There’s been a long silence on my blog, but after a busy period, I’m back with some good stuff. Fighting Fantasy 3 was a lot of fun back in 2019, but this time it was not just a simple event. In September 2022 it was the celebration of the 40th anniversary of publishing the book that started everything: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The ticket was pricey, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime event and it was also within walking distance from home, so it was absolutely worth it.
The event was held at the University of West London and the layout improved a lot compared to 2019: most of the traders were concentrated in the Port Blacksand and the Darkwood Forest areas (Lammas Hall and The Heartspace), and none were hidden in the obscure corners of the far end of the floor, as previously. Registration was smooth and quick, it was nice to see how much people showed up, and the event was buzzing with the fans of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.
The opening talk was given by Jonathan Green, and I was amazed to hear how many countries the fans came from.
Kicking Up a Storm
I was looking forward to this talk with Rhianna Pratchett. I’m sure I’m not the only reader who was left with ambivalent feelings about her book “Crystal of Storms” and I was curious what she had to say. The book had many remarkable qualities (using provisions as quest items, a huge level of freedom to travel around and even to return to different locations, adventures in the skies and under the sea, using codewords to track your progression and a boss-fight with options to boost your strength) but at the same time, there were many things I didn’t like. It was not really in line with the official canon of Titan: the floating islands, the flying devices, the bathysphere, and the gnome inventors were all explained but it all just felt incongruent to the lore.
Sadly, her talk did not meet my expectations. She might have had a busy week or a long journey, but she seemed to be very tired and disconnected. She did answer Jonathan Green’s questions but she never took the initiative. It was a nice touch that she brought a crocheted version of Flaps with her, I liked how she talked about developing the game and how the process compared to computer game development but the interesting and controversial questions were avoided or remained unpacked. Why turn the back to the existing fans of Titan, disregarding the lore of the previous books and why write a Fighting Fantasy gamebook that is for approximately 10 years old kids? What happened to the publisher that 40 years ago dared to take the risk and was ready to face the parents’ complaints?
After this talk, I joined a long – a very long! – queue to get my books signed by Steve Jackson and by Sir Ian Livingstone. I spent about two and a half hours in the queue, but it was worth it. In FFF3 I had all my books signed by Ian Livingstone but I could get only one signature from Steve Jackson – on Titan’s back cover. The limit was five books per person, so I had to make a decision: do I get the new books signed – including “Shadow of the Giants” with the 40th anniversary logo on the cover, or my old Hungarian editions? I decided to go with the latter, since those are my favourites from my childhood and they are now invaluable with the signatures.
I was lucky because I could get a photo with Steve Jackson. When I read these books as a kid, it seemed to be impossible to ever meet these guys in person, but here we are… In 2019 I had taken a photo with Ian Livingstone and now I have one with Steve Jackson too.
The McCaig Masterclass
The next talk I listened to was with Iain McCaig, who made plenty of illustrations that are legendary now. At first, I was disappointed to see that this was an online session, but after a few minutes it was clear that I have no reason to complain: he had such great showmanship and an amazing presence that it was hands down the most enjoyable talk I listened to. Not only did he talk about the artworks he had done for Games Workshop and for Fighting Fantasy, or about the other projects he had worked on, but he also shared his view about AI in arts and NFTs.
The Traders
An event like this is not complete without the traders and we had an excellent range this year. I will not write about all of them, only the most remarkable ones:
Atlantis Miniatures brought a nice range of iconic Fighting Fantasy miniatures and a limited edition Zagor figurine in 75mm scale – which was demo painted Paul Cook of Pandemonium Miniatures during the show. Last time I couldn’t get the Bloodbeast, which looks exactly like the cover art of Deathtrap Dungeon, so this time I bought one without hesitation, plus a Lizard King and a set of iconic villains. I was hesitant to buy the Zagor figurine, but eventually, I convinced myself and bought number 123 (out of the available 400). This figurine is bigger and more detailed than anything I have ever painted, and it will take some time to up my painting game and to gather my courage to start working on it.
Martin Barnabus Noutch and his Steam Highwayman books had probably the most remarkable stall: he was wearing a steampunk outfit, like the protagonist of his gamebooks and used his flintlock pistol to convince customers. The Steam Highwayman books offer open-world adventures and more than 1000 passages per book. Both sound impressive, so I got myself a copy of the first book, “Smoke & Ambuscade” and the Velostreamer’s Touring Guide. I have started playing recently, but I’m in the very early stages of the adventure. A detailed review will follow soon…
He also offered a one-pager sample of his new project called Saga. Saga will be a series of gamebooks in a Viking world, to be published in 2023 and based on the sample, it will be worth keeping an eye out for them.
It was nice to see the Chameleon Comix team again. Just like last time, their stall was full of spectacular stuff. They had a demo version of their City of Thieves – The Graphic Novel, with full-colour sample pages and character designs. This project is still work in progress but it’s something I’m looking forward to. They also presented the illustrations of the soon-to-be-published Hungarian edition of Crystal of Storms, with the amazing works from Istvan Lakatos. These are proper, intricate drawings, with lots of quirky details and full of character. They also had a copy of The Art of Vagrus artbook – with loads of beautiful artwork made for the world of a PC game.
The stall of Fighting Fantasy Audio Dramas was a real surprise: of course, I’m familiar with the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, with the Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG, with the previously mentioned miniatures, but the audio dramas were new to me. Admittedly it’s not my preferred genre, but I was very curious and bought the first CD, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain – the Hero’s Quest. It was the most pleasant surprise. A well-produced audio drama with great voice artists and with a story that adds a lot to the gamebook’s plot.
Last but not least, I’d like to write about Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf books. Imagine a fantasy gamebook with 550 sections. That’s not bad, isn’t it? Now imagine that there’s a whole series, with more than 30 of these books. That’s epic. To go one step further, about half of the books have the same main protagonist, called Lone Wolf. That’s exactly what Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf series is. I was very tempted to buy at least the first few books, but the amount of time and shelf space that’s needed for this series scared me. Needless to say, it was a decision I regret. I’ll soon rectify this mistake and will get a copy at least from the first book.
There were plenty of other traders, with lots of amazing stuff, but I have to keep this blog post at a reasonable length. The following photos should give you a good idea of what they brought to Fighting Fantasy Fest 4.
It was a long day and I had a very good time. I had the chance to meet both Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone in person and now all my childhood favourite books are signed by them, which means a lot to me. This was the proper way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of publishing the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook. Now I’m looking forward to Fighting Fantasy 5, and I hope it will be sooner than the 50th anniversary. 😊