Fantasy Interactive Scenarios by Telephone
Encyclopedia
Fantasy Interactive Scenarios by Telephone (F.I.S.T.) were a series of telephone-based adventure games launched by UK games designer Steve Jackson in 1988. The product was a radio drama
version of Jackson's popular Fighting Fantasy
novels, and the outcome of the story could be affected by choices the user made, using a a touch-tone telephone. A free starter pack could be ordered by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope
to the game creators.
Players could register over the phone and create a character, which could be saved and restored the next time the player called. The game played like a dungeon crawl
with sound effects and voice-overs illustrating the adventures of the character. Combat consisted of the player being read a description of what their opponent was doing, and pushing a key combination to cast a spell to combat it. The game could be saved and quit at any time by pushing 9, and the last message could be repeated by pushing 0.
Although a solo-game, players could hear high scores of other players, and actual gold coins were awarded monthly to the players who did the best.
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
version of Jackson's popular Fighting Fantasy
Fighting Fantasy
Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player fantasy roleplay gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volumes in the series were published by Puffin in 1982, with the rights to the franchise eventually being purchased by Wizard Books in 2002...
novels, and the outcome of the story could be affected by choices the user made, using a a touch-tone telephone. A free starter pack could be ordered by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope
Self-addressed stamped envelope
A self-addressed stamped envelope , stamped self-addressed envelope , or just self addressed envelope in the UK, is an envelope with the sender's name and address on it, with affixed paid postage and mailed to a company or private individual...
to the game creators.
Players could register over the phone and create a character, which could be saved and restored the next time the player called. The game played like a dungeon crawl
Dungeon crawl
A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinthine environment, battling various monsters, and looting any treasure they may find...
with sound effects and voice-overs illustrating the adventures of the character. Combat consisted of the player being read a description of what their opponent was doing, and pushing a key combination to cast a spell to combat it. The game could be saved and quit at any time by pushing 9, and the last message could be repeated by pushing 0.
Although a solo-game, players could hear high scores of other players, and actual gold coins were awarded monthly to the players who did the best.
External links
- F.I.S.T. Article at Titannica the Fighting Fantasy Wiki hosted by WikiaWikiaWikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...