Fighting Fantasy

[The Grassy Gnoll]

So, I’m having another nostalgia rush following the news of Fighting Fantasy reissuing a bunch of their classic Gamebooks from the Eighties, along with a brand new book written by Charlie Higson of The Fast Show fame.

I still have the original first three - Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Citadel of Chaos, Forest of Doom - along with Sorcery! books 1-4. But I was inspired to go to the nearest bookshop. What I saw horrified me.

The new prints have new cover art, naturally. They also have new interior art. And while I know the audience, especially through publisher Scholastic, is kids rather than grizzled middle-aged men, the new art is so poor I don’t really know what they’re thinking.

The amazing artwork, especially Russ Nicholson and Iain McCaig, was a key part of what brought the books to life for me and my friends. Through FF I discovered White Dwarf, and through that, D&D. They were a huge influence on me, and the glorious artwork played a central role. Crisp, black and white line art. I can still see Nicodemus from City of Thieves even without the book.

The new reissues, however...

The art is derivative (largely redrawn from the originals), inferior in quality, almost cartoonish. And most puzzlingly, clearly colour work rendered black and white leaving the pages which should be clear and impactful, instead grey and washed out. I think kids today would react to the original artwork the same way I did; I think the changes are very negative and won’t aid immersion, which is a shame, if it comes to pass.

I’d post pics but tbh with the shelf giving me the choice of new Deathtrap Dungeon with crappy internal art against one copy of the previous reissue (new cover of skeleton in chair but original internals), well, frankly, yoink! I took the latter.

Anyone else seen the new ones/have any thoughts?

 

[Morrus]

I’ve not seen the new ones, but have my old ones. Sorry you didn’t like the art, I guess?

I’m playing the new mobile app right now. I’ve cleared out Firetop Mountain. It’s awesme!

 

[darjr]

What? Cool! Thanks for the heads up.

 

[CapnZapp]

Anyone else seen the new ones/have any thoughts?

The art is terrible.

Get the older Puffin/Wizard editions, they're massively awesome.

I don't have much else to say...

 

[Swanosaurus]

Let's revive this Fighting Fantasy thread!

I recently played through Forest of Doom and Citadel of Chaos with my kids (8 and 11), reading them to them, letting them decide and mapping out everything ... and for the first time, we found the solution to both (it took 3 goes each time, and diligent mapping). We had a great time, and I remembered how wonderfully strange these books were, with most encounters being quite unique. Combat is always a drag, though ... it's just hard to see the point. Is anyone really going back to start anew because they rolled bad? So I kind of made it a point to avoid combat (which kind of fell on our feet in Citadel of Chaos, where there's to combats that are easily avoided, but if you do, you'll miss out on essential loot).

It prompted me to order the new books by Jackson and Livingstone (Secrets of Salamonis and Shadow of the Giants) and also to play through Rhianna Pratchetts Crystal of Storms and Darvill-Evans Spectral Stalkers (which I still had lying around). Crystal has a really nice, somewhat cozy flying islands/technomancy setting and a good story, and it is well written with quirky characters, but it maybe takes you by the hand a little too much - there's little replay value, as you are forced to do pretty much everything there is to do the first time around. The book makes pretty sure that you end up with everything you need. Combats are a little too hard and too many, though.

But Spectral Stalkers is kind of perfect. It's brimming with crazy ideas, and there's at least three very distinct/interconnected ways of finishing it succesfully. I went back to it several times just for the joy of reading it, finding new solutions.

I wrote a piece on Spectral Stalkers here, and on FF in general/Citadel of Chaos here. Both are really great!

 

[Tonguez]

So, I’m having another nostalgia rush following the news of Fighting Fantasy reissuing a bunch of their classic Gamebooks from the Eighties, along with a brand new book written by Charlie Higson of The Fast Show fame.

I still have the original first three - Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Citadel of Chaos, Forest of Doom - along with Sorcery! books 1-4. But I was inspired to go to the nearest bookshop. What I saw horrified me.

The new prints have new cover art, naturally. They also have new interior art. And while I know the audience, especially through publisher Scholastic, is kids rather than grizzled middle-aged men, the new art is so poor I don’t really know what they’re thinking.

The amazing artwork, especially Russ Nicholson and Iain McCaig, was a key part of what brought the books to life for me and my friends. Through FF I discovered White Dwarf, and through that, D&D. They were a huge influence on me, and the glorious artwork played a central role. Crisp, black and white line art. I can still see Nicodemus from City of Thieves even without the book.

The new reissues, however...

The art is derivative (largely redrawn from the originals), inferior in quality, almost cartoonish. And most puzzlingly, clearly colour work rendered black and white leaving the pages which should be clear and impactful, instead grey and washed out. I think kids today would react to the original artwork the same way I did; I think the changes are very negative and won’t aid immersion, which is a shame, if it comes to pass.

I’d post pics but tbh with the shelf giving me the choice of new Deathtrap Dungeon with crappy internal art against one copy of the previous reissue (new cover of skeleton in chair but original internals), well, frankly, yoink! I took the latter.

Anyone else seen the new ones/have any thoughts?

Yeah I can still see Nicodemus and Zanbar Bone in my head too.
Havent seen the new art...