Gamebooks

[Funt Solo]

I remember on my trip to Thailand, so many years ago now, I started noticing some place names rang a bell.  Chiang Mai. Fang.  It was Sukumvit that brought it back - Ian Livingstone had used them for Deathtrap Dungeon (the 80s role-playing book, like you didn't know).

It's just come back to me now after listening to the brilliant Hypnogoria podcast about said book.  And then I found this. http://officialfightingfantasy.blogspot.com/2017/05/who-wants-to-go-for-walk.html  He didn't even bother to change the names.  Still a great book though.

Deathtrap Dungeon - my first Fighting Fantasy book!  My fave is the Shamutanti Hills, closely followed by City of Thieves and a few of the other early books.

My first Fighting Fantasy book was The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - which I got from the school library. That being the first one, I started collecting, but never had Book 1 in my collection. Deathtrap Dungeon is a favorite, and when I ditched half my nerd clobber when emigrating, that was one of the few I had to keep.

There's a guy does brief video reviews of the books, and he's wonderfully dry-witted. At the beginning of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks Review Part 3 - Books 21 to 30, he says "I'm sorta stuck wiv this lot now, I've gotta do the lot!"

[Colin YNWA]

I bought the boy a load of these recently after he liked Warlock when I played it on the Switch (really good adaptation by the way). He played a couple but then burnt out on them. I'm hoping he returns to them then in a year or two. I was well tempted to give them a go again myself.

[wedgeski]

I spent most of my pocket money on these. I was addicted as a kid. Trial of Champions was the last one I bought, at which point FF had successfully gateway'd me into D&D, and my money starting going into TSR's pocket instead. It's all still in the metaphorical loft somewhere.

[Barrington Boots]

I used to spend all my pocket money on these too. At some point over the years I lost all of them bar Appointment with F.E.A.R - I think my brother inherited and disposed of them when I went to uni.
During the pandemic I picked up a bunch of old ones off ebay and started replaying them. Some of them are SO hard but they're really good. I'm basically addicted to them now. I met Ian Livingstone at an event this year and was totally fanboyish.

Deathtrap Dungeon is my favourite but I really love Trial of Champions and Forest of Doom, which was my first one ever. On the non-FF front I love the Way of the Tiger series.

Anyone up for a forum playthrough of one maybe? See how far we all get individually?

[wedgeski]

Anyone up for a forum playthrough of one maybe? See how far we all get individually?

Great idea!! I'll see if I can dig mine out.

[sheridan]

Anyone up for a forum playthrough of one maybe? See how far we all get individually?

Great idea!! I'll see if I can dig mine out.

Sounds good - I know where all mine are.  Which book were you thinking of?  Start with Warlock?  I have most of them, but haven't played through the later ones.

[wedgeski]

Anyone up for a forum playthrough of one maybe? See how far we all get individually?

Great idea!! I'll see if I can dig mine out.

Sounds good - I know where all mine are.  Which book were you thinking of?  Start with Warlock?  I have most of them, but haven't played through the later ones.

Sounds logical. I'll post here when I've dug them out.

[Barrington Boots]

I hadn't thought that far ahead but I think whatever the most people who are interested can get their hands on! Warlocks got a massive maze in the middle which is annoying but it's a good one to start!

[sintec]

I got given a copy of Warlock by my gran when I was 7 or 8 I think. Was the start of a path that led to D&D then Vampire: The Masqurade then goth clubs lol.

Sold most of my to buy RPG books and/or beer as I got older. Found a set of reprints of the first 8 in a charity shop a while back and bought them for old times sake. Think I played through the first 2 or 3 and then got distracted.

[The Bissler]

I have a lot of love for these as well! Forest of Doom was one of my favourites and was one I never cracked until I played the Tinman Games version a few years back (would highly recommend btw, they're very faithful and nicely realised adaptations of the books). The Fighting Fantasy series are probably the closest I came to roleplaying until I spotted GW's Judge Dredd: The Roleplaying Game in '87. Once I played that, I got the RPG and then tabletop gaming bug...and have never looked back!

[sheridan]

I got given a copy of Warlock by my gran when I was 7 or 8 I think. Was the start of a path that led to D&D then Vampire: The Masqurade then goth clubs lol.

Oo - which goth clubs?

[Funt Solo]

Some of my favorites:

1. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - I loved this one so much that I converted it to D&D mostly so that I could map out the exact floor-plan. Realizing that the Warlock has no easy way out that didn't involve wandering through a bunch of madly dangerous rooms, I gave him a back door, high up in the mountain, which was how he brought the monsters in. It was like a kind of zoo-arena, where he'd train them up before placement in the larger dungeon.

5. City of Thieves - the most dangerous shopping expedition in the world felt like you were in a real place.

6. Deathtrap Dungeon - having it be a competition added some amazing tension, as you were always wondering where your competitors had gotten to.

11. Talisman of Death - had such a rich world to explore, which was fully realized in standalone series Way of the Tiger.

13. Freeway Fighter - way better than Beyond Thunderdome is this Car Wars style post-apocalyptic adventure.

22. Robot Commando - every time you find a new mech you get an interesting decision, weighing up the pros and cons.

[abelardsnazz]

Away from FF, the late Joe Dever granted permission for his books to be published free online, so if you feel like taking Lone Wolf through his paces, it's all at projectaon.org.

[sintec]

I got given a copy of Warlock by my gran when I was 7 or 8 I think. Was the start of a path that led to D&D then Vampire: The Masqurade then goth clubs lol.

Oo - which goth clubs?

Mostly around Norwich and Ipswich area initially (late 90s) so things like Wraith and Chains On Velvet. Then added fairly regular trips down to Slimelight in Islington and annual excursions up to Bradford for Infest.

[Barrington Boots]

I didn't know that about Joe Dever, I'll be all over those! Really enjoyed Lone Wolf at the time. I do have snazzy hardback versions of three of his Freeway Warrior books, although I've yet to replay them...

I've got a couple of the Duelmaster sets as well - these are essentially a set of two 'PvP' gamebooks where two players read at once and are competing against each other. Typically when you reach the end of a paragraph you're given a command to wait until the other player hits a wait command and then you both proceed. Actions give you keywords that effect what the other player encounters, with players prompted to ask the other if they have keyword in various locations, and then if they do they'll move to a different paragraph describing a monsters body or an empty chest and so on. You win if the book kills the other player, or you can meet and fight each other to the death. They're great.

If a few of us guys do want to do read through of one (Warlock?) then i've dug my books out ready.