Advanced Fighting Fantasy, 2nd Edition, is still available, and it's a wonderfully elegant RPG system--simple and intuitive, with just enough crunch to regulate the game while not throwing down caltrops in the path of your imagination. You might enjoy it quite a lot.
Holy crap! I never knew there were TWO Steve Jackson's! I was a huge carwars and gurps system and I thought it was all done by the same Steve Jackson! Mind... Blown...!
The town library across the road from me had all the FF books and I couldn't guess how many I read. I remember a lot of friends loved these books too and it can't be underestimated how these books not only got us into Fantasy stuff like Tolkien, D&D or Games Workshop but actually got us reading in general.
Late to the party but just wanted to let you know I really loved this video. These books also had some popularity here and I feel heavy nostalgia about them. Will definitely try to get a copy.-
I wrote a letter to Warlock magazine that got published. It was my comment that I found the closing paragraphs of FF books too brief, and asking for them to be more elaborate in wrapping up the long adventure that I'd played through! :D Sadly though I wasn't sent a box full of FF books like you were!
I got the cover signed by Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone when I met them at Games Day in London ~1985. They addressed it to the pseudonym I'd written my letter under 😄
Also… if us dig both original FF and also WFRP….lucky you! Warlock! is a game that utilizes original FF rules to create a Warhammer FRP experience! Lite and easy! Familiar! Fast! Still grim and perilous! Again…enjoy it, too!
I picked this book up a few months ago and read it cover to cover in a day. Absolutely loved learning the about the history of these gamebooks and the process of making them. I also played through the first 7 books of the series (American versions like you have) and had a blast. I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining they still are for me after all these years. I prefer Livingstone's books over Jackson's. They are easier to map. It's like he was actually working from a map, whereas Jackson's spaces were more nebulous.
I've picked up most of the latest Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG books available from DriveThruRPG. There is a surprisingly huge amount of content between them all; hundreds of pages. Really love the old artwork, which they retained in the RPG. Tons of it in the packed bestiaries. As far as RPGs go, the core basics are fairly simple. Although I appreciate that it still manages to be a skill-based system so you're not shoe-horned into complete cookie-cutter classes. The simultaneous opposed die rolls for combat is also a welcome differentiation from the norm. With multiple different colored sets of D6s you could roll them all at once for both sides, including possible damage, and resolve a player's combat round in one go. Seems like it would be great for small groups or one-on-one (notably so as a Sorcerer in that regard) for new players or light GM overhead.
One of the author bio's for John M. Withers IV's Castles of Imagination series of books (they change in nearly every book he writes) states "I'm the writer, you're the hero." In case no one has told you today, you are the hero. You should check out the Castles of Imagination series. 5/6 of the books are out. It's a linked narrative so choices in the first book are referenced throughout the series like Joe Dever's Lone Wolf seires.
Never read Fighting Fantasy, but I did grow up reading Lone Wolf cyoa books, which seem similar. I do love Lone Wolf and still own all my books after 30 years.
I preferred the Lone Wolf books myself. I had this awesome full color book all about the world and lord. Read it so many times. Really interesting world.
Wow, never seen the original US versions of the FF gamebooks, I’m used to the Puffin/UK ones. They look really cool and look even more retro / vintage than the UK ones!
Cool look at this book! I have covered Warlock magazines before, an interesting magazine. It was Ian Livingstone and Eidos. I am thinking of starting with the Fabled Lands books soon!
@@TheDungeonDive yeah I used scans to look at them too as I totally missed out on them as a kid. First vid is ruclips.net/video/l59PdTu31Sg/видео.html you will probably do a much more interesting look.
We used to play the dungoneer and FF books. I liked them because they were a simpler version of 'D&D' that allowed you to focus on the story and less on the mechanics. I had all the FF books (original artwork) and companion books but lost all of them in a basement flood. :(
Great overview of the book, art looks great! I want a copy even though I never played one of those books, I did play Lone Wolf though. But you left me totally intrigued by that Warhammer illustrated guide. Definitely do a overview of that one soon.
Thanks for the recommendation. I only learned of game books a year or two ago when I tried to put board game into book format and learned that people has been doing it a long time ago... I wish I had access to these books when I grew up.
@@TheDungeonDive Agreed! I have the first book and the open world exploration feels great. Although I wonder if you are aware of any game book series with a more mature tone of writing as both FF and Fabled lands seems to be targeting younger audience.
Oh man....I've got a ton of idiosyncratic opinions! That's what happens when you live on a hobby bubble for 40+ years. LOL. I just so happen to have a RUclips channel where I can voice them for other people to respond! ;) Just the fact they they had a separate spell book you had to purchase, and you were meant to memorize spells is a huge difference. Also, in the US (and maybe other places), they were trade paparback size, rather than mass market size, and were shelved in the game section at B Dalton's and Walden Books, rather than the fiction section where the the FF books were. Also, the original covers in the US didn't mention Fighting Fantasy. There are a lot of differences that made them stand out back when they were new. daily-apocalypse.com/uploads/3/4/1/2/34128158/shamutanti-hills_orig.jpg
Great book. I had some of those FF’s back in the 80’s and enjoyed them so I picked up some reprints few years ago as the originals were thrown out long time ago. Do you remember Tolkien Quest which was a similar thing but in Middle Earth?
Yes I did collect the Warlock magazine. In fact I don’t remember ever throwing them away so they must be around somewhere unless my mom threw them out 30 years ago lol. The first few issues were by Puffin publishers and they contained smaller versions of Caverns of the Snow Witch and House of Hell. One of the contained a full page colour advert for Sorcery book 3. It said “Prepare yourself for the hidden terrors of the Seven Serpents!” Those word burned into my 13 year old brain and never left! 😂
Hey, I had one of those Sorcery books. Forgot all about it. I had several of the normal FF books and loved them though. I want to say I had one that was based on LotR or the Hobbit from some company too. Hard to remember that far back.
The Tolkien Quest books were published by Iron Crown Enterprises (aka I.C.E.). This company had the license for producing gaming materials based on Middle-Earth in the ‘80s and ‘90s, including Middle-Earth Roleplay (MERP) and the Middle-Earth CCG, which is one of the greatest games ever imho. The Tolkien Quest adventure books were the product that the Tolkien Estate claimed broke the license as it was “writing new Middle-Earth fiction”, which wasn’t allowed by the agreement. The estate yanked the license just a year or so before the release of the first Peter Jackson film, conveniently freeing up those licenses to be resold. This was fairly devastating to Iron Crown, as you can imagine. The effort they put into their Middle-Earth products was phenomenal; it’s really a shame it got taken away on something of a shady technicality.
Hi, what do you think about Lone Wolf vs Sorcery. I am able to take only lone wolf in my country in translation. Sorcery are sold out, so If I want them I have to pick outside with customs and high shipping. What do you think Dan ? Thank you
The Warlock magazines, all issue can be found on the net. I found URtH vol.1 kinda disappointing. There's nothing in it that's new, nothing you didn't know already. Btw, 90% of the volume is free to access. I'd be interrested what's in vol.2 though. Maybe that offers something.
@@TheDungeonDive Good for you. Iearnt nothing, and that's kind of a problem for me. I mean the book is perfectly fine if you did not follow the history of the FF, but I did. I truly am "the hero" so to say - where's the stuff for me, the dedicated fan?
No. Not at all. I’m being totally serious. Experts should be writing the books. If you’re an expert, write the book to teach other people the things you know. I’m not an expert on anything, and know next to nothing about most things. I value the knowledge of experts!
Advanced Fighting Fantasy, 2nd Edition, is still available, and it's a wonderfully elegant RPG system--simple and intuitive, with just enough crunch to regulate the game while not throwing down caltrops in the path of your imagination. You might enjoy it quite a lot.
Holy crap! I never knew there were TWO Steve Jackson's! I was a huge carwars and gurps system and I thought it was all done by the same Steve Jackson!
Mind... Blown...!
Pretty sure that happened to a lot of us. :)
Yep . Lol 😂
The town library across the road from me had all the FF books and I couldn't guess how many I read. I remember a lot of friends loved these books too and it can't be underestimated how these books not only got us into Fantasy stuff like Tolkien, D&D or Games Workshop but actually got us reading in general.
Totally. They were absolutely an important gateway into this hobby.
That page you flipped to at 8:44 brought me right back to my childhood. Out of the pit! Read that to death. Just found a copy on eBay. Good times!
Late to the party but just wanted to let you know I really loved this video. These books also had some popularity here and I feel heavy nostalgia about them. Will definitely try to get a copy.-
I wrote a letter to Warlock magazine that got published. It was my comment that I found the closing paragraphs of FF books too brief, and asking for them to be more elaborate in wrapping up the long adventure that I'd played through! :D
Sadly though I wasn't sent a box full of FF books like you were!
I got the cover signed by Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone when I met them at Games Day in London ~1985. They addressed it to the pseudonym I'd written my letter under 😄
I have all the ff books from the 80’s. Working all the 90’s ones nearly there.
Nice!
Loving the new intros!
Thanks!
Also… if us dig both original FF and also WFRP….lucky you!
Warlock! is a game that utilizes original FF rules to create a Warhammer FRP experience!
Lite and easy! Familiar! Fast!
Still grim and perilous!
Again…enjoy it, too!
I picked this book up a few months ago and read it cover to cover in a day. Absolutely loved learning the about the history of these gamebooks and the process of making them. I also played through the first 7 books of the series (American versions like you have) and had a blast. I was pleasantly surprised at how entertaining they still are for me after all these years. I prefer Livingstone's books over Jackson's. They are easier to map. It's like he was actually working from a map, whereas Jackson's spaces were more nebulous.
The book is so Good! Just a joy to read.
I've picked up most of the latest Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG books available from DriveThruRPG. There is a surprisingly huge amount of content between them all; hundreds of pages. Really love the old artwork, which they retained in the RPG. Tons of it in the packed bestiaries.
As far as RPGs go, the core basics are fairly simple. Although I appreciate that it still manages to be a skill-based system so you're not shoe-horned into complete cookie-cutter classes. The simultaneous opposed die rolls for combat is also a welcome differentiation from the norm. With multiple different colored sets of D6s you could roll them all at once for both sides, including possible damage, and resolve a player's combat round in one go. Seems like it would be great for small groups or one-on-one (notably so as a Sorcerer in that regard) for new players or light GM overhead.
One of the author bio's for John M. Withers IV's Castles of Imagination series of books (they change in nearly every book he writes) states "I'm the writer, you're the hero." In case no one has told you today, you are the hero. You should check out the Castles of Imagination series. 5/6 of the books are out. It's a linked narrative so choices in the first book are referenced throughout the series like Joe Dever's Lone Wolf seires.
I LOVE AFF 2 ... its my preferred ttrpg at this point. Super simple for my players to grasp, decently deep customizations and tons of source material.
Great, I ordered the book. I really loved Midnight Rogue as a child, the ambiance was just excellent. I finally and only finished it as an adult :-).
You’re going to love the book. It’s so great.
Never read Fighting Fantasy, but I did grow up reading Lone Wolf cyoa books, which seem similar. I do love Lone Wolf and still own all my books after 30 years.
I preferred the Lone Wolf books myself. I had this awesome full color book all about the world and lord. Read it so many times. Really interesting world.
An enjoyable video for sure. Thanks for sharing. I owned a few of those books too and they helped start my gaming journey. I even owned Dungeoneer.
They were very influential for many of us, for sure!
Wow, never seen the original US versions of the FF gamebooks, I’m used to the Puffin/UK ones. They look really cool and look even more retro / vintage than the UK ones!
Both look great, but I do really like the old US ones. The newer US books look really bad though! So generic looking.
Cool look at this book! I have covered Warlock magazines before, an interesting magazine. It was Ian Livingstone and Eidos. I am thinking of starting with the Fabled Lands books soon!
Someone below posted a link to scans of the Warlock issues, so I want to take a look at them. Do you have a video of them?
@@TheDungeonDive yeah I used scans to look at them too as I totally missed out on them as a kid. First vid is ruclips.net/video/l59PdTu31Sg/видео.html you will probably do a much more interesting look.
Thanks! I'll take a look. We didn't have these at all in the US. I just downloaded all the PDFs. :)
We used to play the dungoneer and FF books. I liked them because they were a simpler version of 'D&D' that allowed you to focus on the story and less on the mechanics.
I had all the FF books (original artwork) and companion books but lost all of them in a basement flood. :(
So many memories lost in the flood. :(
Right? I might still have a couple dog eared copies somewhere. But the bulk of them are gone. :(
I'm very pleased to have found the Kickstarter for his 40th Anniversary edition immediately after watching this video!
Great overview of the book, art looks great! I want a copy even though I never played one of those books, I did play Lone Wolf though.
But you left me totally intrigued by that Warhammer illustrated guide. Definitely do a overview of that one soon.
I preferred the Lone Wolf books. Liked the world and lore more.
Thanks for the recommendation. I only learned of game books a year or two ago when I tried to put board game into book format and learned that people has been doing it a long time ago... I wish I had access to these books when I grew up.
I definitely recommend the Fabled Lands series. It is so good.
@@TheDungeonDive Agreed! I have the first book and the open world exploration feels great. Although I wonder if you are aware of any game book series with a more mature tone of writing as both FF and Fabled lands seems to be targeting younger audience.
I am not aware of anything like that. For the most part, they do seem to be geared towards kids.
It made 100% sense to have Sorcery! as part of the FF line.. Same world, same team, same vibe.
For me they had very, very different vibes and it doesn't make sense. But we all make sense of things differently! Stoked that it makes sense for you!
@@TheDungeonDive lol, ok.
You are literally the only person that I have ever heard say that it's an odd fit for FF though, just sayin.
Oh man....I've got a ton of idiosyncratic opinions! That's what happens when you live on a hobby bubble for 40+ years. LOL. I just so happen to have a RUclips channel where I can voice them for other people to respond! ;)
Just the fact they they had a separate spell book you had to purchase, and you were meant to memorize spells is a huge difference. Also, in the US (and maybe other places), they were trade paparback size, rather than mass market size, and were shelved in the game section at B Dalton's and Walden Books, rather than the fiction section where the the FF books were. Also, the original covers in the US didn't mention Fighting Fantasy. There are a lot of differences that made them stand out back when they were new.
daily-apocalypse.com/uploads/3/4/1/2/34128158/shamutanti-hills_orig.jpg
Great book.
I had some of those FF’s back in the 80’s and enjoyed them so I picked up some reprints few years ago as the originals were thrown out long time ago.
Do you remember Tolkien Quest which was a similar thing but in Middle Earth?
I never read any of the Tolkien Quest books. They look cool, though.
Thank you💜
Sure thing!
I love the cover design of those editions.
Yes I did collect the Warlock magazine. In fact I don’t remember ever throwing them away so they must be around somewhere unless my mom threw them out 30 years ago lol. The first few issues were by Puffin publishers and they contained smaller versions of Caverns of the Snow Witch and House of Hell. One of the contained a full page colour advert for Sorcery book 3. It said “Prepare yourself for the hidden terrors of the Seven Serpents!” Those word burned into my 13 year old brain and never left! 😂
They featured games of 200 references or so sent in by readers if I remember
Looks like a wonderful book. Irritatingly impossible to find though, unless you want to pay ludicrous ebay prices.
I’m sure it’ll come back in print.
Argh! Another book to buy. Just noticed there was a Pt2 on Kickstarter, so now it's 2 books.
I've looked into part 2, and I think I'm happy with just having part 1.
I don't remember writing a book about the FF series....
I played Sorcery! on Steam. Would like to play with the books.
The digital versions are really, really good! I think those are my preferred versions these days.
@@TheDungeonDive I just have light sensitivity, so if I had the books I could play longer then 30mins to an hour, or when ever the headache starts.
ALL of these books need a high quality reprint. The new scholastic version is missing something of the original quality.
If you like the art of John blanche, you should check out an art book called "Ratspike".
I’d love to. So expensive!
Hey, I had one of those Sorcery books. Forgot all about it. I had several of the normal FF books and loved them though. I want to say I had one that was based on LotR or the Hobbit from some company too. Hard to remember that far back.
Probably the ones I mentioned, Tolkien Quest.
@@warpaint9385 Ah cool. Good to know I didn't just imagine them.
The Tolkien Quest books were published by Iron Crown Enterprises (aka I.C.E.). This company had the license for producing gaming materials based on Middle-Earth in the ‘80s and ‘90s, including Middle-Earth Roleplay (MERP) and the Middle-Earth CCG, which is one of the greatest games ever imho. The Tolkien Quest adventure books were the product that the Tolkien Estate claimed broke the license as it was “writing new Middle-Earth fiction”, which wasn’t allowed by the agreement. The estate yanked the license just a year or so before the release of the first Peter Jackson film, conveniently freeing up those licenses to be resold. This was fairly devastating to Iron Crown, as you can imagine. The effort they put into their Middle-Earth products was phenomenal; it’s really a shame it got taken away on something of a shady technicality.
I LOVED MERP. Had the box set. Had some of the best lookup-tables ever. Used the critical hit and critical miss tables in a bunch of games.
Wow,I have those books by Steve Jackson and Livingstone #1 to 11,but I didn't get those books,poor me,oh well
Hi, what do you think about Lone Wolf vs Sorcery. I am able to take only lone wolf in my country in translation. Sorcery are sold out, so If I want them I have to pick outside with customs and high shipping. What do you think Dan ? Thank you
I prefer the Lonewolf books because I like the world and its themes more. It's really creative.
@@TheDungeonDive Thank you Dan, i am going for first hard rover series of 5 books
Im looking for this book. If anyone has 1 to sell. 😊
❤❤❤❤❤❤💯🤘
Those were the good days. Now all we have is Kindle vaporware.
There are still a lot of game books in print, including Fighting Fantasy!
The Warlock magazines, all issue can be found on the net.
I found URtH vol.1 kinda disappointing. There's nothing in it that's new, nothing you didn't know already. Btw, 90% of the volume is free to access.
I'd be interrested what's in vol.2 though. Maybe that offers something.
I learned a lot from the book.
@@TheDungeonDive Good for you. Iearnt nothing, and that's kind of a problem for me.
I mean the book is perfectly fine if you did not follow the history of the FF, but I did. I truly am "the hero" so to say - where's the stuff for me, the dedicated fan?
Maybe you already know it all and should be the one to write the book as the expert?
@@TheDungeonDive Dripping of passive agression, hm?
No. Not at all. I’m being totally serious. Experts should be writing the books. If you’re an expert, write the book to teach other people the things you know.
I’m not an expert on anything, and know next to nothing about most things. I value the knowledge of experts!
Here in the UK we love Fighting Fantasy, far better than the childish Choose your Own Adventure and boring Fabled Lands.
Here at the Dungeon Dive there is room for all kinds of great things.