Part story - Part Game …. Fighting Fantasy books.

A few eyes will light up at this title. A looong time ago (1982) there was a series of Fighting Fantasy books by the pens of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first that I bought was The Forrest of Doom.

They were essentially paragraph-driven stories / role-playing games. You are on paragraph number 222 and it says something like 'Before you is a closed door and there is a passage to your left,  from where you can hear a noise that sounds like a hammer hitting an anvil - do you;

Want to go down the passage towards the noise - Turn to 74

Open the closed door and enter - Turn to 306'

You would then make your option and turn to that paragraph and the adventure continues.

Your interaction with the story comes from the character that you create at the outset. You roll dice and use the scores to determine your skill, stamina and luck. These values are used during 'play' as you fight monsters, pick locks, and find / use equipment / potions etc.

Anyway, I was in a local shop the other day and the first 12 books have been brought back into print. I picked up book 1 (of course) The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - this must be a nostalgic blast for many.

I am going to run with this as a bit of fun, but I will map my way around the place in an effort to have a serious go at this. When I used to play, I would madly dash through the paragraphs having no idea where I was relative to other locations that I had already visited … until I was slain!

Our opening words;

"At last your two-day hike is over. You unsheathe your sword, lay it on the ground and sigh with relief as you lower yourself down on the mossy rocks to sit for a moment's rest. You stretch, rub your eyes and finally look up to Firetop Mountain"

And so it begins!

I roll for my character traits and get extremely good rolls for Stamina and Luck, but not so much for skill. It appears that I might be a stupid but brave warrior perhaps!

Having regard for my traits, the Character that I have generated is ...

Gyrth, son of Godwin (I might have spent too much time with 1066 games recently :-) ).

I am to prove my warrior credentials by entering Warlock Mountain and dealing with all that Warlock Zagor can throw at me. You can see from my traits below, I am very brave and lucky, though perhaps a bit dim. Hopefully, by the sword I shall be up to the task!

Skill = 8

Stamina = 23

Luck = 12

A backpack with provisions (10 meals - which restores stamina)

A sword (surely this is a magnificent two-handed beast of a thing - we shall soon know!)

Leather Armour (hmmn - hopefully I will find something to add to this, perhaps the Warlock has an armoury …. but will I be lucky enough to find it!)

Shield (I feel a bit compelled to design a shield face or perhaps use a Victrix transfer!)

1 Potion of Skill ( you can choose one potion from a selection. I have taken this because my skill level is not great to start with). 

Well, here we go. I usually manage to last about an hour with these sort of things, whatever, this is going to be a lot of fun.