In March 2017 YOU WERE THE HERO in our Advanced Fighting Fantasy Bundle, featuring the Arion Games FRPG line based on the endlessly popular Fighting Fantasy gamebooks by Steve Jackson (the British one) and Ian Livingstone. If you’re old enough to recall the Fighting Fantasy publishing phenomenon of the 1980s — well, you probably stopped reading here and went to buy this nostalgic collection.
Originally published in 1989 as Dungeoneer, and now available in a handsome 2011 Second Edition, Advanced Fighting Fantasy is a complete RPG set in the classic Fighting Fantasy world, with a fast and adaptable system ideal for beginners and well suited to long-term campaigns. Captivating artwork (much of it drawn from the gamebooks) enhances the appealing setting, a large and varied fantasyland called Titan. And touchstone locales like Firetop Mountain will bring a smile to every grognard gamer who spent hours happily flipping from one numbered paragraph to the next.
This offer included almost the entire Advanced Fighting Fantasy line — rules, sourcebooks, monsters, magic, and adventures — everything you need for a complete campaign of high adventure in the world of Titan. There were four titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $40):
- Advanced Fighting Fantasy Second Edition (retail price $14): Graham (Maelstrom) Bottley’s completely rewritten RPG (2011) that revises and reorganizes Marc Gascoigne’s original 1989 rules and adds lots of new material.
- Heroes Companion (retail $9): Mass battle rules, loads of new magical styles, wilderness creation, organizations, hirelings, and more.
- The Sorcery Spell Book (retail $6): The AFF version of the grimoire from Steve Jackson’s four-book Sorcery! gamebook series (1983-85).
- Out of the Pit (retail $11): The original, indispensable monster book with 250 loathsome creatures.
Those who paid more than the threshold (average) price also got our entire Bonus Collection with five more titles worth an additional $59:
- The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (retail $7): A full-length RPG scenario based on the first and most famous Fighting Fantasy gamebook.
- Titan (retail $11): A 128-page sourcebook about the Fighting Fantasy world. Discover Titan‘s history, kingdoms, and great powers. Includes the Titan Map (retail $3).
- Beyond the Pit (retail $12): Another 250 dangerous and intriguing denizens of Titan.
- Blacksand (retail $11): The City of Thieves, Port Blacksand, is home to rogues and pirates, and a destination for the bravest Heroes. This sourcebook has rules for Firepowder weapons, naval sorcery, and sailing. Includes the Blacksand Map (retail $4).
- Crown of Kings – The Sorcery Campaign (retail $11): A full-length campaign based on Steve Jackon’s four-book Sorcery! series.
That’s a US$99 retail value for the price of a few beers and a fistfight at Varag’s Splendid Alehouse in Blacksand’s Execution Hill District. Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to the charity selected by Arion publisher Graham Bottley, the Yorkshire (UK) Air Ambulance. “In the area where I live, it is a literal life saver,” says Graham. “I very nearly needed it myself a couple of years ago, but it could not fly at night at that time. In the United Kingdom, these services are funded only by charities, and because there is a reasonable chance I may need it again, it is the main charity I support.”
