FF01: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

Written by Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone
Illustrated by Russ Nicholson

Sometimes you just can't beat a classic.

What we have here is the holy grail of adventure gamebooks, that one revolutionary title that paved the way for so many amazing pieces of interactive fiction, courtesy of

There's one hefty adventure in this little book, a thrilling dungeon crawl full to the brim of iconic monsters, NPC encounters, traps, puzzles, and fantastic items to be found.

It's all summed up by incredibly detailed, well-written passages seasoned with just the right amount of dark British humor and sometimes vividly graphic flavor text. And of course, this is all complemented by some of the greatest fantasy illustrations ever created. You can thank Russ Nicholson for these glorious images.

Now throw in an incredibly simple yet satisfying dice combat system and you've got yourself the equivalent of a solo Dungeons and Dragons campaign with the book acting as your Dungeon Master.

Everything about this quest is perfect, except for maybe just one thing. The Maze of Zagor.

There's a maze later on in the adventure and even after replaying this gamebook countless times over the last 20 years or so, no matter how much I try to map it out, it still manages to break my immersion and wind me right up. It's incredibly hard to traverse.

That being said, this is still up there as one of my favorite gamebooks of all time, not just for the fond and nostalgic memories but for the fact it still manages to amaze me with a fresh, unique adventure every single time I come back to it.

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is an absolute classic, a truly genre-defining piece of interactive fiction. If you've never played a gamebook before and are looking for a good recommendation on where to begin, this really is the one to start with.


Reviewed by Harrison Marchant