With all this chat about Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' I was wracking my brain trying to figure out where I'd seen a painting of a Greek ship being attacked by a sea serpent. Of course, it's the Fighting Fantasy gamebook 'Seas of Blood'. Awesome work by Rodney Matthews.

When I was on the island of Santorini this year I read every Greek myth book by Stephen Fry apart from 'Odyssey'. I think I'll finish that over the Christmas holiday.

Why I battle through a working week.

Okay. Okay, I'm interested.

Ages ago I signed up to the online Fighting Fantasy club, and it turned out I was the 400th person to join! To celebrate that they sent me postcards signed by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and that in itself lit the fire in me to do more with the brand. They sit proudly in my collection.

I'm going to treat myself this Christmas to a new copy of the anime 'Cyber City OEDO 808'. This is an excellent three-part series and it would have been amazing to see more. The three central characters have fantastic stories and the design choices are top drawer. Awesome.

'Godslayers of Pangaia' was going to be my Conan-esque sword n' sorcery TTRPG using the Black Hack, about a world that had already been dominated by six corrupted half-god kings and their leader Ariakus, the God of Chaos and Death. I wrote most of it. Maybe one day I'll finish it.

My mood right now? The music of Tristram on loop.

What a loser.

I had a spare hour so I thought I'd give the Fighting Fantasy book 'The Forest of Doom' another go. Killed by a cat-woman, then by that sodding shapechanger. Sorry, Stonebridge.

We have just finished our full house clean ready for the Christmas break. It's like a Spring clean but there's a bit more alcohol involved.

I need to get another Fighting Fantasy campaign going sometime. I once set up a game on Roll20 and ran it for a few weeks. It's a neat little system and we had a lot of fun with it. Once I changed the variable damage charts from The Riddling Reaver to an easier die cap, the game ran a lot smoother.

Fighting Fantasy needs an open world game or an MMO. The continent of Allansia is a wonderful and diverse fantasy world and it's gonzi madness coupled with it's lore rivals most modern fantasy settings. Gamebooks could be instances, with a new and exciting story. There. I said it.

This had better be a real thing. I'd be a nightmare. 'If you're not on the parchment, you're not coming in'. youtu.be/0zD01XIIekg?...

A Stranger Things CYOA book? With that iconic cover design? I like it.

Another 2000AD character I've wanted to see on the screen is almost in my lap. Holy shit, let's go troopers!

Absolute spanner.

Here's my #TTRPG games. It's just me designing, writing, editing and art directing; I do it because I'm passionate about the #rpg hobby and I love to share that passion. My short D12 titles are PWYW, so head on over and get a rules-light fast action bargain. www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher...

We've just finished a rewatch of the 'The Lord of the Rings' movies, and this time we watched the theatrical versions. I've not seen these since they were released and it was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the long series of endings as I didn't want it to end!

What a dickhead.

My first exposure to the fantasy gaming hobby was Fighting Fantasy. As a lonely kid I had my own adventures in the pages of these books, which then led to other RPGs and a much more active social life. And not just the game; the covers and interior art really opened my eyes to a whole new world.

I've just fallen down a 12th Century Europe arms and armour rabbit hole. Why do I do this to myself.

Just about to start!

This is a fantastic movie - 'When the Raven Flies' ('Hrafninn flýgur') is an Icelandic-Swedish film from 1984 written and directed by Hrafn Gunnlaugsson and it's a revenge story set in Viking Age Iceland. It's a great movie full of flavour with a proper 80s soundtrack, and it doesn't fuck around.

I'll be over on Dungeons & Dyslexia tonight to talk about gaming! Come and join us! www.youtube.com/live/YFzfHSv...

My 2025 creativity highlights: - Being involved with writing the ALIEN RPG adventure Rapture Protocol. - Writing a short story for BattleTech. - Writing a new adventure for Advanced Fighting Fantasy. - Completing a whole 27k word RPG game. - Getting 28k words into a novel. - Illustrating again. 1/

Best analogy yet.

Losing Gil Gerard got me thinking about Buck Rogers again. I've got the original Buster Crabbe serial - which is my favourite - and I've had fun with the old TSR TTRPG. This was a good game and it could have been TSR's sci-fi AD&D. The game feels a little cobbled but the setting was cool.

COMPANY: We'll be finishing at midday on Christmas Eve! ME: Fantastic! COMPANY: So we'll see you at 05:00. ME:

The first ever map of Allansia, the continent in which the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks take, was printed in Warlock issue #1. I think it's fantastic, and even though they expanded on the world as a whole I'd have been fine if the adventures had taken place in just this location.

Back in 2014 I played a #FightingFantasy TTRPG with my 6-year old son. While he has played RPGs on and off since he never really took to them and prefers miniature wargaming and computer games. Still, it was a sweet experience and I recorded it here. farsightblogger.blogspot.com/2014/01/play...

Ah, man.

I had a nice chat with the lads at Top Dice tonight, they help run the UK Tabletop Roleplaying Facebook page. Just a short chat about #ttrpg games and a conversation about a top RPG list. It was good fun. youtu.be/KRLdR5GqAow?...

the Wargames Illustrated annual awards have rolled around again and after our first ever nomination last year its lovely to be listed again in the terrain section. you can vote for us in other categories too if you like ☺️ www.surveymonkey.com/r/wiawards2025

Back when Sentient Play were trying to fund their game 'Hero of Deathtrap Dungeon' (based on the Fighting Fantasy book) they put out some great artwork. This illustration of Fang is stupendous, it has this wonderful clash of cultures and it's the kind of fantasy location I'd love to know more about.

My favourite shot of the entire 'The Lord of the Rings' movie trilogy. This is an image seared into my brain from childhood, the tower and the mountain of Mordor with the Nazgul flying around. It's a stunning image and it just takes my breath away to see my childhood imagination made real.

Years ago, when my copy of the Fighting Fantasy book 'The Warlock of Firetop Mountain' fell apart, I was so loath to part with it I ended up putting my favourite pages into a frame and mounted it next to my desk for inspiration when I was writing my first Advanced Fighting Fantasy adventure.

Show me where you work.

Still a fan.

I fancy a blast from the past - I'm going to sit down and read the Fighting Fantasy novel 'The Trolltooth Wars'. I've got the graphic novel, too. I'm a big fan of the character Chadda Darkmane and I've always got time for Yaztromo, the miserable old git.

Hi new followers! I'm a #TTRPG designer/writer. I created/wrote: - Those Dark Places and Pressure from Osprey Games - Rapture Protocol for the ALIEN RPG Evolved Edition - Adv. Fighting Fantasy adventures - Content for TinyD6, Warlock! and Vs Darkmaster - A Battletech short story - Farsight Games

And here it is! My first published fiction for the Battletech universe. Another childhood dream realised and - with a bit of luck and a lot of hard work - there'll be more to come!

The cinematics for Mechwarrior 5: Wolves of Tukayyid are fantastic. Arrow in your FACE, Weaver! That last scene is just amazing. Aiden, mate, you're a legend.

That time we tried to put Jones in an elf costume for Christmas. Look at her face. Absolutely fucking livid.

Christ, it's been a while.