Scott Mackay's Fighting Fantasy Maps

Scott Mackay has made a name for himself with his hand-drawn and painted solution maps of classic Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.

The Warlock's goblins recently dragged Scott into the tunnels beneath Firetop Mountain to be interrogated about his work.

The Warlock: What was your first experience of Fighting Fantasy?

Scott Mackay: I first discovered Fighting Fantasy in 1984 in my local Woolworths (of all places)! I saw the cover for Island of the Lizard King and picked it up and was intrigued by the numbered passages. Loved it from the first attempt at saving Mungo (RIP!). I then bought all the previous books eventually and the new books as they were released.

Scott Mackay with two of his Fighting Fantasy solution maps.

TW: Which is your favourite FF gamebook?

SM: Ohh tough one... can I pick a short list of four? I'll go for my first book Island of the Lizard King - I loved the open world feel to it and the amazing Alan Langford illustrations. I'll then go for two city-based ones - City of Thieves and Kharé - Cityport of Traps. I always liked the city adventures and these two are my favourites. The closed-in feel to the streets, all the shops, the encounters - so much life to them! Finally, I'll go for Creature of Havoc - hard as nails and no idea what to do/who/what you are at the start... and I never completed it!

TW: Did any of the FF artists inspire you as an artist?

SM: I've got to say that the quality of the illustrations throughout all the Fighting Fantasy books I read was always amazing and added so much to the books. My favourite illustrators from the books were Alan Langford, Iain McCaig, Russ Nicholson and the illustrators for Caverns of the Snow Witch, Gary Ward and Edward Crosby. It's very likely that some of the illustrations from these artists got me into art initially as I so admired them during my formative years. I took art at school but eventually decided to go down a different path for further education/work. I finally came back to art a number of years ago and now you'll find me with a pencil or a paintbrush most evenings.

TW: Are there any adventures in particular for which you would like to produce a solution map?

SM: I've recently started to work on maps for the Sorcery! series. I've been looking forward to getting to Sorcery! for a while now, and the four books should prove a worthy challenge. I'm also looking forward to getting to Trial of Champions and Return to Firetop Mountain, to see how they compare to their 'parent' books. Finally, I'm also hoping to produce a map for Creature of Havoc, as I never finished this book back in the day.

A sneak peek at Scott's new Sorcery! map.

TW: If you were transported to the worlds of FF and dropped into an adventure with one of your maps, which one would you like it to be?

SM: I'll have to go for my first book and the last map I recently completed - Island of the Lizard King. I'd like to think that my map is the map you're handed by the islander in the game. As I said previously, the open world feeling to it, the great illustrations from Alan Langford and the fact it was my first Fighting Fantasy book make it the one I would most like to be 'dropped' into. Also, I would make sure to save Mungo!

You will be pleased to hear that Scott has now been released from Firetop Mountain so that he can continue to work on his Sorcery! maps.

You will find all the FF solution maps he has produced so far here.