My Top 10 Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- Fighting Fantasy was a series of "choose your own" adventures, first released in the 1980s. Here are my favourites in the series. Be warned - I have cheated a bit!
You can follow my book-by-book readthrough of the series here: • Fighting Fantasy Retro...
Check out my reviews of the new Fighting Fantasy gamebooks which have appeared since the original series finished in 1995, from Eye of the Dragon to The Secrets of Salamonis: • Are The Later Fighting...
#fightingfantasy
Hi from Brazil! Today I finished The Deathtrap Dungeon (after 25 years +) with my now 8 year old kid. He loved as much as I did back then an I decided to search for content of those amazing books. Fortunately I found your recent video! So cool to find people who share the same interest so far away and had the experience! Even though I have most of them, there were some that I didn´t knew! Thank you for the content!
You're very welcome, Tarcisio!
Never understand how people play Fighting Fantasy without being Alone.
It’s nice to see someone out there who has an appreciation for these fighting fantasy books just like I do. I would vacation to Ireland as a child in the 80s to visit family and found these books in the book store in town. House of Hell caught my eye and I purchased it. I never experienced anything like it. I was hooked and bought several more. These books couldn’t be found in the USA. I could only get them in Ireland and would look forward to acquiring new ones every summer when I went back. These books have a special place in my heart. Not only because they were so unique and fun but also because they are a connection to a very special time and place in my life. Thank you for your video and keeping the memories alive. I still have all my books and I treasure them.
Thanks, Thomas. Glad you enjoyed the video. It's great to hear they're a source of nostalgia for other people, too. I often still leaf through House of Hell particularly...cheating a little to get to the fun bits!
@@michaelbartlettfilm yes Michael me too! Some things get better with age. This may be one of them. 😊
I remember finding “Forest of Doom”, “Temple of Terror” and “Khare: Cityport of Traps” at my school’s book fair in the 80’s. That was in Michigan, so I do believe the books were available in the US . Several of my friends and the library also had them.
The Sorcery series was as perfect as it gets, a humongous load of fun, so creative, so well executed and very difficult to finish.
My favourite series was the Way of the Tiger. As far as Fighting Fantasy is concerned, house of hell, deathtrap dungeon, the trial of champions, and above all, the Island of the Lizard King and Talisman of Death were my favourites
What!?!? There are 2 Steve Jackson!?!? Who wrote what?
Yeah, the second Steve Jackson wrote Scorpion Swamp and Demons of the Deep. You can tell which ones he did because the covers say "Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson present..." whereas the first Steve Jackson books just have his name on the cover.
Loved the Cretan Chronicles series. Had forgotten all about it until now. Thanks. Great selection.
Thanks, Donald!
_Caverns of the Snow Witch_ for me. It's the snowiest setting. But it's the warmest story.
One of the few FF books that puts a lump in my throat. It reaches an emotional core, that many of the others lack.
Always been my favourite.
Did you know that Caverns of the Snow Witch was published in a fantasy magazine up to the point of the death spell? The book was an expansion of the magazine short story game. Actually it's one of two books that did this; House of Hell was also a shortened magazine game story up to the point where you could fight the hounds.
@musicalneptunian of course he did...it says on the cover of the book
These were my favourite books back in the 80's and it is from those i got my love for adventure and RPG. Still at the age of 55, i have thought of buying one again 🙂
Go on! The latest, Secrets of Salamonis, is good fun. A lot of the old titles have been reprinted in affordable copies.
Hello, please :((( I searching this answer on internet lot of times, but nothing about License, please, is Deathtrap Dungeon (or full Fighting Fantasy) public domain? I creating Fan made video game based on Deathtrap Dungeon and i want to Share it to the world. I create this game for free, but i don't know about License of DD and Ian Livingstone, I contact all publishers, but nothing.
Hi there. I'm sorry, I really don't know. I wouldn't have thought so, because the book is still in print, and has been published in several editions. I would have thought it's currently under copyright to Scholastic Books. Perhaps best to contact them.
@@michaelbartlettfilm Thanks :)
I absolutely loved the Cretan Chronicles. The authors really did a good job on recreating the ancient myths.
I always loved the Joe Dever Lonewolf books as well! But Forest of Doom, Scorpion's Swamp and Armies of Death were fave FF books as a kid.
Nice to come across a fellow Scorpions Swamp fan!
@@michaelbartlettfilm I believe that was the first time I made a map, like you said.
The Blood Sword series by Oliver Johnson and Dave Morris.
Cretan Chronicles......excellent series; I forgot all about these until I saw this......well deserved number 2 slot! Many good memories reading these
Cretan Chronicles was brilliant. Great story and clever mechanics
Ah this might be my favourite of your videos yet! Glad you point out the US Steve Jackson wrote Scorpion Swamp, weird that they never differentiated him from our UK Steve Jackson. If it was part of the series proper I'd put Sorcery! at #1.
1 - Warlock of Firetop Mountain (it's what got me started)
2 - Forest of Doom
3 - City of Thieves
4 - Island of the Lizard King
5 - House of Hell
6 - Creature of Havoc
7 - Starship Traveller
8 - Deathtrap Dungeon
9 - Citadel of Chaos
10 - Appointment with F.E.A.R. (though I hate the cover!)
1. Seas of Blood
2. Forest of Doom
3. House of Hell
4. Knights of Doom
5. Scorpion Swamp
6. Caverns of Snow Witch
7. Magehunter.
8. Legend of Zagor
9. Deathmoor
10. Slaves of the Abyss
@@Democraps_are_narrow-minded Thanks for the list! Don't know Knights of Doom or Deathmoor at all - will check 'em out!
1. Warlock of Firetop Mountain
2. Creature of Havoc
3. House of Hell
4. Deathtrap Dungeon
5. City of Thieves [only one I honestly solved first time]
6. Citadel of Chaos
7. Spectral Stalkers
8. Appointment with F.E.A.R
9. Forest of Doom
10. Demons of the Deep
great list, I disagree with you about the cover of appointment with F.E.A.R, I thought it was great!:)
Pretty fond of these myself. I have House of Hell and Slaves of the Abyss, and loved both.
I watched this with baited breath to see what your top three were. I 100% agree the Sorcery! series wins #1
#2 for me was Forest of Doom
#3 is City of Thieves.
Feel a bit bad I didn't include Forest of Doom higher. It's a lovely book.
starship traveler was my 1st but they had a few different themes sorcery books were tops
Loved Fighting Fantasy, and still do, got the most recent one, and in fact, the only two I've never had are Deathmoor and Magehunter, which are ridiculously expensive. I've had the Sorcery series for many years but for whatever reason, still never played them!! I will get to them one day. Anyway, here is my own personal top 10...
1. House of Hell
2. Howl of the Werewolf
3. Beneath Nightmare Castle
4. Legend of the Shadow Warriors
5. Deathtrap Dungeon
6. Appointment with F.E.A.R
7. Temple of Terror
8. Vault of the Vampire
9. Slaves of the Abyss
10. City of Thieves
Honourable mentions to Forest of Doom, Masks of Mayhem, Revenge of the Vampire, Moonrunner, and Trial of Champions.
Great top ten - thanks for posting! I hope you get round to Sorcery soon - but don't expect to finish it for a LONG time! It's incredibly hard.
Loved these books!
A single book was my reward for behaving while my parents went out shopping...
Thanks much for sharing.
And thanks for your comment! Re-reading Temple of Terror at the mo - on the back, it says it was £1.75...
Yep Cretan Chronicles was really good. Have'nt seen or thought of them for decades!
Thanks, Adam!
i remember liking house of hell, vault of the vampire, and creature of havoc
All goodies!
Yes! I did read The Cretan Chronicles when I was a teenager! They were great!
Cretan Chronicles were extremely well written and very well executed in their concept. I can understand why you rank them so high. It was a blast and a very ambitious endeavour.
Great to find someone else loves them too!
House of hell is so bloody difficult.
But worth it!
Yaztromo in Forest of Doom was actually named similarly to "Nostromo" from Alien, because Ian Livingstone was a huge fan of the movie.
I love that fact! I'm a huge fan of Alien too.
Just stumbled onto my old collection of these the other day and have been playing through them all again, I'm glad to see that some of my favourites are commonly loved.
My list would be as follows:
1. Creature of Havoc - once I actually completed this for the first time without cheating I was so pleased at the intricacies through out.
2. Sorcery! Series - As above completing the saga from start to finish is amazing.
3. Night of the Necromancer - A newer one but I loved the twists to it
4. Deathtrap Dungeon / Trial of Champions - I tie these in together as the nostalgia of Deathtrap helped make Trial even better.
5. Warlock of Firetop mountain / Return to Firetop mountain - The classic that got me started and the nostalgia trap
6. Crypt of the Sorcerer
7. House of Hell
8. City of Thieves
9. Citadel of Chaos
10. Dead of Night
Night of the Necromancer is one of the better new ones. I also like Steve Jackson's latest, Secrets of Salamonis.
Great choices. I had the Cretan Chronicles too , always seemed like they were the FF equivalent of literature. Wonderful books but I found the italic paragraph numbers tripped me up a bit. Great to see Forest of Doom (first one I read) and House of Hell in the list. I think the last one I read was Creature of Havoc and that was after a break of a few years and was surprised about how good it was.
Thanks, Evan. (I quite liked the italic numbers thing!)
Dead of night , number 40
Absolutely brill read , good story
That's one of my favourite of the later ones, for sure
I loved Freeway fighter simply because of the cover. To this day I wish I could have that car.
You need to go to Silverton in Australia - they've got loads of the cars used in Mad Max movies there!
In the crown of kings it took me many rereads to figure out how to get past the furnace I don't know how many times I read it before I got the ogre torturer to tell me it's an illusion
I tried only a few but the ones I loved was Midnight Rogue and Appointment with Fear
Both great, in my opinion!
Howl of the Werewolf. Its amazing. Almost impossible to get a hold of. Completely atmospheric.
Yeah, the artwork and writing is terrific. Really has the feel of a horror movie.
Loved Starship Traveller
My brother had Forest of Doom in the mid 80's - I saw the front cover and had to read it. My nan was sick in hospital and I did the whole thing while there. I -never- did the dice thing on any of these books, I just put my finger in the page and went back if I died. ;) It's a pity these fetch so much money nowadays, as I'd love to buy them again.
BTW the other Steve Jackson did the D&D "Car Wars" game
Thanks, David! Quite a lot of them have been reprinted, often with different covers, but it's the same text and gameplay.
I like Scorpion Swamp. It inspired my 5th gamebook The Tavern On Gallows Hill
Wow, that looks fantastic! Have popped it on my Amazon wish list.
Hi from Australia, that was great. Thank you. My head trip but loved it was Starship Traveller.
Thanks! You can find my review of Starship Traveller here: th-cam.com/video/zW7cCgCZ7xI/w-d-xo.html
So…Forest of Doom, City of Thieves and the Sorcery series, then.
Got it.
Don't miss out on House of Hell and Appointment With Fear! Actually, I've changed my mind a little on Forest of Doom - it's fun but a bit too easy. Deathtrap Dungeon is better than I remembered.
I also loved the Cretan Chronicles, actually ended up buying all 3 again a few years ago..Also loved the first few Lone Wolf books.You picked House of Hell!, I could never get through it!
Awesome my good man.
I still play these today, with friends socially, like every few months. Im in my 40's now.😉😆
Thanks! Which ones do you all enjoy playing most?
@@michaelbartlettfilm Depends on time of year really but during Halloween we always put scary, atmospheric music on and play House Of Hell. Still havent beaten it after 6 attempts though lol. This summer we played Spectral Stalkers which is much easier and not quite as dark.
Still we plan to play Dead Of Night, Vault Of The Vampire and Beneath Nightmare Castle once we beat HOH. The rest of the year probably one of the early classics.
We do prefer the fantasy ones though
@@ZamWeazle I must admit, HOH is diabolically difficult. Diabolically! - ho, ho, ho. Oh, dear. I'd imagine Appointment With Fear would make a good group game, because you can choose to play four different superheroes each with their own path through the book.
@@michaelbartlettfilm lol Yeah, good idea 👍
My personal favourite is and will always be House of Hell. I do love the Warlock of Firetop Mountain but being the first doesn't automatically make it the best. Firetop was GREAT but the choices were more or less 'Door? of path?' And in most cases not choosing the door often just resulted in missing a useful item. So it basically meant that you would just always choose to open things. Once you hit the halfway point it does start to get different and much better but then you suddenly hit the labyrinth which while a good idea, became quickly frustrating. Still my top 5 but House of Hell is easily my number 1 pick.
Totally agree about Warlock, and the maze was a pain. It just killed the adventure dead. Great to see so much love for House of Hell. (But Appointment with Fear...?)
Trial of Champions ❤
I had midnight rogue & knights of doom as a kid. Can't remember where I got them or what happened to them. Had to pickup a copy of midnight rogue again so my son could read it.
Get him City of Thieves too - it's the prequel!
My wife can dispose of my collection of gamebooks when she pries them from my cold, dead hands... they are my childhood as I'm sure they were many young men.
The problem for me is they're my childhood, my teenagehood, and quite a bit of my adulthood too!
Rebel planet and phantoms of fear were pretty well done
I don't understand why these books are still aimed at kids..... Some of them are hard as nails.
I wish they would make more.
I live up in northern Scotland, i paint miniatures for a living, and i would say that though there is a vast array of games too choose from, the most popular is of course Warhammer 40K.
They could base an entire set of these kinda books around that world... The factions, the planets, the lore of the franchise is MASSIVE.
I remember finding Citadel of Chaos and House of Hell particularly on the knuckle when I was a young teen...which I loved! Some genuinely creepy imagery and foes.
@@michaelbartlettfilm That bloody Zombie art work in HOH! My dad used too read them to me when i was young, me and my brothers would make the decisions.... He turned that page to face us and i very nearly crapped myself.
Now, at the age of 43, i am going through the originals as and when i can find them, paid a pretty penny for Robot Commando and it is enjoyable.
@@katieblackmore2004 Ha, ha! That artwork IS brilliant, though. So atmospheric.
Interesting to hear your ranking. Have you read/played all the FF titles out there? I own all of the ones set on Titan but haven't played quite all of them yet.
My personal favorite was Legend of the Shadow Warriors.
Love Shadow Warriors. There's a couple of the later ones in the original series that I never got round to playing. Magehunter is one. Siege of Sardath, Deathmoor. And they're too sodding expensive to buy now!
The only cheating I do is when I roll for stats, if the skill roll is lower than 5 then I just 'quit' with that character, he dies, start again. I keep rolling until I get a 5 or a 6 for skill but take the other stats as they fall.
Luck is also very important, because in some situations, if you fail the "test of luck" you can actually get game over in one hit!!
the book with a gladiator and a robot i battle in the cover?? great nostalgic flash back, thankyou..
Hi, Zachary. Yeah, I didn’t pick Starship Traveller as one of my fave covers and I feel bad about that now!
So glad House of Hell made it to the list… that and Freeway Fighter are childhood favourites of mine.
Reviewing House of Hell in my retrospective soon! Looking forward to revisiting it.
To beat the og Puffin Spellbreaker, a universally recognized frustratingly difficult book - you need to think outside the box.
You can go between the healing well and the tavern 'infinitely' - I just win one or two games of Eclipse and get a faith score of 12+ and 4 or 5 heal-alls, mainly to restore my luck soon. Some people see this as a 'bug' but the game is very hard and this gets you past a lot of what is considered unfair.
When fighting the Piper I test my luck needlessly to get to 4 or 5, then vs the militiamen, if you test your luck in battle and are unlucky you only deal 1 point of damage, helping you stall out the battle and get captured.
I read Return of the Wanderer. Didn't read any of the other Cretan books. Wasn't impressed.
Ah, that's a shame. The third one is more story than game. Best to start with Bloodfeud For Altheus.
Are you familiar with the topic of liminal spaces (newly popular on TH-cam the past couple of years)? Literally decades before I heard the term or knew it had a name, the concept was burned into my childhood D&D brain via Deathtrap Dungeon. And not the bastardized version of liminal space implying nostalgia, but the classic "transitional space" architectural definition. The idea of being on a crowded street in front of a cheering crowd, and then moments later being alone in an ominously silent dungeon as the door locks shut behind me, struck some kind of deep narrative chord within me.
Just as your cell door locked shut you behind you, eh, Charles Dexter? (Yours, fellow Lovecraft fan...)
House of hell. Have happy memories of it. But not sure how good it was.
Oh, it was great! Super difficult, but so atmospheric, genuinely creepy.
House of Hell was my favourite by a mile. Even though if it was very difficult and I always ended up wandering into the kitchen area which every time was an insta-death. 😅
Ha, ha! I know what you mean!
City of Thieves, Temple of Terror, and Armies of Death are my top 3 faves. So many memories playing this with family!
Yeah, Temple of Terror was a good one - perhaps should have included that
@@michaelbartlettfilm I remember one time, I was playing armies of death with 2 siblings, and we were against the shadow demon Agglax and we all shouted "3, 2 ,1 begone!" because that's the secret code to kill him! 😁😁
@@SilverHunterN Aww, I love FF!
Really enjoyed this video, had the 2nd of the Cretan Chronicles and also loved the writing style
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
The authors of the cretin chronicles (John Butterfield, David Honigmann and Philip Parker) were still at Eton College when they wrote their first book: What is Dungeons & Dragons in 1982. Which was essentially what Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson were originally asked to write.
I can't find actual ages for them (judging by the picture on the back of what is D&D I'd guess they were about 15 at the time) but as the Cretan Chronicles were published between 85 and 86, they couldn't have long out of school...if they were out of school at all.
Wow! Thanks for that info. You can definitely tell they've had a Classical education, and know their Latin and Greek. I wonder what they went on to do.
@michaelbartlettfilm I have no idea what happened to them. They probably went to university, got grown-up jobs, and left gaming behind them. As many do.
@@AdamWhitehead111 The fools!
House of Hell🤘💯
Not sure of the order but I think my overall top 10 would be
1 - Appointment with FEAR - Super Hero gamebook in the style of 60's Batman crossed with 80's Superman
2 - Seas of Blood - really like the idea, plus the Cyclops boss fight at the end
3 - Scorpion Swamp - enjoyed the freeform nature of this compared to the usual "one true path" approach adopted by most of the other books
4 - Creature of Havoc - lot's of background, a very interesting setting, and a great idea for the protagonist
5 - Vault of the Vampire - enjoyed the gothic horror vibe in this (and the sequel Revenge of the Vampire)
6 - Starship Traveller - a Star Trek Gamebook with stats for your different officers (Science, Medical, Security & Engineer)
7 - Talisman of Death - liked the tension between exploring to find the items needed to complete the book, and not wanting to look at anything too closely in case you found one of the DEATH letters, made things interesting
8 - City of Thieves
9 - Deathtrap Dungeon
10 - Forest of Doom
These last 3 were just classic fantasy adventures to me, no twists on the formula, just straight forward Fighting Fantasy adventures while everything still felt fresh and new.
Sorcery was great in concept but almost impossible to complete without some serious mapping to get through all 4 books, so doesn't make my Top 10.
Thanks so much for posting your list! I'm going to have to play Seas of Blood again. I felt it lacked atmosphere and was a bit underwritten, but many people have said how much they enjoyed it.
Deathtrap Dungeon was my first 😌
Good place to start!
There was one book which had a sci-fi setting where you visited various planets with a crew in your spaceship. Very much inspired by Star Trek. You encountered aliens - one group of which you communicated with the adults but it became evident that the adults were actually childlike and the children on that planet were the intelligent but evil controlling members in their society. Very atmospheric.
That sounds like Starship Traveller, the fourth in the series, by Steve Jackson.
Great video! I was a big fan of the Greek ones also!
Good to hear! Love that series!
I enjoyed many of the same possibly unusual choices you mentioned such as Appointment with fear and Scorpion Swamp. I also really liked Sword of the Samurai, Freeway Fighter and Talisman of death.
Have read that a FF board game is coming this year based on the books!
I'll keep an eye on that!
No Phantoms of Fear? My brother reckons it's the best adventure gamebook on the planet and will fight anyone to the death that suggests otherwise.
Oh, blimey, I hope I don't bump into him anytime soon. I've fished it out of my bookcase for another look...
@@michaelbartlettfilm I'll let him know, he'll be impressed.
I leafed through this today and I reckon I've only played this one about twice in the past. The flipping between dream world and real world is a nice touch and some of the writing is quite atmospheric. But it doesn't capture my imagination like the old classics. (Don't tell your brother!)
Phantoms of Fear is not TOP 30.
@@vagsancho Go and visit the head doctor at your earliest convenience.
Im from Russia and some of these books were published here in early 00s when I was 15 or 16. It's sad, but only 7 books were published from the whole serie. But I had (and still I have) all 7 in my collection. My personal favorite is Creature of Havoc (was published here under the name Разрушитель (Destroyer)) - most difficult and complex game book with astonishing background on many pages!
Great to know these books have spread far and wide! I enjoyed them so much as a young teenager (still do!)
Deathtrap Dungeon was my favourite. Still gives me nightmares. Born in 73
Hail, fellow early 70s traveller!
@@michaelbartlettfilm hail
Still can't beat House of Hell hahaha
It's the toughest!
My favourites are:
1-The Night Dragon
2-The Dead of Night
3-Vault of the Vampire
4-House of Hell
The dark mood and atmosphere are great in these books. With each having a compelling story.
I only ever played Night Dragon once and have never been able to find it since. It's probably about £180 on Amazon now! But I need to play it again.
What was Vault Of The Vampire sequel like, did you get to play that one? Was it as good?
@@ZamWeazle I never got round to it, unfortunately. I think it's now worth a gazillion pounds on Amazon!
@@michaelbartlettfilm Probably still more available and heck of a lot cheaper than Howl Of The Werewolf lol 😆
Hi Michael.
I got almost all these books in the 80s. They are fantastic books. I've been drawing maps for the whole books lately. I have finished the first 13 books. I'm hoping to do all of the maps one day. You can really see how hard and creative these books are, once the maps are finished. If you are interested in my maps. I'd like to send them to you.
My best books are :
House of hell.
City of Theives
Deathtrap Dungeon
Talisman of Death
Freeway Fighter
Mask of Mayham
Creatures of Havoc
Battleblade Warrior
Demons of the deep
Trail of Champions
Aww, thanks so much for the offer of the maps! But to be honest, I mapped those books to death back in the day, ha, ha! Lots of crinkly pieces of paper everywhere. Nice to see some love for Freeway Fighter - great idea to do a Mad Max FF.
Could you do a follow-up on you 10 least favourite FF books?
I was thinking about that. Thing is, it'd probably be all the sci-fi ones!! I love science-fiction, but it didn't really work in FF for some reason. I'll see if I can rustle up an interesting list.
I've done a new FF vid, reviewing the 12 latest additions to the range
Hi I am a Fan and collector of Fighting Fantasy (Germany) I am absolutely with you. Sorcery is the best. Here in Germany the title is a bit different "Analand Saga"
Hi, Andrea! Analand Saga...I like that! I love hearing that FF is popular round the world. Has it got many fans in Germany?
Hi, Andrea. I think you replied to me, but it's not showing up on TH-cam! Sorry, I've been having a lot of problems with this on my channel recently.
It was a real battle for Steve Jackson to find a publisher for Sorcery! They said "the spell system is too complex". Interesting tangent as well: Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone tried to develop a computer game version of Fighting Fantasy in the 80's. But they never finished it.
@@musicalneptunian But apparently, there is a really good PC game available now
Citadel of Chaos and City of Thieves were my favorites, but I also have a soft spot for the books that tried to do something different with other settings, like Appointment with FEAR and Starship Traveller.
Yeah, it was the "different" ones that I came to like most. Freeway Fighter was an underrated example of that.
Nice list! I've had the Hungarian translation of Masks of Mayhem for years, but I only finished it today, because it was hidden in a drawer. It wasn't bad, but my favorite is still City of Thieves.
So many questions! I'm assuming you had the Hungarian translation because you are Hungarian? And why did you hide it in a drawer?! (Mind you, it is one of the worst books in the series. That one can stay hidden, but City of Thieves should definitely be out and proud on the shelf!)
@@michaelbartlettfilm Yes, a dozen or so were published here in the early 1990s. The inner title page of my copy says 1991. I've bought it in a second-hand bookshop, but wasn't really interested in it after reading the back cover. It has its moments, I liked the part set in the abandoned mines.
My top 5 are:
City of Thieves
House of Hell
Seas of Blood
Caverns of the Snow Witch
Knights of Doom (a shameless Warhammer Fantasy rip-off, but I love it)
@@Nightbreed24 Interesting - loads of people recommend Seas of Blood. I've never really got into that one. Will give it another go!
@@michaelbartlettfilm Having a crew of sea dogs was a great idea back then. It's more on the Oriental side, but not like Sword of the Samurai. That part of the Titan actually has an Arab-Ancient Mesopotamian-Hellenic feel to it.
@@Nightbreed24 I agree, it was a great idea. I just wish the writing had been a bit more detailed and atmospheric. Sword of the Samurai is an interesting one, a bit underrated.
:) Hello ! Many Congrats !
Thanks, Dean!
your passion is contagious!!! hell yeah my dude!!! Gonna have to check them out if those books make somebody this happy!!
Thanks, mate!!!
I think I only played "Island of the Lizard King" and "Rebel Planet" as a kid, but I've got heavily into FF lately after coming across the PC game version of the books on a TH-cam video. The game mimics the books exactly, but it does all the dice rolls and combat scoring for you. Really great experience. I've played through over 10 of the books in the past couple of months, mapping as I go. Just finished "Caverns of the Snow Witch" today. Sadly, the game only features about 15 of the books, although the publisher (Tinman) adds a few more every year. I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out.
Thanks for letting me know about the PC game - looks great.
@@michaelbartlettfilm If you're on Steam, pick up the version called "Fighting Fantasy Classics." It's a free download and it gives you the book "Bloodbones" for free. After that, the others are paid DLC. Some of the books are also available as standalone purchases; avoid those. They don't integrate with the "Classics" program.
@@darrylsloan Thanks!
@@darrylsloanwhat's it like going back to them as an adult? So many childhood books for me are hit or miss
@@FrankWinchester I got toally addicted for a couple of months, to be honest. Bought every available book on the Fighting Fantasy Classics app, when they were on sale, played through almost all of them to completion.
My top 5
1 House of hell
2 House of hell
3 house hell
4 khanly city port thieves (first book as kid I ever bought own pocket money)
5 seven serpents
Loving the House Of Hell mania!
@@michaelbartlettfilm house hell stood head shoulders over rest DD mums in USA would have exploded if they saw this in early 80s lol
Great video, I think I’ve only ever completed Deathtrap Dungeon and I own 39 of them! I was obsessed with these as a kid and still love them
Thanks! New Ian Livingstone book coming out in September!
@@michaelbartlettfilm I bought port of peril which I really enjoyed will look forward to this one!
Excellent video. I have the Cretan Chronicles and they were fantastic. Wish they'd done more.
Love those original Sorcery! covers.
I'm three short of the 59 FF books printed by Puffin. Deathmoor, Mage Hunter and Revenge of the Vampire. They're on sale for ridiculous amounts of money. I love the series; but not enough to fork out £330 for one book that cost peanuts back in the day!
Funnily enough, with you saying the series went downhill after Creature of Havoc, it was the last I bought until I was much, much older and started collecting them second-hand.
The question is; did you cheat as a kid (or adult) whilst playing them?
Of course! Who didn't? Especially on The Crown of Kings. Great to know someone else liked Cretan Chronicles. They should reprint those.
@@michaelbartlettfilm Agreed! But not with poor illustrations done on the computer.
Must admit, I was an inveterate cheater myself. Skill 12 Stamina 20 Luck 12; every game. 4 points off stamina so I felt less guilty haha
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Thank you!!!
I am planning to read some of them again after... a long time:) So, Sorcery was absolute Nr. 1 for me, I liked Citadel of Chaos a lot (yes creepy back in the days, but I red it with cheerful 80s pop music - that helped a lot), City of Thieves awesome. Later I lived in NZ for some time and got an original Forest of Doom in an op-shop, that was a bit linear I remember but fun. I actually disliked Warlock of Firetop Mountain (I read it later and the other ones were just better) Deathtrap, Caverns and Island we also also had in our collection, don't remember storylines;) It will be funny to read them all again, just ordered the glossy new versions
Thanks, George! I was also a bit iffy about Warlock - that flipping maze went on far too long!
I don't remember lengh nor story much but I do remember that I found out that one half was written by Steve Jackson, the other by Ian Livingstone, and it was recognisable@@michaelbartlettfilm
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I've been searching for a vintage fantasy game book that I played when I was 15 and it's been impossible so far I could really use some help... Only going off of memory
FF or from another series?
@@michaelbartlettfilm It's another series I believe I almost want to remember that it was choose your own adventure series but I can't find a single book with the cover that I played there's quite a few stories similar to what I'm looking for. I remember it being set in an ancient underwater city that was revealed when the water receded, One of the 1st enemies you encounter was a kappa Described as a rotting fish like humanoid creature.. I even used AI search engines and put in many different parameters it won't bring up the book I'm looking for..
@@NewLifeFromTheWayofTruth I did some hunting.... It's called The Eye of the Dragon in Golden Dragon Fantasy Gamebooks series.
Check this out: www.amazon.co.uk/Eye-Dragon-Golden/dp/1909905283/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1VS2FXM2NZWU9&keywords=the+eye+of+the+dragon+golden+dragon+fantasy&qid=1685981620&s=books&sprefix=the+eye+of+the+dragon+golden+dragon+fantasy%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1
@@michaelbartlettfilm It's from the 1980s
Thanks for the recommendation of Bloodfeud of Altheus, I'd never heard of them before but they seem right up my street!
They’re terrific. Might be a bit hard to get hold of nowadays, though. Hope you find them!
I was born in 1974 so these books bring back wonderful childhood memories... I've just started collecting them again and actually found a book on ebay with my name in it. I'm currently trying to finish City of Thieves and like you say, I loved Deathtrap Dungeon. Some books really leap out at me when Im searching... your number 1 choices really surprised me... I had completely forgotten about those books,, I swear I had them!
Don't worry, if you can't find them, they've been reprinted. I love the main FF series, but Sorcery! was a step up - incredibly intricate gameplay, great world building. Thanks for your comment, mate!
I love FF so much. I actively use Titan, it's world, alongside the Realm of Talisman, alongside some D&D Mystara, as my base setting for running my Warlock! RPG game. I do actually think Deathrap Dungeon does deserve to be higher, but I appreciate your reasoning.
All these were from the golden age of British 80s fantasy when we were a world leader. I feel blessed to have grown up among all those books, movies, and art.
Yeah, they were fun times! Krull! Well, maybe not Krull...
Nice video. I've never heard of the Cretan Chronicles, shame they are out of print, will have to keep my eyes open!
You can currently get them for about £20 each
Loved sorcery! I would REALLY like it Jackson would make an RPG setting or system based on those books. Huge inspiration for my D&D campaigns in later life. I think I was 10-11 when they came out.
I think he did make an RPG system but I didn't get hold of it at the time.
@@michaelbartlettfilm do you have any idea what it’s called or have a link I could check out? I’m sure it’s not in print but if I could hunt down a copy ir pdf that would really make my day. I know he had Gurps and Car Wars and a bunch of other games… I became a fan of Munchkin in the early 2000’s. Thanks for the tip!
@@michaelbartlettfilm there’s a video game version of the books now too.
@@robertblackmore703 There's this one: www.amazon.co.uk/Dungeoneer-Advanced-Fighting-Adventure-Gamebooks/dp/0140329366/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1QR7LWE95ZM4U&keywords=fighting+fantasy+rpg&qid=1670202626&sprefix=fighting+fantasy+rpg%2Caps%2C192&sr=8-6
But I think there's a more specifically FF one. Hang on...
I used to draw charts of these books with the options and page numbers so I could re-read them and try to see every section. The art was fantastic, and many of those artists worked in White Dwarf magazine in the early days.
I know I should have been less lazy and more committed to drawing maps back in the day. I might have finished more of the books! And you're right, the art is fabulous, actually my favourite aspect of the books.
Thank you for doing this. I never knew there was this kind of fan base for the Jackson books. I'm glad to know there are folks who enjoy this as much as I. Keep the interest alive. I hope someone will reboot this at the same high level as these started years ago.
Thanks, Greg! I've started a little retrospective, going through each book in turn. I still can't do that flipping maze in Warlock of Firetop Mountain!
Wow you are really underrating a lot of classics in the later parts of the series. Dead of Night was my favourite.
Actually, I never get hold of most of the books after Dead of Night. And now only oligarchs can afford to buy them! But I'm going back and replaying them all from the beginning, so maybe I'll change my mind as I go.
@@michaelbartlettfilm only the ones over 55+ seem to be too crazy in price. I think there are a lot of dreamers out there who give the books an artificial sense of high prices.
I've been wondering about some of these titles, and also tinkering with a "Greek/Minoan" roleplaying setting for Runequest. Looks like I really need to check out Blood Feud of Altheus! Thanks for the tip!
I don't know if it's easy to get hold of these days, but it's well worth it.
@@michaelbartlettfilm Working through "Bloodfeud" now. I agree with you about the writing style, it's Homeric. I was surprised to find that I really like the illustrations inside the book too. Fun stuff. Random question: any idea why Athena has a speech impediment? I displeased her, and apparently, my trip will be "vewy wough!"
@@trondsi I love that! I like the way the Gods are all slight piss-takes of English public school types. Ares is like a no-nonsense officer, Apollo a bit of an airhead head boy. I think that's where Athena's extwaordinawy way of talking comes from!
Great list. I also prefer Steve Jackson, particularly his Sorcery! series. My favorite FF book though is Talisman of Death (#10). Each entry is longer than most and I love the writing. I played so many of the alternative series, including Lone Wolf, Way of the Tiger, Bloodsword and a few I've forgotten the name of. I'd totally forgotten about the Ancient Greek series - they were very good too. Overall I would say that the first 12 Lone Wolf books are the best. Most of the FF books are not that great by comparison to other series, although they did kick the genre off. I do not like Deathtrap Dungeon, even though it is iconic. House of Hell was way too scary for me as a kid. In fact, I won't even read it now because it gave me nightmares for years.
Thanks, Garrick. I must get round to the Lone Wolf series. I missed out on it back in the day. I've been collecting the Dave Morris books recently.
Great memories..