Lone Wolf is a collection of 28 gamebooks, created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated (books 1-8) by Gary Chalk. The series began publishing in July 1984 and became one of the most popular game books ever published, selling more than 9 million copies worldwide.
The story focuses on the fictional world of Magnamund, where the forces of good and evil fight for control of this planet in a final showdown. The protagonist is Lone Wolf, last of his caste of warrior monks known as Kai lords. The book series is written in the second person and recounts Lone Wolf's adventures as if the reader is the main character. As Lone Wolf, you make choices at regular intervals throughout the story which then change the course, and the final outcome, of the book.
Each book in the series can be read/played separately, but they are designed in such a way that knowledge and items obtained in an earlier book can be carried over and used in the later ones. Each book has a unique player's objective, but the plot carries on chronologically where the previous book ends.
Although the series ceased publication in 1998, a dedicated fan base established Project Aon in 1999 and have subsequently converted many of the books to HTML format. Joe Dever gave his permission for free distribution of the books online via the internet. Subsequently, there has been a strong revival of interest in Lone Wolf, particularly in Italy, Spain, and France where the books were republished between 2002-2006. Several adaptations now exist of the Lone Wolf series, including a D20-style Role-Playing Game published by Mongoose Publishing Ltd UK, the company which also plans to republish the original Lone Wolf series, beginning in the summer of 2007. A computer game and a mobile phone game are currently in production for release in early 2008.
Lone Wolf was notable as a gamebook series because it was the first one of its type (other than the notable Grailquest gamebooks) where the reader played a single character who grew more and more advanced over the course of the series. It was the first role-playing mega-campaign, and it has had a hugely influential effect upon the design of first-person fantasy computer games and MMO's (Massively Multi-player Online games) of recent years.