Legends of Skyfall
Encyclopedia
The Legends of Skyfall was a series of four adventure gamebook
s written by David Tant and published by Armada in 1985. They were written to cash in on the explosive popularity of such book
s, spawned by Steve Jackson
and Ian Livingstone's
Fighting Fantasy
and later Joe Dever
's Lone Wolf
series.
The books allow the reader to become a lone adventurer on a planet called Skyfall which was colonized by humans who were fugitives from a dying planet. Although the population of humans on the planet has grown over an undisclosed period of time (hinted at being a few hundred years) to the point where they now outnumber indigenous races, the planet remains largely untamed. The humans themselves are largely hemmed in to a small Kingdom known as Delta.
The series' major deviation from others of the genre was a unique system for organizing combat. Where as most gamebooks and Role-Playing Games involve the use of dice
to create randomness, the Skyfall series adopted a system of coin tosses.
Gamebook
A gamebook is a work of fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making effective choices. The narrative branches along various paths through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages...
s written by David Tant and published by Armada in 1985. They were written to cash in on the explosive popularity of such book
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
s, spawned by Steve Jackson
Steve Jackson (UK)
Steve Jackson is a game designer, writer and game reviewer.-History:In early 1975, Steve Jackson co-founded the company Games Workshop with John Peake and Ian Livingstone....
and Ian Livingstone's
Ian Livingstone
Ian Livingstone OBE is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. He is a co-writer of the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and co-founder of Games Workshop....
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...
and later Joe Dever
Joe Dever
Joe Dever is an award-winning British fantasy author and game designer. Originally a musician, Dever became the first British winner of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Championship of America in 1982....
's Lone Wolf
Lone Wolf (gamebooks)
Lone Wolf is a series of 28 gamebooks, created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated by Gary Chalk. The series began publishing in July 1984 and sold more than 10.2 million copies worldwide....
series.
The books allow the reader to become a lone adventurer on a planet called Skyfall which was colonized by humans who were fugitives from a dying planet. Although the population of humans on the planet has grown over an undisclosed period of time (hinted at being a few hundred years) to the point where they now outnumber indigenous races, the planet remains largely untamed. The humans themselves are largely hemmed in to a small Kingdom known as Delta.
The series' major deviation from others of the genre was a unique system for organizing combat. Where as most gamebooks and Role-Playing Games involve the use of dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
to create randomness, the Skyfall series adopted a system of coin tosses.
Books
- Monsters of the Marsh
- The Black Pyramid
- Mine of Torments
- The Garden of Madness