Dicing With Dragons

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This rather outdated (but still interesting) reference book, written by Ian Livingstone of Fighting Fantasy fame, explains the workings of various types of role-playing games. To set the mood, it includes a complete solitaire adventure using a system it calls "Fantasy Quest." The book was first published in England in 1982 by Routledge & Kegan Paul. It was reprinted in America by Plume the next year and again by Signet in September, 1986.

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FQ1: Eye of the Dragon
Author: Ian Livingstone
Illustrator: Russ Nicholson
First Published: 1982
ISBN: 0-7100-9466-3 (British), 0-452-25447-7 (American Plume Edition), 0-451-14489-9 (American Signet Edition)
Length: 54 pages (pp. 15-68; 134 sections)
Number of Endings: 11 (not including death by combat)
Plot Summary: You must travel into an underground complex and retrieve a valuable golden dragon. There are two catches, however... First, you can't touch the dragon unless you find its gemstone eyes. Second, you will die from a slow-acting poison unless you retrieve the item within two weeks and exchange some of the money you get from selling it for an antidote.
Translation: Italian
My Thoughts: This odd little adventure, which has nothing to do with the Golden Dragon Fantasy Gamebook of the same title, isn't brilliant but is still fairly enjoyable. The sections are short, the plot barely even exists and success depends largely on your initial statistic rolls. Still, with a bit of persistance (and mapping), it's not terribly hard to win. This is a nice game to play when you're short on time. As far as I can tell, no further "Fantasy Quest" adventures were produced.

Italian Translation

The book was translated into Italian as Giocare a dadi col drago and published by I Manuali Longanesi & C. It includes a new preface written by Giampaolo Dossena. In light of this added material, it seems odd that the lists of English-language game publishers are included but no appendices for Italian equivalents are added. Also a bit strange is the fact that one of the included game excerpts (the map from the D&D Basic Set's Dungeon Master book) is translated into Italian, but the others aren't (the pages from Tunnels & Trolls and Traveller products remain in English). Also untranslated is the name of the solo adventure's game system; even in Italy it's called Fantasy Quest.

FQ1: L'Occhio del Drago
Translation Of: Eye of the Dragon
Literal Translation of Italian Title: The Eye of the Dragon
Translators: Licia Guadalupi
First Published: 1986
ISBN: 88-304-0664-3
Length: 50 pages (pp. 27-76; 134 sections)