New Final Fantasy book penned by Charlie Higson

[Pranet]

Oh yeah, Sorcery! was the FF offshoot for connoisseurs. The spell book that accompanied the first edition of The Shamutanti Hills was brilliant. Players were forbidden from consulting it while a game was in progress, so non-cheats would have to memorise as many of the three-letter spell titles, and their relevant effects, as possible. 

SPOILER: Eat not from Throg's larder!

Loved John Blanche's artwork for the Sorcery books.

[Pranet]

Big listing of Fighting Fantasy and other gamebooks on ebay, including some rare ones. The initial prices that bidding started at were low, unusually. Prices going up now though.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/neilaholmesuk/m.html?item=183182115056&ul_noapp=true&autorefresh=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

[ASFTSN]

Does anyone else remember just how fucked up some of the stuff in Legend of Zagor (#54) was?  It's a return to battle the eponymous Warlock from the first one, but this time around there's all sorts of bio-mechanical unpleasantness going on there. 

[ASFTSN]

Oh and apparently the Higson-penned FF book is absolute fucking dross.

[magval]

Decided I'd pick up Creature of Havoc because yous said it was good and although the new printing is mostly lovely, the illustrations in it are gaudy and done on computers which is a load of shite, so now I'm going to see about getting an original copy for that classic dense pencil and ink look.

[Catalogue Trousers]

The FF books were fun and the real trail-blazers for such things, but in terms of sheer good writing and plotting they were effortlessly outdone by two shorter-lived series, the Lovecraftian Forbidden Gateway and time-travelling Falcon series. Does anyone apart from me remember those two with any affection...

[magval]

Decided I'd pick up Creature of Havoc because yous said it was good and although the new printing is mostly lovely, the illustrations in it are gaudy and done on computers which is a load of shite, so now I'm going to see about getting an original copy for that classic dense pencil and ink look.

Two years later and I have indeed found myself a first printing of this.

Here's the question - how do I play this? What are the practicalities of playing a Fighting Fantasy book in 2020 as an adult? How many people do I need and how long would it take, do you think, if I played it perfectly with no errors? Could you do it in a sitting or are we talking weeks?

[Pranet]

You just need you, it is for one person.

As for how long- you could have a bash at it which could take any amount of time really. Put it down when you have to do something else.

As for completing it, unless you are a very lucky genius that could take for ever. Creature of Havoc has a name as being one of the hardest in the series as well. It also depends on how seriously you want to take doing the combat- if you do it as written with no cheating, possibly never if you decided to devote the rest of your life to it (other books are easier.)

It is up to you but with COH I'd say the combat isn't that interesting, it is the rest of the book, though others may differ. But I'd say most people after a bit never bothered with the combat.

[garbed_attic]

Been playing these with my partner's 8-year-old son. He's brutal. No messing around. I'd say discretion is the better part of valor, but he tends to win the fights.

[earl_sleek]

New Fighting Fantasy gamebook due out in October:



I think that cover is terrible, but apparently "in order to attract a new, younger audience to the classic gamebook series - one which many of their parents cite as getting them reading and introducing them to fantasy role-playing in the first place." So far so shite (FF was always for kids/teenagers, shurely?), but as it's written by Rhianna Pratchett I'm willing to give it a chance.