Sagard the Barbarian: The Green Hydra

Created by the late Gary Gygax, the father of Dungeons & Dragons and the roleplaying hobby, Sagard The Barbarian is a "choose your own adventure" type book, you read along until you come to a choice point and then flip ahead or back to the appropriate numbered section based on your choice to continue the story. Unlike others books in this style, in the Sagard series you play through the fights using either a four-sided die or by flipping the top corner of the book, as each page has a random number listed at the top. Equipment and treasure you obtain in the story affects the way things turn out as well. Interesting idea. The story is a fun one. Sagard, in his second adventure, is transporting trade goods for his tribe when his caravan is ambushed by Hukka warriors (think Eaters of the Dead/13th Warrior.) After burying your tribe-mates you are free to explore this fantasy world doing battle with half-crocodile dinosaurs, owlbear style nightrippers, and the skeletal reptillian Slith, and of course plenty of Hukka, on route to a hidden tomb (an actual Gygax dungeon crawl--in a book) and a final confrontation with the hydra, a creature whose existance is tied to the existance of the Slith. The book is targeted for a young audience, and while the writing is simplified with any violence left entirely to the reader's imagination--there's never the feeling that the story is being "dumbed down" at all. The setting for the book is an obscure little corner of Greyhawk called Ratik, just north across the mountains from the Bone March. There was much dispute over this, since in interviews he has been quoted as saying it occurs in one of his other fantasy settings, Yarth. But nevertheless it's clear from the maps and place names--which match up flawlessly, and its even said directly at the end of the first book. Big letdown for me, as I was first fascinated by the series as a peek into a hitherto unseen Gygax world. I love Greyhawk, and the stories are cool, but it's a big blow to the series. There's plenty of other Greyhawk books out there and I was heartset on this being something new.