Appointment with F.E.A.R.

Infobox Fighting Fantasy book


caption=The cover of "Appointment with F.E.A.R." illustrated by Brian Bolland
location=Titan City
references=440
authors=Steve Jackson
illustrator=Declan Considine
coverillustrator=Brian Bolland
year=1985
number=17
ISBN=ISBN 0-14-031922-0
wcoverillustrator=Brian Bolland
wyear=2004
wnumber=18
wISBN=ISBN 1-84046-527-1

"Appointment with F.E.A.R." is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Declan Considine and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2004. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 17th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031922-0) and 18th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-527-1). The book is made up of 440 references rather than the usual 400.

tory

The reader assumes the role of Jean Lafayette, secretly the "Silver Crusader", a superhero who protects the fictional Titan City. The reader chooses from four super-powers (strength and flight, gadgets, psychic powers or energy blasts) and battles criminals such as the Scarlet Prankster, Dr. Macabre, the Serpent and the Alchemists. Besides catching criminals, the reader's ultimate goal is to determine the time and place of the imminent meeting between the leaders of F.E.A.R., the Federation of Euro-American Rebels, an evil organization led by Vladimir Utoshiki, the menacing Titanium Cyborg (pictured on the cover).

This book is unique in the series for its use of the superhero genre, and features several tongue-in-cheek references to popular comic book characters. Examples include a dead Millionaire called Wayne Bruce and a kidnapped billionaire named Drew Swain (a reference to Bruce Wayne, whose alter-ego was Batman), one Roger Stevens (a reference to Captain America's alter ego), and the protagonist's fiery-tempered boss, Jonah Whyte (a combination of Perry White and J. Jonah Jameson). Also, two of the locations in Titan City were named Peter Laboratories and Parker Airport, a reference to comic book character Peter Parker, whose alter-ego was Spider-Man. In addition to the above, there are also several intertextual references, such as the main character buying the original Fighting Fantasy gamebook "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain" as a gift for his boss and a Dungeons and Dragons board game.

Rules

"Appointment With F.E.A.R." employs a unique mechanic for the series, Hero Points, which are awarded to the player for every villain captured and disaster averted, allowing them to compare their performance from one playthrough to the next. The player also constantly collects clues not just to the time and place of F.E.A.R.'s meeting but when and where they need to be in order to catch various villains. The book is also unusual in that there are four different solutions depending on which super-power was selected at the start. In fact, it is possible to complete the adventure twice using two different super-powers without reading any of the sections both times except the first and the last. This adds to the book's replay value, although also to its complexity - a lot of trial and error is required to find any of the solutions.

Cover

"Appointment With F.E.A.R." was the first book to retain its original cover image when republished by Wizard.

ee also

*Fighting Fantasy
*List of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks

References

* cite web
title=Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks on gamebooks.org
url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11
* cite web
title=Appointment with F.E.A.R. on gamebooks.org
url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=54
* cite web
title=Appointment with F.E.A.R. on the Internet Archive record of the old fightingfantasy.com site
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051127132124/www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb17.htmOfficial sites:
* cite web
title=Appointment with F.E.A.R. on the official Fighting Fantasy website
url=http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/ff18.htm
* cite web
title=Appointment with F.E.A.R. on the Wizard Books website
url=http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/wizard/wbook.cfm?isbn=1-84046-527-1