The Behemoth from Bloodbones

Ace artist Tony Hough's been at it with Photoshop again, this time colouring the Behemoth from my fourth Fighting Fantasy gamebook Bloodbones.

I always loved this particular image. I imagined this sea monster as looking like something drawn in the ocean of some Renaissance map of the world and Tony got the look spot on with his design - and the crow's nest and splintered mast stuck between the leviathan's teeth finished it off nicely.

You can see more of Tony's coloured Bloodbones images here, and don't forget you can buy his artbook Fragments here.

Howl of the Werewolf - the Fighting Fantasy fans favourite gamebook!

The long-awaited Fighting Fantazine #5 is here and includes a fantastic cover by Natalie Gingerboom, an interview with one of my favourite (and most under-used FF artists) John Sibbick, the massive amateur adventure Bones of the Banished, news of the revised Advanced Fighting Fantasy range, and the readers' poll to find out the most popular Fighting Fantasy gamebook.

It's that last part that I'd particularly like to draw your attention to here.

Seventy different gamebooks feature in the readers' poll and mine are ranked as follows:

45= - Curse of the Mummy

31= - Knights of Doom

31= - Night of the Necromancer

30 - Spellbreaker

23= - Bloodbones

23= - Stormslayer

1 - Howl of the Werewolf

Yes, you read that right - Howl of the Werewolf topped the survey with an overall score of 84.6% (Plot 85.8%, Gameplay 82.5%, Atmosphere 88.3%, Illustrations 81.7%). I have to say that I am utterly thrilled (needless to say) but should also mention that without Martin McKenna's fantastic illustrations, I doubt Howl would have placed so high, so thank you to him.

It must have been a mammoth task collating all of the votes and working out the rankings so I would also like to extend my thanks to Alexander Ballingall and his team over on the Fighting Fantazine for all their hard work.

You can download Fighting Fantazine #5 from here, and, best of all, it's free!

The Fighting Fantasy Collection

A pack of ten Fighting Fantasy gamebooks - including Bloodbones, City of Thieves, Creature of Havoc, Deathtrap Dungeon, Eye of the Dragon, House of Hell, Stormslayer, The Citadel of Chaos, The Warlock of Firetrap Mountain, Night of the Necromancer - available here.

Bloodbones re-release

With all the fuss being made about Night of the Necromancer (the 63rd original Fighting Fantasy solo gamebook) don't forget that Bloodbones (the 61st) was also re-released this week in the new FF format.


Now you can savour Tony Hough's fantastically detailed illustrations all the better. The book also includes three brand new pre-generated characters.

Still not sure whether Bloodbones is for you? Then here's what other people have had to say about the book, followed by a short teaser trailer for the adventure.

Is it worth the wait? Definitely. The story is good, the plot moves along at a fast pace and the atmosphere created... is excellent.

Tony Hough's illustrations are a treat, as always.

This book is really cool. There's lot's to explore and do and I found it a fantastic read.

Overall, it represents a highly likeable effort by Jonathan Green (whose maps are once again superb), and... for ex- and prospective acolytes of Fighting Fantasy, it is certainly worth purchasing.

Night of the Necromancer and Bloodbones redux

Look what arrived in the post this morning!

There are the same number of books in each pile, but Night of the Necromancer is substantially longer than Bloodbones

Those kind people at Fighting Fantasy Towers (a.k.a. Icon Books' Wizard imprint) sent them to me. Night of the Necromancer is the newest of the new Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and is released on 1 April, alongside the brand-spanking-and-really-quite-shiny-new FF format edition of Bloodbones (first published four years ago - can you believe it?).

In case you're not salivating at the prospect enough already, here are two teaser trailers I put together for the books.





Not long to wait now...

Bloodbones - new review

Found this great, succinct review of Bloodbones online today.

By far the greatest Fighting Fantasy gamebook of all. Not too long, not too short, not too hard, not too easy. Perfect for fans of Pirates of the Caribbean or good ol' FF in general.

Remember, Bloodbones is being re-packaged and re-published in a brand new edition in 2010!

Bloodbones - the movie!

Seeing as how Bloodbones (my fourth Fighting Fantasy adventure) is being re-released next year, I thought I'd get you all in the mood for a slice of swashbuckling voodoo with this...

Bloodbones

Good news, Fighting Fantasy fans! Bloodbones, one of my older FF adventures is going to be re-printed and re-packaged next year to bring it into line with the new look FF adventures, such as the brand new Stormslayer and forthcoming Night of the Necromancer.

And here's the brand spanking new look cover!


And here's a little more about the adventure (for the benefit of those not already in the know)...

Bloodbones lives! Cinnabar, evil Pirate-Lord and scourge of the twelve seas, is back from the dead and seeking revenge with the dark powers of voodoo at his command. Only YOU can stop the pirate captain and his crew of bloodthirsty cut-throats.

In this fantastic new adventure you are a heroic sailor seeking revenge on one of the most feared pirate-lords of Titan 'Cinnabar', a creature without remorse, a murderer, and a follower of the bloodthirsty voodoo death-god Quezkari, whose mark is the black skull.

Having sworn to have your vengeance against Cinnabar, for the past six years you have sailed the seas of Titan never forgetting a promise you made to yourself a decade ago. Throughout the years you have spent at sea you have learned more and more about Cinnabar and this information eventually leads you to Ruddlestone and the notorious Port of Crabs.

Prepare to set sail on the adventure of a lifetime.

Fighting Fantasy at GamesFest 4

Just to report that I had a brilliant time on Saturday at GamesFest 4, a one-day convention encompassing RPG’s, Board Games, CCG’s, War Games, Comics, Books, Film & Video gaming.The organisers' aim was to create an informal event that enabled the enthusiast and casual gamer to sample the best the hobby has to offer, and they certainly achieved that. I got to speak to all sorts of people for a decent amount of time that is much harder these days at an event such as Games Day.

JG defacing another copy of Stormslayer

One of those people was Jervis Johnson, Games Workshop games designing legend. I also got to catch up with the guys from the Black Library, including Nick Kyme, Alex Davis, Graham McNeill and James Swallow. (Apologies to Richard Williams and Gav Thorpe for not managing to chat to them.)

One legend meets another - Graham McNeill gets his copy of Warlock signed by Steve Jackson himself

But the real reason I was there was as part of the team from Fighting Fantasy, which included Nick Sidwell from Wizard Books and another legend - Steve Jackson himself! It was great to see all these other luminaries of the business queuing to have their original copies of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain signed by Steve and tell him that that one book was the reason why they are doing what they do today. (And the same goes for me.)

Jonathan Green, Steve Jackson and Jamie Fry

I was also a great pleasure to meet so many fans myself and sign multiple copies of Stormslayer, Bloodbones and Howl of the Werewolf. But the biggest shout has to go out to Jamie Fry of www.fightingfantasycollector.co.uk. He turned up with a bag full of books for me to sign, including an original Puffin edition of Curse of the Mummy, which he tells me now it quite a desirable item these days! The man is a legend himself!

So, all in all, a great day was had by all and all that remains is to thank Nick for inviting me along and the GamesFest organisers for a very well organised con. Here's the GamesFest 5!

More exciting news from the Official Fighting Fantasy site!

The FF re-launch only officially started today - with the release of brand spanking new title Stormslayer - and already on the Official Fighting Fantasy website there is news regarding which titles are going to be re-released in the re-vamped style in 2010, including my zombie-pirate fest Bloodbones!


Those beady-eyed individuals amongst you will have also noted that there is another brand new title amongst those presented, and that's Night of the Necromancer - by me! To find out more about this brand new adventure, watch this space and keep an eye on the Official FF website to find out how you could make an appearance within its ghost-haunted pages.

Just remember, death is not the end...

Fragments - The Art of Tony Hough

Bloodbones and Knights of Doom illustrator extraordinaire Tony Hough has set up his own blog, mainly as a way of keeping fans up-dated more regularly with his current projects.

Over the last year or so, Tony has been getting to grips with Photoshop and the results are astounding. I particularly like this image of Mother Arachne.

To see more examples of Tony's work, follow this link to his blog. But be warned, some of the work on display there is not for the faint-hearted (or anyone under 15, probably).

Enjoy.

Bloodbones Redux

Now, don't get too excited. According to my dictionary, redux is an adjective meaning 'brought back' or 'restored' (from the Latin reducere, 'to bring back'). So let's just get one thing straight, Bloodbones isn't coming back... at least, not just yet... at least, not as far as I know... It's just a cool title for a blog post, okay?

However, some of the illustrations from the aforementioned Fighting Fantasy gamebook about voodoo pirates have recently been given a new lease of life by illustrator extraordinaire Tony Hough. Tony has sent me three images from the book that he has re-worked in Photoshop, painting over the original rotring pen illustrations.

I present them for you here, with Tony's kind permission, alongside the originals so you can really see the difference. I think you'll agree that together, they are an amazing piece of work.





I think my favourite has to be Ramatu the Witchdoctor. That said, I love the detailing on the Preying Mantis.

If you like what you see here, or you would like Tony to work for you, follow this link to his own website.