40 years of Appointment with F.E.A.R.

Another Fighting Fantasy gamebook celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2025 is Steve Jackson's superhero smackdown Appointment with F.E.A.R.

Back in 1985, Steve Jackson had not written a Titan-set FF adventure since The Citadel of Chaos and his fifth title in the series continued this trend. Appointment with F.E.A.R. (FF17) took as its inspiration the comic books Jackson had so loved as a child and involved more problem-solving as opposed to the item collection ‘shopping list’ approach of some gamebooks.

The action takes place in the suspiciously familiar sounding Titan City with the hero assuming the role of Jean Lafayette and his alter ego, the crime-fighting Silver Crusader.

The Silver Crusader does battle with such colourful characters as the Scarlet Prankster, the Serpent, and the Alchemists, as he struggles to discover the time and location of the next meeting of F.E.A.R. – the Federation of Euro-American Rebels – an evil organisation led by Vladimir Utoshski, a.k.a. the Titanium Cyborg.

It is the Titanium Cyborg who is the subject of the book’s cover art by legendary comic book cover artist Brian Bolland, while internal illustrations were provided by Declan Considine, who made his artwork look like panels from the pages of a comic book.

The Macro Brain, a super-villain from Appointment with F.E.A.R.,
by Declan Considine.

The adventure begins with the reader choosing one of four superpowers for the Silver Crusader from Super Strength, Psi-Powers, Enhanced Technological Skill (or ETS), and Energy Blast.

Appointment with F.E.A.R. also made use of a new HERO POINTS attribute. These points are awarded for every villain the Silver Crusader captures and every potential disaster he manages to avert. (Although it doesn’t necessarily affect the outcome of the game, it does allow players to compare performances from one read-through to the next.) Rather like Batman, the Silver Crusader is not permitted to kill his enemies, and any such deaths that may occur result in the loss of precious HERO POINTS. In one-on-one combat, when an enemy’s STAMINA score drops to 2 STAMINA points, the enemy simply surrenders.

It could be argued that Appointment with F.E.A.R. is only a science fiction adventure in as much as Spider-Man or Superman comics are science fiction stories. It is, in truth, a comic book superhero gamebook; nothing more, nothing less.

To date, Appointment with F.E.A.R. is the only non-fantasy adventure published by Scholastic, and the gamebook also exists now as a video game from Tin Man Games.

Will we ever see an Appointmentwith F.E.A.R. comic one day? We can but hope.

If you enjoy watching playthroughs of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, GoneHollowMedia have recorded their own attempt at tackling the adventure.

And if you want to learn more about the history of your favourite gamebooks, pick up Jonathan Green's YOU ARE THE HERO: An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks today.

40 years of Seas of Blood

2025 marks 40 years since the publication of Seas of Blood (FF16). In a series of books in which YOU  are the Hero, in 1985 you got to play a bad guy for the first time.

The city of Tak is the greatest den of thieves, pirates and cut-throats that the civilized world has ever seen!

In this city of scum, there are two pirates infamous for their ruthless greed, their daring raids and their countless skirmishes with death. One of these villains is Abdul the Butcher. The other is YOU. Only one of you can be King of the Pirates. A wager is laid, a race is on. But which of you will win?

Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need for this rip-roaring adventure. YOU decide which course to sail, which dangers to risk and which monsters to fight.

The adventure was written by Andrew Chapman, who had already had two science fiction Fighting Fantasy adventures published - Space Assassin and The Rings of Kether.

Seas of Blood saw the hero take on the role of captain of the pirate ship Banshee, who undertakes a contest with rival buccaneer Abdul the Butcher. Whichever one reaches the island of Nippur within fifty days, and with the most gold, will be declared King of Pirates

The adventure is unusual because it allowed for combat between vessels, and between the Banshee and seas monsters, utilising both CREW STRIKE and CREW STRENGTH scores.

Seas of Blood was illustrated by Bob Harvey, his second of four contributions in the gamebook series...

... and bore a cover by the legendary album cover artist Rodney Matthews.

Matthews’ art medium of choice is pigmented acrylic ink: “I do it with those inks because they’re transparent, or at least translucent, and you can build up the colour gradually,” says the artist. “That’s why I use them, so you don’t overstate something, you can build it up and keep in control of things.”

But while the cover implies a Classical theme, the adventure itself (as older FF fans will know already) has a more strongly Arabian feel to it. And the reason for this mix-up? According to Matthews, it was down to a junior editor at Puffin misleading the artist when he was given the cover brief.

Despite this mix-up, Matthews is still proud of his involvement with Fighting Fantasy, however fleeting it might have been: “I enjoyed doing the cover. I think it probably enhanced the book, but a bit inaccurately.”

As with a number of locations from the other early Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, when FF editor Marc Gascoigne set about compiling Titan – The Fighting Fantasy World, the lands surrounding the Inland Sea, where Seas of Blood is set, were slotted into the newly-created continent of Khul.

However, the book’s author, Andrew Chapman, had already developed a more extensive geography and history for the lands of the Inland Sea which he would later go on to use in two more books – one of which, Ashkar the Magnificent, features the same map as appeared in Seas of Blood – as well as the unpublished FF adventure Deathlord.

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain collector's hardback edition out now!

Today marks the publication of the hardback collector's edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.

The collector's hardback features brand new cover art by Karl Kopinski, the classic, iconic interior illustrations by Russ Nicholson, an updated History of Fighting Fantasy, the Qatlas map of Firetop Mountain, and the 1989 map of Allansia by Leo Hartas on the back cover.

The book is limited to 2,000 copies only, and is available online and in selected book shops.

Earlier this week, Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone visited Blackwell's Bookshop in Oxford to sign 500 copies of the collector's hardback of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone - may their STAMINA never fail!

Sir Ian Livingstone to attend San Diego Comic-Con Málaga

Sir Ian Livingstone will be attending San Diego Comic-Con Málaga as a special guest, from Thursday 25th - Sunday 28th September 2025.

From the legendary gamebooks that shaped the imaginations of generations to the founding of Games Workshop and the birth of Warhammer, Sir Ian Livingstone's legacy is an essential part of fantasy and gaming culture.

A writer, designer, and pioneer, Sir Ian has been at the forefront of fantasy, role-playing, and video games for decades. His Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, that invited choice-making and exploration into worlds filled with danger and wonder, inspired millions of young people around the world.

Sir Ian will be interviewed on stage in Auditorium 3 at 3:00pm on Thursday 25th September 2025. To find out more about his appearance at San Diego Comic-Con Málaga, click this link.

Join the Hunt for the Black Whale with Arion Games!

Available now is a new adventure for Advanced Fighting Fantasy - The Hunt for the Black Whale.

Boarding a ship and hunting down a gigantic and dangerous Black Whale off the coast of the Old World is a tricky enough task, but the Heroes are about to find their task becomes even more difficult...

Written by Andrew Wright, and illustrated by Andrew Wright and Mike Tenebrae, The Hunt for the Black Whale takes 2-3 sessions to run, and is great as both a one-off or modified slightly to fit into any AFF campaign.

Inspired by Moby Dick, the story of Jonah, and even Jaws, the adventure sees the Heroes board the Questral, a ship hunting a monstrous Black Whale off the coast of the Old World.

There are various nautical issues and encounters, before eventually the Heroes are swallowed whole, at which point the interior of the whale becomes an organic dungeon. Can the Heroes survive, and how can they escape the horror of the Black Whale?

Fighting Fantasy Heroes coming to MyMiniFactory this autumn

Coming to MyMiniFactory this autumn is a new range of STLs* from the Blue Giant Studios' range of Fighting Fantasy Heroes miniatures.

The MyMiniFactory ranges offers 40 of the most loved (and feared) Heroes and Villains from the entire book series, including the Bloodbeast, the Shape Changer, the legendary Wheelies… and many more! And in a MyMiniFactory first, they come as a physical tier, which includes a deluxe limited-run box set designed for collectors and fans.

This special signed box includes:

• QR codes for all the STLs on statblock cards to use when playing the Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG.
• A unique RPG adventure booklet and map written especially for this campaign.
• Logo'd dice.
• A limited physical model that will not be available as an STL.

The box will come numbered and signed by Sir Ian Livingstone. And when you sign up for launch notifications, you'll also get a FREE STL of Zanbar Bone delivered straight to your MyMiniFactory library!

You can then print and paint it to enter the upcoming competition to win signed books and a new 3D printer. You are the Hero – may your STAMINA never fail! Get notified when the campaign launches!

* Digital miniatures.

Fighting Fantasy Quest Live Preview - Friday 12th September!

This Friday, 12th September 2025, YouTuber Paul Grogan will be doing the first live play preview of Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain online at 8:00pm UK time.

Paul Toderas of Ulisses Spiele previewed the game at the UK Games Expo earlier this year, but now everyone, all over the world, can see what it's all about.

Paul Toderas and Sir Ian Livingstone at the UK Games Expo with
Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

So, make sure you put 8:00pm Friday 12th September in your diary and join the livestream here.

40 years of Freeway Fighter

2025 marks 40 years since the publication of Freeway Fighter - the only Fighting Fantasy gamebook, to date, to be set in a dystopian world.

For his sixth solo contribution to the FF range, Ian Livingstone ventured into the realm of near-future (for 1985) post-apocalyptic science fiction. Clearly inspired by the Mad Max movies - and set in 2022 - Freeway Fighter (FF13) had the hero crossing the American wilderness in their heavily armoured Dodge Interceptor, to reach the distant oil-refinery of San Anglo so that they might return with vital supplies for the inhabitants of the peaceful town of New Hope. But success is far from certain since the wilds that lie between the scattered, fortified towns are the territory of lawless bandits and brigands.

Vehicular combat was a feature of this adventure with the Dodge Interceptor having both a FIREPOWER and an ARMOUR score to represent its offensive and defensive capabilities.

The Adventure Sheet for Freeway Fighter.

Like Starship Traveller (Steve Jackson’s one and only foray into hard sci-fi Fighting Fantasy), Freeway Fighter has fewer than the standard 400 references, coming in at only 380 paragraphs. How come? “Because 400 references was a guide,” explains Livingstone, “not an absolute requirement.”

The original US edition of Freeway Fighter.

The cover was by the renowned SF artist Jim Burns. When the book was republished by Wizard Books, the cover was reworked by Burns. However, this was not an original piece of artwork for the range - the illustration had already been used back in 1984 on the cover Games Workshop's Battlecars.

The interior art was by Kevin Bulmer. It was completed in only nine days, as a favour for Ian Livingstone after the original illustrations that had been commissioned were rejected at the last moment.

Kevin Bulmer’s illustrations for Freeway Fighter.

One of the early contenders for internal artist on Freeway Fighter was actually FF legend Iain McCaig, but other commitments meant that it simply wasn’t to be. However, we have an idea of how the book might have looked since McCaig did start work on an image for the book.

In 2017 Titan Comics published Ian Livingstone’s Freeway Fighter, a limited four-part comicbook series that was then collected as a trade paperback. It was written by Andi Ewington, with art by Simon Coleby, colours by Len O’Grady, and lettering by Jim Campbell.

Concept and cover art for the Freeway Fighter comic by Simon Coleby, with colours by Len O'Grady.

While Freeway Fighter is not currently in print as a physical gamebook, it is available as part of Tin Man Games' Fighting Fantasy Classics app.

Will Sir Ian ever return to the lawless hinterlands of America to write a pedal-to-the-metal heart-stopping sequel? We'll just have to wait and see...

New collector's hardback edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain coming soon!

Today marks 43 years since The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, was first published by Puffin Books.

Over the years since, there have been many different editions released in numerous languages, but one of the most special was the 25th anniversary hardback put out by Wizard Books in 2007.

But today the Warlock is able to share the exciting news that a new hardback edition of the book will be published by Scholastic Books, featuring brand new cover art by the incredibly talented Karl Kopinski.

Click to enlarge.

The new collector's hardback will be published on 25th September 2025. Not only will it featutre Karl Kopinski's amazing new artwork, but it will include the iconic interior illustrations by Russ Nicholson, and the 1989 map of Allansia by Leo Hartas will appear on the back cover.

The book will also feature an updated History of Fighting Fantasy and the Qatlas map of Firetop Mountain. It will be limited to 2,000 copies only, and it will be available online and selected book shops.

Zagor is back!

Fantasy Rising - Funding now on Kickstarter!

Funding now on Kickstarter is Fantasy Rising, a sweeping, feature-length documentary which charts Fantasy’s epic rise – from myth and folklore to Tolkien, Dungeons & Dragons, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Romantasy and beyond – through exclusive interviews with some of the genre’s key creators, including Fighting Fantasy's own knight of the realm, Sir Ian Livingstone.

Not only does Sir Ian appear in the film, it also has a whole section devoted to Fighting Fantasy, placing it within the wider context of the fantasy genre's evolution.

Exclusive Kickstarter rewards for backers include:

• Two-disc Blu-ray edition with original artwork by acclaimed fantasy artist Wayne Reynolds.
• Exclusive hardback edition of George MacDonald’s classic novel Phantastes, featuring new artwork by Joe Wilson and an introduction by Tolkien scholar Brian Sibley.
• Signed art prints from celebrated authors and illustrators, including Wayne Reynolds and Sir Ian Livingstone.

The Kickstarter campaign runs until 20th September 2025 so, don't delay and check it out today!

Find out more at fantasyrisingfilm.com, and follow Fantasy Rising on Instagram and Facebook.

New Fighting Fantasy Products from All Rolled Up

All Rolled Up have released a new range of Fighting Fantasy products, including play mats, dice trays, dice bags, mugs, coasters, messenger bags, and the titular All Rolled Up. All items feature classic pieces of FF art by the likes of Iain McCaig, Martin McKenna, John Sibbick, and Leo Hartas.

These products are available for a limited time, so make sure you fill your adventurer's backpack before it's too late.

The Eye of the Dragon comes to Advanced Fighting Fantasy

The latest release for Advanced Fighting Fantasy Second Edition is a reimagining of Sir Ian Livingstone's dungeon crawl Eye of the Dragon by Brett Schofield.

Based on both the classic gamebook and also the pre-FF adventure from Dicing with Dragons, this adventure by Sir Ian Livingstone offers the usual mix of traps, puzzles, monsters and strangeness you have come to expect from Fighting Fantasy.

The book also offers you two different ways to run this adventure; you can use the provided maps to run it as per the gamebook layout or, to to make it a little different, you can run it using the included Dungeon Designer to create a random dungeon, either ahead of time or even on the fly!

The Eye of the Dragon is available now from DriveThruRPG.

Advanced Fighting Fantasy now on Foundry Virtual Tabletop

The Advanced Fighting Fantasy Ruleset and Core Module are now available to buy on Foundry Virtual Tabletop.

Foundry Virtual Tabletop is software that provides an innovative online role-playing experience. The software supports Windows, Mac, and Linux and allows you to self-host a game server that players connect to for free directly through a web browser. And now you can play your favourite gamebook-inspired RPG on Foundry VTT as well!

The Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2nd Edition Core Rules contain everything you need to play, including: 

• Full rules for Hero creation
• Comprehensive but fast game rules
• More than 160 Spells and magical Powers
• 2 Full Adventures with brand new maps: Agbar’s Retreat and Wishing Well
• 12 sample archetypes + 5 pregen heros for the Wishing Well introductory adventure
• Monsters, Dungeons and Adventure creation

Advanced Fighting Fantasy is the perfect RPG for those completely new to gaming and veterans alike, and will provide many hours of roleplaying fun!

To find out more and purchase the Core Module, click this link.

Some screenshots of AFF on Foundry VTT.