Editing Fighting Fantasy (section)

==Reception==
In March 1983, the top three entries of the Sunday ''[[The Times|Times]]'' bestseller list were occupied by ''Fighting Fantasy'' books.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28865399|title=The retro cult around Fighting Fantasy gamebooks|date=25 August 2014|work=BBC|access-date=17 June 2019}}</ref> The series sold 20 million copies in the 80s and 90s.<ref name=":2" />

''Fighting Fantasy'' was ranked 47th in the 1996 reader poll of ''[[Arcane Magazine|Arcane]]'' magazine to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time.  The UK magazine's editor Paul Pettengale commented: "To say that it is basic would be a huge understatement – ''Fighting Fantasy'' has just a couple of stats from which a character is created, and combat is a simple case of rolling six-sided dice, pitching one creature's stats against another. It's fun, quick and easy, which explains its popularity."<ref name="Arcane14">{{cite journal|last= Pettengale|first=Paul|date= Christmas 1996 |title=Arcane Presents the Top 50 Roleplaying Games 1996|journal=Arcane|publisher=[[Future plc|Future Publishing]]|issue=14|pages=25–35}}</ref>

=== Moral panic ===
The books were published with illustrations from Games Workshop which, though something Puffin was resistant to accept, Ian Livingstone credits as part of the series' success.<ref name=":0" /> However, partially as a result of the covers, the game, along with ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', became the subject of a [[moral panic]]. The [[Evangelical Alliance]] issued a warning that the books would lead to players interacting with the devil, while parents reported that after reading their children developed supernatural powers, including one mother who reported that her child started to fly.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076mwd|title=Dicing with Dragons|date=August 2004|type=Radio broadcast|language=en|publisher=BBC}}</ref> When asked about the controversy, Jackson replied that they were very grateful for it, as it helped their sales figures.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.laughingjackal.co.uk/post/fighting-fantasy-talisman-of-death-battles-its-way-through-submission|title=Fighting Fantasy: Talisman of Death battles its way through submission|website=www.laughingjackal.co.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-04-14}}</ref> Game historian Stu Horvath commented "The moral panic didn't dent sales. ''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' and the ''Fighting Fantasy'' series proved to be a massive on-ramp for bringing new players into the RPG hobby, particularly in the [[British commonwealth]] ... ''Firetop Mountain'' alone was reprinted five times in 1982, ten times in 1983, and seven more in 1984, eventually selling well over two million copies and inspiring a popular board game to boot."<ref name=mahg>{{cite book| last = Horvath| first = Stu| title = Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground| publisher = MIT Press| date = 2023| location = Cambridge, Massachusetts| pages = 107 | isbn =9780262048224 }}</ref>