Island of the Lizard King

Infobox Fighting Fantasy book 2covers


caption1=The original cover of "Island of the Lizard King" illustrated by Ian McCaig


caption2=The Wizard cover of "Island of the Lizard King" illustrated by Martin McKenna
location=Fire Island, Allansia, Titan
references=400
authors=Ian Livingstone
illustrator=Alan Langford
coverillustrator=Ian McCaig
year=1984
number=7
ISBN=ISBN 0-14-031743-0
wcoverillustrator=Martin McKenna
wyear=2003
wnumber=17
wISBN=ISBN 1-84046-491-7

"Island of the Lizard King" is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Alan Langford and originally published in 1984 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2003. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 7th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031743-0) and 17th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-491-7).

tory

Like much of the "Fighting Fantasy" series, "Island of the Lizard King" is set in the fictional world of Titan; this particular adventure takes place on the continent of Allansia. The player's character begins the story by travelling from the populous city of Fang to the quiet coastal village of Oyster Bay, only to discover that the village is regularly being attacked by the Lizard Men of Fire Island, and that young men are being carried off to serve as slaves in their gold mines. The game proper begins with the player character and their old friend Mungo setting sail for Fire Island, intent on righting the situation.

Like many other Ian Livingstone Fighting Fantasy books, such as "Deathtrap Dungeon" and "Temple of Terror", "Island of the Lizard King" has multiple paths which lead to the final confrontation, although the overall journey is fairly linear. This linear design, combined with the fact that there are a bare minimum of essential items to collect, means that any path can lead to a successful quest. However, some paths and items can make the adventure much more easy or difficult. Despite a distinct lack of 'sudden death' sections in the book, several bruising encounters can make this a difficult quest to complete, even with a "Skill" of 11 or more. This book is notable for the massive battle between the freed slaves and Lizard Men which takes place, one of the few large scale battles depicted in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook.

According to , the Lizard King's domain is an outpost of the same Lizard Man Empire that besiege the city of Vymorna depicted in "Battleblade Warrior", book #31 of the original series.

Cover

"Island of the Lizard King" was the final Fighting Fantasy book to be produced using the original cover layout when originally published by Puffin.

The Special Limited Edition of the Wizard version used gold embossing as opposed to the usual silver.

Dedication

The book is dedicated to Roy Coleman, the deputy head of Livingstone's old school, Altrincham Grammar School For Boys.

ee also

*Fighting Fantasy
*List of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks
*Battleblade Warrior, which also pits the reader against Lizard Men enemies

References

* cite web
title=Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks on gamebooks.org
url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11
* cite web
title=Island of the Lizard King on gamebooks.org
url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=44
* cite web
title=Island of the Lizard King on the Internet Archive record of the old fightingfantasy.com site
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051127132124/www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb7.htmOfficial sites:
* cite web
title=Island of the Lizard King on the official Fighting Fantasy website
url=http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/ff17.htm
* cite web
title=Island of the Lizard King on the Wizard Books website
url=http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/wizard/wbook.cfm?isbn=1-84046-491-7Magazines:
* cite journal
year = 1984
month = May
title = Open Box
journal = White Dwarf
issue = 53
pages = 16–17