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.
Bonus Episode: Robin of Sherwood - The King's Demon
It’s another bonus episode as we take a look at The King’s Demon based on the 1980s TV show Robin of Sherwood, an extremely influential retelling of the myth of Robin Hood. The book by Graham Staplehurst and Richard Carpenter (with some help from Paul Mason). Art is by the legendary Russ Nicholson. If you’re enjoying this podcast please consider supporting me on patreon at www.patreon.com/hjdoom.
Episode 52 - Night Dragon
Book 52 of the Fighting Fantasy series is Night Dragon, the sixth book by regular contributor Keith Martin. Another desperate threat has emerged to menace Allansia in the form of the titular dragon who also looms large over the cover art. Internal art and cover art is by Tony Hough but how will our intrepid adventurer get on? Listen along to find out.
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Bonus Episode - Castle of Lost Souls
It’s bonus time again and this episode I’m playing The Castle of Lost Souls by Dave Morris with art by Leo Hartas. This is part of the Golden Dragon series of gamebooks released by Grafton Books in the 1980s and is based on a Dungeons and Dragons adventure Dave Morris and Yve Newnham serialised in early White Dwarf. This is re-release as a print on demand book in 2013.
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
Bonus Episode - Way of the Tiger 3: Usurper!
It’s bonus episode time again and this instalment sees us continue to explore the Way of the Tiger series by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson (with kind thanks to Stuart Lloyd for the loan of the book). Usurper, book 3 in the series, sees our ninja hero embark on a new adventure as they seek to take back a crown that is rightfully theirs under the dubious law of primogeniture. Will I manage it on my first try? If you’ve been listening for a while you already know the answer to that question but you might as well listen to the episode anyway.
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 49 - Siege of Sardath
Siege of Sardath is the only book written for the Fighting Fantasy series by Keith P Phillips which means that we’ll either be sad or relieved that there’s no sequel. We’re in classic Fighting Fantasy plot territory with a mysterious evil oppressing the city of Sardath and a journey to be taken through a spider haunted forest in order to find out what has happened and set it right. Art is by Pete Knifton and the cover is by Les Edwards.
Bonus Episode - A Day in the Life
It’s another special bonus episode as I play A Day in the Life, the second gamebook written for me by my husband as a birthday present. Have you ever wanted to be a cat? Now is you chance in this unique gamebook experience. This book is available now for all my lovely patrons as a thank you for their continued support. You can join them and gain access to all the rewards for patrons by going to www.patreon.com/hjdoom and pledging as little as a single English pound. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
The episode end notes also include some advice on how to write a gamebook with a specific theme (including a worked example) so there’s some good stuff in there even if you don’t fancy supporting me on patreon.
Episode 48 - Moonrunner
It’s the third and final Fighting Fantasy gamebook written by Stephen Hand (with art by Martin McKenna). Will this be an exciting cap to his trilogy of books or did he use up all his good ideas on Dead of Night and Legend of the Shadow Warriors? Listen along to find out.
Don’t forget you can get a parcel of gaming materials and access to the regular reviews of stuff (mostly old stuff) over on www.patreon.com/hjdoom
Bonus Episode - Way of the Tiger: Assassin!
Bonus episode time again as we continue to throw shuriken, cobra strike, and garotte our way through the Way of the Tiger series by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson. The second book in a series is often a difficult one, how to build on the successes of the first book and still break new ground. Listen along to find out how they manage it.
Episode 47 - The Crimson Tide
The Crimson Tide is this month’s Fighting Fantasy book. This curious and convoluted book is a solo outing from Paul Mason who previously gave us Slaves to the Abyss and Black Vein Prophecy with his writing partner Steve Williams. With Terry Oakes providing art and a chance to show us his own vision for what a Fighting Fantasy book looks like can Paul Mason deliver the goods? Listen along to find out.
Bonus Episode - Way of the Tiger: Avenger!
It’s another bonus episode and another foray into the world of Orb with Way of the Tiger: Avenger by Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson. Having survived the trials of Ninja our hero is now sent on a mission to save the world and take revenge on the man who killed their father figure. How will HJDoom do on this quest, badly or very badly? Listen along to find out.
Episode 46 - Tower of Destruction
Tower of Destruction is another book by Keith Martin who wrote one of my absolute favourite books in the series Vault of the Vampire. It was illustrated by Peter Knifton and the cover was by Terry Oakes.
If you like what I do consider joining my patreon. Everyone who pledges gets a whole bunch of gaming stuff including my gamebooks and experimental roleplaying games. www.patreon.com/hjdoom.
Bonus Episode - Way of the Tiger: Ninja!
It’s time for a very exciting bonus episode as we begin looking at the classic Way of the Tiger series of adventure gamebooks, starting with the prequel. Way of the Tiger: Ninja! was released in 2014 by Megara Entertainment. It was written by David Walters with art by Mylene Villeneuve, Eric Chaussin, Aude Pfister, Matthias Sallstrom, Lisa Rafalli, Faiz Nabheebucus, and Antoine Di Lorenzo. The original game system was designed by Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith who also wrote Sword of the Samurai and Talisman of Death for the Fighting Fantasy series. Does this modern addition to the canon work? 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.
Episode 44 - Legend of the Shadow Warriors
Book 44 and Fighting Fantasy is somehow still firing on all cylinders. Stephen Hand had already contributed to the excellent Dead of Night with Jim Bambara but will his sophomore outing be a chance to show what he can do solo? With art by Martin McKenna and cover art by the reliable David Gallagher, Legend of the Shadow Warriors is a curious beast but is it any good? 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.