Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks Coming to America via Steve Jackson Games

Fighting Fantasy and Steve Jackson Games announced a deal to release the series of solo choose-your-own-adventure style gamebooks in the United States for the first time in over 20 years.

The Fighting Fantasy series, written by Sir Ian Livingston and Steve Jackson (not the same Steve Jackson of SJ Games), were originally published starting in 1982. While still available in other markets, they have been out of print in the United States after the publisher, Laurel Leaf Editions, was purchased along with parent company Dell Publishing Group in 1999.

From the announcement:

Fighting Fantasy debuted with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in 1982. Since then, over 20 million copies of the exciting series have been sold worldwide. In Fighting Fantasy, players embark on a solo adventure where their decisions – and dice rolls – determine the outcome of the story. This combination of nonlinear narrative and classic tabletop action sets the series apart from other gamebook franchises. Fighting Fantasy co-creators Sir Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (UK) stated how thrilled they were to sign a US publishing agreement for Fighting Fantasy with Steve Jackson Games.

Sir Ian says: “To have a new publisher in the USA is a special moment in the history of Fighting Fantasy. We have known Steve Jackson (US) for more than 40 years, having distributed Steve Jackson Games in the 1980s when we owned Games Workshop. Steve also wrote three fantastic Fighting Fantasy books which caused a lot of confusion at the time when people didn’t realize there were two Steve Jacksons! We look forward to exciting times ahead in the USA for new and existing Fighting Fantasy fans.”

The first five books of the 50-title series will be made available in early 2025 with the next five in the series coming later that year.

 

[gban007]

Not an attack at all! I have been tempted to get the Arion Games Advanced Fighting Fantasy module and redo it as a BD&D or Shadowdark adventure. It has massive old school vibes while probably still being fresh to many American RPG fans.

One of the few of theirs I don't have, mainly due to tending to buy rpgs when on sale if possible

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Up to 1,216 following the Kickstarter launch page already. This looks like it's going to be a popular campaign, which should mean more books coming after this.

I'm curious what they're doing to tweak the formatting:

The choices and challenges are the ones you may remember, but each book has been crafted to be friendly for readers old and new, to make it as easy as possible to pick up and play.

 

[Joshua Randall]

It's live!

http://kck.st/41vTqaJ

(dibs on the Forest of Doom "Where I Play" in Story Hour) (totally joking, no-one can "dibs" stuff) (but I'll probably do it eventually)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Already funded and the first modest stretch goal (newly designed PDF character sheets) unlocked.

I already have the originals of these five and I'm not someone who wants multiples of something for collectible reasons, so sitting on my hands at the moment. If they break out hardcover versions or especially new copies of the Warlock anniversary edition from a few years ago, I'll be jumping in.

 

[Joshua Randall]

My extremely battered copy of Warlock is somewhere around here, but the others went the way of all flesh, so….

I do agree that I’d love to see fancy hardcovers, like the Lone Wolf re-issues from a while ago.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I do agree that I’d love to see fancy hardcovers, like the Lone Wolf re-issues from a while ago.

Yeah, I've got the first of those on my shelf (I'll probably do that for the first time for one of my solo-play games this year) and it feels weird that the series I have the most loyalty to I don't own in a similar deluxe format.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Relevant to our interests:

You Are the Hero Quick Deal

Adventurer! For a limited time, this You Are the Hero Quick Deal presents the 40th Anniversary Edition of You Are the Hero plus interactive Ace Gamebooks inspired by the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series. Part history, part celebration, You Are the Hero chronicles four decades of the Fighting...

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Part history, part celebration, You Are the Hero chronicles four decades of the Fighting Fantasy phenomenon. Written by Jonathan Green (author of eight Fighting Fantasy gamebooks), this revised, updated, and lavishly illustrated tome will appeal to anyone who ever whiled away a washed-out summer holiday with only two dice and a pencil.