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)

Happy New Year!

2026 marks the 40th anniversary of six Fighting Fantasy gamebooks - Demons of the Deep, Sword of the Samurai, Trial of Champions, Robot Commando, Masks of Mayhem, and the groundbreaking Creature of Havoc.

It is also 40 years since Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World and The Riddling Reaver were published, and the only two-player Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Clash of the Princes.

Over the coming year, the Warlock will be considering these much-loved publications, and doubtless they will be discussed at Fighting Fantasy 6, which will be taking place later this year in September.

40 years of Seas of Blood

2025 marks 40 years since the publication of Seas of Blood (FF16). In a series of books in which YOU  are the Hero, in 1985 you got to play a bad guy for the first time.

The city of Tak is the greatest den of thieves, pirates and cut-throats that the civilized world has ever seen!

In this city of scum, there are two pirates infamous for their ruthless greed, their daring raids and their countless skirmishes with death. One of these villains is Abdul the Butcher. The other is YOU. Only one of you can be King of the Pirates. A wager is laid, a race is on. But which of you will win?

Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need for this rip-roaring adventure. YOU decide which course to sail, which dangers to risk and which monsters to fight.

The adventure was written by Andrew Chapman, who had already had two science fiction Fighting Fantasy adventures published - Space Assassin and The Rings of Kether.

Seas of Blood saw the hero take on the role of captain of the pirate ship Banshee, who undertakes a contest with rival buccaneer Abdul the Butcher. Whichever one reaches the island of Nippur within fifty days, and with the most gold, will be declared King of Pirates

The adventure is unusual because it allowed for combat between vessels, and between the Banshee and seas monsters, utilising both CREW STRIKE and CREW STRENGTH scores.

Seas of Blood was illustrated by Bob Harvey, his second of four contributions in the gamebook series...

... and bore a cover by the legendary album cover artist Rodney Matthews.

Matthews’ art medium of choice is pigmented acrylic ink: “I do it with those inks because they’re transparent, or at least translucent, and you can build up the colour gradually,” says the artist. “That’s why I use them, so you don’t overstate something, you can build it up and keep in control of things.”

But while the cover implies a Classical theme, the adventure itself (as older FF fans will know already) has a more strongly Arabian feel to it. And the reason for this mix-up? According to Matthews, it was down to a junior editor at Puffin misleading the artist when he was given the cover brief.

Despite this mix-up, Matthews is still proud of his involvement with Fighting Fantasy, however fleeting it might have been: “I enjoyed doing the cover. I think it probably enhanced the book, but a bit inaccurately.”

As with a number of locations from the other early Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, when FF editor Marc Gascoigne set about compiling Titan – The Fighting Fantasy World, the lands surrounding the Inland Sea, where Seas of Blood is set, were slotted into the newly-created continent of Khul.

However, the book’s author, Andrew Chapman, had already developed a more extensive geography and history for the lands of the Inland Sea which he would later go on to use in two more books – one of which, Ashkar the Magnificent, features the same map as appeared in Seas of Blood – as well as the unpublished FF adventure Deathlord.

Marc Gascoigne Announced as new Fighting Fantasy Brand Manager

LONDON, UK  |  23 JANUARY 2025

Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone, the co-creators of Fighting Fantasy, have recruited Marc Gascoigne as Brand Manager of the bestselling gamebook series. The classic series of adventure gamebooks, which began in 1982 with The Warlockof Firetop Mountain, continues to thrive with new titles being published by Scholastic UK, together with digital and audio editions, role-playing and board games, miniatures, and a growing range of licensed merchandise.

With more than 20 million books sold in over 30 languages, Fighting Fantasy remains a truly global phenomenon. The series will be returning to US bookstores in mid-2025 with 10 titles being published by Steve Jackson Games Inc (run by the other Steve Jackson in the USA).

Marc will be supporting existing Fighting Fantasy licensees, as well as seeking out appropriate partners for new ventures. Long-time Fighting Fantasy fans will already be familiar with Marc’s work from the legendary sourcebooks Titan—the Fighting Fantasy World and the Fighting Fantasy monster collection Out of the Pit, the gamebook Battleblade Warrior, and two Fighting Fantasy novels. He was also the series’ consultant editor in the 1990s for Puffin Books, before building a career in fantasy fiction as publisher of Games Workshop’s Black Library range of Warhammer novels, and later with his own award winning imprint Angry Robot.

Sir Ian Livingstone said: “We are delighted to have Marc join us to further promote and build Fighting Fantasy worldwide. A respected expert of the genre, he will be an invaluable member of the Fighting Fantasy team. May his STAMINA never fail!” 

Sir Ian Livingstone and Marc Gascoigne at Dragonmeet 2024.

You can read the full press release here.

Une Entreprise Épique

Belgian Fighting Fantasy fan Gil Jugnot has mapped the Fighting Fantasy (or Défis Fantastiques) gamebooks, including the Sorcery! quartet and The Tasks of Tantalon, onto the maps of the three continents of Titan published by Scriptarium. And here they are.

Allansia

The Old World

Khul

The Advanced Fighting Fantasy Christmas Sale

It's December (already!) which means it's time for the annual Arion Games festive sale. As in previous years, every Arion Games PDF available through DTRPG is on sale at a massive 40% discount until the end of the month. 

In addition to that, Arion Games also have FOUR brand new adventures for four different games and these will be sent to every customer who has bought something from their store during December for FREE!

So what are you waiting for? Check out the Arion Games festive sale now and pick up those AFF titles that are missing from your collection!

 

Titan - The Audiobook

Independent audiobook publisher Spokenworld Audio is proud to announce a partnership with legendary UK gaming authors Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone to bring the original Fighting Fantasy world guide, Titan, to audiobook life.

Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World was first released by Puffin Books in 1986, and was compiled and edited by Marc Gascoigne. The large-format book brought together the lore, history and characters of the many Fighting Fantasy gamebooks available at the time, and fleshed it out into a grimoire full of exciting world-building. It was not only a guide to fans of the books, but also a compendium of facts for those creating their own fantasy adventures within the wider FF world, and a gateway for many into the expansive artform of fantasy fiction.

Titan is being narrated by award-winning audiobook director/narrator Neil Gardner, a lifelong fan of the Fighting Fantasy series. Neil said of Titan:

“I was 12 years old, it was 1986, my Mum had dragged me shopping in Orpington and I was thoroughly miserable. But then, in WHSmith’s , I saw Titan, and there was no going back. I begged my mum to let me buy it, and for the next few weeks I was lost in this incredible tome. I had bought every FF book up to that point, and friends and I were writing our own adventures to share between us. Titan fleshed out the FF landscape and tied together the various stories and characters. It opened my eyes to a universe of creative possibilities, and I’ve owned that copy ever since. It sits proudly on my bookshelf to this day!”

On bringing Titan to audiobooks, Neil said:

“For my entire professional career in radio and audio, I’ve dreamed of bringing Fighting Fantasy to life. For so long I’ve been frustrated by the technology, or the lack of interest from commissioning editors and broadcasters. But now, with audiobooks in such demand, and fantasy being so entrenched in our modern culture, it feels like it is time to bring Fighting Fantasy to audio life. Titan has always been my favourite FF title, and being prose makes it perfect for an audiobook release. If the fanbase enjoy what they hear, my next aim is to bring Out of the Pit to audio, and then some of the other prose FF titles.”

On partnering with Steve and Ian, Neil said:

“There are moments in your life when you just have to take a step back and do a little Snoopy-dance of joy. For me, getting the go-ahead from Steve and Ian was just such a moment. Their words, creativity and vision have been with me my entire life. From Fighting Fantasy, Warlock, and Games Workshop, to amazing video games and how they have represented the UK’s creative industries… they are true legends, who in my mind, sit alongside Douglas Adams, Pat Mills, Terry Pratchett and Robert Rankin. I hope this will be just the first step on a long audio adventure with these incredible gentlemen!”

Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World will be released as a download-to-own single-voice audiobook on the 1st February 2022 exclusively via www.spokenworldaudio.biz. FF fans are encouraged to support the independent publishing of the title by buying it from Spokenworld Audio during the initial 10 day period. It will then become available across all other platforms (including Audible and iTunes) from the 11th February 2022.

Chris Achilleos (1947-2021)

We were very sorry to hear the terrible news that renowned fantasy artist Chris Achilleos passed away after a short illness on Monday afternoon.

Ian Livingstone posted this tweet in response to the announcement:

For many young fans in the 1980s, the cover of Temple of Terror was their first introduction to the work of the legendary artist, although he had already painted the cover for Space Assassin, and would go on to produce others for the series, including Armies of Death and the seminal background lore books, Out of the Pit and Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World. His painting appears in The Fighting Fantasy Poster Book an unprecedented four times!

Chris (full name 'Christos') was interviewed about his work for YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, and even provided the cover for the second volume. This was what he had to said about the creation of the cover painting for Temple of Terror:

“I was dealing with Ian and he called me and said, ‘I’m going to leave it to you to design me the creature for this new book I’m writing. I’m going to tell you the scene and you come up with the creature, because you probably don’t need guidance on this from someone like me.’ And I said, ‘That sounds great, yeah. Then you can describe it from my painting.’

“It was a guardian of this gate and it was a desert scene – a city half buried under sand – so I designed this creature that lies in wait, buried under the sand... It was something I’d seen in a wildlife programme, these desert snakes that hide in the sand and just have their eyes out and then they pounce on you. So I imagined the same creature sort of lying in wait for someone to try and pass the gate. I drew that and he was delighted with it. In fact he bought the original from me.”

This trust that the writer had in the artist, also resulted in Chris producing one of the most recognisable cover paintings in British fantasy gaming, that of Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World:

“With that Ian said, ‘Just draw a dragon picture, Chris,’ and then left it to me. So I had to consider first of all that’s it a double spread… and then come up with something. When you don’t get a manuscript or a story that already describes what you need to do, when you’re left to yourself, you tend to go round in circles with many ideas and not focusing on one, not knowing quite what to do. Time flies and you’re still wondering which way to go.

“In this case, this was what was going on. I felt like, I’ve got to stop here; it’s not working. So I made up a story in my head about a shape-shifting wizard, who is attacking this city, in the form of this giant dragon, being held back. He’s destroyed the army that you can see… The drawbridge is down, he’s holding onto one of the chains – the other one’s already been broken – and the rest of the bridge is broken and down… The best of the knights have been killed. In desperation the baron comes out with his magicians, or druids or priests, to do magic with the dragon – not to hold him, not to destroy him, but to turn him back into human form and conquer him.

“The clue I put in there that the dragon is not just an animal – it’s a shape-shifting being, a super-being if you like, a magician – is that I put earrings and bracelets on him. That’s what that’s saying. That’s also why it’s called ‘Dragon Spell’. They’re putting a spell on him and trying and revert him back to a human being so they can defeat him. The question in that picture is, will he turn back to human or will he just snap out of it and literally bite the heads off them? That’s what the picture’s saying. People either see that consciously or unconsciously.”

Chris also had the honour of providing the cover art for the first Fighting Fantasy novel, Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars:

“I was given the outline of the story and it was left up to me. I quite liked the concept of an orc fighting off a disgusting skeleton.”

Fans will be deeply saddened by the passing of a great artist and a fine man, but Chris leaves behind an immense body of work that has adorned everything from Doctor Who novels to Whitesnake album covers, as well as FF gamebooks. But certainly, the worlds of Fighting Fantasy would be diminished without Chris's contributions, and our thoughts remain with his friends and family at this difficult time.

In memory of

Chris Achilleos

1947-2021

Are YOU Game?

I understand that on your Earthly Plane you are facing a weekend of noble sporting endeavours, it being the finals of both the ball-blugeon contest Wimbledon, and the foot-the-ball competition of the Euros.

While I prefer the gladiatorial games of Blood Island myself, sport is nonetheless enjoyed by all manner of races, all across the world of Titan too. Port Blacksand - that notorious City of Thieves - even has its own Sports Arena, where events such as Dwarf-tossing, Pixie Throttling, and Shoot-the-Apple-Off-The-Goblin's-Head - entrance 1 Gold Piece - may be enjoyed.

However, without doubt, the most popular sport undertaken within the arena is that of Bays' Ball.

Bays' Ball is a game played by the small Goblin-like creatures known as Bays, hence its name. It is their favourite game.

The game is played by two teams of small, Goblin-like creatures, known as Bays (hence its name), who alternate between fielding and batting. A small leather ball is thrown or "pitched" by a designated member of the fielding side to an opposing player who, armed with a wooden stick, hits the ball and then attempts to run around a circuit delimited by cloth bags manned by fielding Bays.

If the ball is hit over the wall of the stadium or arena the game is being played in then the batting team will score a complete circuit and can potentially win immediately. If the batter misses completely then they are out and this is denoted by the words "You're out!" being called behind the batter. The score is often displayed on the walls of the arena through the employment of cloth banners suspended from wooden hangers. These are updated as the score changes by designated Bays.

Bays are passionate about the game and players and supporters alike will react badly to losing. On the other hand, they are overjoyed when they win and supporters have been known to shower gifts upon the player responsible for the victory. It has been known for non-Bays to be allowed to play, and even spectators are sometimes accepted onto the field to play.

Other sports popular across Allansia and beyond include Ogreball, and Bataar Racing. What's your favourite of all the Titan games?

Oh, and good luck England!

The 12 Fighting Fantasy Days of Christmas - Day 4

Available now from Arion Games is another set of Paper Miniatures for Advanced Fighting Fantasy. They are continuing to work their way through Beyond the Pit, and this set presents another 16 miniature monsters that you can use to help bring your tabletop games to life.

Among the monsters in Beyond the Pit Set XII are several common creatures, such as the Giant Spider and Spectre, as well as quite a few Titan-Specific horrors, including the Shael Beast, Shicome, Sightmaster and Spike Demon!

To purchase this new set, as well as other Advanced Fighting Fantasy products through DriveThruRPG, simple click on the image below.

If you're looking for something seasonal, why not check out the Ice and Lakes set of Advanced Fighting Fantasy paper miniatures?

Welcome to Allansia

 A new fan-drawn map of Allansia appeared online this week...

It is the work of Rian Aesoterik, a very talented cartographer.

If you have any maps that you have drawn yourself, inspired by the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and the world of Titan, let us know via mail@fightingfantasy.com, and they could end up being featured here too.

Blast from the Past! Seas of Blood

Having already had two science fiction Fighting Fantasy adventures published (Space Assassin and The Rings of Kether) Andrew Chapman’s third contribution to the FF series, was Seas of Blood (FF16).

Seas of Blood saw the hero take on the role of captain of the pirate ship Banshee, who undertakes a contest with rival buccaneer Abdul the Butcher. Whichever one reaches the island of Nippur within fifty days, and with the most gold, will be declared King of Pirates

The adventure is unusual because it allowed for combat between vessels, and between the Banshee and seas monsters, utilising both CREW STRIKE and CREW STRENGTH scores.

Seas of Blood was illustrated by Bob Harvey, his second of four contributions in the gamebook series...

... and bore a cover by the legendary album cover artist Rodney Matthews.

Matthews’ art medium of choice is pigmented acrylic ink. “I do it with those inks because they’re transparent, or at least translucent, and you can build up the colour gradually,” says the artist. “That’s why I use them, so you don’t overstate something, you can build it up and keep in control of things.”

But while the cover implies a Classical theme, the adventure itself (as older FF fans will know already) has a more strongly Arabian feel to it. And the reason for this mix-up? According to Matthews, it was down to a junior editor at Puffin misleading the artist when he was given the cover brief.

Despite this mix-up, Matthews is still proud of his involvement with Fighting Fantasy, however fleeting it might have been: “I enjoyed doing the cover. I think it probably enhanced the book, but a bit inaccurately.”

As with a number of locations from the other early Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, when FF editor Marc Gascoigne set about compiling Titan – The Fighting Fantasy World, the lands surrounding the Inland Sea, where Seas of Blood is set, were slotted into the newly-created continent of Khul.

However, the book’s author, Andrew Chapman, had already developed a more extensive geography and history for the lands of the Inland Sea which he would later go on to use in two more books – one of which, Ashkar the Magnificent, features the same map as appeared in Seas of Blood – as well as the unpublished FF adventure Deathlord.