We’re on the penultimate book from the first run of Fighting Fantasy novels and it’s also writer Keith Martin’s swan song after eight books. Revenge of the Vampire is a direct sequel to the excellent Vault of the Vampire and sees Martin re-united with artist Martin McKenna. It’s a great creative pairing but is Revenge of the Vampire on the same level as Vault of the Vampire? Listen along to find out.
Bonus Episode - Blood Sword: The Battlepits of Krarth
The Bloodsword series is a set of gamebooks which take place in the world of Dragon Warriors, the classic roleplaying game written by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson. It’s great that they are available again but do they bring anything fresh to the table? The first book, Battlepits of Krarth, tips its hat to Deathtrap Dungeon and has art by the great Russ Nicholson (who seems to have been a regular feature on the podcast lately). There’s no less than four different characters to play and a whole host of additional combat rules. Listen along to find out if more is more in this instance.
Episode 53 - Spellbreaker
Book 53 of Fighting Fantasy is here! Spellbreaker is the debut Fighting Fantasy gamebook from Jonathan Green who has gone on to be an important creator in the gamebook sphere. With art, including cover art, by Alan Langford there’s clearly a wealth of talent on display but does that cohere into a good book? Listen along to find out.
If you’d like to support my nonsense and bag yourself a bunch of gaming goodies you can do so over at my patreon at patreon.com/hjoom.
Episode 51: Island of the Undead
It’s book 51. It’s Island of the Undead. It’s Keith Martin and Russ Nicholson. How will our intrepid hero get on and just how many sections will be hidden behind mystery numbers? Listen to find out
Also I have a new album of melancholy Dungeon Synth out. Baroque Funereal Dirges by Sorrow Tree presents 6 tracks of lo-fi dark ambient music suitable for goblins, witches, and lonely ghosts. It’s available for free at the link below.
https://malesperi.bandcamp.com/album/baroque-funereal-dirges
Episode 50 - Return to Firetop Mountain
We hit a big milestone in the history of Fighting Fantasy as this episode covers Return to Firetop Mountain, book fifty in the wildly successful series. Ian Livingstone returns to the start of the series and the provides us with another chance to delve into the secrets of Firetop Mountain where the titular warlock has returned once more to bedevil the local area. There’s nostalgia a-plenty but does Return to Firetop Mountain hold up when considered on its own merits? Listen along to find out.
Bonus Episode - Asterix: The Meeting of the Chieftains
It’s bonus episode time again and we’re delving into a gamebook based on one of the most successful comic books in the world, Asterix the Gaul. Meeting of the Chieftains is a full colour, magazine sized gamebook based in the madcap world of Gaul in the first century BCE. The original comic books are stone cold classics but how will the property survive translation to a new medium? Listen along to find out.
Episode 45 - Spectral Stalkers
It’s book 45 of the long running Fighting Fantasy series! Spectral Stalkers was written by Peter Darvill-Evans with internal art by Tony Hough and cover art by Tony Hough. It’s the third and final book Darvill-Evans contributed to the series but will he go out with a bang? Listen along to find out as HJDoom plays through the book and offers some thoughts.
Bonus Episode - Heroquest: The Fellowship of Four
It’s a bonus episode that’s near and dear to my heart as we tackle the first Heroquest gamebook by Dave Morris based on the insanely popular boardgame from MB Games and Games Workshop. This one is a little bit different from most gamebooks being both a short novella and a short gamebook in one. Morris did something similar with the Knightmare gamebooks. Does this approach to a gamebook work? Listen along to find out.
Bonus Episode - The Cave of Time
We’re investigating a key piece of gamebook history this episode as we explore The Cave of Time, the first proper Choose Your Own Adventure book by Edward Packard with art by Paul Granger. With 40 different endings this packs a lot of adventure into a small package. It spawned a wildly successful franchise but is this book actually any good? HJDoom plays it to find out and offers a mildly contentious and completely untested theory about the reason gamebooks exploded in the early eighties.
Bonus Episode - Legendary Kingdoms: The Valley of Bones
It’s time for a very recent gamebook, at least by the standards of this podcast. For your delight and edification HJDoom plays through Legendary Kingdoms book one, The Valley of Bones by Oliver Hulme with illustrations by Robin Smith. It was published by Spidermind Games in 2019. This is a vast tome and the playthrough only really scratches the surface but is it a case of more of a good thing or a surfeit of paragraphs. Listen along to find out.
Episode 40 - Dead of Night
We're into the 40s! Will they start with a bang? Listen along to find out as HJDoom plays through Dead of Night by Jim Bambra and Stephen Hand with art by Martin McKenna.
Episode 39 - Fangs of Fury
We’re saying goodbye to the 30s with Fangs of Fury by Luke Sharp with cover art and internal illustrations by David Gallagher. I’ve had a torrid relationship with Luke Sharp’s work but was cautiously in favour of his previous book Daggers of Darkness. Will his Fighting Fantasy swansong be his crowning glory? Listen along to find out.
Episode 38 - Vault of the Vampire
Joy unbounded at Doom HQ as we come to book 38 in the Fighting Fantasy series, Vault of the Vampire. I’m a big horror fan in general and a gothic horror fan in particular so the prospect of venturing into a spooky castle in search of a vampire is a real treat to me. It’s got a great hook but can the book, written by returning scribe Keith Martin and illustrated by legendary British illustrator Martin McKenna, live up to the sinister premise? Listen along to find out.
Episode 30 - Chasms of Malice
We’ve hit book 30 and this episode is very much a game of two halves. The playthrough of Chasms of Malice went very smoothly but the analysis of the book took me forever. Regardless, here it is, my playthrough and review of Luke Sharp’s Chasms of Malice. It was illustrated by the great Russ Nicholson with cover art by Les Edwards. It was released by Puffin Books in 1988.
If you enjoy my nonsense then please consider supporting me either by leaving a review on your podcast provider or, if you’ve cash to spare, by going to patreon.com/hjdoom. All patrons receive a whole parcel of gaming stuff including my brand new adventure game book Rats in the Cellar.
Bonus Episode - Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland
Curiouser and curiouser, it’s bonus episode time again! This time, and with kind permission of the author, we’re taking a look at a 2015 gamebook by Jonathan Green and Kev Crossly based on some of the finest children’s literature of all time. Join your host HJDoom for a strange tour round Alice’s Nightmare in Wonderland. This is a steam punk riff on the Lewis Carroll classic and makes for one of the most unique bonus gamebook’s we’ve so far covered. Green has written a selection of other titles based on classic works of fiction, all of which can be found in the usual book places if you look hard enough.
This episode is made possible because people support me on patreon.com. If you want to be like them and receive a copy of my gamebook House of the Unquiet Dead you can do so by going to patreon.com/hjdoom and pledging as little as a single English pound.
Episode 10 - House of Hell
Join HJDoom for a spooktacular journey into the insane rabbit warrens of Earl Drumer’s crumbling family home, a home that is rammed to the gills with all manner of occult shennanigans. This episode marks the first Fighting Fantasy book to tackle horror head on and it’s a straight up classic. Vampires, ghosts, lots and lots of zombies. The House of Hell has it all. If you’d like to help me make more adventure gamebook content then you can support me on patreon at www.patreon.com/hjdoom. Happy listening.