Ten Classic Horror-themed Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks

Halloween is next Tuesday, so today we open the vault to revisit some classic horror-themed Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.

House of Hell, by Steve Jackson

Taking refuge in the infamous House of Hell has to be the worst mistake of your life! The dangers of the torrential storm outside are nothing compared to the blood-curdling adventures that await you inside. Who knows how many hapless wanderers like yourself have perished within its gruesome walls? Be warned! Tonight is going to be a night to remember ... Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need to make your journey. YOU decide which way to go, which dangers to risk and which monsters to fight.

 

Talisman of Death, by Mark Smith & Jamie Thomson

The once-peaceful world of Orb is in terrible danger! Dark forces are at work to unleash the awesome might of the Evil One, but their plans cannot be completed without the legendary Talisman of Death. YOU are the one who carries the Talisman, and only YOU can stop the Dark forces. YOUR mission is to destroy the Talisman before the dark lord's minions reach you. But beware! Time is running out! Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need to make your journey. YOU decide which way to go, which dangers to risk and which monsters to fight.

Beneath Nightmare Castle, by Peter Darvill-Evans

Creatures from your worst nightmares lie beneath Neuberg Keep! In this book, you find yourself in Neuburg, once a pleasant town in Khul, but now home to the vile monsters begotten of warped sorcery. An age-old horror has been re-awoken deep beneath the Keep, and it is up to you to face it and free the town and your friend, Baron Tholdur, from evil enchantment. But beware! Deep underground lie hideous traps and terrors, waiting to ensnare you! Will you succeed? Only if you are the resourceful hero you claim to be ... Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need for this adventure. YOU decide which routes to follow, which dangers to risk and which monsters to fight.

Vault of the Vampire, by Keith Martin

Can you put an end to Count Heydrich's evil reign of terror? YOU are a hardy adventurer and have journeyed to the icy mountains of Mauristatia in search of great wealth and fortune ... but what you find there makes your blood run cold. You discover by chance the terrible secret of the local villagers. Can YOU free them from the evil tyranny of the bloodthirsty Count, or will you too succumb to a horrifying fate? Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need. YOU decide which paths to take, which dangers to risk and which foes to fight!

Dead of Night, by Jim Bambra & Stephen Hand

The Demon Lord Myurr seeks revenge! YOU are renowned throughout the land as a Demon-Stalker, waging war against the creatures of Chaos. More than once you have thwarted the Demon Lord's evil schemes, but now Myurr has discovered a cunning way of exacting his revenge. There is no alternative. YOU must confront and destroy the Demon Lord, for the whole of the free world is threatened! Myurr's evil powers may soon enable him and hordes of his vile demons to cross from the Demonic into the Earthly Plane! Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need. YOU decide which paths to take, which dangers to risk and which foes to fight!

Island of the Undead, by Keith Martin

Ancient evil has come to Solani Island! The mysterious sorcerers of Solani Island have protected the local people from danger for many years. Now, it seems, their power has been usurped. An evil force holds sway across the land, an evil that seems to hold the power over life and death itself! A hero is urgently needed to journey to Solani Island and discover what has happened to the wizards. Dare YOU be that adventurer? Who knows what terrible fate awaits you on the island where death rules? There is only one way to find out. Are YOU brave enough to solve the mystery of Solani Island?

Revenge of the Vampire, by Keith Martin

Count Heydrich, Vampire, is back from the dead! A half-forgotten evil has arisen from the grave to stalk the Old World in search of fresh blood and new victims to enslave. Count Reiner Heydrich, undead Vampire Lord, is ancient beyond the reckoning of mortals. This time, however, there is someone on his trail, a brave hero who is determined that he shall not succeed in his evil plans. That someone is YOU!

Howl of the Werewolf, by Jonathan Green

Lupravia is a cursed land; a chill place of snow-capped mountains, brooding forests and mist-shrouded moors, haunted by the spirits of the restless dead. Peasants struggle daily with survival, living in constant fear of attacks from ravenous wild beasts. Only the foolhardy or insane would willingly pass beyond its borders and enter that benighted realm of predators. But enter you must, after a vicious wolf attack sets you on the path to murder and madness. Steadily succumbing to the call of the wild and the beast within, YOU must seek out a cure to your condition before the next full moon. But how long can you survive in a land where the powers of darkness hold sway and all live in fear of the Howl of the Werewolf? Part story, part game, this is a book with a difference - one in which you become the hero! A pencil and an eraser are all you need to make your journey. YOU decide which route to take, which creatures to fight & which dangers to risk.

Night of the Necromancer, by Jonathan Green

Returning to your castle home, Valsinore, after three years away crusading against the forces of darkness, it seems as though evil has been laid to rest. But then, out of nowhere, you are cut down in the final stages of your journey. Caught between the living world and the Lands of the Dead, your ghostly form must battle to uncover the most malignant evil of all that has taken root in the heart of Valsinore. Before the night is out you must have your revenge or face a fate even worse than death itself.

Blood of the Zombies, by Ian Livingstone

Terrible things are happening in Goraya castle... Insane megalomaniac Gingrich Yurr is preparing to unleash an army of monstrous zombies upon the world. He must be stopped and his undead horde defeated. In this life-or-death adventure the decisions YOU make will decide the fate of the world. Can YOU survive or will YOU become a zombie too?

Watch Sir Ian Livingstone's interview with Olly Mc of The Storymaster's Tales about Blood of the Zombies below.

What will you be reading this Halloween?

If you're looking for a spooky read read this Halloween, you could do a lot worse than play through one of these classic Fighting Fantasy titles.

 

Blast from the Past! Vault of the Vampire

Published in 1989, Vault of the Vampire was the 38th gamebook in the Fighting Fantasy series. Written by the late Carl Sargent, under the name Keith Martin, and illustrated by the late Martin McKenna, FF's riff on Dracula is a bona fide classic of interactive horror fiction.

Interestingly, despite blood-suckers appearing on a regular basis throughout the previous thirty-seven titles, up until this point no one prince of the night had taken centre stage and become the Big Bad to be dealt with at the climax of an adventure.

Keith Martin rectified this by transporting the reader to Titan's version of Transylvania, set within the mountainous Old World realm of Mauristatia, replete with wolves howling at the moon, creepy forests, a headless coachman, and a sinister, bat-haunted castle.

The plot is also just what you would want from a story called Vault of the Vampire...

Can you put an end to Count Heydrich's evil reign of terror?

YOU are a hardy adventurer and have journeyed to the icy mountains of Mauristatia in search of great wealth and fortune... but what you find there makes your blood run cold.

You discover by chance the terrible secret of the local villagers. Can YOU free them from the evil tyranny of the bloodthirsty Count, or will you too succumb to a horrifying fate?

Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need. YOU decide which paths to take, which dangers to risk and which foes to fight!

Les Edwards painted the cover for the book: “Vault of the Vampire turned out to be one of those classic images. I can’t say why exactly. It’s just one of those cases where everything works the way that was intended. It’s a pretty traditional Vampire but maybe that’s part of its strength. It’s a simple and dramatic image and very direct. It was a big influence on Vampire paintings that I did subsequently.”

Martin McKenna, who was still only eighteen at the time, turned his hand to producing some very Hammer Horror-esque images for the book’s internal illustrations that have stood up to the test of time very well.

 

A blood-soaked sequel followed in 1995, entitled Revenge of the Vampire. This was the only occasion a direct sequel to a gamebook was written by an author other than the series’ co-creators Jackson and Livingstone.

Revenge of the Vampire (FF58) was Keith Martin’s seventh contribution to the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series. In the story, Count Reiner Heydrich returns from the dead once more to stalk the Old World in search of fresh blood and new slaves. It is up to the hero (who is not the same hero as featured in Vault of the Vampire) to put an end to him once and for all.

Count Heydrich, Vampire, is back from the dead!

A half-forgotten evil has arisen from the grave to stalk the Old World in search of fresh blood and new victims to enslave. Count Reiner Heydrich, undead Vampire Lord, is ancient beyond the reckoning of mortals. This time, however, there is someone on his trail, a brave hero who is determined that he shall not succeed in his evil plans. That someone is YOU!

As well as being written by Keith Martin, author of Vault of the Vampire, once again Les Edwards painted the stunning cover image while Martin McKenna came up trumps with the internals.

Fighting Fantasy: Halloween Virtual Beer-o

Why not join other Fighting Fantasy fans, from 4:00pm GMT, at today's Halloween Virtual Beer-o?

If you've not been to a Beer-o before, they are a chance for like-minded fans of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks to get together and chat about their hobby.

They used to be physical meet-ups, but since the pandemic they have moved online, meaning that they now involve people from all over the world.

To find out more, visit this link. And remember - the more the merrier!

Blast from the Past! Dead of Night

Today being the eve of All Hallows' Eve, it seemed like an appropriate time to revisit this chilling classic of yesteryear - Dead of Night!

First published on 2 November 1989, Dead of Night (copyright Jim Bambra and Stephen Hand) took as its setting the kingdom of Gallantaria. the adventure taking place after the events related in The Tasks of Tantalon. It helped complete the integration of the Old World into the wider Fighting Fantasy milieu, being the first solo gamebook to be set there since The Crown of Kings concluded Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series back in 1985.

Working together – rather like Jackson and Livingstone had in the beginning – Bambra tackled the task with his standard approach to writing fantasy scenarios, whereas Hand was keen to push the limits of what was possible in a gamebook. Hand was also hugely inspired by pulp horror, such as the kind produced by Hammer studios in the 1960s and ‘70s.

They agreed that their version of the Old World would be a grimly realistic place, a slice of a horrific medieval world in which politics would play its part too (as can be seen more clearly in Hand’s later, solo titles).

In Dead of Night, the hero is a Demon-Stalker, who has dedicated his life to waging war against the creatures of Chaos. Having thwarted the evil schemes of the Demon Prince Myurr on more than one occasion, the hero’s nemesis exacts his revenge, striking directly against the Demon-Stalker’s family. On top of that, Myurr’s powers are growing and he will soon be able to transport his demonic hordes to the Earthly Plane. The Demon Lord must be stopped!

"On that first book, what happened was that Jim and I plotted all the scenes and characters together," Stephen Hand explained in an interview with AdvancedFightingFantasy.com. "Then we divided the different scenes between us, so I would write one area, and he would write another. When we finished, we actually swapped documents and edited each other's work. This may sound strange, but it worked and lead to a fairly even book written by two very different writers."

In addition to the regular attributes of SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK, Dead of Night features an EVIL score, which start starts at zero. Throughout the adventure, the player may encounter people or creatures, or do things that will increase this score. As a result the player is asked to Test Your Evil at certain points in a manner similar to Testing Your Luck.

The player also has a choice of three "Talents" for their Demon-Stalker, which include Banish Undead, Dark Veil, Heal, Holy Circle, Meditation, Sense Demon, and Speak Demon.

The gamebook was illustrated by Martin McKenna, with a cover by Terry Oakes.

The Abomination, by Martin McKenna.

Dead of Night remains both the first and last time that Bambra contributed an adventure to the FF series, but what a memorable entry it was! Hand, on the other hand, would go on to contribute two more Gallantaria-set adventures before quitting the series - the equally impressive Legend of the Shadow Warriors and Moonrunner.

Happy Halloween!

If you're looking for a creepy read to get you into the mood, this 31st October, you could do a lot worse than play through one of these classic Fighting Fantasy titles.