WIP: The Journals of Sherlock Holmes

[TheRoleInn]

After the successful publication of Medusa’s Gold, our first gamebook (available in paperback and eBook from Amazon), we celebrated by immediately planning our next project. Initially, it was going to be a follow up to MG, with more tongue-in-cheek humour. However, on several forums (yes, we’re cheating on you) people have suggested we consider a detective gamebook, and, as Sherlock Holmes lovers we immediately jumped at the idea.

So, we are now 16K words in, and this is looking to be a monster gamebook with a main arc of 10 or more cases, 20ish side-cases, copies of The Times and other papers to peruse, and a Skill-Based progression system using C.A.S.E Skills: Cognisance, Analysis, Standing, Enquiry (I came up with that, and immediately got 3 points for Hufflepuff), and the collection of items (some useful, some red-herrings) along the way.
As we are still very early into this project, we’d LOVE some feedback on what you’d love to see in an SH, case solving gamebook.
Thanks!

Feel free to peruse our test design of The Times whilst you consider your suggestions.
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[jkj_yuio]

Hi,

I think this is a really great idea. You should most definitely do it.

Myself i have a Holmes WIP story/plot game. I have done extensive research into ideas and i want to create a most realistic immersion of the era. There are just tons of stuff to reteach, just for background.

While there are lots of Sherlock Holmes movies, games have a chance to explore new angles. For example, i started thinking about Holmes’ apartment. Do we ever see his bathroom?

Probably not useful for a movie, but something interesting for a game. How did Holmes get his hot water? No i don’t think it came up in a bucket from Mrs Hudson, i think Holmes would have had a Maughan geyser invented in 1868. A form of instantaneous water heater. Houses then were lit by gas so gas was everywhere. He would have had a gas water heater in his bathroom. He wasn’t a poor man. Baker Street, after all.

So obviously there is no reference to this in the available fiction, but it’s massively interesting to join the dots.

Kind of sleuthing out the sleuth!

Best of luck with your game.

[Exemptus]

If you are interested in authenticity, the correct issue number for The Times of this day is 30,144, and it did cost 3d, this bit is right. It will sound odd, but in this era, the cover of The Times had zero news: it consisted of births/deaths, personal ads, notices of public events and publicity (text-only ads, no pictures!), at 6 colums, on minuscule, hardly-legible type (probably 4 pt). But this would probably not be very useful for game purposes, particularly if you intend to use the paper to convey narrative or clues: there needs to be a balance between atmosphere and usabillity.

Just for illustration:

[TheRoleInn]

Yes, our research has varied column numbers, sometimes 4 outside, with 6 inside. Fonts would have been 4-7, based on what we could source. Obviously, a 6 columns format on a 8.5x11 format is not practical, so that compromise of 3 columns and 12 point for readability (albeit with the leading scrunching it a little vertically to replicate that feel) was the best option (and believe me, we tried MANY options…)
As for the number, we didn’t want to be that precise on purpose, but equally, we didn’t wat to call it No. 2000, which was late 1700’s… lol. A metaphorical handful out is good enough for this.

With each paper being 6 pages long, and at least 10 editions for ‘Holmes’ to sort thu, it would have been cruel to make them so hard on the yes. :)))

But excellent research - thanks!!!

[TheRoleInn]

Hi. Yeah, we’re well on our way. We’re using a new software platform (goodbye, Twine), which allows us to really break things down into individual cases, side-cases, false leads, and all kinds of stuff. It’s growing out of control - hahaha.

I come from an acting and screenwriting background. You simply don’t add scenes that don’t push the story along. Holmes would only visit the bathroom if there were relevance to do so (to better examine the paper he slipped from the visitor’s handbag?). You’re also not going to spend days researching elements that bear no relevance to the story. Most times it’s:
“Fred pulls out his Glock, and…”
Wait, did Glocks exist in 1973?
Google…
“Fred pulls out his Walther P38, and…”

It’s the same with gamebooks.
Do you want to:
CHASE MORIARTY (14)
GRAB YOUR PISTOL FROM THE DRAWER (512)
TAKE A QUICK DUMP (99)

As realistic as it may seem, it takes up writing time, locations space, and more importantly, real estate in a book.

Using clever formatting, we reduced our first book by over a dozen pages, and were able to bring the price down by about 25 cents. All these factors need to be considered.

Finally, on this subject. It’s not about whether Holmes would have had such a Maughan Geyser, as whether Mrs. H could have afforded to install one. It is my believe that Holmes and Watson both had basins in their rooms, with possibly a ‘cloakroom’ outside their quarters in a small converted room (as inside toilets were more and more being utilised).

All this said, as you research X for your SH story, I’m sure I research Y, which would be a head-scratcher for others :)))>

The best of luck with your story too. I hope to see updates about it soon.