40 Years of The Crown of Kings

2025 marks 40 years since the publication of The Crown of Kings, the final volume of Steve Jackson's seminal gamebook miniseries, Sorcery!

The conclusion of the Sorcery! series starts with the Analander climbing through the Xamen Peaks to reach the Mampang Fortress, and then battle their way through the Archmage’s lair. The Crown of Kings came in at a whopping 800 references (a record yet to be broken by any other Fighting Fantasy gamebook) and was as epic an adventure as any Sorcery! fan could have hoped for. It also featured one of the most memorable (and clever) denouements of any adventure ever published, not to mention encounters with a god-headed Hydra and entire societies of birdmen and she-satyrs.

The God-headed Hydra, by John Blanche.

When pressed on the subject of which of the gamebooks he has written are his favourites, Jackson cites two: “Warlock because it was the first. And Sorcery! because it was the most complex. Creating a four-part adventure in which your actions in Book 2 might affect your choices in Book 4 was a real challenge.”

All four volumes are in print again in the UK, courtesy of Scholastic Books. And all four volumes are also now available in Portuguese, from Brazilian publisher Jambô Editora, including The Crown of Kings, which had previously been available in Brazil.

Rather like the recent Danish editions of the Sorcery! series, the Brazilian ones also come with a unique slipcase.

The Brazilian Sorcery! quartet.

The Danish Sorcery! quartet, plus Spell Book.

 

Starship Traveller - published on this day 40 years ago!

Starship Traveller by Steve Jackson was published 40 years ago today on 1 September 1983.

Having only written one fantasy gamebook by himself, why was it that Jackson abandoned an alternative Tolkien-esque past for a gleaming, rocket-fuelled future?

“I liked to try new things out,” says Jackson. “Sorcery! had a new magic system, Starship Traveller was the first SF adventure.”

Set in the distant future, Starship Traveller (FF4) had the hero become the commander of the eponymous starship and its crew. After his interstellar vessel is sucked through a black hole into an unknown quadrant of space, the hero has to search the local star systems for the coordinates to another black hole and the way home.

As well as keeping a track of his own attributes, the reader had to keep a note of the attributes of his officers. Starship Traveller also added the stats WEAPONS STRENGTH and SHIELDS so that the reader could re-enact battles between spacecraft.

Jackson: “I was a big Star Trek fan. Always preferred it to Doctor Who. Mr Spock was my hero. I liked the episodes where Kirk & Co landed on a planet where they encountered alien races and philosophies. Never liked the deep space battle episodes. Starship Traveller was unashamedly based on Star Trek. And the long dedication was a listing of the entire Games Workshop staff as it was at the time. Some of the GW department heads appeared in the adventure too. ‘Bran-Sell’ was a reference to Bryan Ansell, who ran the Citadel division and later became GW Managing Director. There was a race called the Dar-Villians; a reference to GW’s Sales Manager Peter Darvill-Evans. Fioral was Albie Fiore, who ran the Production Dept. And lots more.”

Both the cover artwork and the internal illustrations were by Peter Andrew Jones, a first and last for the Fighting Fantasy series.

Many years later, Tin Man Games turned Starship Traveller into an app, commissioning new full-colour artwork for the adventure in the process.

While the gamebook was reissued by Wizard Books, Scholastic UK have yet to publish the adventure. So, watch this space...

Blast from the Past! Stormslayer

As people in the UK batten down the hatches in the face of the wrath of Storm Eunice, the Warlock thought it would be timely to transport you back to a time when the weather could not only be fought but defeated.

Stormslayer was published in 2009 as the fourth title in the newly-revamped Wizard Books Series 2, as they have since become known. Written by Jonathan Green and illustrated by newcomer Stephen Player, the adventure was originally pitched as Eye of the Storm. However, the publishers decided that a name change was required, so as to avoid there being any confusion between the new gamebook and the still relatively recently published Eye of the Dragon.

The first FF adventure to be set in Femphrey in the Old World, Stormslayer had the weather mage Balthazar Sturm interfering with the climate in order to wreak his revenge upon those he saw as having passed him over for greatness in the past. Green describes the adventure as, “an attempt to write a book that was more like the original adventures and also one that didn't rely on Demons, Chaos or Undead for the villains. It was to be more elemental altogether.” As with the other titles published as part of Series 2, Stormslayer featured a set of three pre-generated characters.

Simon Flynn, publishing manager of Wizard Books’ parent imprint Icon at the time and the person responsible for the relaunched Fighting Fantasy series, wanted to find a new artist whose style might appeal to a younger audience. He settled on the San Francisco-based Stephen Player, who had previously illustrated some of Terry Pratchett’s books, amongst others. However, he only received the commission after he had submitted a test piece based on an encounter the hero has during the course of the adventure with an ill-tempered Giant.

“It was one of my all-time favourite jobs so far,” says Player of his sole Fighting Fantasy commission. “As a fantasy illustrator there is nothing I like better than drawing monsters. This was an orgy of monsters and mayhem; never a dull moment. I also love working in black and white line; you can put all your time into the design and atmosphere and it also means the process is shorter with no time for boredom to set in.

"Jon Green's imagination is so fertile, the locations, events and creatures in Stormslayer so exotic and varied. It was like illustrating the climactic moments from twenty-five different books.

“There were also new challenges. How to keep the poses different and fresh when so many figures are advancing towards the viewer was one issue I had to wrestle with. Illustrating a collection of objects and weapons in an interesting manner was another.”

Stormslayer has been translated into French and was published by Gallimard Jeunesse in 2013 under the title Le Maître des Tempêtes (which translates as 'The Master of Storms').

While Stormslayer has yet to be republished by Scholastic Books, the similarly-themed Crystal of Storms by Rhianna Pratchett is still available.

Blast from the Past! Spellbreaker

Spellbreaker (FF53) was published 28 years ago this week, while its author, Jonathan Green, was still studying at university.

The story begins with the hero inadvertently enabling Nazek (another Warlock) to steal the Black Grimoire from its guardians at Rassin Abbey in the Old World kingdom of Ruddlestone. To make amends, the hero sets out to track down the villain in order to stop him from opening the legendary Casket of Shadows, and releasing the evil imprisoned within.

Art – both exterior and interior – was provided by Alan Langford. It was the first and last time the artist painted a cover for the series, despite having illustrated five FF adventures before Spellbreaker.

“They just asked me to do it,” says Langford, “which was rather nice, because you get paid rather more for cover art than you do for your inside work.” The image was produced using predominantly watercolours. “I used a little bit of permanent white gouache as well, which is my normal technique for watercolour.”

The Devilworm, which was inspired by the legend of the Lambton Worm.

One of the internal pen and ink illustrations provided by Alan Langford.

(© Alan Langford, 1993)

However, when Wizard Books republished the adventure in 2007, Martin McKenna was commissioned to produce a new piece of cover art, which was done digitally. (Green had been keen to have McKenna illustrate one of his FF adventures ever since being commissioned to write Spellbreaker, back in 1992.)

Despite being incredibly difficult to complete fairly, Spellbreaker still has its fans among the Fighting Fantasy community.

Did you know...?

It was John Sibbick’s image of a dragon attacking a band of adventurers, determined to steal its treasure hoard, that appeared on the front cover of Dungeoneer, that inspired Green to write Spellbreaker in the first place, because he thought the forward-facing dragon was actually a demon!

Blast from the Past! Crypt of the Sorcerer

Originally pitched as Crypt of the Necromancer - until someone at Puffin decided that you couldn’t have the word ‘Necromancer’ in the title of a book aimed at children - Ian Livingstone’s tenth Fighting Fantasy adventure (published in 1987) saw the return of some familiar FF faces and places, whilst also introducing readers to a whole new region of Allansia and some new allies in the hero’s quest to defeat Razaak, the undead sorcerer of the title.

So in Crypt of the Sorcerer we have a return to Darkwood Forest and an appearance by the Wizard Yaztromo (both originally from The Forest of Doom) whilst the hero is transported aboard a hot air balloon to not only the Moonstone Hills but also the baking Plain of Bronze. The adventure is incredibly hard, but full of wonderfully evocative encounters, backed up by the talented fossil-reconstructor John Sibbick’s captivating artwork.

“I found it quite easy to create a style for the interior drawings – more than I expected really," says Sibbick, "although it could be pretty relentless churning out the drawings – and I had no time for any ‘rough’ sketches. Now and again I look at the originals and am amazed at the work and detail involved.”

Demonspawn, by John Sibbick.

“My favourite artist is John Sibbick,” says FF enthusiast Thomas Nielsen. “I think his illustrations hit a nice balance between being realistic, stylised and dirty, and he knows how to make a monstrous creature really monstrous.”

The adventure had a second alternative working title, The Howling Tunnels, which is the place you have to visit to find the fabled Gargantis horn.

Gargantis, by John Sibbick.

Crypt of the Sorcerer was the third FF adventure to feature an original Les Edwards cover, showing the deformed Razaak preparing to cast a spell upon the hero. The painting now resides within Ian Livingstone's personal collection of Fighting Fantasy art.

When the gamebook was reissued by Wizard Books in 2002, Les Edwards produced a new composition for the cover.

As well as being the first gamebook to feature internal black and white art by John Sibbick, Crypt of the Sorcerer is also notable for being the first book to feature a colour map by Leo Hartas, centred upon the Moonstone Hills of central Allansia.

Crypt of the Sorcerer remains one of the hardest Fighting Fantasy adventures to complete, but maybe it's time it was released again to challenge a new generation of brave adventurers.

Deathtrap Dungeon is 35 years old this month!

Ian Livingstone's seminal Fighting Fantasy gamebook Deathtrap Dungeon celebrates its 35th anniversary this month!

One of the things that made the sixth Fighting Fantasy gamebook stand out on the shelves of bookshops and libraries was Iain McCaig's incredible watercolour-painted cover image. Who can fail to remember the myriad-eyed Bloodbeast, staring hungrily at the reader, its pustule-scarred tongue licking the bloody juices of its most recent victim from its fangs?

Deathtrap Dungeon sold over 350,000 copies in its first year alone, was the best-selling children’s book in April 1984, and was ranked 8th out of all books sold that month, coming just behind Dick Francis in seventh place and ahead of Stephen King’s Christine in ninth. It spawned a direct sequel, Trial of Champions, a card game, and a video game. More recently there has been an app version, and there are currently plans to develop a new video game based on the book, as well as a movie.

When Wizard Books republished the series in the Noughties, they reinterpreted one of McCaig's internal illustrations to become the book's cover, but now that Scholastic have taken over the licence, the dreaded Bloodbeast is back, in all its grotesque glory, this time as envisioned by Robert Ball.

As 2019 is the book's 35th anniversary year, Deathtrap Dungeon is one of the FF titles that will be the focus of events at this year's Fighting Fantasy Fest 3, which is taking place on Saturday 31st August 2019. There are even rumours that the Bloodbeast might be making a special appearance at the event.

So don't delay, and make sure you book your ticket today!