Fighting Fantasy
Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982.
The series distinguished itself by mixing Choose Your Own Adventure–style storytelling with a dice-based role-playing element included within the books themselves. The caption on many of the covers claimed each title was an adventure "in which YOU are the hero!" The majority of the titles followed a fantasy theme, although science fiction, post-apocalyptic, superhero, and modern horror gamebooks were also published. The popularity of the series led to the creation of merchandise such as action figures, board games, role-playing game systems, magazines, novels, and video games.
Puffin ended the series in 1995, but the rights to the series were eventually purchased by Wizard Books in 2002. Wizard published new editions of the original books and also commissioned six new books over two series, ending in 2012. The rights were then acquired by Scholastic in 2017, which has since published four new titles and reissued thirteen of the original books with new artwork.
Overview
The main text of each gamebook does not progress in a linear fashion, but rather is divided into a series of numbered sections. Beginning at the first section, the reader typically must pick one of a series of options provided by the text, each option being detailed at a separate non-sequential numbered section which in turn provides an outcome for the option chosen. The book continues in this fashion until their character is killed in combat, is stopped by the story, or completes the story. "Fighting Fantasy gamebooks empower the reader, who felt the anxiety or joy of being fantasy heroes themselves – they lived or died by their decisions. And if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again," said Ian Livingstone of the format.The typical Fighting Fantasy gamebook tasks players with completing a quest. A successful play usually ends with the player reaching the final numbered section of the book. In some cases this can only be achieved by obtaining various story items ; many of the titles only feature one path to the solution.
All Fighting Fantasy gamebooks are illustrated, including full-page pieces and smaller, repeated images scattered throughout the book as breaks or space fillers between sections. Regular contributors included Les Edwards, Terry Oakes, Russ Nicholson, Leo Hartas, Ian Miller, John Blanche, Martin McKenna, and Iain McCaig.
System
Each Fighting Fantasy gamebook requires the reader to create their character, randomly assigning scores to three statistics. These, in conjunction with rolling six-sided dice, are used to resolve skill challenges and the combat sections. Some titles use additional statistics or conflict resolution mechanics; most also require the reader to keep an inventory of items.Setting
Most early Fighting Fantasy titles were set in locations later revealed to be on the same continent called Allansia. Later a whole world named Titan was developed, with subsequent gamebooks set on three main continents—Allansia, Khul and the Old World. Other titles are set in unrelated fantasy, horror, modern day, and sci-fi environments.Publication history
In 1980, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone attended a Games Day, and after meeting with a Penguin Books editor Geraldine Cook decided to create a series of single-player gamebooks. Their first submission, The Magic Quest, was a short adventure intended to demonstrate the style of game. The Magic Quest was eventually accepted by Penguin, although the authors devoted a further six months to expanding and improving upon their original concept.Puffin Books (1982–1995)
The result was The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and, after several rewrites, the book was accepted and published in 1982 under Penguin's children's imprint, Puffin Books. Following the success of this title, Jackson and Livingstone began writing individually to create additional Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.This series was published under Puffin's newly-created Adventure Gamebooks banner, which eventually would hold not only the Fighting Fantasy series, but The Cretan Chronicles trilogy, the Starlight Adventures series, and the individual role-playing game Maelstrom as well.
In 1983, The Citadel of Chaos and The Forest of Doom were published, by Jackson and Livingstone respectively. Four more titles quickly followed: Starship Traveller, City of Thieves, Deathtrap Dungeon, and Island of the Lizard King; Jackson writing one and Livingstone writing three. In 1984, a decision was made to hire additional writers to expand the series more quickly: Steve Jackson was the first, followed by others such as Andrew Chapman, Carl Sargent, Marc Gascoigne, and Peter Darvill-Evans. Jackson and Livingstone, however, continued to be involved and approved all cover and internal illustrations within the UK.
Jackson wrote a self-contained four-part series titled Steve Jackson's Sorcery!, which combined the use of combat and sorcery, and introduced the continent later known as the Old World. These featured dice images at the bottom of each page, making it possible for the player to randomly flip through the pages for the equivalent of a dice roll.
Andrew Chapman and Martin Allen also wrote a two-book, two-player adventure titled Clash of the Princes. There were also several supplemental books produced that provided more information about the Fighting Fantasy universe, including a comprehensive bestiary of monsters and a sample adventure.
Although the Fighting Fantasy titles had successful sales the increasing dominance of video games in the 1990s caused a gradual decline. The series was scheduled to conclude with Return to Firetop Mountain, but due to strong sales of that volume, ten more books were scheduled. Nine were published, the series ending with Curse of the Mummy. Bloodbones, the tenth scheduled title was cancelled, but was eventually published by Wizard Books as part of their later reprinting efforts.
Wizard Books
Series 1 (2002–2007)
In 2002, Wizard Books acquired the rights to the Fighting Fantasy series and reprinted many of the original titles in a revised order, starting with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. They also incorporated the Sorcery! miniseries, as books 9, 11, 13, and 15. A new title, Eye of the Dragon was released in 2005, followed by Bloodbones in 2006 and Howl of the Werewolf in 2007. This series used a new logo, the rationale being that the old covers did not suit the modern market.2007 also marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Fighting Fantasy, and to commemorate the event Wizard Books published a special hardcover edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain that used the original 1982 cover image and contained extra material such as the dungeon solution and a commentary on Fighting Fantasy by Livingstone. This series concluded that same year, ending with 29 books.
Series 2 (2009–2012)
Wizard Books then began again with a new series of reprints in 2009, again featuring a different cover art style, and again starting with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. These books were physically larger than prior releases, being produced in B-format. Three other original titles were added during this run, including Blood of the Zombies by Ian Livingstone to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary in 2012. This series was 17 books long, although Blood of the Zombies, the last volume released, is unnumbered and packaged differently than the rest.Scholastic Books (2017–)
A new Fighting Fantasy book by Livingstone, The Port of Peril, was published in August 2017 by Scholastic in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the series. Scholastic also released five of the original books. Instead of reusing the original artwork or its style, Scholastic commissioned new artwork. In April 2018, a further six titles were published, including a new adventure by author Charlie Higson, entitled The Gates of Death. Three more titles were published in September 2019, including Livingstone's new adventure Assassins of Allansia. In October 2020, two new titles were published, including a new adventure entitled Crystal of Storms, the first in the series by a female author, Rhianna Pratchett. In September 2022, two more new titles were published, one by Steve Jackson and one by Ian Livingstone, in celebration of the series' 40th anniversary. In September 2024, a new title by Ian Livingstone, The Dungeon on Blood Island, was released.United States
Fighting Fantasy was published in the United States by Laurel Leaf, an imprint of Dell Publishing, beginning in November of 1983. These U.S. versions featured a new cover design, with the first eleven books using a white background for their covers and books 12 through 21 using a black background. Initially these editions had new cover illustrations by Richard Corben and Richard Courtney, until 1986 when with Temple of Terror the original Puffin Books cover illustration were used till the range ended with book 21, Trial of Champions. During this run, House of Hell was re-titled House of Hades.In October 2003, iBooks of New York began republishing the books, beginning with the first two. iBooks filled for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February 2006.
In October 2024, Steve Jackson Games announced that it had secured the U.S. rights to publish Fighting Fantasy, with the first books scheduled to appear in "early 2025" in two waves of five books each.