![]() ![]() Yeah, to me, Deathtrap Dungeon delivered THE perfect gaming experience.” There were so many things here that elevated this title way above the rest: the iconic Iain McCaig bloodbeast cover and luscious interiors the fact you were up against six other rival dungeon competitors the dangers lurking on every page the fiendish traps through which you had to negotiate those pesky jewels you had to find the Trial Masters which tormented you the dread you felt when you had to face up against Throm, and the blessed relief as you turned to page 400. To survive meant that 10,000 pieces of gold were yours for the taking. “In a nutshell, Deathtrap Dungeon pitted the player against Baron Sukumvit’s deadliest trap-and-monster-filled dungeon. ![]() Andi Ewington, comic writer for Titan Comics and one of the main writers for American producer and director Michael Bay’s 451 Media Group, nominates “the phenomenal Deathtrap Dungeon” as Fighting Fantasy’s best. With our trusty map of Allansia (the original Fighting Fantasy world) in hand we venture north from Darkwood Forest to the city of Fang to discover that, in addition to The Forest of Doom, Ian Livingstone’s Deathtrap Dungeon of 1984 has also proven enduringly popular and massively influential. “Illustrations and encounters from The Forest of Doom come to mind when I’m strolling through woodland, wondering what’s around the next bend and treating every fork in the path as a gamebook paragraph choice.” Jamie Fry, who occupied the role of Fighting Fantasy ‘Warlock’ or honorary custodian-historian from August 2011 to June 2016, also emphasises the power of Jackson and Livingstone’s gamebook series to help the reader to transcend the confines of the everyday and instead wander the realms of the imagination. They take me to a world devoid of boring logic and over-explanation to a dream world full of possibilities and the thrill of danger.” The two books I could never do without are The Forest of Doom – with Malcolm Barter’s eerie and beautiful inks depicting the weird Darkwood Forest – and City of Thieves with its colourful and crazy inhabitants. “It is quite honestly a hard decision for me. When asked to nominate his favourite Fighting Fantasy gamebook, fantasy illustrator Mike Wolmarans of Tenebrae Studios (whose clients include Fantasy Flight Games, Avalon Games and Pinnacle Entertainment, among others) balked at first, before highlighting two of the most popular titles from the original series. This was the first book that I mapped, and I used that same map 25 years later when I wrote the Forest of Doom d20 adventure for Myriador.” The plot is to find the two missing pieces of a magic warhammer and then take the hammer to the dwarves at Stonebridge, to unite them in the war against the evil trolls. ![]() The shape changer cover artwork by Iain McCaig really sticks in my memory from when I first saw it. “I was twelve years old when The Warlock of Firetop Mountain was released and I already owned Warlock and The Citadel of Chaos when The Forest of Doom came out. Jamie Wallis, Managing Director and Lead Designer of Greywood Publishing (publishers of the Quick Easy Role Play or QUERP system), cites Ian Livingstone’s 1983 adventure The Forest of Doom as foremost among the original series. Selling in excess of 17 million copies and published in more than 30 languages, Fighting Fantasy influenced a generation of children growing up in the 1980s and early 1990s, including many who would draw inspiration from their beloved gamebooks to themselves emerge as respected authors and illustrators, and leading figures of the creative industries. ![]() Over time the Fighting Fantasy series moved beyond its early ‘dungeon bash’ origins to include gamebooks with themes of science fiction, horror and post-apocalypse, even superheroes, pirates and zombies. Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s tale of the fell warlock Zagor and his denizens holding dominion over the legendary caverns beneath Firetop Mountain became a genuine ‘playground craze’, being reprinted three times within the first three months – and twenty times within the first year – of its publication. The phenomenal success of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks began in 1982 with the publication of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Puffin Books. ![]()
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