REVIEW: Fighting Fantasy Adventures (Wallace Design, 2025) Box 0: The Orb of Lucis

  

SPOILER FREE REVIEW BUT READ THE WHOLE REVIEW!

 Fighting Fantasy Adventures (Wallace Designs, 2025)

 

Box 0: The Orb of Lucis

 

[Random intro: My brother-in-law saw me messing about with this deck of cards. His chosen vocation is online transvestite Hindu fortune-teller and he thought it was an innovative new tarot system. That’s how cool the cards look!]

 

Backed Tier Reward: Treasure Chest

 

Basics: Shipping was received early, probably due to Bangkok’s proximity to the presumed China production origin, packaging was excellent, very sturdy. Plastic corner protectors on the box, no damage whatsoever, mint condition.

 

The big box contains 8 smaller boxes, 1 for counters, markers and dice, 1 for Hero cards plus a signed card by Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone and Martin Wallace, (my backer bonafide card is #3346), 6 for the various adventure boxes. There is a map printed on the inside of both upper and lower boxes (both of which make very sturdy dice rolling containers). There is also a 16-page rulebook and a hardback tactical board for combat and marching order.

 

This review concerns Box 0: The Orb of Lucis. This review will start in reverse with the ugly, the bad, the good, and my final thoughts, on this box only. Each box contains a set of Dungeon Cards, which form the map, and Encounter Cards, which form the meat of the adventure.

 

The Ugly

The elephant in the room is the AI-influenced art. To be honest, I was expecting it, having seen some early pre-release art that was obviously AI. I said nothing, hoping at the time others would, and maybe they did, because the obvious AI art has been disguised to some extent. The kicker when playing the game though, was encountering a monster card where one wing was growing out of the rear of the monster’s eyeball, while the monster’s other wing was sort-of on their back. The sort of lazy AI art we see because AI doesn’t actually know what it’s doing. Unfortunately, once you’ve seen that example, you can’t unsee it, and then you start seeing it everywhere. I could be wrong, and all it takes for proof are the original artists’ PSD files or equivalent. Unfortunately, while the artists are credited, who did what is not so clear, so I don’t know who is responsible for what art. As far as I can see, the AI art takes three major forms, most of which are creatures and monsters (note, some creatures’ art appears AI-free).

 

Firstly, such as wing-eyeball monster, there are creatures where AI generated the image, which was then processed – slightly – by a human, and the rest obscured with “Dungeon Smoke”, so all you see is the head and maybe a few limbs at best, or cropped out as a ‘porthole’ effect, again, with just the head. It’s actually a shame everything is so obscured with “Dungeon Smoke” because there are two monsters in particular, I would love to see the original AI images as they are well gnarly, insanely so even.

 

Secondly, there are humanoid monsters where an original AI configuration, recognizable by the bland expression and strange design choices, are traced over and masked by some first-class digital texture work. They need to get the artist who did the texture work to draw the actual pictures next time, the textures are that good. These cards are bearable, not too bad, clear and refreshingly free from “Dungeon Smoke”.

 

Finally, there is a repeated legless dragon motif where the belly scales become a weird rope pattern half-way down, which repeats until the tail. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just that (I believe the technical term for such a creature is an Amphiptere), but the wings are attached to said rope-belly and not the back of the dragon, making the problem more acutely visible. Again, once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee the rope-belly-wing. This is repeated on all boxes, and every card, encircling the encounter or dungeon number. Ironically, the head is based on the original black dragon ‘Titan’ from the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, and in this form the dragon occurs on the tactical board, happily free of rope-belly or rope-belly-wings. The whole thing could be a weird design choice, but there’s also a monster card with a similar problem, the belly scales invert to become an armoured carapace before reverting to belly scales and finally, thankfully, being obscured by “Dungeon Smoke”.

 

[I could be wrong on all of this, all we need to see are artist PSD files, timelapse videos or equivalent.]

 

The maps inside the box look great, but there are mistakes, misspellings and mislabeling with place names. Briefly, these are as follows: it should be Zengis not Xenghis, Kay-Pong not Kai-Pong, Carnex not Carner, Skaar not Skaal, Kalong Marshes not Kalon, The Dragon Reaches not Dragon Reach, Blood Island not Blood Isle, and Snake Island not Snake Isle (thanks to Victor Cheng for the last one). This is not difficult to get right.

 

One card typo that leapt out was a creature being described as ‘hagged’. While I quite like the idea of the word ‘hagged’ as a possible contemporary expression to ‘fragged’, I think it should be haggard.

 

I realize none of these things affect gameplay in any way, but given how much money the campaign raised, and how good the product looks otherwise, they all combine to detract from one’s overall enjoyment of said product.

 

The Bad

My counters aren’t great as the counter material has interfered with the print quality. They are legible but weirdly distorted, reminiscent of bit-mapped images to some extent. Hard to tell if it’s a poor-quality print job or a low-resolution image file usage or both.

 

There’s not much lore in the initial quest. We don’t know who or what Lucis is, why they have an Orb worth stealing, and who or why there needs to be a guardian for the Orb. Nothing here ties it to Fighting Fantasy or the Allansia map, other than the fact your Heroes are measured by SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK.

 

Some of the Encounter Cards have this weird ambient background text on them, but it has no tangible effects. It makes for nice atmosphere, but you’re never told when you should read it.

 

I understand it’s a bonus introductory quest, but the ending to this quest is remarkably anticlimactic. It’s very satisfying to play, so it’s quite strange you get no tangible benefit for completing it.

 

Some of the creatures, despite, or possibly because they are/were AI inspired, are remarkably bland in name and absence of lore. They look wicked! I want to know who they are and what they’re doing in this god-forsaken dungeon.

 

There’s a lot of “Dungeon-Smoke” on the cards. This is not a game for playing dark dive bars or for those of poor eyesight. Some of the counters are tiny and fiddly. The dungeon sprawls, and not in a regular grid either. Prepare to spill beer or coffee or pizza or chips all over it.

 

It’s a total one-shot. Once you’ve solved the secret of the Orb of Lucis, that is it. I might dig it out when my daughter gets back from college or my wife finally consents to playing a fantasy board/card game instead of root canal surgery, but there is no replay value once you’ve rumbled the mysteries here.

 

The Good

Gameplay! It’s fun, fast, exciting, terrifying even! Stuff happens, and like the gamebooks, once something’s happened there’s no comebacks, no five finger bookmarks even. It’s balanced, intuitive even. Despite all my tedious bitching and moaning above about the aesthetics, I was having fun. I felt I was playing a board/card game version of a previously obscure, unreleased Fighting Fantasy gamebook. The general atmosphere of 80s dungeon bashing is alive and well.

 

The Heroes were all fun in this initial adventure. I played solo with all four, which is a bit book-keeper-ish, but nothing too extravagant. Their abilities are all cool and complement each other well. One even has a “Smoke Bomb” ability to match all that “Dungeon Smoke”. Marching order is important. Tactics are important, but not tedious. Monsters are scary. Resources have to be managed carefully, items are gratefully found and acquired. This is all good gameplay and certainly adds to the fun value. The central puzzle is very, very satisfying to solve. Rules are easy to understand, writing is generally clear although it could be slightly more descriptive.

 

The art that is not AI is excellent. This includes the map, of which I would happily buy a print if the names were corrected. The Hero Card illustrations are epic and atmospheric. The Dungeon Card room pictures are fantastic, particularly once you clear a room by flipping the card over, which shows the bloody mess of a slain monster carcass everywhere. You could make an entirely separate random dungeon-bash game with the dungeon cards drawn from a stack, a lone Hero, and the Encounter Cards randomized on a table. There’s some hidden art on the outside of the bottom box that looks insanely brilliant but is sadly “brownscaled” out. I’d like to know which artists drew what pictures, because there is some outstanding artistic talent on show here.

 

Final Thoughts

It’s a fun, exciting one-shot card-box dungeon adventure, marred by some sloppy AI art. I’m looking forward to playing Box 1: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain next week (have to pace these one-shots out) and see how it tackles recreating an actual published gamebook. I liked it so much I’ve started re-engineering THE ORB OF LUCIS as a short non-linear amateur Fighting Fantasy gamebook, which, once typed up, I will repost here for interested parties to play. Would I back it again? Only if they ditch the AI art, use 100% human art, and run the whole thing by a Fighting Fantasy fan who knows their Zengis from their Kay-Pong. Flawed but intriguing.

Beyond the Pit: Old School Art and Hideous Monsters!

 Great and terrible flesh-eating beasts have always shared the landscape with humans... (Quammen, 2003)

Well, it took a bit over two years to get done, but Beyond the Pit is finally finished. When I originally agreed to write it for Graham Bottley's Arion Games and their second edition of Advanced Fighting Fantasy I knew it would be a big undertaking, but I probably underestimated just how big it would be! I should have considered the fact that if Marc Gascoigne never wrote a follow up to his own Out of the Pit then there must have been a good reason.

And there was. Basically, the simple fact is that trying to compile a bestiary of at least 250 monsters drawn from random paragraphs scattered throughout well over 60 gamebook canonical sources, while trying to keep each creature entry informative and interesting, is a big task! Not to mention all of the extras: treasure tables, encounter charts, Advanced Fighting Fantasy rules, and Fighting Fantasy canon consistency. Still, it's done, and I thought I'd share a few snippets about the product and the process.

• The original brief was to use 250 creatures that already had prior artwork published in Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, to avoid commissioning new art and limiting the Kickstarter target to cover the licensing fees for the old artwork.
• This did allow me some creativity in using different artwork for creatures that originally had none (e.g. see the entries for the Carnivorous Plant, the Killer Bee, and the Man-Octopus).
• I started at the very first book (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain) and basically tried to cram in many old favorites that didn't make the original Out of the Pit. (e.g. the Iron Cyclops, the Night Horror, the Sand Snapper, and, of course, the She-Satyr).
• Where possible I tried to clump creatures as opposed to split them (e.g. see the Death-Knight, the Kraken, and the Serpent).
• Half way through writing, Stephen Hand requested via Steve Jackson that his monsters not be used, so out went any creatures from Dead of Night, Legend of Shadow Warriors and Moonrunner. This was disappointing...
• Marc Gascoigne was too busy to write a brief foreword. More disappointment...
• Ian Miller and Dave Carson had issues with their artwork being used, so Graham commissioned the talented Jason Lenox to provide illustrations for these creatures, and, especially given the short time frame, I think Jason's pictures are excellent!

Having said all that, I am very very happy with the final product. I think it stands up well as a companion to Out of the Pit, and provides definitive information on a horde of Fighting Fantasy beasties that were screaming out for their own official Advanced Fighting Fantasy treatment. I hope I've walked the fine line between a useable monster manual and a canonical sourcebook, while providing plenty of ideas for how the various creatures could make an appearance in a game or campaign. Despite the lengthy timeframe, and the workload (on top of family commitments, studies and my day job!), I thoroughly enjoyed myself writing this folio of fiends, and, well, who knows, there may certainly be a third volume to write yet! After all, there are plenty more monsters where these horrible creatures all came from...

The monster, of course, is a product of and a regular inhabitant of the imagination, but the imagination is a driving force behind our entire perception of the world. If we find monsters in our world, it is sometimes because they are really there and sometimes because we have brought them with us... (Asma, 2009)

References

Asma, S. T. (2009). On monsters. New York: Oxford University Press.

Quammen, D. (2003). Monster of God. New York: Norton. 

Return to Titan!

Titan - the Fighting Fantasy world, by Steve Luxton
[click to enlarge!]

Steve Luxton has sent me another amazing map of the Fighting Fantasy world of Titan which you can see above. I think this map is virtually finalised in terms of land alignment, and you can see on the left that there's now a key for all the major settlements of the three continents of Titan.

There's a few corrections to be made, but the next step is to consider whether there needs to be any more information or settlements added to this map. After that, we can probably look at discussing some of the individual continental maps of Allansia, Khul and the Old World.

Comments welcome!

Fighting Fantazine Issue 6

Cover by Michael Wolmarans

Fighting Fantazine issue 6 came out a while back, when I was unfortunately busy, but if you didn't get it then, get it now! Editor Alex Ballingall has done another amazing job with the Fighting Fantasy fan magazine, and among the 92 pages of the latest issue, you can find:

• Amazing front and back cover art by debut artist Michael Wolmarans.
• An interview with Leo Hartas, the artist who illustrated many classic maps and pictures for Fighting Fantasy, Golden Dragon, and Virtual Reality gamebook adventures.
• An interview with Steve Luxton, who penned some of the definitive maps of Fighting Fantasy in Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World.
• Escape from the Sorcerer - a 200 paragraph Fighting Fantasy adventure written by Sunil Prasannan and illustrated by Michael Wolmarans. I've had a good look at this one and it's very intriguing!
• Guillermo Parades gives us the latest rundown on gamebook happenings in Omens and Auguries.
• The Fact of Fiction: Alex Ballingall enters The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - the book that started it all - in a desperate search for the truth!
• Part 2 of the Fighting Fantazine survey. Good to see Brett "Jediboyy" Schofield getting ranked #1 for Favourite Fan Art, for his illustrations for Shrine of the Salamander, which itself placed second in the Favourite Feature so far category.
• Chapter 2 of Ian Brocklehurst's fan fiction: Aelous Raven and the Wrath of the Sea-Witch.
• Out of the Pit returns! This time it stars four hideous beasts from my Shrine of the Salamander adventure.
• Ian Brocklehurst begins a new feature entitled The Magic Quest about how Fighting Fantasy became our gateway drug of choice.
• Part 4 of Ed Jolley's brilliant series: Everything I Really Need To Know I Learnt From Reading Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.
• Chronicle of Heroes: Adrian Young takes us through the classic Advanced Fighting Fantasy adventure A Shadow Over Blacksand.
• The start of a new review column: The Arcane Archive.
• Jamies Fry looks at foreign print editions of Fighting Fantasy.
• Last, but certainly not least, Dan Satherly strolls through The Forest of Doom.

Phew! As you can see, it's packed with Fighting Fantasy and gamebook goodness, and you can grab a copy of it here! 

Also, Alex runs the actual Fighting Fantazine blog here!

The Mud Dragon!
(by me (Andrew Wright, 2011))

Beastmen of Bangkok

Minotaurs in red and blue suits


I've said before that this blog is supposedly apolitical. However, we're about to have an election over here in Thailand, site of Fantasy Gamebook HQ, and over the past month or more the residents of Bangkok have been treated to an onslaught of campaign posters, some dull and some, as you can see, completely freaky.

The Yellow Shirts, or Peoples' Alliance for Democracy, realising that they cannot capture the popular mandate, have elected for a 'Vote No' campaign, reasoning that all politicians, presumably themselves excluded, are corrupt carpet-baggers who should be kept away from parliament at all costs.

As a result they've come up with a brilliant series of posters unflatteringly comparing politicians to a range of hideous beasts. (Personally, I'm feeling a bit sorry for the beasts!) Anyway, on a completely unrelated tangent, these posters offer us an unparalleled glimpse of what real fantasy Beastmen, say from the Fighting Fantasy world of Titan, might actually look like. And so, I give you:

The Beastmen of Bangkok

BLOG

[SKILL 5 STAMINA 5; 1 Attack; Blowgun (as per Dagger plus Poison) or Club]

A primitive tribe of dog-headed humanoids, BLOGS live only in the depths of the Forest of Fiends in central Allansia. Here they are greatly feared for their practice of head-hunting and preying on human travellers, whose flesh they cook in large cauldrons. Blogs are skilled trackers, moving silently though the trees before using poison darts fired from blowguns to bring down their victims with a minimum of fuss (Livingstone, 1988).

CROCODILE MAN

[SKILL 10 STAMINA 10; 2 Attacks; Club and Large Bite]

Rare, if not unknown from Titan, CROCODILE MEN have been recorded haphazardly from other locations (Morris, Gallagher & Bambra, 1986; Bennie, 1990). Primitive carnivorous fiends with a tendency to bite first and digest later, these scaly brutes are usually found living in small clan-groups in the deepest parts of the Swamplands of Silur Cha. Some are known to join the legions of the Lizard Men Empire, but they tend to form their own units of shock troops, often in the company of Mutant Lizard Men, owing to their unpredictable nature. 

LIZARD MAN

[SKILL 8 STAMINA 8; 1 Attack; Spear, Sword or Crossbow]

Unlike more primitive examples from other worlds (e.g. Moldvay, 1981; Morris & Johnson, 2008), the LIZARD MEN of Titan are a terrifying race who rule a sprawling empire centred on the Swamplands of Silur Cha. Their military ingenuity is legendary, as is their slavish devotion to a host of foul deities such as the Demon Prince Ishtra and the Lizard God Suthis Cha. When they finally sack the city of Vymorna following a long siege, then the rest of the southern lands will likely fall to their savage legions and living reptilian war machines (Gascoigne, 1988).

MINOTAUR

[SKILL 9 STAMINA 9; 2 Attacks; Large Fist, Battle-axe or Club]

The large hairy bull-headed humanoids known as MINOTAURS are found on all three continents of Titan, usually at the heart of an underground labyrinth or a maze-like series of tunnels (Gascoigne & Tamlyn, 1989). Recent studies have indicated the presence of a cow-headed variant from Femphrey, known as the Mooncalf (see Green, 2009), and it may be that buffalo-headed versions of Minotaurs might be found in more tropical climes, such as Arantis and the lands of the Glimmering Sea (as seen above).

MONKEY MAN

[SKILL 7 STAMINA 7; 1 Attack; Club or Dagger]

A recent discovery resembling a man-sized monkey (Green, 2006), MONKEY MEN are believed to originate from the palm-fringed islands that dot the Black Ocean of southern Titan. Little is known of their society and beliefs, but it is thought that they may be related to the Scurrellors of the Cloudhigh Forest of western Khul, and the Wood Reavers of Far Analand (Wright, unpublished).

TIGER MAN

[SKILL 9 STAMINA 5; 1 Attack, Large Teeth]

Not to be confused with their more powerful Weretiger brethren (Gascoigne, 1985), TIGER MEN have a fairly patchy record from Titan. We do know that Shanzikuul, the Master of Chaos, kept a harem of Tiger Women in his lair beneath the ruined city of Kabesh (Martin, 1990). Also, from the far future of Titan City, the entourage of Marcus Buletta (also known as Dr Macabre the mad surgeon and pharmacist robber), numbers a Tiger Man among its members (Jackson, 1985), from which the above stats have been extrapolated.

This wraps up our pre-election coverage from Bangkok, Thailand. We hope you enjoyed the show and remember:

"VOTE NO = VOTE BEASTMAN!"

References

Bennie, S. (1990). Old Empires. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, Inc.

Gascoigne, M. (1985). Out of the Pit. London: Puffin Books.

Gascoigne, M. (1988). Battleblade Warrior. London: Puffin Books.

Gascoigne, M., & Tamlyn, P. (1989). Dungeoneer: Advanced Fighting Fantasy. London: Puffin Books.

Green, J. (2006). Bloodbones. Cambridge: Wizard Books.

Green, J. (2009). Stormslayer. Cambridge: Wizard Books.

Jackson, S. (1985). Appointment with F.E.A.R. London: Puffin Books.

Livingstone, I. (1988). Armies of Death. London: Puffin Books.

Martin, K. (1990). Master of Chaos. London: Puffin Books.

Moldvay, T. (1981). Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Adventure Game: Basic Rulebook. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR Hobbies, Inc.

Morris, D., & Johnson, O. (2008). Dragon Warriors Bestiary. London: Magnum Opus Press. 

Morris, G., Gallagher, P., & Bambra, J. (1986). Creature Catalogue. Cambridge: TSR UK Ltd.

Wright, A. (2010). The Ascent of Man. Unpublished Fighting Fantazine article.

Geography of Allansia



Revised climate map of Titan by Steve Luxton

Althought the title says 'Geography of Allansia'  I wanted to briefly talk about Steve Luxton's revised climate map of the Fighting Fantasy world of Titan, as shown above. Are there any more changes we need to make to this? Off hand, I can think of only three small alterations:

• The X that marks the sunken ruins of the city of Atlantis needs to be moved down to perhaps just above the Warm Temperate dotted line.
• Below this, the Bird Islands, Fish Island, Skull Island and the Blood Islands need to resemble their counterparts on the original Titan map.
• As Simon Osborne mentioned previously in the comments, where is Bone Island from Bloodbones? Does anybody have any idea?



Rough map of Allansia by Steve Luxton



Moving on to the classic Fighting Fantasy continent of Allansia, Steve has created and kindly shared this map based on the original from Titan. How can we improve it and what needs to be added to or changed?

A few of my suggestions:

• Do we need to include the northern portion of the continent, which is quite large and basically frozen wasteland?
• Do we include details for Bjorngrim's Sea based on Simon Osborne's revised map for Jonathan Green's unpublished Saga of the Stormchaser?
• I think the Flatlands label needs to be spread out over the grasslands that stretch to the Sea of Pearls coastline, to better indicate the extent of this vast steppes region.
• Agra, the top city on the left-hand coast of the Glimmering Sea, needs to be moved downwards in line with the map from The Riddling Reaver, which was published first and has precedence.
• We could probably add detail from Battleblade Warrior, as that is a relatively blank area of the above map.
• Likewise, we could add some of the settlements from Night Dragon to the Dragon Reaches region.

There you have it! What does everybody else think?

Pomp and Ceremony



The royal coach of Lord Azzur
by Iain McCaig (from Livingstone, 1983)

 We were given Friday afternoon off early at my workplace, so we could all go home and witness The Wedding. As a result I spent Friday afternoon sitting on the sofa watching the TV with my daughter, fielding a variety of questions concerning royalty and ceremony. Although a 'small r' republican from the Antipodes, I found myself rather guiltily enjoying the whole spectacle, and was struck by two things.

Firstly, horse-drawn carriages and coaches! How cool do they look? (Especially compared to the fleet of tacky sponsored minivans that followed them into the palace grounds.) This brought to mind the royal coach of Lord Azzur that attempts to run you down as you wander the streets of Port Blacksand in City of Thieves (Livingstone, 1983). Iain McCaig's picture of the ornate golden vehicle inspired four further thoughts:

• Being covered and enclosed means surely it's a coach and not a carriage, which is what it is described as in the text.
• The two horses are either mutants with extra pairs of legs, or Iain McCaig was drawing them (a bit unconvincingly I feel) in motion.
• If you are foolish and unlucky enough to be trampled by the horses, the book tells you "the carriage races out of view and you set off west again, hoping that you will have another opportunity to meet the infamous Lord Azzur" (Livingstone, 1983, ref#155), which is a premise that sadly was never acted upon.
• If Lord Azzur ever married anybody, it would have to be the Serpent Queen!

Secondly, all the glittering pageantry brought to mind Iain Banks' (1998) excellent Culture science-fiction novel Inversions. Inversions contains the two intertwined yet separate narratives of a bodyguard and a doctor (both alien Special Circumstances agents) who have infiltrated a medieval-tech world recovering from a recent cataclysmic disaster. The alien doctor's tale is especially interesting as she presents herself as an antipodean exile from the distant (but still in-planet) land of Drezen, engaged in the service of King Quience of Haspide. Drezen, we learn from no less an authority than Quience himself, is "where their brains seem to suffer from being upside-down all the time. Obviously all is topsy-turvy there, and the women think it fit to tell their lords and masters what is what" (Banks, 1998, p. 162).

The quote I wanted to mention however, is the following one, and it is something I always try to keep in mind when forced to endure or enjoy spectacles such as The Wedding:

Our return to Haspide was accomplished with all the usual pomp and ceremony. There were feasts and ceremonies and investitures and triumphal parades through newly built gates and dignified processions under specially commissioned arches and long speeches by self-important officials and elaborate gift-givings and formal conferments of old and new awards and titles and decorations and any manner of other business, all of it wearying but all of it, I was assured by the Doctor, (somewhat to my surprise), necessary in the sense that this sort of participatory ritual and use of shared symbols helped to cement our society together. If anything, the Doctor said, Drezen could have done with more of this sort of thing. 

(Banks, 1998, p.302, bold emphasis by me)

References

Banks, I. (1998). Inversions. London: Orbit.

Livingstone, I. (1983). City of Thieves. London: Puffin Books.

Gone fishin'...



Astral Shark


I apologize for the complete lack of recent updates - I've been alternating between bouts of study, watching late night Champions League games, and a holiday down at the beach [not to mention an absolutely useless broadband connection for the past four weeks]. It hasn't been completely wasted though, as I did take Family Fantasy Game Book to the local Rayong Aquarium where we got to see all kinds of cool stuff! What follows is a brief look at some of the denizens of the deep we encountered, along with a batch of Advanced Fighting Fantasy stats for the gaming purists among you. After this, more maps by Steve Luxton and discussion on Titan geography to follow...

First up, my favourite, the Crocodile Needlefish (Tylosurus crocodilus)!  

CROCODILE NEEDLEFISH [SKILL 6 STAMINA 6, Large bite]

Nearly two meteres long and capable of launching themselves through the air to impale unlucky fishermen (Test for Luck to avoid), CROCODILE NEEDLEFISH appear superficially similar to Barracudas but are actually more closely related to the edible Garfish. A menace to all who trawl the equatorial waters of Titan!

The Pharaoh Cuttlefish (Sepia pharonis) is perhaps not as big as some of its relatives, but for Titan purposes we can always extrapolate!

 GIANT CUTTLEFISH [SKILL 9 STAMINA 10, Small claw or Large bite, 4 Attacks]

As well as their more mundane capabilities, the blinding colour changes of the GIANT CUTTLEFISH function as a Sleep spell for those unfortunate enough to view it underwater! These enormous cephalopods grow to three metres in length and are among the most intelligent of their kind.

Moray Eels are snake-like reef-dwelling fish that grow up to four metres long!

MORAY EEL [SKILL 7 STAMINA 12, Large bite, (from Jackson, 1986, ref#98)]

MORAY EELS live among rocks and coral in tropical marine waters and will defend their territory aggressively with a mouth full of large needle-like teeth. Their flesh is poisonous to eat. Giant Moral Eels have been reported from the vicinity of Solani Island off the southern coast of Allansia.

Biggest of the reef fish are the enormous Groupers - huge predators that grow to three metres long and weigh over 600 kilograms!

GROUPER [SKILL 8 STAMINA 12, Large Bite, (from Jackson, 1986, ref#119)]

Despite their size, GROUPERS prefer easy prey and if they are hit twice in succession in two Attack Rounds they will usually try and Escape. However, if they roll a double 6 when calculating their Attack Strength then they have swallowed their victim, who will then take 2 STAMINA points damage per Attack Round until they are dead or they have cut themselves free.

All photos by me!

References

Jackson, S. (1986). Demons of the Deep. London: Puffin Books

Geography of Titan (Part 3)

This has to be the coolest map of Titan I have ever seen (thanks Steve)! Click on it to see the big version - it really is a work of art!

 

A new climate map of Titan by Steve Luxton.


It's similar to the very rough climate map I made for part two of this discussion, but obviously Steve has put a lot more thought into deciding why and how the oceanic currents and atmospheric conditions actually work. Everything on it looks good and I've just got a few tentative minor issues as follows:

• Atlantis (the dot on the north-western edge of the map), should be closer to Fish Island and Skull Island on the equatorial eastern edge of the map. The events of Demons of the Deep reveal that these locations are fairly close together. Also, for the final map, we have to remember to change Atlantis to a cross, not a dot, as it is a sunken city not an island (which it looks like now).
• I like the Hotspot Anomaly of Allansia centred around the Desert of Skulls. Do we have anything from Fighting Fantasy canon that can confirm the Caarth snakemen are engaged in sorcery to expand the desert? I just had a look in Titan but couldn't find anything relevant.
• The Hotspot Anomaly of Khul is obviously the Wastes of Chaos and the Twin Sun Desert. Case closed?
• Can we reverse the currents on the east coast of Khul? This area is relatively cooler than the lands to the west (and so is the Arrowhead Archipelago). As these currents then come down from the equator they could bring warm water to the tropical northern parts of the Isles of the Dawn.
• The south-eastern coast of the Inland Sea could be a shade warmer, as that's where the jungles beyond the city-states of Marad and Shurrupak lie...

What else can we add? Are there any other suggestions?

Part one of the discussion on the geography of Titan can be found here, and part two is here.

Geography of Titan (Part 2)

[Part 1 is here]

Steve Luxton has now emailed me a revised map of the Fighting Fantasy world of Titan for discussion and review. I've attached it to this post below as Figure 1.

Figure 1. Revised global map of Titan by Steve Luxton.

As you can see, Titan finally has an equator and a scale! I have a few minor issues/notes with it, which you can see in Figure 2 below as possible corrections.

Figure 2. Things to check: Blood Island, the Arrowhead Archipelago,
 and Tura, southernmost Island of the Dawn.

Issues to be addressed on the revised map:

• We really need to sort out correct shapes for the three continents, starting with either Allansia or Khul. Allansia needs to be somewhat broader for instance, to allow for the rolling expanse of the Flatlands.
• I'm not sure what the tiny island is, far to the west of Allansia. If it is Blood Island from Trial of Champions then it needs to be much closer to the Allansian mainland.
• Some of the topmost islands that form the 'point' of the Arrowhead Archipelago appear to have been cropped off.
• We're missing Tura, the entire southern-most Island of the Dawn. Tura can be seen here. Incidentally, do we have any idea what the climate of Tura may be like? Warren mentioned Hokkaido as a point of comparison, which seems as good an idea as any.

What thoughts do other people have about this revised map?

In addition, I did a rough mock-up of a climate map for Steve's revised version. This is Figure 3 - as per before, blue = polar regions, green = temperate regions, and orange = subtropical and tropical regions.

Figure 3. A revised idea of Titan's climate. Better, perhaps?

Again, it's not an exact map, but what do people think of this new climate interpretation of Titan?

You know the drill. Hit us with your ideas, thoughts and opinions. What works and what doesn't. After we've nailed this one down, we could probably then start looking at the individual continents themselves.

Ian Livingstone in Bangkok!

Ian Livingstone
(from Digiplay, 2011a).

I’m gutted. Ian Livingstone, co-creator of Fighting Fantasy, former editor of White Dwarf, and ex-mastermind behind Games Workshop, was in Bangkok on Friday to give the keynote speech ("Capitalizing on Great Ideas: from Games Workshop to Tomb Raider", Digiplay, 2011b), at the opening of “DigiPlay: Thai-UK Digital Festival” and I had no idea. DigiPlay, held at the Thailand Creative and Design Centre until May 1 (so I can still visit at least!), is part exhibition, part trade-show, showcasing UK and Thai companies involved in game design and digital entertainment. Perhaps I should buy an iPad and get down there with Catacombs of the Undercity…

Anyway, local newspaper The Nation has reported on the opening though it doesn’t make clear whether the pull-quotes in the article from Ian Livingstone were delivered as part of his speech or an interview afterwards. Regardless, I’ll reproduce here all the comments by Ian Livingstone as follows:

DigiPlay! (from Mudlark, 2011).

“The global revenue of games sales today – both online and offline – is about US$50 billion a year – bigger than the box office, DVD, book and music industries combined. Young and old, male and female, enjoy the experience. It’s mass market entertainment industry.”

“Gaming has moved from a niche market to mainstream entertainment with many platforms available today from PCs, consoles, handheld devices, smartphones and online portals. It’s no longer necessary to have a huge team to produce a game, a small team can reach global audiences. The days are gone where you sell a limited number of games for high prices; today you can sell to millions of people for a very small price.”

“The success of Angry Birds lies in its elegant way of operation – using a touch screen device in a satisfying and simple way. It’s easy to play and deals with an emotional response and the human spirit. It generates gameplay that makes you want to play again and again. Just one more time to reach achievement – feeling yes, I can make it!”

“Among three things – gameplay, technology, and graphics, the most important thing to me is gameplay, that’s the value of replay. Satisfaction is playing the game, not looking at it.”

Online games [are the next big things]. People need a game that’s enjoyed together with friends and family rather than one that’s won as a solo experience. Rising penetration of broadband and fast processor PCs, those can make things happen. Farmville on Facebook is a great game. It promotes gameplay and is a kind of social engagement too.”

“The opportunity is open to all. Angry Birds was conceived by a small team. Thai creators are equally as capable. The game character and content should be global. It’s important to lead people to think about good things in your game like problem solving or brain training, not violence.”

         (all from Pholdhampalit, 2011, p. 1B, bold emphasis by me)

Ian Livingstone interviewed in Bangkok (from Tiwa, 2011)

It’s an interesting article, and I certainly intend to visit the exhibition, but I’ve highlighted three things that stood out for me:

Replay value: Ian Livingstone’s obviously learned his lessons from Crypt of the Sorcerer or Armies of Death.

Family enjoyment beats solo experience: Fighting Fantasy strike one!

No violence: Fighting Fantasy strike two!

Of course, we’ve been here before. Back when the 25^th Anniversary Edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain was released, we were told:

In 2005 the first brand-new [Fighting Fantasy] book for ten years was published. Written by Ian [Livingstone] Eye of the Dragon played on the strengths of the original series while at the same time reflecting Ian’s experience gained over fifteen years in the world of computer and video games.

        (Jackson & Livingstone, 2007, p. 206, bold emphasis by me)

Anyone who thinks the above paragraph is true should consult the following reviews of Eye of the Dragon:

I've reached a saddening conclusion: despite being one of the pioneers of interactive fiction, Ian Livingstone isn't and never has been that good at writing it. I won't deny I enjoy Forest of Doom and Deathtrap Dungeon on one level, but I first read them when I was nine and expected less from books back then. Not to mention I have fond childhood memories now. Caverns of the Snow Witch and Island of the Lizard King aren't bad gamebooks, but "bland" sums them up accurately. Unlike the Golden Dragon book of the same name, which was one of the best entries in its all too short series, Eye of the Dragon is an Ian Livingstone book of the absolute worst kind. I'm not familiar with the short adventure from Dicing with Dragons this book is adapted from, but if it's anything like this, Ian should've left it alone.

I've never particularly enjoyed dungeon crawls and this book reminds me of the worst reasons why. You wander from room to room, fighting a bevy of random and frustratingly bland monsters, finding a bunch of annoying vague items where every single one is as likely to curse you as save your butt, and constantly face the soul-shattering decision of whether to choose the boring left passage or the boring right passage. And just why is there someone operating a general store in this isolated, monster-infested dungeon? If you were going to let the player buy supplies, fine, but why couldn't it have been before he got to the dungeon? The way it's done is almost [parody-like].

Besides the genius who makes a living from a shop in a hidden dungeon, what are such a random collection of creatures as a BLACK DRAGON, MASTER SWORDSMAN and even a boss monster stolen wholecloth from the underrated House of Hell -- right down to the only weapon that can hurt him -- doing in this isolated dungeon? If it were some madman's idea of a trial of champions that'd be one thing, but it's just a collection of stone rooms hidden beneath the forest floor.

Even if you're willing to put up with all this and a sidekick named Littlebig, all you've got to look forward to is a climactic battle with a dull villain and an ending full-on as lame as the one in Crypt of the Sorcerer. While I'm grateful to Ian for the fact that Fighting Fantasy exists, this book proves that if anything his powers have only dulled with age. Let's hope if Ian contributes another book to the new line it's at least something he's buckled down and done from scratch.

(Fireguard, 2009)

And here:

Nothing is better than the brilliant choices, the awesome plot and the wonderful writing and imagination that pour forth from this book.

Choosing [repetitively] between the right passage and the left passage, without knowing anything about either is what makes Fighting Fantasy books so awesome, so let's do it twenty times in a book. And other brilliant choices like when you see a plain treasure chest in the room, do you open it or leave?! It took me centuries to decide if I should open the unguarded treasure filled chest, or walk off. Other brilliant choices include deciding whether to throw 1 gold coin into a non functioning wishing well, staring into a mirror with a 50 foot IT'S A TRAP sign, and choosing whether to open the door. AGAIN.

This is deeply engaging book, and I could feel every brain cell in my head being put into full use, especially when I met other humans, and I was confronted with the thrilling attack for no reason-talk-leave choice AGAIN. WHOMG!

And the challenges you go up against are so imaginative, you’d think they were divinely inspired. I mean you will know true fear when you face the likes of a GOBLIN, a GIANT SPIDER or even an EVIL WIZARD.

And MAN the plot and writing of this book are brilliant. Some dude has found some stature in the bottom of a dungeon in Darkwood forest. The statue is worth 335,000 gp, because people in Titan like to pay large amounts of gold for crap. And naturally, rather than sell the statue and retire in luxury, the old owner decided to put in a dungeon and somehow fill it with monsters and obvious traps. No one would think to look in there!

And naturally when some guy asks you to drink slow acting poison that will kill you in two weeks, you see no problem at all with doing so. But all though he intends to screw you, he was at least courteous enough to switch his poison with grape juice, ruining his brilliant evil plan.

And of course, although you’ve been warned that touching the statue without the two emeralds will result in your death, if you reach the statue with one emerald, instead of looking down one of the exciting right/left passages, you touch anyway. SMART.

Those of you with one or more brain cells may have figured out this is something of a joke review.

Humour aside, this is a merit-less piece of crap. If anyone but Ian Livingstone or Steve Jackson had submitted this crap to Wizard Books, they'd have burnt it into little cinders.

It really is nothing more than a bunch of poorly thought out clichés meshed together. The choices are every bit as inane and stupid as I have made out, and there is nothing of any merit here. If Wizard Books publish any more new adventures, I seriously pray they're better than this.

(Paul T., 2005)

Fighting Fantasy strike three!

Of course, the moral to this story is that you can give someone an OBE or make someone Life President of Eidos, but it still doesn’t mean that they know what they’re talking about, or understand what made their initial venture so wildly successful. Therefore, as Ian himself says, the opportunity is still open to all.

If you want to read an online version of the news article, you can do so here.

References

Digiplay Thai-UK Digital Festival. (2011a). Feature Designers. Accessed from http://www.thaiukdigital.com/feature


Digiplay Thai-UK Digital Festival. (2011b). Seminars. Accessed from http://www.thaiukdigital.com/seminar


Fireguard. (2009, May 20). Fireguard’s thoughts on Eye of the Dragon. Review posted to http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=1988


Jackson, S. & Livingstone, I. (2007). The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: 25^th Anniversary Edition. Cambridge: Wizard Books.

Mudlark. (2011). Digi-Play (Bangkok). Image accessed at http://www.wearemudlark.com/projects/digi-play/

Paul T. (2005, May 3). Paul T.’s thoughts on Eye of the Dragon. Review posted to

http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=1988

Pholdhampalit, K. (2011, March 27). Gaming’s golden age. The Nation, p. 1B.

Tiwa. (2011, March 25). “w/ Ian Livingstone, tomb raider producer @tcdcconnect Digiplay exhibit launch”. Photo posted to http://yfrog.com/h8x9csj