Fighting Fantasy – My Monolith
July 9, 2009 by Robert
Filed under Board Game Articles
Where did it all begin for me? This DowntimeTown thing – where did it all actually start? I’ve been asking myself this question for a while, now. Something must have kicked off my interest in gaming, in all its forms. Why am I not one of those guys who smirk and say “Pff! Games? Yeah, right!”
What made me what I am?
Just like in 2001, there was a monolith. And I touched it.
It wasn’t 2001. It was 1983. I was six years old. I was in a shop called John Menzies, in Glasgow city centre, with my ma. It was a Saturday. There was a robotics dancer in a white boiler suit and white mask dancing outside. There was music and laughter. And inside the shop, there was the bold Zanbar Bone, staring back at me. I can remember exactly how I felt looking at him. Nervous. Maybe even a bit scared. I didn’t know his name at that moment. But I knew I would hate him and fear him (and love him) forever. Since that day, whenever I picture the ultimate bad guy, I see Iain McCaig’s Zanbar Bone. I had a dream with him in it only a month ago. He was at a window, with his scythe, looking in at me. I’m almost 32.
The text above him read “A Thrilling Fantasy Adventure In Which YOU Are The Hero!”
Me – The Hero. How could I be a hero? I was a schoolboy. Terrified of my teachers. Anxious.
It was summer, and I played City of Thieves in my back garden for weeks, rolling dice and filling in my adventure sheet. My head was filled with names – Zanbar Bone, Nicodemus, Jimmy Quicktint. I was lost in the winding, labyrinthian streets of Port Blacksand, searching (usually in vain) for the things I’d need to lay Zanbar Bone to rest.
For those who don’t know – Fighting Fantasy gamebooks were Choose Your Own Adventure stories with a combat and inventory system bolted on. The book was split into paragraphs, often 400 or more, and you would navigate between them, making choices and trying desperately to stay alive.
Terror stalks the night as Zanbar Bone and his bloodthirsty Moon Dogs hold the prosperous town of Silverton to ransom. YOU are an adventurer, and the merchants of Silverton turn to you in their hour of need.
Your mission takes you along dark, twisting streets where thieves, vagabonds and creatures of the night lie in wait to trap the unwary traveller. And beyond lies the most fearsome adventure of them all – the tower stronghold of the infamous Zanbar Bone!
I had never experienced anything quite like it. I’d been a reader from an early age. I started young. By the time I picked up City of Thieves I’d read many a Hardy Boys book. I’d even started on Stephen King novels. But nothing had prepared me for this. It was a story, yes. But it was a story with ME in it. Me! Of all people to have in a book, they chose me! A freckly little Glaswegian boy who was missing his recently-passed Granda.
I was staggered.
I was influencing the world of the story. I could choose where to go, what to do. I had always seen narrative as a conspiracy that I could only see along the surface of – a path navigated by a hooded stranger who would let me see what he wanted me to see, and no more. But in City of Thieves I found that narrative was suddenly a collaboration. A beautiful drunken singalong song. A sea-shanty.
It became my mission in life to get my hands on every Fighting Fantasy book in existence. After all, I was the hero, right? I believed that now. I had a responsibility. And I wanted to sing.
This was next:
The Forest was nightmarish. The Hero (that’s me, by the way) struggled with that long, confusing journey to Stonebridge. My dice seemed to be cursed. YOU ARE DEAD. YOU ARE DEAD.
I was in love. I enjoyed failing. I took death on the chin (which was just as well, because there were a fair few cruel Instant Death moments inside the Forest) and loved rolling up a new character and setting out again. You could not keep me down. I was indefatigable.
Fighting Fantasy started to creep into my real-world play. My childhood pal, Matthew Cook, would come down to my garden and I’d persuade him to take on the role of one of Ian Livingstone or Steve Jackson’s creations. And then I’d attack him. Good thing – I didn’t have to roll a dice before that fight. Bad thing – Matthew was strong as an ox and could fling me about at will. But like I said, I loved to lose. I loved the bittersweet taste of heroic failure.
Glorious defeat. It’s something that has stayed with me. When I play a boardgame with people, I only really care about winning if it’s a “Battle of Wits!” style of thing. If it’s very theme-heavy, with a lot of narrative in there, I quite enjoy being punished. I enjoy playing Arkham Horror and being smashed by the King in Yellow. Heroes do heroic things, yes. And it’s great when they do. But heroes should also fail. And die.
And that’s why I loved this beauty:
Stranded miles from anywhere on a dark and stormy night, your only hope of refuge is the strange, ramshackle mansion you can see in the distance…
But entering the House of Hell hurls you into an adventure of spine-chilling and blood-curdling terror. The dangers of the torrential storm outside are nothing compared to the nightmarish creatures that await you within its gruesome walls.
Be warned! You must try to keep your fear under control – collect too many FEAR points and you will die of fright. Can you make it through the night without being scared – to death?
I played House of Hell differently from how I played the other books. I was a horror film nut, and I wanted to behave inside the House the way I knew a Hero from a horror film would behave. I wanted to adhere to horror convention. I set out to make all the worst possible decisions. I’d walk blindly into danger. I’d take the path that looked the scariest. I’d hope to fail with my dice rolls.
It was a bloodbath.
Fighting Fantasy books were a massive part of my life in those formative years. Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (and Joe Dever of Lone Wolf) are up there alongside Stephen King as people who inspired me to write.
But I see now that they also inspired me to game. Those Fighting Fantasy experiences were the blueprint for a life of seeking out ways of making ME the Hero. Why did I play computer and video games? For the very same reasons I read those books. To feel that sense of empowerment you get from taking someone else’s world and changing it into your own, at least for a little while.
And, crucially, why do I play tabletop games? Why is DowntimeTown here?
Because I love to sit at a table and create a shared narrative with people.
Story as singalong.
That Port Blacksand sea shanty again, as loud and wonderful as it ever was.
We’re going to be doing something quite special with Fighting Fantasy gamebooks down the line. We’ll keep you posted.
amazing books – Michael Jackons was the music of my youth and these were the books of my youth. First one I got was Warlock of Firetop Mountain and I played pretty much every one of the first 15 or so. You mentioned Loan Wolf – telling you – check out the Grail Quest books by J.H Brennan… they were brilliant. Got them from the Castlemilk library all the time.
Great. Some of my first experiences with gaming were with Fighting Fantasy books. I used to go to the only WHSmith store in the Netherlands (I’m Dutch!), in Amsterdam (it’s a Waterstone’s now) with my parents and I was allowed to pick one (1) book. I used to take absolute ages to choose one.
“City of Thieves” was one of the first ones I read and it’s still my absolute favourite. I’m still impressed how alive the city seems and how sprawling and seemingly endless it appears. Iain McCaig’s illustrations are also some of the very best in the series.
Did you ever complete your collection? I’ve got a few of these kicking about, if you want them?
I LOVED Iain Livingston stuff. Deathtrap Dungeon was my first. My mate Chrissy Houston – I caught him cheating. Flicking back pages and checking the other pages out. Bastard. I hit him with my ruler and was sent to the Head Mistress. Why me? HE was cheating!
My first few were Deathtrap Dungeon, Vault of the Vampire, and Sword of the Samurai where losing too many Honor Points meant turning straight to chapter 99 and a thorough disembowelling. I would cheat an awful lot though!
My favourite was Deathrap Dungeon and is still on my bookshelf, one of only a few childhood possessions I’ve kept
I think I was 8 when I got The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Amazing.
Great article, and nice to hear you’ll be doing more with the books. Definetly kindled a love of storytelling in me (and NOT lying, whatever anyone else may say.) The Riddling Reaver was great for that, and great because it let you play with your mates. Three of us were convinced we would be writing these kind of books when we grew up.
I never did finish House of Hell myself. At the time I was convinced the book was incompletable, but I guess not. I was just thick.
City of Thieves is definetly a classic. I’m sure he said in an interview promoting the Deathtrap Dungeon video game that if it was a success he’d love to see a City of Thieves one. I guess he’d given up on that by Videogaiden’s time.
Appointment With F.E.A.R is my personal favourite though, since I got to be a Superhero in that one.
City of Thieves is definetly a classic. I’m sure he said in an interview promoting the Deathtrap Dungeon video game that if it was a success he’d love to see a City of Thieves one. I guess he’d given up on that by Videogaiden’s time.
There’s actually a Warlock of Firetop Mountain DS game on the horizon, so you never know…
http://kotaku.com/5312035/fighting-fantasy-ds-preview-choose-your-own-adventure-makes-a-comeback
Note to self: don’t try and get fancy and put a quote from someone in italics when all comments are in italics anyway.
House of Hell haunts me even now, a bit. If I remember correctly, there’s one bit where you get a choice of which cage to be put in – a short, square one or a long, tall one. Whichever way you choose, you end up dead, with the book happily explaining how your body responds to the different methods of being trapped.
Choose your own adventure as Choose your death, really. It seemed… well, I’d have said unfair, but it wasn’t. It seemed to say that the world itself was unfair, and the power and tragedy of sometimes being *too late to do anything* got at me. Gets at me still, really.
KG
The FF books were a big part of my childhood too – I think I owned most of them, and they are still tucked away in an attic somewhere. Thank you for the trip back in time. Looking forward to the ’something quite special’
Again, the FFs were hugely important to me, although I think I enjoyed the notion of cause and effect from the branching pathways more than anything else.
I also loved the artwork so much that I collected an entire set of ‘Steve Jackson’s Battle Cards’ – essentially the FF cover artists doing generic fantasy pieces that would go on to be the covers of middling novels. Some fantastically evocative pieces in there though, although this is about as close as I can find to some pictures:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/410274
Also, for the unaware – the entirety of ‘Lone Wolf’ has been made available to view/play online or download at Project Aeon. Go play – they’re fantastic!
http://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home
City Of Thieves was my first FF book too. I remember it seeming genuinely exotic at the time.
Here’s a question, folks. I remember playing a FF-style game that had a kind of spider’s web thing printed at the front of the book. A big web type thing with the numbers of paragraphs in there or something. And as you went through the story you would shade in areas of the web or something…
Any idea what that might have been?
Hi Robert – just made my way here from your Hour of Glory review on Boardgamegeek. If you enjoyed the Choose Your Own Adventure books, I can’t help but mention the game I just did the graphic design for – Tales of the Arabian Nights. You’ll love it, I’m sure.
Nice site!
UH, Tales is on my want list, so I’ll definitely be covering it if I can get my hands on it. And it’s an HONOUR to have you posting here. Your incredible rules sheets have made many a games night flow more smoothly. So, thanks from everyone here.
I got an old battered copy of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in a pile of books from my mother’s friend’s son who had moved out. It really opened up the world of Fighting Fantasy too me, despite me getting lost in what appeared to be an infinite loop near the end (very frustrating, never gone back). I have about 15 of them, I really wish I had bought more as I loved the old covers.. the new ones don’t look that good.
Amongst these books was another in a similar style called Avenger, you played a ninja and had various martial arts moves you could use as well as other things like blowdarts and shuriken. It was brutally violent but very enjoyable, I’ve since discovered it was one of many, dunno if you ever played it but if anyone is after something similar it’s a good series to try.
Ah, yes, “Avenger”! The brilliant Way of the Tiger series!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_the_Tiger
There’s one FF book by the guys who wrote the WotT, called “Talisman of Death” (and it’s a great one!), situated in the same world as WotT (maybe the only fantasy FF book not set on Titan).
Amazingly, as soon as I saw that first picture I remembered the skeleton’s name. Zanbar Bone!
I wasn’t born until 1985, so I pretty much perfectly missed the series when it launched. Luckily every charity shop in the universe seemed to have stock when they finally caught my interest, and my brother and I managed to build up quite the collection, including the FF RPG rulebook. Robot Commando is easily my favourite, combining as it does the perfect combination of giant robot suits and dinosaurs.
Oh yes.
As Magritte might have said, this is not a book (this is a game). It’s a game, no, it’s a book, no it’s an f’ing GAME!
Rob, did you ever read Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! (consults dictionary…) tetralogy? An offshoot of the FF line, they were essentially one entire quest tied together in four books. Not only did they allow you to carry your character over from one book to another but you could unlock unique passages in subsequent books. Let the Assassin live in book 1 and he’d meet you in book 2! Blew my tiny mind.
Oh, and it even had a simple but devilish magic system that required you to remember three letter acronyms. That’s right — you had to remember the spells yourself. When time came to use your spells you were given a choice of acronyms to choose from; some were real spells, some weren’t…
Tactics, risk, resource management and willfully strange artwork from John Blanche. Fucking awesome.
Jazzer, I played the LOT. If I remember correctly, I was hopeless at remembering the spells because my memory is terrible. So I’m probably remembering incorrectly. Which would mean I was brilliant at remembering them, because my memory’s great. Which would mean–
Armies of death was a great one – you got to command any army and take on others throughout the story. The first one I actually owned was Space Traveller which I was never able to complete – to get to the ending you had to warp jump to the right entry using a particular formula which info that you had picked up. I always was missing some info and ended up in the wrong place. Even reading every entry provided no clues – very frustrating.
The Sorcery books were great, and there was another offshoot which were much more like D&D where you had a gamesmaster and then you set a dungeon based on the book. Frustratingly I could never find enough people to make that one worthwhile…
I can’t believe this. I was into rpg’s but hated the choose your own adventure books as they were shit. Never ever did i lay my eyes on a single fighting fantasy book or I would have bought a lot of them. I did buy the TSR instant RPG games that actually said “no instruction necessary” but there really was. They were kinda in the same vein. Oh well, no time like the present. I downloaded “City of Thieves” (don’t judge me) and am rolling my way through it. Very interesting and lots of fun. Got somewhat close to Zanbar but those fracking moon dogs killed me! As a kid I would have gone gaga over these. Turns out I can buy them local for a good price. Woot! Sure I’m a 47, but I have loved games all my life. Gamer Pride!#
Spotted on the b3ta image challenge [careful children, link may contain swears]
http://www.b3ta.com/board/9611893
Fighting Fantasy coming to the iPhone – and you can’t cheat.
http://www.vg247.com/2009/08/04/fighting-fantasy-books-heading-to-iphone-later-this-year/
Great article Robert. I have never heard of these books before, I am sorry I missed them when they first came out.
Ahhh. FF books. I am sure I still have these somewhere. Although I got into gaming aged 9, when my Dad brought home a copy of D&D and ran an adventure – the keep on the borderlands – with me.
He was the most straight laced child of the 40’s you could ever have imagined. And yet, he gamed D&D at work with a bunch of statisticians and secretaries and stuff. How cool is that?
Forest of Doom was the first I owned after playing my mate’s Deathtrap Dungeon. I can still remember the new book smell in the shop as I agonisded for what felt like hours over which one to get. I was gutted to finish it on my first go with barely a scratch. Any illusions I had about Fighting Fantasy invincibility were quickly dispelled by House of Hell.
Even though they were like crack for nerds it seemed like everyone was playing them – even tough kids would discuss the pros and cons of the books while beating your lunch money out of you. Of course they never played out the battles for real, they just assumed they won like they knew they would in the playground.
Pen & paper RPGs killed them off for me though, only the Sorcery books were interesting after that.
I got into them about the same time (early 1980s) and thought they were great… until I played the Lone Wolf game books
I do seem to remember that some of the Fighting Fantasy books were ridiculously hard. Chasms of Malice I believe had a simple mechanic called “one strike combat” to represent a tense swordfight on the edge of something really deep (like a chasm… er… of malice). Basically it involved rolling two dice for yourself and two dice for your opponent (no skill was added to this roll). If you got higher then they died. If they got higher then you died. Sometimes you had to win four such combats in a row to proceed. Sheesh…
Then there was Creature of Havoc; in which you began as a raging monster. In that one you had to randomly determine (by die roll naturally) which direction you bimbled off in whenever you came to a junction in the early part of the game. Go the wrong way and you generally died, but sometimes you wouldn’t realise you had gone the wrong way until a few paragraphs later. Talk about sadistic game design.
God I loved Final Fantasy – I remember being astonished when I saw Warlock of Firetop Mountain in WH Smiths in Bolton.
I remember Joe Dever’s Mad Max style books being great though only got round to playing Lone Wolf on the computer (though great fun to pass the time on night shifts a few years back)
I remember the end of Space Traveller being mind-batteringly difficult as well, though as a massive Star Trek geek I thought it was one of the best things I’d ever read.
I still remember starting to play RPG’s (once my Mum was convinced that D&D wouldn’t lead to possession or murder) simply because they were described as ‘Choose your own adventures where anything could happen’
Anyone remember them, or at least maybe one of the creators, putting out an actual RPG in book form which had some kind of 1700s-ish setting. I remember seeing it in ASDA but I’d already spent my money on a 2000ad annual… would love to find that again. Still think it would make an excellent setting, sort of post English Civil War.
Someone really needs to adapt The Devil’s Whore as a Choose Your Own Adventure… if only to watch a marketing team try to figure out how to sell it