The Citadel of Chaos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Fighting Fantasy series |
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  The original and revised covers of The Citadel of Chaos illustrated by Ian Miller. |
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 The Wizard cover of The Citadel of Chaos illustrated by Kevin Jenkins. |
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| Outline | |
| Location: | Allansia, Titan |
| References: | 400 |
| Publication details | |
| Author(s): | Steve Jackson |
| Illustrator: | Russ Nicholson |
| Puffin | |
| Cover illustrator: | Ian Miller |
| Year of release: | 1983 |
| Number | 2 |
| ISBN: | ISBN 0140316035 |
| Wizard | |
| Cover illustrator: | Kevin Jenkins |
| Year of release: | 2002 |
| Number | 2 |
| ISBN: | ISBN 0-14-031603-5 |
| List of FF books | |
The Citadel of Chaos is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Russ Nicholson and originally published in 1983. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the second in the series in both the Puffin (ISBN 0140316035) and Wizard (ISBN 0-14-031603-5) series. The book had two different cover illustrations when it was originally published by Puffin, the earlier one being more simplistic.
[edit] Story
Deep inside the Citadel of Chaos, the dread sorcerer Balthus Dire is plotting the downfall of the goodfolk of the Vale of Willow. His battle plans are laid, his awesome army equipped, and attack is surely imminent.
Summoned by a desperate plea for help, YOU are the Vale of Willow’s only hope. As star pupil of the Grand Wizard of Yore and a master sorcerer yourself, you must strike at the very heart of Balthus Dire’s nightmare world. Though you command many powerful spells, the quest may be deadly, for who knows what creatures lie in wait in the Citadel of Chaos?
The book is, like its predecessor The Warlock of Firetop Mountain set in the fictional world of Titan in the Allansia region. The player must negotiate deep into the Black Tower to defeat of the warlord Balthus Dire, who plans to conquer the Vale of Willow.
In many ways The Citadel of Chaos was similar to the original Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain with a similar goal and setting. However The Citadel of Chaos removed the key-collecting mechanism of the previous book and expanded the rules with the inclusion of a magic system.
Balthus Dire must be completed by a long and strategic spell battle at the end of the book - this took Steve Jackson many hours to plan out. In fact Steve named Balthus Dire his favourite Fighting Fantasy character.
[edit] Later references
The main villain of the book, Balthus Dire, also appeared in the novel The Trolltooth Wars by Steve Jackson.
Video game versions of the book were released in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.
