{"id":691794,"date":"2026-04-08T06:29:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed"},"modified":"2026-04-08T06:29:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:29:02","slug":"without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\/","title":{"rendered":"Without Dungeons &amp; Dragons, Fighting Fantasy might never have existed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p>What do you think of when you hear the words &#8220;Fighting Fantasy&#8221;? Do you remember being absorbed for hours as a child, hurriedly flipping pages and rolling dice, hoping you&#8217;d chosen the right path? Perhaps you talked about it with friends in the schoolyard, swapping strategies, comparing notes. You almost certainly remembered the deaths.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever you remember of it, the effect the books had is undeniable. More than 20 million copies have been sold, making writers Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson best-selling authors, in addition to all of the other plaudits they&#8217;ve received. In fact, few people are as decorated in the games industry.<\/p>\n<p>And this year, Fighting Fantasy turns 40 years old, just like me. And in celebration, two new books are being released: Shadow of the Giants, by Livingstone, and Secrets of Salamonis, by Jackson. And they&#8217;re coming out <i>today<\/i> &#8211; Thursday, 1st September.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What do you think of when you hear the words &#8220;Fighting Fantasy&#8221;? Do you remember being absorbed for hours as a child, hurriedly flipping pages and rolling dice, hoping you&#8217;d chosen the right path? Perhaps you talked about it with friends in the schoolyard, swapping strategies, comparing notes. You almost certainly remembered the deaths. Whatever you remember of it, the effect the books had is undeniable. More than 20 million copies have been sold, making writers Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson best-selling authors, in addition to all of the other plaudits they&#8217;ve received. In fact, few people are as decorated in the games industry. And this year, Fighting Fantasy turns 40 years old, just like me. And in celebration, two new books are being released:&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":691795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-691794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Without Dungeons &amp; Dragons, Fighting Fantasy might never have existed | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What do you think of when you hear the words &quot;Fighting Fantasy&quot;? Do you remember being absorbed for hours as a child, hurriedly flipping pages and rolling\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Without Dungeons &amp; Dragons, Fighting Fantasy might never have existed | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What do you think of when you hear the words &quot;Fighting Fantasy&quot;? Do you remember being absorbed for hours as a child, hurriedly flipping pages and rolling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-08T06:29:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"271\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Without Dungeons &amp; Dragons, Fighting Fantasy might never have existed\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-08T06:29:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":160,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\\\/\",\"name\":\"Without Dungeons &amp; Dragons, Fighting Fantasy might never have existed | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/without-dungeons-dragons-fighting-fantasy-might-never-have-existed.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-08T06:29:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"What do you think of when you hear the words \\\"Fighting Fantasy\\\"? 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