Fighting Fantasy Fans?

[PoolMan]

I don't know WHY I haven't asked this before...

Has anybody here every heard of the Fighting Fantasy books? There were about forty of them, if I remember right, popular in the late 80's. Basically, you remember Choose Your Own Adventure? Same basic concept, except with about 400 'pages' each, an inventory system, and a whole dice based combat system. All you needed to play was the book and 2d6. They were printed by Steve Jackson, I think.

They started with the predictable fantasy themes (think Tolkeinesque), but would eventually go into current times, futuristic times, feudal not-quite-Japan-but-honestly-who-do-you-think-you're-kidding-it's-Japan, and even went into the world of superheros. There was even a pair of books that played together as one massive adventure that was 1600 pages long, and playable as either a mage or a warrior.

Anyways, since they stopped printing these things, I've never heard ANYONE talk about them. Ring any bells here?

[Head Mutant]

Dude, I used to LOVE those books. I even bought a couple in a store recently when I saw them. Deathtrap Dungeon was the first I read, and my favorite. There also was a cool Star Trek-ish RPG book too.

[PoolMan]

After I posted this, I went and did a little searching. Turns out you can buy 'em on eBay for STOOPID prices, like 11 books for about 7 pounds UK (that's "quid", for the locals, seeing as I don't have one of those fancy "L with a cross through it" symbols to actually represent the currency). They seem to go for about $4 each, which is cheaper than they originally sold for, which shocks the hell out of me. Almost all the sellers are in England... Rich, have you ever laid eyes on these?

I also found this website which features all KINDS of stuff on the series. Turns out there were actually about 60 books (guess they stopped carrying them locally after about 40).

I think I'm going to track a few down. I think I HAVE to.

[FiveMileSmile]

I remember these well as part of my childhood - I think DeathTrap Dungeon (#6) might have been my first one; if not, it was City of Thieves (#5). I had about 25 or so by the time I was about 13 or 14. My favourites were definately Seas of Blood (#16, full of Piratey Goodness), the Mad-Max-esque one where you had a car as well (Freeway Fighter, #13), and the one set in the future with all the giant robots (Robot Commando, #22).

The last one I bought was Creature of Havoc, which was #27, and was so hard I couldn't get anywhere with it (it was later revealed to me that there was a misprint at a point in the book which meant you died no matter what you did).

I've not seen them for sale anywhere here in a dogs age though.

Also, on a related note, a friend of mine was one a "Puffin Games-master" and had an official Fighting Fantasy Badge and Card. He also once told me that he'd completely mapped out every route through Scorpion Swamp (#8).

- Rich