Good Ending, if you're willing to count the "become your own distant ancestor" path as positive.  Some CHOICEs have both options lead to Good Endings, and there are none that are guaranteed to end in Death.


For an early RA Montgomery CYOA, the CHOICE structure is oddly straightforward, like a You Say Which Way.  He usually liked to include more endings and paths that either lead to other CHOICE branches or skip to much later parts of the book.  Check out the official flowchart for Journey Under the Sea, for example, and you'll see curved dotted lines everywhere.


The next CYOA in this box set to be reviewed is The Abominable Snowman.



Final Results


10 Good Endings

6 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

3 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Part 1


BEWARE AND WARNING!


This book is different from other books.  You and YOU ALONE are in charge of what happens in this story.  There are dangers, choices, adventures, and consequences.  YOU must use all of your numerous talents and much of your enormous intelligence.  The wrong decision could end in disaster-even death.  But don't despair.  At any time, YOU can go back and make another choice, alter the path of your story, and change its results.


You and your best friend Carlos have traveled to Nepal in search of the fabled Yeti or abominable snowman.  Last year while the two of you were mountain climbing in South America, a guide told you about the legendary creature and you haven't stopped thinking about the Yeti since.  Carlos arrived and went straight into the mountains when a Yeti sighting was reported.  He hasn't been heard from in three days.  A late monsoon storm has moved in and the mountains are almost impassable.  You know Carlos will depend on you to do the right thing?  But what is it?



Our story begins by establishing the protagonist as an experienced mountain climber.  After attending a climbing school in Colorado 3 years ago, I befriended Carlos.  We made such a good team that we reached the summits of 2 previously unclimbed mountains in South America.  Our companion Franz told us about his time in the Himalayas.  There's a drawing of the Himalayas on pages 2-3.  Franz claims the Yeti lives  in "high valleys beneath the snowfields" in the less explored areas of this mountain range.  According to Franz, no one has ever taken a photograph of the abominable snowman, but a 1950s British expedition found suspiciously large footprints.


Carlos and I went to the Himalayas on behalf of the International Foundation For Research Into Strange Phenomena.  The goal is to take a picture of the Yeti.  But Carlos disappeared after taking a helicopter to Mt. Everest 2 days ago.  No radio transmissions either.  I'm now waiting in Kathmandu.  CHOICE #1 is to either look for Carlos, or meet the Yeti expert RN Runal instead. 


I don't want to leave Carlos to die in this CANONICAL ENDING playthrough, so I'll search for him.  This isn't House of Danger where I was looking for the funniest way to die.  Mr. Runal decides to come with me to help.  Carlos's tent at the Mt. Everest base camp is still there, but no footprints are visible.  Runal says people usually see the Yeti below the base camp, but suggests they might also be seen on the mountain.  CHOICE #2 is whether to look below or above Carlos' camp.


Runal and I reach a pine forest after walking for hours.  We can't go any farther when the path becomes steeper and leads down to a gorge 1000 meters below.  An old woman lives in a "small stone house with a thatched roof" nearby.  Runal acts as my Nepali interpreter when I give her Carlos' description:  "about five foot nine, medium build, has dark hair".


She says 2 men visited her, and the "younger one" wrote a note saying:


Don't follow
Wait at base camp
Carlos


Runal thinks I should ignore the message, but says "you know him better".  CHOICE #3 is to wait at base camp like the note orders me to do, or look for him anyway.  Runal has been useful so far, so I'll listen to him instead of this suspicious note.  (Is it even from Carlos?  Nothing is mentioned about whether the handwriting is authentic.)


As thanks, Runal gives the old woman 2 copper coins.  She talks to him in Nepali for a bit, and he explains that she saw Carlos with a Yeti.  If the rumor is true, I might complete the mission and rescue my friend.


The CANONICAL ENDING comes immediately afterwards.  It's a lousy one.


"As you race down the path you see footprints that might have been left by a Yeti.  Suddenly it is very quiet.  The birds have stopped singing.  The only sound you hear is your footsteps and Runal's right behind you.  You wonder why.


It doesn't take long to find out.  Around a turn in the path you run smack into a band of creatures that can only be Yeti.  They are aiming an ancient bronze cannon at you.  One of them touches a light to the fuse.


And that is the last thing you remember-until you wake up in your own bed.  It must have been the awesome tripledecker with mustard, anchovies, and chocolate syrup.  The End".


BOO!  BOO!  Did you really have to reuse the "just a dream" ending, RA Montgomery?  This is a Neutral Ending if I ever saw one.


Results So Far


0 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 1


This time, I'll need to wait in Carlos's base camp in CHOICE #3 to avoid getting a lazy ending like the CANONICAL one.  Before leaving, the old Nepali woman gives us a "meal of rice, squash, and buttered tea".


We hear sounds like "Yeeeeowee!" coming from near the woman's house before we can go to Carlos's base camp. She says the Yetis want us to join them and Carlos.  CHOICE #4 is to follow the Yeti sounds or return to the base camp and helicopter.  


While pursuing the Yeti sounds, we see a yak corpse with its horns twisted off.  These horns are now path markers near a "rhododendron-and-pine grove".  CHOICE #5 is to take Runal with me "for added protection", or use Runal as the rear guard because I can move quickly solo.  


Not wanting a quick Death, I decide to take Runal with me.  A red backpack that looks like Carlos' is hanging on a pine tree's branches.  CHOICE #6 is to either retreat and look for help, or "give the special bird call whistle that you and Carlos use as your emergency code".  The existence of this code has never been mentioned earlier.


Selecting the second option means Carlos accomplishes the Yeti mission.  The player character was only there to get him home.


"Too wheet, too wheeet, too tooooo.'


You have trouble whistling, you are so nervous.  Then you repeat the signal, only louder this time.


[b]'Too wheet, too wheeet, too tooooo.'[/b]


There is a sudden crackling of bushes and twigs.  You and Runal pull back ready to run for it.  Carlos breaks out of the brush, sees you two, and yells, 'Run for it, run for it, run for it!'  A camera dangles from his neck, and the three of you leap out of the thicket and make for the trail.  You keep on going until you can go no further.  Between gasps for breath, Carlos tells you that the Yeti carried him to the thicket and allowed him to photograph a group of sixteen Yeti.  They told him that now he had what he needed and that they wanted to be left alone.


'Well, why were we invited?', you ask.  'To help me get back, I guess.  I had no idea where I was.'  You get back to the helicopter and return to Kathmandu with the first pictures the world has ever seen of the Yeti.  Fame is now yours.  It's the beginning of a great career.  The End".


Why does the fame belong to me?  Carlos did all the glamorous work.  The player character was the Michael Collins of this expedition.


Results So Far


1 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 2


Taking the "retreat" option in CHOICE #6 makes the player character and Runal suspect a trap.  As we leave the thicket, "a huge creature, seven or more feet tall, weighing at least two hundred pounds, with short reddish fur covering its body" appears.  It's the Yeti!  (Though 200 pounds seems light for an animal that tall. . .)


CHOICE #7 is to either take a chance and snap some photos, or go back to the thicket to avoid possible danger.  Since this is a Chooseco rerelease, I have a "digital camera".  Lhotse and Mt. Everest make a good background for this picture of the Yeti eating.  The Yeti stops eating, lunges, and grabs me.  Runal attacks the Yeti with the ice axe to try to save me, but "the blows are as effective as a mosquito bite".  Before the Yeti can murder me, the old woman from before whistles, making the Yeti drop me. 


"The Yeti speaks rapidly in a tongue neither you nor Runal can understand.  It's more a series of low grunts, mixed with high piercing whistles.  The Yeti seems to become quiet, almost docile.  The Yeti and the woman disappear into the thicket, leaving the two of you stunned and confused but safe to return to Kathmandu with your pictures.  Years later you entertain your grandchildren with stories of finding the Yeti.  The End".


None of the endings so far have illustrations, even though the text for them takes up no more than 1/3 of a page. 


At least we learn the Yeti language doesn't require non-human vocal cords to pronounce.  In this timeline anyway.  You can never be sure in an RA Montgomery book.


Results So Far


2 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 3


The other ending for CHOICE #7 appears when I retreat instead of taking a picture of the Yeti.  This attempt to get away fails when a few other Yeti surround us.  They take us with them to a clearing filled with boulders that they sit on.  Carlos is there too.  


In the new timeline, the Yeti must speak English because my character can understand them.  "You wanted to find us.  Well, now you have.  If you wish, take pictures.  If you wish, record our voices.  But listen well, listen and learn so that all will benefit".  It's implied Runal knew about these talking Yeti the whole time and didn't tell me.


"In the beginning of time on this planet, life was difficult but simple.  Survival was what held us together.  We took the lives of only those things we needed to feed us.  Nothing more.'  A slight wind moves the branches of the pines.  The Yeti continues his tale.


'Later, people found fire, lived in villages, later small towns, than bigger and bigger cities.  They made weapons to hunt and then to protect themselves from animals and others.  Then they began to make war on each other.  We, the Yeti, retreated, wanting none of the war nor the towns.  We kept on retreating until there was no place left to go.  So here we are, high in the mountains, where we thought we were safe.'


'But you are safe.  We mean no harm.'  'Perhaps not you, but there are others who do.  Leave us alone.  Return to your own lands.  If you want cities and war and this thing they call pollution, then live with them or get rid of them.  But leave us be.'


The group of Yeti nods in agreement.  The meeting is over, and you, Carlos, and Runal are allowed to leave.  You decide not to take pictures or record their voices.  You also decide to suggest to the International Foundation For Research Into Strange Phenomena that a better study would be of the so-called civilized world.  The End".


Given the increasing human population and the spread of mass communication like the Internet, wouldn't it be better if first contact with the Yeti is from a friendly party (i.e. the player's group) instead of other random people?  They can't hide forever, and they don't have a situation quite like the North Sentinelese islanders.


I guess this is a Good Ending because you find the Yeti and Carlos.  No illustration for this last page either.


Results So Far


3 Good Endings

0 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 4


Leaving Runal as the rear guard to look for Carlos creates a different branch.  A fence made out of "some kind of aluminum or stainless steel" is unlocked, and I see a rock wall with a "strange carving".  A red door goes into the wall, but there is also a path leading away from this area.  CHOICE #8 is where to go next based on these 2 options.


This CHOICE turns out to be pointless, like some decisions in You Say Which Way books.  The reason for this is that when I go on the path because "the door is too scary", a 200 mph avalanche buries the path under snow, and I'm forced to enter the red door anyway.  CHOICE #8's railroading is represented as a dotted line going from the left to the right on the right side of the flowchart.  Sometimes I find it interesting to compare my primitive yet effective Microsoft Word CHOICE system with the official Chooseco "blank map" on the back.


I enter a tunnel with a "gentle rose-colored light".  Once outside, I see what seem to be the mountains Lhotse and Pumori.  A boy who's probably 8 or 9 greets me in English and says "Your friend Carlos is anxious to see you".  One line later in the conversation is more ominous:  "If you wish to join him, you must agree never to go back to the world you came from."


CHOICE #9 is to agree to join Carlos, or leave and wait for him to return.  I'll pick the latter because it's a short ending and easy to get out of the way now.  


"It's probably the best decision to leave.  Don't look for trouble.  But what about Carlos?  You wait for his return, and you wait and wait and wait and wait. . .The End".


For once the timeline is consistent in a single CHOICE, as you'll see in the other CHOICE #9 conclusion.  But this means our hero waits forever for their friend.  There's no illustration here, which is disappointing.  A mountain climber sitting on a rock and despondently looking at a watch would make for a good picture.


I'll rate this as a Bad Non-Death Ending.  Readers know Carlos isn't returning.


Results So Far


3 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 5


The other CHOICE #9 conclusion is more positive than the "wait forever" ending, but also much stranger. 


The English-speaking boy wears "a dark maroon robe similar to that worn by Buddhist monks".  When I saw this line, I had to look up the "maroon robe".  I knew some Buddhist monks wear orange robes, but apparently that's more of a Theravada custom, unlike the Vajrayana-based Buddhism practiced in Tibet.  


The valley nearby appears "as a city of light".  My character has a sense of deja vu as they "fly along a pathway".  One large building is compared to the Taj Mahal, if it had more towers and domes.  This is represented in a picture.  The Taj Mahal was based on Islamic architecture, which looks nothing like Tibetan religious buildings if a few quick searches are any indication.


Anyway, a "force field" drags me like a magnet to the interior of the not-Taj Mahal.


"Carlos is in the center of a group of people.  While you look on in amazement, some of the people change form before your very eyes.  One moment they are Yeti, and the next, unicorns.  Smiling, Carlos speaks to you.


'Welcome.  You have completed a difficult journey and found your way to knowledge.  Now begins the true journey.  The End".


In this timeline, the "Yeti" are really shape-shifting Tibetan Buddhist monks.  This ending does have an illustration.  Carlos stands with his arms spread out on the left.  A unicorn and a Yeti stand behind him on the right side of the picture.


Results So Far


4 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 6


Getting to the next branch requires me to obey Carlos's handwritten note in CHOICE #4 and wait at his base camp.  Runal once again knows a suspicious amount of information about Yeti.  He says the sound is "the battle cry, the cry of anger and revenge", and that they're sick of people hunting them.  A crashed helicopter lies on a glacier near the camp next to some Yeti footprints. 


CHOICE #10 is to follow the Yeti tracks, or wait near the crashed helicopter to see if help comes.  The footprints go into a maze in the icefall.  "You must be careful, because even the slightest movement of the glacier could cause the ice seracs to collapse.  This is a death zone!"  This part sounds worse than it really is when you consider the ending that will appear.


Birds fly in the thermals, and we admire the scenery until we see a piece of red cloth that looks like it came from Carlos's tent.  As soon as I pick it up, I fall into a trap.  4 Yeti capture Runal and me and carry us "like sacks of rice".  They put us down next to the helicopter pilot. 


"Well, thank you for coming here.  We thought it would be nice to study you, and it would have been hard for us to travel to your country.'  The Yeti laughs a low, long chuckle.  The others grin.  You look at Runal, at the helicopter pilot, at the surrounding mountains.  The Yeti continues.  'Your friend is safe.  He will be brought back to you later.  Now we have had enough of you, and we hope you have had enough of us.'  The Yeti walk off and disappear into the icefall.


You find your way back to the smashed helicopter.  Carlos is there, unharmed as they said.  Your only disappointment is at not getting a picture.  It is several days before another helicopter finds you and makes a rescue.  Tired, somewhat disappointed, you vow to continue your search for life forms in the remote regions of our planet.  The End".


I count this as a Good Ending because the helicopter pilot and Carlos are safe, but the mission is incomplete.  At least everyone gets to see and talk to the Yeti.


Results So Far


5 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  The Abominable Snowman Alternate Endings Part 7


Waiting next to the crashed helicopter in CHOICE #10 makes the player character suspect the old woman was lying, or that the Yeti sounds are merely "temple horns".  This is a solipsistic CYOA, so it may be true in this timeline.  Runal stays behind to wait for a rescue helicopter when I tell him I'm going to look for Carlos.


Now things start to enter House of Danger territory.  A "round orange-colored mass" the size of a beach ball flies next to me and zaps me with a "light beam".  However, this feels like warm salt water rather than being shot.  I tell it I'm not an enemy, and want to know what it is.


"Earthling wishes knowledge.  Earthling friendly.  Release light beam.  Sensor indicates Earthling is honest and speaks only truth".  When the light beam is gone, I say "I wish Carlos were here".  And Carlos magically appears.  Carlos explains what's going on:


"Hey, your wish was granted.  That's the way it is with these Movidians.  If they like you and believe in you, then your thoughts and wishes become real."  He's been with them for 2 days, and tells me they're alien robots who have a base in the Himalayas.  In the illustration, the Movidians look like robot cats, if imagined by a science fiction author from many decades ago.  (Not 80s robots.  Think earlier than that.)  The picture is inspired by a line saying that the Movidians sound like cats purring.  Do Movidians grant wishes based on bad thoughts that enter your mind too?  That could be a problem.  To be fair, the light beams do banish your fear.


CHOICE #11 is whether or not to go with the Movidians to "the Planet of the Seas in the Void of the Seven Moons".


The Movidian talking to us is called Norcoon.  He's a "X52 Double A, intelligent, mobile activator being".  To get to the Planet of the Seas in the Void of the Seven Moons, Carlos and I have to abandon our bodies, at least for now.  


"Pure mind-no matter.  Norcoon approves, and offers you space aboard his mechanical transporter.  Inside the pumpkin shape there is plenty of room for you and Carlos and all your thoughts.


'Now, my friends, we are on our way to the Planet of the Seas.  It's where all thoughts end up.  You whirl away, confident that one day you will return wiser and better able to help others in a world where the going is rough.  The End".


The illustration looks like a giant pumpkin with an open doorway.  A staircase leads out of it.  In the "windows", there are many other kids besides Carlos and I.  This ending is similar to the crystal planet one from House of Danger.  The player may not meet Yeti, but first contact with friendly alien robots is even better.


Results So Far


6 Good Endings

0 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

1 Neutral Endings

0 Inconclusive Endings