The start of Fighting Fantasy (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: 25th Anniversary Edition - Steve Jackson)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: 25th Anniversary Edition - Steve Jackson
Date:	07/11/09 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A book and a game all in one

Disadvantages: None

As kids, my brother and I were lucky enough to have parents who made sure we had a variety of entertainment. I was obsessed with books, and as they wanted me to have fun and extend my reading, they started me off on the collection of books called 'Fighting Fantasy', written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, that are known as 'choose your own adventure' books.

Quite simply, they do tell a story, as other books do, but they mix it up. They have written a story, cut it off into sections, and then jumbled these sections up, giving them numbers. What you have to do is make choices along the way. You start at number 1, it starts off the story, and then gives you a choice. This could be as simple as taking a left or a right turn along a passageway, or it could be as vital as choosing the right weapon for a battle. Each choice will then have a destination page accompanied by an instruction, saying something such as 'Go to 132'. You then turn to 132, and the story continues from there.

To make things even more interesting, the story is told as if you are the adventurer, and as such, it gives you character points, such as skill, stamina, luck, and other things like a backpack with limited space, or magic powers. To determine these powers, you need a die or dice, and at the front of the book, you follow the instructions to determine the number for these skills.

As you progress through the book, there are various enemies to fight, and to fight them, and thus progress, you must roll dice and compare skill scores to reduce the opponent's stamina score until you have won. You may also need your luck score to uncover traps. There are chances along the way to improve your scores, such as eating food to increase your stamina, or using a specific weapon to increase your skill.

It's quite an involved way of reading a book, and what Jackson and Livingstone manage to do at the same time is provide brilliant stories and characters to go with it. This is the first of many books they have written, and it features 'you' as the hero, arriving at Firetop Mountain, and follows you as you find your way inside, and to the top, where you must face the Warlock and defeat him to complete the book. The descriptions of the surroundings and the fights and the creatures are incredible, and this special 25th anniversary book has a number of extra features to it, including a fold out map and a brief history of Fighting Fantasy.

I have read and played the majority of these books, and have a few of them here still. My local library had plenty of them when I was a kid. Sadly, there remain only a few, and a more modern cover to them as well, and while they don't have this 25th anniversary edition, they do have a copy of this one. If you are looking for the anniversary edition, it will cost you a bit more than a regular book. However, the original version, albeit a newer reprint, will be under £5, and you can probably pick a used copy up for next to nothing if you have a hunt. I recommend playing/reading these. When my son is old enough to get the gist of it and able to fully read so much, I'll introduce him to them, and hipefully he'll love them as much as I once did.

Summary: The first Fighting Fantasy book