History Literature / TheFabledLands

* LevelScaling: Each book has progressively harder encounters than the last one. A specific example is a dragon that you can slay in book one - only to go literally three page selections away to the west and into book two, wherein you could immediately encounter an "enraged bull" that poses a far greater challenge.

The Fabled Lands is a series of ChooseYourOwnAdventure gamebooks that were written by Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson. It was first released in the mid-nineties, and, to this day, is probably ''the'' most elaborate gamebook series ever written.

!!Tropes appearing in this series:

* AHomeownerIsYou: You can buy a townhouse in each town. They're susceptible to random events, though.
** You can even get your own ''castle'' in Book 5.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: If you have the Chosen One Of Negal title, then Book 4 can give you the opportunity to become ''the right-hand man to the god of death himself''. All things considered, it's one of the better "Game Over" scenes you can get.
* TheBlank: The leader of Uttaku, in The Court of Hidden Faces, is whoever is born without a face, once a generation.

* CharacterisationMarchesOn: In the original gamebooks Grieve Marlock comes across as a brutal dictator; the RPG gives him a much more sympathetic light as a man of honour and genuine patriotism while the Royalists are treated less sympathetically turning the Sokaran Civil War from BlackAndWhiteMorality to GreyAndGreyMorality.

* DeathIsCheap: It certainly is if you remember to pay for a resurrection (which is only cheap if your patron god is the god of death or war. And if you've remembered to leave some money aside to pay for all the equipment you just lost. [[SubvertedTrope Hmmmm....maybe it's not that cheap after all]].
** If you [[EveOnline only fly what you can afford to lose]], and don't rely on unique items, it's cheap (in fact, some strategies use death as a quick ticket back to Yellowport). If not, ContinuingIsPainful.

*** But wait, it gets better! By wandering west from the starting city, a character has a small chance of running into a satyr. [[spoiler:Getting kidnapped ''again'' (by failing an incredibly tough Magic check) will again lead to you losing all of your possessions but getting incredibly useful ones in return, including two uncommon items you can use to complete a quest in the starting city, which in turn reveals the quest that lets you trade in the selenium ore for the wand. In short, ''getting kidnapped is great''!]]

* {{Expy}}: The High King is loosely based on King Arthur.

* FantasyCharacterClasses Your choices at the beginning of the game are

* GlobalCurrencyException: TheFairFolk trade in Mithrals, the currency of the Underworld. It's possible to trade items for Mithrals at Fairfolk markets in Golnir.
** Of course, you'll want to have some on you before leaving or you'll end up stuffed into a bag and buried.

* InMediasRes: You start off on a boat, in the middle of the sea, without any water or food left, when suddenly you see land! You manage to crash there, and begin your adventure.

* KarlMarxHatesYourGuts: Completely averted. Prices can differ depending on where you buy your items, allowing you to play merchant by buying low and selling high. This is ''especially'' true if you buy a cargo ship. The quests you complete can also affect the economy, and more often than not you can get a Hero Discount by performing good deeds.
** You can even engage in a bit of evil market manipulation. There is a lake which has been frozen with a curse, and the Uttaku have set up a mining operation since the magical ice melts incredibly slowly and can be used to cool drinks. You can buy satchels of this ice and then sell it in the Uttaku capital for a modest profit. [[spoiler:Your best move is to stock up on rime ice, and then ''melt the lake by lifting the curse''. After this, the price of rime ice ''soars'' in the capital and you can make an absolute killing]].

* LevelGrinding: There are some areas where you can go back and forth to find encounters that provide increased Rank, [[MoneyGrinding money]] (or [[ItemFarming stuff to sell for money]]), or increases to your stats. Most players look down on excessively grinding infinite loops, however; the point of the game is to get out there, adventure, and experience the Fabled Lands rather than get yourself repeatedly sold into slavery to pump up your muscles.
** To be fair, StatGrinding is extremely limited, as the game's rules only allow each of the six stats to go to a maximum of 12. Defence, however, is linked to level, so LevelGrinding will increase that as much as desired.
* LostForever: Almost anything can be LostForever, so don't get too attached to your awesome equipment. A special prize, however, goes to the Savior of Vervayens Isle title; you can only get it [[spoiler: if you start off in Book 3, and only if you're dumped on the isle by the RandomNumberGod.]] If you don't get it then, you'll never get it.
* MadeASlave: You can be enslaved in Uttaku for any number of reasons.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Several different types including 'generic' firebreathing, flying western dragons, sea dragons and (in Akatsurai) oriental style dragons. At least some of them are intelligent and capable of speech.

* WhenTreesAttack: The Red Garden, Uttaku's execution grounds. You'll probably [[DeadlyDecadentCourt find yourself there several times]] if you go to Uttaku. [[spoiler: It's actually not as dangerous as the Uttakin think it is.]]

* WideOpenSandbox: Compared to other gamebooks, heck, compared to some video games, this series is huge, with six different, but interconnected countries, you could do whatever you wanted to pretty much. Considering that the creators originally planned twelves books, this [[WhatCouldHaveBeen could have been much bigger]]...and [[{{Uncancelled}} might still be yet]].
* WretchedHiveOfScumAndVillainy: Smogmaw. Think a tropical fantasy version of Mos Eisley.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: The White Sword, which adds a whopping +8 to your Combat skill. As an added bonus, it can never be lost through robbery, imprisonment or death.

* ToHellAndBack: It's entirely possible to get on the ship of the death god, of course you can only leave if your patron god is that of death or war. If not, well, you're dead. There was also supposed to be a whole book dedicated to exploring the underworld, and you could find entrances to it throughout the world. [[TooGoodToLast Sadly, the series ended before it got that far]].

[[TooGoodToLast Unfortunately, Morris and Thomson underestimated the production costs, and only six of a planned twelve books were ever published]]. However, [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing There Was Much Rejoicing]] when [[http://fabledlands.blogspot.com/2010/02/fabled-news.html this]] was announced, and now the prospect of having the series {{Uncancelled}} is a very real possibility... ''if'' the reprints of the first six books sell well enough.

* ClassAndLevelSystem: Kind of, you can choose a class at the beginning of your play-through, and each one is better at something then the other. You have a sort of level, or Rank; there's no ExperiencePoints system, but certain specific achievements or victories grant you a rank increase or the chance thereof.

*** But wait, it gets better! By wandering west from the starting city, a character has a small chance of running into a centaur. [[spoiler:Getting kidnapped ''again'' (by failing an incredibly tough Magic check) will again lead to you losing all of your possessions but getting incredibly useful ones in return, including two uncommon items you can use to complete a quest in the starting city, which in turn reveals the quest that lets you trade in the selenium ore for the wand. In short, ''getting kidnapped is great''!]]

The complexity of gameplay falls somewhere between FightingFantasy and DungeonsAndDragons. There are six stats (Charisma, Combat, Magic, Sanctity, Scouting and Thievery) to keep track of, with skill checks and fight scenes requiring (at most) two six-sided dice. There are also six character classes to choose from (Warrior, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Troubadour and Wayfarer), which determine your starting statistics and influence some quests. As the adventure unfolds, you increase your power in three main ways: finding better equipment (most equipment offers a boost to one stat), increasing your Rank (a rough equivalent to "character level") by completing major quests or overcoming exceptional trials, or increasing your basic stats through training or the completion of minor quests or challenges.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistance: If you have the Chosen One Of Negal title, then Book 4 can give you the opportunity to become ''the right-hand man to the god of death himself''. All things considered, it's one of the better "Game Over" scenes you can get.

*** But wait, it gets better! By wandering west from the starting city, a character has a small chance of running into a centaur. [[spoiler:Getting kidnapped ''again'' (by failing an incredibly tough Magic check) will again lead to you losing all of your possessions but getting incredibly useful ones in return, including two uncommon items you can use to complete a quest in the starting city, which in turn reveals the quest that lets you trade in the selenium ore for the wand. In short, ''getting kidnapped is great'']].

* GameBreaker:

* DiscOneNuke: Starting in a higher book and moving to Sokara allows you to steamroller the early quests.

* TheRival: Lauria, if you choose the Rogue class.

The complexity of gameplay falls somewhere between FightingFantasy and DungeonsAndDragons. There are six stats (Charisma, Combat, Magic, Sanctity, Scouting and Thievery) to keep track of, with skill checks and fight scenes requiring (at most) two six-sided dice. There are also six character classes to choose from (Warrior, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Troubadour and Wayfarer), which determine your starting statistics and influence some quests. As the adventure unfolds, you increase your power in three main ways: finding better equipment (most equipment offers a boost to one stat), increasing your Rank (a rough equivalent to "character level") by completing major quests or overcoming exceptional trials, or increasing your basic stats through training or the completion of minor quests or trials.

However, since this was a gamebook series created in the Nineties, it can also be ''extremely'' NintendoHard, with many choices leading you straight to an early grave and others offering a single dice roll between safety or the dreaded "You are dead" page. The game ''does'' offer limited help in the form of Blessings (which allow you to reroll a failed skill check) and Resurrections (ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin) from temples, but they are pricey. And then there are moments when the RandomNumberGod decides to burn down your town house and ruin all of your stored possessions.

The complexity of gameplay falls somewhere between FightingFantasy and DungeonsAndDragons. There are six stats (Charisma, Combat, Magic, Sanctity, Scouting and Thievery) to keep track of, with skill checks and fight scenes requiring (at most) two six-sided dice. There are also six character classes to choose from (Warrior, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Troubadour and Wayfarer), which determine your starting statistics and influence some quests. As the adventure unfolds, you increase your power in three main ways: finding better equipment (most equipment offers a boost to one stat), increasing your Rank (a rough equivalent to "character level" by completing major quests or overcoming exceptional trials, or increasing your basic stats through training or the completion of minor quests or trials.

See, it differed from other gamebooks at the time by giving you a WideOpenSandbox to have fun in. Each book would allow you to explore a different area in the series's fantasy world (the titular ''Fabled Lands''), and all the books were connected to one another so you could literally go from one book to the other on the same playthrough. The more books you had, the more of the world you could explore and the more adventures you could have. Also you could travel between books in any order you wanted. Heck, you didn't even have to start with the first book unless you wanted to.

[[TooGoodToLast Unfortunately, Morris and Thomson underestimated the production costs, and only six of a planned twelve books were ever published]], but [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing There Was Much Rejoicing]] when [[http://fabledlands.blogspot.com/2010/02/fabled-news.html this]] was announced.

The gameplay complexity fell somewhere between FightingFantasy and DungeonsAndDragons. There were 6 stats to keep track of (as opposed to FF's 3), but players only needed a pair of regular 6-sided dice (as opposed to DND's specialized dice). Also, (unlike DND) the series was meant for a single player rather than a group of people.

Oh, a Java version of the first 6 books is available [[http://sourceforge.net/projects/flapp/ here]] which has all the blessings of the original authors, go play it, now!...

...aaaaand the series is now back in print, with the prospect of [[{{Uncancelled}} having all 12 books released]] ('''if''' the first 6 sell well enough). So, anybody who enjoyed the series (whether in its original format or the Java version) and would like a chance to fully explore its realm should...well, [[http://fabledlands.blogspot.com/2010/12/fabled-lands-players-call-to-arms.html Thompson and Morris can probably say it better than anyone on this wiki could]].

In 2011 a TabletopRPG based on the series was released. The RPG features slightly expanded rules and a series of supplements detailing the various lands - the first (about Sokara) has since been published.

* HubLevel: Most players make Yellowport their main base of operations. It's an extremely safe and central location, and it's one of the only places where you can both stash items in complete safety and have them readily available if you're resurrected.

* {{Uncancelled}}: The first 4 books have been republished! And, if sales go well, we'll be getting '''All 12!!!''' Read more about it [[http://fabledlands.blogspot.com/2010/12/fabled-lands-players-call-to-arms.html?showComment=1291323675546_AIe9_BERMzpcUzyLUufwK2hQ_pPjA94xQUS4p3nLcldNEQOQ3Nfhg-OSIcVqH6qWNtnxNTJlNpt_LijVYzRIuWj_CRkCbf7YMieOIpKnW4tP6ajGy2Hbw-ug87cSIZCS9rvKeO75mNuN_5Gcwt6JwSx1g3FPouIUMFV3YbDZr4zWHGfvavTV3O3MRfxJr-hmSIlixDWykiB7vHCM8CW2OG-2yH8eHfzh4TtivI-nWYzaXhBtAXtwEtcdIy62IhBsOKjdRprUTVegHdz4hyYtyN8gTI9qmom60jKQi9Ac3I1riYvwQbyrgoVwM-KGGs9U5kfpbNRGFx9jcMsX7uEm87vrup4m-jnpKpb-5XUIgJ0VElDVRIW7sKOpedNMCBXs8IIiBccgfqWI6ZRMVeVQwBOhuuOLKif7ffNGdL36V-Tu0CCVfN9XJLWWDnl4jnVRsxSwfsx57RaTRa1E_CEeprvC6DMvuS9HA03dMhYJrzfyjwVDUuA2_0U#c3762526880566034634 here]].

** YourMoneyIsNoGoodHere: TheFairFolk trade in Mithrals, the currency of the Underworld. There is, however, no way to get Mithrals in the existing books.
** Not entirely true, it's possible to trade items for Mithrals at Fairfolk markets in Golnir.
** Of course, if you don't and can't pay the toll leaving the market, it does not end well for you.