Sir Ian Livingstone at LarpCon 2022

Last weekend, the brave and the bold headed to Coalville in Leicestershire to quest for treasure, face wandering monsters, and meet an actual real-life knight - Sir Ian Livingstone!

The event was LarpCon 2002, which this year was themed around the 40th anniversary of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series. Sir Ian met all manner of fans - some less human that others, by the look of things - and was even given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 UK Larp Awards.

One lucky attendee even went home with a glorious 36" sword - crafted by Irregular Props and signed by Sir Ian - which was the first prize in this year's charity raffle in aid of the National Autistic Society. 

If you attended this year's LarpCon, please share your experiences in the comments below and tag us in your photos on Facebook (Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks), Twitter and Instagram (@fightingfantasy).

And don't forget, Fighting Fantasy will be making an appearance at events throughout the year, including the UK Games Expo, and will have its own, dedicated, 40th anniversary fest in September. Click this link to find out more.

The 12 Fighting Fantasy Days of Christmas - Day 9

Devastated by a killer virus, the world you once knew is a wilderness.

Life is lawless and dangerous. Survivors like you either live in scattered, fortified towns, or roam outside as bandits. YOUR mission is to cross the wilderness to the far-distant oil-refinery at San Anglo and bring vital supplies back to the peaceful town of New Hope. Even in the armed Dodge Interceptor you are given, the journey will be wild and perilous. Will YOU survive?

Coming next year to a Messenger App near you is the Freeway Fighter Chatbot, FF13.

Having started life as a Fighting Fantasy Gamebook, in recent years Freeway Fighter has been turned into a limited run of comics and graphic novel, but in 2021 you will be able to play Ian Livingstone's much-loved post-apocalyptic adventure again via the Messenger App on your phone, tablet or PC.

This new version has been developed by the Hungary-based team at Talk-A-Bot along with Ian Livingstone.

Below is a screenshot to give you an idea of what the Freeway Fighter Chatbot will look like.

As ever, keep checking www.fightingfantasy.com and follow Fighting Fantasy on social media - via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - to be kept up to date with all developments.

Play Ian Livingstone's Assassins of Allansia on Twitter...

... and, if you win, you could walk away with a complete set of the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks published by Scholastic Books AND a print of one of Robert Ball's illustrations!

To take part, make sure you follow @scholasticuk on Twitter, and check in on Monday.

And may your STAMINA never fail!

How Fighting Fantasy are YOU?

Dare you take up the Warlock's Challenge? Are you a Jib-Jib or a Bloodbeast?

Click on the image below to begin, read through the statements and for every one that is true for you, score 1 point. Total your points and post the result on Facebook or Twitter.

And may your STAMINA never fail!

Turn to 5,000!

After almost 10 years on Twitter, today @fightingfantasy claimed its 5,000th soul for the Warlock!

To mark this momentous occasion, we are running a brief competition. Simply 'Like' and 'Retweet' the tweet below, and you will be entered into a draw to win an Adventurer's Backpack from Fighting Fantasy Fest 1, back in 2014, and a T-shirt from Fighting Fantasy Fest 2 in 2017.

The competition closes at 12:00pm (noon) GMT on Tuesday 26th March 2019. The winner will be notified via Twitter after the draw has been made.

Are you ready to Test your Luck?

Blank of Blank

Here's some news to get your gamebook taste buds tingling. The next tranche of Fighting Fantasy titles to be released by Scholastic Books will include a brand new adventure by none other than series co-creator Ian Livingstone himself - and film-maker Martin Gooch was lucky enough to be the first person to play-test it this week.

Here's what Martin had to say about the experience on Twitter.

'Blank of Blank', or whatever it actually ends up being called, will be released this September, along with two other classic Fighting Fantasy titles.

Watch this space for more news soon.

Martin Gooch and Ian Livingstone in the Warlock's lair.

Win a copy of Nomad Games' Fighting Fantasy Legends this Free RPG Day!

This Free RPG Day, you could win one of 10 Steam keys for Nomad Games’ Fighting Fantasy Legends.

All you have to do is 'Like' and 'Retweet' this Tweet, and then reply, completing this statement: "If I could step through a portal to the Fighting Fantasy world I would..."

Entries must be submitted via Twitter and the 10 winners will be selected on Sunday.

Can you write an entire story in one tweet?

How would you like to win a copy of Nomad Games' Fighting Fantasy Legends, as well as Scholastic Books' new editions of the original Fighting Fantasy books that inspired the game?

If you would, all you have to do is write a story about a caveman, a librarian and a mouse – all character that appear within the game - in one tweet!

You have until Monday 30th April 2018 to enter and full terms and conditions can be found here.

Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars graphic novel is here!

It's the news that many fans having been waiting to hear, ever since the original Kickstarter for the project funded back in 2015...

Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars graphic novel, written by PJ Montgomery with art by Gavin Mitchell, is in print and available for pre-order now! To secure your copy, simply follow this link.

"Goblins! Goblins!... We are attacked! Take guard... Ambush!"

When Balthus Dire's hill goblins raid a caravan transporting a mystical herb to Zharradan Marr, they set into motion a chain of events that plunge Allansia into a vicious war between the two evil sorcerers.

With their powers and forces being well-matched, the war escalates, and the kingdom of Salamonis comes under threat. A champion is needed to turn the war to Salamonis' advantage and prevent the bloodshed.

The warrior Chadda Darkmane is selected for the mission, and must travel across Allansia seeking unlikely allies, as unseen forces plot against him. Can Darkmane bring an end to the war, or will chaos rule over Allansia?

Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars is a fantastic read, with some amazing art, and no Fighting Fantasy fan's collection would be complete without a copy.

On top of that, if you retweet this tweet by Gavin Mitchell before 3:00pm on Sunday 11th June, you could be in with the chance of winning a Fighting Fantasy enamel badge.

Doomed! We have a winner!

Those of you who have been following Andi Ewington's tweets about Ian Livingstone's Freeway Fighter comic will already be aware that he recently ran a competition on Twitter.

Today we can announce that the winner of the competition is the Fighting Fantasy Collector himself - Jamie Fry!

Congratulations to Jamie Fry!

And how will Jamie be immortalised? You'll just have to wait until Part 4 of Ian Livingstone's Freeway Fighter comic to find out!

And don't forget - Part 2 goes on sale later this month!

Restore your SKILL to its Initial level!

On 1st March, Ian Livingstone posted the following on Twitter:

If you've yet to tweet Ian your #FFinitials it's not too late - the random draw will be made later today, and anyone who has taken part has an equal chance of winning!

It's not the first time Ian Livingstone has used social media to include fans of Fighting Fantasy in an adventure gamebook. In 2012, two FF fans ended up making cameo appearances in Bloodof the Zombies, after retweeting Ian's initial tweet. They were Labour MP Tom Watson, and author, actor, comedian and television producer Charlie Higson!

So if you win this competition you'll be in good company, and your initials will be immortalised in print for posterity, and in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook no less!

The Warlock of Tabletop Mountain

While Steve Jackson was signing Fighting Fantasy gamebooks at Dragonmeet last weekend, Ian Livingstone was Guest of Honour at São Paulo Comic Con in Brazil.

180,000 genre fans attended the four-day event and a significant percentage of them were Fighting Fantasy fans! Jambo Editora, the Brazilian publishers of Fighting Fantasy, certainly made sure that there was plenty of stock to sign!

And it was a good thing too! There were over 100 people in line at the start of Ian's signing sessions for all four days, and they all lasted over two hours before the queue began to die down!

What was particularly pleasing was how many children were there with their parents, who loved the books back in the '80s and '90s.

And here's the view from the main hall stage, with 800 fans crammed in to hear Ian's talk about FF and RPGs - for which he received a standing ovation!

Among the many fans Ian met over the four days was Daielyn Cris, who gave him her beautifully illustrated, hand-made edition of City of Thieves!

FF fan Daniel Werneck gave Ian The Warlock of Tabletop Mountain, an FF book in which you are Ian Livingstone!

Here's Ian with a fan of The Forest of Doom, who just happens to be TV chat show host Danilo Gentili, who just happens to have 14 million Twitter followers.

And here's Ian with a Freeway Fighter fan!

Ian also met Ed H Muller, who produced the cover illustration for the new Brazilian edition of Temple of Terror, which he then generously gifted to book's author!

The whole São Paulo Comic Con experience was very much like being on the set of Fighting Fantasy: The Movie!

In fact, Ian was so inspired by the event that he posted this tweet on Sunday!

So if you want a new FF gamebook for the 35th anniversary, you know what you have to do...

A Legend 34 Years in the Making

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain was published 34 years ago today, as Ian Livingstone himself tweeted today:

And there is only a matter of days to go until Tin Man Games' re-imagined The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is released on Steam.