@ A.E.Johnston,
Joe Dever's Freeway Warrior series was also based upon the Mad Max idea, and a much more satisfactory experience. Superbly illustrated by Brian Williams (also artist for Trial of Champions) who sadly passed away in 2010 at the age of 54. A great loss. He also illustrated the Lone Wolf series (books 9 to 29). Gary Chalk did books 1-8.

Phil Sadler
Sun Jun 19 14:56:30 2016

I'm afraid he didn't write the 'Zagor Chronicles' either. All he did was come up with the titles: all is revealed in 'You are the Hero'.

Haoie
Fri Jun 24 23:09:57 2016

That's an interesting piece of trivia!

bcyy
Fri Jul 8 09:01:08 2016

@Robert

Sorry, not that familiar with Allansian geography. I don't even know the exact distance from Dree to the Yellowstone Mines, let alone Mirewater. What are you writing? "The Adventures of Ganga"?

@Phil

CotS impossible to complete? Just wait till you try Sky Lord. Even with perfect decisions, your chances of surviving your unavoidable first space combat are meagre. :-)

Robert Douglas
Fri Jul 8 10:04:53 2016

@ bcyy,
I'm thinking of doing an FF gamebook but the distance/terrain between Mirewater and Dree is only a part of it. No worries, I can probably find clues in Creature of Havoc. Titan has a lot of interesting trivia and information, but it would be nice to have maps with measurements (square miles) on them. It would help with a more realistic time/travel factor. Perhaps somebody could do them? Of course, it would have to be officialised by the founders. I'm probably asking a lot anyway.

Robert Douglas
Tue Aug 23 02:45:24 2016

Speaking about 'Creature of Havoc', it was certainly very ambitious and superbly written, the dungeon alone was a trial in itself, complete with Steve Jackson's trademark secret passages plus coded dialogue (due to their creature's low intelligence, the player could only progress further by finding a certain element and then translate the strange language which was an in-depth mechanic for the gamebook). However, while there were some intriguingly detailed outdoor scenarios (Dree, Training Grounds, etc) it's a shame the player couldn't explore such gems without fear of a tragic end. I wouldn't have minded so much if it was down to poor player logic, failing a test roll, or even lacking a certain item, yet the path was unforgivingly narrow and somewhat spoiled what was otherwise a great experience. How many death entries were there?! Playing COH in 1987 (my first FF purchase) resulted in hours of frustration, and even in my late twenties I had to download the solution! Although, at that later age, I did finally work out the coded speech on my own, but it can be frustratingly tricky for many younger readers.

Robert Douglas
Sat Sep 3 00:45:16 2016

Just watched BBC News (1:35am). Ian Livingstone featured in a report about how games - such as Minecraft and Rollercoaster Tycoon - enhance logical and problem solving abilities. Also that coding and computer terminology are 'the new latin' for a new generation, according to Ian. One teacher explained how students' enthusiasm for educational games such as Minecraft provide a real aid to his lessons; it's something they're familiar with and they want to learn more.

Ulysses
Mon Sep 5 12:52:08 2016

Hi everyone.

As you may have noticed, I haven't written any gamebooks for a while. This is because I've become a little bored with it the last couple of years and have been working on a novel instead. I am currently taking a break from that while the first part is being reviewed, so I am thinking of continuing one of the partial gamebooks I have written.
I have several titles on which I have done substantial work on, and all of them would require no small amount of effort to complete. At this stage I can probably bring one to completion, and so I thought I would let any of you who are interested have input into the decision.
Please have a look at the works in progress below and let me know which one you would like to see sooner rather than later:

1. WWGB Episode 8, the penultimate episode. I have written a third of this one, quite literally. It takes the three possible endings from Episode 7 and continues them as alternate realities that ultimately return to a single reality just in time for the final episode of the series.

2. The Wages of Sin. The sequel to The Ravages of Fate. This is another fight-a-big-monster story. Like the original, the combat is fought through choices of tactic and tests of your varying resources.

3. The Band of the Swift Hand. This was an interesting one based on the premise that you play the adventure as the leader of a mercenary band, and if your character dies, a new leader is chosen. So you as the player would go through the adventure and depending on the skills and abilities of the character you have at the time, your experiences and possible choices are very different.

4. The Throne of Blood. This is set in the same world as The Diamond Key, meaning it is another 1000 reference adventure, and was meant as my version of Deathtrap Dungeon, except your character makes his way through a number of interconnected arenas rather than a bunch of dungeons where no one is entertained by your demise.

5. The Mountain of the Dragon. Remember that bit in The Diamond Key where you found a mountain full of orcs digging out a dragon? Well, this is the story about that. It's a massive adventure for which I already wrote about 800 references and it's probably only half finished. Of all the titles, this would be the hardest to complete. It is pretty awesome though.

These are in order from 1. easiest for me to complete to 5. most difficult.
Happy voting.

It would be very sad if the WWGB story was never finished, so I'd definitely go for 1. After that, my preferences in order would be 5, 2, 3, and then 4.

Gaetano
Wed Sep 7 00:12:11 2016

I agree about WWGB, but I also would love to see 4 and 5.

Robert Douglas
Wed Sep 7 18:04:11 2016

@Uylsses,
I quite like the sound of No. 3 - but would the first foray affect the second, etc? What differences would one leader make to a scenario for his/her successor to discover? Scorpion Swamp did have a '...if you've been here before...' factor, but often such places were barren, deserted, boring.

Changing tack: I've finally done it. I've made a personal achievement. Fans from South Africa and New Zealand would probably wonder what all the fuss is about, yet at the same time they'll be more understanding than the people in my own country who sadly are driven to ridicule a thousand and one things when really they should just accept and move on. But I'm not going to tell you: can you guess what it is? The clue is in the countries I mentioned. I'll give the answer on Sunday night, 11pm (GMT). No prize, just fun!

Ulysses
Thu Sep 8 01:47:38 2016

@Robert

Within the story there are what amounts to a number of quests that the mercenary band must complete. If your character dies, the quest is failed and the band retreats to regroup and elect a new leader.
Upon subsequent attempts there are permanent changes depending on the nature of the quest. Others are reset completely. For some the leader's body (and all those lovely items) is lost, for others the body can be found and the items retrieved.

I originally conceived this as a series with three adventures. I even finished the first adventure. But it needs a lot of adjustment to the mechanics of it, and I would also want to turn it into a single adventure rather than a part 1.

But so far it looks like I need to continue WWGB Episode 8.

Robert Douglas
Thu Sep 8 10:51:26 2016

@ Ulysses,
Thanks for reply, hope you do okay with WWGB Episode 8. The gameplay mechanic you described would take some careful planning, I'd wager.

Haoie
Fri Sep 9 10:05:27 2016

Another vote for Wrong Way!

Phil Sadler
Sun Sep 11 19:32:09 2016

Just read in Fighting Fanzine issue 15 that Andrew Wright's writing yet another sequel to Out of the Pit. I would literally hunt him down and force him to take my money.

Gavin
Thu Dec 1 04:04:25 2016

Joe Dever RIP

Robert Douglas
Thu Dec 1 14:59:12 2016

I can't believe it. The creator of Lone Wolf has passed away. This is a dark day for the gaming community. My sincere condolences to his family and friends. I can't write anymore.

Haoie
Fri Dec 2 04:56:10 2016

Can't believe he's gone! :(

Yaztromo
Fri Dec 2 18:26:56 2016

Joe Dever RIP :(

Magma
Tue Dec 6 22:28:48 2016

It's sad to see "Lone Wolf" gone. His books were great and part of a generation... The fact you could get stronger over the books made a real change over the Fighting Fantasy Series.

I came here just to let you guys know about Fight Club Reborn.

You can check the game in the link below. It is a cyoa RPG with stats. The setting is a dark near future and very adult tones, including sex scenes, at least one unavoidable. So for 18+ only.

http://fightclubreborn.tk/

Hope you enjoy it.

Yaztromo
Sun Sep 10 21:51:49 2017

I recently played Port of Peril, by Ian Livingstone and I quite anjoyed it!
There are some bits that I didn't like at all, like the internal art and the fact that you start the gamebook hungry, but with 10 meals in your backpack (!), but I liked the fact that the fights are pretty balanced (there are quite a few power ups around to help you) and that you can explore Chalice quite freely, going back if you want.
Overall I think that Port od Peril is not as good as Deathtrap Dungeon, but can be considered at the level of Forest of Doom, Caverns of the Snow Witch, Island of the Lizard King and City of Thieves, all gamebooks that gained the hearts of millions of youn readers, so I hope that Port of Peril will do the same trick once more! ;)

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