Advanced Fighting Fantasy
| Years active | 1984 (FF-IRPG), 1989 (AFF 1st ed.), 2011 (AFF 2nd ed.) |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | fantasy tabletop roleplaying game |
| Random chance | six-sided dice |
| Skill(s) required | storytelling, roleplay, imagination |
Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-playing Game is a British roleplaying game based on the Fighting Fantasy and Sorcery! gamebooks, published in 1984. A second version was published in 1989 as Advanced Fighting Fantasy (AFF). It takes place in the world of Titan.
The game mechanics
The rules of AFF are adapted from the rules of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. This system is based on skills (no class nor level), here called "Special Skills".
A player character, called Hero, is defined by:
- four characteristics: Skill, Stamina, Luck, Magic; they range from 7 to 12 except for Stamina which ranges 14-24;
- his race: Human, Dwarf, Elf;
- a set of special skills: Combat, Movement, Stealth, Knowledge and Magical special skills; special skill values usually range from 0 to 4;
- a few Talents, which are special features such as Animalfriend, Natural Mage, Robust, Weaponmaster…
- a Social Class, from 0 (beggar, criminal) to 10 (king).
The creation of a Hero starts with the choice of a "concept", e.g. a Knight of Salamonis or a Student from the magical school of Yore — this has no influence on the attributes and is more a background guideline. Unlike the gamebooks, the characteristics and special skills are not rolled but are bought with creation points. The rules provide archetypes which allow a fast creation: Adventurer, Archer, Barbarian, Priest of Telak, Rogue, Warrior, Wizard…
There are three types of tests:
- unopposed test: a roll of two six-sided dice (2d6) must be less than the sum of a characteristic (usually Skill, sometimes Magic) and a special skill; this is an extension of the Skill tests of the gamebooks;
- opposed tests: each character roll 2d6 and adds Skill and a special skill, the highest wins; the is an extension of the combat procedure of the gamebooks;
- Luck test: same as the gamebooks rule.
The rules provide difficulty adjustments for given situations (e.g. -5 to the Climbing special skill when wearing a plate armour).
The combat rules are the same as the gamebooks', except that the points of damage (Stamina loss) are determined randomly: the attacker rolls 1d6 and reads the points of damage on a table (one for each weapon), the defender does the same to apply the damage reduction from his armour. There are a few combat options: Luck test to increase or reduce the damages, surprise, feint…
A spellcaster must have a least 1 in the Magic characteristic and one point in one special skill: Magic-Minor, Magic-Priestly, Magic-Sorcery or Magic-Wizardry. There are three types of magic:
- Minor magic: the Cantrips are easy-to-cast spells with limited effects;
- Religion: each god bestows his priests three general powers (the same three for all his priests) and one specific power;
- Sorcery: this type of magic was created in the Old World, and does not draw its energy from the surrounding environment but from the sorcerer's own Stamina, and from material components; this is the adaptation of the magic system of the Sorcery! gamebooks;
- Wizardry: the Wizard studied in a school to learn to use the invisible arcane power that permeates the world of Titan.
History of the editions
The first edition
| Title | Author(s) | Cover Art | Interior Art | Published | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-playing Game | Steve Jackson | Duncan Smith | Duncan Smith | 1984 | 0-14-031709-0 |
| The Riddling Reaver | Paul Mason & Steve Williams (Edited by Steve Jackson) | Peter Andrew Jones | Brian Williams & Leo Hartas | 1986 | 0-14-032156-X |
| Out of the Pit † | Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone (Edited by Marc Gascoigne) | Christos Achilleos | Various | 1985 1989 | 0-14-031999-9 0-14-034131-5 |
| Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World ¶ | Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone (Edited by Marc Gascoigne) | Christos Achilleos | Various | 1985 1989 | 0-14-032127-6 0-14-034132-3 |
† Contains maps of Titan, a monster bestiary and encounter/treasure tables.
¶ Describes the history of the planet Titan—the setting for the majority of the Fighting Fantasy books—including the three major continents, the underwater kingdoms and many of the world's inhabitants.
The Advanced Fighting Fantasy system
| Title | Authors | Cover Art | Interior Art | Published | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dungeoneer | Marc Gascoigne & Pete Tamlyn | John Sibbick | John Sibbick | 1989 | 0-14-032936-6 |
| Blacksand! | Marc Gascoigne & Pete Tamlyn | John Sibbick | Russ Nicholson | 1990 | 0-14-034396-2 |
| Allansia | Marc Gascoigne & Pete Tamlyn | John Sibbick | Russ Nicholson | 1994 | 0-14-036051-4 |
Adaptations to the D20 System
In 2003, Jamie Wallis[1] adapted several Fighting Fantasy and Sorcery! gamebooks to the D20 System. These adventures were published by Myriador. The publisher announced a project to write a new Fighting Fantasy roleplaying game, but the project was abandoned.
- Fighting Fantasy
- The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
- Livingstone, Ian; Wallis, Jamie (2003). Forest of Doom. Myriador. ISBN 978-1-904629-06-1. 32 pages.
- Livingstone, Ian; Wallis, Jamie (2003). Deathtrap Dungeon. Myriador. ISBN 1-904629-02-4. 40 pages.
- Livingstone, Ian; Wallis, Jamie (2003). The Caverns of the Snow Witch. Myriador. 40 pages.
- Livingstone, Ian; Wallis, Jamie (2004). Trial of Champions. Myriador. ISBN 978-1-904629-04-7. 32 pages.
- Sorcery!
- Jackson, Steve; Wallis, Jamie (2003). Sorcery! 1 - The Shamutanti Hills. The D20 Conversion. Myriador. ISBN 978-1-90462-903-0. 40 pages.
- Jackson, Steve; Wallis, Jamie (2004). Sorcery! 2 - Kharé, Cityport of Traps. The D20 Conversion. Myriador. ISBN 978-1-90462-905-4. 32 pages
- Jackson, Steve; Wallis, Jamie (2004). Sorcery! 3 - The Seven Serpents. The D20 Conversion. Myriador. ISBN 978-1-90462-907-8. 32 pages
Advanced Fighting Fantasy titles published by Arion Games (2011-present)
The main change brought by this edition is the addition of the Sorcery! magic system.
| No. | Title | Authors | Cover Art | Interior Art | Published | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CB77001 | Advanced Fighting Fantasy[2] | Graham Bottley | John Sibbick | Various | 2011 | 978-0-85744-067-9 |
| CB77002 | Out of the Pit | Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone (Edited by Marc Gascoigne) | Christos Achilleos | Various | 2011 | 978-0-85744-068-6 |
| CB77003 | Titan | Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone (Edited by Marc Gascoigne) | John Christos Achilleos | Various | 2011 | 978-0-85744-069-3 |
| CB77004 | Crown of Kings | Graham Bottley & Steve Jackson | John Blanche | John Blanche | 2012 | 978-0-85744-121-8 |
| CB77005 | Heroes Companion | Graham Bottley | John Sibbick | Russ Nicholson | 2012 | 978-0-85744-157-7 |
| CB77006 | Blacksand | Graham Bottley | Martin McKenna | Iain McCaig and Steve Luxton | 2012 | None |
| CB77007 | The Sorcery Spell Book | Graham Bottley & Steve Jackson | Maggie Kneen | John Blanche | 2013 | None |
| CB77008 | Beyond the Pit | Andrew Wright | Terry Oakes | Various | 2013 | None |
Translations
The roleplaying game is translated and published in French by Scriptarium ,[3] · [4] as Défis fantastiques, le jeu de rôle (DF-JdR). They added original material: the core book has a 100 pages additional campaign, Le Tambour de Gondrim (The Drum of Gondrim), and original illustrations. They also created a gamemaster's screen with an original adventure, and paper figurines, floorplans and tiles.
Scriptarium also supports Gallimard, the French publisher of the Fighting Fantasy and Sorcery! gamebooks, for the new edition of the gamebooks (started in 2012): they point out the errors in the books (addressing errors, translation errors), and try to make them include some illustrations that were omitted in the previous editions (with no success until now, as it would need a deep work on the layout).
- Bottley, Graham; Jackson, Steve; Livingstone, Ian (2013). Défis fantastiques, le jeu de rôle [Advanced Fighting Fantasy] (in French). Scriptarium. ISBN 978-2-9543631-0-3.
- Monseur, Olivier (2013). L'Écran du meneur de jeu. Illustrated by Jidus and Russ Nicholson. Scriptarium. ISBN 978-2-9543631-2-7. Gamemaster's screen and an adventure, Pirates à la dérive (Adrift Pirates), first part of the campaign Maudit Trésor… (Wicked Treasure…).
- Les accessoires du meneur de jeu. Illustrated by Éric Chaussin and Jidus. Scriptarium. 2013. ISBN 978-2-95436-310-3. Tiles and paper figurines.
- Carte d'Allansia. Cartography by Florent Haro, illustrated by Jidus. Scriptarium. 2013. A2 vinyl colour map of Allansia, from the original material from Jonathan Green, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.
- Pouillot, Fabrice "del Armgo" (2013). Tel est pris. Scriptarium. Free downlodable adventure, first part of the campaign Les Larmes de Hmurresh (The Tears of Hmurresh).
- Baldowski, Paul (2013). La Fosse aux ordures [The Pit of Filth] (in French). Scriptarium. Free downlodable adventure in a contemporary world (see the original version).
Scriptarium started a call for crowdfunding to publish the translation of Titan in March 2014.[5] The success of the subscription allowed the execution of new original illustrations (by John Sibbick, Malcolm Barter, Bill Houston, and maps by Steve Luxton), illustrated cards for the magic spells (playing cards format), a miniature representing Yaztromo, and a A2-format colour map of Titan showing the location of the adventures (gamebooks and romans). It also contains an original 90 p. campaign, À la Recherche de la jeunesse perdue (In Search of Lost Youth).
References
- ↑ who will later co-write the Fabled Lands roleplaying game
- ↑ Arion-games.com
- ↑ (French) Scriptarium official website
- ↑ (French) defisfantastiques.fr, official website for the french version of AFF
- ↑ (French) Titan : un nouveau supplément DF-Jdr en souscription
"Fighting Fantasy Goes Frenchy!". Ulule subscription page.