Island of the Lizard King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Fighting Fantasy series |
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 The original cover of Island of the Lizard King illustrated by Ian McCaig |
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 The Wizard cover of Island of the Lizard King illustrated by Martin McKenna |
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| Outline | |
| Location: | Allansia, Titan |
| References: | 400 |
| Publication details | |
| Author(s): | Ian Livingstone |
| Illustrator: | Alan Langford |
| Puffin | |
| Cover illustrator: | Ian McCaig |
| Year of release: | 1984 |
| Number | 7 |
| ISBN: | ISBN 0140317430 |
| Wizard | |
| Cover illustrator: | Martin McKenna |
| Year of release: | 2003 |
| Number | 17 |
| ISBN: | ISBN 1-84046-491-7 |
| List of FF books | |
Island of the Lizard King is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Alan Langford and originally published in 1984. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 7th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0140317430) and 17th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-491-7).
[edit] Story
Kidnapped by a vicious race of Lizard Men from Fire Island, the young men of Oyster Bay face a grim future of slavery, starvation and a lingering death. Their new master is the mad and dangerous Lizard King, who holds sway over his land of mutants by the eerie powers of black magic and voodoo. YOU are the only one who can hope to rescue the suffering prisoners, but do you have the courage to risk this dangerous mission?
Like much of the Fighting Fantasy series, Island of the Lizard King is set in the fictional world of Titan; this particular adventure takes place on the continent of Allansia. The player's character begins the story by travelling from the populous city of Fang to the quiet coastal village of Oyster Bay, only to discover that the village is regularly being attacked by the Lizard Men of Fire Island, and that young men are being carried off to serve as slaves in their gold mines. The game proper beings with the player setting sail for Fire Island, intent on righting the situation.
Like many other Ian Livingstone Fighting Fantasy books, such as Deathtrap Dungeon and Temple of Terror, Island of the Lizard King has multiple paths which lead to the final confrontation, although the overall journey is fairly linear. This linear design, combined with the fact that there are a bare minimum of essential items to collect, means that any path can lead to a successful quest. However, some paths and items can make the adventure much more easy or difficult. Despite a distinct lack of 'sudden death' sections in the book, several bruising encounters can make this a difficult quest to complete, even with a Skill of 11 or more. This book is notable for the massive battle between the freed slaves and Lizard Men which takes place, one of the few large scale battles depicted in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook.
[edit] Trivia
- Island of the Lizard King was the final Fighting Fantasy book to be produced using the original cover layout when originally published by Puffin.
- The Special Limited Edition of the Wizard edition uses gold embossing as opposed to the usual silver.
