The Year of the Snake

On your Earthly plane, today marks the beginning of the Year of Snake*. As a result, we thought we would revisit some classic ophidian encounters from your favourite Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.

Hydra

(illustration by Russ Nicholson)

The Citadel of Chaos, by Steve Jackson

The Serpent Queen

(illustration by Iain McCaig)

City of Thieves, by Ian Livingstone

Medusa

(illustration by Nik Williams)

Armies of Death, by Ian Livingstone

Myurr the Snake Demon

(illustration by Martin McKenna)

Dead of Night, by Jim Bambra and Stephen Hand

Ophidian

(illustration by Tony Hough)

Spectral Stalkers, by Peter Darvill-Evans

Caarth Sorcerer

(illustration by Martin McKenna)

Curse of the Mummy, by Jonathan Green

Giant Serpent

(illustration by Martin McKenna)

Curse of the Mummy, by Jonathan Green

Serpensa the Snakewoman

(illustration by Martin McKenna)

Howl of the Werewolf, by Jonathan Green

The Seven Serpents

(illustration by Tony Hough)

The Seven Serpents, by Steve Jackson

And an honourable mention goes to Snake Island, where Sir Ian Livingstone's Assassins of Allansia kicks off.

What is your favourite snake-related encounter in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook? Let us know in the comments below.

* Of course, the Year of the Snake is the third in the twenty year cycle of Titan.

Sir Ian Livingstone at Lucca 2024

Last weekend, Sir Ian Livingstone was a guest at the week-long Italian comics and games fair, Lucca 2024.

Sir Ian Livingstone at Lucca 2024 with Karl Kopinski, cover artist for the hardback of Assassins of Allansia.

During his time there, he joined with others in celebrating 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons, including Luke Gygax, son of the late Gary Gygax.

Sir Ian Livingstone (centre) and Luke Gygax (second from right).

He also met with many Italian Fighting Fantasy fans and was even presented with an award for Best Foreign Gamebook.

Sir Ian's award for Best Foreign Gamebook.

Are YOU tough enough to survive attacks by Allansia's most dangerous and deadly assassins?

Tin Man Games have confirmed that the next Fighting Fantasy gamebook to receive the Fighting Fantasy Classics makeover will be Assassins of Allansia, written by Sir Ian Livingstone.

After accepting a challenge to survive on Snake Island, a nightmare unfolds when a bounty is placed on your head. Beware the ruthless assassins hellbent on hunting you down - but who are they? Where are they? Trust no one...

First published in 2019, this new digital version of Assassins of Allansia uses Karl Kopinski's cover that appeared on the limited edition hardbacks launched at Fighting Fantasy Fest 3, and interior illustrations by Krisztián Balla, that featured in the Hungarian edition of the book, published by Chameleon Comix.

Features include:

• Make the gamebook as easy or as hard as you like and even turn on a special 'Free Read' mode to play the book like an old-school cheater!
• Map feature makes it easy to keep track of everywhere you have explored during current and previous playthroughs.
• Unlimited Bookmarks allow you to revisit difficult sections as many times as desired.
• Licensed artwork form Karl Kopinski and Krisztián Balla.
• Automated Adventure Sheet that keeps track of your stats, inventory and knowledge gained during your journey.

So don't delay, and download Assassins of Allansia today. Just remember... trust no one!

What's in a name?

The Fighting Fantasy gamebooks are memorable not only for their monsters and exciting plots, but also for the imaginative names Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone came up with for important characters and, of course, the villains who populate their adventures.

Yaztromo, Balthus Dire, Zharradan Marr, Zanbar Bone, and, more recently, Urzle Ironface.

Urzle Ironface, by Robert Ball.

As you approach the main gates, a giant bare-chested man with bulging muscles steps out from behind the jail to stand in your way. His body is covered in jagged scars, and he makes no attempt to hide the silver scorpion pendant hanging on a silver necklace around his neck. He is wearing an iron helmet which completely covers his face and he is armed with a large battle-axe and shield. "I've been waiting for you," he growls slowly in a deep voice.

Without giving too much away, in case you haven't already read Ian Livingstone's latest Fighting Fantasy adventure, Urzle Ironface is one of the characters you can encounter in Assassins of Allansia.

Of course, with a name like that, it is hardly surprising that he has inspired artists who work in not just two dimensions, but also those who work in three.

Urzle Ironface, by Krisztián Balla (from the Hungarian language edition of Assassins of Allansia.)

Urzle Ironface, by Dan Mark of Atlantis Miniatures...

...and as painted by Paul Cooke of Pandemonium Miniatures.

Do you have a favourite character, good or evil, from the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series? If so, why not let us know in the comments below?

Fighting Fantasy at the UK Games Expo 2021

The UK Games Expo 2021 is taking place all this weekend - from Friday 30th July to Sunday 1st August - at the NEC on the outskirts of Birmingham in the UK and Ian Livingstone is there.

Ian is exhibiting at Stand 2-T95 where he will have the very-hard-to-get-hold-of-hardbacks of Assassins of Allansia for sale. He will also be signing his other Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.

You will find him sandwiched between artist Ralph Horsley and Atlantis Miniatures, producers of the Fighting Fantasy Legends figures.

Click on the image above to enlarge it.

On Friday afternoon, at 5:30pm, Ian will be giving his 'Life is a Game' talk, and on Saturday evening, at 6:00pm, Ian will be leading The Dark Room's John Robertson into the infamous City of Thieves!

If you're attending the UK Games Expo 2021 this weekend, do stop by Stand 2-T95 and say hello.

Artist of Allansia

Ian Livingstone recently visited artist Karl Kopinski at his studio to collect the incredible cover painting Karl produced for the limited edition hardback of Assassins of Allansia, back in 2019.

It will now join other classic FF covers - by the likes of Iain McCaig, Les Edwards, Jim Burns, and Brian Williams - in Ian's home, as part of his unique Fighting Fantasy art collection.

Ian Livingstone and Karl Kopinski with the cover painting for the Fighting Fantasy gamebook Assassins of Allansia.

Ian will be selling copies of the limited collector's edition hardback of Assassins of Allansia at the UK Games Expo, when the convention returns to the NEC at the end of July.

You can find out more about what is happening at the incredibly popular event here.

Ian Livingstone to attend the UK Games Expo

Having been cancelled altogether last year, and postponed again this year, the UK Games Expo is taking place at the NEC in Birmingham from Friday 30 July - Sunday 1 August, 2021. And what's even better is that Ian Livingstone will be there, flying the flag for Fighting Fantasy!

Ian has a stand at the event for the whole weekend, and will be selling copies of the collector's hardback edition of Assassins of Allansia. He will also be giving his 'Life is a Game' talk on the Friday evening, from 5:30-7:30pm.

Ian will give an entertaining and visual account of his struggles as an entrepreneur in the 1970s when he and Steve Jackson founded Games Workshop and launched Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer in Europe.

He will talk about the history of the multi-million-selling Fighting Fantasy gamebook series, which are still in print today almost 40 years later, and will end by listing his top ten favourite board games from his collection of more than 1,000. 

Ian's talk will be followed by a Q&A, and a book signing session. This is a free event and will take place in the Toure suite.

To find out more, and to purchase your ticket for the UK Games Expo, click here.

The 12 Fighting Fantasy Days of Christmas - Day 3

Hungarian fans of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, or indeed fans of Hungarian Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, are going to be in for a treat next year.

Following on from the release of Hungarian editions of Assassins of Allansia and, more recently, The Port of Peril, 2021 is going to see the publication of translated editions of two more Ian Livingstone adventures - Deathtrap Dungeon and Return to Firetop Mountain - as well as Rhianna Pratchett's Crystal of Storms.

The books will be published by Chameleon Comix. Return to Firetop Mountain will feature Martin McKenna's original interior illustrations but with a new cover painted by Krisztián Balla, who painted the cover for the Hungarian edition of The Port of Peril, while Crystal of Storms and Deathtrap Dungeon will feature new internal art and new covers by Hungarian artists.

For more news, as they say, watch this space!

Blast from the Past! City of Thieves

The fifth and sixth Fighting Fantasy gamebooks regularly via for the top spot in best of polls, and they have a number of elements in common. They were both written by Ian Livingstone, co-creator of the FF series, they were both illustrated inside and out by Iain McCaig, and they are both challenging to complete. However, where they differ is in that Deathtrap Dungeon is a classic subterranean dungeon crawl, while City of Thieves is the first gamebook that features an urban setting.

For his second gamebook with the sole writing credit, Ian Livingstone plumped for a city-based adventure. City of Thieves sends the hero to Port Blacksand for the first time, searching for the means to save the prosperous town of Silverton from the evil Night Prince Zanbar Bone and his bloodthirsty Moon Dogs.

This was the first occasion on which Iain McCaig produced not just the internal illustrations but also, what has since become, a classic cover.

“I've always been fascinated by graveside sculptures of the Grim Reaper,” says McCaig. “I eventually designed one for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  Zanbar Bone is an early attempt to bring one to life.”

Jackson and Livingstone originally asked McCaig to work on The Warlock of Firetop Mountain but at the time he was busy painting a Jethro Tull album cover and had to turn them down. “Fortunately, the timing worked out better for Ian’s first solo book, The Forest of Doom,” explains McCaig, “for which I did the cover, and both his follow-up books, City of Thieves and Deathtrap Dungeon, for which I did both the interior and cover art. I don’t think I ever enjoyed such a close working relationship with any other author, before or since,” says Iain.

“City of Thieves was my first taste of the Fighting Fantasy universe awaiting me,” says comics writer Andi Ewington, who later turned Freeway Fighter into a graphic novel. “I had been reading TSR’s Endless Quest series for a while, and even though they were enjoyable, I found they didn't quite leave you feeling ‘heroic’ at the end… I remember being drawn to that iconic Iain McCaig cover featuring Zanbar Bone. Picking it up and several brief scans of the interior later I realised I was holding the Holy Grail of single player gaming experience in my eleven year-old hands."

When Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World was published, it included a detailed plan of the streets of Port Blacksand, drawn by cartographer Steve Luxton.

Heroic adventurers have revisited the eponymous City of Thieves, many times since, not least in Graeme Davis's Midnight Rogue, which cast the hero in the role of an aspiring member of the Thieves’ Guild of Port Blacksand, and the second Advanced Fighting Fantasy volume Blacksand!

In Blacksand! co-author Marc Gascoigne added detail to the City of Thieves, giving an insight into the individuals, the taverns, businesses and temples of Port Blacksand, as well as its various guilds and nefarious cults.

In 2017, City of Thieves was reissued by Scholastic Books, featuring a new cover by Robert Ball.

Ian Livingstone returned to Port Blacksand, for The Port of Peril, the first new Fighting Fantasy adventure published by Scholastic, while the ruler of the City of Thieves, Lord Azzur, also made an appearance in 2019's Assassins of Allansia.

And somehow the Warlock doubts that this is the last we have seen of that particular den of iniquity either...

Assassins of Hungary

As some of you brave adventurers will no doubt already be aware, Ian Livingstone's latest Fighting Fantasy adventure, Assassins of Allansia, is now available in a Hungarian edition, published by Chameleon Comix.

Chameleon Comix have gone with an old school look for the book, featuring Karl Kopinski's cover art for the special edition hardback on the cover, and even going so far as to give Allansia Bergyilkosai a green spine!

The gamebook features brand new internal illustrations by Krisztian Balla.

Assassins of Allansia has been very well received in Hungary, which is good news because Chameleom Comix are planning on releasing further titles in the future.