Titan (Fighting Fantasy book)

Titan
Cover of Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World (1986)
Art by Christos Achilleos
Authors Marc Gascoigne
Steve Jackson
Ian Livingstone
Genre Adventure Gamebook
Publisher Puffin
Pages 128 (1986 edition) & 302 (1989 edition)
ISBN 0-14-032127-6 (1985 edition) & 0-14-034132-3 (1989 edition)
OCLC 17230613

Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World is a book in the Fighting Fantasy series of children's fantasy books, first published by Puffin Books in 1986. Although credited to Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, it was actually written by Marc Gascoigne (credited as editor),[1] although mostly based on locations, characters and events already described in other books in the series (including Jackson's and Livingstone's). It is written in the manner of an encyclopedia about the fantasy world of Titan, in which the majority of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks are set.

Summary

The book was first published in size 21 by 30 centimetres, with colour illustrations inside the covers. A smaller edition (with more pages) was published in 1989 without the colour illustrations. There was a new edition as an e-book by Arion Games in 2011.

The cover was by Chris Achilleos, and is still available to buy as a poster. The black-and-white internal illustrations and maps are by John Blanche (who also contributed one of the internal colour illustrations), Paul Bonner, Leo Hartas, Bob Harvey, Bill Houston, Alan Langford, Steve Luxton, Iain McCaig, Russ Nicholson, Wil Rees, John Sibbick, and Gary Ward.

After a foreword by Jackson and Livingstone, the rest of the book deals with the following topics:

  • The three continents of the fictional world of Titan
  • Astronomy (the stars visible from Titan)
  • History and legend
  • Gods, demons and hell
  • The various humanoid species who live there (such as elves, dwarves, snake people, lizard men)
  • Notable individuals (good, evil and neutral)
  • Underwater kingdoms
  • Titan's calendars
  • Money and trade
  • A description of life on Titan

Geography

The fictional world of Titan is the setting for the majority of the Fighting Fantasy titles. There are three main continents: Allansia, Khul and The Old World, and other remote locations such as the Isles of the Dawn and Arrowhead Islands.

Allansia is apparently the largest continent and the setting for many of the earliest Fighting Fantasy titles. The city-state of Port Blacksand (City of Thieves), town of Fang (Deathtrap Dungeon) and the Icefinger Mountains (Caverns of the Snow Witch) are all located in Allansia.[2] The majority of the Fighting Fantasy books are set in Allansia.

West of Allansia lies the "Old World" continent. The Old World is a largely civilized land mass which escaped the cataclysmic wars that devastated the other continents of Titan. It is divided into several kingdoms. The eastern land of Kakhabad is the setting for the Sorcery! series.[3]

Khul is a continent to the south of the other two. It is named "the Dark Continent", both due to its remoteness from the other continents and the dark blackish colour of its earth and rocks.[4] Central Khul is dominated by the Wastes of Chaos, a huge internal desert rife with mutants and monsters.[5]

Characters

Titan is not a novel, but it describes various characters and their biographies. Many of them are characters who had already appeared in gamebooks (usually the main opponent who has to be defeated at the end of each book), but some were taken from Warlock magazine or were invented by Gascoigne for this book.

Characters encountered in gamebooks who appear in Titan include:

References

  1. ↑ YOU Are The Hero: A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, Green, Jonathan (2014, Snowbooks), p. 66
  2. ↑ Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World, Marc Gascoigne, Puffin Books 1986. (pp. 14-25) ( ISBN 0-14-032127-6)
  3. ↑ Gascoigne, 1986, (pp. 26-34).
  4. ↑ Gascoigne, 1986, (pp. 35-36).
  5. ↑ Gascoigne, 1986 (pp. 35-43).
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