Fighting Fantasy lives on
March 27th, 2010 at 2:24 pm (Books, Games)
Today in Edinburgh I came across a boxed set of the first four Fighting Fantasy books. Immediately a wave of childhood reminiscence swept over me. I was totally fascinated by the Pick-a-Path books (in which you’d make a story plot choice and jump to a different page to learn what the outcome was) and then later by more sophisticated versions that had you track D&D-style stats and possessions and simulate battles (I remember really enjoying some spaceship-themed books). I don’t remember Fighting Fantasy itself, which apparently was the U.K. version of Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA).
I hesitated, the books in my hand. I’d had a recent disappointment with CYOA in which I’d jumped on purchasing a couple of recently published books that I’d come across online. “Your Very Own Robot” and “The Haunted House” (both published in 2006, originally 1982) turned out to be painfully inane and even worse, random! There was no connection between a “good” choice and a “good” outcome. No matter what choice you made, it was like rolling a dice to see whether it would lead to success or failure (or unicorns on rainbows, in one case). I was left unsure whether the books ever had any redeeming qualities. (I later learned that these books are from their “younger readers” series. But still.)
Checking these Fighting Fantasy books, they turned out to be 2003 reprints of the original 1982 stories. I wondered whether I should purchase them (turn to page 67) or save my money for something else (turn to page 125). I went with the first option and brought them back to my B&B room. So far I’m midway through my first play/read of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and it’s fun (if simple). I’ve slain five orcs and two goblins, and although I am not very Lucky, my Stamina is high and I still have 9 meals of food remaining. Even better, there’s far more logic evident connecting choices to outcomes. I’ve also enjoyed crafting a map of the mountain (one of the things I love about interactive fiction, too). I’m hoping to be faced with some actual puzzles to solve.
I find it interesting that there seems to be a thriving community still surrounding these books. While revolutionary when they were first introduced, I would have expected them to be superseded by more advanced video games, interactive fiction (which provides a richer kind of interaction), and the web itself (hypertext being a much easier way to provide the jumping-around narrative). But judging from the Official Fighting Fantasy Website (where you can sign up to join the online community), they seem instead to have maintained their popularity, and they’re even providing the books in iPhone App format (which seems a less clunky (and more aesthetic) solution than the books).
Perhaps one reason they’re still so popular is that they’ve made it easy for fans to write their own Fighting Fantasies (Amateur Adventures) which are posted for other fans to enjoy. This reminds me distinctly of the Interactive Fiction Archive, where IF written by enthusiasts is shared with others in the community. And in addition, the Fighting Fantasies are actively marketed as a teaching aid for reluctant readers. I think they’re great, even for non-reluctant readers!
Eric said,
March 28, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I loved the CYOA books. One of them, about some kid stumbling onto what amounted to a secret door to Atlantis in the Bermuda triangle (of course) took me into a whole lot of learning about the Caribbean. I never played any variants, but an excuse to track stats could make for fun distraction.
Susan said,
March 29, 2010 at 11:36 am
Terran has an extensive CYOA collection. The very first in the series are completely random. I was kind of stunned at how there was no plot at all, and even though you could get a positive ending, there was never any sense that you actually met a goal. But I have a lot of fond memories of books later in the series. I’m a bit afraid to crack them.
OTOH, I think a lot of the lines of copycat CYOA books turned out to be better. Most of my fondest memories are of a book about time travel to find the Archeopteryx, which taught me a lot about dinosaurs and prehistory. And not only did you never lose track of your goal to find the creature, but some logical choices actually led you to find it! There were also some Dragonriders of Pern game books co-written with Jody Lynn Nye that were quite good and plotful. I always skimped on actually calculating the game stuff, though, b/c I wanted to get straight to the story :).
HeuristicsInc said,
March 30, 2010 at 1:01 pm
I used to love those books, not only CYOA (M also loved those) but also the dice/stat ones like this. I see from the picture that it’s a Steve Jackson project, which is good – I played through some books of his in addition to a lot of other games… OH I have just discovered that there are two different Steve Jacksons, both of whom worked on that series… heh. Anyway, fun stuff. I remember it fondly.
-bill