"YOU are the hero!" with Sir Ian Livingstone

On Monday 7th October 2024, Sir Ian Livingstone, co-creator of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, will be taking part in a webinar with debut author, Iqbal Hussain.

He will be discussing his life, writing process, inspirations, as well as his latest FF adventure, The Dungeon on Blood Island, and Unbound’s new book Magic Realms, a celebration of the iconic artwork in Fighting Fantasy.

The webinar will take place from 7:00-8:00pm BST (GMT+1) and you can reserve your free spot here.

In other FF news, or rather AFF news, the crowdfunding campaign for the Advanced Fighting Fantasy board game Dark Dungeons, launches on Kickstarter on Tuesday 1st October 2024. To find out more and register your interest, click here.

Magic Realms: The Art of Fighting Fantasy

Today sees the publication of the long awaited Magic Realms: The Art of Fighting Fantasy by Sir Ian Livingstone and Jonathan Green.

You can join Sir Ian this evening at Barnes Bookshop for the official launch.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Green was on BBC Radio Somerset today, talking about the new book and the Fighting Fantasy series in general. You can listen to the 12 minute interview with Vicki Clark for the next 29 days here. The bit you want begins at the 2hr 16min mark.

Yesterday, the pair were signing books for those people who supported the book through Unbound. By the end of the day, Sir Ian had set a new record for the number of items signed in one day - a whooping 2,120! That's 850 books, 900 prints, 150 bookplates, and 220 copies of Shadow of the Giants! 

Sir Ian and Jonathan will also be signing Magic Realms: The Art of Fighting Fantasy at Fighting Fantasy Fest 5 on Saturday, while Sir Ian will be giving a talk at the Cartoon Museum, in Central London, on Tuesday 10th September.

Sir Ian Livingstone signing Magic Realms at the Forbidden Planet Megastore

Sir Ian Livingstone will be signing Magic Realms: The Art of Fighting Fantasy at the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London, on Saturday 14 September 2024, from 2:00pm to 3:00pm.

He will be joined by his co-author, the FF author and historian, Jonathan Green. To find out more about the event, visit ForbiddenPlanet.com. 

Welcome to 2024!

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.

Magic Realms: The Art of Fighting Fantasy

Coming in 2024 from Unbound is Magic Realms: The Art of Fighting Fantasy, written by Sir Ian Livingstone and FF historian Jonathan Green. 

The book focuses on the work of 26 artists, who have contributed art to the Fighting Fantasy series over the past four decades, across 25 chapters. Each chapter starts with a brief biography of the artist, followed by pages and pages of full colour and/or black & white artwork, along with some previously unseen sketches and other tidbits. There are also insights from the artists themselves into their work.

The book is currently seeking funding here and rewards on offer include signed hardbacks, a clamshell box edition, and a new A2 colour map of Allansia by Leo Hartas.

To pledge your support, click on the link to the Unbound Magic Realms: The Art of Fighting Fantasy project page.

 

Dice Men signing at Forbidden Planet

On Friday evening, Sir Ian Livingstone visited the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London to sign many, many copies of his new book Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop, which is currently a No.1 Bestseller on Amazon.

Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop

The queue of eager gaming fans waiting to meet their idol.

Sir Ian signing.

So many, many books...

Some other books snuck into the signing as well.

Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop

Piles and piles of pre-orders...

Sir Ian with his new book.

If you came along and picked up a copy of Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop, thank you. And don't forget Sir Ian will be signing at Forbidden Planet Newcastle on Wednesday 16th November from 17:00 - 18:30.

The Dice Men are coming!

Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop is set to be published by Unbound on 10th November. 

If you fortunate enough to attend Iain McCaig's talk at Fighting Fantasy Fest 4, you will already know that the artist of City of Thieves and Deathtrap Dungeon redrew his original design for the first Games Workshop plastic bag for the cover of the book.

If you backed the book on Unbound, you will be pleased to hear that yesterday Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone spent the day signing 1,600 backer copies! In fact, you can still pledge your support here.

Dice Men Cover Reveal!

The cover for DICE MEN: The Origin Story of Games Workshop has been released by publishers Unbound, and it's another classic in the making.

The cover features FF fan favourite Iain McCaig's artwork for the original Games Workshop carrier bag.

The book tells the story of the first 10 years of the global games company, Games Workshop, and the struggles faced by Steve Jackson, Sir Ian Livingstone and John Peake at the time.

The book currently has 1538 supporters through Unbound, the crowdfunding publisher, and there's still time to lend your support, before DICE MEN: The Origin Story of Games Workshop is published this autumn.

In other news, did you see Sir Ian Livingstone on BBC 1's The Apprentice last night? In case you missed it, you can catch it again here, on iPlayer, if you are in the UK.

The 12 Fighting Fantasy Days of Christmas - Day 7

DICE MEN: Games Workshop the Early Years 1975-1985 is a full colour, highly illustrated hardback 288 pages long, A4 (210mm x 297mm) printed on 140gsm gloss art stock, colour printed endpapers and bookmark ribbon.

Written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, the founders of global success story Games Workshop, it relates the early years of the company, from when it was no more than three friends working out of a shared, rented flat, to the point when it was known around the world as the premier purveyor of fantasy role-playing games.

Publishers Unbound have announced a publication date of Autumn 2021, now that the book is finished and has moved into the design phase.

It's not too late to take advance of one of the unique rewards on offer to those people who back the book before publication via the Unbound website.

Fancy a signed limited edition hardback, a reproduction copy of Games Workshop’s newsletter Owl and Weasel No.1, originally published in 1975, or an A3 reproduction of the first-ever Games Day Poster, signed by Ian and Steve? Then check out the rewards still on offer here.

The Dice Men

DICE MEN: Games Workshop the Early Years 1975 to 1985 tells the story of the first 10 years of the global games company, Games Workshop, and the struggles faced by Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone and John Peake.

The book already had 915 supporters through Unbound, the crowdfunding publisher, but it's not too late to lend your support too. There are still various pledge levels available, but don't delay, as with the final text being delivered to Unbound this month, there's not long left.

Dice Men - Turn to 400!

Yesterday, DICE MEN: Games Workshop the Early Years 1975 to 1985 exceeded 400 backers and is on the verge of being 50% funded.

YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks touched on the foundation of Games Workshop, but for the full story you need to make sure you back DICE MEN on Unbound.

If you need another incentive, the book is co-written by Fighting Fantasy Gamebook author Jamie Thomson.

Dice Men: The History of Games Workshop Unbound!

Some exciting news broke at Dragonmeet over the weekend. If you haven't already heard, Unbound will be publishing a new book about the early years of Games Workshop.

Dice Men: Games Workshop the Early Years 1975 to 1985 is co-authored by Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone and Jamie Thomson. Steve and Ian need no introduction, and Jamie Thomson will be best known to Fighting Fantasy fans as the co-author of Talisman of Death, Sword of the Samurai and The Keep of the Lich-Lord, but he was also an employee of Games Workshop in those early days.

We've already had the history of FF gamebooks by Jonathan Green, which currently runs to two volumes and which touched on the foundation of Games Workshop, but Dice Men will explore that seminal time in much greater detail. It will take the form of a full colour, highly illustrated hardback over 300 pages long, A4 (210mm x 297mm) printed on 140gsm gloss art stock, with colour printed endpapers and a bookmark ribbon.

To find out more about this very special book, and to pledge your support to the project, follow this link.