Poll of the Day > Anyone ever play a solo RPG gamebook?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Considering getting sorcery but also looking for other options.

Yes, lots of them.

Never read Sorcery (assuming you mean THIS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorcery! ), but my understanding is that they mostly just have the same pros and cons as the Fighting Fantasy series in general, so if you like that, you'll probably like Sorcery.

My personal favorites are the Lone Wolf books (which you can actually read/play online for free at http://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home ). Fabled Lands is also pretty robust, but has the twin problems of a) not actually being finished (they only ever published 7/12 planned books), and b) having no distinct ending or goal, so you'll eventually get bored and just drift away anticlimactically rather than ever actually "finishing" the story.

One question to keep in mind is just how "RPG-y" you want your gamebook. Some border on almost being distinct RPG games in and of themselves (like the Middle Earth Quest books from the 1980s), some are more like traditional CYOA books with a thin framework of RPG layered over them (like the Marvel Superheroes RPG gamebooks of the 1980s), and some mostly just boil down to being a CYOA that has "skills" (sort of like the Legacy of Dragonholt board game).

Speaking of the Legacy of Dragonholt board game, that's something else you could consider looking into. It's basically set up as a CYOA-style read-through with skill options that can influence choices (so if you're running away from bandits and come up against a cliff, you can choose to run either left or right, but if you have a climbing-based skill, you could try to scale the cliff instead). The game generally allows you to succeed at things even if you don't have the necessary skill, it just penalizes you by costing you HP for choices that run counter to your skill set. The game basically comes with a map you can use to decide where to go (about half the game is fairly linear, the other half is sort of "open world"), and you keep track of time (with different things happening in different places at different times). The game is also designed to be played solo, or with multiple players working together (for a sort of tabletop RPG-ish experience without a GM). It's relatively simple, but it can be a nice way to ease new players into the idea of RPGs in general.

Also, if you feel like doing your own browsing, this site might be useful to you:

http://gamebooks.org
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Played a few of the lone wolf books. They were pretty fun, i'll second them.

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Ive got the app version of Sorcery

its ok, basically a more complicated version of one of those old Choose Your Own Adventure books

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Not a full one, but I did have a CYOA book where you were only allowed to take certain options if you had enough stats and your stats/inventory could change along the way... but it wasn't particularly complex (after all, even a short CYOA could be like 500 pages)

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Lone wolf looks good too. I was actually thinking of going for that one if I didnt try sorcery. I like its finished. Im looking for more of a distinct RPG in itself, probably. Im also really looking for something I can do physically.

As they haven't been mentioned yet, I'll add that I liked the AD&D Adventure Gamebooks. They were simpler than Lone Wolf (my favorite of the RPG gamebooks I've read), but they were pretty well written for gamebooks.

https://gamebooks.org/Series/21/Show

I read #2, #3, #4, #6, #8, #12, and #15.