I've been playing Fabled Lands, an old game book series from the 80s that was part of the evolution away from the chaotic lethality of Choose Your Own Adventure series, incorporating more RPG and legacy elements of play. I really like these books, and I can see myself delving deeper with newer series like DestinyQuest and Legendary Kingdoms. Sometimes it can be hard to keep track of what's going on in one of these games, though. It's easy to die or try different paths to an objective. That's why I started to develop my own system of notetaking to keep track of my play.
The easiest part: In a notebook or digital doc, I keep track of my story, prompt number by prompt number. For example, if my story starts at prompt 1, then directs me to 283, and then I make a choice that sends me to 12, and then another choice that sends me to 80, my notes might look something like this:
1, 283, 12, 80.
Once these lead me to a notable location, like a large city, I'll start to separate them by sections with headers. Like so:
1, 283, 12, 80.
Venefax
129, 4, 63, 98, 125, 78
Genoa
64, 12, 77, 13
This, alone, is good enough or a simpler play, but what if you need to backtrack? What if you want to keep track of the rolls and choices you make?
(outcome) = outcomes of choices or rolls are tracked in parentheses.
E.g. on prompt 80, I made a roll and the result was 5, so I would capture this in parentheses after writing the prompt number: 80(5).
(10+2C = 12) = a stat roll plus the relevant stat, abbreviated, and the total result.
E.g. I make a combat roll. The result of the roll is 10, and I add my combat skill, which I abbreviate to C, so +2C, and then provide the total, 12.
(almanac) = track when you get a keyword on a certain prompt. Important for if you ever have to backtrack and remove a codeword.
E.g. on prompt 283 I receive the codeword almanac so I track it with the step: 283 (almanac).
(x) = used whenever a prompt tells you to mark a prompt in the game book. Important for if you ever have to backtrack and remove a codeword.
E.g. I visit the town of Magda on prompt 40. There are three boxes and I am told to mark a box in the game book each time I visit. I mark one of the boxes now: 40 (x).
bold = used on any step used as a save point.
E.g. this game book is incredibly punishing, and I know the city of Belos is a safe place so I bold the last entry I was there, 269, in case anything bad happens: 269.
When a combat or other complex sequence of rolling and stat checking starts, I add a line break after the last prompt I recorded, label the enemy or challenge I face and any relevant stats, and start tracking that combat separately. When the combat is resolved, I start tracking the usual sequence of prompts again on a new line after where the combat was recorded. This is important in case I need to backtrack/rewind a bit, and I need to be able to remove any gained rewards, curses, diseases, or whatever else.
Example:
Ghoul: Combat 3, Defence 7, Stamina 15
| Me | Ghoul |
| 4+5C=9 | 13/15 |
| 9/9 | 3+3C=6 |
| 8+5C=13 | 7/15 |
| 9/9 | 2+3C=5 |
| 4+5C=9 | 5/15 |
| 9/9 | 2+3C=5 |
| 5+5C=10 | 2/15 |
| 9/9 | 4+3C=7 |
| 10+5C=15 | 0/15 |
This is a real example from my game of Fabled Lands, where I had the luckiest fight ever with a Ghoul. Starting in the left column, I roll and strike first. The ghoul takes 2 damage because my roll was 2 over its defence. On the Ghoul's roll, it doesn't connect because it doesn't beat my defence score, and my stamina stays the same, which is pretty well the trend for the entire battle. You can see how I alternate back and forth in the columns to keep track of who lashed out at whom and what the effect was, if any.
When utilizing these methods to track my progress through a game book I'm able to step backwards, one prompt, roll, action, or choice at a time. I'll know what elements to reverse because they're all tracked.
It can be very hard to remember what you've committed to doing in a game book and what the potential reward might be to motivate you to pursue it. I keep a simple point-form list, where each point consists of:
Example:
I keep all of my active quests listed together right after my character sheet.
I hope that this helps some other folks track their games, and if you have any other tools or tips to share I would love to hear. Reach out on social media!
