Fighting Fantasy Readthroughs

Fighting Fantasy was at the UK Games Expo again this year and one of the highlights of the weekend was the live readthrough of Sir Ian Livingstone's City of Thieves.

Olly Mc and a very enthusiastic audience guided John Robertson on a whistle-stop tour through Port Blacksand to a climactic duel with Zanbar Bone... which he promptly lost.

Hopefully the pair will be back next year for a runthrough of Deathtrap Dungeon, which will be celebrating its 40th birthday in 2024.

Olly Mc, John Robertson, and the audience take on

Sir Ian Livingstone's City of Thieves.

The all-conquering Zanbar Bone, plus bunny ears.

If you enjoy live readthroughs of your favourite Fighting Fantasy books, don't forget that Ken Boyter is currently tackling Sir Ian's Shadow of the Giants. Part 3 of his quest will commence at 6:00pm UK time tonight! You can catch up on Parts 1 and 2 via his Twitch channel.

YOU DECIDE! Shadow of the Giants

Those of you who have been following Ken Boyter's live readthrough of Secrets of Salamonis will know that last week he succumbed to one of the many fiendish traps Steve Jackson had built into the book, which means that this week he is embarking on Sir Ian Livingstone's 40th anniversary adventure, Shadow of the Giants!

When an ancient artefact is discovered inside Firetop Mountain, its evil magic unleashes terrifying Iron Giants upon the world. In a race against time, YOU must find the only person who knows how to defeat them. Where does he live? Will he help? Will YOU survive?

Proceedings kick-off today at 6:00pm GMT on Twitch, and you can have your say in chat as to how the adventure progresses. Click this link to find out more.

The Podcast of Firetop Mountain

There are many podcasts, Twitch streams and YouTube channels that regularly discuss Fighting Fantasy gamebooks or play through them, but the latest is definitely one that fans of the premier gamebook series are going to want to check out.

The Podcast of Firetop Mountain is a new venture by Alison Cybe and co-host Stuart Lloyd. Each episode, they take a deep dive into one of the FF adventures, starting with fan-favourite, Sir Ian Livingstone's City of Thieves.

You can listen to The Podcast of Firetop Mountain via YouTube or Spotify, as well as many other places. Next up is Steve Jackson's House of Hell, which premieres on Tuesday 9th August. So make sure you bookmark The Podcast of Firetop Mountain today.

Ian Livingstone on the Galaxy's Greatest: 2000 AD at 45

As well as marking 40 years of Fighting Fantasy, 2022 is also the 45th anniversary of the publication of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, 2000 AD.

This weekend, an online convention - Galaxy's Greatest: 2000 AD at 45 - is taking place to celebrate this momentous occasion. One of the many guests taking part is Fighting Fantasy's very own Sir Ian Livingstone.

Sir Ian will be talking about the great games inspired by the comic's characters and settings, on Sunday 27 March at 4:50pm, and will be joined by Andy Chambers (a freelance writer and games designer who was formally Senior Lead Designer at Games Workshop) and Duncan Molloy (Head of Rebellion Unplugged).

The panel will be streamed online and for free on 2000 AD’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, as well as Rebellion’s dedicated Twitch stream. But you will also be able to watch at your lesiure later via YouTube.

International Gamebook Day 2021

On Friday 27 August 2021, the second ever International Gamebook Day will take place. It might only be the second time the event has run, but it has already grown to take over the entire weekend, with interviews with gamebook creators being streamed in the late afternoon/early evening of each day from Friday 27 to Sunday 29 August.

There will also be other events taking place during the course of the weekend, such as Vicki, of Girls That Game, guiding another unsuspecting victim - I mean participant! - through Ian Livingstone's dungeon crawl adventure Eye of the Dragon.

So check out the event page on Facebook and watch this space for more news soon!

And in case you were wondering, International Gamebook Day takes place on 27 August because that was the date of the original publication of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in 1982.