History Literature / FightingFantasy

** The cover of the original ''Caverns of the Snow Witch'' shows an Orc who is grasping his neck as he stands in front of a globe containing a woman's head. The scene ''does'' actually occur in the story -- the woman is the titular Snow Witch kills an underling just to show her power -- yet many viewers think that the Orc is the Witch (because of his long hair and he seems to be "casting a spell" in front of a crystal ball"). What is [[ItGotWorse really, really bad]] is that the newest French editions of the book cut the image so it just shows the Orc, proving the editors did no research just by flipping through the book.

* ''{{Maelstrom}}''

** A particularly odd semi-example in ''Night Dragon''. After you kill the titular evil dragon, its ''skull'' grows spider's legs and tries to kill you. Okay, it's not actually ''the'' Dragon, but still. [[note]]The head growing spider legs is a ShoutOut to JohnCarpenter's ''Film/TheThing'' -- the accompanying illustration makes this very clear.[[/note]]

** The cover of the original ''Caverns of the Snow Witch'' shows an Orc who is grasping his neck as he stands in front of a globe containing a woman's head. The scene ''does'' actually occur in the story -- the woman is the titular Snow Witch kills an underling just to show her power -- yet many viewers think that the Orc is the Witch (because of his long hair and he seems to be "casting a spell" in front of a crystal ball"). What is [[ItGotWorse really, really bad]] is that the newest French editions of the book cut the image so it just shows the Orc, proving the editors DidNotDoTheResearch just by flipping through the book.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: ''Sword of the Samurai'' misidentified nukekubi as [[SadlyMythtaken rokurokubi]].

* ''Maelstrom''

The books were were written or presented by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson [[hottip:*:a different Steve than the Steve who runs Steve Jackson Games though the latter has written a few books, see below]]. The series has had several SpinOff series, most notable being ''Literature/{{Sorcery}}'', and a game on the NintendoDS.

* AndIMustScream: Suffering four hits from a Ghoul will paralyze you, which allows the monster to eat you alive. Not fun.

* BatmanGambit: At the end of ''Trial of Champions'', when Lord Carnuss has managed to humiliate Baron Sukumvit by kidnapping you and forcing you to successfully penetrate Deathtrap Dungeon, he tries to claim the prize of 20,000 gold pieces. Knowing that you were kidnapped by Carnuss and sent into the dungeon against your will, Sukumvit turns the tables and offers you an additional prize, that of having one special request fulfilled. As he anticipated, you ask to challenge Lord Carnuss and get revenge for all the people he kidnapped and killed.

* CassandraTruth: Your character combines this with GenreSavvy in ''Siege of Sardath''. When the town of Grimmund is plagued by a series of increasingly bizarre incidents, your character, a member of the governing town council, suggests that some unknown enemy is deliberately plotting to conquer the land. In an almost chilling display of GenreBlindness, the rest of the council laughs at your suggestion. Naturally enough, events soon prove that you're right.

** Used almost to the point of absurdity in many books, when those seemingly innocuous things you gather just happen to be incredibly useful later on.

* DemonSlaying: The entire plot of ''Dead of Night''. More generally, various books have you fight everything from Fire Demons to Hell Demons to Ice Demons to Mirror Demons.

** A particularly odd semi-example in ''Night Dragon''. After you kill the titular evil dragon, its ''skull'' grows spider's legs and tries to kill you. Okay, it's not actually ''the'' Dragon, but still. [[hottip:*:The head growing spider legs is a ShoutOut to JohnCarpenter's ''Film/TheThing'' -- the accompanying illustration makes this very clear.]]

* ElvesVsDwarves: Subverted with Redswift and Stubb, an elf and a dwarf who had become good friends when held as slaves in ''Caverns of the Snow Witch''. It's also mentioned in the semi-canonical ''Zagor Chronicles'' that the dwarves and elves around Darkwood are actually pretty chummy with one another. That said, the same book also mentions that dwarves and elves have spilled plenty of each others' blood in foolish wars over the years, which accounts for why creatures like orcs and dark elves are as powerful as they are.
* EmpathicWeapon: Quite a few. ''Beneath Nightmare Castle'' stands out in that it has more than one. The Runic Axe will turn anyone who wields it into TheBerserker, while a magical mace is now the [[SealedEvilInACan refuge for the spirit of the murderous warlord who used to wield it]], and which will possess the mind of whoever tries to use it. The Trident of Skarlos actively revels in killing demonic creatures, and will [[LetMeAtHim actively signal its desire to attack any demons that might be nearby]].
* EnemyMine: The Slykk, a race of frog-like humanoids, are not known for their friendly treatment of humans who pass through their swamps. However, the Slykk in ''Siege of Sardath'' will help you if you prove to them that you're trying to stop the mysterious enemy that's threatening all the peoples of the region.

* FishMen: A few are encountered as monsters, but one benevolent example is Cyrano the Swordfish, a master swordsman who dwells in a magical painting and will provide the main character with a swordfighting lesson in ''Demons of the Deep.''

* GuestStarPartyMember: Sometimes other characters will accompany you for part of the adventure, although you don't usually roll dice for them in combat.

** Played straight in ''Legend of Zagor'' if you arrive at the Heartfires with Zagor's body, but only have 3 or fewer Stamina points remaining. You'll throw Zagor into the flames, but you'll be too weak to keep your balance and will end up falling in after him. The text says that you've saved the world, and your legend will live forever...but you won't be there to see it.

* HumanMomNonhumanDad: The semi-canonical ''Zagor Chronicles'' {{Ret Con}}s this as Zagor's parentage, albeit {{Gender Flip}}ped in that his father was a human wizard who impregnated a female demon.

* IntercontinuityCrossover: The Chaos Warriors of the ''{{Warhammer}}'' universe appear here as well, possibly due to Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson being involved both with Fighting Fantasy and Games Workshop.
* KarmicJackpot: While you're frequently penalized for various dick moves (see VideoGameCrueltyPunishment, below), just as often you'll be rewarded for doing good and helping people out. You can regain LUCK points, gain cool new weapons or items, be cured of diseases, have curses removed, etc.

* KillItWithFire: This is the only way to kill creatures like Mandrakes, Gonchongs and Mummies.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: A recurring trope in the books, although how exactly any given shield will protect you varies DependingOnTheWriter. Some shields will give you a SKILL bonus, others reduce the amount of damage you take in combat, and still others guard against specific hazards ranging from arrows to magical lightning bolts to a Manticore's tail spikes.

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: You can die in combat, but you can also suffer a number of "instant death" fates, ranging from being permanently imprisoned to crushed beneath a falling ceiling to passing out from the poisonous fumes in a monster's lair and then being devoured by said monster to being paralyzed and devoured by the undead.

* MissingEpisode: ''Bloodbones'', intended to be book number 60 in the original 1980s-1990s range, was never published before the series ended, leaving the series ending somewhat unevenly at number 59. It enjoyed a practically mythical status amongst fandom for over a decade before it was finally published by Wizard in 2006. New gamebooks have been published after ''Bloodbones'' as well, so it's no longer even the final episode.

* OutGambitted: Carnuss's attempt to humiliate his brother Sukumvit (see WinYourFreedom, below) backfires when Sukumvit immediately offers you another prize, namely that of having any wish you want granted. As Sukumvit cleverly foresaw, you want nothing more than to kill Carnuss and avenge all the other slaves who died in his arena, and you demand to fight a duel with him. If you win, Sukumvit still has to pay the 20,000 gold pieces, but chances are he views that as a worthwhile price to pay to be rid of his hated brother.

* ProngsOfPoseidon: Completely and totally inverted with the Trident of Skarlos. It breaks both of the rules mentioned on that trope's page in that it has nothing at all to do with the sea and is actually an EmpathicWeapon that takes pleasure in ''destroying'' demonic creatures.

* TheRestShallPass: When you're making your way through the villain's lair in ''Portal Of Evil'', you can rescue two of his prisoners. If you do, they'll help you fight the villain's bodyguards. Rescue both of them and they'll each take on one of the guards and free you up to take on the villain.

* SeaMonster: A few pop up, but the most notable example would be the Kraken from ''Demons of the Deep.'' Either that, or the Abyssal Horror from ''Stormslayer''.
* ShoutOut: Ian Livingstone and his teammates appear as minor [=NPCs=] with real-world names (albeit sometimes spelled phonetically-"Fyll" instead of Phil, "Ndroo" instead of Drew, etc.), and can offer help to the player. Another example is in the more recent ''Eye of The Dragon'', where shopkeeper Thomas Peppercorn is a dead ringer for Livingstone, although he's not a sailor.

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: As noted above, you'll get burned by this if you commit certain dick acts. Sometimes you'll lose SKILL, STAMINA or LUCK, sometimes you'll be cursed with some sort of negative effect, or you may simply suffer an instant death.
** A notable subversion occurs in ''Crypt of the Sorcerer'', where you have to kill the Bonekeeper to get an item that lets you get another item that you need to avoid an extremely hard fight later on in the book. Unfortunately, you're still hit with a major LUCK penalty for doing so.
** Another subversion occurs in ''Vault Of The Vampire'' with the CloudCuckooLander Wilhelm Heydrich. If you attack and kill him, you'll suffer a LUCK penalty...but if you catch him in an AxCrazy mood and he attacks you first, you will ''not'' be punished for killing him.
* VillainProtagonist: The chance to play an out and out bad guy comes up surprisingly frequently in the series. You get to play a pirate in ''Seas of Blood'', a thief in ''Midnight Rogue'' and a few books offer options to go an evil route (such as ''Scorpion Swamp'').

* AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: Largely averted. The lists of prices contained in ''Titan'' and ''Dungeoneer'' vary depending on whether you're in a large city with many merchants (least expensive), a smaller village with some regular commerce (more expensive), or a very isolated area where only a few very daring and greedy merchants will go (most expensive). ''Titan'' also goes into further detail about how a barter system can work-a master armorer will not accept two dozen chickens for a top quality breastplate, and it's a fairly dumb idea to buy a couple of apples with a bag of gems or a golden holy symbol.

* ApocalypseHow: Titan suffered two Type 1 versions. The first came when the kingdom of Atlantis had essentially become AxCrazy and was determined to TakeOverTheWorld, which led the gods of good to intervene and split the One Continent of Irritaria into three separate continents. The War of the Wizards was the second apocalyptic event, although it was averted in the Old World, where a powerful magical ritual was used to destroy the forces of evil before they could invade the human kingdoms.
* CainAndAbel: Sukumvit became ruler of the city of Fang upon the death of his father, and his younger brother Carnuss was more than a little bitter over this. Carnuss became so warped by jealousy that he tried to have Sukumvit murdered, but the assassins he contracted were Sukumvit's spies, who revealed the plot to their master. Sukumvit had Carnuss banished from Fang, and Carnuss wanted revenge, and when Sukumvit began the Trial of Champions Carnuss began searching for a champion to enter the Trial for him as a means of humiliating his brother. Sukumvit has the last laugh when Carnuss's enslaved champion, your character, finally emerges from the dungeon. Sukumvit offers your character one special wish in addition to the 20,000 gold piece prize, and as he anticipated you demand to fight Carnuss to avenge the slaves who died in Carnuss's arena.

* TheDungAges: Particularly in the case of Port Blacksand, where some streets have so much filth and muck that it can be ''waist deep'' for a Dwarf.
* DungeonCrawling: There are plenty of traditional dungeons, as you might expect. One enterprising ruler named Baron Sukumvit, on the other hand, created his own dungeon, ready-made with a host of deadly monsters and traps, and offered 10,000 gold coins to any daring hero who could enter it and come back out alive. Deathtrap Dungeon, as Sukumvit came to call it, serves as the setting for two Ian Livingstone-written gamebooks.

* EnslavedElves: They may not actually be enslaved, but the N'yadach have fallen a very long way from the time when they enslaved the Skorn and fought with the Dwarves for control of the underground realms. At their height they had both fearsome magical powers and fighting skills, but in their final war against the Dwarves their Skorn slaves rebelled and joined their enemies, and the Dwarf-Skorn alliance crushed them. Now, the N'yadach are pitiful wretches reduced to hunting vermin and struggling to survive.

* EvilutionaryBiologist: More like Evilutionary Wizards, several of whom crossbreed various creatures to create monsters to serve as {{Mooks}}. Notable examples include Balthus Dire, Karam Gruul, Axion, and the guys who created the Manticores and the Fish Men.

* GodOfEvil: Death, Disease and Decay.
* HeroicNeutral: Nicodemus spent most of his life fighting the forces of evil. He eventually became so burned out from the struggle that he retired to Port Blacksand, where almost no one would bother him. While he doesn't typically do much these days (and can become very irritated if he's bothered by adventurers who try to run to him to solve all their problems for them), he will help if the problem is sufficiently big enough.
* KeystoneArmy: A few of the {{Big Bad}}s, like Balthus Dire, Agglax and Arachnos, are the only things that keep their disparate armies cooperating. One of the major objectives in many gamebooks is taking out the BigBad so his or her armies will destroy themselves with infighting.

** A number of different monsters in Titan were created by insane wizards cross-breeding different natural species, including humans. The results include Garks (a cross between goblins and giants), Fish Men ({{Exactly What It Says On The Tin}}), Manticores (a cross between humans, lions, bats and scorpions), Shapechangers (monsters that use illusion magic to appear as innocuous travelers to sneak up on unsuspecting victims before attacking them), Rat Men (again, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin), and so on. As you might expect, they're all pretty unpleasant sorts.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: A few of the gamebooks don't actually involve your character saving the city/kingdom/continent/world from a deadly magical threat. In some cases, your character is just out to line his pockets with as much loot as possible.

* OurGnomesAreWeirder: Very much so. Some of them, like the one in ''Forest Of Doom'', are cranky magic-using eccentrics who just want to be left alone, but the gnome you can meet in the ''[[Literature/{{Sorcery}} Crown of Kings]]'' series will sell you out to the guards of Mampang if he recognizes you.
* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: Actually, not so much. While they are usually {{Mook}}s, some of them can prove to be challenging threats (such as in ''Return to Firetop Mountain'' where the hero can be captured by a goblin). The marsh goblins are considerably nastier.

* OurOrcsAreDifferent: They're among the wimpiest enemies you can face (being, on average, slightly weaker than humans), but still have a reputation for savagery. One aspect where they ''do'' stand out are their ability to eat just about anything (including wood, rocks, dirt and metal) and their bizarre funeral rites, where each mourner takes a bite out of the dearly departed's corpse.

* PointsOfLight: Allansia and Khul have been like this for centuries, with human civilizations tending to be city-states rather than full-fledged countries. Exceptions include Arantis, Vynheim and Shabak in Allansia, and Hachiman in Khul.

* ShopliftAndDie: Generally justified that the shopkeeper who forged the items he's selling is a powerful wizard, or the vendor just throws an item of merchandise at you and scoots away. Yaztromo is polite enough to warn you twice before unleashing BalefulPolymorph on you. You later run into to a talking crow who was a theif who had this happen to him...
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: When Hydana, god of the ocean, became lonely, he began kidnapping oceangoing humans to keep him company. After the first few groups of humans drowned, Hydana realized they couldn't breathe underwater and used his powers to turn their lungs into gills. This led them to become the Mermen, even as Hydana repeated the feat with the elves, trolls and giants he added to their ranks.
* TakeOurWordForIt: The Shamutanti Hills are supposedly as wild and full of evil as the rest of Kakhabad. There ''are'' monsters and plenty of dangerous humans in the wilderness but the villages you pass through are harmless, or even friendly. Birritanti, the largest is downright pleasant seeming.

** When their father died, Sukumvit became the fabulously wealthy ruler of the city-state of Fang, while his brother Carnuss became a nobleman with an essentially meaningless title. Sukumvit banished the jealous Carnuss when the latter tried to have him killed, and Carnuss attempted to get revenge on Sukumvit by recruiting a hapless adventurer to serve as his champion in humiliating Sukumvit by overcoming his famed Deathtrap Dungeon.

* ThievesGuild: Accepted as a fact of life in Port Blacksand. In one book you actually play a member of the guild out to make his bones.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The book ''Titan'' details the story of the Halfhand brothers and their followers, a tribe of humans who invaded and slaughtered a tribe of orcs who lived in a fertile territory and took over their land. The book {{Lampshades}} what a dick move this was on the humans' part, since they were the ones who started the fight, but also notes that the humans are the ones celebrated as the heroes.

Other Minimites realized that this was simple tyranny, so they deliberately nerfed themselves so that most magic wouldn't even work in their presence and they could not stay in close contact with one another.

** The cover of the original ''Caverns of the Snow Witch'' shows an Orc who is grasping his neck as he stands in front of a globe containing a woman's head. The scene ''does'' actually occur in the story - the woman is the titular Snow Witch kills an underling just to show her power - yet many viewers think that the Orc is the Witch (because of his long hair and he seems to be "casting a spell" in front of a crystal ball"). What is [[ItGotWorse really, really bad]] is that the newest French editions of the book cut the image so it just shows the Orc, proving the editors DidNotDoTheResearch just by flipping through the book.

** A particularly odd semi-example in ''Night Dragon''. After you kill the titular evil dragon, its ''skull'' grows spider's legs and tries to kill you. Okay, it's not actually ''the'' Dragon, but still. [[hottip:*:The head growing spider legs is a ShoutOut to JohnCarpenter's ''Film/TheThing'' - the accompanying illustration makes this very clear.]]

* AllThereInTheManual -- ''Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World'', which includes backstories on a lot of the villains and [=NPCs=]. There is also ''Out of the Pit'' which contains game stats and backstories on hundreds of different monsters from the series.
* AllTrollsAreDifferent -- Large, tough, not too bright -- and commonly employed as city guards, at least in the more morally ambiguous parts of the world.

* BiologicalMashUp: A number of different monsters in Titan were created by insane wizards cross-breeding different natural species, including humans. The results include Garks (a cross between goblins and giants), Fish Men ({{Exactly What It Says On The Tin}}), Manticores (a cross between humans, lions, bats and scorpions), Shapechangers (monsters that use illusion magic to appear as innocuous travelers to sneak up on unsuspecting victims before attacking them), Rat Men (again, ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin), and so on. As you might expect, they're all pretty unpleasant sorts.

* DungeonCrawling -- There are plenty of traditional dungeons, as you might expect. One enterprising ruler named Baron Sukumvit, on the other hand, created his own dungeon, ready-made with a host of deadly monsters and traps, and offered 10,000 gold coins to any daring hero who could enter it and come back out alive. Deathtrap Dungeon, as Sukumvit came to call it, serves as the setting for two Ian Livingstone-written gamebooks.
* ElementalEmbodiment -- Notably in ''Stormslayer''

* EverybodyHatesHades: Death is the GodOfEvil
* EvilOverlord -- More of them than you can shake a stick at, though slightly less numerous than...
* EvilSorcerer -- So distressingly common on the continent of Allansia that there are no actual centralized goverments beyond the city-state level; they gang up on anything bigger before it becomes powerful enough to be a threat to their machinations. Other places are slightly better off; operative word here being ''slightly''.
* EvilutionaryBiologist -- More like Evilutionary Wizards, several of whom crossbreed various creatures to create monsters to serve as {{Mooks}}. Notable examples include Balthus Dire, Karam Gruul, Axion, and the guys who created the Manticores and the Fish Men.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture -- Hachiman is MedievalJapan, complete with {{Samurai}}. The Isles of the Dawn are, more or less, [[DynastiesFromShangToQing medieval China]]. Mauristatia in the Old World is a cross between [[HolyRomanEmpire mediaeval Germany]] and [[{{Uberwald}} Hammer Horror-style Eastern Europe]]. The city-states on the southeast tip of Allansia are the Middle East. The Inland Sea region is the Literature/ArabianNights Persian Gulf with bits of classical/mythological greek and phoenician Mediterranean. Vynheim is [[HornyVikings medieval Scandinavia]]. Lendleland is medieval Mongolia. Ancient Carsepolis was TheRomanEmpire.

* LizardFolk -- There are isolated savage Lizardmen tribes you can run into, but there is also a huge, expansionist and decidedly evil Lizardman Empire around for a more civilised threat.
* MixAndMatchCritters -- Such as a ape-headed dog and a dog-headed ape guarding the ''Citadel of Chaos''.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney -- A few of the gamebooks don't actually involve your character saving the city/kingdom/continent/world from a deadly magical threat. In some cases, your character is just out to line his pockets with as much loot as possible.
* OurGoblinsAreDifferent -- Actually, not so much. While they are usually {{Mook}}s, some of them can prove to be challenging threats (such as in ''Return to Firetop Mountain'' where the hero can be captured by a goblin). The marsh goblins are considerably nastier.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent -- They're among the wimpiest enemies you can face (being, on average, slightly weaker than humans), but still have a reputation for savagery. One aspect where they ''do'' stand out are their ability to eat just about anything (including wood, rocks, dirt and metal) and their bizarre funeral rites, where each mourner takes a bite out of the dearly departed's corpse.
* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame -- Really, that's all there is to say about them.
* OurElvesAreBetter -- All Elves know magic. And they're far better at it than humans will ever be, though this verges on being an InformedAbility considering that most Elves you meet and have the option to fight are fairly weak as enemies and the huge number of world threatingly powerful human spellcasters.

* OurMonstersAreWeird -- Alongside the usual Trolls, Orcs, Dragons and so on you have some more oddball monsters like the [[http://blog.henriqueplacido.com/up/h/he/blog.henriqueplacido.com/img/.resized_Wheelies.jpg Wheelies]] from ''Citadel of Chaos''.

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent -- If anything is reptilian, don't expect it to be friendly to you.
* {{Retcon}} -- Zagor, the Warlock of Firetop Mountain has at least two and possibly three very different backstories portraying him as either a brooding but not especially evil hermit, a more evil but still human would-be- EvilOverlord and a ''thousand year old half demon''.
* RhinoRampage -- Rhino-Men are the {{mooks}} of BigBad Balthus Dire.

* TakeOurWordForIt -- The Shamutanti Hills are supposedly as wild and full of evil as the rest of Kakhabad. There ''are'' monsters and plenty of dangerous humans in the wilderness but the villages you pass through are harmless, or even friendly. Birritanti, the largest is downright pleasant seeming.
* {{Uberwald}} -- parts of ''Legend Of the Shadow Warriors'', and ''Moonrunner'' contains a simply ridiculous number of Expies and Shout Outs to every well-known horror movie imaginable, of every era and sub-genre, including the Uberwald classics. Also ''Vault of the Vampire'' and its sequels.
* TheUndead -- Mostly [[NightOfTheLivingMooks zombie and skeleton mooks]], with some [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghouls]], vampires (ranging from fairly strong EliteMooks to nigh-unbeatable {{Big Bad}}s or noncombat encounters for which you'd better DAMN have the proper doodad if you don't want to read yet another example of TheManyDeathsOfYou), a few liches (DeathIsCheap when you're an all-powerful EvilSorcerer), and a few other more exotic types.
* TheUnfavorite

* ThievesGuild -- Accepted as a fact of life in Port Blacksand. In one book you actually play a member of the guild out to make his bones.

* WretchedHive -- Port Blacksand. There are more than a few others (such as Khare, Cityport of Traps), but Blacksand is the world's ultimate example.

* {{Expy}}: Conrad the Maniac Guard from ''Moonrunner'' is an obvious expy of [[Film/FridayThe13th Jason Vorhees.]]

*** And said pirates even gave him ''rations'' as a (stupidly wasteful) sick jokes. Which also happen to be preserved by the magic.

* BurnTheWitch: In ''Spellbreaker'', it's possible to get embroiled with some witchhunters.

The game mechanics are like a simplified single-player version of ''DungeonsAndDragons''. There are adventures set in sci-fi universes, a ''MadMax'' rip-off, a ''StarTrek'' pastiche, a haunted house horror, and... ''Sky Lord'', a book which was almost certainly written under the influence of [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs psychedelic drugs]] and dadaist thinking.

** Given the {{AFGNCAAP}} nature of the hero and the assumption that perhaps, just maybe, some of the readers were straight girls, this is unsurprising.

* FantasyCounterpartCulture -- Hachiman is MedievalJapan, complete with {{Samurai}}. The Isles of the Dawn are, more or less, [[DynastiesFromShangToQing medieval China]]. Mauristatia in the Old World is a cross between [[HolyRomanEmpire mediaeval Germany]] and [[{{Uberwald}} Hammer Horror-style Eastern Europe]]. The city-states on the southeast tip of Allansia are the Middle East. The Inland Sea region is the ArabianNights Persian Gulf with bits of classical/mythological greek and phoenician Mediterranean. Vynheim is [[HornyVikings medieval Scandinavia]]. Lendleland is medieval Mongolia. Ancient Carsepolis was TheRomanEmpire.

* GodOfEvil: Death, Disease and Decay.
* {{Gotterdammerung}}: With a few exceptions, there are no actual full-fledged countries in either Allansia or Khul, because of the sheer destruction wrought by the forces of evil during the War of the Wizards. Most areas are wild and unsettled, and almost all human settlements are city-states. This is averted by the Old World, which managed to avoid the horrors of war.

* {{Shout-Out}}: Ian Livingstone and his teammates appear as minor [=NPCs=] with real-world names (albeit sometimes spelled phonetically-"Fyll" instead of Phil, "Ndroo" instead of Drew, etc.), and can offer help to the player. Another example is in the more recent ''Eye of The Dragon'', where shopkeeper Thomas Peppercorn is a dead ringer for Livingstone, although he's not a sailor.

* PrintLongRunners: The series has been running since 1982, including a seven-year gap between 1995 and 2002. There are currently 64 different gamebooks across the Puffin and Wizard print runs, plus the four-volume ''{{Sorcery}}!'' spinoff, two books that adapt the rules for a TabletopRPG, two supplementary titles (''Out of the Pit'' lists various monsters, ''Titan'' is a guide to the world of Fighting Fantasy) four books in the ''Advanced Fighting Fantasy'' system, seven novels, a magazine that ran for three years, the two ''Clash of the Princes'' books which form a two-player adventure, the [=10th=] Anniversary Yearbook, and the [=25th=] Anniversary edition of ''Warlock of Firetop Mountain''.

* AWinnerIsYou: Several of the books have disappointing endings, the last "reference" being only a few lines long and giving no details on the outcome. Particular offenders: ''Space Assassin'', ''The Rings of Kether'' and ''Rebel Planet''. Even more annoying, ''Masks of Mayhem'', which otherwise has good writing, a plot and the ending is very hard to get to. Experincing TheManyDeathsOfYou, only to be "rewarded" with "Congratulations, you have stopped the masks of Mayhem, but how long will Allansia be safe?" is not amusing.

* I'm A Humanitarian: In many of the books the player can fail and be cooked and eaten by cannibals or other creatures.

* MilestoneCelbration: ''Return to Firetop Mountain'', as its name suggests, takes place in the same location as the first book, in order to mark both the fiftieth book and the 10-year anniversary of the franchise.

* AuthorAvatar / CreatorThumbprint: Ian Livingstone seems to be a sailboat racing fan, given how he sneaks references to his racing teams into ''Return To Firetop Mountain'' and ''Armies Of Death''. Livingstone and his teammates appear as minor [=NPCs=] with real-world names (albeit sometimes spelled phonetically-"Fyll" instead of Phil, "Ndroo" instead of Drew, etc.), and can offer help to the player. Another example is in the more recent ''Eye of The Dragon'', where shopkeeper Thomas Peppercorn is a dead ringer for Livingstone, although he's not a sailor.