The Necronomicon Gamebook is a literary adventure into which you can experience the horrors narrated in the H. P. Lovecraft stories.
This first volume merges three great literary classics of Cthulhu: Dagon, The Festival and The Hound. The original texts have been readjusted so as to make it possible to live a single great adventure, provided of course to stay alive and sane.
The plot of the story that we will live starts from Dagon and develops then dividing according to our choices in two main subplots The Festival and The Hound. In reality these two secondary plots can then always intertwine each other based on our choices (or the escape routes that we will choose).
The literary on which this adventure is based is one of the best in the world. The charm of Lovecraft’s dreamlike and dark textures made him immortal despite his literary production can not count on famous novels but only on stories and poems. His ability to create a parallel universe made of alien monsters and invisible demons is unique in the world and I don’t deny that I myself, even while I reading this book, am still firmly convinced that there is some kind of truth about the Necronomicon (as book) and Cthulhu.
The three works used have been divided and reworked in 80 paragraphs by Valentino Sergi and perhaps the only thing we would like to change is the length of his work. The paragraphs in fact, while making the course of the plot smooth, are too short to make the best of Lovecraftian atmospheres and those who are not already lover of the writer of Providence may not fully enjoy this amazing book. In short, it would merit both the plot and the editorial project!
The rules of the game are very simple: at the beginning of the reading you have 6 points to be distributed between two main characteristics of STRENGHT and WILL.
The STRENGHT indicates the ability of our character to face physical tests, therefore also fights.
On the other hand, WILL indicates our tolerance level and our ability to withstand the nightmares we face during the adventure.
With STRENGHT and WILL we will try to survive and keep under control RESISTANCE and MADNESS.
In this literary game it is in fact foreseen the possibility of not being able to finish the reading. On the other hand, what game would it be if defeat was not foreseen? And do not believe that death is the worst fate for your alter ego. If there is one thing that the immortal writings of Lovecraft have taught us, it is indeed very easy to lose reason in the face of revealed cosmic truths. Strong of our readings we decided to divide our 6 points dedicating only 2 to STRENGHT and 4 to WILL.
The MADNESS is in fact very dangerous and lurks in us as we explore the plot of The Necronomicon Gamebook.
One of the most successful and at the same time the most original things in the game are The Land of Dreams. During our adventure, every time we will need to rest we will have to live an adventure in the adventure: visit the dreamlike and mysterious lands of Kadath. This is also a reworking of a long story by Lovecraft (The dreamlike research of the unknown Kadath) that tells a land that can only be visited in our dreams, rich in secrets beyond any bolder modern scientific discovery but at the same time dangerous like nothing else. Whenever we need to sleep, to make our body rest, our mind will be subjected to great stress and we will risk going crazy almost at every nap.
I really enjoyed The Necronomicon Gamebook – Dagon and I hope that the editorial effort of the Meningi Workshop (with the participation of the creative agency Gomma) does not remain an isolated case but a project proposed again and again exploiting different Lovecraft works, maybe even longer.
The work is enriched by the illustrations of Alberto del Lago and Jacopo Schiavo of the Wahtari Studio.
The Necronomicon Gamebook – Dagon is actually live on Kickstarter with a campaign to crowdfund a revised and more rich version of the book!
You can view it here: The necronomicon gamebook – Dagon, an illustrated adventure.
