40 years of Scorpion Swamp

Scorpion Swamp will see print again next year, as part of Steve Jackson Games' publication of the Fighting Fantasy series in the US, so today we look back on the history of the first non-Jackson and Livingstone FF gamebook, 40 years after it was first published.

In March 1983, TheWarlock of Firetop Mountain, The Citadel of Chaos and The Forest of Doom topped The Sunday Times bestseller charts. Two more titles, Starship Traveller and City of Thieves, appeared later that same year. Having seen how successful the series was, other publishers began jumping on the bandwagon, rushing out competing gamebook series of their own. But Puffin Books were keen to maintain their position at the head of the game.

“Puffin decided our best battle strategy would be to publish a new FF book every month,” says Jackson. “There was no way Ian and I could write a book a month, so we decided to commission other authors… and called it the ‘Jackson & Livingstone Present’ series.

“As it happens, our first ‘Presents’ series author was Steve Jackson – the American one, designer of GURPS – who had come over to the UK to talk business with Games Workshop. So the book was: Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone Present: Scorpion Swamp… by Steve Jackson. Very confusing!”

“I was visiting London,” explains US Steve, who was already known to the UK Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone since Games Workshop was distributing his games on this side of the Pond. “They described their travails in creating FF books, and the difficulty of flow-charting. I sat down and wrote the first third of Scorpion Swamp, and they liked it.”

There are still people to this day who do not realise that the Steve Jackson who wrote Scorpion Swamp, Demons of the Deep and Robot Commando, and the Steve Jackson who wrote such classics as The Citadel of Chaos, House of Hell and Creature of Havoc are two completely different people.

“Occasionally I am presented with a copy of one of UK Steve’s books to sign,” says US Steve. “I always explain, and if they really want me to, I will sign it ‘The wrong Steve Jackson’.”

Published in 1984, with cover and internal art by Duncan Smith, Scorpion Swamp (FF8) sent the hero into the foetid fens of the title with nothing but his sword to defend himself, and a magic Brass Ring that detected evil as well as letting the hero know which way was north.

Unlike other Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, Scorpion Swamp allowed the player to choose one of three quests, from a selection of patrons who were Good, Evil and Neutral. The gameplay was non-linear in design, enabling the hero to revisit locations and explore the swamp as he so desired, and a direct consequence of US Steve’s background in RPGs.

Did you know...?

When the US Steve Jackson visited Games Workshop, the plan was that UK Steve and Ian Livingstone would show him the sights of London. However, having been persuaded to write a Fighting Fantasy book for them that was what he did – right then and there in their office! The planned tour of London never happened, but ever since many thousands of readers have enjoyed exploring Scorpion Swamp instead.

Scorpion Swamp is one of the FF adventures that have been mapped by Qatlas, and you can purchase a copy for your gaming room, or to aid you with completing thne gamebook, here.

To find out more about the history of your favourite FF Gamebooks, pick up a copy of YOU ARE THE HERO: An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks today.