Media: This is a series of gamebooks originally created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, although there have been many, many authors in the series.
Approx length: A typical gamebook is around 300-400 pages and a single playthrough will take one to two hours, depending on how good you are at surviving the combats/puzzles.
Where to find it: You can often find used books in this series on used book websites, a number of which are out of print; a number of the books are also currently in print. They tend to run ~$10 USD new.
What is it, in summary?: Fighting Fantasy is a long-running series of gamebooks - think "Choose Your Own Adventure" branching path narratives, but with a simple system of mechanics largely geared toward combat/puzzles. All books have the three stats Skill, Stamina, and Luck in common, plus inventory tracking; individual books may have additional special mechanics like magic spells, particular skills, or (in the case of horror gamebook House of Hell) a chance of dying of fear. These are designed to be a gaming experience that you can play solo with the aid of a pair of six-sided dice.
The majority of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks take place in a high fantasy setting called Allansia, but there are some exceptions - Space Assassin and The Rings of Kether are science fiction, the aforementioned House of Hell is horror.
What do you love about it?: I'm an old-school gamebook fan and I really enjoy being able to disappear into a self-contained dungeon hack/puzzle/adventure experience on my own! The whole premise is that YOU are the hero and it is by your decisions (and the luck of the dice) that YOU will defeat the adventure...or fail.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Rather than nominating a specific book or subseries, this year I'm nominating the whole series with "Worldbuilding" and "Adventurer." I'd love to see a fic based on ANY book in the series, either exploring the adventure and/or setting further, or leaning into the premise that YOU are the hero.
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): There's sometimes sf/f-typical fictional racism (you know, "evil lizardmen" type things) and questionable depiction of "primitive" peoples. Violence (and sometimes gore) is baked in since these tend to be combat-driven adventures. I can't recall any instances of rape or sexual violence - since I have not read all the books, I can't guarantee it doesn't show up, but since these were written for and marketed toward schoolchildren, I suspect it's pretty unlikely.
Fighting Fantasy - Various Authors
Media: This is a series of gamebooks originally created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, although there have been many, many authors in the series.
Approx length: A typical gamebook is around 300-400 pages and a single playthrough will take one to two hours, depending on how good you are at surviving the combats/puzzles.
Where to find it:
You can often find used books in this series on used book websites, a number of which are out of print; a number of the books are also currently in print. They tend to run ~$10 USD new.
What is it, in summary?:
Fighting Fantasy is a long-running series of gamebooks - think "Choose Your Own Adventure" branching path narratives, but with a simple system of mechanics largely geared toward combat/puzzles. All books have the three stats Skill, Stamina, and Luck in common, plus inventory tracking; individual books may have additional special mechanics like magic spells, particular skills, or (in the case of horror gamebook House of Hell) a chance of dying of fear. These are designed to be a gaming experience that you can play solo with the aid of a pair of six-sided dice.
The majority of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks take place in a high fantasy setting called Allansia, but there are some exceptions - Space Assassin and The Rings of Kether are science fiction, the aforementioned House of Hell is horror.
What do you love about it?:
I'm an old-school gamebook fan and I really enjoy being able to disappear into a self-contained dungeon hack/puzzle/adventure experience on my own! The whole premise is that YOU are the hero and it is by your decisions (and the luck of the dice) that YOU will defeat the adventure...or fail.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
Rather than nominating a specific book or subseries, this year I'm nominating the whole series with "Worldbuilding" and "Adventurer." I'd love to see a fic based on ANY book in the series, either exploring the adventure and/or setting further, or leaning into the premise that YOU are the hero.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:
Please do not attempt to read every single Fighting Fantasy book!!! If you're writing for me, any single one is fine. My personal recommendations are Steve Jackson's Creature of Havoc, anything from Steve Jackson's Sorcery! quartet (four books, but each can be played as a standalone - #1 The Shamutanti Hills, #2 Kharé - Cityport of Traps, #3 The Seven Serpents, #4 The Crown of Kings), Keith P. Phillips' The Siege of Sardath, Steve Jackson's Starship Traveller, or Jim Bambra & Stephen Hand's Dead of Night. But, you know, there are a lot of options!
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
There's sometimes sf/f-typical fictional racism (you know, "evil lizardmen" type things) and questionable depiction of "primitive" peoples. Violence (and sometimes gore) is baked in since these tend to be combat-driven adventures. I can't recall any instances of rape or sexual violence - since I have not read all the books, I can't guarantee it doesn't show up, but since these were written for and marketed toward schoolchildren, I suspect it's pretty unlikely.