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Fighting Fantasy

The 25th anniversary edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the first numbered Fighting Fantasy book
Designer Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson
Publisher Puffin, Wizard Books
Publication date 1980
Genre(s) Fantasy
System Gamebook
For a list of Fighting Fantasy media, see List of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks

Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player fantasy gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, originally published by Puffin and now by Wizard Books. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a single-player roleplaying Gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, illustrated by A "game designer" is a person who designs Video games or one who designs traditional games such as Board games Video Games Designer A video game designer Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur. Steve Jackson (born 1951 in Manchester, England) is a Game designer, Writer and Game reviewer A video game publisher is a company that publishes Video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a Video game developer Penguin Books is a British Publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting A gamebook is a Book that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices that affect the course of the narrative which branches down various paths through the This is a list of books that form the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series A gamebook is a Book that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices that affect the course of the narrative which branches down various paths through the Steve Jackson (born 1951 in Manchester, England) is a Game designer, Writer and Game reviewer Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur. Penguin Books is a British Publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. Although not the first books to use this format, Fighting Fantasy popularised the format and spawned dozens of imitators.

Contents

Overview

British writers Steve Jackson (not to be confused with the US-based game designer of the same name) and Ian Livingstone, co-founders of Games Workshop, authored the first seven books in the series, after which point the writing stable was expanded. Steve Jackson (born 1951 in Manchester, England) is a Game designer, Writer and Game reviewer Steve Jackson (born ~1953 is an American Game designer. After working for many years at Metagaming Concepts designing such games as Ogre Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur. The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game or Lord of the Rings SBG rather than Lord of the Rings when

There were 59 books in the core series, beginning with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (Jackson & Livingstone, 1982) and concluding with Curse of the Mummy (Green, 1995). The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a single-player roleplaying Gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Steve Jackson (born 1951 in Manchester, England) is a Game designer, Writer and Game reviewer Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Jonathan Green is a freelance Writer. He writes science fiction and fantasy novels for adults adventure gamebooks for children and fun non-fiction books for Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 Three new books, Eye of the Dragon, the long-lost adventure Bloodbones and Howl of the Werewolf have been published by Wizard, bringing the total up to 62. Eye of the Dragon (ISBN 1-84046-642-1 is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Martin McKenna and published in 2005 Bloodbones (ISBN 1-84046-765-7 is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Jonathan Green and illustrated by Tony Hough Howl of the Werewolf (ISBN 1-84046-838-6 is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Jonathan Green and illustrated by Martin McKenna Additional books include the four-part Sorcery! series, by Steve Jackson. Sorcery! is a series of four Gamebooks written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Blanche

The Fighting Fantasy gamebooks were similar to other interactive gamebooks that were being published at the time — most notably the Choose Your Own Adventure series — in that the reader takes control of the story's protagonist, making many choices over the course of the story and turning to different pages in order to learn the outcome of their decisions. Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's Gamebooks first published by Bantam Books The Fighting Fantasy series distinguished itself by the use of a dice system to resolve combat and other situations, not unlike that used in Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games, though far simpler. Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by

The action in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook is split into small sections, ranging from a paragraph to a page, at the end of each of which the character usually must make a choice or roll a die. Each page features several of these sections, each headed with its number in bold. Where the page number would appear in an ordinary book, a Fighting Fantasy book gives the range of sections appearing on that page, much as some dictionaries do for the words listed on a page. Most of the early books in the series had 400 of these sections, with the optimal ending being number 400. Some later books had more than 400 sections, and some concealed the optimal ending somewhere in the middle of the book to make it harder for the reader to find.

With the notable exception of Steve Jackson's Sorcery! miniseries, all entries in the series are stand-alone and do not assume any prior knowledge on the part of the player. Steve Jackson (born 1951 in Manchester, England) is a Game designer, Writer and Game reviewer Sorcery! is a series of four Gamebooks written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Blanche That said, many of them take place in a single world known as Titan, and the three books which deal with the wizard Zagor, (namely The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Return to Firetop Mountain and Legend of Zagor), are undoubtedly more rewarding if played in sequence, as are the books Deathtrap Dungeon, Trial of Champions and Armies of Death. Titan is the Fantasy world where the majority of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone 's Fighting The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a single-player roleplaying Gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, illustrated by

Typically, a Fighting Fantasy gamebook follows the "collect w, x and y to reach z" approach. This means that the player can only reach the end of the book by following the correct path and finding all the items (keys, gems, rings or even pieces of information) that let him or her proceed to the final confrontation. Later books sometimes varied this formula, allowing multiple routes to success.

History

In 1980, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, co-founders of Games Workshop, decided to capitalise on the spreading enthusiasm for Dungeons & Dragons by creating a series of single-player gamebooks. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game or Lord of the Rings SBG rather than Lord of the Rings when Their first submission, The Magic Quest, was a short adventure intended to demonstrate the style of game that they sought to create. The Magic Quest took over a year to be accepted by Penguin Books, at which point the two creators devoted a further six months to expanding and improving upon their original design, resulting in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook. Penguin Books is a British Publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a single-player roleplaying Gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, illustrated by After several rewrites, the book was accepted and published in 1982 under Penguin's children's imprint, Puffin Books. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Penguin Books is a British Publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane.

Following the success of the first book, Jackson and Livingstone began to produce further gamebooks, writing solo in order to make better use of their time. In 1983, Jackson produced the second Fighting Fantasy adventure, The Citadel of Chaos, and Livingstone the third, titled The Forest of Doom. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) The Citadel of Chaos is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Russ Nicholson and originally published in 1983 by Puffin The Forest of Doom is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Malcom Barter and originally published in 1983 by Puffin Jackson then produced the first book in the series with a science-fiction setting, Starship Traveller, and Livingstone the first with an urban setting, City of Thieves, as well as Deathtrap Dungeon and Island of the Lizard King. Starship Traveller is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Peter Andrew Jones and originally published in 1983 by Puffin City of Thieves is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone illustrated by Iain McCaig and originally published in 1983 by Puffin Books Deathtrap Dungeon is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Ian McCaig and originally published in 1984 by Puffin Island of the Lizard King is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Alan Langford and originally published in 1984 by In 1984, the decision was made to expand the number of writers working on the project, and the second Steve Jackson (from this point on referred to as "Steve Jackson (2)", see below) was added to the roster with Scorpion Swamp, published that year. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Steve Jackson (born ~1953 is an American Game designer. After working for many years at Metagaming Concepts designing such games as Ogre Scorpion Swamp is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson (the American game designer rather than the series co-creator illustrated by From that point on, many more authors began to contribute to the series, including Andrew Chapman, Carl Sargent (aka Keith Martin), Marc Gascoigne (also the longest-serving Fighting Fantasy editor) and Peter Darvill-Evans. Carl L Sargent (born December 11 1952, in Caerleon, Monmouthshire) is a British author of several Marc Gascoigne is a British author and editor born 5th July 1962 at Temple Ewell with River near Dover, Kent. Peter Darvill-Evans (born 1954 Buckinghamshire, England) is a British writer and editor

Three of the books (Scorpion Swamp in 1984 and Demons of the Deep and Robot Commando in 1986) were written by the other Steve Jackson, the US-based founder and owner of Steve Jackson Games). Scorpion Swamp is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson (the American game designer rather than the series co-creator illustrated by Demons of the Deep is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson (the American game designer rather than the series co-creator illustrated Robot Commando is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson (the American game designer rather than the series co-creator illustrated by Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) Steve Jackson (born ~1953 is an American Game designer. After working for many years at Metagaming Concepts designing such games as Ogre The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Steve Jackson Games (SJG is a Game company founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board This has led many gamers to mistakenly believe that they are the same person. [1][2]

The series enjoyed good sales all through the eighties, but experienced the same difficulties in the early nineties as the rest of the role-playing industry, brought on primarily by the increasing dominance of video games. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The series was slated to conclude with book 50, Return to Firetop Mountain (Livingstone, 1992), but this book was unexpectedly successful, experiencing better sales than any recent gamebook and prompting an increase in demand for the Fighting Fantasy back catalogue. Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur. As a result, ten more books were written, but only nine were ever published, and the series came to an end with 1995's Curse of the Mummy. Curse of the Mummy is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Jonathan Green, illustrated by Martin McKenna and originally published in 1995 by Puffin A sixtieth book, Bloodbones, was written but never released, although it was later published by Wizard. Bloodbones (ISBN 1-84046-765-7 is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Jonathan Green and illustrated by Tony Hough

In 2002, Wizard Books bought the rights to the Fighting Fantasy series and has put many of the original titles back into print, making the controversial decision to change the order of the books in order to fit their reduced line-up (initially only the gamebooks by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone were published) and to incorporate the Sorcery! miniseries into the core series. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. The original cover art has also been replaced. The Wizard editions have also been criticized for the extensive errors in the rule section of the reprints. Copying and pasting from Firetop Mountain has introduced errors into the rules, in most cases affecting the rules for Provisions and Potions. These problems have continued in the more recent re-releases as number 24, Talisman of Death, also has these errors.

In 2005, a brand-new Fighting Fantasy book entitled Eye of the Dragon was released by Wizard, written by Ian Livingstone. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Eye of the Dragon (ISBN 1-84046-642-1 is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Martin McKenna and published in 2005 In 2006, Talisman of Death and Sword of the Samurai, both written by Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith, were released. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Talisman of Death is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith illustrated by Bob Harvey and originally published in 1984 by Puffin Books Jamie Thomson is the author of several 'choose-your-own-adventure' type gamebooks Mark Smith is the author of several fantasy gamebooks including co-authoring two Fighting Fantasy titles ( Talisman of Death and Sword of the This was the first time Wizard had reprinted works by "secondary" authors.

Twenty-fifth Anniversary

In 2007, Fighting Fantasy celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. To commemorate the event, Wizard published a new 25th-anniversary yearbook and a special edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain that used the original wrap-around cover image and contained extra material.

Three standard gamebooks will also be released in 2007, all written by Jonathan Green. Curse of the Mummy and Spellbreaker were due to be re-released in April and June respectively. Curse of the Mummy is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Jonathan Green, illustrated by Martin McKenna and originally published in 1995 by Puffin Spellbreaker is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Jonathan Green, illustrated by Alan Langford and originally published in 1993 by Puffin Books Both have been edited to make them more playable, with skill scores and possibly other aspects changed. Also released in 2007 is Howl of the Werewolf, a brand-new adventure that Jonathan Green had previously mentioned in a letter to a fan. Howl of the Werewolf (ISBN 1-84046-838-6 is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Jonathan Green and illustrated by Martin McKenna

Setting

The majority of the Fighting Fantasy books are set in the heroic fantasy world of Titan — 46 of the 59 Puffin books take place there, as does the Sorcery! spin-off. Heroic fantasy is a sub-genre of Fantasy literature which chronicles the tales of heroes and their conquests in imaginary lands Titan is the Fantasy world where the majority of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone 's Fighting Sorcery! is a series of four Gamebooks written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Blanche Like many fantasy settings, Titan corresponds roughly to medieval Europe, with the addition of magic, monsters and several sentient non-human races. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting Titan consists of three continents: the one most commonly used in the series is Allansia, followed by the Old World and then Khul. The scattered and somewhat incoherent information gleaned about the world of Titan from the gamebooks is consolidated and greatly supplemented by a reader's guide titled simply Titan (Gascoigne, Jackson & Livingstone, 1986). Marc Gascoigne is a British author and editor born 5th July 1962 at Temple Ewell with River near Dover, Kent. Steve Jackson (born 1951 in Manchester, England) is a Game designer, Writer and Game reviewer Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur.

Legend of Zagor (Livingstone, 1993) is set in a second fantasy world, Amarillia, as are the first, second and fourth volumes of The Zagor Chronicles (Livingstone, 1993–94). Legend of Zagor is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Martin McKenna and originally published in 1993 by Puffin Books Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur. Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur. Magical communication and travel between Amarillia and Titan is possible, suggesting that they are part of the same 'universe'.

A third fantasy world called Orb features in book 11, Talisman of Death (Thomson & Smith, 1984). Jamie Thomson is the author of several 'choose-your-own-adventure' type gamebooks Mark Smith is the author of several fantasy gamebooks including co-authoring two Fighting Fantasy titles ( Talisman of Death and Sword of the Orb is also the setting of Thompson and Smith's otherwise unrelated series of gamebooks Way of the Tiger. Way of the Tiger is the name of a series of adventure Gamebooks by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson set on the fantasy world of Orb

In addition to these, a small minority of Fighting Fantasy books employ a science fiction setting. It is never specified whether or not these books are intended to be set in the same world, but the lack of consistency between them or mention of common locations seems to indicate that they are not. The science fiction books, in order of publication, are Starship Traveller (Jackson, 1983), Freeway Fighter (Livingstone, 1985), Space Assassin (Chapman, 1985), The Rings of Kether (Chapman, 1985), Rebel Planet, (Waterfield, 1985), Robot Commando (Jackson(2), 1985), Star Strider (Sharp, 1987), and Sky Lord (Allen, 1988). Starship Traveller is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Peter Andrew Jones and originally published in 1983 by Puffin Steve Jackson (born 1951 in Manchester, England) is a Game designer, Writer and Game reviewer Freeway Fighter is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Kevin Bulmer and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur. Space Assassin is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Andrew Chapman illustrated by Geoffrey Senior and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books Andrew Grant Chapman ( January 17, 1839 &ndash September 25, 1892) was an American politician The Rings of Kether is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Andrew Chapman illustrated by Nik Spender and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books Andrew Grant Chapman ( January 17, 1839 &ndash September 25, 1892) was an American politician Rebel Planet is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Robin Waterfield illustrated by Gary Mayes and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books Robin Anthony Herschel Waterfield is a British classical scholar translator editor and writer of children's fiction Robot Commando is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson (the American game designer rather than the series co-creator illustrated by Steve Jackson (born ~1953 is an American Game designer. After working for many years at Metagaming Concepts designing such games as Ogre Star Strider is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Luke Sharp illustrated by Gary Mayes and originally published in 1987 by Puffin Books Sky Lord is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Martin Allen illustrated by Tim Sell and originally published in 1988 by Puffin Books

Appointment with F.E.A.R. (Jackson, 1985) featured the reader as a superhero in the fictional "Titan City" (presumably named after the regular setting of Titan), again deviating from the usual fantasy environment. Appointment with FEAR is a single-player roleplaying Gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Declan Considine and originally published Steve Jackson (born 1951 in Manchester, England) is a Game designer, Writer and Game reviewer A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a Fictional character "of unprecedented physical prowess dedicated to acts of derring-do

Spectral Stalkers (Peter Darvill-Evans, 1991) was set in a variety of interconnected dimensions, some of which conformed to fantasy archetypes and some to those of science fiction. Spectral Stalkers is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Peter Darvill-Evans, illustrated by Tony Hough and originally published in 1991 by Puffin Peter Darvill-Evans (born 1954 Buckinghamshire, England) is a British writer and editor

House of Hell (Jackson, 1984) is the only Fighting Fantasy book set in modern-day Earth. House of Hell is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Tim Sell and originally published in 1984 by Puffin Books Steve Jackson (born 1951 in Manchester, England) is a Game designer, Writer and Game reviewer It caused perhaps more controversy than any other book on its release because of its extensive use of occult and Satanic themes.

System

The Fighting Fantasy system, in comparison with the mechanics employed in role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons or even the similar Lone Wolf series, is extremely simple. In roleplaying, participants adopt and act out the Role of characters, or parts that may have personalities motivations and backgrounds different from Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by Lone Wolf is a collection of 28 (soon to be 32 Gamebooks created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated (books 1-8 by The player character, in the majority of books, has only three statistics, namely skill, stamina and luck, which are determined randomly by dice rolls at the beginning of the adventure.

Whenever the player engages an enemy in combat, the statistics for that enemy are displayed in the text. The player rolls 2d6 (a pair of six sided dice) and adds this number to their skill, then does the same for their opponent. Whichever combatant has scored higher has wounded the other, and the wounded party must subtract 2 points from their stamina. At this point the player has the option to Test Luck, a gamble which either increases or decreases the damage done. This process usually continues until one party's stamina reaches 0, at which point they are dead.

Testing Luck comes into play both by explicit instruction at various points in the narrative, and (at the player's choice) in combat. The player rolls 2d6 and compare the result to their Luck score. If the result is lower or equal than their score they are considered to be Lucky and are informed of their results; conversely, a roll which results in a score higher than the player's Luck will have a different, almost invariably negative, result. Luck (also called fortunity) is a chance happening, or that which happens beyond a person's control. In either case, the player's luck score is decreased by 1 each time it is tested and thus subsequent Tests of Luck become increasingly difficult unless the player finds some way to replenish luck. (Sometimes the player is given a choice not to Test Luck and thus to conserve a higher luck score for future occasions. )

Some books employ extra statistics, such as Sword of the Samurai (Thomson & Smith, 1986), in which the character also has an Honour score, or Beneath Nightmare Castle (Darvill-Evans, 1987) which includes a Willpower score. Jamie Thomson is the author of several 'choose-your-own-adventure' type gamebooks Mark Smith is the author of several fantasy gamebooks including co-authoring two Fighting Fantasy titles ( Talisman of Death and Sword of the Beneath Nightmare Castle is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Peter Darvill-Evans, illustrated by Dave Carson and originally published in 1987 by Peter Darvill-Evans (born 1954 Buckinghamshire, England) is a British writer and editor Other books allow the player to select from a number of abilities, such as the spells available in The Citadel of Chaos and Temple of Terror (Livingstone, 1985), the special skills in Moonrunner (Hand, 1992) or the superpowers in Appointment with F.E.A.R. (Jackson, 1985). The Citadel of Chaos is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Russ Nicholson and originally published in 1983 by Puffin Temple of Terror is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Bill Houston and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books Moonrunner is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Stephen Hand illustrated by Martin McKenna and originally published in 1992 by Puffin Books Appointment with FEAR is a single-player roleplaying Gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Declan Considine and originally published

Some books use vehicle combat as well as hand to hand (examples include Starship Traveller and Freeway Fighter), and most of the science fiction settings include some form of ranged combat, with a variety of methods of resolution. Starship Traveller is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Peter Andrew Jones and originally published in 1983 by Puffin Freeway Fighter is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Kevin Bulmer and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books

The Sorcery! series was the first to feature images of dice at the bottom of each page. These allowed the game to be played without having actual dice to hand, by flicking through the book to a random page. The Fighting Fantasy books published by Wizard used the same device.

Cover formats

The 25th anniversary edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
The 25th anniversary edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

The Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks have had a variety of different cover formats. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a single-player roleplaying Gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Three different cover designs were used during the publication of the original series by Puffin.

Originally each book had the number of the book printed in a coloured star on the cover. The spine and rear cover were the same colour as the background of the star, the colour varying with the book. This design was used for the first seven books in the series. The second design featured a green stripe across the top of the cover, containing the words 'Adventure Gamebooks' and the number of the book. The Fighting Fantasy logo was also printed on the cover. The spine and rear cover of each book were uniformly coloured a light green. This design was used up to the 24th book in the series. The final design featured a large box with a gold dragon design at the top of the cover containing the cover credit. The spine of each book remained uniformly coloured a light green. The colour of the rear cover varied with each book. This design was used up to the last book in the Puffin series. Reprints of the earlier books featured the subsequent cover designs. [1]

Books with the final Puffin cover design featured the number of the book on the front and spine of each book until a small number of print runs where all numbers were removed from the books. After this the number of the book featured on the spine of each book, but not the cover. The cover credit was printed in bronze-foil until the publication of the 51st book, after which it was printed in black. The first two books, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and Citadel of Chaos were given new cover illustrations when printed with the second and final Puffin cover design. [2]

The Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks republished by Wizard feature a new cover design, a new Fighting Fantasy logo and new cover illustrations (with, so far, the exceptions of Appointment with F. E. A. R and Curse of the Mummy, which retain their original cover illustrations). The covers were changed because the old covers were not considered acceptable for the modern market. [3]

Authors other than the series' co-creators are not credited on the cover, which instead features the phrase 'Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone Present'. These authors are credited on the inside title page.

The Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks published in the US by Dell/Laurel Leaf featured a new cover design and illustrations by Richard Corben. Richard Corben (born October 1 1940) is an American comic book artist best known for his illustrated Fantasy stories in [4]

Interior artwork

All Fighting Fantasy gamebooks are illustrated and most of the art is considered by fans to be of very high quality, especially in comparison to other role-playing products of the time. The cover artwork of the original series are also considered to have played a major role in the original popularity of the series; Jackson and Livingstone reflected this belief by personally signing off on every cover throughout the entire series.

All Fighting Fantasy books feature two forms of interior illustration; full-page pieces which depict the action taking place in one of the sections on the opposing page and smaller, generic pieces scattered at random throughout the book, often serving as breaks or space fillers between sections. The full-page illustrations are generally used for the most dramatic or spectacular sections of the story, while the generic images usually depict items such as skulls, swords, monsters and treasure. The two sets of illustrations are always drawn by the same artist.

Many artists contributed multiple illustrations to the series: Les Edwards and Terry Oakes created 11 and 12 covers, respectively; Russ Nicholson drew the interior illustrations for 13 books, and Leo Hartas provided the maps included in 18 books. Les Edwards (born 1949 is a professional illustrator best known for his horror science fiction and fantasy illustrations Russ Nicholson is a British Illustrator, best known for his work on the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series in particular The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Other notables included Ian Miller, John Blanche and Iain McCaig. Ian Miller (b 11 November 1946) is a British fantasy illustrator and writer best known for his quirkily-etched gothic style and macabre sensibility and particularly Iain McCaig is an internationally renowned and award-winning illustrator and conceptual designer

Companion books

Several additional books were published to supplement the core series, the most successful of which was Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series, which was published in from 1983 to 1985 and consists of The Shamutanti Hills, Kharé - Cityport of Traps, The Seven Serpents and The Crown of Kings. Sorcery! is a series of four Gamebooks written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Blanche Billed as 'Fighting Fantasy for adults', it was the longest and most complex story published in the series and the only one to run over multiple volumes.

Roleplaying games

In 1984 Jackson produced a guide to multiplayer role-playing using the Fighting Fantasy system and world, a volume simply titled Fighting Fantasy. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) In 1985 a complete Fighting Fantasy bestiary was released, Out of the Pit (by Gascoigne, though credited to Livingstone and Jackson), and in 1986 it was followed by an adventure for the multiplayer system, The Riddling Reaver as well as a then-complete encyclopedia of the Fighting Fantasy world, entitled Titan. Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar) Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) In 1989 a second Fighting Fantasy multiplayer system was released, referred to as Advanced Fighting Fantasy. Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar) Advanced Fighting Fantasy is a Role-playing game system based on the Fighting Fantasy series of gamebooks Three books were produced using this system: Dungeoneer, Blacksand! and Allansia, all by Marc Gascoigne and Pete Tamlyn; "Out of the Pit" and "Titan" were subsumed into the range as sourcebooks and reissued in reformatted, companion editions. Dungeoneer (ISBN 0-14-032936-6 is the first of the three rule books that make up the Advanced Fighting Fantasy roleplaying game Blacksand! (ISBN 0-14-034396-2 is the second of the three rule books that make up the Advanced Fighting Fantasy roleplaying game Allansia (ISBN 0-14-036051-4 is the third (and last of the three rule books that make up the Advanced Fighting Fantasy role-playing game

Spin-offs

Seven Fighting Fantasy novels have also been published. These began with three standalone books, titled The Trolltooth Wars (Jackson, 1989), Demonstealer (Gascoigne, 1991) and Shadowmaster (Livingstone & Gascoigne, 1992). Steve Jackson (born ~1953 is an American Game designer. After working for many years at Metagaming Concepts designing such games as Ogre Marc Gascoigne is a British author and editor born 5th July 1962 at Temple Ewell with River near Dover, Kent. Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur. Marc Gascoigne is a British author and editor born 5th July 1962 at Temple Ewell with River near Dover, Kent. In 1993 Ian Livingstone and Carl Sargent began a four volume series entitled The Zagor Chronicles, reprising the popular villain of Warlock of Firetop Mountain and its sequels. Carl L Sargent (born December 11 1952, in Caerleon, Monmouthshire) is a British author of several The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a single-player roleplaying Gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, illustrated by

Clash of the Princes was a pair of books designed to be played or read by two players simultaneously as opponents (although either book could also be read on its own). In the two-player game each of the readers would from time to time be instructed by the book to make a note on a shared piece of paper as they made decisions, which could influence what happened to the other player as his book instructed him to respond accordingly.

Other Fighting Fantasy spin-offs have include an oversized poster book, the Fighting Fantasy 10th Anniversary Yearbook (a diary with articles, trivia and a gamebook spread across the days), and a boxed set of dice and character sheets. Games Workshop's Citadel Miniatures produced a small range of 54mm plastic warriors. The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game or Lord of the Rings SBG rather than Lord of the Rings when Citadel Miniatures Limited produces metal and plastic Miniatures for tabletop Wargames such as Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40K The associated magazine Warlock first produced by Puffin Books and later Games Workshop, ran for 13 issues. Warlock was a Magazine published by Penguin Books and from issue #6 British Game manufacturer Games Workshop between It featured a gamebook in every issue, as well as new monsters, rules, reviews and comic strips. Editors were variously Ian Livingstone, Steve Williams and Marc Gascoigne. Strangely, the magazine was licensed for a Japanese edition, which continued with original material from issue 14 onwards and continues to publish to this day.

Other media

In 1984 a number of Fighting Fantasy videogames were released for the Commodore 64, Amstrad, BBC, and Sinclair ZX Spectrum. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Amstrad is an electronics firm based in Brentwood in Essex, England and founded in 1968 by Sir Alan Michael Sugar in the The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal Home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd They were based directly on specific Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, specifically The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, The Citadel of Chaos, The Forest of Doom, Temple of Terror, Seas of Blood, Appointment with F. E. A. R. and Rebel Planet.

In 1985 Steve Jackson wrote a picture gamebook with the title Tasks of Tantalon, in which the player was required to solve a series of puzzles set by the wizard Tantalon, which were presented as large, full colour pictures containing hidden clues to be located and assembled.

1986 saw the release of the Warlock of Firetop Mountain boardgame from Games Workshop, followed in 1993 by a second game based on the Legend of Zagor novels. A board game is a Game in which counters or pieces that are placed on removed from or moved across a "board" (a premarked surface usually specific to that game

In 1998 Eidos Interactive published the Deathtrap Dungeon videogame for the PC and PlayStation. Eidos Interactive is a publisher of video and Computer games with its parent company based in England. Deathtrap Dungeon is a Medieval action / adventure Video game released in 1998 for the PlayStation and Microsoft IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. The PlayStation (abbreviated PS, PSone, PS1, or informally as PSX) is a 32-bit fifth generation Video game console

On December 5, 2006, it was officially announced that Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, co-creators of Fighting Fantasy and also co-founders of game studio, Games Workshop, are planning to release a new series of video games based on the Fighting Fantasy series for Nintendo DS and Sony's PSP. Events 63 BC - Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Steve Jackson can refer to Steve Jackson (mathematician, set theorist at University of North Texas Steve Jackson (UK game designer Ian Livingstone (born December 1949 in Prestbury, England) is an English Fantasy author and Entrepreneur. The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game or Lord of the Rings SBG rather than Lord of the Rings when A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The is a dual-screen Handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. The PlayStation Portable (officially abbreviated PSP) is a Handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. [3]

Importance

The Fighting Fantasy series popularised the use of a dice mechanic in gamebooks, a random element which contributed hugely to the suspense and the enjoyment of the play experience. Many series would attempt to emulate the Fighting Fantasy style, with varying degrees of success: Joe Dever's Lone Wolf series enjoyed success nearly equal to that of Fighting Fantasy. Joe Dever (born 1956 Chingford, England) is an award-winning British fantasist and Game designer. Lone Wolf is a collection of 28 (soon to be 32 Gamebooks created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated (books 1-8 by Other series included GrailQuest, Fabled Lands and Way of the Tiger. Grailquest is a series of Gamebooks by J H Brennan. The books are illustrated by John Higgins. Fabled Lands is the name of a series of fantasy Gamebooks written by established gamebook authors Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson and published by Pan Books Way of the Tiger is the name of a series of adventure Gamebooks by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson set on the fantasy world of Orb The phrase 'Fighting Fantasy' is sometimes used to refer to all single player role-playing gamebooks, most notably in item descriptions on eBay, where such gamebooks are regularly sold. eBay Inc is an American Internet company that manages eBaycom an Online auction and shopping Website in which people and businesses buy and Fighting Fantasy and other gamebooks are seen as a primer or gateway to the RPG hobby for younger enthusiasts. A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters.

Despite common claims to the contrary, Fighting Fantasy was not the very first series of gamebooks. A gamebook is a Book that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices that affect the course of the narrative which branches down various paths through the The gamebook format used in Fighting Fantasy was previously seen in a series of solitaire adventures released for the Tunnels and Trolls role-playing game, the first of which was Buffalo Castle [4]. Tunnels & Trolls (abbreviated T&T) is a 1975 Fantasy Role-playing game designed by Ken St Buffalo Castle was a Gamebook first published by Flying Buffalo in 1976 (ISBN 0-940244-01-2

References in popular culture

Although not as well known outside its readership as other fantasy writing, such as The Lord of the Rings, the series is occasionally referenced in popular culture:

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Fighting Fantasy FAQ on the Internet Archive record of the old fightingfantasy.com site. This is a list of books that form the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series Warlock was a Magazine published by Penguin Books and from issue #6 British Game manufacturer Games Workshop between Lone Wolf is a collection of 28 (soon to be 32 Gamebooks created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated (books 1-8 by Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's Gamebooks first published by Bantam Books Way of the Tiger is the name of a series of adventure Gamebooks by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson set on the fantasy world of Orb Cretan Chronicles is a trilogy of single-player Role-playing fantasy Gamebooks written by John Butterfield David Honigmann and Philip Parker and illustrated by Dan The Legends of Skyfall was a series of four adventure Gamebooks written by David Tant and published by Armada in 1985 Wizards Warriors & You was a series of children's Gamebooks inspired by Dungeons & Dragons and early text adventure games like Zork and Colossal Cave Les Edwards (born 1949 is a professional illustrator best known for his horror science fiction and fantasy illustrations Russ Nicholson is a British Illustrator, best known for his work on the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook series in particular The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Ian Miller (b 11 November 1946) is a British fantasy illustrator and writer best known for his quirkily-etched gothic style and macabre sensibility and particularly Iain McCaig is an internationally renowned and award-winning illustrator and conceptual designer
  2. ^ Fighting Fantasy FAQ on the Internet Archive record of the old fightingfantasy.com site.
  3. ^ Interview with Simon Flynn on the official Fighting Fantasy website.
  4. ^ Fighting Fantasy on gamebooks.org.

References

External links

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