John Blanche (1948-2026)

We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of fantasy art legend John Blanche a few days ago, and our thoughts are with his family, friends, colleagues and fans at this time.

It was John's artistic vision that determined the direction of the many worlds of Warhammer for decades. His work was 'grimdark' given form and the incredible iconography of those settings stemmed from his incredible art.

But, of course, to Fighting Fantasy fans, it was John who gave Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series its distinctive look, setting it apart from the rest of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, with his otherworldly illustration style.

That said, John also illustrated the two-player FF adventure, Clash of the Princes, and provided artwork for Warlock Magazine too, including two stunning covers, while his painting of Kharé - the eponymous Cityport of Traps - appeared on the inside cover of Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World.

When Magic Realms: The Art of Fighting Fantasy was published, he quite rightly had a whole chapter dedicated to his work.

John was a true visionary and the diverse creations of his febrile imagination not only helped define the look of fantasy art and gaming for an entire generation, it set the standard that so many others still aspire to.

He will be deeply missed, but his unique vision will live on.

John Blanche
(1948-2026)

Starship Traveller - Turn to 400!

Starship Traveller was recently published in Danish, by Faraos Cigarer, with a new translation by Morten Gottschalck.

However, Morten didn't just translate the Steve Jackson-penned adventure - he also added 60 sections to the adventure to take the total count up to 400. Here's Morten to tell you more about it...

Scott Mackay's Sorcery! Maps

Scott Mackay has added more maps to his Fighting Fantasy collection - solutions the first two adventures from Steve Jackson's seminal Sorcery! quartet.

Each one is available as an A3 print, as are his other Fighting Fantasy maps. To purchase one, simply click on the relevant image above.

Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - Secret Level Unlocked!

Incredibly, Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain funded on Gamefound in just 42 minutes and, as of writing, it is over 460% funded!

This means that a Secret Level Stretch Goal has been unlocked. This is an additional dungeon section that increases the scope of the adventure.

With this new level added, the game now includes more content:
+12 Tile Cards
+15 Encounter Cards
+2 Monster Cards

If you have yet to back the Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, you can do so now on Gamefound. And if you have already pledged your suport, thank you, and please share the project far and wide. Who knows, if enough new backers join the project perhaps further stretch goals will be unlocked.

Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - on Gamefound now!

Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain , a brand new co-operative board game based on the original Fighting Fantasy gamebook, is now live on Gamefound! 

Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain coming to Gamefound soon!

Today, the Warlock has exciting news regarding Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

The forthcoming board game adapts the iconic 1982 gamebook, by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, into a cooperative dungeon crawler board game for 1-4 players, preserving the core ideas that defined the original adventure - choice, consequence, risk, and discovery - while transforming the journey into a shared experience at the table.

Crowdfunding for the project begins on 10th February 2026.

To help bring the game to the North American market, Ulisses Spiele is partnering with Goodman Games, a leading publisher of old-school roleplaying games. Best known for Dungeon Crawl Classics, there’s no better team to bring this game to market. “Goodman Games fans love old-school fantasy adventure, and Fighting Fantasy is perfect for all of us. We’re excited to partner with Ulisses Spiele to bring this fun fantasy adventure board game to even more fans in North America,” said Joe Goodman.

Ulisses Spiele will also be partnering with Scriptarium to bring the game to the French-speaking market. “We are quite excited about our new partnerships helping us to not only reach a global audience but work with companies that understand the essence of what our games are about. Our adventuring party just got much stronger!” said Jan Wagner of Ulisses Spiele.

With English, German, and French versions of the game and strong international partnerships, Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is sure to bring the beloved adventure to fans across the globe when it launches on Gamefound on 10th February.

Ulisses Spiele is an international publisher of tabletop roleplaying and board games, focused on delivering strong worlds and adventuring experiences rooted in player choice. The company is a key player in the German-speaking tabletop market, renowned for its deep fantasy world the Dark Eye and bridging the gap between German and international gaming communities by publishing and distributing a wide array of fantasy and sci-fi role-playing and board games.

Happy Christmas from Fighting Fantasy

There have been a number of exciting developments in the worlds of Fighting Fantasy over the course of 2025.

The year started in January with the news that Marc Gascoigne had been appointed as the new FF Brand Manager and in February Steve Jackson Games launched a crowdfunding campaign to publish the first five of a projected 50 titles in the United States. (The Kickstarter for the second five titles is live now.)

Over the course of the year, more titles were added to Tin Man Games' Fighting Fantasy Classics library, including Starship Traveller, Eye of the Dragon, Crypt of the Sorcerer, and Scorpion Swamp.

In 2025, fans got to see Ulisses Spiele's Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain for the first time, it was announced that Sound Realms would be turning Fighting Fantasy gamebooks into audio adventures, Advanced Fighting Fantasy was released on Foundry Virtual Tabletop, and new editions of some classic FF titles were published in Finland.

One of the highlights of the year was the release of the new collector's hardback of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, featuring new cover art by the extremely talented Karl Kopinski.

Another classic FF gamebook got a makeover when, with Steve Jackson's permission, Morten Gottschalck wrote some additional content for Starship Traveller, so that future editions will feature the classic 'Turn to 400', while recently Blue Giant Studios' Fighting Fantasy Heroes appeared on MyMiniFactory.

And, of course, in October, sadly we lost FF artist Pete Knifton.

Pete Knifton, 1958-2025

So, what does 2026 have in store for the world's preimere gamebook series?

Will there be a new adventure published next year? You'll have to wait and see. Will there be another Fighting Fantasy Fest? Yes, in September*. Will there be more ways to enjoy the worlds of Fighting Fantasy than ever before? We can only hope.

What we can tell you for sure is that the Kickstarter to produce the next five FF books in the new Steve Jackson Games' editions concludes at New Year. So, don't delay and pledge your support today!

* Look out for more news in the New Year.

Scorpion Swamp Revisited

Currently funding on Kickstarter is Fighting Fantasy - Solo Adventure Gamebooks - Set 2 from Steve Jackson Games.

The classic adventures that will be published through this Kickstarter are Creature of Havoc, House of Hell, Caverns of the Snow Witch, Scorpion Swamp, and Island of the Lizard King.

All of these adventures will feature the original cover art and internal illustrations, apart from Scorpion Swamp.

It is not always possible to acquire the rights to reuse the original art from a gamebook, and this proved to be the case with Scorpion Swamp. As a result, another artist has been commissioned to produce all-new artwork for the book, and that artist is Tazio Bettin.

Fans of Fighting Fantasy will already know that Tazio illustrated Steve Jackson's 40th anniversary FF adventure, Secrets of Salamonis, and he has now brought his clean line and deeply shadowed realistic style of a veritable classic of the series.

Giant.

Master of Wolves.

Swamp Orcs.

As well as the internal illustrations, Tazio has also reimagined the Pool Beast for the gamebook's cover.

 

There is still plenty of time to jump on board and join the Kickstarter and secure yourself a copy of the new edition of Scorpion Swamp, featuring Tazio Bettin's incredible artwork.

Sir Ian Livingstone at Dragonmeet 2025

Sir Ian Livingstone is attending Dragonmeet this weekend, on Saturday 29th November 2025, at London's Excel Centre in Docklands.

Click to enlarge.

You will find Sir Ian at stand G29, where he will be selling copies of the latest special edition hardback of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, signed by himself and Steve Jackson, and Magic Realms: The Art of Fighting Fantasy.

If you are attending, do drop by stand G29 and say hello, pick up a new book, or get an old one signed by the gamebook master?

Starship Traveller - Turn to 400!

When it was first published back in 1983, Steve Jackson's Starship Traveller was notable for two reasons. (1) It was the Fighting Fantasy series' first foray into science fiction, and (2) it was the first FF gamebook not to have 400 sections.

But now, Danish gamebook author Morten Gottschalck has extended the adventure, with the full permission and approval of Steve Jackson and the FF team, so that it has 400 sections.

There is currently a crowdfunding campaign running on Kickstarter to publish this revised edition in  Danish, but it would seem likely that, if it funds, when Steve Jackson Games come to publish Starship Traveller in the US again, there could be an English language edition of the extended adventure as well.

If you would like to support the Kickstarter, follow this link. And to support the current Steve Jackson Games Fighting Fantasy Kickstarter campaign, click this link.

Fighting Fantasy - Solo Adventure Gamebooks - Set 2

The Steve Jackson Games' Kickstarter for the second set of the new US editions of the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks is now live!

The Fighting Fantasy series features epic fantasy adventures in which YOU are the Hero! In each book, your character’s life depends a bit on luck... but mostly on the decisions YOU make. Will you triumph... or meet some terrible fate?

Steve Jackson Games – helmed by the American game designer Steve Jackson (no relation) – has continued to work closely with Sir Ian Livingstone to deliver a spellbinding Fighting Fantasy experience for fans in the United States. Sir Ian sums up the excitement we all share as we work together across the pond:

It is worth noting that the new Steve Jackson Games' editions of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks are more than just reprints - they are in an updated reader-friendly format, but still feature the original artwork*, and are available in a smart slipcase featuring Qatlas's map of Caverns of the Snow Witch, which is included within the set. The other titles are Creature of Havoc, House of Hell, Scorpion Swamp**, and Island of the Lizard King.

So don't delay and pledge your support today!

For those who may be nostalgic for the original U.S. printing of House of Hell, there is the House of Hades Variant Edition!

* Where possible.

** Featuring new cover art and internal illustrations by Tazio Bettin.

La Guerre de la Dent-du-Troll

Available now from Scriptarium is the French translation of The Trolltooth Wars graphic novel - La Guerre de la Dent-du-Troll.

La Guerre de la Dent-du-Troll first went on sale at the French RPG and Games convention OctoGônes in Lyon last month. As you can imagine, it went down a storm!

Translated from the graphic novel by Gavin Mitchell and PJ Montgomery by Fabienne Berganz, as with other Scriptarium-related FF products, the French edition includes some bonus material.

There is an illustrated Archives de l'Allansia section written by Florent Haro, an interview with Steve Jackson, and another with PJ Montgormery, who wrote the script for the graphic novel, while Gavin Mitchell, drew, inked, coloured, and lettered it.

A spread from La Guerre de la Dent-du-Troll.

Archives de l'Allansia.

If you would like to buy a copy of La Guerre de la Dent-du-Troll, you can do so via Scriptarium's online store, where you will also find the French edition of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy book Blacksand, Le Port du Sable Noir, which has been adapted and expanded with information from other official sources.