Originally published to huge acclaim and popularity in 1984, with over 12 million copies sold, Joe Dever’s classic Lone Wolf gamebook series have been fan favourites ever since but not widely available.
Author Joe Dever passed away from cancer in 2016. It was his final wish that his son, Ben, complete the remaining unfinished books in the series and bring all of the books back into print for a new audience.
I was lucky enough to get to share a few emails with Ben, talking about the rich history of Lone Wolf, as well as what the future holds for this incredible, long-lasting series.
Games Freezer (GF): For our readers, can you give an introduction to the Lone Wolf series and how your involvement in it came to be...
Ben Dever (BD):
Sure, Lone Wolf is the life’s work of my father - Joe Dever - and sits in a very particular place in gaming history right between the tabletop, and the computer. It’s hard for people to remember a time before screens, but these were high technology for their time.
Gamebooks were the innovation of people like Ian Livingstone, and Choose Your Own Adventure in the States, etc. which my dad came to via Dungeons & Dragons. He was the D&D world champion one year at the big tournament in the States.
He created Magnamund - the world of Lone Wolf - as the setting for his own D&D campaigns. He got a job at the first Games Workshop on Tottenham Court Road, and Ian asked if he would write some Fighting Fantasy books, but Dad decided it would be better for him to just do it himself.
He had this idea to create one big, solo mega-campaign - that was his big innovation - a single narrative, and a single player-character with whom you could build skills, weaponry, inventory, stats, etc.
It really paid off because it means the entire IP accrues value. I don’t think it would have anywhere near the following it still does without that. The first book sold something like 120,000 copies in its opening weekend and has gone on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide since.
It’s almost impossible to achieve that kind of success with a book these days unless you’re J. K. Rowling or Neil Gaiman or something, so it was quite an achievement.
GF: There's a section in the book that discusses the inception of the series, and it states that your father apparently envisioned a twenty-book saga pretty much from the start, that seems an incredible undertaking! Was the map of the series always planned out in his mind?
BD:
I think that may be a slightly ret-conned version of the truth! I’m sure he did envisage a much bigger story from the outset, but it’s hard to tell how much of that existed from the inception.
I’m pretty sure he must’ve had some of the bigger ideas mapped out vaguely in his head from the off. Then it was just elaborated upon and fleshed out as he moved forward.
GF: A question in terms of the mechanics of writing a gamebook, there are so many permutations and options in play, how did you go about planning and laying out the books in terms of balance etc?
BD:
In terms of planning, it’s actually really not that complicated, it’s just one big flow chart. There are these narrative chokepoints which you must pass through, regardless of which path you take. Those define the main story beats, and the various routes you can take to get there branches over three, four, or sometimes only two different routes. My co-author Vincent is the master of this. It’s his role to plan out the flow charts in detail and create the Google Slides document that we then share. In terms of balancing the gameplay, that is way above my pay grade, but again, is one of Vincent’s strengths. You really need to be a gamer and love the game to be able to have the necessary concentration and experience to pull that kind of stuff off, you need a very logical mind. Vincent is, in fact, a scientist by profession, so this is absolutely his forte.
GF: How did your relationship with co-author Vincent Lazzari come about, and how did the working relationship between you both function?
BD:
We first met over Skype, while I was sitting at my father’s bedside in the hospice during his final two weeks. After he told me he wanted me to take over, he said I needed to talk to Vincent - the other person he wanted co-authoring these books.
He thought that we would make a good team for the reasons I just gave. It was a very strange meeting as you can imagine, but he was right, we do make a good team. I did try to cheat, to begin with, and employ a ghost-writer because it was just too intimidating, given that I was never really a Lone Wolf fan nor a gamer, so I had massive imposter syndrome, but I kept having to rewrite the work that the ghost-writers did to get it back to my dad’s tone of voice.
It was Vincent who pointed out that I seem to have the closest thing to my dad’s writing style by virtue of the fact that he’s my dad, and not through any skill, necessarily. I did have to agree with him in the end. I do have a lot of writing experience, and my dad and I shared a lot of the same loves when it comes to literature, and I have a degree in creative writing, so I’m not a complete stranger to it.
After having got stuck in, it turned out that I did really enjoy it, and now it’s my favourite part of the day. I’ve never been particularly good at the creative part of writing - coming up with the ideas - but, given that we are using Dad‘s notes, and Vincent is then filling in the blanks and understands the lore of the series so well, I’m really just a glorified editor who rewrites the first drafts that Vincent puts together and tries to parrot my father’s style. To call me an author is a massive overstatement.
GF: Do you have a favourite book in the series, or a favourite memory of them?
BD:
As I said, I was never an original Lone Wolf fan, it was just the thing that my dad did for work. He kept his work life and family life very separate, but since taking over and having to read them and get involved, I particularly liked Shadow on the Sand - but I’d be lying unless I said my favourite books are the ones that Vincent and I wrote, because we’re so invested in those.
The first one we wrote together - Dead in the Deep - is my personal favourite. It has such a great ‘Indiana Jones’ type feel to it, it’s very Temple of Doom. The final escape from Emyleria in particular is really fun and exciting.
GF: What was running through your mind when you finally completed the series? that must have been a moment for you that was full of emotion, to say the least.
BD:
I’ll let you know when we get there! We are currently working on the final one now. Well, I’ve actually split the ‘final’ book into two books, and we are about a quarter of the way through volume one - but I do imagine it will be very fulfilling to finally reach the end.
The final book - volume two of Light of the Kai will be out in October 2025.
GF: From reading Flight from the Dark, it seems that the passionate fanbase has played a huge part in keeping the series alive, do you have any words for them?
BD:
Thank you. It was a little intimidating at first because fantasy fandoms can be quite toxic sometimes, but they have only been supportive. It was great to meet a bunch of them at the various conferences, and they are always so thankful and encouraging.
They also did a fantasy football-type league on the main Facebook page that ranks the books, and Dead in the Deep came in second place! Aside from thanks, I guess I just like to say that I hope they appreciate all of the various projects we have planned in the coming months and years! Fingers crossed. I always appreciate feedback, so if they have any ideas, please do get in touch through the website.
GF: A question we always ask here at Games Freezer - what are your favourite video games, and what are you currently playing?
BD:
I was a Sega Mega Drive kid, so for me, Sonic 2 was the best. Then, when the PlayStation came around I loved Wipeout (especially because of the Chemical Brothers soundtrack). Recently, though, I absolutely adored playing The Last Of Us, both 1 & 2 - especially during the pandemic, it was such perfect content for that time.
I know that the second game was divisive and it had its flaws, but overall I think it was an absolute masterclass. Such top-level world-building. I have an 87-inch projector screen at home and found the entire experience so incredibly immersive.
GF: The Lone Wolf saga has historically bled out into other media, are there any future plans for branching out into video games, etc?
BD:
The Switch game did really well, but we are hoping for a AAA game - something akin to what was achieved with The Witcher. It would be good to see a full-blown production at some point. They take so many years and so much investment to pull off, and even then it’s a gamble as to whether you hit the market at the right time and the game works.
It’s something that someone would need to license from us, not something we can set in motion ourselves, but conversations are being had, so I do have faith that at some point in the future, it could happen, fingers crossed! The license is currently available…for now… if anyone at Naughty Dog is reading this ;)
GF: Finally, over four decades in...what are the future plans for Magnamund?
BD:
We have three really exciting Kickstarters coming soon. The Lone wolf Miniatures game is currently in development with our friends at Stone Sword Games - who did the very excellent Senjutsu.
We have an audio adventure being produced by Sound Realms in Sweden, and they are doing a really fantastic job with that.
A new RPG is in development; our podcast - Adventures Through Magnamund - is going from strength to strength, gaining more listeners every month.
The paperbacks of the Kai and Magnakai series are out now in bookshops globally and are presently being converted into audiobooks.
After that, we move into the Grand Master series, the hardback and limited editions are of course available via our website.
We are working on a bunch of new book projects, too, which should be available soon and are very exciting.
Obviously, we also have the final book - Light of the Kai - to finish, so I am most concerned with that at the moment. Plenty to be getting on with!
A huge thank you to Ben for his time, we here at GF HQ are very much looking to what comes next!
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