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.

Blast from the Past! Legend of the Shadow Warriors

This weekend it is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere of your Earthly Plane, a time when those who live close to nature call to mind the pagan spirits of the past.

Some of those pagan nature spirits made an appearance in Legend of the Shadow Warriors (FF44, copyright Stephen Hand). Published in 1991, it was Hand's first solo contribution to the Fighting Fantasy series, having co-written Dead of Night with Jim Bambra. It was illustrated by Martin McKenna, who had also worked on Dead of Night, while Terry Oakes provided the cover paiting, having done the same for the aforementioned Dead of Night.

"After much hard work, Dead of Night was finished," Stephen Hand said in an interview with AdvancedFightingFantasy.com. "Jim and I were pleased to be immediately invited to write another book. Jim decided not to write another, so I worked on Legend of the Shadow Warriors alone.

"It was a blast. Now I had no reason, other than my own failings, not to go way over the top. I tried to create a world that I as a kid would love to have visited (albeit with armed guards) - a total Hammer Horror reality with real history and personalities. I tried to create a quest that no one had done before, and I tried to take up some serious issues... I also started to build up characters and themes that I wanted to develop over time."

Set in Gallantaria, the adventure cast the hero as a veteran of the War of the Four Kingdoms who sets out to discover whether the five ghostly figures that are putting entire villages to the sword are really the Shadow Warriors of legend.

Shadow Warriors, by Martin McKenna.

Hand’s horror movie influences – everything from Universal, Hammer and Amicus, to Spanish and Italian films and ‘80s Splatter – were even more obvious in this book, particularly with the introduction of Kauderwelsch’s Frankenstein-like Monster. The adventure is formed from a series of vignettes that give it the feeling of a long-running RPG campaign, more epic in scope, rather than just a one-off solo gamebook.

Cauldron Ring, by Martin McKenna.

The climax to the adventure remains unique out of all the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks ever published, with the hero having to forgive and heal the enemy rather than kill and destroy him.

“‘You put your arms around an old man, crying with the simple joy of being alive’ is simply the most emotionally satisfying conclusion to the series next to retrieving the Crown of Kings,” says FF fan Lin Liren.

Haggworts, by Martin McKenna.

In Legend of the Shadow Warriors, Hand had introduced the sinister Mandrakes to Fighting Fantasy – sentient plant-creatures that mimicked human beings (clearly inspired by the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers).

The horror of the Mandrakes, by Martin McKenna.

The is a brief cameo appearance from a Mandrake in Hand's next adventure, Moonrunner, but he fully intended to return to them in Blood of the Mandrake, which would have conclude his Old World series. But having taken a full-time job with PC games company MicroProse, Hand had less and less time to devote to his freelance work, and so sadly it was not to be.

Happy Birthday, Terry Oakes!

Today is the 75th birthday of superstar Fighting Fantasy gamebook cover artist Terry Oakes!

Over the course of nine years, from 1985-1994, Terry produced the covers for 12 Fighting Fantasy books, including the novel Demonstealer and The Fighting Fantasy 10th Anniversary Yearbook.

But how long did it take to produce a cover like the one for Demonstealer?

“It all depended on the amount of detail demanded by any particular cover, of course,” explains Oakes, “but as a general rule-of-thumb it took about five to seven days to complete. However, on occasions commissions could be ‘dropped in my lap’, as the saying goes, whereby everything became governed by the dreaded deadline – in which case I would put in an extra effort by working longer hours… Now and then I did manage to finish a piece in three to four days when required.”

Terry also painted a Brain Slayer for Out of the Pit, the cover for Issue #3 of Warlock Magazine, and even branched out into interior illustration with the FF gamebooks Black Vein Prophecy and The Crimson Tide.

If you would like to send Terry a birthday gift, why not visit Intercept Studios and purchase one of the prints of his Fighting Fantasy covers?

Terry Oakes' Fighting Fantasy Art

For fans of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and novels, Terry Oakes will need no introduction. His stunning art graced the cover of adventures such as Beneath Nightmare Castle, Slaves of the Abyss, Dead of Night and Tower of Destruction, and the novel Demonstealer.

He also contributed a painting of a Brain Slayer to The Fighting Fantasy Poster Book, and produced the cover art for The 10th Anniversary Yearbook. And then there was the cover of Warlock magazine #3.

If you have particularly fond memories of Terry Oakes' Fighting Fantasy art, you should make sure you head over to Intercept Studios, where prints of his work are available to buy. Not only that, but enter the code FFPRINT10 at the checkout to get 10% off orders, until Monday 27th of August!

Tell them the Warlock set you.