Michael Reilly - author of the gamebook Beyond the Morning Shields

To mark the release of the gamebook Beyond the Morning Shields, we reached out to the author, Michael Reilly, for an interview. Michael is a professional graphic designer and illustrator living in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, and his talent shines through in his writing as well. He loves creating illustrations in various styles and hand-designing fonts. He is a photographer and writer who fully embraces his imagination.

How did Beyond the Morning Shields actually come about? When did you start working on it?

I started writing the adventure Beyond the Morning Shields at the end of 2014, but the project that eventually became known as Tales of Kernerren began back in 2010. At that time, my goal was to hone my illustration and writing skills through a series of fantasy-based visual and written ideas.

I would illustrate a short story (sometimes just a sentence or two) or create a backstory for a scene or character I had already drawn, working on my skills with every single piece.

At that point, nothing was connected, but I soon realized it could be, so it turned into a world-building exercise. At the same time, I rediscovered my interest in interactive games and had a strong desire to create a final "product" that people could read. The clear conclusion was to write a gamebook.

Initially, I was quite hesitant because I understood it would be a challenge to build a functional world, invent game mechanics and rules, and write an engaging adventure. That's why I put other projects on hold and spent a few days writing to see if it was something I would find relatively easy and enjoyable, even though I knew it would require a lot of energy and creativity.

I believed this early content was good, and subsequently, I began to define the world of Kernerren much more to write the type of gamebook I had in mind.

Did you plan to create such an epic gamebook from the very beginning? With all those great extras (maps, illustrations, pocket guides, etc.) and a staggering 2,000 sections?

From the very start, I intended to write a long adventure - as a single book - where the emphasis would be on what the player experiences during their journey, rather than what might happen at the destination. At the time, I estimated this complete adventure would contain 600–800 sections, but I still had to define my "style" of writing a gamebook, which, as it turned out, involved a lot of detail, many paths, and a wide range of player choices.

Incorporating these elements led to writing many additional sections to cover those options, so the total word count grew significantly. The plan was always to just write what I wanted and provide readers with many alternatives so they could create their own adventure from all the content.

As mentioned, illustrations were a key part of the original project, so I always intended to create location maps, full-page illustrations, and smaller page fillers to establish the overall visual style of the series. As a professional graphic designer, I have the skills to assemble the book to a high standard, and I was also aware of the benefits – I am self-publishing, so I am not investing anything more than my time in that regard.

I should also mention here that the complete adventure will now contain much more than 2,000 sections. I am still writing the second volume, and the total number of sections is not yet known. The only thing I know for sure is that the second book will be very extensive!

To what extent is Kernerren inspired by Australia and its inhabitants?

Kernerren is indeed inspired by Australia, but it relies only lightly on its actual inhabitants. The greater influence comes from Australian geology, flora, fauna, and the overall environment.

I live very close to a large national park where I often go for long walks. During these walks, my mind is very active, thinking about possibilities in a "wild" fantasy setting where unexpected danger can realistically appear at any moment.

In the first volume, you can see some direct visual evidence where the park environment provided a useful breeding ground for new ideas and illustrations. Some game elements are also based on these walks, as the park is hilly and rugged - you will find a diverse range of shrubs, trees, small animals, and plenty of narrow hiking trails.

I think most non-Australians understand that there are no large predators living on our continent anymore, so unlike many other parts of the world, there is no real danger of attack by large animals here. The danger to readers comes from animals that are dangerous in the real world as well, with a few fantastic tweaks to improve gameplay. I resisted the temptation to modify some of the unique Australian animals, so there are no killer kangaroos or carnivorous koalas roaming the gamebook.

Furthermore, the world that surrounds you plays the role of a very important character in my adventures, with the environment often revealing different aspects of its personality. I hope that readers will be able to imagine Kernerren in all its beauty during their adventure. I have also included numerous observations about the environment in the story so that anyone who sets out on the journey gains knowledge about a specific place - this information is further expanded in the Adventurer's Guide, which details additional facts and stories and offers several useful hints.

There is a joke that says: "Everything in Australia wants to kill you." Especially the animals there are absolutely amazing, but quite dangerous. Can readers expect to face danger while wandering through the wilderness of Kernerren?

Australia is indeed infamous for being home to many deadly animals, although these are primarily snakes, spiders, crocodiles, sharks, and certain types of jellyfish and octopuses. Most of these creatures don't want to kill you and are actually happier if you leave them alone. Deaths usually occur when a person foolishly makes contact or unfortunately runs into an aggressive individual.

In Kernerren, there is definitely danger - especially in the wilderness of the Morning Shields, where hostile opponents may consider you a direct threat. A few examples I have incorporated into the story: a non-venomous camouflaged snake; a large flightless bird resembling the extinct New Zealand Moa; a bear-like creature from the wilderness with sharp, non-retractable claws; an agile forest arachnid with potent venom; an armored reptilian predator that hunts in packs; and the mighty Makkhra (on the cover of the first volume), which is an intelligent human-animal hybrid possessing great strength and incredible combat skills.

Some animals you encounter have abilities beyond human capabilities and often require above-average skills and health to successfully avoid or defeat them. Additionally, you will also encounter a whole range of mysterious spirits and monsters - these will present a completely different type of challenge.

What do you personally like most about Kernerren? Would you like to live there?

I like that Kernerren is a "realistic" fantasy world, not high fantasy with archetypal heroes, wizards, and evil threatening the entire world. I preferred to create something a bit more grounded and therefore more pragmatic regarding imaginative elements, where it would be possible to undertake a more relatable experience and openly explore the details of the environment.

As a setting for a gamebook, I tried to create a "living" world where events are not always dependent on your direct participation. When reading gamebooks, playing games, or watching movies or multi-part series, I enjoy the ongoing daily dramas that take place in the background, and I appreciate that the wider world exists without you necessarily playing a role in it. Other characters in Kernerren are not just waiting for you to walk by. Many events unfold as they would in reality. So, players will find that some situations change based on their choices.

I also have a strong sense of adventure, so if I could live as an interesting character in Kernerren, then it could be a very suitable environment for me, as well as for anyone else who shares a similar outlook on the world.

Another aspect that is personally important to me concerns the administration, rules, and social structure of the world. There is no monarchy or unnecessary levels of government here, only a small number of appointed officials who are rightfully judged by their past and present actions, and laws are designed to resolve problems without delay with swift punishment that acts as an effective deterrent.

Furthermore, there is no social hierarchy except for those fortunate enough to have achieved some influence, and disputes between the Kerner nations are based on the availability of resources, not on prejudices stemming from race and perceived status.

Faith-based groups and other strange orders exist without preferential drama, and many nations are very hardworking, valuing effort and intent over empty thoughts that do not develop the community and peaceful existence. This is a functioning set of circumstances that were deliberately established because I know I would definitely be much happier living in a world where blatant control and wealth were not maintained by just a handful of people.

Beyond the Morning Shields feels like a combination of a gamebook and a tabletop RPG. And that sounds super fun, but it must have been quite complex to write. Did you have many playtesters and proofreaders to ensure the game system works?

There is a strong RPG influence in what I have already created, and I have several ideas in the early stages of completion that will expand the current rules and provide different experiences - including a broader tabletop-style experience.

As for the gameplay itself, my gamebook system is not complex, but the written rules give the appearance of complexity due to the necessary explanations required to cover all circumstances. Therefore, it wasn't too difficult to devise and write the basic structure for play (my combat process is built on the simplicity found in the Fighting Fantasy series). However, what took a significant amount of time was establishing the required balance between game mechanics and allowing players to create their characters' experiences and determine their combat ability.

Although I tried to get feedback from other playtesters and received some useful comments, I essentially did all the playing and proofreading myself. Since I have extensive experience with editing and proofreading documents, I didn't mind this work at all. I had to spend a lot of time carefully checking - whether the game works as it should and whether all the links are correct.

Apart from a few minor errors in the text, I don't think any serious bugs remain undiscovered.

Do you use any software to create and track the story? Or are you a fan of pen and paper?

When it comes to creating interactive fiction, I am "old school" and simply write the sections in logical order in a text editor, supported by a printed list of section numbers that I mark off when they are used.

I have a master map of all routes with their key events marked; I write a lot of notes to remember specific conditions and circumstances that need to be tracked throughout the adventure, or to remind myself of elements that have yet to be included; and I draw flowcharts to map out separate events whenever they are too complex to easily track all the variations of the expanding tree of choices.

Specific section numbers are set aside for use with "special" sections (which includes all sections that contain a full-page or small, supplementary illustration), and when everything is written, edited, checked, and tested, I set the text to achieve a neat layout, selecting individual sections and rearranging the text to achieve a perfect fit; this is also an opportunity for further editing, such as removing ugly line breaks in the text or fixing errors I hadn't noticed until now.

Then I manually change all the links to their new numbering - which is a tedious process that then needs to be fully checked on computers and mobile devices, where these numbers appear as hyperlinks.

Given my age, manual procedures suit me, and I haven't yet seen any gamebook creation software that includes all the features I need to create a book and that would work on my old iMac.

I would also like to incorporate more hand-drawn illustrations into my gamebooks, however, the ease of use for creating and editing digital graphics means I would simply be complicating my life while limiting my options. Before creating digital graphics, I still draw rough drafts of maps and illustrations on paper, and I would like to create a few more hand-drawn black-and-white illustrations for the second volume if I am satisfied with the results of the required technique.

Who are your favorite gamebook/fiction authors?

Fighting Fantasy gamebooks are still my favorite series and also the most influential interactive fiction I have read; both Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone wrote in a fun but somewhat different style and created very engaging adventures.

At the time of their release in the early 80s, I was the perfect age, and I quite enjoyed embarking on adventures through books whose text was often accompanied by excellent artwork (Iain McCaig was my favorite illustrator). Later, when my interest in this genre was renewed, I found that I really liked the plot and world-building in the epic Lone Wolf series by Joe Dever (including books by Ian Page), and I was also impressed by the open-world structure and collaborative writing of Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson in their Fabled Lands series, which provided me with an alternative approach that I decided to use for my own work.

I have been reading fantasy and sci-fi novels since my early youth, preferring science fiction and fantasy stories with complex characters and mature plots. Among my absolute favorite authors are, for example: C.J. Cherryh, Ray Bradbury, Lois McMaster Bujold, Elizabeth Moon, Kim Stanley Robinson, Connie Willis, Iain Banks, Paula Volsky, J. R. R. Tolkien, Neal Stephenson, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Robert E. Howard, Anne McCaffrey, and Michael Scott Rohan.

Is there a gamebook you played but never won? Regardless of how many times you tried? Or do you always play until you win?

As a teenager, I barely finished anything! Many gamebooks written in the 80s and 90s were intentionally complex to extend their lifespan, so I rarely reached the end, even though I tried many times. Although I enjoyed playing them, I always had plenty of other activities I could participate in, so if a book started to frustrate me, I simply moved on.

Interestingly, when I started writing book reviews for GamebookNews.com, I simply started the adventure over from the point where doom met me, and I played to reach the end so I could finish the review without repeating content I had already read.

Introducing this method of efficiency meant that I was "winning" all the time, but it never ruined the experience because I was always more interested in the quality of the writing and the overall gameplay than just achieving victory.

Now I will ask on behalf of newcomers - those who have never played gamebooks before. Is Kernerren a good book to start with?

Yes, I believe that for players who are just starting with gamebooks, the first volume Beyond the Morning Shields will be relatively easy and fun, and that they will then be fully prepared for the greater difficulty and complexity of the second volume.

It is also important that if a potential player is interested in the concept of interactive fiction and wants to start with a book that offers a range of meaningful options for progressing through the story, then the gamebook Beyond the Morning Shields will be a good start.

Players can often decide whether to accept a challenging situation or avoid it entirely. Whether to deliver an intimidating speech to an opponent to test their commitment to conflict, or whether to make a moral decision, even if they might get nothing out of it.

The tone of my adventure is mature and realistic, which, hopefully, enhances the interactive connection that players will feel once they make an important choice.

Writing a gamebook requires a unique set of skills to be utilized. The ability to see all possible endings and a certain flexibility in thinking. But have you ever considered writing a classic book set in Kernerren?

I doubt most fiction authors would want to write an interactive adventure because you don't create a direct storyline and you only have partial control over what individual readers will actually see.

Gamebooks require a lot of extra planning and conceptual thinking to find a suitable way for branched sections to connect - this necessary skill is foreign to most fiction authors and is quite difficult to acquire.

I have always been fascinated by the process behind an interactive story; I was also creatively drawn to this genre and wanted to see if my ideas fit this format.

I have written several short stories set in Kernerren (up to 2,000 words), and there is a possibility that I will write more, potentially expanding them to 15,000 words or more. For now, I am focusing on interactive stories, especially those set in this fantasy world, as well as exploring some variations of RPG and board games that I have been discovering lately, which I believe could interest anyone who likes my gamebooks.

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of potential readers who would love to read your gamebooks. What message would you like to send them?

I simply welcome all potential readers to Kernerren - a world of fantasy that they can repeatedly explore and discover all its hidden secrets. My gamebooks give the reader the freedom to choose from many more or less important decisions on how the character will behave in a given situation, which can bring both immediate and later consequences. These decisions will directly shape your experience and form a plot that will always be unique.

There are notable structural differences between the book Beyond the Morning Shields and many other gamebooks, as I prioritize a wider range of player interactivity over a predominantly linear path. Any single playthrough of the first volume will involve less than half of the book's content, and the journey through the second volume will consist of an even smaller percentage.

This structure therefore brings many opportunities to experience substantial content that was not seen before - those who like to fully explore the world during repeated playthroughs should appreciate this feature.

I have dedicated a huge amount of time to this project so far, and I would be happy if it were widely read and achieved success even in translation into other languages.

I thank Mytago for their interest in a new author "from down under" and I hope my world can offer readers the type of roleplaying immersion they are looking for.

author Eva Lassler