A to Z of UK RPG in the 80s - F is for Fighting Fantasy

F is for... Fighting Fantasy

Flying Buffalo not Fighting Fantasy

My first exposure to the world of Adventure Gamebooks was actually a copy of Weirdworld, a Tunnels and Trolls solo adventure which my dad brough back from one of his trips home whilst working in Durham in the North East of England.  I was mesmerised by this crudely made book and I didn't let the mere fact that I didn't have a copy of the T&T rules stop me from repeatedly entering the Madhouse of Maximilian the Magnificent.

My father (who is to blame for all of this) was a keen wargamer and so I ended up going to the Bradford Wargames Society and being exposed to full blown Roleplaying Games such as D&D and Tunnels and Trolls at quite an early age.  Then came the first great gaming hiatus as we moved away from Yorkshire to South East London.  

I was already a veteran when the first of the Fighting Fantasy books was published in 1982.  Schoolmates who had not already been exposed to RPGs devoured the Fighting Fantasy books with gusto and whilst I enjoyed playing their copies and followed them on their trips to the only gamestore in the area, I didn't buy any of these gamebooks at the time.  However, it was on one of these trips that by chance I discovered a copy of the Corgi Tunnels and Trolls rulebook, money exchanged hands and I was now ensconced as the group DM.

So although my relationship with Fighting Fantasy is not atypical, I can acknowledge the huge debt owed by UK roleplayers to Steve Jackson and Ian livingstone for setting many of our friends on the path to exploring our own adventures, not just choosing them.

My Collection Includes

Island of the Lizard King Buy it on eBay

Free Way Fighter Buy it on eBay

The Warlock's Way Buy it on eBay

Warlock Magazine

The Abominog - Les Edwards

Fighting Fantasy fans could also indulge their passion on a monthly basis via the pages of Warlock Magazine which was a brilliant piece of marketing and essentially contained at least one new adventure per issue.

My favourite issue was the one featuring the monster form the Uriah Heep album "Abominog" painted by one of my favourite artist Les Edwards.

Les Edwards was pretty much the go-to-guy if you wanted a fantasy or horror painting for your new paperback or movie poster.

When they needed an artist to immortalise Hawk The Slayer, you guessed it they went to Les.

For some strange reason Games Workshop produced an artbook called Blood & Iron containing high quality prints of the many artworks they had used as cover for their games over the years.

Maybe this was part of the deal with Les, but they never did it with any other artist to my knowledge although John Blanche did publish the book The Emperor's Will under the Warhammer 40K banner.

Board Game

Warlock of Firetop Mountain
Buy it on eBay

In 1986 Gamesworkshop released the Warlock of Firetop Mountain Boardgame in their defacto Bookcase format.  A race to the finish with heavy Player vs Player interraction this was an immensely popular game in its day and still has a cult following over 35 years later.


Want to know more

In the course of dragging these memories from my caffeine addled grey matter I have encountered some very fine Fighting Fantasy resources:

• Fighting Fantasy Collector - A full listing of all the FF books and a price guide
  
  
• FightingFantasy.com - Official site of current FF publisher Wizard Books
  
• Fighting Fantasy Fandom - Wiki containing over 8,000 articles about the Fighting 
  
  
• Big Blue Bubble Inc have released iOS versions of Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Deathtrap Dungeon, Citadel of Chaos and City of Thieves.
  
• Fighting Fantasy Miniatures - Atlantis miniatures plans to release miniatures of all the cover art.
  
• Search for Fighting Fantasy on eBay - Help support this channel buy using the affiliate link
  

NEXT: G is for... GAMES DESIGNERS WORKSHOP