when i stumbled upon this i couldn't click it fast enough 🙂
i flippin loved ff books as a kid back in the 80's and that definitely has stayed with us through my life in one way or another (love anything fantasy or sci fi).
my first book was cavern of the snow queen but my fav was house of hell with it's menacing cover. i will have to buy some again at some point.
I remember playing/reading those at primary school in the eighties. Also remember some Ninja books, Way Of The Tiger possibly?
you are absolutely correct loved the way of the tiger books also 😀I remember playing/reading those at primary school in the eighties. Also remember some Ninja books, Way Of The Tiger possibly?
My mum was head of a middle school in the early 80s - every time she ordered a bunch of books for the library she could choose a number of free books and so I always got one of these. Starting with Warlock of Firetop Mountain right through the first 20 or so. Also tried a few of the D&D spin off ones but they were pretty rubbish - way too American. The Steve Jackson/ Ian Livingston ones were much funner.
Absolutely no idea what happened to them but they were a huge part of my childhood
Forest of doom, city of thieves and deathtrap dungeon were fab
we all cheated when we got killed, right?
Cheated before I even started.
Before the Fighting Fantasy books there was a tabletop RPG game called Tunnels & Trolls that had some solo models. I always assumed that that was where Steve Jackson got the idea.
That's a blast from the past! Read quite a few of those when I was a kid, just hearing the names of the authors really took me back 😀
These were the gateway drug that got me into the Conan books and then Sword of Shannara and Tolkien.
Forest of doom, city of thieves and deathtrap dungeon for me too!
I still have my almost complete collection.
It was these, the original warhammer tabletop, battle cars, Talisman and D&D that filled my time in the 80s.
Before the Fighting Fantasy books there was a tabletop RPG game called Tunnels & Trolls that had some solo models. I always assumed that that was where Steve Jackson got the idea.
Coincidentally, I've been having a nostalgia fest, flicking through a White Dwarf mag archive today. The shop ads are great, and I spotted that T&T was significantly cheaper than anything else. About £3.95 in 1983 compared to about £9 for basic D&D, £10 per book for the AD&D hardbacks.
https://archive.org/details/white-dwarf-magazine-001-100/White%20Dwarf%20041/
The bunch of us who played RPGs had them all - every possible game we could get our hands on, including the FF series (which I always found too restrictive), T&T, Runequest, Traveller, and on and on. So many games that I'm sure some went unplayed due to lack of time. I was in a cafe last year and saw a couple of the group who used to come to my house to play. They married not long after school, I think, and I was massively pleased to see that they were carrying a comic shop carrier bag. Old habits...
I used to have quite a few of those Jackson & Livingstone FF books, loved them. Like heavy metal, the covers grabbed me as much as anything in the contents.
May not be long before they come back as part of the digital backlash?
Shameless plug, but I reckon some folk in here might be interested - my little brother wrote a great book about the history of Dungeons and Dragons.
I genuinely enjoyed it and not just because I'm biased.
Found Deathtrap Dungeon in a charity shop recently. It's still great after 30 odd years (and yes I cheated)
Was a huge fan of these after getting Warlock of Firetop Mountain as a birthday gift in primary school. I particularly loved House of Hell, Citadel of Chaos, Creature of Havoc and above all the amazing Sorcery! series.
I admit to cheating on the combats, if you rolled a low number for your Skill in the beginning there is no way you could win otherwise.
I have Citadel of Terror and Space Assassins.
Also, a copy of Out of tte Pit (Partner/GF's)
Also, if you use the force, all the FF books are Archive.org.. just sayin. 😉
Also, the partners son has created a game called WarKreige. He is writing up the rules and wants to give it away.
I have a game I created one based on A4 page and a pencil. 12men, cannon, and a fog of war mechanic. I must write up the rules and let it loose.
Citadel of Chaos