Interview: Steve Jackson, role-playing game titan There aren’t many interviews – particularly when it comes to those offered because someone has a new video game to promote – that take place at the home of the interviewee. Such was the case, however, when I went to meet Steve Jackson. A man who, along with university chum Ian Livingstone, not only founded Games Workshop, but …
So much so that I've spent the last 30 odd years gaming in one way or another.
Nostalgia has made me go out and buy a few, ok 12, fighting fantsy books and am in the process of introducing the concept to my 7 year old son, we are currently working our way through Warlock.
Thanks Steve, I might have been richer without you and Ian, but I certainly would not have had as much fun!
A particularly boring children's TV program, except that one time when they had Tom Baker introducing a strange book that had you fighting creatures...
There were at least 3 'Warlocks' in action in the school by the end of that week, with none available in the local Book Shops but plenty on order.
I had a couple of FF books, and to my shame I didn't use dice and cheated with my fingers as Jackson described. This must have been a couple of years after reading an Usbourne book, "Write your own Adventure Game for your Microcomputer", the end of which were pages of Basic to serve as an example and template.
The first game like that I ever remember playing was Illuminati. Which was one of his. Moving your money round your vast network of companies/organisations and putting out the occasional hit on the enemy (if you couldn't bribe them). I always liked the idea of an organisation that could span the Gnomes of Zurich to the Church of Elvis.
Watch out for the Secret Service Steve...
There is a British Steve Jackson and an American Steve Jackson. The Illuminati game was the American Steve Jackson.
Another early American company was Flying Buffalo Inc, which produced its own line of solo adventures built around its Tunnels and Trolls game system. Company and game are still around.
Actually Illuminati was designed by a different Steve Jackson (an American rather the brit Steve Jackson in the article).
To complicate matters still further both Steve Jackson's actually wrote Fighting Fantasy books (though it was the brit from the article who founded the series with Ian Livingstone).
Weirdly enough there's no distinction on the FF books for either author, both were just credited as Steve Jackson on the front of the books.
Wow - I'm boring myself now!
There's only one two Stevie Jacksons! Only two Stevie Jaaacksons... etc.
Ooops!
I'd never realised that, as D&D wasn't my thing. My brother had the Fighting Fantasy books, but I think I only read/played one of them. Although I did see them a couple of years ago, when clearing up some old books at my Mum's house.
I remember being hooked on these books back when I had sodastream fuelled acne.
I spent the best part of a day transcribing one of the books into BBC Basic before giving up the idea as my fingers gave out.
Then I "borrowed" a copy of "The Quill" for my Spectrum and then invested in actually buying a copy of PAW (Professional Adventure Writer). I remember telling my mother that it was important that I'd do this and that I'd make money with it.
The first thing I thought when I saw the picture of the spell book from Sorcery was just how much it reminded me of the box for Ultimate's Knight Lore. It's not really that similar at all, just one of those pictures that instantly fires something off in your brain and takes you back 20+ years.
adventure books, and role-playing and table-top board games
Only for a little while. We await the arrival of the killer app that will return us to RPGs that no MMO will ever be able to create: the ORPG. This killer app will provide video conference combined with onscreen display for the GM for maps and room displays, fight screen for combat, direct chat to the GM and private character chats.
For years, gamebooks have been largely forgotten, but now they seem to be making a comeback on phones and devices. Its good to see it finally start to happen, after years of Project Aon being the only online gamebook stuff you could find.
Speaking of Project Aon, if you want some free notalgia, check them out. Its a volunteer project to put the works of Joe Dever online for free (with his blessing), they have most of his gamebooks on there now, fully HTMLised, with built in inventory management, stats, and combat resolution handled by a javascript sidebar. They've got all 4 Greystar (World of Lone Wolf), 26 of the 28 Lone Wolf series, and some of the Freeway Warrior stuff on there now.
I used to run out of fingers holding all the options open so I could go back if I got killed.
A fun way to pass a couple of hours.
I had the Warlock of Firetop Mountain game for the Spectrum. It came with the book in a set.
I have to say not a great game.
I absolutely loved these books... I remember many happy hours drawing maps as I played. Not being a botanist I found my stupendously blocked by the following clue..
In a previous clue I'd be told to not get lost in the woods and the path was indicated by the brush carriers hand.
the clue that had me stumped totally was
You come to a fork, the left fork has a small clump of foxgloves, the right fork has a willow.
I'm afraid I had to cheat my way out :-(
Doesn anyone remember the "Warlock of Firetop mountain" board game ? I painted all the little player tokens :D
Completely loved them, always thought they were well written and enjoyable, the sci-fi ones were less interesting, some reason the format worked best with goblins and sorcery!
Deathtrap Dungeon and Trial of Champions were particular favourites, would be interesting to see how they stack up now. Time to raid the loft!
The few times I "ran away from home" aka packed a backpack because I was really mad with my parents or brother and headed down to the local park I always made sure to bring at least 2 of these books with as I knew it would pass the time!!
Definitely had influence on my life as a kid back in da UK.
"I don’t play video games as much as I used to but I’m much more excited by apps these days. I’ve been playing Diablo III recently, but today's [big budget] triple-A games are pretty much all the same, they just look better than they used to. You can’t get excited about a new one that comes out. But you trawl through the App Store and you come across really great games. Like Spaceteam, it’s just the most ludicrous game you’ve ever come across.”...“You very rarely see a game come out that breaks new ground, and that’s the disappointing side of things really,” the professor adds.
Big fan of his work I wish the interview had devoted more time to video games and ran to more pages. Was there a word count pay limit? Thankfully there are some really beautiful big-title games being released IMHO. Skrim for instance. I say that despite not being a fan of Open-world Fighting Fantasy RPG or whatever genre this is. I prefer Far Cry, but they killed the franchise with FC3 IMHO. Bioshock Infinite is pure on a rail eye candy, and not nearly as interactive a world as the trailer would suggest.
Forza Horizons point blank killed my interest in driving. Driving games peaked with the PGR series and Driver-SF and Forza 3/4. I don't understand how Call of Duty is still selling so well either, especially for multiplayer fans. COD2 & COD4 for PC have free online multiplayer and a treasure trove of hugely imaginative user maps that destroy the supplied maps from the more recent releases. What was new about the Halo 4 multiplier maps? An asteroid, but little else.
Very disappointed with Hitman Absolution. QTE gameplay, final-kill cut-scenes and non-open world action take away the fun for me. Dishonored was a much better hitman style game, but both lack the beautiful maps of Hitman Blood Money. I hope Watchdogs and GTA V reboot big-budget gaming....
.. but only when I couldn't get access to a computer with something by Scott Adams of Adventure International see http://www.msadams.com/ or any of the "classic" text adventures.
Even as a child I thought the "adventure book" idea was a fail when compared with real text adventures, it wasn't the writing so much as the limitations of the media.
I do know the books were responsible for introducing some children with learning difficulties to the pleasure of reading but on the other hand the end result is Games Workshop and Space Marines litigation.
Its hard to say if I, in his place, would be proud of my overall achievements
When Steve mentioned that die-rolling in video games just didn't have the psychological impact of real dice, I figured digital dice...with accelerometers and bluetooth...could be a great addition to such games.
Looks like someone already made a patent for it though:
http://www.google.com/patents/US20090210101
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
