Knights Club: Interactive RPG Graphic Novels for the Family
We’ve long been fans of interactive books and games like the classic Choose Your Own Adventure Books in our family. It’s simply more fun to have choice while you’re reading or playing, and I think it’s fair to say that it takes the engagement up a notch when you’re playing with kids.
Last summer I shared about a specific collection of interactive graphic novels known as Comic Quests that my son and I were enjoying a lot, and they continue to keep us very entertained. As a recap, there are three series in the Comic Quests collection from Quirk Books: Hocus & Pocus, Iron Magicians, and Knights Club. My son and I still enjoy all 3 of them, but, since we last shared our experiences, Knights Club in particular has been getting a lot of love.
Disclosure: Quirk Books shared copies of Knights Club with us. We share and recommend the things our family loves, and all thoughts and opinions are our own. Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links that will lead you to view the books on Amazon or IndieBound.
In fact, next week marks the launch of the fourth book in the Knights Club series - The Alliance of Dragons. We were lucky enough to get an early look at it, and, in honor of the launch, I figured it’s the perfect time to catch up on the series and let everyone know about what’s new in the world of Comic Quests.
Actually, a lot has changed since the first issue of Knights Club. Beginning with the second book - The Message of Destiny - the creators (Novy, Shuky, and Waltch) introduced a battle system which uses a combat wheel that you can cut out from the back of the book. Having monsters to fight and needing to keep track of your life and attack points is a significant departure from the structure of the first book - when you were simply searching for hidden bracelets.
Undoubtedly this adds an extra layer of complexity to the whole proceedings - and you can easily interpret that as a pro or a con for yourself. Not only are there ever-changing stats to keep track of, but there’s also a system for gaining experience points and leveling up as well. Add this to the rules for the battle system and keeping track of your inventory, and you can imagine why it’s quite necessary that my 7-year-old and I do this activity together.
But if complexity happens to scare you away, the good news is that, if you’re reluctant to deal with all of the extra rules, there’s a built-in “easy mode” where you can play as a squire instead of a knight. This allows you to breeze through the story without paying too much attention to the battles or your stats - which I think was a very clever and necessary addition, and definitely opens it up for younger kids to read and play alone.
For our part, my son and I love the added complexity - and we like to set up an entire station with our stat sheet and our battle wheel. We like to make paper copies of the wheel and our stat sheet and inventory, and we even glued the combat wheel to a piece of cardboard to turn it into a nice, convenient, durable spinner. Typically I’m in charge of reading the stories aloud and asking where we should go next, and my son is in charge of keeping up with our stats and inventory on paper.
We think the battles are a very creative addition to the series - but they can be gruelingly difficult at times. Sometimes we’re unlucky and we very quickly run into monsters that frankly seem impossible to defeat with our starting weapons. And defeat is technically supposed to send you all the way back to the beginning of your adventure - which is a good reminder for some that the squire mode can definitely be a nice change of pace.
If you begin Knights Club from the very beginning of the series, when you get to the second book - The Message of Destiny - you’ll be given a pretty clear rundown of the entire system of battling and leveling up before you start your adventure. That’s important to note, because, for some reason, books three and four do not provide nearly as detailed of an explanation.
It might be assumed that readers will start from the beginning of the series, and I definitely suggest doing so, but I still think it’s an oversight. Even if using your old character with all of their equipment and improved stats is possible (and arguably in your best interest) - you can still technically start fresh with any of the books without any knowledge of the previous stories.
But this oversight simply reminds me of an important thought we often have with the Comic Quests series. When in doubt, just have fun. We have run into several occasions where we feel the rules can be ambiguous, or there’s something we want to change about the balance, but we always just go with the flow and do what we think is fair. We’re reading the book to have fun together, after all, and we’re not afraid to fudge some of the rules. It reminds me of the flexibility of sticking my thumb in a page while reading a Choose Your Own Adventure book, and quickly flipping back if we don’t like what happens.
Keep in mind also that some of the puzzles you’ll stumble across in The Alliance of Dragons and the other Knights Club books can be incredibly challenging. Oftentimes we completely fail to solve the puzzles, even if our mage’s intelligence is high enough in the game to receive a hint. Sometimes I find myself obsessively trying in vain to solve one of these brainteasers until my son’s attention span starts to drift away.
That’s when it’s important to keep in mind that these difficult puzzles can often be thought of as optional side quests - and their existence should just be considered a bonus that adds to the depth of the books and their replayability. I mention them only to give you a better idea of an appropriate age for the books. Just be mentally prepared to hit some road bumps even when you’re helping your kids - and just turn around and choose a different path.
Since the beginning, a big part of the appeal of these books has been the classic fantasy setting. You always start out by choosing between a fighter, an archer, or a mage - each with their own special abilities. And my son is always inevitably drawn towards the magic of the mage. The Alliance of Dragons also features what sounds like a very classic fantasy storyline - where you start off setting out to save the Orc Princess, but end up on a quest to slay some dragons. The fantasy elements always makes it very similar to playing an open-world video game together, and the choices involved really make us feel like we’re in the story.
Just like all the books in the Comic Quests series, reading and playing can take a very unpredictable amount of time. Sometimes they take up multiple days, sometimes an entire afternoon, and sometimes a mere 30 minutes or less. One time while playing through The Alliance of Dragons - we died in battle after only 20 minutes. Technically our adventure was over, but we learned a lot. As an example, we discovered the hidden location of a powerful axe that we couldn’t use in that playthrough because we were the wrong class.
With that in mind, you can see how the books are designed for multiple playthroughs. And that’s certainly how you’ll get the most out of them - especially if your goal is to achieve the most “successful” endings. If that’s your goal, it’s basically essential to find hidden equipment and stat boosts that will make you stronger.
But it’s also entirely possible to approach the books with a more relaxed attitude - an afternoon activity to experience with the kids. Maybe you don’t rescue the princess or slay all the dragons, but you did gather around a book in total engagement, and you had the chance to use your imaginations together for an afternoon.
The Knights Club series really hits the sweet spot for us. If, like me, you grew up loving Choose Your Own Adventure books, if you love RPGs, if your kids are into graphic novels and fantasy stories - it’s possible they might be in the sweet spot for you as well. The Alliance of Dragons definitely continues the series’ tradition of providing my son and I a memorable cooperative afternoon adventure - and I certainly know better than to take that for granted.
You can find the latest copy of Knights Club on Amazon or shop local with IndieBound.
Have you read Knights Club with your kids yet? Or have your kids played it alone? Are you looking forward to The Alliance of Dragons? Have any questions about the books? Let us know in the comments below!
