Spoilers LDS: Warp Your Own Way by Ryan North & Chris Fenoglio Review Thread

[David cgc]

I've been waiting to discuss the book in detail until more people to have read it because of the twist, even though the back cover kind of spoils it, but I will say I had the good/bad luck to start working my way through with the Engineering-based paths, so I found the spur into the "real" story fairly quickly (and also that, somehow, between the back cover being written and the book coming out, the Romulans turned into a bunch of Gorn), and it wasn't until I doubled back on a second read-through that I found Khan, Dionysus, and that one path where Boimler just kills Mariner out of nowhere.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I've been waiting to discuss the book in detail until more people to have read it because of the twist, even though the back cover kind of spoils it, but I will say I had the good/bad luck to start working my way through with the Engineering-based paths, so I found the spur into the "real" story fairly quickly (and also that, somehow, between the back cover being written and the book coming out, the Romulans turned into a bunch of Gorn), and it wasn't until I doubled back on a second read-through that I found Khan, Dionysus, and that one path where Boimler just kills Mariner out of nowhere.

I was kind of lucky, I didn't find the "out" until fairly late in my path-taking. And even then, I still finished going through all the other "standard" paths before starting the "endgame".

 

[trentman359]

I just ordered this book! Can’t wait for more Lower Decks.

 

[JD]

I'm really disappointed to see that Hoopla doesn't have this, and since it's been out for a while now, I might have to splurge and eventually buy this. One advantage to reading this as an digital comic is I should be able to just jump right to the next page I want to read, without seeing any of the others, so I won't have to worry about accidently spoiling myself on the other options for what happens next.

 

[Cyfa]

I'm not getting very far with WYOW - mainly because of lack of time, but also because I keep forgetting which paths I've already been down and end up going down them again!

Fortunately, the Spock Clock at the beginning amuses me and I still laugh when Mariner tells it that it got lucky that it doesn't have a self-destruct option

(I bet the Dax Axe would take care of it, though!)

 

[Will_Carter]

While I know it's standard procedure for comics to go in the appropriate megathread, this is a stand-alone story, longer than a monthly issue, and the first-ever "choosable path" Star Trek book of this millenium, so I thought it deserved a review thread.

Definitely on my to grab list given how much of a sucker i am for choose your own adventure stories.

 

[Will_Carter]

I'm not getting very far with WYOW - mainly because of lack of time, but also because I keep forgetting which paths I've already been down and end up going down them again!

Lad. As an old hand at CYOA?

Get a stack of postit notes. The kind of stack that has many colors. FOLD the postit notes so they don't stick to the pages. What you care about here is the color coding. Mark a few spots so you have the root path and then mark a few deviation points so you have a breadcrumb trail to fall back to.

 

[TalkaboutTrek]

I'm not getting very far with WYOW - mainly because of lack of time, but also because I keep forgetting which paths I've already been down and end up going down them again!

Fortunately, the Spock Clock at the beginning amuses me and I still laugh when Mariner tells it that it got lucky that it doesn't have a self-destruct option

(I bet the Dax Axe would take care of it, though!)

Star Trek merchandising needs to get on that Spock clock. I would buy one in a heartbeat. The only logical way to start the day.

 

[Will_Carter]

Star Trek merchandising needs to get on that Spock clock. I would buy one in a heartbeat. The only logical way to start the day.

They've fallen down REALLY HARD on the merch department.

where's my plushie targ, damnit?!

 

[David cgc]

Star Trek merchandising needs to get on that Spock clock. I would buy one in a heartbeat. The only logical way to start the day.

Anybody remember the Seven of Nine alarm clock from the old Dilbert animated show? It was a bit less supportive than the Spock Clock.

They've fallen down REALLY HARD on the merch department.

where's my plushie targ, damnit?!

The (official) plush Moopsy had a pretty fast turnaround.

 

[Cyfa]

Lad. As an old hand at CYOA?

Get a stack of postit notes. The kind of stack that has many colors. FOLD the postit notes so they don't stick to the pages. What you care about here is the color coding. Mark a few spots so you have the root path and then mark a few deviation points so you have a breadcrumb trail to fall back to.

~ Thanks for the tip. I'll bear it in mind when I run out of patience and start finding the book a chore rather than the delight that it currently is. (The last CYOA book I read was Deathrap Dungeon about a hundred years ago!)

Star Trek merchandising needs to get on that Spock clock. I would buy one in a heartbeat. The only logical way to start the day.

~ As it's bound not to have a self destruct option, ST merchandising also needs to bring out the Dax Axe!

The (official) plush Moopsy had a pretty fast turnaround.

~ Yes, didn't it! I was really surprised that Moopsy made it out into the wild (so to speak), but not much else did - perhaps Moopsy drank everything else's bones?

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Hmm. Mapping the book, somewhat like how one maps an Infocom game (is there somewhere I can order the Invisiclues?) is somewhat helpful,

Spoiler: But what is more helpful, . . .

. . . and what finally got me past one prefix-code-obsessed dead-end after another, was something that doesn't work for an Infocom game, because Infocom games don't have page numbers.

Make a list of page numbers, and circle every page visited, following every link. And you eventually discover that the visored penguin spread isn't the only page that (in theory) should not be reachable. About half the book is theoretically unreachable.

 

[Markonian]

Okay, next time I go through the book I’ll try to draw a map based on page numbers.

 

[David cgc]

Hmm. Mapping the book, somewhat like how one maps an Infocom game (is there somewhere I can order the Invisiclues?) is somewhat helpful,

Spoiler: But what is more helpful, . . .

. . . and what finally got me past one prefix-code-obsessed dead-end after another, was something that doesn't work for an Infocom game, because Infocom games don't have page numbers.

Make a list of page numbers, and circle every page visited, following every link. And you eventually discover that the visored penguin spread isn't the only page that (in theory) should not be reachable. About half the book is theoretically unreachable.

Spoiler: The Twist

Is that “theoretically unreachable” as in the pages are never explicitly offered, so your chart doesn’t include the mid- and end-game tracks that you jump to by using the two “secret” choices that you’re given within the narrative?

 

[Cyfa]

I'm struggling so much not to click your spoiler ^, @David cgc
I'm not getting on very well with "warping my own way" and I'm seriously considering getting some Post-Its as a means to help me as a previous poster mentioned. Or just flicking through the pages until I see something that looks promising

 

[David cgc]

I'm struggling so much not to click your spoiler ^, @David cgc
I'm not getting on very well with "warping my own way" and I'm seriously considering getting some Post-Its as a means to help me as a previous poster mentioned. Or just flicking through the pages until I see something that looks promising

Well, here's a hint: Explore the possible outcomes centered around Mariner going to engineering. You'll know when you find it.

 

[20fridge]

Well, that was a good time. I love how it turned choose your own adventure into part of the plot in a very coherent in-universe kind of way. Making Mariner the main character was also a stroke of genius, and it feels very consistent with her arc in the show.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Having a list of page numbers, with every visited page marked, is the key. Once you've visited every dead-end path, and you've visited the "visored penguins" spread, the first remaining unvisited page will take you to a page that will confirm that you're onto something, and from there, it will link you to a very metafictional series of pages that will tell you what you're onto. And after the first hidden track almost tells you how to get to the second hidden track, your page number chart will allow you to work out the "missing step."

Once you're on the second hidden track, there's only one dead end path left, and it will be a path you've already visited. Everything else leads to the winning scenario.

I've never had any prior experience with printed interactive fiction; only digital (and overwhelmingly from Infocom).

 

[David cgc]

Having a list of page numbers, with every visited page marked, is the key. Once you've visited every dead-end path, and you've visited the "visored penguins" spread, the first remaining unvisited page will take you to a page that will confirm that you're onto something, and from there, it will link you to a very metafictional series of pages that will tell you what you're onto. And after the first hidden track almost tells you how to get to the second hidden track, your page number chart will allow you to work out the "missing step."

Well, you've successfully hacked the game, but that's not the intended method.

I wonder if I can nestle spoiler tags....

Spoiler: Game Structure

Using computer-game terminology, there are three "levels" in the book. The first level consisted of Mariner going through absurd events that all culminate in her dying after not having access to the prefix code to the Cerritos. "Beating" this level has an element of dumb luck; You have to make it to one specific scene to find the solution to the advance to the next level.

Spoiler: Level 1 Solution

Human coffee>Bother Tendi and Rutherford>Remain shocked>Choose any option

You're going to land on a scene that begins on page 95. On page 97, a mysterious insect-guy talking to a mysterious ensign who seems unaffected by all these shenanigans talks about how their findings are trying to get blood from a stone, since Mariner can only choose from a limited set of options, offering as an example that she always picks one of two things for breakfast, and suggests that something new might happen if she adds her two breakfast choices together, hint hint. That gives you the solution to advance to level 2; when offered coffee (page 28) or raktajino (page 10), you add those two choices together and get page 38, Earl Grey Tea. That gives you a slightly different scene where you get an extra option allowing you to communicate with Mariner directly, within limits.

Beating level 2 has a more complicated version of the same concept.

Spoiler: Level 2 Solution

Now that you and Mariner are on the same page (ha!), she begins trying to break out of the simulation. I'll leave tracing through it to someone else, but at one point, you can split along two nearly identical forks, as in there are two different series of pages with the same art and dialog, with the only difference being that in each one Mariner gives you a different half of the formula to advance to the final level (when you can tell Mariner she's a hologram, multiply the page numbers for your possible answers together, divide by 111, then add 30 to get 82).

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

You're quite right.

I missed the clue at the bottom of page 97,, and I also missed the difference between 143 and 151.

And dividing by 111 is more mathematically sound than dropping the middle digits.

And I think this thread has become the de facto Invisiclues.