Joe Dever - Production

Production

Dever was originally contracted by London-based publisher Hutchinson for four books, but had planned for at least twenty for the series. The first two books in the gamebook series were published simultaneously in July 1984. They sold in excess of 100,000 copies in the first week of release. Subsequently, the Lone Wolf series has been published in over 30 countries, translated into 18 languages, and has sold in excess of 10 million copies to date. The series was awarded the Gamemaster International "All Time Great" award in 1991 and also won "Game Book of the Year" awards in 1985, 1986 and 1987.

With the help of Joe Dever, Paul Barnett (pen name John Grant) wrote twelve novelizations of the Lone Wolf books known as the Legends of Lone Wolf, several of which were heavily edited before publication. In 2004, the Italian publisher Gruppo Armenia (Milan) reprinted all 12 novels in 5 volumes of anthology. Random House ceased publishing the novelizations because "the books weren't selling". Dever has stated that as the game books precede the novelizations chronologically, they are the "authoritative" versions. He also developed the character Grey Star, and a mini-series of four gamebooks were written by Ian Page using this principal character (according to a 2008 interview with Joe Dever, Greystar was actually Ian Page's character in Joe Dever's D&D campaign, and Dever convinced Page to write game books using this detailed character and his background).

Only the first four volumes of the Legends of Lone Wolf were made available in the United States (though Sword of the Sun was divided into two separate volumes, The Tides of Treachery and Sword of the Sun), and only the first 20 of the Lone Wolf gamebook series were printed in the United States. The American editions of books 13-20 were abridged versions and are shorter than the UK editions which have color maps. In The Magnamund Companion, all the countries of the Lone Wolf world are described in some detail, as are the Darklords of Helgedad, and the Giak language. There is also a Ragadorn Tavern Board Game, and a solo adventure where you play as Banedon the Magician.

The later ‘New Order’ Lone Wolf gamebooks (no.s 21-28) were printed in the UK in smaller volumes than the earlier editions, and have subsequently become highly sought after by readers eager to complete their Lone Wolf collections. Copies of these scarce titles regularly sell for over US$100 each on the internet auction site eBay.

Between 1990-1996, three scripts were developed of Lone Wolf for a potential film release, but did not proceed beyond the pre-production phase. Publisher Red Fox ceased publishing the Lone Wolf series after book 28, The Hunger of Sejanoz, citing fading interest in the interactive gaming genre, despite hundreds of requests for the reprinting of several Lone Wolf books that had gone out of print. Dever is currently writing the last four books of the New Order series which are scheduled for release by Mongoose Publishing in 2013-14.

In 1999, Dever gave his permission for Lone Wolf books, numbers one through twenty, to be published for free on the internet by the non-profit organization Project Aon. Joe Dever later gave his permission to publish the New Order series and The Magnamund Companion. As of May 2011, 25 of his Lone Wolf books, the World of Lone Wolf series, The Magnamund Companion and several other Lone Wolf related written works are available for download. As of April 2010, Dever spends much of his time writing and editing Lone Wolf for Mongoose's re-publication of the original series in their special hardback Collector's Edition format. Sixteen books in this series have been published so far (September 2011). The first of this new printing (Book 1: Flight from the Dark) was thoroughly revised and expanded by Dever with the addition of two hundred new sections. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Origins Fiction Award (Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design). In April 2010, the German language translation (Einsamer Wolf: Flucht aus dem Dunkel) won the Best Fantasy Gamebook Award at the RPC Event in Cologne, Germany.