Fantastic Fights

We’re at the penultimate mainline Fighting Fantasy book (at the time of going to press) with Ian Livingstone’s The Dungeon on Blood Island which forms a sequel of sorts to Deathtrap Dungeon and Trial of Champions. Sukumvit might have the original Deathtrap Dungeon but his brother Lord Carnuss reckons it can’t be that hard to build a murderous underground challenge so he’s created his own and made sure the prize money is even bigger. The question is: is he right? Listen along to find out.

It’s another bonus episode as we play through Tarzan and the Tower of Diamonds by Richard Reinsmith (who I repeatedly call Neimsmith through the course of the episode). Art is by Jeff Butler and the frankly awesome cover art is by Jeff Easley. It’s another Endless Quest book published by TSR, best known for being the original publishers of Dungeons and Dragons. The Conan book we played a while back was actually pretty good. Can Richard Reinsmith do the same for Edgar Rice Burroughs most famous creation? Listen along to find out.

We’re edging ever closer to the end of the Fighting Fantasy series with Shadow of the Giants by Ian Livingstone with art by Mike McCarthy. Giants. Big lads. Hefty fellas. They’re a problem for Allansia and it’s basically all your fault. Can this book break away from the very settled template Ian Livingstone has had for his more recent work? Listen along to find out.

This is another bonus episode and we’re playing Coils of Hate by Mark Smith with some help from Dave Morris. Art was by Terry Oakes and the cover is by Mark Salwowski. Can you help save the Judain people of the city of Godorno from extinction and what is that enormous purple monster made out of hate doing there? Listen along to find out more.

Stuart Lloyd has created a remixed version of Coils of Hate which also incorporates elements of Green Blood, one of Mark Smith’s other books in the Virtual Reality Adventure series. You can find it for free here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/212139/ravages-of-hate

It’s time to bid a fond hello to one of the original creators of Fighting Fantasy as we enjoy Secrets of Salamonis written by Steve Jackson with help from Jonathan Green and art from Tazio Bettin. This is Jackson’s first Fighting Fantasy book since Creature of Havoc way back in 1989. Is this a triumphant return to the genre that he helped define? Listen along to find out.

We continue our deep dive into the Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, the Ireland adjacent fantasy series from Saban Entertainment, creators of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. This is episode 12 in which several extremely complicated and unnecessary plans are hatched and Rohan behaves even more like a spoiled toddler than usual.

It’s another debut writer for Fighting Fantasy. In fact at the time of recording it’s the last debut writer for the series in the shape of Rhianna Pratchett, noted scriptwriter for the gaming industry and daughter of the legendary Terry Pratchett. Crystal of Swords is her first gamebook but is it any good? Listen along to find out.

It’s a little change of pace this episode as HJDoom tackles a solo journaling RPG called Thousand Year Old Vampire in which a structured set of rules and a series of prompts help you navigate the life story of an ancient undead fiend. It’s won awards and everything but how much fun is it and does it offer anything to people coming at it from the perspective of gamebooks as a medium? Listen along to find out.

https://thousandyearoldvampire.com/

Don’t look now but there’s an assassin right behind you.

It’s a listener special this episode as we play Temple of the Spider God (recommended by listener Al), a digital gamebook by Jonathan Green released in 2011 by Tin Man Games who have also produced digital adaptations of classic Fighting Fantasy games. Jonathan Green is no stranger to this podcast but does this stack up well with his usually very high standard? Listen along to find out.