The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
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Cover of the first edition
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| Author |
Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Russ Nicholson |
| Cover artist |
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| Series |
Fighting Fantasy
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| Genre | Fantasy |
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Publication date
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| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | (Puffin) (Wizard) |
| Followed by | The Citadel of Chaos |
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a single-player adventure gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and illustrated by Russ Nicholson. Originally published by Puffin Books in 1982, the title is the first gamebook in the Fighting Fantasy series. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2002. As well as launching the Fighting Fantasy series, the gamebook inspired two direct sequels and five novels, and was adapted into a board game and a video game.
In 1980, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone attended a Games Day, and after meeting with a Penguin editor decided to create a series of single-player gamebooks. Their first submission, The Magic Quest, was a short adventure intended to demonstrate the style of game. The Magic Quest was eventually accepted by Penguin Books, although the authors devoted a further six months to expanding and improving upon the original concept.
The end result was The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and after several rewrites, the book was accepted and published in 1982 under Penguin's children's imprint, Puffin Books. The original cover of the book was illustrated by Peter Andrew Jones, with the interior illustrations by Russ Nicholson. Jackson and Livingstone approved all artwork.
The title, like the game books that followed in the Fighting Fantasy series, distinguished itself by featuring a fantasy role-playing element, with the caption on each cover claiming each title was "a Fighting Fantasy gamebook in which YOU become the hero!"
The success of the Fighting Fantasy series (distribution in over 17 countries) allowed for numerous reprints of the original title, although the cover of subsequent versions changed due to deliberate redesign, printing errors, and releases in different markets. When the franchise was acquired by Wizard Books in 2002, the title (as with others in the series) was the first to be reprinted, again with a completely different cover, the rationale being that the old cover did not suit the modern market.
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