If you’re around middle age and grew up in the UK with a love for fantasy stories, chances are you remember the Fighting Fantasy books. These were like ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books, but with more action. They involved dice, character stats, and felt a bit like a role-playing game. The series, created by Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone, has become popular again. Last year brought us Fighting Fantasy Adventures, and now we have a board game version of the very first book, ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’, which is a personal favorite.
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain has appeared in many forms over the years. I spent countless hours playing the game with the same name on my old ZX Spectrum computer when I was younger (though it was quite different from the book). The recent video game made by Tin Man was also excellent. Now, though, we have a physical game – a tabletop board game, and a really good one at that.
The Adventure Begins
As you’d expect, Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a game where you explore a dangerous place, known as a dungeon crawler. You can pick from four different characters, each with their own special abilities and skills. Together, or by yourself if you prefer playing solo, you’ll head into the heart of the mountain to find the treasure belonging to the warlock himself.
Of course, there are many creatures and monsters who don’t want you to get away with their gold. They’ll do their best to stop you with their attacks and magic, so you’ll definitely have some fights on your hands.
The game is quite simple to learn, which is a big plus. Some people buying this game are doing so because they loved the books as a kid and might not have played many modern board games. Making it easy to get into is a great idea. On your turn, you move from one space to another, uncovering new areas and facing challenges as you go.
Many of these challenges are ‘tests’. You’ll roll dice based on your character’s skills and any items you have, trying to get a certain number of successful rolls depending on how hard the challenge is. Discovering new areas is the most exciting part and reminds me most of the original book. Often, you’ll need to draw a card that tells a little story and gives you a choice. Should you try to sneak past those goblins, or should you bravely face them and see what happens?
Making choices that shape your story is what Fighting Fantasy is all about, so it’s fantastic that this is kept in the board game.
Time for Battle
What’s a game about exploring dangerous places without fighting? It would be pretty dull. Luckily, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is packed with combat. The fights can actually be quite challenging. Each monster has its own basic abilities, but to make things more interesting, the game makes you draw random tokens that make each monster stronger.
I was really surprised by how tough the fights can be. If you played the old Fighting Fantasy books, you’ll remember how difficult they were. This game isn’t a walk in the park, and you will lose characters. Some players might not enjoy this, but to me, it makes the game feel real and helps it keep the same spirit as the book it’s based on.
I have a complicated feeling about games where you explore dungeons. I often like the idea of playing them more than I actually enjoy playing them. While writing this review, I thought about why, and I think it’s the fighting in them. I didn’t really enjoy Gloomhaven, and other games are too easy, like the fun game Bag of Dungeon, which I wrote about before. Warlock hits that perfect middle ground for me. The enemies are tough but not impossible. They aren’t so easy that the fights are just a waste of time. It’s a good balance that keeps players moving forward, but with the clear feeling that they’re in for a real fight.
Final Thoughts
I didn’t have many expectations going into Warlock. I loved the book, and I’ve been disappointed by too many bad tie-in products over the years to be overly optimistic. I was very pleasantly surprised, though. Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain does a great job of honoring the original story. I only got to play three different adventures in the early version I received, but even that was enough to leave me with a good feeling.
One of the hardest parts was making the game feel like a Fighting Fantasy book, but they’ve done it very well. I can’t say much about how long it will stay fun or how many times you can play it, because, as I mentioned, I only played three adventures. However, the ‘choose your own adventure’ feeling is definitely there in the choices you make before you reveal new parts of the map. I remember playing the books and always keeping my finger on the page I came from, just in case I didn’t like what happened after my choice. In this game, no one can stop you from changing your mind after you read a card, and I really like that about it.
Warlock fills a spot in the dungeon-crawling game category that often gets overlooked. There are many big, time-consuming games out there that take up a lot of your life. And there are also quick, simple games. But this kind of medium-sized game, that’s not too demanding, is quite rare. Just like how Modiphius did a great job with Mass Effect last year, Paul and Jan have created a game here that truly feels like Fighting Fantasy, and it won’t require you to rearrange your entire social life just to finish it.
Good and Bad Points
Good Points
- The fights are satisfying and not too long.
- The game’s difficulty is just right.
- It really feels like a Fighting Fantasy game.
Bad Points
- If you don’t like exploring dangerous places, this game might not be for you.
- Some players might find it a bit too simple.
Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (2027)
Created by: Paul Toderas, Jan Wagner
Published by: Ulisses Spiele
Artwork by: Nele Klumpe, Russ Nicholson, Carina Wittrin
Players: 1-4
How long to play: 60-120 minutes.