Why not join other Fighting Fantasy fans, from 4:00pm GMT, at today's Halloween Virtual Beer-o?
If you've not been to a Beer-o before, they are a chance for like-minded fans of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks to get together and chat about their hobby.
They used to be physical meet-ups, but since the pandemic they have moved online, meaning that they now involve people from all over the world.
To find out more, visit this link. And remember - the more the merrier!
First published on 2 November 1989, Dead of Night (copyright Jim Bambra and Stephen Hand) took as its setting the kingdom of Gallantaria. the adventure taking place after the events related in The Tasks of Tantalon. It helped complete the integration of the Old World into the wider Fighting Fantasy milieu, being the first solo gamebook to be set there since The Crown of Kings concluded Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series back in 1985.
Working together – rather like Jackson and Livingstone had
in the beginning – Bambra tackled the task with his standard approach to
writing fantasy scenarios, whereas Hand was keen to push the limits of what was
possible in a gamebook. Hand was also hugely inspired by pulp horror, such as
the kind produced by Hammer studios in the 1960s and ‘70s.
They agreed that their version of the Old World would be a grimly realistic place, a slice of a horrific medieval world in which politics would play its part too (as can be seen more clearly in Hand’s later, solo titles).
"On that first book, what happened was that Jim and I plotted all the scenes and characters together," Stephen Hand explained in an interview with AdvancedFightingFantasy.com. "Then we divided the different scenes between us, so I would write one area, and he would write another. When we finished, we actually swapped documents and edited each other's work. This may sound strange, but it worked and lead to a fairly even book written by two very different writers."
In addition to the regular attributes of SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK, Dead of Night features an EVIL score, which start starts at zero. Throughout the adventure, the player may encounter people or creatures, or do things that will increase this score. As a result the player is asked to Test Your Evil at certain points in a manner similar to Testing Your Luck.
The gamebook was illustrated by Martin McKenna, with a cover
by Terry Oakes.
Dead of Night
remains both the first and last time that Bambra contributed an adventure to
the FF series, but what a memorable entry it was! Hand, on the other hand,
would go on to contribute two more Gallantaria-set adventures before quitting
the series - the equally impressive Legend of the Shadow Warriors and Moonrunner.
A new fan-drawn map of Allansia appeared online this week...
"It’s a great idea and I really love Rhi’s writing, comparable to Jonathan Green’s and Ian Livingstone’s. This girl is on fire." ~ JamsPlace.co
"If you enjoy FF books, give this a few hours of your time and it will give you hours of enjoyment." ~ Amazon.co.uk
Although his artwork later appeared on the cover for The Citadel of Chaos, House of Hell was Ian Miller’s first work for the Fighting Fantasy series.
“I got the job through the art agency Young Artists, which
is now known as Arena,” Miller told Alex Ballingall when he was interviewed for
the Fighting Fantazine in 2012. “I did a series of roughs, four I think, and
Steve chose the version he liked best. It was an easy process.
“When I did cover work (I’m not often asked these days), I
worked maybe one or two up on the published book size. The image would be
penciled in, then inked and coloured. I used Illustration board for the most
part… I always read the books I did covers for. It made sense in my opinion… I
think the first, House of Hell, was
the best of the bunch.”
Steve Jackson was so impressed by Miller’s work on House of Hell that he purchased the
original painting.
The book was illustrated internally by Tim Sell. However, one
of his illustrations was removed from subsequent printings after a number of complaints
were received by Puffin Books.
“That did give us a problem,” recalls editor Philippa Dickinson. “We had a lot of complaints. The media suddenly got hold of, ‘was this suitable for children?’ We had various, no doubt very well-meaning people, claiming that we were encouraging children to believe in Satan and Satanism... I do remember one of the people who was interviewed for television said that her child had come out with the mark of the Devil on his body and when she threw the book into the fire the marks on his body disappeared.
“It was of that time, and it was because the books were so
successful, and boys were getting so obsessed, so what were we doing? They were
being obsessed by something, so this can’t be healthy, because they’re
obsessed. But they’re reading! What are you complaining about?"
“In the middle of all of this craze, and all of the people
saying that we were corrupting children, we also had as many, if not more
people saying, ‘Thank God! My son is finally reading.’" says Dickinson. "Boys were
reading because they saw it as a game, not a book. They were reading because
everybody else was doing it.”
This wasn’t the only time that Fighting Fantasy courted
controversy. The FF series has had its fair share of vehemently outspoken
enemies in the UK.
“The Evangelical Alliance published an eight page warning
guide about the potential danger of reading Fighting Fantasy leading to devil
worship!” says a clearly stunned Livingstone. “And a worried housewife in
deepest suburbia reportedly said on radio that after having read one of my
books, her son levitated. Kids thought, ‘Great – for £1.25 I can fly!’ This was
all wonderful PR for Fighting Fantasy.”
Did you know...?
The dedication written by Steve Jackson for the Wizard Books
edition of House of Hell reads:
Games Night —
to Clive, Ian, Mark, Peter and Skye.
May their Dinner Winnerships be few.
But always more than mine...
The list of names are the members of an exclusive gaming group that’s been running since the mid-1990s, and which includes Peter Molyneux of Lionhead Studios fame among its membership. Games Night is still a regular event, and at the end of each season a cup is awarded.
Back in print now is Ian Livingstone's Return to Firetop Mountain, featuring brand new cover art by Robert Ball, and the original internal illustrations by fan-favourite Martin McKenna.
The wait is finally over... Rhianna Pratchett's new Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Crystal of Storms, is published today!
This is a significant publication for the Fighting Fantasy series, created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. Not only is Crystal of Storms Rhianna Pratchett's much-anticipated first book, it is also the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook by a female author, and the first to be illustrated by a female artist, Eva Eskelinen.
