Complete the Quest: The Poisonous Library

by Brian McLachlan

Overview

Save your kingdom in this interactive role-playing adventure, which reads like a graphic novel but also plays like a game! It’s perfect for fans of all ages who are interested in the exciting world of fantasy gaming.

Queen Evergreen has been poisoned! To save her, you must pick a team of heroes to travel across a series of perilous fantasy landscapes, from a witch’s desert tomb to a giant’s palace in the sky. YOU get to choose how they win they day, using the greatest heroic power of all: your imagination.

On your journey, you’ll meet new heroes, battle a dungeon that’s also a dragon, and discover that the poisoned book that attacked Queen Evergreen was just the first part of an evil plot that threatens the entire realm.

Award-winning creator Brian McLachlan has created a new kind of role-playing adventure for all ages, which reads like a graphic novel but also plays like a game. With story panels and colorful visuals, this book provides an easy reference to help readers learn the mechanics of role-playing games, while giving them room to let their imaginations soar!

An Imprint Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250843616
Publisher:	Imprint
Publication date:	06/08/2021
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	49 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Brian McLachlan is part writer, part artist, all cartoonist. He's made comics for The New Yorker, The Nib, Nickelodeon, Owl, and Dragon Magazine. His book Draw Out the Story: Ten Secrets to Creating Your Own Comics won an ILA award for non-fiction. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two kids.

Editorial Reviews

Complete the Quest is part comic, part game, all joyous adventure: an inventive interactive story that rewards exploration ... a kind and clever guided tour of your own imagination.” —New York Times bestselling author Ryan North

“A bright, colorful comic ... A clear message of fighting intolerance and racism offers a wholesome frame for a magical world-saving mission. This is a warm, welcoming introduction to RPGs and collaborative storytelling.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2021-05-05
A bright, colorful comic kicks off a series by introducing readers to role-playing games and interactive storytelling.

The questmancer (a big-eyed creature in a hooded cape) leads players through the rules of the game and the collaborative story. After picking heroes from a list of options, the questers follow maps of Chimeria, defeating monsters, solving puzzles, and picking up items on a mission to save the queen’s life. The player characters have specific abilities: Coran, a brown-skinned human priest, wields a mace and a healing spell while Zix, a nonbinary dragonfolk wizard (scaled, horned, and bipedal, with humanlike hands), reads languages and casts lightning bolts. While some puzzles are designed to be solved by precisely these skills, the majority of this quest demands creativity rather than strict rule following. Readers are encouraged to come up with backstories for their traveling party, personal touches that may or may not play into their puzzle solutions. Multiple play-throughs are possible, and either several players or a single dedicated reader can enjoy the adventure. Players within the book (illustrated as an Asian girl, a Black boy, a White boy, and a brown-skinned hijabi girl) are invited to tell stories of side characters or create their own maps. Experienced RPG players will recognize this as a classic game module: a stand-alone story with plenty of room for creativity. A clear message of fighting intolerance and racism offers a wholesome frame for a magical world-saving mission.

This is a warm, welcoming introduction to RPGs and collaborative storytelling. (Graphic fantasy/game. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews