Return to Firetop Mountain

Infobox Fighting Fantasy book 2covers


caption1=The original cover of "Return to Firetop Mountain" illustrated by Les Edwards


caption2=The Wizard cover of "Return to Firetop Mountain" illustrated by Martin McKenna
location=Allansia, Titan
references=400
authors=Ian Livingstone
illustrator=Martin McKenna
coverillustrator=Les Edwards
year=1992
number=50
ISBN=ISBN 0-14-036008-5
wcoverillustrator=Martin McKenna
wyear=2003
wnumber=16
wISBN=ISBN 1-84046-481-X

"Return to Firetop Mountain" is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Martin McKenna and originally published in 1992 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 50th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-036008-5) and 16th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-481-X).

It is a sequel to the first Fighting Fantasy book, "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain", written to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Fighting Fantasy. It was originally planned to be the final book in the series but, as the series was still so popular, it was continued.

tory

The book fleshed out the details of Zagor and the area Northern Allansia in the world of Fighting Fantasy. In the Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Zagor was portrayed as merely a reclusive Warlock who is guarding the treasure chest in the heart of a mountain, and the player's objective is just to obtain the treasure by slaying Zagor. In this sequel, Zagor was instead portrayed as an evil wizard who was once slain by a heroic adventurer years ago and is now resurrected, seeking revenge on Allansia. The reader takes the role of another adventurer, and this time his objective is not solely for the treasures, but to rid Allansia of the evil Zagor.

The reader must travel to Firetop Mountain and defeat the resurrected Warlock Zagor. Unlike the first book the player must actually traverse the land to actually get to the mountain before facing its dangers. In addition, the second half of the mountain has been changed, giving the player no particular advantage from knowledge of the layout provided in "Warlock of Firetop Mountain". There are several references to the original "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain", which includes a case that housed an arrow in the original book is found to be empty and a trap involving a sword disguised as a lever also reappears.

Popularity and other references

By the time "Return to Firetop Mountain" was published, the Puffin Fighting Fantasy series was nearing its end. The series may not have continued after this title, however due to its unexpected popularity Puffin published another nine books before they ended the Fighting Fantasy series.

The character Zagor appeared in the "Zagor Chronicles" series of novels written by Ian Livingstone and Carl Sargent, and the Fighting Fantasy gamebook based on the novels, "Legend of Zagor".

Reprint

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

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=Return to Firetop Mountain on gamebooks.org
url=http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=94
* cite web
title=Return to Firetop Mountain on the Internet Archive record of the old fightingfantasy.com site
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20051127132124/www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb50.htmOfficial sites:
* cite web
title=Return to Firetop Mountain on the official Fighting Fantasy website
url=http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/ff16.htm
* cite web
title=Return to Firetop Mountain on the Wizard Books website
url=http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/wizard/wbook.cfm?isbn=1-84046-481-X