Excellent.
His Fighting Fantasy books (with Steve Jackson) kept me sane as a geeky isolated pre-teen.
Warlock of firetop mountain, death trap dungeon, forest of doom and city of thieves – these were a big part of my childhood and developed my love for reading and books. This man has brought happiness to many – a worthy knight.
Great to hear this, I worked for him in the late 90s/early 00s – having played his books in the 80s!
We had a couple of company ‘get-togethers’ at a cricket club – some people played cricket, some got drunk, some did both. I was the only one there who played club cricket and Ian had found out beforehand, arranged for me to be on his team – and he 1st decision as captain was to give the captaincy to me! 🙂 🙂
My 1st decision as captain was to send him to field on the boundary 🙂
We won, I still have the ‘player of the day’ trophy somewhere…
Teenage me in the early eighties loved Fighting Fantasy books.
I had a beaten up copy of Warlock Of Firetop Mountain and a couple of D6 in my school blazer through the first couple of years of high school.
Kids sitting with a paperback, rolling dice and making notes was the 1983 equivalent of playing Genshin on your phone today. Massive time sink.
Amazing news! It was those choose your own adventure books that got me into reading as a lad. So many epic adventures were had!
Loved the Fighting Fantasy books.
Surprised when I learned he was also a co-founder of Games Workshop……..Warhammer.
Freeway Fighter had such an awesome cover.
And Robot Commando.
Co found of GW along with his fighting fantasy books fucker deserves it but has also had me addicted since I was a kid.
Legend.
Fighting Fantasy
Games Workshop
Domark/Eidos (Tomb Raider, Championship Manager (25% owned the developers and published it))
I was racking my brains why his name was so familiar, wow what a blast from the past. I had a bookcase filled with his books, I blatantly cheated my way to the end of many of them but had so much fun with every one.
Well, the game dev indistry has a new career goal now.
Does anyone know why Ian Livingstone has been knighted but no honours for his business partner, also co-founder of Games Workshop, Steve Jackson?
I’m often reminded of the immersion ‘City of Thieves’ gave me many years ago. For some reason, i haven’t had that feeling since.
The Queen places a sword on your shoulder.
“Arise, mighty adventurer.”
If you accept the offer, turn to page 40.
If you don’t, turn to page 30.
Had a business meeting with him. He invited us to dinner. The food was good. We discussed business things. The bill arrived and he only paid for himself. I remember sitting there in shock thinking, “Is this really happening?”. I couldn’t believe it.
Ian took the receipt. I reckon he made us pay for ourselves and then claimed back the full amount on the company.
I can still hardly believe it actually happened.
For me the 80s/90s fantasy genre was more interesting than the modern equivalent because they were prepared to take so many risks. When it was bad it was pretty good but when it was good it was much more interesting than what is available now. He is a huge part of that of course.
16 comments
Excellent.
His Fighting Fantasy books (with Steve Jackson) kept me sane as a geeky isolated pre-teen.
Warlock of firetop mountain, death trap dungeon, forest of doom and city of thieves – these were a big part of my childhood and developed my love for reading and books. This man has brought happiness to many – a worthy knight.
Great to hear this, I worked for him in the late 90s/early 00s – having played his books in the 80s!
We had a couple of company ‘get-togethers’ at a cricket club – some people played cricket, some got drunk, some did both. I was the only one there who played club cricket and Ian had found out beforehand, arranged for me to be on his team – and he 1st decision as captain was to give the captaincy to me! 🙂 🙂
My 1st decision as captain was to send him to field on the boundary 🙂
We won, I still have the ‘player of the day’ trophy somewhere…
Teenage me in the early eighties loved Fighting Fantasy books.
I had a beaten up copy of Warlock Of Firetop Mountain and a couple of D6 in my school blazer through the first couple of years of high school.
Kids sitting with a paperback, rolling dice and making notes was the 1983 equivalent of playing Genshin on your phone today. Massive time sink.
Amazing news! It was those choose your own adventure books that got me into reading as a lad. So many epic adventures were had!
Loved the Fighting Fantasy books.
Surprised when I learned he was also a co-founder of Games Workshop……..Warhammer.
Freeway Fighter had such an awesome cover.
And Robot Commando.
Co found of GW along with his fighting fantasy books fucker deserves it but has also had me addicted since I was a kid.
Legend.
Fighting Fantasy
Games Workshop
Domark/Eidos (Tomb Raider, Championship Manager (25% owned the developers and published it))
I was racking my brains why his name was so familiar, wow what a blast from the past. I had a bookcase filled with his books, I blatantly cheated my way to the end of many of them but had so much fun with every one.
Well, the game dev indistry has a new career goal now.
Does anyone know why Ian Livingstone has been knighted but no honours for his business partner, also co-founder of Games Workshop, Steve Jackson?
I’m often reminded of the immersion ‘City of Thieves’ gave me many years ago. For some reason, i haven’t had that feeling since.
The Queen places a sword on your shoulder.
“Arise, mighty adventurer.”
If you accept the offer, turn to page 40.
If you don’t, turn to page 30.
Had a business meeting with him. He invited us to dinner. The food was good. We discussed business things. The bill arrived and he only paid for himself. I remember sitting there in shock thinking, “Is this really happening?”. I couldn’t believe it.
Ian took the receipt. I reckon he made us pay for ourselves and then claimed back the full amount on the company.
I can still hardly believe it actually happened.
For me the 80s/90s fantasy genre was more interesting than the modern equivalent because they were prepared to take so many risks. When it was bad it was pretty good but when it was good it was much more interesting than what is available now. He is a huge part of that of course.