Dysartes vs. The Warlock - Round 1

Time to do battle with the Warlock

While at UK Games Expo last June, I attended a seminar hosted by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (no, not the Munchkin Steve Jackson), where they recalled anecdotes of their time setting up Games Workshop, along with the history of the Fighting Fantasy series of books.

Following the seminar, there was the obligatory book signing, and I was fortunate enough to acquire - and get signed - a copy of the 25th Anniversary printing of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain from Ian's stash.

Having bought it, and had a flick through it, the book as been sat on the table in my living room ever since. Recently, I've been looking into games I can play on my own, as opposed to attending a gaming group or having people over. While I've picked up a couple of games, and will be taking a look at them in later posts, it occurred to me that the Fighting Fantasy books were a good example of that sort of thing. They also have a big advantage over board games in terms of being very compact, and only needing a couple of additional items to be usable - some scrap paper, a pencil and a couple of six-sided dice.