Am I Mad or Was Fighting Fantasy Fucking Boss

[Pranet]

I picked up android versions of these in various humble bundles - they port extremely well over onto tablets. I was delighted to see my younger child become engrossed in them, as I'd loved the Fighting Fantasy books when I'd been about her age.

The Freeway Fighter one sticks out for me, as I'd become properly obsessed by Car Wars*, and thence Death Race 2000, Mad Max etc. I seem to recall I got it in Coventry, possibly the same weekend as the Bradford City Fire. My hat has been dually penetrated by the revelation that Car Wars Steve Jackson is not Fighting Fantasy Steve Jackson, except for the handful of occasions when he was.

Now then, does anyone remember those books designed for two-layer combat games? Each book portrayed a character, and you would choose a particular combat action each round - some variation on strike, parry, duck, close in etc. Cross-referencing the choices would give each player a page number in their respective book, which gave the resolution of that round. It astounds me that you could pair any two books and play out an encounter in a smooth way. The design must have been incredibly skilful. But I can't remember for the life of me what this series was called. I can only remember two of the characters: a dwarf, and a cold drake. Any suggestions?

* Looking back, Battlecars was my gateway drug, and I think it was a much more playable and visually appealing game, albeit the ridiculous level of detail to the various Car Wars rulebooks appealed to my neurodivergent nature. These days, I need to find a Gaslands playing partner...

I think there were a few. Are you thinking of Combat Heroes by Joe Dever? I never owned any of the books but remember the advert in Warlock magazine.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

I think there were a few. Are you thinking of Combat Heroes by Joe Dever? I never owned any of the books but remember the advert in Warlock magazine.

Turns out that googling "Cold Drake combat book" would have saved me all that typing: it was apparent the "Lost Worlds" series. The crucial detail I'd forgotten was that you swapped your character book with your opponent before beginning to play. The memory has stuck with me for the best part of four decades that these were awesome games, but the books were pricy when new, and of course you needed at least two... The second-hand market is diligently upholding that aspect, if my brief Google is to be believed.

[Glebe]

That sounds like a book I borrowed off a mate but it had a red cover.

[Norton Canes]

I picked up android versions of these in various humble bundles - they port extremely well over onto tablets

Cool, where did you find those?

The Freeway Fighter one sticks out for me, as I'd become properly obsessed by Car Wars*

* Looking back, Battlecars was my gateway drug, and I think it was a much more playable and visually appealing game, albeit the ridiculous level of detail to the various Car Wars rulebooks appealed to my neurodivergent nature

Oh yeah, having to move tiny little inch x 1/2 inch counters around a paper grid was absurdly fiddly. Most combats were only about three or four seconds long, especially after we realized the quickest way to win was build a 'ram car' with no weapons and all the armour at the front [/quote]

[Glebe]

Never played Freeway Fighter but apparently Iain McCaig was originally going to illustrate it, and produced this:

[magister]

Never mind

[magister]

That sounds like What is Dungeon and Dragons by John Butterfield, Philip Parker and David Honigmann.

I think that's the one - thank you.

[Pavlov`s Dog`s Dad`s Dead]

Cool, where did you find those?

It looks like I got 1 and 2 via the Amazon appstore, and 1 (again), 3 and 4 via Humble Bundle. You inspired me to go and check my Humble library, and it turns out I've also got a port of the Joe Dever Lone Wolf series ("Complete", apparently). I'm installing that now, with an eye to a long flight next week. I remember enjoying the first couple of books, although  I can't remember a single detail...

Oh yeah, having to move tiny little inch x 1/2 inch counters around a paper grid was absurdly fiddly.

One sneeze could be fatal.

[Russ L]

Fighting Fantasy was an absolutely massive part of my childhood.  I really wish I'd kept my collection of books.

There are quite a few blogs on which people do play-throughs, but this one in particular cracks me up: http://turnto400.blogspot.com/

[13 schoolyards]

Oh yeah, having to move tiny little inch x 1/2 inch counters around a paper grid was absurdly fiddly. Most combats were only about three or four seconds long, especially after we realized the quickest way to win was build a 'ram car' with no weapons and all the armour at the front

Me and a mate were obsessed with Car Wars for a couple of years, picked up every issue we could find of Autoduel Quarterly and everything. We pretty quickly realised that any kind of highway combat was rubbish - you just raced towards each other and if you both survived whoever tried to turn around at high speed would flip and burn - so we just designed shopping malls we could drive around inside Blues Brothers style only running over everyone we didn't shoot.

[sevendaughters]

Daggers of Darkness was absolutely boss. Can still remember bits of prose from it.

Surprised no one has mentioned this: http://ffproject.com/

One of those games is fucking massive, can't remember which.

[Pranet]

There are quite a few blogs on which people do play-throughs, but this one in particular cracks me up: http://turnto400.blogspot.com/

Yeah that's a really good one. I still hold out hope that he will do another update one day.

[Russ L]

Edit: Not just the wrong thread, but the wrong subforum entirely.

[madhair60]

Quite tempted to make a small gamebook. Seems like it's quite easy with certain software.

[Small Man Big Horse]

There was a zombie themed one released in 2011 which surprisingly wasn't shit - https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Can-You-Survive-the-Zombie-Apocalypse/Max-Brallier/Can-You-Survive-the-Zombie-Apocalypse/9781451607758 - I mean it's nothing that amazing, but given how tired the genre is I was surprised that I enjoyed playing it.

[Catalogue Trousers]

The FF books were a marvellous gateway drug - and the superhero-based Appointment With F.E.A.R. was the best of them all - but several of their imitators, such as the Lone Wolf, Falcon, and Forbidden Gateway series bested them at their own game, in terms of quality if not of sales.

[Pranet]

You know when you are a kid you get it in your head that is a proper way to do things and are put off a bit by anything that is different? (Well I could be like that at times anyway)  I think I was a bit like that with gamebooks. They didn't seem quite right if they weren't FF. By the time I'd grown up enough to properly get over that feeling I'd also grown out of gamebooks. And of course I had limited money to try other books.  My mate was really into the Way of the Tiger series.

[Catalogue Trousers]

Falcon really was the mutt's nuts. You ARE Falcon, field agent for a Time-travelling special executive, dealing with all sorts of nefarious and outright superhuman bastards. The world (universe?) building is wonderful, Time travel and paradoxes are cleverly used, and you can knock people unconscious with epic mind powers (if the dice roll in your favour).

Forbidden Gateway, I think, only ran to two volumes, but they were real doozies. Cthulhu Mythos meets Indiana Jones stuff.

[AliasTheCat]

You know when you are a kid you get it in your head that is a proper way to do things and are put off a bit by anything that is different? (Well I could be like that at times anyway)  I think I was a bit like that with gamebooks. They didn't seem quite right if they weren't FF. By the time I'd grown up enough to properly get over that feeling I'd also grown out of gamebooks. And of course I had limited money to try other books.  My mate was really into the Way of the Tiger series.

Yeah, I felt the same. The library had Choose your own Adventure books which felt of a much lower quality and more childish- young as I was at the time - and the odd Lone Wolf, which were better but not my beloved FF.
Again, I really wish I still had my collection: I had 1-50 of the normal game books, Sorcery which I loved, Titan, Out of the Pit and the Advanced FF stuff like Riddling Reaver.
My dad also scored me a large cardboard cut-out of the lead beastie from the cover of this from Dillons bookshop in Exeter when the book came out:



It ended up rather battered as I kept hitting it with plastic swords.

Absolutely loved Fighting Fantasy and this, the BBC Radio Lord of the Rings on tape and the Tolkien Bestiary fired my imagination endlessly.

[rilk]

I'm sure there were others like me who had a big shelf of FFs and a big shelf of Dr Who Target books. Mine were all picked up from boot sales and charity shops in the early 00s tho, weird kid. Now I've got shelves full of Panther/NEL/Sphere/Mayflower paperbacks. Was really exciting when Wizard Books republished them and getting a box set of the first 4 for Xmas.

City of Death was my favourite, loved getting drawn into that world of yellow pages and weird drawings. Going into dodgy pubs and markets. I think the appeal was getting lost in those worlds, alone. Video games are good but musty pages more intimate and atmospheric.

Finding the Fabled Lands books in the school library was mind blowing and became a minor craze amongst my group of friends. We'd each take out one of the three books the library had for a week at a time then swap over comparing notes and (as mentioned upthread) exploring the world further. And having fights between our characters!  Dreamed of the other books in the series that filled out the world completely - learnt years later that most of them never came out.

I still have to pick them up when I see them but they end up going on eBay after a play. Some mad prices for the scarcer FFs/ 'off brand' ones. Can't resist a green spine or a John Blanche illustration. For most people I suppose it's the gateway to pen and paper RPGs but unfortunately I've never really had friends who would be into that. But I do like a Moorcock or Fritz Lieber sword and sorcery book.

Oh and according to Chart Music pod there's a Lone Wolf book written by Ian Page from Mod Revival band Secret Affair. Would love a copy of that.

[Ignatius_S]

...Oh and according to Chart Music pod there's a Lone Wolf book written by Ian Page from Mod Revival band Secret Affair. Would love a copy of that.

If you're okay with electronic versions, here you go: https://projectaon.org/en/Main/GreyStarTheWizard

I was going to link to this site as Joe Dever obtained the full publishing rights to Lone Wolf and allowed it to be distributed free this way.

Page wrote an offshoot series of four books set in the LW world. Definitely played at least the first one and have a feeling I liked it a lot.

[Magnum Valentino]

Score, just got a copy of the Rings of Kether for 30p at the local book fair.

[Glebe]

Score, just got a copy of the Rings of Kether for 30p at the local book fair.

Yay! One of the FF sci-fi ones.

[Magnum Valentino]

I always loved the shit unthreatening space alien Kingpin on the front. Big pair of gloves on him all the way up his arm for fannying about at his fucking console like a bank manager.

[Glebe]

I always loved the shit unthreatening space alien Kingpin on the front. Big pair of gloves on him all the way up his arm for fannying about at his fucking console like a bank manager.

It's actually a woman!

[Russ L]

I always loved the shit unthreatening space alien Kingpin on the front. Big pair of gloves on him all the way up his arm for fannying about at his fucking console like a bank manager.

"What I can surmise is that YOU are a Space Guy who is interviewing for a job and you need to impress this chunky middle-manager in the regulation corporate skullcap" - http://turnto400.blogspot.com/2021/08/15-rings-of-kether-by-andrew-chapman.html

[Virgo76]

I used to skip all the dice throw battles and I assume I just won them all.
"Roll one die". I actually thought that meant if I rolled a one I died  automatically for a bit.
My favourite was The Doorlock of Wiretop Fountain.

[Magnum Valentino]

I've dreamed three times since this thread has started that I've found a copy of Scorpion Swamp out and about. Not gonna happen is it.

[Vodkafone]

I've dreamed three times since this thread has started that I've found a copy of Scorpion Swamp out and about. Not gonna happen is it.

https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/steve-jackson/scorpion-swamp/9780140318296?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=18129456947&cq_con=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8ryMteLDgQMVEfDtCh1PYwi5EAQYASABEgJANfD_BwE#GOR003592493

[Magnum Valentino]

https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/steve-jackson/scorpion-swamp/9780140318296?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=18129456947&cq_con=&cq_med=pla&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8ryMteLDgQMVEfDtCh1PYwi5EAQYASABEgJANfD_BwE#GOR003592493

That's some definition of out and about you have there boss.