What was really popular in the early 80's and through the 90's was Choose Your Own Adventure books. Dungeons and Dragons and TSR, not be left out of the action, made their own series called Endless Quest. They were printed on acid free heavy card stock paper, had great illustrations from the great artists who also contributed to Dragon Magazine. They were short little adventures with character sheets inside to keep track of your stats and faux predetermined inventory.
How do you make it more fun, bring in some science fiction, and skew a little younger? You bring in those same artists and tell them to paint in red over the art, and include a "Crimson Crystal" in each book, essentially just a small red see-through piece of plastic so you can reveal the secret imagery. The pages that have red printing on them are also printed on that same heavy card stock that the Endless Quest books are printed on. At the time, this was a huge level up from the normal Choose Your Own Adventure, and made it much more interactive. For the same $2.00 you would normally spend on a book, now you get little puzzles and more action for your buck.
TOR, not to be outdone by the masters of roleplaying, licensed very popular fantasy series of the day, and created their own Adventure books, Crossroads. They were longer, had more options, and you could run into the characters you know and love from your favorite authors. I have the two Xanth ones, written by Jody Lynn Nye, signed by her and purchased at a convention in person. All the books I've mentioned in this little article are pretty rare...
- Crossroads books, any, are around $15 each, from ebay sold auctions
- D&D Endless Quest books are $10 to $20 each, ebay sold auctions, and are always in great condition
- Crimson Crystal books are the rarest of the bunch at $50-$100, more if they have the "Crimson Crystal" intact
CYOA did their own version called Time Machine, and Archway licensed Star Trek and made Which Way Books. The list goes on and on, all actually pretty rare with single print runs. Famously, the most rare and expensive and is really considered the first Multiplayer Book Game ever, which uses the most complicated tables and algorithms and requires both books to play: Combat Heroes. See the video below to learn more about that unique book series.
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