"NERD!!!"There. Now that we've got that out of the way, allow me to continueI bought this Dungeons & Dragons style game book years ago in a shop on (or maybe just off) the high street in St. Albans while on honeymoon in England. And to answer the obvious question that followss, my wife is an unusually understanding woman. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is apparently a classic of the fantasy adventure gamebook sort. *shrugs* What did I know? When I picked it up I thought it was one of those [...]

I read an interview the other day that the Malazan world was based upon some Steve Jackson-esque RPG gaming. It made me remember that I loved these books when I was a child. I can't remember too much about them apart from that you had to roll dices and set you own attributes and character. That you would face unspeakable foes and go on a whirlwind fantasy adventure. Do you fight the warlock - turn to page 283 - do you run away - turn to page 7. Page 7 = YOU ARE DEAD!! It was real energetic and a [...]

Kids today eh? They're far too busy playing finely tuned, graphically superior, deeply immersive games like Skyrim to appreciate what a real gaming experience should be like. Back in my day if you wanted to fight a Dragon you had to have a real Adventure that looked and played something like this.Us intrepid block-like Adventurers set out to steal the magic cup of greatness from the evil black castle armed only with a trusty spear. The evil roaring dragon would smite you whole if you were not ca [...]

This is of course the 'original' fighting fantasy gaming book, the one that spawned a series of hundreds, not to mention all the copycats. As the first of them, it deserves a place of honour. It isn't perfect, but it doesn't have to be. Any RPGer worth their salt needs to have played this book/game.

A classic gamebook with a classic dungeoneer old style adventure and the maze can be a real frustrating challenge, but this is the first Fighting Fantasy book and it spawned lots of sequels and more (Warhammer Fantady and Malazan fantasy series settings were strongly inspired by the World of Titan of FF): every Role Playing Game Player/Master should try it at last ome time in his life.

Got me startedopened my imagination!🐯👍

The grim, spidery pictures and the musty smell of the pages,The 'blue candle' room, a snuffed-out nightmare from the ages;The deranged old man in his prison full of slime, The crazy maze of Zagor that enrages you every time;The magic tools that hum a tune, and of course the 'stars and hands',The torture chamber, ghouls and wights: this gamebook launched the brand.

This book started out pretty good but the later part with the maze soon became a grind and caused some frustration (I was even making maps to plot my progress and soon came to not caring about doing that). I actually (sad to say) had to get through by cheating on the maze part to find a pathway through by using a magical spell called "the Internet." But even with that success my adventure ended with failure as I defeated the Warlock but found only two of my three keys worked in his chest. Sadly, [...]

The first Fighting Fantasy gamebook9 June 2012 This is the first of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and I remember that it was first introduced to me in primary school as an offering in a book club. As soon as I read the blurb that said that it was a fantasy adventure in which you are the hero I immediately know that I wanted it and sure enough my parents bought it for me. Soon though, more began to appear on the shelves and I went out of my way to begin collecting them. There were originally 60 [...]

Full commentary at turnto400Ultimately, "Warlock" comes off as a series of interesting but disconnected encounters playing out in a largely bland, unembellished environment. Firetop Mountain seems like dungeon equivalent of a newly completed office building, all fitted out but with scant contents and zero character. I never really had a coherent sense of what was happening or why.I found myself wondering how all of these creatures get by and what kind of relationships they have with each other. [...]

Not the BEST title but the FIRST!"The Warlock of Firetop Mountain" is an interesting gamebook with great moments and also frustrating scenes. It's not a elaborated game with complex story, I saw way much better in other titles of the series. I think this book was just a little experiment from the creators without exploiting the true potential of this kind of books.Difficulty is satisfying, but the book is full of uninteresting entries. There's to much direction choices like "If you want to go ea [...]

I was a big fan of the Lone Wolf and TSR's Endless Quest books back when I was in elementary school, but it was only recently that I encountered Britain's venerable Fighting Fantasy series. It's very much a product of its time, but enjoyable nonetheless.Like Lone Wolf, these game books pair Choose Your Own Adventure style interactivity with a simple conflict resolution system. It requires the use of six-sided dice, unlike Lone Wolf (which uses a pencil and a printed grid in the book as its rando [...]

If you like playing fantasy games, this is a great way to get into reading fantasy. You get to choose how the story ends, based on the choices that you make whilst reading.

Full playthrough and review at torallionVery much a classic plot – adventurer enters dungeon for no particular reason other than to loot the place of all its treasure and become a hero. Forgiveable given this book’s status as the first Fighting Fantasy book, but perhaps having been spoiled by much less shallow plots in more recent gamebooks, it doesn’t grab me in the same way. For some this gamebook might represent a gateway to a much-loved hobby, but in my case it wasn’t the first gameb [...]

This was the first book of the "Fighting Fantasy Gamebook" series, which was one of the most successful attempts at replicating role playing games in a solo environment prior to the technology which allowed computer games to take over this role. As a first book, however, it naturally had some bugs, which would be worked out in later additions to the series. This hasn't stopped it from being enormously popular, and spawning both a board game and a computer game.The basic premise of the book is th [...]

I was pretty chuffed when the old Fighting Fantasy books appeared in-store, repackaged for a new generation of warrior-wizardy-kids. I remember having a great time with this series, and the Warlock of Firetop Mountain kicked it all off. There really was nothing like it in the market. It combines Choose Your Own Adventure-style plot decision-making with a simplified Dungeons & Dragons-style solo gaming system. I can't wait to see more come out (especially the infamous Deathtrap Dungeon). Grea [...]

The game book that launched the Fighting a Fantasy series, Firetop Mountain not surprisingly drew on the fantasy genre to kick things off and has some nods to Tolkien and Dungeons and Dragons along the way.Whilst not a particularly difficult book in the series, this one is fun to map and was challenging due to one labyrinthine section. A must read for fans of FF Gamebooks for no other reason that it was where it all started. Jackson and Livingston returned to Firetop Mountain and the central vil [...]

I bought this book in early 1983 (a year after release) and played it numerous times over the years* and yet I have never completed it.This time I had Skill (7), Stamina (19) and Luck (8) -obviously fate was against me and I failed again.I managed to get up to the Iron Cyclops before he defeated my weary self.I will leave it until early 2018 (35th Anniversary) to again enter the Mountain.Thanks to Michael Wall for getting me into Fighting Fantasy.*don't think I tried it during the 90s or 00s.

Delve into a classic gamebook that exemplifies the fine art of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure (text adventure) and provides a simplistic roleplaying system to work with. My adventure session failed this time around because I missed one of the key three items needed to get what I wanted out of the Warlock once I slayed the annoying soul. But that is one grand factor about FF Gamebooks, the adventure never goes stale and your experience can vary enough to continue enjoying it the second, third or fourt [...]

If the truth is to be known, these books are fun at first. Sadly, however, they quickly grow old.If you have experienced one of these kinds of books you have experienced them all. Whilst the stories differ, the effect they have upon a person is the same across the board. You have fun for a while and then they are put aside. It is okay to pick up one or two throughout your life but I would not recommend going out of your way to buy them en masse. As for which one(s) you pick up… well, that is a [...]

I'm only going to rate one of these books as I believe I read all 59.They're basically a "Choose your own adventure" except you kill creatures in a lord of the rings-esque environment.From age 9 to 12 my life was consumed by these books. I would even draw a map using graph paper to further engross myself in the adventure.Man, I loved these books!Man, I was such a nerd!

Absolutely adored Steve Jackson's and Ian Livingstone's fighting fantasy 'game' books as a child. In fact, almost the only thing that ever came down off my otherwise packed and dusty bookcase - aside from a small but inspiring collection of 'Great Illustrated Classics' - ask my older brother! ;)).

This was the very first (I believe) 'choose your own adventure' books. I played before computer games (not that there weren't computer games, just before I had played any, if you follow?

One of the most amazing things to happen in my childhood! So many happy hours

“Aye, Firetop Mountain,” the old man at the Sign of the Broken Arrow said, his white-fringed bald head gleaming in the glow from the braziers. “Been twenty year or more since I last saw its halls and chambers, but I've been there.” He paused to drink from the mug of ale the young adventurers had bought him. “Been there and lived to tell of it.”Three young adventurers sat at the same table as their narrator: a cloaked halfling, his hood drawn back to reveal a callow and nervous visage [...]

My first fun book of the year and an easy one to get me to complete my personal book reading goal of one book. (This low target came after reading exactly 0 books in 2015 - I spent last year wallowing in audiobooks which the pedantic me won't class as being read by me at least.)Anyway, I got my childhood Fighting Fantasy collection off my brother who was having a clear-out and couldn't resist starting at the beginning.For those who are unaware of the Fighting Fantasy series, they were a phenomen [...]

I know there’s a lot of old school gamers out there, but it doesn’t get more old school than Fighting Fantasy. Before computer graphics, sound and animation gave people the ultimate interactive experience, there were these Choose Your Own Adventure books where you used your imagination. I was first introduced to Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was about eight or nine years old, and I started with the ones where you just made choices that directed course through the story. The series F [...]

Valorar este tipo de libros siempre es difícil. Debo reconocer que yo los encuentro muy divertidos, haciéndome mis propios mapas, tirando los dados para los enfrentamientos o tomando decisiones según los numerillos. De niño tuve varios de estos y los disfruté bastante, pero a día de hoy me siguen pareciendo un entretenimiento bastante curioso. Desde luego si lo calificase como "Libro" sin más, se quedaría con una estrella. Sus autores no son precisamente grandes escritores, y tampoco es [...]

As the author says in the intro, “there is one true way through the dungeon”. What that means is that at one point such a trivial decision as taking an east or west corridor decides your fate. If you choose wisely rightly, you will be able to finish the dungeon, if not, after the end, you'll have to start all over, I hope you were mapping (and you should, it is not only important, but half the fun). I remember thinking, back in the early nineties, when I first played it, that this gamebook w [...]

*To start off, there are no spoilers in here*In this book it's quick to learn the rules and set off reading. I went through the quest twice, once dying by a bunch of bad luck rolls, and the second time I reached an "ending" (there are a few different endings, yes). Now, I didn't want to play through the book a third time just yet because I felt I needed a break from it--and I ended up going through what the official ending would be like only because I was SO close to it :p. There's a certain par [...]