History Literature / TheWarlockOfFiretopMountain

''Warlock'' has received ''two'' iOS Video-Game App conversions, the first as a straight interactive book by Big Blue Bubble Studios, the second by the Australian Production team of Tin Man Studios as a board-game style Action RPG. The latter of the two conversions was, in turn, converted into a UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch App in October 2018. There's also a board game adaptation.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The original cover depicts a Merlin-like wizard with long white hair and beard, which is not how Zagor looks like at all (he has short black hair and a black goatee). And he summons a dragon from a crystal ball. Said dragon is simply found waiting for you in a cave. The cover has been remade in more modern editions so that Zagor looks like himself, however they kept the "summoning dragon" aspect for nostalgia sake. And maybe also for RuleOfCool.

** You are only allowed to eat meals when the text tells you you can. Next books have you eat a meal whenever you want. This is especially bad in the French translation of the ''Fighting Fantasy'' series, where the rules for ''Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' were copy-pasted for many of the other books... making players unable to eat their meals ''at all''.
** There are only three endings that result in your death (excluding losing in combat), much fewer than in subsequent books: one where the Ghoul gets four hits on you, one where the Vampire successfully charms you and drinks your blood, and one where all three keys fail to unlock the chest.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Whoo boy. The Warlock's orc guards are so ridiculously incompetent at their jobs, it's unbelievable. Sleeping on duty? Check. Getting drunk on the job? Check. Too busy flogging a slave to notice you? Check. It could be justified by the fact that unlike later evil sorcerors in the franchise which are actively threatening the safety of Titan, Zagor on the other hand is merely minding his own business, and therefore haven't sent any memo for his mooks to anticipate an assassination.
* HappyDance: If the ghoul kills you, she will dance of joy around your body before placing it for her meal.
* HaveANiceDeath: A whole paragraph/reference is given for if you are killed or paralyzed by the ghoul. Said ghoul is very happy to have a fresh meat at her disposal.

* PermanentlyMissableContent: The book is filled with various numbered keys in order to distract you from collecting the three keys compulsory for winning the game. It's easy in the first attempt to be misled into collecting the wrong keys and missing out an essential one, and fail your quest after defeating the warlock because you chose the wrong item.
* RedHerring: The [[spoiler:Y-shaped stick. Even if you decide to use it in the final fight, it will be revealed as having broken. So, we will never know if it had special abilities or not.]]

* UnwinnableByDesign: To win the game you must find 3 out of 6 possibles keys, [[spoiler:because only those allow you to open Zagor's treasure chest in the end]]. If you don't find them or bring along the wrong ones, you will lose even though you defeated Zagor.
* UnwinnableByMistake: In the Tin Man Studios game adaptation, playable character Wanushu has a personal quest to find a particularly large specimen of GiantSpider. If you talk to the drunken orcs and the old man held prisoner in the very first portion of the map, they'll direct you to the ogre's cave in the second portion of the map. But if you go there, one of your options when the ogre appears is to distract it by throwing an object, after which you sneak back out of the cave and turn west. This prevents you from ever getting to the spider's lair, forcing you to either restart the playthrough or get Wanushu killed and resurrect back at one of the first two benches.

* WeaksauceWeakness: One of Zagor's weak points is [[spoiler:his playing cards. You can decide to burn them off and he turns into a weak old man.]]

* CoversAlwaysLie: The original cover depicts a Merlin-like wizard with long white hair and beard, which is not how Zagor looks like at all (he has short black hair and a black goatee, for your information). And he summons a dragon from a crystal ball. Said dragon is simply found waiting for you in a cave. The cover has been remade in more modern editions so that Zagor looks like himself, however they kept the "summoning dragon" aspect for nostalgia sake. And maybe also for RuleOfCool.

** In the Tin Man Studios game adaptation, the silver bow and arrow can one-shot a Wight.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Whoo boy. The Warlock's orc guards are so ridiculously incompetent at their jobs, it's unbelievable. Sleeping on duty? Check. Getting drunk on the job? Check. Too busy flogging a slave to notice you? Check. It could be justified by the fact that unlike later evil sorcerors in the franchise which are actively threatening the safety of Titan, Zagor on the other hand is merely minding his own business, and therefore haven't sent any memo for his mooks to anticipate an assasination.

* OneHitKill: You can kill Zagor instantly if you [[spoiler:have the Cyclops's Eye.]]

* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: In the usual tradition of mythology, you can run into a Minotaur in the warlock's maze.

* UngratefulBastard: You find a servant being cruelly whipped by his master. If you decide to attack the latter, expecting the other to help you, he will instead join him in fighting you.

* NoNameGiven: Zagor is not directly given a name. He is only referred as a warlock during the story. "Zagor" is only mentioned in a paper somewhere in the maze.

* ALoadOfBull: In the usual tradition of mythology, you can run into a Minotaur in the warlock's maze.
* ATasteOfTheLash: You can come across an Orc Chieftain flogging his servant with a whip in one of the many rooms inside the mountain.