The Forest of Doom - published 40 years ago!

The Citadel of Chaos wasn't the only new Fighting Fantasy gamebook to be published 40 years ago on 31st March 1983. The other was Sir Ian Livingstone's first solo-penned adventure, the seminal The Forest of Doom.

His tale had the hero braving the perils of Darkwood Forest in order to recover the pieces of the stolen Hammer of Stonebridge, fashioned by the Dwarfs to protect their village from the predations of Hill Trolls. 

“I’d thought about writing another dungeon crawl,” says Livingstone, “but coming out just months after Warlock, I decided to set the adventure above ground. But where? I had two ideas in mind. One had a working title of Blackhill Manor and the other was called Doom in Darkwood Forest. I finally decided on the forest adventure. For the book title, I had a shortlist of three; Doom in Darkwood Forest, The War Hammer of Darkwood Forest and the third – The Forest of Doom.” 

The book introduced several characters and locations that would reappear later throughout Livingstone’s contributions to the FF series, including the village of Stonebridge, Darkwood Forest, and the wizard Yaztromo.

Interestingly, while his tower does appear in an illustration, Yaztromo does not. Despite this, he has been drawn into numerous illustrations by various artists since.

Yaztromo the wizard, as illustrated (from left to right) by Bill Houston, John Sibbick, and Martin McKenna.

Livingstone: “When writing Fighting Fantasy books, I like to create names and places that are both descriptive and evocative. Readers would know what to expect when they read the words The Forest of Doom or Darkwood Forest. The creature on the front cover of the book I named the Shape Changer as that was exactly what it was when it metamorphosed from a goblin into a flesh-ripping reptilian man-eater! I also came up with names that had something to do with my own world. The grand wizard Yaztromo is a good example of this. Ridiculous as it may seem now, the name was made up by combining the nickname of a baseball player (Carl Yastrzemski of the the Boston Red Sox, a power hitter whose nickname was ‘Yaz’) and a spaceship (the USCSS Nostromo from Ridley Scott’s Alien)!"

Carl Yastrzemski and the USCSS Nostromo.

Yaztromo was the most commonly recurring character in the Fighting Fantasy series, appearing in numerous gamebooks and novels, even out-doing Zagor the Warlock in terms of the number of guest appearances he made. 

Illustrated by Malcolm Barter, The Forest of Doom was the last Fighting Fantasy gamebook to have every full-page illustration accompanied by a caption until Scholastic started publishing the series in 2017.

“The commission came via my then agent John Craddock,” says Barter. “I remember, along with a couple of other illustrators I was asked to submit a sample picture, as the original artist Penguin had intended to use was unavailable… I was fortunate enough to get it.”

The Forest of Doom illustrations by Malcolm Barter.

But what of the book’s seminal cover? 

Livingstone: “When I finally finished writing the adventure, I wanted to make sure that the art reflected my own vision of the creatures of Darkwood Forest. It was at that time when I was lucky enough to meet a young artist called Iain McCaig who visited us at Games Workshop looking for a commission. I looked at his portfolio and asked Iain if he would like to illustrate the book cover, and was very happy indeed when he said yes. We talked about the cover a lot and settled on the Shape Changer as the central character. It is still one of my favourite Fighting Fantasy covers, beautifully painted, full of threat and atmosphere. I purchased the original painting from Iain – an amazing water colour – and today it hangs proudly in my home with my other Fighting Fantasy book covers.”

Martin Gooch and Sir Ian Livingstone in Sir Ian's home art gallery.

Voyages en terre d'Arion

Among the traders at Fighting Fantasy Fest 4, back in September, were the French publishers of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG, Scriptarium.

The Scriptarium stand at Fighting Fantasy Fest 4.

Among the products Scriptarium had for sale on their stand was the new French laguage edition of Arion Games' Travels in Arion - Voyages en terre d'Arion.

The book features a colour A2 map of the of city Arion, by Jidus, as well as illustrations by Russ Nicholson and Malcolm Barter. There is also a campaign made up of three scenarios, L'Ecume des Songes by Rémy Lucot and Alexandre Sanna, which is superbly illustrated by Koa.

So, if you are a French reader, or you just love great fantasy art, make sure you check out Voyages en terre d'Arion, as well as the rest of Scriptarium's AFF catalogue.

Blast from the Past! The Forest of Doom

 A straw poll asking for subjects for today's post produced a plethora of suggestions, and once the votes had been tallied Creature of Havoc and Dead of Night were in equal fourth place, House of Hell and City of Thieves were in joint second place, but topping the list was Ian Livingstone's first solo Fighting Fantasy gamebook - The Forest of Doom!

First published in 1983, the tale has the hero braving the perils of Darkwood Forest in order to recover the pieces of the stolen Hammer of Stonebridge, fashioned by the Dwarfs to protect their village from the predations of Hill Trolls.

“I’d thought about writing another dungeon crawl,” says Livingstone, “but coming out just months after Warlock, I decided to set the adventure above ground. But where? I had two ideas in mind. One had a working title of Blackhill Manor and the other was called Doom in Darkwood Forest. I finally decided on the forest adventure. Blackhill Manor would have to wait. Thirty years on and Blackhill Manor is still not written, but the synopsis was influential in part for City of Thieves and Caverns of the Snow Witch.

“For the book title, I had a shortlist of three; Doom in Darkwood Forest, The War Hammer of Darkwood Forest and the third – The Forest of Doom.”

Ian Livingstone’s original notes for The Forest of Doom.

(© Ian Livingstone, 1983 and 2014)

The book introduced several characters and locations that would reappear later throughout Livingstone’s contributions to the FF series, including the village of Stonebridge, Darkwood Forest of course, and the wizard Gereth Yaztromo.

Livingstone: “When writing Fighting Fantasy books, I like to create names and places that are both descriptive and evocative. Readers would know what to expect when they read the words The Forest of Doom or Darkwood Forest. The creature on the front cover of the book I named the Shape Changer as that was exactly what it was when it metamorphosed from a goblin into a flesh-ripping reptilian man-eater! I also came up with names that had something to do with my own world. The grand wizard Yaztromo is a good example of this. Ridiculous as it may seem now, the name was made up by combining the nickname of a baseball player and a spaceship!

“Unusually for a Brit, I used to follow baseball. I saw my first game in 1976 at Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox’s hero at that time was Carl Yastrzemski, a power hitter whose nickname was ‘Yaz’. I watched in awe as the fans went crazy when Yaz launched one of his mighty home runs into the right field bleachers. So I became a fan too. A few years later I saw Ridley Scott’s Alien for the first time. The atmosphere and suspense he created on board the Nostromo was powerful and it became my favourite science fiction film. So it was a simple matter of adding ‘Yaz’ to ‘tromo’ to give my grumpy old wizard his name!”

Yaztromo was the most commonly recurring character in the Fighting Fantasy series, appearing in numerous gamebooks and novels, even out-doing Zagor the Warlock in terms of the number of guest appearances he made.

Ian Livingstone’s handwritten first draft of The Forest of Doom.

(© Ian Livingstone, 1983 and 2014)

Illustrated by Malcolm Barter, The Forest of Doom was the last Fighting Fantasy gamebook to have every full-page illustration accompanied by a caption that gave the number of the paragraph depicted alongside a short extract from the text, until Scholastic Books reinstated them when they took over publishing the series in 2017.

“The commission came via my then agent John Craddock,” says Barter. “I remember, along with a couple of other illustrators I was asked to submit a sample picture, as the original artist Penguin had intended to use was unavailable… I was fortunate enough to get it.”

Stingworm, by Malcolm Barter.

But what of the book’s seminal cover?

Livingstone: “When I finally finished writing the adventure, I wanted to make sure that the art reflected my own vision of the creatures of Darkwood Forest. It was at that time when I was lucky enough to meet a young artist called Iain McCaig who visited us at Games Workshop looking for a commission. I looked at his portfolio and asked Iain if he would like to illustrate the book cover, and was very happy indeed when he said yes. We talked about the cover a lot and settled on the Shape Changer as the central character. It is still one of my favourite Fighting Fantasy covers, beautifully painted, full of threat and atmosphere. I purchased the original painting from Iain – an amazing water colour – and today it hangs proudly in my home with my other Fighting Fantasy book covers.”

Shape Changer, by Iain McCaig.

Steve Jackson's The Citadel of Chaos and Ian Livingstone's The Forest of Doom were published together, and in March 1983 the first three titles in what was fast becoming the Fighting Fantasy series topped The Sunday Times bestseller charts.

“Puffin’s ‘star author’ was Roald Dahl, whose books always topped the Children’s Bestseller charts,” explains Jackson. “In March 1983, Warlock, Citadel and Forest topped the Children’s Charts in the Sunday Times... Roald Dahl had finally been out-sold…”

All three titles are in print again today, thanks to Scholastic Books, and there is even a video game version, courtesy of Tin Man Games.

So will you go down to the woods today?

Map of Darkwood Forest sent to Ian Livingstone by a fan.

One week to go until Fighting Fantasy Fest 2!

One week today the doors open on Fighting Fantasy Fest 2!

Featuring a host of special guests, including Guests of Honour Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, along with the likes of Iain McCaig, Marc Gascoigne, Malcolm Barter, and Jamie Thomson, it is going to be a 35th anniversary celebration to remember.

There will be talks, gaming sessions, comics, a cosplay competition, video game demonstrations, signings, and all manner of traders. On top of that, Snowbooks will be launching YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2 at the event.

With so much going on, you might find it helpful to have a look through the talks schedule for the day, which runs across two strands in two halls.

It's not too late to buy your ticket and make sure you don't miss out on the Fighting Fantasy event of the year!

Fighting Fantasy Colouring Books are here!

The fans asked for them, so here they are - available as from today from Snowbooks, are the first four Official Fighting Fantasy Colouring Books!

You may have noticed the adult colouring book craze has been gaining momentum over recent months, but you have never seen a set of colouring books like these before.

A4 format, they feature the black and white line art from the FF gamebooks The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, The Forest of Doom, Deathtrap Dungeon and City of Thieves, by the fantasy art legends Russ Nicholson, Malcolm Barter and Iain McCaig. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain also features the cover art of Martin McKenna.

The books are available to buy from here in the UK, and from here in the US.

Remember to spread the word via all the social media channels you have available to you, and may your colouring pencils never be blunt!

YOU are the Colourist!

Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone present

Fighting Fantasy Colouring Books

  

Fighting Fantasy gamebooks have sold over 17 million books worldwide, in over 30 languages. YOU were the hero in stories such as Deathtrap Dungeon, The Forest of Doom, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and City of Thieves, fighting monsters and foes with a pencil, two dice and an eraser. And now –

YOU ARE THE COLOURIST!

Bring your favourite wizards, monsters and fantastic settings to life, colouring the original emotive illustrations by artists Iain McCaig, Malcolm Barter and Russ Nicholson.

About the authors

Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone co-founded iconic games company Games Workshop in 1975, launching Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer in Europe. They co-authored The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, which was published in 1982, and went on to write over 20 titles in the best-selling Fighting Fantasy gamebook series. Ian became Executive Chairman of Eidos in 1995 where he launched global video games franchises including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Hitman. Steve became a Director of Lionhead, the award-winning video games studio best known for developing Fable.

About the illustrators

Russ Nicholson is an illustrator of Fantasy, well known for his contribution to the Fighting Fantasy series, including the first such book, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. He has also produced illustrations for Games Workshop publications, including White Dwarf Magazine, and more recently has worked with Le Grimoire, Scriptarium, and Tin Man Games, amongst others.

Malcolm Barter studied Illustration & Design at Ipswich School of Art. He has freelanced in Publishing, Editorial & Advertising, notably illustrating Ian Livingstone’s classic Fighting Fantasy gamebook The Forest of Doom. His recent work has included more Fighting Fantasy, having been tracked down and lured back by French publishers in 2013.

Iain McCaig is an award-winning artist and one of the most sought-after conceptual designers working in the entertainment industry today. His work includes the landmark designs for Queen Amidala and Darth Maul, for Lucasfilm, as well as several Fighting Fantasy covers, and the internal illustrations for the seminal City of Thieves and the bestselling Deathtrap Dungeon.

Martin McKenna has illustrated covers and internal illustrations for twenty-two of the Fighting Fantasy series from Puffin Books/Wizard Books. He also produces concept and production art for computer games, and film and television productions, which have included the BAFTA-nominated The Magician of Samarkand for the BBC and Gulliver's Travels for 20th Century Fox.

About the books

Available 28th July 2016  |  297 x 210 mm | Published by Snowbooks http://snowbooks.com

Available worldwide from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Snowbooks.com and all good bookshops

9781911390039 • The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Colouring Book • £9.99, $14.95 • paperback

9781911390046 • The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Colouring Book • £25, $40 • hardback

9781911390053 • The Forest of Doom Colouring Book • £9.99, $14.95 • paperback

9781911390060 • The Forest of Doom Colouring Book • £25, $40 • hardback

9781911390091 • Deathtrap Dungeon Colouring Book • £9.99, $14.95 • paperback

9781911390107 • Deathtrap Dungeon Colouring Book • £25, $40 • hardback

9781911390077 • City of Thieves Colouring Book • £9.99, $14.95 • paperback

9781911390084 • City of Thieves Colouring Book • £25, $40 • hardback

Pre-order at http://snowbooks.com/ff

Read more at www.fightingfantasy.com