Fighting Fantasy: Difference between revisions

Wizard Books revived it in 2002, republishing some of the original books with new covers (and later some new adventures). Following a brief tail-off, they relaunched their relaunch in 2009 with another range of new covers and more new adventures.

The series has the standard [[Choose Your Own Adventure]] second-person narrative style. Outcomes are influenced by three randomly determined statistics: Skill, [[Hit Points|Stamina]], and Luck. A lot of the books introduced a fourth statistic, such as Faith or Honour, a selection of special skills, or statistics for your vehicle.

As you will see on the Trope list below, the franchise has amassed quite a bit of [[Snark Bait]] over it's run, yet it remains fondly remembered and has an unusually devoted fanbase. This best example would be the webbased fan magazine Fighting Fantazine.

Books that have their own page:

* ''[[Appointment With FEAR]]''

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* [[Dragon Their Feet]]: Occurs in several books.

** In one book, after you kill the evil sorcerer, a Dark Elf who was ''also'' trying to kill him arrives just in time to fight you to the death.

* [[Dug Too Deep]]: A gold rush sparks the plot of ''Portal of Evil'', as the [[Artifact of Doom]] that is the [[Big Bad]] of the book is unearthed by gold miners.

* [[Dungeon Crawling]]: Many of the books, particularly the earlier ones. Ian Livingstone seems reluctant to write anything else.

* [[Elves vs. Dwarves]]: Subverted with Redswift and Stubb, an elf and a dwarf who had become good friends when held as slaves in ''Caverns of the Snow Witch''. It's also mentioned in the semi-canonical ''Zagor Chronicles'' that the dwarves and elves around Darkwood are actually pretty chummy with one another. That said, the same book also mentions that dwarves and elves have spilled plenty of each others' blood in foolish wars over the years, which accounts for why creatures like orcs and dark elves are as powerful as they are.

* [[Enemy Mine]]: The Slykk, a race of frog-like humanoids, are not known for their friendly treatment of humans who pass through their swamps. However, the Slykk in ''Siege of Sardath'' will help you if you prove to them that you're trying to stop the mysterious enemy that's threatening all the peoples of the region.

** Dont forget the Pit Fiend, a tyrannosaur-like creature that appears in ''Deathtrap Dungeon''

** One exception is found in ''Vault of the Vampire'', where the bear is merely an animal companion to a local ranger. It doesn't attack you unless you attack her.

** Another exception is in ''Portal of Evil'', where the hero can briefly team up with a former miner transformed into a bear by the portal.

* [[Evil Is Visceral]]: In ''Dead of Night'', the [[Legions of Hell]] set up a living factory to corrupt the land around the village of Axmoor. Said factory has a huge heart at its core and [[Human Resources|humans]] are fed into its furnace as fuel.

* [[Executive Meddling]]: Supposedly, one of the reasons the original series published by Puffin came to an end was because the publishers wanted to reduce the books to 300 references to make them 'easier'.

* [[Failure Is the Only Option]]: If you eat some mouldy food in ''Trial of Champions'', {{spoiler|it turns out it was infected with parasites that will slowly bore through your stomach. You lose 1 STAMINA point for each new section you turn to; this is fairly late in the game, so it is still possible to win, you'll just die if you reach '''400'''.}}

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: Some of the 'deaths' you can reach are actually this. In the book ''Night of the Necromancer'', the character you play is [[Dead to Begin With]], so ''all'' of the bad endings are this. [[Baleful Polymorph]] endings are also commonplace, with lycanthropy curses a particular apparent favourite of many of the authors. ''Howl Of The Werewolf'' places its cards on the table right from the very title.

** In ''Crypt of the Sorcerer'', you have to kill the defenseless keeper of the Valley of Bones (which penalizes you right off the bat) and steal one of his rings, which you need to awaken the undead in the graveyard. Some readers found the book frustrating.

** In ''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'', Zagor is just sitting in his lair, [http://fightingdantasy.blogspot.com/2008/02/1-warlock-of-firetop-mountain.html minding his own business], when in barges this bounty hunter who wrecked the place and stole all his stuff, who kills him. Amongst Zagor's stuff that the player loots is a spellbook that shows the owner how to ''control'' the monsters of Firetop Mountain. That's right: the hero has the option to become an [[Evil Overlord]] should they feel like it.

** In ''Bloodbones'', one of the enemies you fight is the Anchor Man, an assassin who uses an anchor and chain as a weapon. The story is set in a seaside port. Take a wild guess as to one of the ways you can kill the Anchor Man.

* [[Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad]]: The semi-canonical ''Zagor Chronicles'' [[Retcon|Ret Cons]] this as Zagor's parentage, albeit [[Gender Flip|Gender Flipped]] in that his father was a human wizard who impregnated a female demon.

* [[Karmic Jackpot]]: While you're frequently penalized for various dick moves (see [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment]], below), just as often you'll be rewarded for doing good and helping people out. You can regain LUCK points, gain cool new weapons or items, be cured of diseases, have curses removed, etc.

* [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]]: The final books of the original Puffin series are very hard to come by, and only a handful of them have been released under Wizard Books. Another setback has been added with the decision to relaunch the Wizard range again.

* [[Kleptomaniac Hero]]: On the one hand, if you're ''not'' this, you'll run into challenges you can't beat, but sometimes the stuff you try to take ends up making villains arrive, or ages you, or does something else dangerous.

* [[Knight in Shining Armour]]: You play as one in ''Knights of Doom''

* [[Love Redeems]]: See [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].

* [[Luck-Based Mission]]: In the first part of ''Creature Of Havoc'', your character is almost mindless, so instead of choosing what to do, you have to roll dice. Also, this trope comes into play in virtually every book in a different respect: often, there's no way of judging what will or won't harm you except for having played the gamebook before.

* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: The player character of ''{{spoiler|Black Vein Prophecy}}''

* [[The Man Behind the Man]]: In {{spoiler|''House of Hell''}}.

* [[No Fair Cheating]]: ''House of Hell'' had two paragraphs which could not possibly be reached normally, which chided the player for cheating. ''Midnight Rogue'' had one of these as well and another where if you attempted to pull out a magic weapon to fight a gargoyle, the book would tell you that there is no way you could have acquired one yet and tell you to start over, "honestly this time". Since you played a thief in this book that was a bit rich... ''Tower of Destruction'' had a section that gave the reader a slap on the wrist for cheating at one point. More annoyingly, ''Black Vein Prophecy'' and ''The Crimson Tide'' each have a situation where the player must ''fail'' a dice roll in order to win.

* [[One Steve Limit]]: Averted quite literally; see [[Name's the Same]] above.

* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]: The Slave Warriors from "Portal of Evil." They don't eat flesh and retain just enough of their minds to wield weapons, albeit clumsily. In all other respects, they're zombies.

* [[Out-Gambitted]]: Carnuss's attempt to humiliate his brother Sukumvit (see [[Win Your Freedom]], below) backfires when Sukumvit immediately offers you another prize, namely that of having any wish you want granted. As Sukumvit cleverly foresaw, you want nothing more than to kill Carnuss and avenge all the other slaves who died in his arena, and you demand to fight a duel with him. If you win, Sukumvit still has to pay the 20,000 gold pieces, but chances are he views that as a worthwhile price to pay to be rid of his hated brother.

* [[SNK Boss]]: A lot of bosses are super-strong and super-cheap. Special mention for Razak in ''Crypt Of The Sorcerer'': if you even manage to get to him, he has top stats and will kill you instantly if he hits you ''twice in a row''.

* [[Someday This Will Come in Handy]]: As a basic rule for these books, grab everything that's not nailed down. If one of the available items is a claw hammer, ignore the last four words of the previous sentence.

* [[Space Police]]: You play a Space DEA Agent in ''The Rings of Kether''.

* [[Spikes of Villainy]]: A Chaos Champion from ''Trial of Champions'' wears plate armor that is literally covered in spikes. And he wields a spiked mace.

* [[Warrior Monk]]: You play as one of these in at least two books.

* [[Wax On, Wax Off]]: Menial tasks give you valuable combat experience in ''The Crimson Tide''.

* [[What Have I Become?]]: In ''Portal of Evil,'' the warlord Horfak will undergo a [[Villainous Breakdown]] if you reveal his hideously-disfigured features with a mirror. The portal is forced to destroy his mind to bend the former mine-owner to its will; while he will still fight you, he is now just another slave warrior and significantly weaker.

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: After your home village is decimated at the start of ''Tower of Destruction'', you can either start clearing away rubble and helping the survivors or you can start gathering up supplies for yourself by basically looting the ruins. Your fellow townsfolk do not appreciate your apparent opportunism.

* [[All Trolls Are Different]] -- Large, tough, not too bright -- and commonly employed as city guards, at least in the more morally ambiguous parts of the world.

* [[Apocalypse How]]: Titan suffered two Type 1 versions. The first came when the kingdom of Atlantis had essentially become [[Ax Crazy]] and was determined to [[Take Over the World]], which led the gods of good to intervene and split the One Continent of Irritaria into three separate continents. The War of the Wizards was the second apocalyptic event, although it was averted in the Old World, where a powerful magical ritual was used to destroy the forces of evil before they could invade the human kingdoms.

* [[Cain and Abel]]: Sukumvit became ruler of the city of Fang upon the death of his father, and his younger brother Carnuss was more than a little bitter over this. Carnuss became so warped by jealousy that he tried to have Sukumvit murdered, but the assassins he contracted were Sukumvit's spies, who revealed the plot to their master. Sukumvit had Carnuss banished from Fang, and Carnuss wanted revenge, and when Sukumvit began the Trial of Champions Carnuss began searching for a champion to enter the Trial for him as a means of humiliating his brother. Sukumvit has the last laugh when Carnuss's enslaved champion, your character, finally emerges from the dungeon. Sukumvit offers your character one special wish in addition to the 20,000 gold piece prize, and as he anticipated you demand to fight Carnuss to avenge the slaves who died in Carnuss's arena.

* [[Cataclysm Backstory]]: With a few exceptions, there are no actual full-fledged countries in either Allansia or Khul, because of the sheer destruction wrought by the forces of evil during the War of the Wizards. Most areas are wild and unsettled, and almost all human settlements are city-states. This is averted by the Old World, which managed to avoid the horrors of war.

* [[Evil Sorcerer]] -- So distressingly common on the continent of Allansia that there are no actual centralized goverments beyond the city-state level; they gang up on anything bigger before it becomes powerful enough to be a threat to their machinations. Other places are slightly better off; operative word here being ''slightly''.

* [[Evilutionary Biologist]] -- More like Evilutionary Wizards, several of whom crossbreed various creatures to create monsters to serve as [[Mooks]]. Notable examples include Balthus Dire, Karam Gruul, Axion, and the guys who created the Manticores and the Fish Men.

* [[God of Evil]]: Death, Disease and Decay.

* [[Heroic Neutral]]: Nicodemus spent most of his life fighting the forces of evil. He eventually became so burned out from the struggle that he retired to Port Blacksand, where almost no one would bother him. While he doesn't typically do much these days (and can become very irritated if he's bothered by adventurers who try to run to him to solve all their problems for them), he will help if the problem is sufficiently big enough.

* [[Lizard Folk]] -- There are isolated savage Lizardmen tribes you can run into, but there is also a huge, expansionist and decidedly evil Lizardman Empire around for a more civilised threat.

* [[Mix-and-Match Critters]] -- Such as a ape-headed dog and a dog-headed ape guarding the ''Citadel of Chaos''.

* [[Our Goblins Are Different]] -- Actually, not so much. While they are usually [[Mook|Mooks]], some of them can prove to be challenging threats (such as in ''Return to Firetop Mountain'' where the hero can be captured by a goblin). The marsh goblins are considerably nastier.

* [[Our Orcs Are Different]] -- They're among the wimpiest enemies you can face (being, on average, slightly weaker than humans), but still have a reputation for savagery. One aspect where they ''do'' stand out are their ability to eat just about anything (including wood, rocks, dirt and metal) and their bizarre funeral rites, where each mourner takes a bite out of the dearly departed's corpse.

* [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same]] -- Really, that's all there is to say about them.

* [[Our Elves Are Better]] -- All Elves know magic. And they're far better at it than humans will ever be, though this verges on being an [[Informed Ability]] considering that most Elves you meet and have the option to fight are fairly weak as enemies and the huge number of world threatingly powerful human spellcasters.

* [[Our Monsters Are Weird]] -- Alongside the usual Trolls, Orcs, Dragons and so on you have some more oddball monsters like the [http://blog.henriqueplacido.com/up/h/he/blog.henriqueplacido.com/img/.resized_Wheelies.jpg Wheelies] from ''Citadel of Chaos''.

* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]: FF werewolves can be killed with normal weapons, but silver weapons are still your best bet {{spoiler|Which you unfortunately have the chance to discover for yourself in the one book that has silver bullets}}

* [[Points of Light]]: Allansia and Khul have been like this for centuries, with human civilizations tending to be city-states rather than full-fledged countries. Exceptions include Arantis, Vynheim and Shabak in Allansia, and Hachiman in Khul.

* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]] -- If anything is reptilian, don't expect it to be friendly to you.