It’s our first proper episode of 2023 and HJDoom is tackling book 32 in the Fighting Fantasy series which is Slaves of the Abyss by Paul Mason and Steve Williams with illustrations by Bob Harvey and cover art by Terry Oakes. Things start off with some fairly hackneyed kingdom in peril stuff but things rapidly get quite a bit stranger as the book progresses. Featuring a time mechanic and an extremely aggravating cameo from the Riddling Reaver that we happily avoid in the playthrough portion this book certainly has an uneven tone but is it any good? Listen along to find out.

If you’d like to support my nonsense financially you can do so by going to www.patreon.com/hjdoom and, along with my undying gratitude, you can score yourself some sweet gamebooks and RPGs what I done wrote. 

We’re kicking off 2023 with a bonus episode featuring Tunnels of Fear by Stephen Thraves with art by Terry Oakes. This was one of two fantasy gamebooks published by Hodder and Stoughton in the early 90s (along with a whole host of licensed gamebooks featuring characters like Asterix, The Famous Five, and Biggles). It originally came with a whole bunch of cardboard and plastic peripherals and a special pair of dice. My copy lacks one peripheral and both dice. Will this affect the success of this mission into a haunted mine? Yes. Yes it will.

Also this month saw the release of a brand new zine called Sites Unzine featuring an experimental RPG by HJDoom. My lovely patrons at www.patreon.com/hjdoom have already had a copy of this game but if you’d like to support independent creators then you can take a look at issue one here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/420480/SITES-UNZINE-ISSUE-1 

Well, here we are at the end of 2023 and there’s just time for one more episode of Fantastic Fights featuring Battleblade Warrior by Marc Gascoigne with art by Alan Langford. A city under siege from the evil lizardmen empire and a desperate race against time to find a magic weapon that can end the war. Battleblade Warrior features battlefields, jungles, mountains, and of course lots and lots of lizards. Sadly the quest falls to one HJDoom to complete and as regular listeners will know that’s rarely likely to end in triumph. Please note that I was recovering from a seasonal cold when I recorded this and that my voice is not normally quite that husky.

This episode also features some new patrons and a small, but hopefully exciting update to the schedule in 2023. If you’d like to get some sweet bonus material and support the making of this podcast you can do so by going to www.patreon.com/hjdoom.

It’s almost Christmas and what could be more festive than trying to escape from a vampire’s castle? In this bonus episode we see the return of the Endless Quest series, the Dungeons and Dragons spin off product intended to act as an introduction to the franchise for younger readers. The last one we covered was very poor indeed but Dungeons and Dragons has changed a lot since the mid 80s and maybe, just maybe Wizards of the Coast can rectify the mistakes made by the earlier series. Listen along to find out!

These bonus epiosdes are only possible because of the support I receive on patreon. I’m grateful to all my patrons, this wouldn’t happen without them. If you’d like to tip me a quid or so a month you can do so at www.patreon.com/hjdoom.

We’ve hit book 30 and this episode is very much a game of two halves. The playthrough of Chasms of Malice went very smoothly but the analysis of the book took me forever. Regardless, here it is, my playthrough and review of Luke Sharp’s Chasms of Malice. It was illustrated by the great Russ Nicholson with cover art by Les Edwards. It was released by Puffin Books in 1988.

If you enjoy my nonsense then please consider supporting me either by leaving a review on your podcast provider or, if you’ve cash to spare, by going to patreon.com/hjdoom. All patrons receive a whole parcel of gaming stuff including my brand new adventure game book Rats in the Cellar.

Midnight Rogue, book 29 in the Fighting Fantasy series, finally takes on the classic fantasy gaming archetype of the thief. Ever since Bilbo Baggins half-inched a fancy geegaw from under the nose of a psychotic dragon gamers have dreamed of purloining shiny things without legal consequence. An added bonus; this gamebook takes you back to Port Blacksand, one of the great fantasy city and the perfect backdrop for a spot of larceny. In this episode HJDoom plays through the 1987 gamebook by Graeme Davis with art by John Sibbick and offers some thoughts about what was good and what could have done with improvement.

You can support my nonsense here: www.patreon.com/hjdoom. Patrons get my heartfelt gratitude and a parcel of gaming stuff with a brand new gamebook just around the corner.

This episode we’re playing Phantoms of Fear by Robin Waterfield with illustrations by the amazing Ian Miller. This is one of the more ambitious Fighting Fantasy books we’ve seen as you play an elf warrior shaman capable of existing in both the physical and dream worlds. An awful menace has arisen, as they do with astonishing frequency in Fighting Fantasy books, and it’s up to you to track through an increasingly surreal forest to enter the even more surreal lair of the demon prince Ishtra. Thrills, spills, and a lot of strange imagery await within the depths of Affen Forest. I had a lot of fun with this one.

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Note that the playthrough portion of this episode sounds like it was recorded in a tin bath. I’ve no idea what went wrong but if you want to skip it then the review portion of the podcast starts at 56:50

The past isn’t what it used to be in this episode as we take a trip into the past as seen from the distant future. In 3033 time travel is a recent invention and five self-important LORDS OF TIME hold sway over the technology. The problem is that there appears to be no actual oversight and one of them has gone rogue. The only mechanism for dealing with that is a spot of murder and our valiant hero has been tasked with working out which bigwig has lost it and administering a spot of frontier justice. Falcon 1: The Renegade Lord was released in 1987 and was written by Jamie Thompson and Mark Smith, authors of several Fighting Fantasy books and the Way of the Tiger series.

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Episode 27 of Fantastic Fights finds us back in science fiction territory with Star Strider. As a rogue tracer our hero is tasked with roguishly tracing a kidnapped politician on a future Earth that has become considerably weirder than our present day. Will the rogue tracer be able to dodge deadly androids and some brutally random dice based challenges and escape to save the galaxy from the wily Gromulans? Listen along to find out.

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HJDoom plays through the 1987 adventure gamebook Crypt of the Sorcerer and offers his thoughts. Two apologies, one for the lateness of the episode and the other for the sound quality which is very uneven throughout. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this tour through some familiar areas in Allansia and a classic Ian Livingstone list of items and other clues to find.