Fighting Fantasy Classics - Eye of the Dragon

Sir Ian Livingstone's 14th Fighting Fanasy gamebook, Eye of the Dragon, is now available as part of the Fighting Fantasy Classics app from Tin Man Games.

In a tavern in Fang, a mysterious stranger offers YOU the chance to find the Golden Dragon, perhaps the most valuable treasure in all of Allansia. But it is hidden in a labyrinth beneath Darkwood Forest and is guarded by the most violent creatures and deadly traps.

To begin your quest YOU must drink a life-threatening potion, and to succeed, you must find maps, clues, artifacts, magic items, jewels and an imprisoned dwarf.

Step into a world of peril and legend with Eye of the Dragon - a must-have for any Fighting Fantasy fan! Originally published in 2005 during the celebrated Wizard Books revival, Eye of the Dragon marked the triumphant return of the series after a brief hiatus. This gripping dungeon-crawling adventure is a true standout, penned by Fighting Fantasy co-creator Ian Livingstone himself.

Based on a mini-adventure first introduced in his iconic book Dicing with Dragons, Eye of the Dragon delivers everything fans love: deadly traps, fearsome monsters, and unexpected twists. You'll encounter familiar faces from across the Fighting Fantasy universe - some returning from earlier gamebooks, others with ties to legendary figures from the broader fantasy world. Whether you're a seasoned adventurer or a newcomer to the series, this book is a thrilling journey you won't want to miss.

FEATURES

• Original artwork by Martin McKenna. Make the gamebook as easy or 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.
• Automated Adventure Sheet that keeps track of your stats, inventory and knowledge gained during your journey.

To download Eye of the Dragon and start playing today, click this link.

Happy St David's Day!

Seeing as it's St David's Day in the UK, in honour of the patron saint of Wales, today on the official Fighting Fantasy blog we're celebrating the various dragons that have appeared in Fighting Fantasy gamebooks over the years.

So here we go, counting down from number ten to number one, but be warned - there are some spoilers ahead...

10. Pocket Dragon (FF51 Island of the Undead)
Dragons are cool, right? So how cool would it be to have a dragon that you could keep in your pocket? Ice cold, right?

Pocket Dragon (and Stonewight), by Russ Nicholson.

9. Wyrm (Allansia)
Not technically a dragon, but close enough. This monster of the icy wastes is encountered by the Heroes in the multi-player Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG adventure A Darkness of Kaad.

Allansia cover (featuring the Wyrm) by John Sibbick.

8. Skeletal Dragon (FF54 Legend of Zagor)
Even though it's dead, this dragon is still deadly. (Legend of Zagor also features a Wyvern and a War Dragon!)

Skeletal Dragon, by Martin McKenna.

7. Stone Sentinels (FF39 Fangs of Fury)
Six massive stone dragons guard the tiny kingdom of Zamarra. But the fire they breathe has been extinguished. And now Zamarra is under siege by Ostragoth the Grim and his swarming hordes...

6. Brimstone Dragon (The Tasks of Tantalon)
The keeper of a treasure hoard in the Old World kingdom of Gallantaria. But how many gold pieces were really in that hoard?

Brimstone Dragon, by Stephen Lavis.

5. Wyvern (FF3 The Forest of Doom)
Also technically not a dragon, but the Wyvern's dramatic appearance towards the end of The Forest of Doom made a big impression on many a young role-player.

Wyvern, by Malcolm Barter.

4. White Dragon (FF9 Caverns of the Snow Witch)
One of the guardians of the Snow Witch's Crystal Caves.

White Dragon, by Edward Crosby and Gary Ward.

The same dragon, by drawn by Robert Ball for the Scholastic edition of Caverns of the Snow Witch.

3. Titan (Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World)
The name given to the dragon that appears on the cover of Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World. This particular dragon was even immortalised as a sculpture, to mark Fighting Fantasy's 10th anniversary, by Clarecraft.

Dragonspell, by Chris Achilleos.

2. The Night Dragon (FF52 Night Dragon)
One of the Ancient Dragons, corrupted by Evil, that fought against the gods themselves. A dragon so bad-ass that even after it's been killed its head grows legs and attacks you!

The Night Dragon, by Tony Hough.

1. The Dragon of Firetop Mountain (FF1 The Warlock of Firetop Mountain)
The original and still the best. A memorable encounter near the climax to The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, for many young readers this was the first dragon they had ever gone toe-to-toe with in a role-playing game. And it has appeared on the cover of every edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain since the book was first published in 1982.

Dragon, by Russ Nicholson.

Bubbling under...
Kilanirax, Lord of all Dragons, and the Dream Dragon (both from FF51 Night Dragon), the War Dragon (from FF54 Legend of Zagor), the Sea Dragon (FF19 Demons of the Deep), the golden dragon statue from FF60 Eye of the Dragon, and the dragon, from the Dragon Cover Format, by Chris Achilleos.

Eye of the Dragon, by Martin McKenna.

Dragon Cover Format, by Chris Achilleos.

What do you think of our list? Are there any egregious omissions that you believe should have made it into the Top Ten?

Let us know in the comments below and also let us know if there are any other Fighting Fantasy Top Tens you would like to see.

Appreciate a Dragon Day

Dragons have long been a staple of fantasy games and fiction, and that is as true of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks as it is of any other popular fantasy setting.

Today is #AppreciateADragonDay and there are certainly plenty of dragons to appreciate in Fighting Fantasy, from  Russ Nicholson's Dragon in the first ever FF gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and Chris Achilleos's 'Dragonspell' cover for Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World...

... through to Robert Ball's reimagined White Dragon from the Scholastic edition of Ian Livingstone's seminal Caverns of the Snow Witch, and Stephen Lavis's Brimstone Dragon from Steve Jackson's The Tasks of Tantalon...

... not to mention Tony Hough's 'Night Dragon' and Martin McKenna's 'Eye of the Dragon'.

So which Fighting Fantasy Dragon will you be appreciating this #AppreciateADragonDay?

The Second Swordsman - Enter the Dragon!

It's Gamebook Friday again, which means it's time for Malcolm Garcia's 13th Second Swordsman post!


The Second Swordsman - Enter the Dragon!

By Malcolm Garcia

While most of the foes to be fought in FIGHTING FANTASY adventures tend to be humanoids, such as Orcs or Goblins, there are rare occasions when YOU can encounter a creature that exists towards the top of Titan’s food chain, the Dragon. In attempting the Second Swordsman process, I’ve so far fought (and defeated) only a White Dragon (in Caverns of the Snow Witch) and met a Dragon Librarian (in Spectral Stalkers). To gain more exposure to these mysterious beasts I decided to try only choosing the second option in two dragon-themed adventures, Night Dragon and Eye of the Dragon.

In Night Dragon the stakes for my quest could not be much higher – an ancient dragon is awakening, and when it does so it will destroy everything in its path. Night was penned by Keith Martin, author of seven FIGHTING FANTASY adventures including Vault of the Vampire and Revenge of the Vampire. It also marked the first time I’d returned to Port Blacksand since attempting Temple of Terror. Eye of the Dragon was also set in Allansia, but that was where the similarities between the two books ended. Written by Ian Livingstone, the eponymous dragon is, in fact, an almost priceless golden statue which has been hidden in a trap- and monster-filled labyrinth beneath Darkwood Forest. (How these subterranean mazes are maintained is one of the great mysteries of Titan. Surely the residents are not solely relying on a steady supply of foolhardy adventures to provide them with food. And don’t the creatures within miss the sunlight and fresh air they could find outside?)

Both adventures had me starting with decent SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK scores. This was through luck of the dice in Night and by choosing the second pre-rolled character in Eye. The beginning of both Night and Eye also gave me a decent amount of provisions – not a universal thing in the latter FIGHTING FANTASY books of the series – and a purse of gold pieces. In Night YOU also have two bonus points to add to your attributes and need to keep track of several additional scores; not something I had to do when trying the Second Swordsman process previously in Martin’s, Stealer of Souls.

By choosing every second option, I started Night by, once again, passing up opportunities to fight creatures, acquire objects or learn anything about the journey ahead of me. In my journey from Port Blacksand to Rentarn I gained nothing and ate more than a third of my provisions. Upon arriving I quickly got into a battle with a trio of Assassins and learned an obscure clue. But I then wasted time and money wandering around the town, until I was put in jail. This is not an unusual situation when using the Second Swordsman process – previously I’ve been apprehended in both Chasms of Malice and Fangs of Fury, albeit temporarily. Although my adventures have ended in jail in both Bloodbones and Black Vein Prophecy.

After a while my captors released me and I learned enough to leave Rentarn and continue my quest. Within a few more choices I had encountered my first dragon of the book, and it was a friendly one. Whisked away to a conclave of dragons (where there is a White Dragon that has to be a relative of the one I’d previously slain) I’m given a load of information about how to defeat the Night Dragon. I then headed into the mountains and managed to navigate a subterranean maze and found some special armour, which will supposedly assist me in my final showdown. At this point I was feeling good about choosing every second option, even though I was down to just one meal. But the armour was damaged and the stone dwarves who could fix it would only do so if I defeated their nemesis, the Mountain Basilisk. Finding this creature was easy enough, but the fight against it wasn’t. Without a mirror I was forced to choose between two equally unpalatable impediments – a temporary skill loss of four, or testing my LUCK each round. I opted for the latter as I had not yet tested my LUCK. But the beast’s STAMINA was too great and eventually the dice failed me and I was turned to stone.

Constraining myself to only every second option was even more limiting in Eye. In total I ignored the opportunity to investigate what was behind thirteen doors! Even in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain I only ignored nine doors. By ignoring all of these doors I almost certainly avoided some fights and other bad things. But I also would have missed plenty of opportunities to find objects or gain some knowledge that could help me to successfully find the golden statue. On four occasions in my adventure I was asked if I had a certain object, and every time the answer was no. The final occasion had dire consequences as I was bitten by a poisonous spider but did not have a healing potion. Eye did feel like a return to the dungeon crawls of the earlier FIGHTING FANTASY adventures, reinforced with shout-outs to The Forest of Doom and House of Hell (and maybe even Island of the Lizard King).

In both dragon-themed books my promising starting SKILL proved handy. Although in Night I was eventually killed in the aforementioned one-sided battle against the Basilisk, I had previously triumphed in five battles, three of which were resolved with me not losing a single STAMINA point (these being against some of the multitude of Assassins who’d been sent to kill me). In Eye I fought six creatures, with four of my victories being flawless. However my final fight was against a Doppelganger (why couldn’t it have been a Shapechanger?), during which I had to endure an imposed two point SKILL loss. As I’d already lost one SKILL from the spider bite this battle proved to be too tough for me and I fell, without seeing any Dragon – real or artificial.

Although choosing every second option did not help me to find my fortune or save the world, it did get me a surprisingly long way in each adventure. A repeated attempt at both would have me explore more in the hope of finding some way to defeat the Doppelganger and Mountain Basilisk. This was also the first time that my failure in each of the adventures undertaken was due to a lost battle, rather than an instant death from a trap, overwhelming numbers, or not finding the right keys or gemstones.

Next month marks a year since Malcolm set out on his Second Swordsman quest. Which adventures will he be tackling to commemorate this momentous occasion? You'll just have to keep checking www.fightingfantasy.com to find out!

Dicing with Dragons

Seeing as it's St David's Day in the UK, in honour of the patron saint of Wales, today on the official Fighting Fantasy blog we're celebrating the various dragons that have appeared in Fighting Fantasy gamebooks over the years.

So here we go, counting down from number ten to number one, but be warned - there are some spoilers ahead...

10. Pocket Dragon (FF51 Island of the Undead)
Dragons are cool, right? So how cool would it be to have a dragon that you could keep in your pocket? Ice cold, right?

Pocket Dragon (and Stonewight), by Russ Nicholson.

9. Wyrm (Allansia)
Not technically a dragon, but close enough. This monster of the icy wastes is encountered by the Heroes in the multi-player Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG adventure A Darkness of Kaad.

Allansia cover (featuring the Wyrm) by John Sibbick.

8. Skeletal Dragon (FF54 Legend of Zagor)
Even though it's dead, this dragon is still deadly. (Legend of Zagor also features a Wyvern and a War Dragon!)

Skeletal Dragon, by Martin McKenna.

7. Stone Sentinels (FF39 Fangs of Fury)
Six massive stone dragons guard the tiny kingdom of Zamarra. But the fire they breathe has been extinguished. And now Zamarra is under siege by Ostragoth the Grim and his swarming hordes...

6. Brimstone Dragon (The Tasks of Tantalon)
The keeper of a treasure hoard in the Old World kingdom of Gallantaria. But how many gold pieces were really in that hoard?

Brimstone Dragon, by Stephen Lavis.

5. Wyvern (FF3 The Forest of Doom)
Also technically not a dragon, but the Wyvern's dramatic appearance towards the end of The Forest of Doom made a big impression on many a young role-player.

Wyvern, by Malcolm Barter.

4. White Dragon (FF9 Caverns of the Snow Witch)
One of the guardians of the Snow Witch's Crystal Caves.

White Dragon, by Edward Crosby and Gary Ward.

3. Titan (Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World)
The name given to the dragon that appears on the cover of Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World. This particular dragon was even immortalised as a sculpture, to mark Fighting Fantasy's 10th anniversary, by Clarecraft.

Dragonspell, by Chris Achilleos.

2. The Night Dragon (FF52 Night Dragon)
One of the Ancient Dragons, corrupted by Evil, that fought against the gods themselves. A dragon so bad-ass that even after it's been killed its head grows legs and attacks you!

The Night Dragon, by Tony Hough.

1. The Dragon of Firetop Mountain (FF1 The Warlock of Firetop Mountain)
The original and still the best. A memorable encounter near the climax to The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, for many young readers this was the first dragon they had ever gone toe-to-toe with in a role-playing game. And it has appeared on the cover of every edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain since the book was first published in 1982.

Dragon, by Russ Nicholson.

Bubbling under...
Kilanirax, Lord of all Dragons, and the Dream Dragon (both from FF51 Night Dragon), the War Dragon (from FF54 Legend of Zagor), the Sea Dragon (FF19 Demons of the Deep), the golden dragon statue from FF60 Eye of the Dragon, and the dragon, from the Dragon Cover Format, by Chris Achilleos.

Eye of the Dragon, by Martin McKenna.

Dragon Cover Format, by Chris Achilleos.

What do you think of our list? Are there any egregious omissions that you believe should have made it into the Top Ten?

Let us know in the comments below and also let us know if there are any other Fighting Fantasy Top Tens you would like to see.