History Literature / TheFabledLands

* TheGreatOffscreenWar: By the time you arrive in Sokara, the revolution has already been won by Grieve Marlock and the royalists have gone into hiding or exile. It's up to you whether you finish the job by assassinating the remaining leaders of the rebellion or stoking the fires of the royalist rebellion by assassinating Marlock's brother and helping the King take the citadel.

** The Harkunan pantheon worshiped in Sokara, Golnir, and Old Harkuna (and a few more distant enclaves) has elements of Ancient Greek, Norse, and Celtic mythology and is led by a Zeus like deity named Elnir.

** Oddly the 2011 TabletopRPG shifts this into BlackAndWhiteMorality in [[AdaptationalHeroism Marlock's favour]]. The dictator is given a very sympathetic backstory as a honorable patriot and elements that showed his more brutal side, such as corruption and bullying by his soldiers and the sack of the city of Trefoile are either eliminated or retconned to make Marlock look better. In contrast, the king Marlock overthrew is made seem even worse by implying he killed his father and sister, and the rightful heir is left a cipher whose personality is not even described.

* CharacterisationMarchesOn: In the original gamebooks, Grieve Marlock comes across as a brutal dictator; the RPG gives him a much more sympathetic light as a man of honour and genuine patriotism while the Royalists are treated less sympathetically turning the Sokaran Civil War from BlackAndWhiteMorality to GreyAndGreyMorality.

* EarlyBirdCameo: It's possible to encounter certain characters or events that CallForward to the events in later books. For example, fighting and killing a samurai you randomly encounter in a marsh is possible. If you're still carrying his ivory-handled katana in Book 6, it's possible to meet his cousins, who insist on taking the katana from you for your safety.

A [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1299620/Fabled_Lands/ CRPG adaptation is available on Steam]]. Released on Early Access on the 20th of May 2021, it encompasses ''The War Torn Kingdom'', ''The Plains Of Howling Darkness'', and, as of November 2021, ''Cities Of Gold And Glory'' with other books due later. May 2022 saw the full release, adding ''The Court Of Hidden Faces'' with ''Over The Blood Dark Sea'' and ''Lords Of The Rising Sun'' planned as DLC.

* AbsurdlyLowLevelCap: The earlier books had a level cap of 10. The later books did away with the cap.

''The Fabled Lands'' is a series of {{Gamebooks}} that were written by Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson. It was first released in the mid-nineties, and, to this day, is probably ''the'' most elaborate gamebook series ever written.

It differed from other gamebooks (at the time) by presenting a WideOpenSandbox filled with numerous quests and places to explore. Each book covers one region that makes up the titular "Fabled Lands", and all of the books were connected so you could literally cross the border from one book to the next with the same character. While the "level" of the books scales upwards from Book 1 onwards, there is nothing preventing you from travelling between the books in any order you wished. A vast array of "keywords" memorises the quests you are on and the things you have accomplished, allowing the world to change according to your actions.

For example, you can choose to help a deposed king reclaim his throne, or you can assassinate him in the name of the new regime. You can climb the dizzying social circles of a mask-wearing theocracy, play the stock market for massive profit, or even buy your own ship and make a living as a merchant by buying low and selling high. The sheer volume of options in the game is what makes Fabled Lands stand out as a series.

The complexity of gameplay falls somewhere between Literature/FightingFantasy and ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. There are six stats (Charisma, Combat, Magic, Sanctity, Scouting and Thievery) to keep track of, with skill checks and fight scenes requiring (at most) two six-sided dice. There are also six character classes to choose from (Warrior, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Troubadour and Wayfarer), which determine your starting statistics and influence some quests. As the adventure unfolds, you increase your power in three main ways: finding better equipment (most equipment offers a boost to one stat), increasing your Rank (a rough equivalent to "character level") by completing major quests or overcoming exceptional trials, and increasing your basic stats through training or the completion of minor quests and challenges.

Unfortunately, Morris and Thomson underestimated the production costs, and only six of a planned twelve books were ever published. However, [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing There Was Much Rejoicing]] when [[http://fabledlands.blogspot.com/2010/02/fabled-news.html this]] was announced, and now the prospect of having the series {{Uncancelled}} is a very real possibility... ''if'' the reprints of the first six books sell well enough.

In July 2015 a Kickstarter campaign to fund Book 7 (''The Serpent King's Domain'') was launched [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/57119387/fabled-lands-the-serpent-kings-domain/posts/1292216 here]]. The kickstarter was successful and ''The Serpent King's Domain'' was released in February 2018, largely authored by Paul Gresty working with the notes created by Morris and Thomson.

* AnAdventurerIsYou: You can choose your name, gender and class, or take a pick from one of six pre-defined characters.
* ArmyScout: If the player ends up MadeASlave by the Uttakin, one of the tasks they can be assigned is as a scout to a slave army. The player has the option of scouting an enemy force or escaping to freedom. Completing the assigned task will boost your scouting skill.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: If you have the "Chosen One of Nagil" title, then Book 4 can give you the opportunity to become ''the right-hand man to the god of death himself''. All things considered, it's one of the better "Game Over" scenes you can get.

* ClassAndLevelSystem: Kind of, you can choose a class at the beginning of your play-through, and each one is initially better at something then the other. While any class can max out all stats, certain quests are restricted to specific classes; For example, the [[TheRival Lauria]] questline is exclusive to Rogues. You have a sort of level, or Rank; there's no ExperiencePoints system, but certain specific achievements or victories grant you a rank increase or the chance thereof. Of course, there are certain RandomEncounters (such as battles with pirates) that cause this, allowing for LevelGrinding by just going back and forth. Rank itself has more than just an effect on your stats, too. It also effects certain events. For example, you can enter Castle Ravayne more easily if you're Rank 4 or higher.
* CorruptChurch: The Church of Ebron, which controls the nation of Uttaku. Their religion basically states that the rich and powerful are the most blessed of Ebron. As a result, the upper echelons have become bloated with their own personal power, funnelling wealth from the poor to the rich and arresting anyone who displeases them for "heresy". The rules of the religion themselves are so complex and numerous as to be compared to a game of {{Calvinball}}, and while nobles are not completely immune to the scriptures, you essentially become above the law if you climb up the hierarchy high enough.

* {{Cult}}: You encounter a rather messed-up one in ''The War-Torn Kingdom''. Given the nature of the gameplay, you can either fight them or become a member.

* DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Notably averted by the free Java based version of the books, which were given the OK by the original writers.
* DiscOneNuke: The starting Rank and stats scale with the books, so if you begin your quest in a high-level region and then immediately move to a low-level region, it makes the game easier.
** In Book 4, a starting character can [[spoiler:get themselves kidnapped by the Trau by going to the Gemstone Hills (''right outside'' the starting area), passing a simple Magic skill check (which can be repeated if failed) and then failing a average Sanctity check]]. The character loses all of their items (which shouldn't matter for a new character) but gets ''incredibly useful'' items in return, including a wolf pelt (essential for that region), a decent amount of cash, a chunk of selenium ore (which can be traded for a +4 Magic wand) and an incredibly rare key that opens up warp gates across the world.

* EarlyBirdCameo: It's possible to encounter certain characters or events that CallForward to the events in later books. For example, it's possible to fight and kill a samurai you randomly encounter in a marsh. If you're still carrying his ivory handled katana in Book 6, it's possible to meet his cousins, who insist on taking the katana from you for your own safety.
* EarlyGameHell: ''Oh boy''. No matter which book you start on, you will begin with almost no money, basic level equipment and average-at-best stats. The hardest part is locating the quests that give you a foothold into the world, and even ''those'' are susceptible to bad dice rolling.

* FantasyCharacterClasses: Your choices at the beginning of the game are...
** Warrior
** Mage
** Priest
** Rogue
** Troubadour
** Wayfarer
** Initial stats are determined by starting class. There are certain quests and encounters that are exclusive to certain classes. It is possible to change class, though the opportunity to do so is very rare.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Each book focused on a particular culture, most of which were heavily influenced by a specific real world culture:

* FantasyGunControl: There's nothing stopping a player from deciding they want a gun, as the markets simply state that the weapons for sale are simply any weapon. The [=cRPG=] adaptation has an achievement for recovering the "Magic Spear" from the metal hulled ship off the coast of Sokara, which turns out to be a musket.
* FantasyPantheon: Different cultural areas worship different gods, though given only the first six books were published we only get a few mentions of some pantheons.
** The Harkunan pantheon worshiped in Sokara, Golnir and Old Harkuna (and a few more distant enclaves) has elements of Ancient Greek, Norse and Celtic mythology and is led by a Zeus like deity named Elnir.
** The Akatsurese religion is based on Shintoism, while the Sage of Peace is the Buddha. The Sage of Peace allows the player to worship another god, as he's not a jealous deity, which is pretty hilarious if your other god is a war deity.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: Neither the rightful heir to the throne nor the upstart dictator of Sokara are completely blameless, and the choice between them is actually a rather complicated one. The rightful heir is, obviously, "rightful" - that is, if you're a believer in monarchy. He's also idealistic and compassionate... and, it is implied, rather spineless as well and not above acting quite villainously when it suits him. The dictator, meanwhile, may be a bloody handed, iron fisted tyrant but he's also a very ''effective'' one (the old "...but the trains run on time" argument) and unlike the prince, he wears his beliefs on his sleeve. Furthermore: it is implied that much of the population actually ''prefers'' him on the throne, once again leading to the player having to question whether it's really okay for someone to rule just because they were born to the right man whilst a better qualified one exists.
** Oddly the 2011 TabletopRPG shifts this into BlackAndWhiteMorality in [[AdaptationalHeroism Marlock's favour]]. The dictator is given a very sympathetic backstory as a honourable patriot and elements that showed his more brutal side, such as corruption and bullying by his soldiers and the sack of the city of Trefoile are either eliminated entirely or retconned to make Marlock look better. In contrast the king Marlock overthrew is made seem even worse by implying he killed his father and sister and the rightful heir is left a cipher whose personality is not even described.
* GrimUpNorth: Life on the Steppes is harsh due to the cold weather conditions that prevail there. A wolf pelt is a must to keep warm and you'll have to make constant scouting rolls in order to hunt for food or risk losing stamina.

* ImplacableMan: Kaschuf. He's not called the Deathless for nothing.

** You start off on a boat, in the middle of the sea, without any water or food left, when suddenly you see land! You manage to crash there, and begin your adventure.

* InfinityPlusOneSword: The White Sword of Nagil, which adds a whopping +8 to your Combat skill. As an added bonus, it can never be lost through robbery, imprisonment or death.
* JackOfAllStats: Of the six different classes the Troubador has the most generous spread of stats. It is a better fighter than the Mage or Priest and a better spellcaster and thief than the Ranger and Warrior. The Troubador also only has one DumpStat (Scouting) while every other class has at least two.
* KarlMarxHatesYourGuts: Completely averted. Prices can differ depending on where you buy your items, allowing you to play merchant by buying low and selling high. This is ''especially'' true if you buy a cargo ship. The quests you complete can also affect the economy, and more often than not you can get a Hero Discount by performing good deeds. Also, while selling back the free goods you get at Vervayen's Isle will anger the locals, there's no rule against stocking up on free swords and leather armor there and selling it anywhere else.\\\
You can even engage in a bit of evil market manipulation. There is a lake which has been frozen with a curse, and the Uttaku have set up a mining operation since the magical ice melts incredibly slowly and can be used to cool drinks. You can buy satchels of this ice and then sell it in the Uttaku capital for a modest profit. [[spoiler:Your best move is to stock up on rime ice, and then ''melt the lake by lifting the curse''. After this, the price of rime ice ''soars'' in the capital and you can make an absolute killing]].

* LevelGrinding: There are some areas where you can go back and forth to find encounters that provide increased Rank, [[MoneyGrinding money]] (or [[ItemFarming stuff to sell for money]]), or increases to your stats. Most players look down on excessively grinding infinite loops, however; the point of the game is to get out there, adventure, and experience the Fabled Lands rather than get yourself repeatedly sold into slavery to pump up your muscles. The [=cRPG=] adaptation clamps down on this, making such encounters (such as sea battles with pirates) convey stat and level bonuses [[ItOnlyWorksOnce one time only]]. To be fair, StatGrinding is extremely limited, as the game's rules only allow each of the six stats to go to a maximum of 12. Defence, however, is linked to level, so LevelGrinding will increase that as much as desired.
* LevelScaling: Each book has progressively harder encounters than the last one. A specific example is a dragon that you can slay in book one - at which point you could head to the west and into book two, and within three page selections of your dragon slaying encounter an "enraged bull" that poses a far greater challenge. Though the Bull is harder then some of the fights in later books too.
* LimitedLoadout: Your inventory is limited to twelve items. Since your weapon and armour will automatically take up two slots (unless you decide to roleplay as someone like Kintu Ironhands, the pregenerated warrior from Book 6 who hates weapons), you'll have to decide carefully what other items you take with you. The cRPG adaptation alleviates this by giving equipped items their own dedicated slots.
* PermanentlyMissableContent: Almost anything can be lost permanently, so don't get too attached to your awesome equipment. A special prize, however, goes to the Savior of Vervayens Isle title; you can only get it [[spoiler:if you start off in Book 3, and only if you're dumped on the isle by the RandomNumberGod]]. If you don't get it then, you'll never get it.

** You can be enslaved in Uttaku for any number of reasons. It can actually be of benefit, as you can be assigned to a task that will increase one of your stats.

* MagicKnight: Entirely viable, since a warrior can grind their magic stat, a mage can grind their combat stat, and every other class can grind both to play this trope straight. There's not even a restriction for any applicant to the Mages' College in Dweomar to necessarily even be a mage.
* MundaneUtility: In the steppes, there is a lake that was cursed to be permanently frozen solid, in order to keep the setting’s Myth/KingArthur expy [[SealedBadassInACan sealed away beneath it]]. So what do the Uttaku do? Set up a mining operation, of course, where they carve out chunks of the unmelting ice and export it so the nobles back home can use it to keep cool.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Several different types including "generic" firebreathing, flying western dragons, sea dragons and (in Akatsurai) oriental style dragons. At least some of them are intelligent and capable of speech.
* {{Pirate}}: Pirates are a common enough occurance, especially along the Violet Ocean. Sea battles are a good way to level up and upgrade your crew. The player can become a pirate in one particular questline.
* PleaseSelectNewCityName: Old Sokar became [[{{Egopolis}} Marlock City]] when General Marlock took over. Interestingly, the map for ''Cities Of Gold And Glory'' is presented an in universe map that hasn't been updated to take into account the name change.
* RandomEncounters: While travelling across country, on the sea or exploring a large city the player rolls dice to see what they encounter. Sometimes this leads to a quest, sometimes to a simple enemy to fight and sometimes to no encounter at all.

* ShockAndAwe: In the CRPG adaptation the primary combat technique for Mages is to summon sorcerous lightning against their opponents.

** Thievery. The art of stealth. Thievery rolls involve stealth and dexterity, but can also involve counter-thievery, such as preventing your pocket being picked. This is the signature stat of the Rogue class.
* SoulJar: Kaschuf's soul is sealed into a locket that's buried on an island in the Violet Ocean. Opening it is the key to defeating him for good.
* SpiritualSuccessor: Morris and Thompson's ''Vulcanverse'' books apply the same basic principle of WideOpenSandbox over multiple books, albeit with simplified RPG mechanics and lowered difficulty.
* StormingTheCastle: At one point in an inter-book quest, you have to help the rightful heir to the throne take an important castle, that is stopping his army from attacking. Kind of subverts this though, as the only way for you to get into the castle is to sneak in, then let some other characters storm it for you.
* ToHellAndBack: It's entirely possible to get on the ship of the death god, of course you can only leave if your patron god is that of death or war. If not, well, you're dead. There was also supposed to be a whole book dedicated to exploring the underworld, and you could find entrances to it throughout the world. Sadly, the series ended before it got that far.
* {{Uncancelled}}: The first 6 books have been republished! And, if sales go well, we'll be getting '''All 12!!!''' Read more about it [[http://fabledlands.blogspot.com/2010/12/fabled-lands-players-call-to-arms.html?showComment=1291323675546_AIe9_BERMzpcUzyLUufwK2hQ_pPjA94xQUS4p3nLcldNEQOQ3Nfhg-OSIcVqH6qWNtnxNTJlNpt_LijVYzRIuWj_CRkCbf7YMieOIpKnW4tP6ajGy2Hbw-ug87cSIZCS9rvKeO75mNuN_5Gcwt6JwSx1g3FPouIUMFV3YbDZr4zWHGfvavTV3O3MRfxJr-hmSIlixDWykiB7vHCM8CW2OG-2yH8eHfzh4TtivI-nWYzaXhBtAXtwEtcdIy62IhBsOKjdRprUTVegHdz4hyYtyN8gTI9qmom60jKQi9Ac3I1riYvwQbyrgoVwM-KGGs9U5kfpbNRGFx9jcMsX7uEm87vrup4m-jnpKpb-5XUIgJ0VElDVRIW7sKOpedNMCBXs8IIiBccgfqWI6ZRMVeVQwBOhuuOLKif7ffNGdL36V-Tu0CCVfN9XJLWWDnl4jnVRsxSwfsx57RaTRa1E_CEeprvC6DMvuS9HA03dMhYJrzfyjwVDUuA2_0U#c3762526880566034634 here]].
* VestigialEmpire: Uttaku.

* WalkingTheEarth: The Troubadour character Astariel Skysong is adventuring simply because he has wanderlust and feels restricted if he stays in one place. The Priest character Ignatius the Devout, however, is traveling due to his desire to learn all that he can about the gods of the Fabled Lands.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: General Grieve Marlock is seen as this. While his regime is seen as a brutal dictatorship, he overthrew a king that was corrupt and neglected the people.

* WarpWhistle: You can find several, but they're usually rewards from important quests.
* WideOpenSandbox: Compared to other gamebooks, heck, compared to some video games, this series is huge, with six different, but interconnected countries, you could do whatever you wanted to pretty much. Considering that the creators originally planned twelves books, this could have been much bigger... and [[{{Uncancelled}} might still be yet]].
* WizardingSchool: Dweomer in Book 3 has a college for mages that the player can join to improve their magical skills and obtain some quests. Prospective candidates should not have too high a Sanctity skill when applying for the college, as being too pious is seen as a detriment to the pursuit of magical studies. Passing the Sanctity check during the application process will result in the player failing the entrance exam and being teleported straight to Smogmaw.
* WretchedHive: Smogmaw. Think a tropical fantasy version of Mos Eisley.

* DecadentCourt: The Court of Hidden Faces, [[TitleDrop from the book of the same name]] is this taken to the [[UpToEleven extreme]].

* KarlMarxHatesYourGuts: Completely averted. Prices can differ depending on where you buy your items, allowing you to play merchant by buying low and selling high. This is ''especially'' true if you buy a cargo ship. The quests you complete can also affect the economy, and more often than not you can get a Hero Discount by performing good deeds.\\\

A [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1299620/Fabled_Lands/ CRPG adaptation is available on Steam]]. Released on Early Access on the 20th of May 2021, it (so far) encompasses ''The War Torn Kingdom'', ''The Plains Of Howling Darkness'', and, as of November 2021, ''Cities Of Gold And Glory'' with other books due later.

A [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1299620/Fabled_Lands/ CRPG adaptation is available on Steam]]. Released on Early Access on the 20th of May 2021, it (so far) encompasses ''The War Torn Kingdom'' and ''The Plains Of Howling Darkness'' with other books due later.

* LevelGrinding: There are some areas where you can go back and forth to find encounters that provide increased Rank, [[MoneyGrinding money]] (or [[ItemFarming stuff to sell for money]]), or increases to your stats. Most players look down on excessively grinding infinite loops, however; the point of the game is to get out there, adventure, and experience the Fabled Lands rather than get yourself repeatedly sold into slavery to pump up your muscles. To be fair, StatGrinding is extremely limited, as the game's rules only allow each of the six stats to go to a maximum of 12. Defence, however, is linked to level, so LevelGrinding will increase that as much as desired.

* MundaneUtility: In the steppes, there is a lake that was cursed to be permanently frozen solid, in order to keep the setting’s KingArthur expy [[SealedBadassInACan sealed away beneath it]]. So what do the Uttaku do? Set up a mining operation, of course, where they carve out chunks of the unmelting ice and export it so the nobles back home can use it to keep cool.

* LevelScaling: Each book has progressively harder encounters than the last one. A specific example is a dragon that you can slay in book one - at which point you could head to the west and into book two, and within three page selections of your dragon slaying encounter an "enraged bull" that poses a far greater challenge.
** Though the Bull is harder then some of the fights in later books too.

* ThatOneBoss: Book 6 has a random encounter with a 'Wako' (a pirate from the Japanese influenced nation of Akatsurai.) He has no name or plot importance and is apparently not even supernatural just a big, scary looking pirate but he is one of the toughest fights in the entire series, stronger even than an actual dragon faced in the same book.

* WideOpenSandbox: Compared to other gamebooks, heck, compared to some video games, this series is huge, with six different, but interconnected countries, you could do whatever you wanted to pretty much. Considering that the creators originally planned twelves books, this [[WhatCouldHaveBeen could have been much bigger]]... and [[{{Uncancelled}} might still be yet]].

* GirlInTheTower
* GlobalCurrency: Shards.