mattyrm wrote:
I found this excellent interview with the man himself, co creator of GW, Ian Livingstone.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00xrrv7

I figured it would be of interest to many people on dakka, and It also made me think, just how popular were the books?

I think I read my first one aged about 8, and I soon fell into the hobby after that, how many of you started on them, and can you remember what your first book was?

I think I started with Forest of Doom, and my favourite was a really complicated one where you could purchase mercenaries and make a small army, though the name escapes me.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 Howard A Treesong wrote:
I think almost everyone is familiar with these books.

I don't think that statement holds true in the US. I never saw Fighting Fantasy books here. The closest we had were Lone Wolf and Way of the Tiger (which was awesome beyond reckoning).

If you have seen Fighting Fantasy books in the US, turn to 55.

If you have not, you must read Way of the Tiger. Turn to 411.


411
A ninja of the Way of the Scorpion poisons you with spiderfish venom. As the life fades from your body, you feel him search your clothes for the Scrolls of Kettsuin. You have failed.

 precinctomega wrote:
According to the latest WD, FF made Ian and Steve into millionaires and directly led to them selling out of GW.

R.

Cubicle 7 Entertainment will publish Lone Wolf Roleplaying Games and detailed color maps of the Lone Wolf homeworld, Magnamund, Cubicle 7 and Lone Wolf developer Joe Dever announced Friday. Lone Wolf is a series of 28 gamebooks created by Dever and released beginning July 1984. Since that time the full run has sold over 9 million copies worldwide.

Recently Mongoose had been releasing the series, and completed publishing the first 17 volumes. German publisher Montikore-Verlag now has the rights. Mongoose also released a d20-style roleplaying game based on the series.

game designer Steve Jackson is a cornerstone of the gaming world. He co-founded Games Workshop back in the '70s before co-creating the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series with Ian Livingstone in the early '80s. That might be enough for others to just call it a career and retire off into the sunset, but Jackson instead went on to co-found Lionhead Studios with Peter Molyneux in the '90s. Quite an accomplished fellow, that Jackson.

Tonight, Inkle Studios is releasing a digital iOS conversion of Jackson's Sorcery! gamebooks, which are a part of the Fighting Fantasy series. Not really being heavily into gamebooks myself, I've given Sorcery! about an hour of time so far and all I can say is that I'm incredibly impressed. The presentation, the flow, the visuals, and of course the writing in Sorcery! is nothing short of top-notch.

orcery! plays like a gamebook mixed with a board game. The actual chunks of text glide elegantly into view with the various options for you to choose presented at the bottom. As you make your choices, more of the story glides in with even more branches to choose from. In between the reading, you'll direct your character around a gorgeous 3D overworld map, again making choices on which path to take through the terrain.

The game does a great job at hinting towards what might await behind each choice you make, whether it's clueing you in on the demeanor of the intimidating stranger you meet in a tavern or what sort of perils (and possible rewards) await you if you choose a given path through the countryside. Being that I'm not exactly a gamebook aficionado, I've found Sorcery! completely approachable so far, and I'm hooked enough on my current adventure already that I can't wait to see it through.

There's plenty more to discuss about Sorcery!, like its battling and spellcasting systems which are equally as intuitive as the rest of the game has been so far. We'll continue to plug away at the game to bring you a more in-depth review in the near future, and you can search out more early impressions from players in our forums. My gut takeaway thus far though is that if you already enjoy gamebook adventures, or even if you're a newbie like me, Sorcery! should be a satisfying endeavor when it hits later tonight.

Sorcery! should hit the US App store tonight around 11pm EST, so if your interest is piqued then add it to your TouchArcade app [Free] Watch List and we'll send you a push notification when it's released.