Fighting Fantasy Hoodies

You may remember that back in August the Warlock announced the launch of a range of licensed Fighting Fantasy T-shirts from from Seven Squared.

Well they have now been joined by both Fighting Fantasy sweatshirts and hoodies. The sweatshirts are available in a range of colours - including orange crush, burgundy, olive green, and royal blue.

The hoodies come in ash, combat green, and storm grey. As with the T-shirts, you can either select one of the pieces of reimagined classic cover art, or the Fighting Fantasy logo, to adorn your branded apparel.

So get yourself over to the Seven Squared webshop now and select your 'armour.'

Fighting Fantasy Tees

Launching on Friday 27 August - which also happens to be International Gamebook Day - is a range of branded Fighting Fantasy T-shirts from Seven Squared.

Designs include The Forest of Doom, City of Thieves, Deathtrap Dungeon, The Citadel of Chaos and, of course, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

Finishing off the collection is this rather cool Fighting Fantasy logo tee.

To find out more, read the press release here, and keep an eye out for more updates this Friday!

Classic Cover! Appointment with F.E.A.R.

As capes and spandex seem to be very much on everyone's minds at the moment, today we thought we would revisit Fighting Fantasy's one and only superhero-themed adventure, Steve Jackson's Appointment with F.E.A.R.

Back in 1985, Steve Jackson had not written a Titan-set adventure since The Citadel of Chaos, and his fifth title in the series continued this trend. The hero of Appointment with F.E.A.R. is Jean Lafayette, or rather, 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. This evil organisation is led by Vladimir Utoshski, a.k.a. the Titanium Cyborg who is the subject of the book’s cover art.

Appropriately enough, seeing as how Appointment with F.E.A.R. is, in truth, a comic book superhero gamebook - nothing more, nothing less - the original cover was painted by veteran British comic book artist, Brian Bolland, who was famous for drawing such iconic comic book characters as Batman and Judge Dredd!

Appointment with F.E.A.R. has since been turned into a nostalgic '80s-themed app, by Tin Man Games, and the cover of the most recent edition, published by Scholastic Books, features Vladimir Utoshski once again, this time as realised by Robert Ball.

But for many, it is Brian Bolland's cover that holds a special place in their heart.

Classic Cover! House of Hell

2019 marks the 35th anniversary of the publication of a number of classic, and ever-popular, Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, including Steve Jackson's House of Hell.

For almost thirty years following its initial release back in 1984, House of Hell remained unique; it was the only FF adventure to have a wholly ‘contemporary’ setting. It was not a futuristic, superhero sci-fi yarn, or a post-apocalyptic adventure, but was Fighting Fantasy’s one and only specifically horror-themed adventure. That was until Blood of the Zombies was published in 2012.

House of Hell is the sort of nightmare you could imagine yourself ending up in if your car broke down on a lonely country road in a thunderstorm only for you to discover that you were in a mobile phone dead spot.

Other than the fact that there’s no mention of mobile phones, the plot of the book hasn’t dated in the intervening decades. As a result of the aforementioned breakdown and thunderstorm, the hero takes refuge in an old house, but it’s a decision that turns out to be the worst mistake of his life, since the house is home to a cult of devil-worshippers and their demonic Master.

The late games designer Alan Bligh was interviewed about the influence of the gamebook back in 2013: “Speaking as a kid who stayed up late to watch old Hammer movies, which I loved, I was absolutely there in my imagination, and that strange Ian Miller cover? Fantastic.”

Although his artwork later appeared on the cover for The Citadel of Chaos, House of Hell was Ian Miller’s first work for the Fighting Fantasy series.

“I got the job through the art agency Young Artists, which is now known as Arena,” Miller told Alex Ballingall when he was interviewed for the Fighting Fantazine in 2012. “I did a series of roughs, four I think, and Steve chose the version he liked best. It was an easy process.

“When I did cover work (I’m not often asked these days), I worked maybe one or two up on the published book size. The image would be pencilled in, then inked and coloured. I used illustration board for the most part… I always read the books I did covers for. It made sense in my opinion… I think the first, House of Hell, was the best of the bunch.”

Steve Jackson was so impressed by Miller’s work on House of Hell that he purchased the original painting.

House of Hell is available again, in a new edition, courtesy of Scholastic Books, with cover art by Rob Ball, and can be picked up here.

Classic Cover! Island of the Lizard King

As winter bites hard, here in Allansia, thoughts naturally turn to sunny times and travel to sunnier climes. Well how about a trip to a tropical island, spending time hanging out on the beach and enjoying the sites and engaging with the local wildlife?

Ian Livingstone's fourth solo title for the series, Island of the Lizard King had the hero fighting to free the young men of Oyster Bay from the tyranny of the insane Lizard King who ruled his island domain through a combination of black magic, voodoo and sheer force of arms. Iain McCaig’s classic cover bears the intimidating image of the Lizard King holding back his deadly pet, a Black Lion.

“The covers he did for The Forest of Doom, Deathtrap Dungeon, City of Thieves and Island of the Lizard King were nothing short of amazing," says Ian Livingstone. "Working with Iain was brilliant. He was full of ideas and energy, always excited by possibilities. His art captured moments frozen in time even though those moments never actually happened. There is so much drama and movement in his work, it’s genius.”

Island of the Lizard King is available again, in a new edition, courtesy of Scholastic Books, featuring artwork by Rob Ball, and can be picked up here.