Scott Mackay has added more maps to his Fighting Fantasy collection - solutions the first two adventures from Steve Jackson's seminal Sorcery! quartet.
Each one is available as an A3 print, as are his other Fighting Fantasy maps. To purchase one, simply click on the relevant image above.
2025 marks 40 years since the publication of The Crown of Kings, the final volume of Steve Jackson's seminal gamebook miniseries, Sorcery!
The conclusion of the Sorcery! series starts with the Analander climbing through the Xamen Peaks to reach the Mampang Fortress, and then battle their way through the Archmage’s lair. The Crown of Kings came in at a whopping 800 references (a record yet to be broken by any other Fighting Fantasy gamebook) and was as epic an adventure as any Sorcery! fan could have hoped for. It also featured one of the most memorable (and clever) denouements of any adventure ever published, not to mention encounters with a god-headed Hydra and entire societies of birdmen and she-satyrs.
When pressed on the subject of which of the gamebooks he has written are his favourites, Jackson cites two: “Warlock because it was the first. And Sorcery! because it was the most complex. Creating a four-part adventure in which your actions in Book 2 might affect your choices in Book 4 was a real challenge.”
All four volumes are in print again in the UK, courtesy of Scholastic Books. And all four volumes are also now available in Portuguese, from Brazilian publisher Jambô Editora, including The Crown of Kings, which had previously been available in Brazil.
Rather like the recent Danish editions of the Sorcery! series, the Brazilian ones also come with a unique slipcase.
Scott Mackay has made a name for himself with his hand-drawn and painted solution maps of classic Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.
The Warlock's goblins recently dragged Scott into the tunnels beneath Firetop Mountain to be interrogated about his work.
The Warlock: What was your first experience of Fighting Fantasy?
Scott Mackay: I first discovered Fighting Fantasy in 1984 in my local Woolworths (of all places)! I saw the cover for Island of the Lizard King and picked it up and was intrigued by the numbered passages. Loved it from the first attempt at saving Mungo (RIP!). I then bought all the previous books eventually and the new books as they were released.
TW: Did any of the FF artists inspire you as an artist?
TW: Are there any adventures in particular for which you would like to produce a solution map?
SM: I've recently started to work on maps for the Sorcery! series. I've been looking forward to getting to Sorcery! for a while now, and the four books should prove a worthy challenge. I'm also looking forward to getting to Trial of Champions and Return to Firetop Mountain, to see how they compare to their 'parent' books. Finally, I'm also hoping to produce a map for Creature of Havoc, as I never finished this book back in the day.
You will be pleased to hear that Scott has now been released from Firetop Mountain so that he can continue to work on his Sorcery! maps.
You will find all the FF solution maps he has produced so far here.
On your Earthly plane, today marks the beginning of the Year of Snake*. As a result, we thought we would revisit some classic ophidian encounters from your favourite Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.
And an honourable mention goes to Snake Island, where Sir Ian Livingstone's Assassins of Allansia kicks off.
What is your favourite snake-related encounter in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook? Let us know in the comments below.
* Of course, the Year of the Snake is the third in the twenty year cycle of Titan.
Back in 1985, the Fighting Fantasy series was in full swing. During that year, seven FF gamebooks were published, five of which just happened to have a non-traditional fantasy setting.
The seven books were, Space Assassin, Freeway Fighter, Temple of Terror, The Rings of Kether, Seas of Blood, Appointment with F.E.A.R., and Rebel Planet.
The final book in Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series was also published in 1985 - The Crown of Kings!
And then there was the Fighting Fantasy monster manual, Out of the Pit.
Last, but by no means least, was the FF adjacent puzzle book The Tasks of Tantalon, written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by Steve Lavis.
Over the coming year, you can expect deep dives into these classic gamebooks and other publications, that are marking their 40th anniversary this year, here on the official Fighting Fantasy blog.
But in the meantime, you can get an insight into the creation of all of these titles in YOU ARE THE HERO: An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.
Belgian Fighting Fantasy fan Gil Jugnot has mapped the Fighting Fantasy (or Défis Fantastiques) gamebooks, including the Sorcery! quartet and The Tasks of Tantalon, onto the maps of the three continents of Titan published by Scriptarium. And here they are.
The Steve Jackson Fighting Fantasy Collection 40th Anniversary boxset is released today in Japan, having been delayed from the end of last year.
Happy New Year, Fighting Fantasy fans!
2024 marks the 40th anniversary of another six classic Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, as well as volumes 2 and 3 of Steve Jackson's Sorcery! epic, not to mention Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-playing Game.
Over the course of the year, we will be revisiting those much-loved adventures, and they will also form the focus of Fighting Fantasy Fest 5, which will be taking place in the autumn.
We also have the release of two new Fighting Fantasy-related books to look forward to. The first is Jonathan Green's YOU ARE THE HERO - An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, and the second is MAGIC REALMS - The Art of Fighting Fantasy, written by Sir Ian Livingstone and Jonathan Green.
If you have yet to pledge your support to the MAGIC REALMS crowdfunding campaign on Unbound, you have until 14th January 2024 to do so and ensure you get your name in the book.
