tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post4932742899936191905..comments2024-03-19T03:02:38.228-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Dark, Moody, and SurrealJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-39272788976547921402012-08-10T02:03:36.776-04:002012-08-10T02:03:36.776-04:00Citadel is so random and odd. It's marvelous.Citadel is so random and odd. It's marvelous.Andy Besthttp://www.kungfuology.com/andybestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-63101469762827981222012-08-10T02:02:07.890-04:002012-08-10T02:02:07.890-04:00I got Forest of Doom and then Warlock in the UK wh...I got Forest of Doom and then Warlock in the UK when I was 11. Both of them seemed really surreal and amazing to me, really atmospheric. The art is amazing and weird. FoD was really open and if you came out through the end you could go back to the start and walk through again. And things like the clone warriors an their underground mushroom farm ...Andy Besthttp://www.kungfuology.com/andybestnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-75995296578614690622011-02-22T13:36:49.464-05:002011-02-22T13:36:49.464-05:00Ahh, Fighting Fantasy! The reason because D&D ...Ahh, Fighting Fantasy! The reason because D&D failed at ruining my life was because those tiny books had done away with it already. FF made me ultimately unable to read a book from cover to cover (v. gr. I browsed through 'The Lord of the Rings' by randomly jumping forward and back).<br /><br />Let me disgress. I live in Spain, and D&D wasn't translated to Spanish language until 1985. (Think a minute about it, oh grognards from the USA, and tremble: in Spain OLD SCHOOL EQUALS TO MENTZER EDITION. Do you say Chainmail, LBB, Holmes? Moldvay perhaps? Ha! Unheard of.)<br /><br />So, my gateway to the wonderful world of RPG was:<br /><br />1st. FF and the Lone Wolf series.<br />2nd. the D&D Cartoon Show (glups!).<br />3rd. a glimpse of the D&D Basic boxed set on the shelves of a shopping mall in Barcelona. (I fell in love with those maps on graph paper.)<br /><br />Sadly, Spanish D&D turned out to be a mirage. Blinked for a moment and gone out of market without a trace (no follow ups, no modules, no Expert set...) So, let me rectify: in Spain, old school equals to Menzer edition FOR THE FEW LUCKY ONES WHO MANAGED TO BUY THE BOXED SET. For myself, Old School is 'The Warlock of the Firetop Mountain', since it became the shoehorn... I mean, the formal standart to which every other piece of Interactive Fiction Games was to be compared. <br /><br />Eventually titles like Runequest, Stormbringer, Chtulhu, MERP, Star Wars were translated to Spanish and I came to play RPG as often as twice a year - with people I didn't know. But those adventures made me feel sort of short changed: I didn't care about Role-Playing (i.e. talking in funny voices), all I was looking for was a good old dungeon crawl, Firetop Mountain style. And in spite of their overly elaborated rule systems (or because of them?), I didn't percieve those games to be more, but less interactive that FF books. Where they were the branching tunnels/paths/whatever, the coupon items to fetch, the whole die & retry thing?<br /><br />And there came the day in which a foolish publisher dared to translate D&D again. It was 1992. The history repeated itself and the whole edition crashed miserabily. But this time I wasn't flat-footed and purchased my boxed set at the first chance. <br /><br />Unfortunately, it happended to be the infamous BLACK BOX, a misguided attempt to fit the D&D rules into the narrow boundaries of board games. It was broken at every possible level - o so I though. Anyway, I tried the 'Zanzer Tem' dungeon with different groups of people, just in case. But with me as a DM, what could possibly go right? Remember that I was an entirely CLUELESS fool doing his best to follow the rules BY THE BOOK. My players hated the game, and so did I. <br /><br />I had assumed the FF books to be a pale reflection of a D&D game, but the D&D black box didn't stand to them. To be fair, no version of D&D would have lived up to my expectations. Fighting Fantasy had spoiled me.anonimous, emperador en el exiliohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13204169087393199959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-55800455230411276862011-02-16T08:43:09.706-05:002011-02-16T08:43:09.706-05:00I just bought the newly released Kindle version of...I just bought the newly released <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Warlock-of-Firetop-Mountain/dp/B004JWHW92/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297863625&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow">Kindle version</a> of <i>Warlock of Firetop Mountain</i> at Amazon.com. What a perfect format for gamebooks! Hyperlinks replace flipping pages, and the Kindle automatically keeps track of character stats, maps, etc. Nevertheless it still feels like you're reading a game BOOK and not just playing a video game. I hope to see more gamebook titles released on e-readers in the near future. Also, I found a website that has the Lone Wolf series converted to Mobi format that can be read on the Kindle. See <a href="http://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home" rel="nofollow">here</a>.Matthew Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17343263539473683579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-70686583699235360112011-02-15T17:47:21.034-05:002011-02-15T17:47:21.034-05:00I bought Dragon Warriors books 1-4 back in the day...I bought Dragon Warriors books 1-4 back in the day. Just last week I purchased the final two to round out the collection. I've got a tremendous fondness for the flavour of that system.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-32384452047227939402011-02-15T15:08:03.802-05:002011-02-15T15:08:03.802-05:00Robert: I love Dragon Warriors - it really is one ...Robert: I love Dragon Warriors - it really is one of the *great* old-school RPGs. The adventures are classic examples of grim British fantasy vibe and are chock full of Dave's wonderfully atmoshperic prose. <br /><br />To my mind, Dragon Warriors is well worth every single cent - even just for the "Lands of Legend" world setting alone - and if the DW system isn't to your taste, then the world setting and the adventures can all be very easily converted to LL. If you like Warlock of Firetop Mountain then I think you'll love Dragon Warriors. <br /><br />BTW. The first book in the Fabled Lands series has just been released for iPad, too.Jiminyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03928886405446170395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-32010102775653026442011-02-15T10:34:06.038-05:002011-02-15T10:34:06.038-05:00I never saw these “back in the day”, though I did ...I never saw these “back in the day”, though I did have a big collection of the CYOA books. Just a few weeks ago, however, I got <i>The Warlock of Firetop Mountain</i> for my iPad. Suprisingly, I think the minimal mechanics could work for a traditional RPG as well. I am kind of annoyed by the maze, though.<br /><br />There is something very appealing about this sort of British fantasy. I seems to fit what I would like to aim for well. That’s what keeps me toying with the idea of running <i>Dragon Warriors</i>. Wondering if it would actually help me get that tone more than trying do execute it with <i>Labyrinth Lord</i>.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-54076928246154939612011-02-14T16:57:34.847-05:002011-02-14T16:57:34.847-05:00@Akrasia
I can't speak for over the Pond, but...@Akrasia<br /><br />I can't speak for over the Pond, but in the UK bookshop where I work, Fighting Fantasy books get shelved in the "Children 9-12" section. Unfortunately in this case, the official section running order is alphabetical by author throughout, so the books end up scattered on several different shelves. D'oh!<br /><br />For what it's worth, my own favourite FF book was (and is) The Citadel Of Chaos. Some reasons why:<br /><br />1. You get spells.<br />2. The archvillain rejoices in the splendid name of Balthus Dire.<br />3. Russ Nicholson's illustration of the Wheelies: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0dOXQ_dv5kk/TBnpuWLlq6I/AAAAAAAAALc/fbJ4S7F7mz8/s1600/wheelies.jpgClawCarverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07236809815213343281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-28096562531393477092011-02-14T15:46:59.482-05:002011-02-14T15:46:59.482-05:00Now, I'm a *big* FF fan, but in a thread discu...Now, I'm a *big* FF fan, but in a thread discussing the best of British fantasy gamebooks I really can't quite believe that nobody has mentioned Dave Morris, Jamie Thomson and Oliver Johnson. <br /><br />It's actually a little-known fact that Dave wrote one of the Fighting Fantasy books: Keep of the Lich Lord. However, Dave and Jamie are best known for writing what are possibly the greatest gamebooks ever committed to paper; the awesome but sadly-as-yet-unfinished Fabled Lands series, which is lavishly illustrated with Russ Nicholson masterpieces. Seriously, the Fabled Lands books make the Warlock of Firetop Mountain look ordinary - they're a *must-buy*! <br /><br />Long before the Fabled Lands, Dave and Oliver wrote the epic Bloodsword gamebooks, which are set in the same highly atmospheric grim-fantasy world as their Dragon Warriors RPG and are again illustrated by Russ Nicholson. Meanwhile, Jamie Thomson wrote the Way of the Tiger gamebooks, which are a superbly gritty ninja experience. Bloodsword and Way of the Tiger are also *must-buy* gamebooks - although unfortunately they are currently out of print...<br /><br />Dave and Jamie now have their own blog, and it makes for very interesting reading:<br /><br />http://fabledlands.blogspot.comJiminyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03928886405446170395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-1159107513965371532011-02-14T13:08:18.287-05:002011-02-14T13:08:18.287-05:00The 25th anniversary edition that Zenopus is talki...The 25th anniversary edition that Zenopus is talking about is still available from Amazon in Canada.<br />http://www.amazon.ca/Fighting-Fantasy-Gamebook-Warlock-Mountain/dp/1840468378/<br /><br />I have it and it is really nice.Commanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01719180660352787108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-45642108539016851462011-02-14T12:21:56.456-05:002011-02-14T12:21:56.456-05:00"I too love Nicholson's work in the FF. T..."I too love Nicholson's work in the FF. There's similar artwork of his in the early White Dwarf issues. He has a blog nowadays:<br />http://russnicholson.blogspot.com/"<br /><br />It's worth mentioning that Russ does private commissions for reasonable prices. I'm not saying it's cheap, because it's not. But for anyone who grew up captivated by the strange and powerful illustrations of Warlock of Firetop Mountain, or Citadel of Chaos, it's an opportunity to own a piece of gaming history. And, for what it's worth, his artwork now is at least as good as it was in the early 80's.Ben L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04568198881628052274noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-4865103686572241352011-02-14T11:56:12.201-05:002011-02-14T11:56:12.201-05:00Oh yeah, I too have very fond memories of Russ Nic...Oh yeah, I too have very fond memories of Russ Nicholson's art. Amazing stuff! I'd probably rank him up with Erol Otus and Dave Trampie. I'm glad that he's still producing new works.<br /><br />And, like many others, I spent many wonderful afternoons with the FF books as an adolescent. I still have a half-dozen of those books on my shelf.Akrasiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08734103159691571156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-55750637433137350542011-02-14T11:53:42.445-05:002011-02-14T11:53:42.445-05:00In what section of the bookstore are the FF reprin...In what section of the bookstore are the FF reprints to be found? I've never noticed them before.Akrasiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08734103159691571156noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-77608007247537769362011-02-14T10:31:03.488-05:002011-02-14T10:31:03.488-05:00Talk about timing - I was just in the mood for som...Talk about timing - I was just in the mood for some dungeon crawling fun and so I pulled out Deathtrap Dungeon the other week and worked my way through it again. It's amazing how much you can forget over the course of a few decades.<br /><br />I pulled out the first Lone Wolf book as well and started in on it again, but there's something about the Fighting Fantasy books that I just never got from the Lone Wolf series. I love them both, but damn those Fighting Fantasy books were awesome.Jerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10060430253113856206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-33245980094274831042011-02-14T09:47:19.001-05:002011-02-14T09:47:19.001-05:00After reading this post I went and purchased 3 of ...After reading this post I went and purchased 3 of the books from Amazon.ca. Looking forward to playing through them with my son.<br /><br />I note also that four of the books are available for the Iphone. I may pick up one of those as well...seems like it'd be a good fit for the device.Donhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00323022731513484213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-42283914629242670472011-02-14T09:46:29.413-05:002011-02-14T09:46:29.413-05:00Latest [fifth] issue of Fighting Fantazine, the Fi...Latest [fifth] issue of Fighting Fantazine, the Fighting Fantasy fan magazine, is now available for download here:<br /><br />http://www.unboundbook.org/FightingFantazine/FF5.pdf<br /><br />104 pages of FF goodness absolutely free!<br /><br />cheers<br /><br />Andyfantasygamebookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05240994072742026340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-17019461334639226022011-02-14T07:53:15.885-05:002011-02-14T07:53:15.885-05:00The early FF books had a palpably gloomy tone to t...<i>The early FF books had a palpably gloomy tone to them, one at odds with with the brighter take on fantasy guys like Elmore, Easley, and Parkinson seemed to specialize in. The same goes for artists like Willingham and Dee, whose stuff feels too blatantly "heroic" for the FF world, where heroism is more subdued and ringed with darkness. </i><br /><br />Oh. Yeah, I agree, I guess it just didn't occur to me that they'd go to any of those artists in the first place. Are they even still working?Desdichadohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14774274812688958457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-91017729929044055712011-02-13T23:50:21.703-05:002011-02-13T23:50:21.703-05:00Fighting Fantasy!
Hells to the Yeah!
I picked up C...Fighting Fantasy!<br />Hells to the Yeah!<br />I picked up City of Thieves and loved the series from there. I couldn't believe how fun and cool the combination of CYA and D&D style adventuring was, and I especially liked the creepy pseudo-medieval atmosphere. A friend collected them, luckily. Oddly enough, I had no idea there was an RPG based on this until recently, I knew a fair number of people who borrowed my books woulda played. Missed opportunities..... I'll definitely pick up the RPG this time, whether we play or not.<br /><br />I'm glad to see they're back!<br /> <br />@James:<br />"a world where everyone is covered in blood and shit.":<br />Why does everyone forget the boils? ;-) I dunno where this came from either. The Critical Hit system was a bit nasty, but therefore people(and monsters) could get killed quickly fairly often, rendering life a bit cheap, and there was a Ratcatcher class, a prominent god of disease[though Greyhawk had Incabulos, Lord of Afflictions, as a powerful deity as well], an unraveling society and a world slowly falling to chaos, but I didn't particularly see it as sordid and filth-ridden myself. I think it's kinda an exaggeration that's often mistaken for the truth. Sorta like misconceptions of, say: the silliness of Tunnels and Trolls(which I didn't know about until I talked to others; the solos were chock full of blood, guts, death, and some implied sex[in which the books assume you're a hetero male, of course... |This irked more than one female friend who played through, but the 80's, so....|])all rendered in British Fantasy style in my Corgi Editions(supposedly less lurid than the originals!), the complexity of Rolemaster,the inevitable demise of platoons of of Call of Cthulu PCs, and the unplayability of the Palladium System, and so on, ime.<br /><br />I wish I still had all my T&T books, I'm re-ordering them from Flying Buffalo now. As for my FFs, I'll definitely be filling out my collections wherever I can.<br /><br />Loved this post! And you never know, your kids might like the gamebooks, so pulling 'em out of storage may be an even better idea now. :-)velaranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15689908090884198784noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-54909346763487005402011-02-13T23:49:56.986-05:002011-02-13T23:49:56.986-05:00@Regamer: The stories are the same, but the newest...@Regamer: The stories are the same, but the newest reissues include 3 sample characters you can use to play instead of rolling up your own. I'd recommend the new books: Howl of the Werewolf, Stormslayer, and Night of the Necromancer - all by Jonathan Green. They're not classics like Deathtrap Dungeon or Warlock of Firetop Mountain, but the gameplay and stories are a bit more interesting than the older books.<br /><br />cheers<br /><br />Andyfantasygamebookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05240994072742026340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-14514786314560351482011-02-13T22:12:44.014-05:002011-02-13T22:12:44.014-05:00Wow this is really strange James, I've been on...Wow this is really strange James, I've been on a fighting fantasy kick for about a week now, looking for them at my local bookstores, and looking for ways to buy them online (i.e. ebay). I'm not really sold on the new covers, but if the entire art is the same, I could go for it. Tell me, does anyone know if the stories are the same, or have they been modified?Regamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14568470239734853393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-56875872036163851022011-02-13T21:58:37.070-05:002011-02-13T21:58:37.070-05:00I'm curious what kind of art you think would b...<i>I'm curious what kind of art you think would be innappropriate and why.</i><br /><br>For the <i>Fighting Fantasy</i> books, I think art in the style of most of TSR's stable of mid to late 80s artists would be inappropriate, as would a more cartoony or comic book-ish style. The early FF books had a palpably <i>gloomy</i> tone to them, one at odds with with the brighter take on fantasy guys like Elmore, Easley, and Parkinson seemed to specialize in. The same goes for artists like Willingham and Dee, whose stuff feels too blatantly "heroic" for the FF world, where heroism is more subdued and ringed with darkness.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-5833736993011457232011-02-13T21:34:40.373-05:002011-02-13T21:34:40.373-05:00PS If you like Russ Nicholson, have a look at Harr...PS If you like Russ Nicholson, have a look at Harry Clarke. I wouldn't be surprised if he was an influence.anarchisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05546197561922726279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-68146569812082340422011-02-13T21:31:14.039-05:002011-02-13T21:31:14.039-05:00Lone Wolf strikes me as a lot more 'high fanta...Lone Wolf strikes me as a lot more 'high fantasy' than Fighting Fantasy, in that you're the last survivor of an order of ranger/monks, on an epic quest against a 'big bad'. This difference doesn't effect my experience of playing them though.<br /><br />By the way, if people don't know about these websites of playable online gamebooks they should give them a look:<br /><br />www.ffproject.com - unofficial Fighting Fantasy adventures.<br /><br />www.projectaon.org - Lone Wolf and other Joe Dever books.<br /><br />www.ageoffable.net - my own online gamebook.anarchisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05546197561922726279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-22316887237853433922011-02-13T20:35:50.393-05:002011-02-13T20:35:50.393-05:00We used to run the occasional FF book as an AD&...We used to run the occasional FF book as an AD&D scenario when we were lads. Ah, for those heady days before concepts like "railroading" and "sandboxing" made us feel guilty for the way we have our fun.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-36191703381226433292011-02-13T20:18:26.017-05:002011-02-13T20:18:26.017-05:00I'm curious what kind of art you think would b...I'm curious what kind of art you think would be <i>innappropriate</i> and why.Desdichadohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14774274812688958457noreply@blogger.com