Sfon: 1. Choose your own adventure books, from what I've seen, give you options with one (1) that is legitimate. In Darklands they are true choices. Sometimes it is possible for an event to kill a party member, but usually not.
For example:
If enemies want to attack you and you try talking them out of it, the game won't say "Talking was the wrong answer because their mouths were full of deadly snakes, you die." If talking fails you might end up in a battle or you might be able to try something else. If talking succeeds they might flee or they might want to negotiate.
What choice is best depends on not just the event, but your abilities, goals, context, and what risks you are willing to take.
2. It is less linear than Fallout and Oblivion. What city you start in is random. You are not even given a main quest at first except "become famous heroes", nor are you pointed in the direction of one. If you hate how direction-less other non-linear RPGs are, you will hate Darklands even more. If you wish they could start you in different cities and not immediately hit you with "Most important quest step 1, that way-->", you will love this.
3. The only notable random thing about character generation is what exact saints or alchemy formulas they know. Everything else worth mentioning, including
how many saints/formulas a character starts with, is not random.
Making an effective new party in Darklands is a lot more complex than in most games, so I recommend you at least get your feet wet with the "quickstart" option first. The default party is older than most players prefer, but have solid skills and good starting equipment.
Talking was wrong, snakes come out of their mouth. That totally killed me! I so remember those! "Do you walk down the left or right path?" Left. "Oops there was a cliff and you fell to your death."
Ever hear of the Lone Wolf series of books? They're like FAIR choose your own adventure. You also have skills and stats, like. "If you have 6th Sense, turn to page 102."
Anyhow, Darklands is similar in that it's mostly fair.
Personally I like the pre-made characters. They do fine!
I love how sandbox-y Darklands is. Go wherever you feel like. Waltz into Raubritters' (sp) castles and ask if you can spend the night. Gutsy!