Une Entreprise Épique

Belgian Fighting Fantasy fan Gil Jugnot has mapped the Fighting Fantasy (or Défis Fantastiques) gamebooks, including the Sorcery! quartet and The Tasks of Tantalon, onto the maps of the three continents of Titan published by Scriptarium. And here they are.

Allansia

The Old World

Khul

Fighting Fantasy maps by Aesoterik

Available to buy now from Aesoterik is a new map of north-western Allansia, and it comes in both black & white and colour versions.

Are YOU Game?

I understand that on your Earthly Plane you are facing a weekend of noble sporting endeavours, it being the finals of both the ball-blugeon contest Wimbledon, and the foot-the-ball competition of the Euros.

While I prefer the gladiatorial games of Blood Island myself, sport is nonetheless enjoyed by all manner of races, all across the world of Titan too. Port Blacksand - that notorious City of Thieves - even has its own Sports Arena, where events such as Dwarf-tossing, Pixie Throttling, and Shoot-the-Apple-Off-The-Goblin's-Head - entrance 1 Gold Piece - may be enjoyed.

However, without doubt, the most popular sport undertaken within the arena is that of Bays' Ball.

Bays' Ball is a game played by the small Goblin-like creatures known as Bays, hence its name. It is their favourite game.

The game is played by two teams of small, Goblin-like creatures, known as Bays (hence its name), who alternate between fielding and batting. A small leather ball is thrown or "pitched" by a designated member of the fielding side to an opposing player who, armed with a wooden stick, hits the ball and then attempts to run around a circuit delimited by cloth bags manned by fielding Bays.

If the ball is hit over the wall of the stadium or arena the game is being played in then the batting team will score a complete circuit and can potentially win immediately. If the batter misses completely then they are out and this is denoted by the words "You're out!" being called behind the batter. The score is often displayed on the walls of the arena through the employment of cloth banners suspended from wooden hangers. These are updated as the score changes by designated Bays.

Bays are passionate about the game and players and supporters alike will react badly to losing. On the other hand, they are overjoyed when they win and supporters have been known to shower gifts upon the player responsible for the victory. It has been known for non-Bays to be allowed to play, and even spectators are sometimes accepted onto the field to play.

Other sports popular across Allansia and beyond include Ogreball, and Bataar Racing. What's your favourite of all the Titan games?

Oh, and good luck England!

The Port of Peril - the Bulgarian edition

Available now from GENY-Gamebooks, is the Bulgarian language edition of Ian Livingstone's The Port of Peril, the English edition of which was published to coincide with Fighting Fantasy's 35th anniversary in 2017.

The cover features Iain McCaig's cover art for the limited edition UK hardback release, while the internal illustrations first appeared in the Brazilian edition.

The book also includes a brand new map of Allansia, with all the place names translated into Bulgarian, naturally.

If you would like a copy of the Bulgarian edition of Ian Livingstone's The Port of Peril, either because you can read Bulgarian or because you are an avid collector of all things Fighting Fantasy, you can buy it here.

Tricksters and Riddlers

Today, upon your Earthly Plane, it is the day known as April Fool's, when people play all manner of pranks on their families and friends, hoping to catch them out by duping them into believing that their cunning fabrications are in fact the truth*.

Logaan, Lord of the Tricksters

There is also such a day here in Allansia, the Holy Day of Logaan, which falls on the 12th of Warming. Logaan is the Lord of the Trickster Gods, devoted to maintaining a balance between the forces of Good and Evil. He is often depicted as a crazed clown, accompanied by the mysterious twins Kata and Petros, who represent the pull between Order and Chaos.

Logaan is the creator of Mankind on Titan, and was the first god to put a part of himself into what he created from the magical clay of life. It was also Logaan who discovered the deity Time in one of the outer planes, which eventually led to the First Battle.

His priests are dedicated to their god's cause of balancing Good and Evil, Law and Chaos, and wear robes that are all the colours of the rainbow. This is representative of the fact that Logaan's interests cover the whole spectrum from Good to Evil.

Logaan is the chief deity of the town of Shazâar, in western Allansia, which is also known as the 'City of Madness'. Here they celebrate the festival known as Lucre Week in honour of their god. It also seems that some members of the Halls of Learning of Salamonis worship him.

Elvins of The Shamutanti Hills.

Logaan is also the Lord of Genies, who are the immortal servants of the Trickster Gods. Apart from the many Humans who serve the Tricksters there are other races that are devoted to their creed. The Elvins of the Shamutanti Hills for instance are such a race.

Leprechauns also appear to follow Logaan's creed, although whether this is simply their nature or whether it is their belief is uncertain.

However, the most famous of the Trickster's servants is a powerful being called the Riddling Reaver. As to his origins, no one knows for certain, but he is said to live in the jungles of southern Allansia and sails around the world on his ship the Twice Shy, carrying out the work of his master Logaan.

The Riddling Reaver

A spin-off of Steve Jackson’s Fighting Fantasy – The Introductory Role-Playing Game, The Riddling Reaver (published in 1986) was an extended campaign made up of four interlinked multi-player adventures, written by Paul Mason and Steve Williams. The interior illustrations were by Brian Williams while the cover was by Peter Andrew Jones. The book also featured a number of maps by Leo Hartas.

Set in southern Allansia, a band of heroes find themselves in a battle of both wits and brawn pitted against the Riddling Reaver, an inscrutable servant of Logaan the Trickster, who is determined to upset the balance between Order and Chaos so that Chance and Luck might rule supreme.

The Riddling Reaver was Paul Mason’s first foray into the realms of Fighting Fantasy, but it certainly wasn’t his last. Both the Riddling Reaver and Lady Carolina, who appears in the adventure, and the city of Kallamehr itself would feature in Slaves of the Abyss, written by Mason and Williams, and published in 1988. The Reaver would later make another appearance in Mason's solo gamebook Magehunter.

The Riddling Reaver makes his escape in The Curse of Kallamehr.

The Riddling Reaver makes an appearance in Slaves of the Abyss.

The Riddling Reaver has some guests over for dinner in The Realm of Entropy. Recognise anyone?

* Personally I find a Befuddlement spell much more effective.

Blast from the Past! Caverns of the Snow Witch

At this time of year Northern Allansia finds itself in the grip of winter. (Not for nothing is the first month of the Allansian Calendar known as Freeze!) With that in mind it seemed timely to revisit a classic Fighting Fantasy Gamebook. There are several set within the northern climes of Allansia - including Tower of Destruction for one - but the book we are concerning ourselves with today is Ian Livingstone's Caverns of the Snow Witch...

Caverns of the Snow Witch (FF9, first published by Puffin Books in 1984) sent the hero into the freezing depths of the Icefinger Mountains.

Having initially been hired to hunt down and slay the Yeti that has been attacking trade caravans in northern Allansia, the hero hears from a dying trapper of the great riches to be found in the Crystal Caves, home of the evil enchantress the Snow Witch. And so he sets off to make his fortune, but in time he learns the true cost of his greed.

“I’d written FF books set in dungeons, forests and islands,” says Livingstone, “and decided it was time for some freezing mountain snow for adventurers to survive. I thought about the irony of Caverns of the Snow Witch during a charity climb of Kilimanjaro years later. It had been snowing the whole day. At such altitude it was miserable.”

WARNING! If you've not played Caverns of the Snow Witch before, there are SPOILERS AHEAD!

The fact that the adventure was first published in a shortened 190-paragraph form in Warlock magazine goes some way to explain the adventure’s unusual structure. Having defeated the vampiric Snow Witch, the hero escapes the Crystal Caves in the company of Redswift the Elf and Stubb the Dwarf, only for the three companions to discover that the witch has cast a Death Spell upon them. The adventure then turns into a race against time as the hero struggles to find a way of counteracting the effects of the spell.

Having been illustrated by Duncan Smith for the Warlock version, for the extended paperback edition, two artists, Gary Ward and Edward Crosby, worked together to provide the interior illustrations, the only time this has happened in the entire history of Fighting Fantasy.

“We worked out roughs for each illustration, had someone pose for photo reference (that locked the overall pose and angle of the figures in place), then Edward and I worked on the agreed illustrations at separate locations,” explains Ward. “Edward then delivered the final pencil drawings once a week or so. I tended to work on the more human characters. Edward’s style suited the goblins and monsters more. I inked them all to keep a constant style.”

Yeti, by Gary Ward and Edward Crosby.

(©Gary Ward and Edward Crosby, 1984 and 2018)

Caverns of the Snow Witch is now available from Tin Man Games for PC, Mac, iOS and Android.

Do you have a favourite encounter from this particular icy adventure? Or do you have fond (or otherwise) memories of another snowbound encounter in a different Fighting Fantasy Gamebook? Let us know in the comments below.

You can read more about the creation of Caverns of the Snow Witch in Jonathan Green's YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, available now from Snowbooks.

The Second Swordsman – Preparing for The Port of Peril

With Ian Livingstone's The Port of Peril published this Thursday, it's time for another in Malcolm Garcia's Second Swordsman series. Enjoy!

The Second Swordsman – Preparing for The Port of Peril

By Malcolm Garcia

With the imminent release of Ian Livingstone’s new FIGHTING FANTASY gamebook, The Port of Peril, I decided to get ready for attempting the latest adventure by trying the Second Swordsman process on a trio of his books from the original series. The last time I entered his part of Allansia was in Island of the Lizard King (which was the seventh of his books that I’ve attempted). This was the adventure where I set a new record by dying within four choices, so I was hopeful this was just one-off failure and I’d find more success if I tried three of his books in quick succession.

In each of these three, YOU ARE THE HERO trying to save the world of Titan from impending doom by attempting to destroy an evil ne’er-do-well. Temple of Terror has the evil wizard Malbordus, who will be given unchecked power if he can get his hands on several dragon artifacts which are hidden in the lost city of Vatos Crypt of the Sorcerer has the necromancer Razaak, who has risen from the grave bent on vengeance and can only be defeated by his own long-lost sword. And Armies of Death has the shadow demon Agglax, who is amassing an army of evil in northern Allansia.

The internal illustrations for both Temple and Armies were done by artists who would only do this once in the FIGHTING FANTASY series, being Bill Houston and Nik Williams respectively. Crypt was illustrated within by John Sibbick, who also did Midnight Rogue and the cover for Masks of Mayhem. And both Temple and Armies had covers by Chris Achilleos. Armies is also unique in that it’s the only time YOU are the adventurer in a direct sequel, it following on from your successful attempt at Trial of Champions. While the opening of Temple seems to suggest that the wizard Yaztromo knows you from The Forest of Doom, although whether this is actually the case is not explicitly revealed.

The three adventures all started well with either fair or good starting scores for my SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK. Temple added the ability to use several magic spells – although I never actually had the opportunity to use any. Crypt dispensed with the usual ten provisions and gave me a five-portion healing potion instead – although I never got to use it. And Armies added the opportunity to have skirmish battles between soldiers – although I didn’t get to try this modification either.

In Temple I was able to reminisce about good times as I visited Port Blacksand early on and stayed at the Black Lobster tavern, although while there I was robbed of all my gold (which is apt for the City of Thieves). I was later rescued from a sinking pirate ship by a crew of sea-going Dwarves, but not before I was quizzed about who was their King (the answer is in the background section of the book – well played Mr. Livingstone!). Then I started across the Desert of Skulls looking for Vatos. I fought some Needle Flies but then ignored too many opportunities to gather information and objects and was finally killed by a Giant Sandworm. This is only the fourth time the Second Swordsman process has failed due to a fight (the previous time was against a Kraken in Demons of the Deep). With the Giant Sandworm’s SKILL score of ten I figure I either (a) had gone the wrong way entirely, (b) had failed to find a special object to help kill it, or (c) this was just a test to cull the weaker characters before they reached Vatos where more fearsome foes dwelled.

Crypt also starts with a chat with Yaztromo where he tells me that Razaak’s sword is to be found in the Lost Lake which is somewhere in the Moonstone Hills.  I headed into the Hills on horseback but then, through two unlucky rolls of the dice, I was thrown from my horse and then robbed and left for dead by some Chameleonites. Thus a new record has been set – dead after just two choices. No fights. No puzzles. Just an ignominious end.

In keeping with its title, in Armies YOU start with an army of 220 warriors. And YOU still have 700 gold left over from your success in Trial. For this I can forgive the lack of any provisions at the start of the adventure. Through using the Second Swordsman process I don’t muck about and immediately start marching to find Agglax’s army. In doing so I ignore the advice of people I meet on the way and anonymous cries for help (ignoring things seems to usually be the second choice in Ian Livingstone adventures). I reached the town of Zengis in record time, and then before nightfall I managed to ignore six opportunities in a row to spend my loot or otherwise gain information or objects. After leaving Zengis, no better off than when I arrived, I then entered the Forest of Fiends and continued to rush and ignore things. I found Agglax’s army and, while I had not yet lost a single warrior, I had also not gained any more troops or objects or information to help me to victory. A combination of Chaos Warriors, catapults and an arbitrary dice roll cut my troops by half and I then suffered an instant death at the hands of a goblin armed with a crossbow.

I did get into several one-on-one fights in Armies, taking on a Fishman (possibly related to those in The Forest of Doom – another Ian Livingstone adventure), a trio of Robbers, a Mountain Orc, a Hill Troll, and a Werewolf. While none of these were too difficult, because of my good starting SKILL, it was annoying not being able to replenish STAMINA that was lost from the occasional unlucky dice roll. And even though the Werewolf managed to inflict one wound upon me when it only had one STAMINA point, I still needed to do a LUCK test to see whether I’d contracted lycanthropy.

So once again, the Second Swordsman process has been unsuccessful in my quest for glory. But while I set a new record for failure in Crypt, I did manage to find Agglax’s troops in Armies. It will be interesting to see how I perform in The Port of Peril. In all of my adventures I’ve yet to die in Port Blacksand, but will choosing every second option mean I continue to ignore too many opportunities for new objects or knowledge and fail tantalisingly close to the finish? We will find out in just a few days...

Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars graphic novel is here!

It's the news that many fans having been waiting to hear, ever since the original Kickstarter for the project funded back in 2015...

Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars graphic novel, written by PJ Montgomery with art by Gavin Mitchell, is in print and available for pre-order now! To secure your copy, simply follow this link.

"Goblins! Goblins!... We are attacked! Take guard... Ambush!"

When Balthus Dire's hill goblins raid a caravan transporting a mystical herb to Zharradan Marr, they set into motion a chain of events that plunge Allansia into a vicious war between the two evil sorcerers.

With their powers and forces being well-matched, the war escalates, and the kingdom of Salamonis comes under threat. A champion is needed to turn the war to Salamonis' advantage and prevent the bloodshed.

The warrior Chadda Darkmane is selected for the mission, and must travel across Allansia seeking unlikely allies, as unseen forces plot against him. Can Darkmane bring an end to the war, or will chaos rule over Allansia?

Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars is a fantastic read, with some amazing art, and no Fighting Fantasy fan's collection would be complete without a copy.

On top of that, if you retweet this tweet by Gavin Mitchell before 3:00pm on Sunday 11th June, you could be in with the chance of winning a Fighting Fantasy enamel badge.

Fighting Fantasy at UK Games Expo 2017

This weekend, Ian Livingstone was one of the guests attending the UK Games Expo, where Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, and the softback edition of YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, went down a storm with fans - and not only because Ian was signing them for people.

Ian also gave a talk about his life in games, from the founding of Games Workshop in 1975, through to co-creating Fighting Fantasy with Steve Jackson in 1982, and ultimately bringing Lara Croft to both the small and big screen.

Those fans who attended his talk were treated to a sneak peek of the new FF covers for Scholastic UK's relaunch of the series, and a brand new map of Allansia painted by Leo Hartas.

But have no fear, you will soon be able to see the covers for yourself on www.FightingFantasy.com, including the art for Ian Livingstone's first new gamebook in five years, The Port of Peril.

You can see more photos here.