First published this month, 38 years ago, The Citadel of Chaos was the second book in the Fighting Fantasy series and the first to be written just by Steve Jackson.
Jackson did not stray that far from the familiar format of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
Although it was set within a castle, The Citadel of Chaos was effectively another dungeon bash, but with the
addition of rules for using magic.
“I wanted to name my second book in such a way as it served
to promote GW’s brand, i.e. Citadel Miniatures,” explains Jackson. “So the
adventure had to be set in a Citadel. And some of the illustrations of the
Citadel were reminiscent of the Citadel Miniatures logo. It was, if you like, a
promotional in-joke.”
Russ NIcholson's illustration of the Black Tower - a.k.a. Balthus Dire's dread Citadel of Chaos - from The Trolltooth Wars, alongside the original Citadel Miniatures logo.
Atop his sinister Black Tower, the dread sorcerer Balthus
Dire is making plans of conquest. The hero of the adventure is a student of
the Grand Wizard of Yore, charged by King Salamon with
penetrating the stronghold of the fell magic-user, and stopping the fiend
before he can unleash his army upon the peaceful Vale of Willow.
Before beginning the adventure, the hero has to determine
his MAGIC score and then choose a corresponding number of spells from a pool of
twelve that includes such enchantments as Creature Copy, Fool’s Gold and
Levitation. But where did the inspiration for Balthus Dire and the lethal
Ganjees come from?
Ganjee, by Russ Nicholson.
Jackson: “Creating names for new characters monsters and
places was always a brainstorming exercise. I’d write lots of contenders on a
sheet of paper and eventually pick one which to my mind sounded evocative...
‘Balthus’ was the name of a French painter. At the time I was constantly on the
lookout for inspiration for names for characters, places and creatures. I came
across Balthus the artist – his name, not his art, which I have never seen! I
thought: ‘Yes. That’s a cool name. Sounds kind of demonic, or like a dark religious
pontiff.’ I used to use a thesaurus a lot for inspiration. ‘Dire’ sounded
particularly bad. And thus Balthus Dire became the boss of the adventure.”
Internal art was by Russ Nicholson again, while the cover
was produced by the enigmatically-named Emmanuel.
Emmanuel's original cover for Steve's Jackson's The Citadel of Chaos alongside Ian Miller's revised cover. “The only art I really didn’t like was the cover of the
original Citadel of Chaos,” reveals
Jackson. “As this was the second book in the series, it could have been
interpreted as a significant statement of art intent. But it was followed by
Iain McCaig’s cover of The Forest of Doom
which set a new standard. I asked Penguin many times to have The Citadel of Chaos cover recommissioned. Eventually
they gave in and Ian Miller did a fine job.”
Did you know...?
Jackson once named his favourite character from
the Fighting Fantasy books as being Balthus Dire, the villain from The Citadel of Chaos, while his favourite
monster is the Jib-Jib, which first appeared in the final instalment
of his Sorcery! series, The Crown of Kings.
Balthus Dire, the wizard-warlord, by Russ Nicholson.
When Wizard Books republished
The Citadel of Chaos in 2002, Kevin Jenkins was tasked with providing a new cover for the book.
And of course,
The Citadel of Chaos is back in print again, thanks to Scholastic Books, featuring cover art by Robert Ball.
