Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Planet Of The Dragons Alternate Endings Part 11


Turning Right in CHOICE #15 does not kill me as I'd expected.  It's especially surprising because the hint for Left states outright that the new laboratory is probably in that direction.


"You go to the right, following a narrow, twisting passageway leading to a descending staircase, and cautiously you start down.  When you reach the bottom, you're in a large, circular chamber.  On the other side of the chamber are dragons!  They stare at you with blazing eyes.  You stand frozen, afraid to move.  But as you stare at them, you realize that these dragons are different from the ones up above.  They are much smaller, hardly bigger than you.  And there's a gentle look in their eyes.


You smile for the first time in a long time.  Suddenly, a Dern appears from somewhere at the side of the chamber.  He looks something like Keesa but seems to be younger.  'Try not to scare them,' he says.  'What are these dragons doing here?', you ask.    'Ever since the metal dragons arrived from space, the native dragons have hid underground.  I am trying to take care of them so that one day, when the evil dragons are gone, these kindly dragons can return to the surface.  They are part of our legends and tales.'


As if to say that he trusts you, one of the dragons trots over and licks your hand.  At that moment you know that the space dragons will be defeated and that someday all will be well again on the planet.  THE END"


How are these metal dragons going to be defeated if the hero hides underground?  The hyskos can't seem to figure out the "spear in the air intake" trick on their own, and Derns will have a hard time making a deal with them to use the acoustic bottle from a high enough altitude.  Millie will have to save Tambor, because she's better than the player character in every way.  Based on the last line, I'll have to rule it as a Good Ending.  At least there's the illustration of the dragon licking the player character's hand with a Dern looking upon them.


Results So Far


5 Good Endings

5 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Planet Of The Dragons Alternate Endings Part 12


Facing the music. . .er. . .hyskos in CHOICE #14 after failing to find Dr. Nekai in Shanar goes as poorly as you'd expect.  But it's not the bird people who finish off the hero.  The page before the ending gives you the false hope of sneaking around crevices.


"You start across the plain, but before you've gone far, the dark shadow of a hysko falls across you.  It swoops down toward you-will the hysko attack you or does it want to help you?  Suddenly it doesn't matter.  A larger shadow falls across the ground-that of a dragon!  Seconds later, a blast of flame finishes you-and the hysko too.  THE END"


Unlike the previous death by fire breath, you kill off an unnamed side character too.  The illustration shows the hero running across a rocky plain, and the hysko does not look like it wants to help her.



Results So Far


5 Good Endings

6 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Planet Of The Dragons Alternate Endings Part 13


The next ending is clever.  Before CHOICE #13, it is said that the floating yarya spheres are filled with hydrogen.  If you return to the life pod, the protagonist comes up with an idea to detonate the spheres using an "old-fashioned flint lighter" and cloth strips.


"Keesa explains it all to the hyskos.  At first the hyskos don't believe your plan will work, but after they've destroyed the first few dragons, you and Keesa become their heroes.  The hyskos have gone so long without the Derns for food that in desperation they've turned to a number of edible plants to stay alive.  They realize now that they like their new food just as much.


But you teach the Derns how to make and shoot bows and arrows to fight off the hyskos, just in case the hyskos revert to their old ways.  The Derns are so grateful that they elect you their new grand emperor.  THE END"


Are the hyskos so stupid that they forgot they were omnivores somehow?  The backup plan of Dern archery is a sound idea.  Empress Player Character's coronation has no illustration.



Results So Far


6 Good Endings

6 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Planet Of The Dragons Alternate Endings Part 14


When Keesa and I set out for the Darblon Mountains in CHOICE #12, Dr. Nekai gives us an acoustic bottle for defense.  There aren't any dragons on the plain, and we walk to a former riverbed.  This will lead us to the Great Rift according to Keesa.  Several hours later, I spot a space dragon and repel it with the acoustic bottle.  Keesa's afraid it won't work if more than one dragon draws near.


The Great Rift itself is a misty "huge natural chasm" about a half mile deep and wide.  Keesa tells me there would be a waterfall here if not for the recent drought.  He provides two options for CHOICE #16:  go down the narrow cliff trail on Page 21, or walk south to a natural bridge on Page 63.


My character has her doubts about the natural bridge:  "Will the arch really hold our weight?  It looks very narrow and fragile in the center.  And what if we get caught by a dragon when we're halfway across?"  Keesa's more confident since he's heard that "many have gone across it" for "thousands of years".


The hero's reservations are vindicated on Pages 50-51, where she's seen hanging off the side!  My "foot slips", and the acoustic bottle and supplies are lost forever.  Keesa pulls me back up, only for a space dragon to lunge toward us.


"A burst of flame from the dragon engulfs the center of the arch and incinerates you and Keesa.  The dragon itself misjudges the distance and impales itself on one spear of the now broken arch.  Its pieces-along with your ashes-cascade into the canyon below.  THE END"


This ending seems like a cheat.  Keesa tells you to take the natural bridge, and there's no hint in the text that the cliff path is safer.  Unless you're supposed to intuit that the cliff trail would be too tight for the dragons to get through, which would be unusually subtle for a children's series.  The dragon's demise gives some comic relief to what would otherwise be "yet another fire breath of death" conclusion.  It comes on the page immediately after my CANONICAL ENDING of Millie and her dad dancing on the spaceship.



Results So Far


6 Good Endings

7 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Planet Of The Dragons Alternate Endings Part 15


The cliff trail is even more perilous than I expected.  Its footholds are meant for Derns, not Earth humans.  When we reach the bottom, Keesa and I rest and eat.  Then we wade past a "shallow stream" on the canyon floor.  Or rather, what would be shallow to a human:  "Keesa doesn't seem to mind that he's soaked up to his neck."


A 200 foot cliff face is an obvious dead end, and Keesa tells me to walk north to look for a way to reach the top.  Friendly called Nedigs that look like 100 ton caterpillars will be our ride.  They must not be like Earth insects if they can get that big-in a thinner atmosphere!  The "hairs" look more like spines in the picture, and they're not as long as I'd expected.  Did the Nedigs inspire the art design of Hollow Knight?


Keesa has to pull me up because I don't jump far enough once I reach the top.  The ride feels like a "fast elevator".  The Nedigs rush into a cave, and we walk toward the Rhegi Mountains for several hours.  CHOICE #17 is to either go straight up the mountain (and probably become biofuel for a space dragon) on Page 28, or search for a pass at the base on Page 30.


"It doesn't take you long to find a narrow road going around the base of the mountain.  'This is very strange,' Keesa says.  'I've never seen a road like this.  The way it's built up on the sides, it looks like some kind of track.'


Following this road halfway around the mountain, you reach a huge semicircular door.  The door is open and you peer cautiously through it into a dark tunnel.  From somewhere deep within the mountain you can hear the hum of machinery.  'This is exciting!'  Keesa says.  'I think we've found an entrance to the dragon maintenance center.  We won't have to climb the mountain.'


You glance apprehensively at Keesa.  'If that's so, it means this tunnel. . .may not be too good-'  Your words are interrupted by a roaring, rasping sound from behind.  Turning, you confront one of the dragon monsters hurtling toward you.  You hold out your acoustic bottle, but before you can tap it, it melts in a sheet of orange-blue flame.  THE END"


Winning Planet Of The Dragons is based more on luck than skill, but maybe not to the degree of an R.A. Montgomery book.  There's no clue that looking for a pass is a bad idea at all.  Our hero's best solution is to find Millie and let her make all the decisions!


Results So Far


6 Good Endings

8 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Planet Of The Dragons Alternate Endings Part 16


After climbing above the tree line in CHOICE #17, we look down upon the Great Rift and Shanar.  We hide in a crevice from an approaching space dragon, who enters a metal door inside the mountain.  The metal door closes, and stays that way until another dragon enters.  We follow it inside.


"You have entered the dragons' lair", and Dirk the Daring isn't available to help.  Although we die about as many times as he does.


We see the dragons in a sort of assembly line row.  Robots that look like cumbersome vacuum cleaners enter openings in the space dragons' bodies to repair them, though we have to hide from another approaching dragon inside another room before we can see the full process.  When we go down a ramp to investigate, we're trapped by a horde of robots!


On the next page, however, the robots ignore us.  "We're lucky they're not programmed to notice intruders".  So much for cybersecurity.  The robots may be controlled by a machine that "looks like an oversized xylophone".  CHOICE #18 is to follow my character's suggestion is trying to control the robots on Page 55, or follow Keesa's idea of advancing to the "dragon floor" on Page 49.  Keesa thinks there are too many robots to bother with the control room, while the hero is optimistic that the robots ignore outsiders.


The "xylophone" is actually space dragon traffic control.  My character believes that smashing the machine will shut down the invasion for good.  Keesa is no good at throwing gears, but the second gear of mine destroys three glass bars.  The exploding machinery sends "showers of sparks and flying fragments of glass" into the room.


"You dive sideways and shield your eyes to keep from being cut by the flying glass.  When you look around through the acrid smoke, you can't see anything but Keesa huddling beside you.  All is quiet, except for the sound of electrical crackling and an occasional pop, delayed reaction to one of the shattered rods.  Slowly the smoke clears.  To you joy, all the robots are motionless.  You work your way past the fallen robots and up the ramp, then into the tunnel.  Peering into the cavern you see that the robots there are frozen in their places.


The space dragons (which were never really alive) are dead!  Suddenly the lights begin to flicker.  'We'd better get out of here!' you say.  'The power is going to go out at any minute.'  You and Keesa dash back through the tunnel to the double doors.  Fortunately, they're open.  The wreck of a dragon lies just outside the entrance.  It must have been about to enter when it went out of control.


You and Keesa run down the side of the mountain.  You're both eager to tell Dr. Nekai and the other Derns to spread the word to all creatures hiding beneath the ground.  The space dragons are dead.  Tambor is free!  THE END"


This Good Ending is justified by the clue that the robots aren't aware of Keesa or the protagonist.  No illustration on the final page, but there is a picture of Keesa and the hero covering their faces as pieces of machinery fly into the room on the page before.


Results So Far


7 Good Endings

8 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Planet Of The Dragons Alternate Endings Part 17


Let's enter the dragon room in CHOICE #18.  This doesn't kill us, and we get to enter one of the dragons.  It can be controlled manually, so it seems that they also function as aircraft for whatever alien species that built them.  CHOICE #19 is to get off the space dragon on Page 52, or ride inside on Page 38.


Of course we're going to ride a robot dragon when we get the chance!  The "eyes" are windows, and the bars control ascent, descent, and the fire breath.  A "square box" in the control room "programs the dragon ship through its destructive maneuvers" with computer assistance.


We try a Star Fox somersault to get behind several of the space dragons.  A fire breath knocks one of the dragons out of the sky, but the others learn how to somersault as well.  CHOICE #20 is to ascend on Page 58, or dive on Page 39.


"You dive the dragon ship straight down.  The acceleration takes your breath away.  Looking out the porthole you see the mountain rushing up at you faster than you'd expected.  You steer the ship away just in time to keep from hitting the mountain, but then you have to prepare of another crisis:  The other dragon ships are closing in fast.


You try to maneuver, but you're too late.  The dragon ships crash into you and each other simultaneously.  All of the ships are blown to bits with a force so great that the dragon tunnel caves in; the rest of the dragons are buried forever.  It's too bad that no one will ever know it was you who saved Tambor.  THE END"


This ending made me think of a Death in La Prisión where you expose the conspiracy, but are killed by suffocation before the downfall of ARTUS.


Results So Far


7 Good Endings

9 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Planet Of The Dragons Alternate Endings Part 18


If you cause the dragon to ascend from inside the cockpit in CHOICE #20, you don't slow down and get caught by the other dragons like I'd expected.  Richard Brightfield reminds the reader that these are SPACE dragons, and can therefore leave Tambor.  My character finds out when she becomes weightless.  I see what looks like a planet, which Keesa believes to be Tambor's smallest moon Parau.


My "battle thrall to the Taurons" Unusual Background finally becomes relevant.  I fix the "space-drive engine" by adjusting the wires since I'd repaired spaceships as a captive.


"But as you close in on Parau, you begin to notice that it's not a moon at all.  'Why that's a space station!' you explain.  You fly the ship around the space station and locate a large, open port.  You're able to pilot the dragon ship through it.  A huge door closes silently behind you.


You're excited to have discovered a space station, but your hopes fall as you cruise through it.  There is no sign of life anywhere.  Then, looking up, you see the great space door opening again.  A huge ship is entering.  Your heart leaps as you recognize its type.  And even at this distance you can see the large Earth flag painted on its hull.  You're about to be rescued!  THE END"


Having a space dragon for a ride must be a conversation starter.  "Which brand did you buy:  Christopher Paolini or Anne McCaffrey?"


Results So Far


8 Good Endings

9 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Planet Of The Dragons Alternate Endings Part 19


Once you enter the space dragon in CHOICE #18, do not leave under any circumstances.  These repair robots not only do not notice intruders, but they also fail to notice biological life in general.


"You tap Keesa on the shoulder.  'Let's get out of here.'  The two of you dash for the door.  You make it through just as the outside ramp starts to fold back into the side of the ship.  As you leap to the ground, you see a robot rolling toward you.  'Watch out!' you yell at Keesa.


At the same time, you dive out of the robot's path.  But suddenly steel pincers are picking you up.  The robot has mistaken you for a repair part.  He holds you aloft as he rolls toward a dragon.  You struggle to get free.  The robot reacts, tightening its grip, tighter. . .tighter.  THE END"


There's no illustration of the robot strangling my character.  The robot being a "he" makes me think of Chrono Cross, where EVERY enemy has a gender whether it makes sense or not.



Results So Far


8 Good Endings

10 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure:  Planet Of The Dragons FINALE


The last ending comes when I decide to flee from the dragons in the countryside in CHOICE #11.  We ride the horse-like tympors as the space dragons scorch Shanar.


"As you reach the gates of the city you see a huge dragon hovering there.  Your tympor dodges to the left.  The dragon can't move as quickly as the tympor.  Not even a lion or tiger can move as quickly as a tympor.  If the predator had been a lion or a tiger, the tympor would have made it.  But dragons are able to shoot jets of flame.  THE END"


But the dragons can move faster, or else they'd be lousy spaceships.  It might have been amusing if the dragons were so slow that the civilization that they were meant to destroy had collapsed of its own accord.  There is an illustration of a space dragon breathing fire toward the bottom right of the page.


Planet Of The Dragons is not one of the better Choose Your Own Adventures.  Some of the options kill you with no clue that the decision will be fatal.  We get no story on why the dragons are invading Tambor in the first place, other than a hint that they picked the wrong planet. 


Then again, the idea of spaceship dragons certainly sets this book apart from other dragon stories.  And it is better than Dragons Realm, even if that is faint praise.  If you want a Richard Brightfield CYOA, go with Hijacked!  Millie deserves a gold medal for being one of the most helpful CYOA companions.  She deserved better than to be replaced on the cover by the girl who looks nothing like the illustrations inside.  Other candidates would be Félix from La Prisión and Dr. Vivaldi.


Planet Of The Dragons has a conventional structure, with no converging routes like The Third Planet From Altair, or Lost Jewels Of Nabooti time loops.  The book might have been improved if it dropped a couple of the minor branches such as the "live with hyskos" and "survive with Millie" routes and combined them with the main plot of the Derns trying to eliminate the space dragons.  It doesn't lack challenge more than half of the endings are Deaths!


The next gamebook should be The Horror Of High Ridge by Julius Goodman if it comes in the mail.  Will it have anything in common with Treasure Diver?  According to some readers, it's actually a sequel to House Of Danger because its companions Ricardo and Lisa return.



Final Results


8 Good Endings

11 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

1 Inconclusive Endings