The Citadel of Chaos - published on this day 40 years ago!

The Citadel of Chaos by Steve Jackson was published 40 years ago today on 31 March 1983.

"After Warlock had done so well, Puffin wanted to know if we could turn this into a series," recalls Steve Jackson. "And yes, we could. At a meeting in Philippa Dickinson’s office, she wanted to know what we should call this series. Ian came up with ‘Fighting Fantasy’. I think at the time it was just expected to be a working title. But it never got changed!”

Work started immediately on another two titles, with the authors of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain now working on one new book each.

Jackson did not stray that far from the familiar format of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Although it was set within a castle, The Citadel of Chaos was effectively another dungeon bash, but with the addition of rules for using magic.

Atop his sinister Black Tower, the dread sorcerer Balthus Dire is making plans of conquest. The hero of the adventure is a student of the Grand Wizard of Yore, charged by King Salamon with penetrating the stronghold of the fell magic-user, and stopping the fiend before he can unleash his army upon the peaceful Vale of Willow.

Before beginning the adventure, the hero has to determine his MAGIC score and then choose a corresponding number of spells from a pool of twelve that includes such enchantments as Creature Copy, Fool’s Gold and Levitation. But where did the inspiration for Balthus Dire and the lethal Ganjees come from?

Jackson: “Creating names for new characters monsters and places was always a brainstorming exercise. I’d write lots of contenders on a sheet of paper and eventually pick one which to my mind sounded evocative... ‘Balthus’ was the name of a French painter. At the time I was constantly on the lookout for inspiration for names for characters, places and creatures. I came across Balthus the artist – his name, not his art, which I have never seen! I thought: ‘Yes. That’s a cool name. Sounds kind of demonic, or like a dark religious pontiff.’ I used to use a thesaurus a lot for inspiration. ‘Dire’ sounded particularly bad. And thus Balthus Dire became the boss of the adventure.”

Internal art was by Russ Nicholson, while the cover was produced by the enigmatically-named Emmanuel.

Gark, by Russ Nicholson. (© Russ Nicholson, 1983 and 2014)

“The only art I really didn’t like was the cover of the original Citadel of Chaos,” reveals Jackson. “As this was the second book in the series, it could have been interpreted as a significant statement of art intent. But it was followed by Iain McCaig’s cover of The Forest of Doom which set a new standard. I asked Penguin many times to have the Citadel cover recommissioned. Eventually they gave in and Ian Miller did a fine job.”

One of the rewards sent out to backers of the Kickstarter to fund production of YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2, the second part of Jonathan Green's history of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, was an 'album' of music inspired by the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. One of these was a track inspired by Steve Jackson's first solo gamebook...

Ian Livingstone in BBC Click's interactive 1,000th episode

To mark its 1,000th episode, Click - the BBC's user-friendly guide to the latest technology news, issues, gadgets and apps - has gone interactive. And not only that, but it features an interview with Fighting Fantasy's very own Ian Livingstone, and even a sneak peek of his new gamebook, Assassins of Allansia. Just remember to #keepthehat.

Click here to watch the interactive episode of Click.

Fighting Fantasy hasn't only been in the news online, it has also made an appearance recently in two magazines. The latest issue of Starburst magazine includes a plug for Fighting Fantasy Fest 3, while The Ultimate Guide to Fantasy Gaming features a retrospective of your favourite adventure gamebook series.

However, for a more in-depth look at the origins and influence of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, you really can't beat Jonathan Green's YOU ARE THE HERO histories.

     

Chris Achilleos to attend Fighting Fantasy Fest 3

Following hot on the heels of yesterday's announcement that Geraldine Cooke will be attending Fighting Fantasy Fest 3 on 31st August*, we are delighted to report that fantasy art legend Chris Achilleos will also be joining us at the gamebook event of the year.

Over the past 40 years, Chris has created some of the best loved fantasy and glamour art and is acknowledged as one of the top fantasy artists in the world.

However, Fighting Fantasy fans will doubtless fondly remember Chris's cover art for such classic gamebooks as Ian Livingstone's Temple of Terror and Armies of Death, as well as Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars, and the sourcebooks Out of the Pit and Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World.

More recently he painted the wraparound cover for Part 2 of Jonathan Green's YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.

So don't miss out this opportunity to meet the man himself and collect another signature. Make sure you secure your ticket for Fighting Fantasy Fest 3 today!

* I don't know, you wait ten weeks for a new guest announcement and then two come along at once!

Atlantis Miniatures to launch Fighting Fantasy Legends miniatures range at Fighting Fantasy Fest 3!

Readers of YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks may remember reference being made to a range of miniatures Ian Livingstone had commissioned sculptor Damien Sparkes to create for him, featuring everyone's favourite FF monsters and villains.

And then at the first Fighting Fantasy Fest, in 2014, visitors saw several of these incredibly detailed and beautifully painted models out on display.

After this, the question would regularly be raised on social media platforms as to when the range would be made commercially available. Come Fighting Fantasy Fest 2, in 2017, there was still no sign of the models, although all 21 appeared in YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2, which was launched at the event.

Today we have some very exciting news for fans of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, model-makers, painters, and collectors of miniatures alike. The Fighting Fantasy Legends range of miniatures will be available to buy for the first time at Fighting Fantasy Fest 3!

The models are being produced by Atlantis Miniatures, a UK based miniature company focused on creating high quality resin fantasy miniatures. Atlantis Miniatures will be attending Fighting Fantasy Fest 3, and will have blister packs of the miniatures for sale at their stand.

And this is only Phase One. The miniatures available on the day will be a limited first run, based on how many they can get out of the existing moulds, making them not only highly desirable but also highly collectible items!

Atlantis plan to produce further FF miniatures, and will be launching a Kickstarter campaign later this year for the purpose of creating new moulds and putting them through a larger scale of production.

So the miniatures on sale at Fighting Fantasy Fest 3 will be a limited and exclusive release, available to whoever gets there first. After all, once they're gone, they're gone!

So if you've not bought your ticket for Fighting Fantasy Fest 3 yet, now is the time to do so. For not only will you be able to buy the Fighting Fantasy Legends miniatures for the first time, you will also be able to get your blisters signed by the co-creators of Fighting Fantasy, Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson themselves!

Blast from the Past! Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game

In 1984, with other authors like Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson now writing for the main Fighting Fantasy line, the original creators found themselves with more time to expand the Fighting Fantasy world, as well as the FF brand, in new directions. Steve Jackson, set himself the challenge of turning Fighting Fantasy into a more conventional role-playing game, such as those that had inspired The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in the first place.

“I wanted to see how simple I could make a role-playing game based on FF,” says Jackson. “So instead of the GamesMaster describing the room you’d just walked into, the illustration was in the book. You’d just say: “The door opens and you see… THIS!” and show the players the room. I had no intention of creating a new Dungeons & Dragons or anything like that. It was just supposed to tie FF in as a multi-player game as well as a solo RPG.”

As well as the usual FF rules, modified for the multi-player experience, Fighting Fantasy came complete with two ready-made adventures, the introductory The Wishing Well and the significantly longer and more challenging Shaggradd's Hives of Peril.

Jackson: “FF the RPG was supposed to be the simplest possible format for a RPG; minimum work involved for the GM. So instead of the GM having to keep referring to a GM’s map, there was a map offered at every location... Having been used to full-blown RPGs which got more and more complex, this was, as it said, an introductory rulebook. Excellent art by Duncan Smith, don’t you think?”

Duncan Smith produced all of the book’s internal art, including maps, as well as the dramatic cover which showed an angry Weretiger bursting out of a huge dice.

“I think the deadlines were very tight,” Smith says, recalling the time he spent working on the cover, “and I remember they wanted everything in it including the kitchen sink. Dwarfs, dragons, dice, monsters , etc. I just had to come up with an idea to have all the elements on the cover, and make it look good. I wanted to do a more traditional painting but they liked this, so...”

Duncan Smith and Steve Jackson are both going to be guests at Fighting Fantasy Fest 3, on Saturday 31st August 2019, tickets for which go on sale soon.

In the meantime, you can find out more about the history by picking up a copy of Jonathan Green's YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks and YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2, which is currently on sale at a knock-down price, direct from the author.

     

Ian Livingstone at the UK Games Expo 2018

In case you've been stuck in Deathtrap Dungeon since 1st May and haven't heard the news already, co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy series, co-founder of Games Workshop and all round gaming living legend, Ian Livingstone will be attending the UK Games Expo on Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd June.

On Friday 1st June, from 5.00pm to 7.00pm, in Toute Suite at the NEC, join Ian for a live reading of Deathtrap Dungeon and help raise funds for charity. Ian will be doing his best to lure intrepid adventurer, John Robertson - star of The Dark Room - to a horrible death, helped by the audience.

And then, on Friday 1st June, from 10.30pm to 11.30pm, in the Pavilion at the Hilton, the tables will be turned, and Ian will become the victim when he plays The Dark Room hosted by John Robertson.



Tickets for both the Deathtrap Dungeon live reading and The Dark Room, starring Ian Livingstone, can be purchased here.

On Saturday 2nd June, at noon in Toute Suite in the NEC, Ian will be giving a talk about the early years of Games Workshop and how the Fighting Fantasy series came to be, as part of the Expo's free seminar programme.

Gamebook author and historian Jonathan Green will also be in attendance and is marking 25 years since the publication of his first Fighting Fantasy adventure Spellbreaker with a special prize draw.

He will also have hardback copies of YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2 to sell.

Ian Livingstone to attend the UK Games Expo 2018

Co-founder of Games Workshop, co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy series, and the man who brought Lara Croft to the world, Ian Livingstone will be attending the UK Games Expo from 1st - 3rd June this year.

During the three day expo he will be giving a talk on the early days of Games Workshop and Fighting Fantasy, as well as making a guest appearance in the Dark Room and giving a Live Reading of Deathtrap Dungeon. To find out more, follow this link.

Jonathan Green will also be in attendance and selling copies of his history of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, YOU ARE THE HERO Parts 1 and 2.

New Year Resolutions

It's the start of a New Year, a time when people traditionally look back over the past year and make plans for the future, promising themselves that they will achieve certain goals.

2017 was an epic year for Fighting Fantasy. For a start it marked the 35th anniversary of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, which was celebrated with the series' return, courtesy of Scholastic Books, and a brand-new title by Ian Livingstone, The Port of Peril.

On top of that, there was the release of not one but two graphic novels, one of which compiled the Ian Livingstone's FREEWAY FIGHTER limited-run comic mini-series.

     

And then there were FF video games releases from Tin Man Games and Nomad Games.

2017 also saw the second FF convention, Fighting Fantasy Fest 2, take place in Ealing - at which YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2 was launched - along with various signings, most notably those held at Forbidden Planet in London.

There's still plenty more to look forward to in 2018, including another tranche of titles being release by Scholastic in April, including Charlie Higson's The Gates of Death!

So, what are your Fighting Fantasy-related New Year Resolutions?

Dice Men: The History of Games Workshop Unbound!

Some exciting news broke at Dragonmeet over the weekend. If you haven't already heard, Unbound will be publishing a new book about the early years of Games Workshop.

Dice Men: Games Workshop the Early Years 1975 to 1985 is co-authored by Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone and Jamie Thomson. Steve and Ian need no introduction, and Jamie Thomson will be best known to Fighting Fantasy fans as the co-author of Talisman of Death, Sword of the Samurai and The Keep of the Lich-Lord, but he was also an employee of Games Workshop in those early days.

We've already had the history of FF gamebooks by Jonathan Green, which currently runs to two volumes and which touched on the foundation of Games Workshop, but Dice Men will explore that seminal time in much greater detail. It will take the form of a full colour, highly illustrated hardback over 300 pages long, A4 (210mm x 297mm) printed on 140gsm gloss art stock, with colour printed endpapers and a bookmark ribbon.

To find out more about this very special book, and to pledge your support to the project, follow this link.

Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone to attend DRAGONMEET 2017

Celebrate 35 years of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks at Dragonmeet this December.

Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, the co-creators of the world's most popular gamebook series, will be giving a special seminar at Dragonmeet, on Saturday 2nd December 2017, to mark this incredible milestone.

Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone in 1982.

The event runs from 10:00am until midnight, and Scholastic Books will be there, selling copies of the Fighting Fantasy re-issues, and so will Fighting Fantasy historian Jonathan Green, who will have copies of YOU ARE THE HERO Parts 1 and 2 on sale.

We'll see you there, and may your STAMINA never fail (in the signing queue)!

Fighting Fantasy historian Jonathan Green to attend AramadaCon this weekend

Fighting Fantasy historian and gamebook author Jonathan Green will be one of the guests at this year's AramadaCon, which is taking place at Future Inns this weekend in Plymouth.

On Saturday 4th November, in the Main Hall, he will be giving a talk entitled 'How to Write an Adventure Gamebook', while on Saturday evening there will be a live read-through of a Fighting Fantasy adventure.

Not only that, but he will have a table in the Dealers' Room, where he will be selling copies of his history of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, YOU ARE THE HERO Parts 1 and 2.

Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone to attend Dragonmeet 2017

Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone will be attending Dragonmeet on Saturday 2nd December, where they will be celebrating 35 years of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks with a special seminar.

Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks

by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone

1982 - 2017

Fighting Fantasy historian Jonathan Green will also be attending the event and will be selling copies of YOU ARE THE HERO Parts 1 & 2. He will also be at GamesFest 2017, this Saturday, 21st October, at the Victorian Hall in Tring, Hertfordshire.

YOU ARE THE HERO at Dragondaze!

In case you live in South Wales, near Newport, and you weren't able to make it to Fighting Fantasy Fest 2, it may interest you to hear that Fighting Fantasy historian Jonathan Green will be attending Dragondaze on Saturday 30th September, and will have copies of YOU ARE THE HERO Parts 1 & 2 on sale.

If you're going along, why not say hello and pick up a signed copy?

The Singalong of Chaos

Today, upon the Earthly Plane, in the realm know as the United Kingdom, it is National Poetry Day.

From time to time poems - usually in the form of rhyming couplets - have appeared in Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, but there has been very little in the way of sonnets, or elegaic epics that have been inspired by the series. However, a number of musicians have been inspired to write FF-themed songs, the lyrics of which are their own form of poetry.

Backers of the Kickstarter to fund production of YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2, the second part of Jonathan Green's history of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, will no doubt have already sampled the delights of Groan's Citadel of Chaos - a track inspired by Steve Jackson's first solo gamebook - as well as Jaldaboath's Balthus Dire.



But if you prefer your music a little more Gilbert and Sullivan, then you may be interested to hear what composer, orchestrator and baritone Craig M Wood has produced, after being inspired by the self-same adventure gamebook.



What is it about The Citadel of Chaos that makes it so prone to musical reinterpretation? Who knows, but if you've been inspired to write a song based on a Fighting Fantasy gamebook, drop us a line at mail@fightingfantasy.com and maybe we'll feature it on the Fighting Fantasy news page.

Fighting Fantasy Fest 2 - Return to the Convention of Firetop Mountain!

A week ago, a weekend of celebrations to mark the 35th anniversary of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks kicked off with the world's first Fighting Fantasy pub quiz. Seven teams endured their own Trial of Champions, working their way through eight rounds to see who knew the most FF lore.

One of the highlights of the evening was a raffle, to help raise funds for men's health charity Prostate Cancer UK, with Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone donating some very special prizes, including a framed mint condition copy of Warlock Magazine #1.

In the end, '50 Shades of Throm' battled their way to victory, and were awarded with certificates and bottles of Cloud Ale by Mr Steve Jackson himself.

Steve Jackson with the winners of the FF Pub Quiz, '50 Shades of Throm'.

Attendees of the world's first Fighting Fantasy pub quiz.

Then, on Saturday, it was time for the main event itself. At 9:00am the doors opened on Fighting Fantasy Fest 2, and adventurers from both near and far - some having travelled from such far flung locations as North America, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand - were treated to a day of talks, Q&As, trading, adventuring and socialising, as well as the opportunity to meet their childhood heroes - the authors and artists behind the best-selling Fighting Fantasy series!

The marathon signing session undertaken by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone at the Scholastic Books stand lasted two and a half hours!

Highlights of the day included Nomad Games' showcase of Fighting Fantasy Legends, the premier of the audio drama The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: The Hero's Quest, one-time FF consultant editor Marc Gascoigne talking about his contributions to the world of Titan, the announcement that Charlie Higson will be writing a brand new Fighting Fantasy gamebook, entitled The Gates of Death, and an energetic talk by Iain McCaig, who had flown in especially for the occasion, which had fans enthralled.

Marc Gascoigne in conversation with Jonathan Green.

Charlie Higson talks about his new books, The Gates of Death.

Iain McCaig entertains the masses.

At the end of the day, before turning to 400, eager adventurers had the chance to see how Steve Jackson fared against his own creation, when Jon Ingold of inkle studios guided him, and award-winning film director Martin Gooch, through Steve Jackson's Sorcery!

The following day, a group of hard-bitten veterans, who had backed the YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2 Kickstarter at The Black Tower level or above, were joined for lunch by Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone, and Jonathan Green (the book's author). And then, it was time, at last, for venture former on new adventures, as yet untold...

From the posts that have appeared online since last weekend, it would seem that everyone had a fantastic time, which we are delighted to hear, and it looks like we're going to need to put a date in the diary for Fighting Fantasy Fest 3!

You can see more photos from the weekend here. Please feel free to tag yourself in any pictures and share your own photos of the event.