Oh, a note on ChoiceScript--ChoiceScript as used by Choice of Games games tends to be stat-heavy in that they encourage it in their game design. But there is no reason why you couldn't write a game in ChoiceScript that is just pure branching CYOA where you click on choices to move the story forward, with no variables or stat tracking at all, if you wanted to. The use of stats/variables isn't mandatory.

Also, usually more of an issue in larger games, but ChoiceScript has the advantage of automated testing tools to aid with debugging. (Ask me how I know...)

Another option that has a web-based interface and uses a sort of GUI such that you can interact directly with the text is Texture. There's no offline version but the basics are pretty easy to pick up and it's an interesting alternative.