A look at some house rules or variants to play Fighting Fantasy.
Disclaimer. Rand Roll is an affiliate of Drive Thru RPG.
Fighting Fantasy Formula
I've been playing Fighting Fantasy on and off since I was 11 (with Caverns of the Snow Witch). Some I've found easier or got lucky (Forest of Doom, Scorpion Swamp on Neutral) and others near-impossible (Crypt of the Sorcerer).
But the basic formula of Skill, Stamina and Luck and combat remains the same through the books. But there are many ways to play it, from turning back to the last page to only eating provisions when it makes sense (instead of stuffing 5 meals to regain 20 Stamina after fighting that troll).
I asked on the r/gamebooks and r/fightingfantasy subreddits for peoples house rules, added a couple of personal ones...and wrote them up below.
6 Character Creation Variants
- Chargen Reroll. Get one reroll to be used when rolling up Skill, Stamina and Luck
- Set Stats. Use the same set of stats each time (Sk 11 St 16 Lu 9, Sk 10 / St 20 / Lu 10, Sk 9 St 22 Lu 12 etc)
- Roll Skill Twice. Roll twice for Skill and take the higher result. Because Skill is so important
- Cycle Up. Start with Skill 7, Stamina 14, Luck 7. Each time you fail, add +1 Skill, +2 Stamina and +1 Luck.
- Better Each Time. If you die or fail on first run through, each subsequent one your stats improve slightly until you complete the adventure.
- Invert Luck. Don't roll for Luck. Instead Skill 7 = 12 Luck, Skill 8 = 11 Luck, Skill 9 = 10 Luck, Skill 10 = 9 Luck, Skill 11 = 8 Luck and Skill 12 = 7 Luck.
6 Combat Variants
- Swingy Combat. A successful hit doesn't do 2 damage, it does damage equal to the difference between the opposing rolls (or totals)
- Draws Hurt. If a combat result is a draw, both sides get injured. Use Luck to reduce or increase damage as usual
- Double is Critical. Doubles on the attack roll for the player is a critical. This could be double damage, or insta-kill for easier version
- Snake Eyes Lucky. If you get a snake eyes in combat it deals a hit as if you'd Tested Luck successfully to do extra damage
- Skip Combat Altogether. For some people it's the least interesting bit
- Simplified Multiple Opponents. When fighting multiple opponents, use the stats of the first one and only roll an attack roll for them (and not all the others). Give them +1 to Skill for each other opponent left. Once you've killed first one, move onto the next
4 Gameplay Variants
- Fate Points. Spend 1 to reroll a dice roll or ignore a "You fall into a pit and die" insta-kill passages (that don't make much sense)
- Ignore Insta-deaths. Keep track of last page, in case an insta-death "Your Adventure Ends Here" comes out of nowhere
- Use a Fighting Fantasy-based RPG. Use an RPG such as Advanced Fighting Fantasy (2e) to play through the gamebook. Similar games such as Troika and Warlock! can also work.
- Use Same Character. Use the same character for multiple gamebooks, carrying over (or resetting) their stats.
Finishing Up
Hope this is useful to someone. Been trying some of them while playing through new and older Fighting Fantasy books.
Any other house rules or variants to add?
