The Fighting Fantasy phenomenon sprouted from verdant, creative soil during the early-1980’s. It grew in response to the need to satisfy the hunger of lonesome role-players and also to provide a means to attract new interest in role-playing from individuals who had never tried it before and couldn’t be reached any other way. Role-playing, by its very nature, requires the interaction of at least two individuals – someone to play and some to run the game. The Fighting Fantasy series of books provided the equivalent of Solitaire or Patience, the chance to play without needing anyone else to create the story and run it. It made novels interactive, to some degree, for the first time, allowing the reader to guide the direction of the story and keep entertained at the same time.

What A Solo Adventure Game Book Is

In common role-playing the objective is to navigate the fate of a fictional character from the beginning of a story to the end of one, ideally with treasure, rewards and positive reputations making a strong appearance at the end. The basis of an adventure is normally a written guide, purchased or homemade, that outlines the location of the story, the characters involved and the events that will occur should certain choice be made as the game progresses. The players concentrate on guiding their characters through tricks, traps and combat, while the individual controlling the game acts the part of any other characters or monsters, keeps track of all the events and provides descriptions of everything from start to finish.

The Solo Adventure Game Book seeks to complete the task of the storyteller, taking a situation from start to finish and describing everything along the way. The average game book is divided into 400 chunks of text, numbered consecutively, from a few lines to several paragraphs long, which describe situations, people and events. At the end of most of the chunks, when a choice is presented, several options are offered with a reference to which chunk should be read next if chosen. Choices can range from something simple like – “If you defeat the goblin, turn to 24. Otherwise, goto 300.” – to half a dozen options or more – like which items you decide to purchase from a Magic Shop.

There are events along the way that lead to terminal conclusions, like failing to beat the Goblin Guard or falling foul of a Spiked Trap, that offer some final words and a gloom-laden ‘THE END’. However, the gimmick of the Game Book is that you can always go back to the beginning and start again – or, more likely, return to the last option and choose a less terminal route. Seasoned readers tend to keep bookmarks around a lot and casually assess combats as victories without recourse to troublesome dice-rolling.

A Brief History Of Fighting Fantasy Game Books

The creators of the Fighting Fantasy concept were Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, founders of Games Workshop in the UK. Published by Puffin, the series was released at an increasingly impressive rate over a period of thirteen years, with about six books a year the average.

The quality of the series varied from engaging fiction to utter rubbish, with illustrations on the same sliding scale to support it. All you needed was a pen or pencil, two six-sided dice and some scratch paper for notes – then you could expect hours to days of entertainment depending on your enthusiasm and your reading speed.

The concept gathered support, merchandise and numerous competitors over its thirteen year run, representing something of a craze in the first few years of its existence. However, in the end, after fifty-nine volumes, the publishers called it a day and withdrew the series from the shelves.

The Basic Fighting Fantasy System

Every book in the original series used the same system, with occasional variations. Each character was defined using three statistics – Skill, Stamina and Luck. The first represented prowess, combat ability, dexterity and guile. The second represented a gauge of health and the ability to keeping going when wounded or stricken by poison or disease. The final statistic represented the hand of fate, a dwindling stock of good fortune that could be used to enhance the success of attacks – delivering greater damage with a single blow, determine whether an action went right or wrong, or if something bad is just bad or really bad – whether you grazed your arm or almost dismembered yourself!

Skills and Luck normally rated a value between 1 to 12, adventurers starting with a number from 7 upwards (a single dice roll plus six). Stamina rated from 1 upwards, with adventurers starting with anything from 14 to 24 (the roll of two die plus twelve). Particularly formidable opponents – usually the final villain of the piece, like a dragon or a mighty warlord – could have Skill values beyond 12 and Stamina above 24, but no one except adventurers normally had a Luck score.

The principle most of the time was simply to roll lower than one of the identified statistics with two die. In combat you rolled for your opponent(s) and yourself, victory coming to the side with the highest result. The loser deducted one or more points from their Stamina until nothing remained – the average loss being two points per strike. All statistics could be restored with magic, Skill could be increased with quality weapons or armour, and Stamina could be restored with rest or food.

Games would occasionally include variations in the statistics recorded – including accumulating Honour, depleting Magic, running out of Time or acquiring new specialised Skills like moving silently or striking harder.

The Series

Below are details of all the original Fighting Fantasy Game Books, along with the year they were released, authors and illustrators (before and after the comma, respectively).

1. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (1982) - Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, Russ Nicholson
2. The Citadel of Chaos (1983) - Steve Jackson, Russ Nicholson
3. The Forest of Doom (1983) - Ian Livingstone, Malcolm Barter
4. Starship Traveller (1983) - Steve Jackson, Peter Andrew Jones
5. City of Thieves (1983) - Ian Livingstone, Iain McCaig
6. Deathtrap Dungeon (1984) - Ian Livingstone, Iain McCaig
7. Island of the Lizard King (1984) - Ian Livingstone, Alan Langford
8. Scorpion Swamp (1984) - Steve Jackson, Duncan Smith
9. Caverns of the Snow Witch (1984) - Ian Livingstone, Gary Ward and Edward Crosby
10. House of Hell (1984) - Steve Jackson, Tim Sell
11. Talisman of Death (1984) - Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith, Bob Harvey
12. Space Assassin (1985) - Andrew Chapman, Geoffrey Senior
13. Freeway Fighter (1985) - Ian Livingstone, Kevin Bulmer
14. Temple of Terror (1985) - Ian Livingstone, Bill Houston
15. The Rings of Kether (1985) - Andrew Chapman, Nik Spender
16. Seas of Blood (1985) - Andrew Chapman, Bob Harvey
17. Appointment With F.E.A.R. (1985) - Steve Jackson, Declan Considine
18. Rebel Planet (1985) - Robin Waterfield, Gary Mayes
19. Demons of the Deep (1986) - Steve Jackson, Bob Harvey
20. Sword of the Samurai (1986) - Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson, Alan Langford
21. Trial of Champions (1986) - Ian Livingstone, Brian Williams
22. Robot Commando (1986) - Steve Jackson, Gary Mayes
23. Masks of Mayhem (1986) - Robin Waterfield, Russ Nicholson
24. Creature of Havoc (1986) - Steve Jackson, Alan Langford
25. Beneath Nightmare Castle (1987) - Peter Darvill-Evans, Dave Carson
26. Crypt of the Sorcerer (1987) - Ian Livingstone, John Sibbick
27. Star Strider (1987) - Luke Sharp, Gary Mayes
28. Phantoms of Fear (1987) - Robin Waterfield, Ian Miller
29. Midnight Rogue (1987) - Graeme Davis, John Sibbick
30. Chasms of Malice (1987) - Luke Sharp, Russ Nicholson
31. Battleblade Warrior (1988) - Marc Gascoigne, David Gallagher
32. Slaves of the Abyss (1988) - Paul Mason and Steve Williams, Bob Harvey
33. Sky Lord (1988) - Martin Allen, Tim Sell
34. Stealer of Souls (1988) - Keith Martin, Russ Nicholson
35. Daggers of Darkness (1988) - Luke Sharp, Martin McKenna
36. Armies of Death (1988) - Ian Livingstone, Nik Williams
37. Portal of Evil (1989) - Peter Darvill-Evans, Alan Langford
38. Vault of the Vampire (1989) - Keith Martin, Martin McKenna
39. Fangs of Fury (1989) - Luke Sharp, David Gallagher
40. Dead of Night (1989) - Jim Bambra and Stephen Hand, Martin McKenna
41. Master of Chaos (1990) - Keith Martin, David Gallagher
42. Black Vein Prophecy (1990) - Paul Mason and Steve Williams, Terry Oakes
43. The Keep of the Lich-Lord (1990) - Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson, David Gallagher
44. Legend of the Shadow Warriors (1991) - Stephen Hand, Martin McKenna
45. Spectral Stalkers (1991) - Peter Darvill-Evans, Tony Hough
46. Tower of Destruction (1991) - Keith Martin, Pete Knifton
47. The Crimson Tide (1992) - Paul Mason, Terry Oakes
48. Moonrunner (1992) - Stephen Hand, Martin McKenna
49. Siege of Sardath (1992) - Keith P. Phillips, Pete Knifton
50. Return to Firetop Mountain (1992) - Ian Livingstone, Martin McKenna
51. Island of the Undead (1992) - Keith Martin, Russ Nicholson
52. Night Dragon (1993) - Keith Martin, Tony Hough
53. Spellbreaker (1993) - Jonathan Green, Alan Langford
54. Legend of Zagor (1993) - Ian Livingstone, Martin McKenna
55. Deathmoor (1994) - Robin Waterfield, Russ Nicholson
56. Knights of Doom (1994) - Jonathan Green, Tony Hough
57. Mage Hunter (1995) - Paul Mason, Russ Nicholson
58. Revenge of the Vampire (1995) - Keith Martin, Martin McKenna
59. Curse of the Mummy (1995) - Jonathan Green, Martin McKenna

There were rumours of a Book 60 called “Bloodstone” that never reached the shelves and Ian Livingstone believed that the talent existed to go on. However, the publishers thought otherwise.

Warlock Magazine

Just as White Dwarf magazine served as a means to communicate news and ideas about the role-playing hobby in the UK, Warlock magazine came about in support of the expanding horizons of solo adventure game books. It was originally published by Puffin, like the books themselves, but later came under the auspices of Games Workshop.

Every few months¹   Warlock provided a new 200-reference solo adventure, starting with draft versions of actual Game Books – like “Caverns of the Snow Witch” and the “House of Hell” – then presenting original works which never appeared in any other format. It also provides articles on developing characters, role-playing, new monsters and traps, and converting competitor’s Game Books (like Joe Dever’s “Lone Wolf” series and J. H. Brennen’s “Demonspawn”). There were reviews of books and news n upcoming products connected with the Fighting Fantasy label. There were also occasional boardgames, both for Fighting Fantasy and as crossovers with other games (like the Judge Dredd role-playing game).

Warlock ran for 13 issues before it finally vanished from the newsagent shelves. Some features - notably, the cartoon strip "Derek the Troll" - were temporarily supported by White Dwarf, but these too rapidly dissolved into obscurity - most probably due to the different age group and market the magazines catered to.

Sorcery!

The first independent series, taking the basics of the Fighting Fantasy system and adding an unusual spell-casting scheme, spanned four books that provided an extended adventuring campaign. The participant could play a warrior or a wizard (with weaker combat abilities and a range of spells to compensate) and was tasked with retrieving a magical Crown from a malevolent Archmage. Without the Crown the adventurer’s homeland would fall into chaos and the Archmage would be able to use the Crown to rally the forces of Evil to destroy anyone who might oppose him.

The spell-casting system was the most novel part of the series. Originally a separate, lavishly illustrated Spell Book was available, but later the information was integrated into the end of every book in the series. Each spell was identified by a three-letter code – like ZAP, POP or GOB – that was then followed by a spell description and details of any special focus or material component that was required to successfully cast the spell. The idea was that individuals playing the wizard character would spend time studying the spell book before playing and try to memorize the three-letter codes. Then, during the adventure, whenever the wizard needed to use a spell a choice of codes would be offered. If the incorrect spell was chosen health would be depleted and nothing would happen. If the correct spell was chosen but the material component wasn’t available, the spell would fizzle out and again health would be lost. Only if the correct code was chosen and the right focus was held would the spell be successful. The system was a welcome twist to the standard formula, but it did consume a lot of entries towards the back of the book with messages about failed casting attempts. It was also open to cheating, with frustrated players simply flicking over to the spell book to find out which codes were right and which were bogus.

Another cunning feature of the series was that you didn’t need to have any dice handy to get going. Each page included a picture of two die in the corner, so after noting down which paragraph you were on you could flick through and stop at random – instant dice result.

• The Sorcery! Spell Book (1983) – Steve Jackson, John Blanche
• The Shamutanti Hills (1983) - Steve Jackson, John Blanche
• Khare - Cityport of Traps (1984) - Steve Jackson, John Blanche
• The Seven Serpents (1984) - Steve Jackson, John Blanche
• The Crown of Kings (1985) - Steve Jackson, John Blanche

Clash Of The Princes

A further development of the Game Book phenomenon arrived in the form of a two-book boxed set. The “Clash Of The Princes” presented two intertwined storylines about a warrior and a wizard seeking to reach a conclusion before the other. Two friends could choose a book and set about having something of a shared adventure experience. The books included events that were unique to each book, but also presented points that linked the books and called for the participants to share information or wait for the other reader to catch up.

It was entirely possible to play the game solo, a very useful aspect as currently the books are most often found currently in second-hand and charity stores as single volumes.

• The Warrior’s Way (1986) – Andrew Chapman and Martin Allen, John Blanche
• The Warlock’s Way (1986) – Andrew Chapman and Martin Allen, John Blanche

Role-playing and the Riddling Reaver

While the Fighting Fantasy series provided a means to satisfy the interests of the single gamer it was not forgotten that role-playing was meant to be a group activity. As a result the series spawned a paperback rulebook that outlined how the rules could be used to support normal role-playing sessions with a group of friends. The rules were simply little more than a slightly expanded version of those included in every copy of the game book series – and were supported with a little advice on how to run games and some story ideas to get the ball rolling. By and large, gamers were left to support their interests in this area themselves – though Warlock did, on occasion, publish adventures.

Sometime after the rulebook got some support in the form of another paperback detailing a campaign surrounding the antics of a scoundrel called The Riddling Reaver. The books provided a whole string of ideas and adventures that gamers could play as a campaign. However, this was the final entry in the simple Fighting Fantasy role-playing series.

• Fighting Fantasy (1984) - Steve Jackson, Duncan Smith
• The Riddling Reaver (1986) - Paul Mason and Steve Williams, Brian Williams and Leo Hartas

Dungeoneer

However, role-playing was not being forgotten – simply taken to a higher level. The publication of the somewhat larger format paperback ‘Dungeoneer’ expanded considerably on the basic rules of the series and previous Fighting Fantasy role-play books. It included information on specific character classes, a magic system for both wizards and clerics, rules for managing combat and the environment – all the trappings of an actual role-playing game. There were brief details of various monsters along with an adventure carefully engineered to get the complete beginner started. The tone throughout was one of motherly support with an emphasis upon a cinematic viewpoint of how gaming should work.

Dungeoneer was supported by previous material that had been produced as companion volumes to the Fighting Fantasy series – “Out of the Pit”, a monster manual, and “Titan”, an overview of the world in which all the Game Books were set – and was followed by further books in the same format. The second book, “Blacksand!” concentrated on expanding all the previous rules and provided another adventure set in Blacksand, the city of villainy that first appeared in “City of Thieves”.

The final book, that followed four years later, provided more detailed background on the area of Titan called Allansia – setting of the majority of the Game Books – with specific sections on major settlements, famous and notorious individuals and various myths and facts about the history of the region.

• Out of the Pit (1985) - Marc Gascoigne, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone
• Titan (1986) - Marc Gascoigne, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone
• Dungeoneer (1989) - Marc Gascoigne and Pete Tamlyn, John Sibbick
• Blacksand! (1990) - Marc Gascoigne and Pete Tamlyn, Russ Nicholson
• Allansia (1994) - Marc Gascoigne and Pete Tamlyn, Russ Nicholson

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

Games Workshop’s link with the Fighting Fantasy series was strengthened when ideas turned to board games. Warlock magazine had included some simple ideas for board games using Fighting Fantasy rules and settings, like Bar Room Brawls or simple problem-solving ventures, but nothing more had been developed.

The game included a huge board representing the Warlock’s dungeon along with a pile of encounter cards. Players assumed the roles of various adventurers, scored using a statistic system that emulated the rules of the Game Books, who could roam the dungeon fighting its guardians and gathering treasure before facing off against the Warlock himself.

A multi-player game in it’s released format, Warlock included rules to support solo play.

The Legend of Zagor Boardgame

The Warlock wouldn’t stay dead and returned again to seek vengeance upon the land of Allansia. Released in 1993, backed by Game Book #54 and a novel series, and produced by Parker Bros./Hasbro. This was the brainchild of the Warlock of Firetop Mountains creator, Ian Livingstone, and featured some innovative features at the time.

It was basically a dungeon adventure game with a plethora of plastic monsters. There was also a special dice mechanism that spoke. The board was made of three pieces joined by bridges and the third was the residence of the Warlock, Zagor, who awaited anyone capable of surviving the rigours of his dungeon. It included a 40k memory chip that controled the action and Zagor's voice called out commands, controlling combat between players.

Its popularity was restricted by a considerable price tag for the time – even though it was released in plenty of time for Christmas 1993.

Computer Games

During the mid-1980’s the computer-based text adventure was going through a period of great popularity, so game books were a natural conversion to the medium. The format presented the perfect vehicle for reasonably simple conversion, blocks of pre-chopped text that could just be typed in and connected by whatever passed for text-command recognition at the time.

Several books were converted to Commodore 64, Amstrad, BBC, and Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K formats, but no original adventures appeared.

• 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. (unreleased)
• Rebel Planet
• Sword of the Samurai (unavailable)

Fantasy Interactive Scenarios by Telephone (FIST)

Another uniquely 80’s phenomenon was the telephone adventure. Solo adventures were translated into sounds and voice-overs that could be heard over the phone. Choices were selected by hitting keys on the phone and combat was normally achieved through a random number system that, again, involved a lot of keypad poking.

FIST was a dungeon adventure with myriad characters and treasures, and the promise of winning actual gold coins at the games conclusion. It was possible to find out who was doing well from hi-score tables and you could save your position - placing the character into Limbo - and return again later however many times you wanted. FIST spawned a sequel – and a plethora of other companies tried variations across genres, from horror to science-fiction.

A later development was a gladiatorial games adventure with focus on combat over adventure, phone-calls filled with grunting sounds and descriptions of terrible injuries.

The obvious downside of the phone-based adventure for the avid user was the cost. At launch the basic cost per minute was 25 pence off-peak (approximately 6pm to 8am) and 38 pence during peak hours. This could easily result in a considerable bill at the end of each month - and a considerable headache for parents.

Other Merchandise

In its time Fighting Fantasy also spawned two novel series, jigsaw puzzles, visual puzzle books (like “The Tasks Of Tantalon”), collected boxed sets, miniatures by Games Workshop’s own Citadel, ornaments by Clarecraft Designs Ltd. ²   , and an adventure kit, which included dice and a pack of character sheets.

The Future

Ultimately, like any other fad, the Solo Game Book phenomenon came and went. It reached the height of its popularity during the late 80’s before gradually trailing off into the 90’s. While the final book in the Fighting Fantasy series was published in 1995, the books remained in the shelves for a few more years before being pulled out of circulation. Secondhand copies can still be found in many bookstores, the distinctive light green spine with the book title and number in the series making them very easy to spot.

Whether there will be a renaissance in the genre is questionable. There have been attempts at different kinds of Game Book with different approaches and gimmicks, but nothing has lasted quite as long as the Fighting Fantasy craze. There is support on the Internet from a whole range of sites, bulletin boards and web rings – so enthusiasts can still find somewhere to voice their interest and keep the concept alive. Livingstone and Jackson have moved on to greater things (and significant sun tans), but who’s to say how long the royalties will hold out!