A Fighting Fantasy Journey
Recommendations: 1171
About the Project
The Fighting fantasy series had to be my first step into gaming as a child. Growing up in a computer free 80s household the books gave me an escape from the norm before little men came along. After years of neglect I went back to my original collection and went on a mission to complete it. In this project I will be looking at each book and seeing if they were as good as I remember. I have also picked up some of the official Fighting Fantasy minis from Atlantis Miniatures and painting them up to go with my book collection.
Related Game: Fighting Fantasy
Related Genre: Fantasy
This Project is Active
Back to Blacksand
A slight interlude as I acquired minis of the two troll guards from city of thieves. Fat nose and sour belly. You can decide which one is which. They have to be my favourite minis in the range and capture the illustration so well. 
Book twenty three-Masks of Mayhem
Book 23 has us returning to fantasy and the continent of Khul in this adventure by Robin Waterfield. I have mixed feelings about this book as it has a nice rpg vibe with interesting encounters with people that aren't all combat focused. But it also has some of the worse plot twists that could leave a child stumped.... Or adult me such as the who dunnit aspect at the end which leaves you wondering what you missed. The villain is the sorceress Morgana of Kill Garnash who is about to unleash her golems on the world, like the one on the cover who ate under used in the story. She just needs one sigil to control them. So for some reason the i ly person in Arion who can stop her is you the ruler. So in your own you set off to stop her. 
This adventure comes with a map although I'm guessing it's not to scale. You will die alit escaping from a wild fire on the plains where it certainly does not seem to rain. 
Kevin Truehand my faithful friend
Oh... Never mind. Bye Kevin. 
We also get a game within a game in a battleships style hunt for a sabre toothed tiger
Morgana illustrated by the great Russ Nicholson. She's not as tough as we are led to think. 
Has to be the shortest summing up and well done for paragraph 400 so far Book twenty-two: Robot Commando
What ten year old wouldn't get excited about giant robots vs dinosaurs? I was sold on the cover alone and was one of my favorite in the science fiction outings in the series. Written by the ( other ) Steve Jackson we add rules for walking about in giant robots which we use to ranch dinosaurs in the country of Thalos. Unfortunately our warlike neighbours have invaded after releasing a pathogen that puts the whole nation to sleep apart from you. We travel the country looking for the means to defeat our enemies in the various cities that are all set up for one task, such as the city of industry and another for going on holiday too. Just like Scorpion swamp Jackson gives us the ability to revisit locations. We also have more than one way to complete the game such as trying to take down the enemy leadership or finding away to wake everyone up. So unlike most of the books in the series it doesnt end at paragraph 400. 
As the only peron awake we have to dodge the invaders and dinos although as a rancher we aren't exactly the commando the title has us believe. And we aren't a robot.
There is some great imagery in this book and we get to jump from one robot to another each designed for a different purpose. Although each seems very familiar.
Book twenty-two: Robot Commando
What ten year old wouldn't get excited about giant robots vs dinosaurs? I was sold on the cover alone and was one of my favorite in the science fiction outings in the series. Written by the ( other ) Steve Jackson we add rules for walking about in giant robots which we use to ranch dinosaurs in the country of Thalos. Unfortunately our warlike neighbours have invaded after releasing a pathogen that puts the whole nation to sleep apart from you. We travel the country looking for the means to defeat our enemies in the various cities that are all set up for one task, such as the city of industry and another for going on holiday too. Just like Scorpion swamp Jackson gives us the ability to revisit locations. We also have more than one way to complete the game such as trying to take down the enemy leadership or finding away to wake everyone up. So unlike most of the books in the series it doesnt end at paragraph 400. Book twentyone : Trial of Champions
The long awaited return to deathtrap dungeon with Ian Livingstones kinda sequal. Baron sukumvit was clearly upset we got through his last dungeon so he's had an upgrade for this year's contest. This time we play a captive of the barons brother lord carnus who hates his brother. So he wants his own champion to beat the dungeon. But first we need to survive the selection process in the arena of death. The winner gets the honour of going into the dungeon and certain death. Great art and great story this one was always popular with me. 
The original cover really captured the best part of the book for me which was the various desperate trials you have to go through before entering the dungeon. 
We have to collect ringsin this version of the dungeon and once again meet a pair of trial masters who test our intelligence and skill. We also get some nice monsters such as the cold claw and the weird purple tongue coming out of a statue.
I'm not a big fan of the Lord Carnus mini or of my paint job. I would have preferred a mini if the warrior from the book cover in the blindfold mask who we are forced to fight 
Book twenty : Sword of the samurai
Off to the Titan version of the far East and the land of Hachiman in this shogun inspired adventure. I always thought the cover was cool but I don't remember playing this one as a child. By Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith who delve into Japan mythology with some nasty undead types. We are sent off on a mission by the shogun to recover his stolen katanga from ikiru the master of shadows. This book has a skill list we can choose from to improve our character. One interesting rule is an honour system. We gain points for good deeds and if we loose enough we commit suicide. 
This dragon wants you to solve a riddle to get past him so you can't just go killing your way to victory. 
Yay we get a companion who pledges to our service and follows us on our journey. 
Oh
We have to fight a variety of Demons at the end and we can call upon all is to fight them and we can pick and choose who fights who with various outcomes. I enjoyed this book for the first time as an adult and the setting is an interesting change. 
Book nineteen: Demons of the Deep
Great cover by Les Edwards on a return to the fantasy setting of Titan, or under its ocean. Steve Jackson (the American one) is the author of this aquatic adventure. Captured by pirates we are thrown into the sea and are magically able to breath. We have a few hours to search the underwater kingdom for black pearls which can be used to get revenge on the pirates. That's not the only way to win. I managed it without any pearls. You can get help from a sea dragon. Dolphins and water elementals. 
Captain bloodaxe laughing because pirates seem to be the only people in the whole planet of titan to have access to cannons. 
There are some interesting underwater creatures such as this sword fish and the Deep ones who are uppity looking fishmen. I like that one is called Sharkspear 
Gotta have a kraken 
Never trust a dragon. Even one under the sea. Book Eighteen: Rebel Planet
Written by Robin Waterford who will give us four books in the series ans illustrated by Gary mayes who gives us some more comic caprion style art. In Rebel Planet we aim to take down an evil empire armed with a laser sword. Sounds familiar. The Arcadian Empire is made up of three types of aliens all linked by a duper computer. As an oppressed human we have to bring down the hive mind computer. This book has an unusual background section split into sections with enough info for an RPG. We learn all about the planets we are going to visit and the aliens from the SAROS manual. Search and research of space organisation has us working under cover to find the code to destroy the computer. We embark on an espionage trip finding resistance fighters. 
The weirdest robot that spins at you 
Take this puny human
Definitely not a light sabre
Definitely not C3PO
As a kid I found it hard to get into this book. 8 had no real idea what I was looking for nd has so much fluff to get through. Then we have to do Binary code maths. A bit of a switch off for my child brain. I enjoyed it more during my revisit
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