3 ms·

My mother, back in the UK, recently asked me "I found these books in a box, they're called 'fighting fantasy', do you want me to keep them or donate them?" I'v

My mother, back in the UK, recently asked me "I found these books in a box, they're called 'fighting fantasy', do you want me to keep them or donate them?" I've never replied so quickly with KEEP THEM!!! I think I had about the first 30 or so, give or take a couple of missing ones. I know "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain" is in fairly poor condition, having been thumbed through and read a great many times. I think I still have left over frustration at never having beaten Starship Traveler.

pushpop 7y ago
I have about the same collection of books. Used to love the series. Found them again recently and wondered what to do with them but I don’t think I could bare to part with them.
eterm 7y ago
As a kid I used to collect those books, I never completed the set but I'm pretty sure I came close. The fighting fantasy books were great, I've never forgotten the page where I chose to take a rest in the citadel of chaos. The book declared that I was foolish for resting in the place of my enemies, and the result was death with no chance of escape.
thom 7y ago
I think both my best and worst memories were Crimson Tide, which I remember having a genuinely moving story, but also a basically impossible combat encounter near the start of the book that meant you _had_ to cheat to get through it. I think it later turned out to be a misprint. Also the magic system in Sorcery (of just trusting you to memorise things) was neat. I then grew into the Advanced Fighting Fantasy system which remains an incredibly friendly and easy to pick up set of RPG rules. My only sadness is that I lost my original books and the final book in the series (Allansia, for wilderness adventures etc), is always about £70 on Amazon. I am trying to initiate my kids and their cousins into D&D now but I do miss having fewer moving parts to think about.
- shantly 7y ago
  There are lots of systems around, many aimed at simpler and more story-focused play than D&D. Downside is they usually have fewer resources for DMs so you'll be making your own campaigns, designing your own encounters, and so on, more often, even if you'd rather not. Though 5e and Pathfinder 2.0 streamline things quite a bit and do a better job of putting class flavor into the system itself and working at keeping the combat system more fluid and engaging for the whole table. There's been an explosion of simple RPG systems focused on younger players, so if the kids you're targeting might get lost in or bored by the rules of even a modernized D&D-alike, there are lots of specialized kid-friendly options. Example of one with fairly high production values if you want a take-out-of-the-box-and-play experience, targeting really young kids: http://www.nothankyouevil.com http://www.nothankyouevil.com I've not played it but it seems pretty well-regarded and I've seen it mentioned a lot. Just an example, there are tons, many of them of the self-published PDF-book-and-character-sheets variety.

pushpop 7y ago

I have about the same collection of books. Used to love the series. Found them again recently and wondered what to do with them but I don’t think I could bare to part with them.

eterm 7y ago

As a kid I used to collect those books, I never completed the set but I'm pretty sure I came close. The fighting fantasy books were great, I've never forgotten the page where I chose to take a rest in the citadel of chaos. The book declared that I was foolish for resting in the place of my enemies, and the result was death with no chance of escape.

thom 7y ago

I think both my best and worst memories were Crimson Tide, which I remember having a genuinely moving story, but also a basically impossible combat encounter near the start of the book that meant you _had_ to cheat to get through it. I think it later turned out to be a misprint. Also the magic system in Sorcery (of just trusting you to memorise things) was neat. I then grew into the Advanced Fighting Fantasy system which remains an incredibly friendly and easy to pick up set of RPG rules. My only sadness is that I lost my original books and the final book in the series (Allansia, for wilderness adventures etc), is always about £70 on Amazon. I am trying to initiate my kids and their cousins into D&D now but I do miss having fewer moving parts to think about.

shantly 7y ago
There are lots of systems around, many aimed at simpler and more story-focused play than D&D. Downside is they usually have fewer resources for DMs so you'll be making your own campaigns, designing your own encounters, and so on, more often, even if you'd rather not. Though 5e and Pathfinder 2.0 streamline things quite a bit and do a better job of putting class flavor into the system itself and working at keeping the combat system more fluid and engaging for the whole table. There's been an explosion of simple RPG systems focused on younger players, so if the kids you're targeting might get lost in or bored by the rules of even a modernized D&D-alike, there are lots of specialized kid-friendly options. Example of one with fairly high production values if you want a take-out-of-the-box-and-play experience, targeting really young kids: http://www.nothankyouevil.com http://www.nothankyouevil.com I've not played it but it seems pretty well-regarded and I've seen it mentioned a lot. Just an example, there are tons, many of them of the self-published PDF-book-and-character-sheets variety.