Seas of Blood
Fighting Fantasy Gamebook #16
Written by Andrew Chapman
Puffin Books, second cover style (Ribbon Banner) this us a first printing - 1985
While the first 10 Fighting Fantasy books (with the exception of #8) were written by messrs Jackson and Livingstone the craze for these books was growing. To supply the demand other authors were brought into the fold, but not credited on the cover, which stated "Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone Present". The author was acknowledged on the title page.
This is an interactive game book where the reader assumes the role of a pirate ships' captain and must make decisions, fight monsters and other ships (using dice rolls) and puzzle their way through passages to reach the end.
Seas of Blood is set on the Inland Sea located on the southern coast of Khul - The Dark Continent. Many other author World of Titan based books were set on Khul while the continent of Allansia was mostly used for Jackson and Livingstone's own work.
The book has the reader as a pirate captain. The premise is to gain as much fame and booty in a given time to become the next Pirate King - queue Gilbert and Sullivan. 😉
The personal combat etc rules follow the FF standard but there are extra rules for ship to ship combat.
The cover art is by none other than Rodney Matthews! Interior illustrations by Bob Harvey.
Quality wise this volume has seen better days. It has been played quite a bit. The adventure sheet had been annotated with pencil. It may come clean if a quality erasor is used with care. All pages present and bound. The pages have been well thumbed through but are clear of pencil marks etc. Cover shows the book has been used as indicated, with associated wear and creasing, including the spine. The bottom of the spine is skuffed with a corner lifting. See picture.
Fighting Fantasy were probably the most popular gamebooks in the heyday of gamebooks era (1982 to about 1991). Quite collectible, fun to play and also useful to get children to read. Bargain start price if one compares to what other sellers are asking.
