Fighting Fantasy gamebooks were the precursor to role-playing games for many children in the 1980s. Written by Steve Jackson (not to be confused with the US game designer of the same name) and Ian Livingstone, they were interactive adventure books written in a style which gave the player a choice of what to do after each paragraph. The player would then turn to the page/paragraph number indicated for the particular action. Dice were used for the combat system and to determine the outcome of certain events.

The first Fighting Fantasy book, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, was published in 1982. The series quickly grew, reaching 25 titles around 1986. There were several other similar gamebooks around at the time including Choose Your Own Adventure and Lone Wolf.

The series grew to 59 titles with a number of additional spin-offs and companion books written by a variety of authors until it was finally cancelled in 1995 as sales failed to satisfy in the high-street bookstores any more.

In 1998 Eidos Interactive published the Deathtrap Dungeon videogame for the PC and PlayStation, based on book 6 of the same name.

In 2002 the series was republished with Wizard Books putting out less than half of the original series, confusingly renumbering the books to fit their new reduced line-up that also included Steve Jackson's Sorcery! spin-off series.

See also

• List of Fighting Fantasy game books

External links

• Current publisher Wizard Books (http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/wizard/)
• A Fighting Fantasy fan site (http://www.fightingfantasy.com)
• Unofficial web site dedicated to the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks genre (http://www.advancedfightingfantasy.com/)
• A fans review of some of the books in the series (http://www.gamebooks.org/fitefant.htm)