Steve Jackson: My Favourite Game Designer(s)

[@AdamChristensen]

Steve Jackson (NTSC 60Hz) vs Steve Jackson (PAL 50Hz)

[@arlasoft]

I was never much of a fan of Steve Jackson. Steve Jackson, on the other hand, did some really great stuff. Steve Jackson was clearly heavily influenced by Steve Jackson but could never quite capture the essence and came across as a poor-man's Steve Jackson. A shame really as Steve Jackson clearly had the potential to be as good as Steve Jackson but it was never realised.

[@AndrewSFTSN]

Ugh, this comment is soaked in the typical superior attitude of the average Steve Jackson fan!

[@stevethepocket]

This sort of confusion is exactly why the movie industry has strict rules against people having the same name; a lot of famous actors and creators have had to work under pseudonyms their entire career because someone else with their birth name was already working in the industry-sometimes even if they'd already retired. I can't imagine what would happen if someone tried to make a movie adaptation of something the two Steves Jackson had both been involved with, and both had to be credited.

[@marciomaiajr]

Played a lot of GURPS in the 90's. My favorite RPG system.

[@sbojan83]

It seems like Steve Jackson and Steve Jackson have been trolling us for decades and now they're chuckling in a pub, drinking ale, singing dwarven songs, making fun of elves and orcs!

[@peterkambasis]

"Sorry Steve Jackson (Oooh). I am for real!" -Steve Jackson 3000 Loved the Fighting Fantasy series. I still have Books 2 and 4 on my bookshelf to this day. I bought them all through Scholastic (back when you could order them at school). I thought I had all of them still, but don't know what happened to the rest of the series. Thanks for the great memories Robin!

[@fredleckie5880]

The Hacker Crackdown by Bruce Sterling and its tales of those murky times is one of my favourite books - and you can legally download it for free

[@JSRFFD2]

I appreciate the paper content. That's quite a collection! When I was a kid I had a single "Lone Wolf" adventure book (very much in the same spirit as these) which I enjoyed more than Choose Your Own Adventure because of the RPG game mechanics. I didn't know how many there were! I may have to track down some of these other adventure books series now...

[@AthleticDesign]

The Lone Wolf series is great, much more involving stories than Fighting Fantasy, which are mainly Dungeon Crawlers or Treasure Hunts. I also prefer the game mechanics in Lone Wolf though FF is quite alright too.

[@falkon215]

This was Fantasic Thank you Im a Huge Steve Jackson fan Uk and US!

[@johnharrison2086]

Fascinating. I too remember when I first realised that there was Steve Jackson (UK) and Steve Jackson (US) and both had written Fighting Fantasy novels. I like how you recognised the reused art and found the artist as well. Jim Burns does great work.

[@MrAoldham]

This brought back a few memories, i had the first 6 fighting fantasy books, Id completely forgotten about them... pre 1983 and getting my vic 20!

[@BrainSlugs83]

My jaw hit the floor when you explained that there are two Steve Jacksons. Just... wow. I live in the US, and I had no idea.

[@sverr0r]

Man! Thanks for finally clearing up the paradox/confusion of the RPG Steve Jacksons, its been like an unscratched itch for decades. Can't believe UK SJ hired US SJ to write those early FF books - WOW.

[@granitepenguin]

I grew up playing SJ (US) games. It is not an understatement to say they formed most of my expectations/thought processes for gaming. My avatar is a hex from the 1st Edition of G.E.V., the first expansion for Ogre.

[@cyningstan]

I subscribed for the computer content but was glued to the screen by this unexpected branch of nostalgia. I had a fair few of the Fighting Fantasy books, and my brother had Ogre and GEV. Nowadays I develop computer games as a hobby, and these early games are a big inspiration.

[@TheSimTetuChannel]

Wow I only new one famous set of 5 Jacksons and today I learned there's another set of 2.

[@JeradBenge]

"I really enjoyed doing artwork for Steve Jackson. I also enjoyed doing artwork for Steve Jackson when I wasn't busy doing artwork for Steve Jackson." - Jim Burns, probably

[@IsaacKuo]

Speaking as a USA tabletop and computer gamer during the 1980s, I was only familiar with the USA Steve Jackson. GURPs, Car Wars, Auto Duel (C64 version), OGRE ... all that stuff. I actually was aware of Games Workshop, but I didn't buy miniatures so I somehow was unaware of the other Steve Jackson. If I had seen his name attached to something, I would definitely have assumed he was the USA Steve Jackson and not noticed.

[@retropuffer2986]

I remember Games-a-lot. I also went to Good Stuff Games. RPG games, game books, miniatures, strategy video games. It was like heaven!

[@seannewton8386]

I saw Steve Jackson on a panel at LiberyCon 2016. He had some great tales to tell.

[@merykjenkins3274]

So many memories there! I only ever read the original fighting fantasy books by SJ & IL, I never saw any of the guest writer ones here in Australian school libraries. Until I started watching your channel, I had never seen any of the SJ (US) books or games. So interesting, ill be looking for some for my 64! Ogre looks a bit like Battlemech (the table top) Something else for me to check out. Thanks again Robin!

[@GreenTeaViewer]

You never saw the guest written ones because they were published with Steve and Ian's name on the cover, with the actual author's name hidden away :-) and in some cases totally ghostwritten with no acknowledgement of the author!

[@merykjenkins3274]

It might just be coincidence, but I never saw any books after book 7. Possibly it was because I was in high school and had moved on to hard Sci fi, but the titles after Warlock of Firetop Mountain are completely new to me.

[@TheAtomicCrusher]

Timing. I was just reminiscing about game books when I was growing up in the 80's. It started with Choose Your Own Adventure, then the Fighting Fantasy books, and then Lone Wolf. Good times.

[@michaelhill6453]

Loved it. A brilliant nostalgia trip with some history that is news to me - I was a great fan. Games Workshop also published the game that would become an international juggernaut with countless expansions and a number of computer games: Talisman.

[@scotthughes7440]

Steve Jackson caught some lighting for a good while there...My fave is CAR WARS!!! I also had Autoduel but for an apple

[@MichaelDoornbos]

:04 Looks up "paper allergy" 15:47 I love these 16:50 That's bonkers 18:00 Sooo many bits ;-) 20:38 Ha, I have that book. Love it.

[@NeilRoy]

I loved those books. I have one of Livingstone and Jackson books called "Star Strider". One of the more interesting "Endless Quest" books I have by TSR is actually called "King's Quest", Endless Quest book #18. It's copyright 1984, which is interesting as the computer game of the same name came out in 1983. The book's story doesn't bare any resemblance to the game's though.

[@bkd69ster]

The main artist of interest over here is Denis Loubet. He did most of the artwork for Car Wars, as well as for Ultima, and a large number of other lines, besides. Activision's Deathtrack was obviously inspired by Car Wars, down to the cover art and title font, but everybody seems to have politely ignored that fact, as it's an excellent adaptation of a Car Wars type game, even if it's not CW under the hood.

[@mrBlagstock]

Thanks so much for your channel and videos. It is great to reminisce about the good old days.

[@DavidB-rx3km]

Forest of doom was also my first FF book. I read it while waiting for my mum who was visiting my Nan in hospital

[@seancurtin5131]

Thank you so much for sharing. Brings back so many memories. Wonder if you also got into the 'Lone Wolf' series? Thanks for sharing I wasn't even aware of the computer game version of car wars. I'll be checking that out for sure.

[@paulwilson3210]

OMG I still remember photocopying the adventure sheet in the school photocopier in the late 70’s

[@Graehaus]

Two different Steve Jacksons, one who did Gurps and a different who created Sorcery and GW. Mention many times in past interviews. Love both different systems.

[@jinchoung]

looooooooooove the cardboard paper stuff robin! if you're into doing more, i'm all in! and as a yank i was absolutely confused about the multiple steve jacksons... i heard about the fact that there were two of them a few years ago but your video clarified exactly who did what so thanks for that!

[@cokobware]

I played the Citadel of Chaos and The Forest of Doom books back in 80s. So awesome!

[@janntucek]

I could almost smell those books Robin. Great stuff!

[@janklingel5662]

The perfect video for geeks, thanks Robin!

[@skilletpan5674]

The thing I liked about the choose your own adventure series was that it had a huge variety of styles. You could be a road warrior or a wizard or what ever. It was quite varied and the writing wasn't that bad either. I still like AD&D.

[@andlabs]

Apparently the original Fallout was supposed to be a GURPS game at one point. Also the Secret Service case was instrumental in the establishment of the EFF, which is how I personally first learned about *either* Steve Jackson =P I do now have a copy of Munchkin and want to play it someday. I wonder what the two Steves think of each other nowadays =P

[@maxxdahl6062]

Vampire the masquerade also was to originally be a GURPS game.

[@GreenTeaViewer]

I can't speak for how the two Steves think of each other, but I've heard both of them refer to the name confusion as an ongoing thing in recent years. They seem mildly amused about it

[@cimmerian100]

Not sure if someone mentioned it but the FF books are being made available in digital versions via Steam lately. Been revisiting Creature of Havoc

[@sdesros]

Huh, Didn't know that there were two Steve Jacksons. That said, played a lot of GURPS in my teen years. Funnily enough, I remember a whole lot of BBS' in Ottawa disappearing overnight during RCMP raids coordinated with the US-based raids during the "hacker crackdown".

[@Kristoffelsson]

I played Ian Livingstones books as a kid in 80s, borowe them from library, bought one or two from ebay for nostalgys sake a few years ago but havent had time to play them. After those books I made my own RPG game in the 80s,(not computer) with 3 character classes and played that with my friends, the reason being we had no money to buy D&D(not computer). After that I traded my Ultima V for c64 to D&D(not computer version). Played a lot of it, stopped when got like 18 and had other stuff on my mind.

[@Eshaktaar]

I think I prefer Steve Jackson to Steve Jackson. That was an interesting topic! Now wondering who Chuckles is supposed to be.

[@lasskinn474]

that short story is probably inspiration for interstate '76 too. madmax doesn't have much car based combat in the sense that the cars themselves would be kitted out with weapons

[@SuperMoleRetro]

Wow, impressed on all the detective work. Especially on the duplicated use of artwork on multiple games/books. How in the world did you dig up all those uses for a piece of art? I too am a fan of Steve Jackson games. Also love the work of Ken St Andre in similar type works that crossed over to some computer games.

[@goddessesstartrekonlinefle3061]

Thought the same, one guy (the British one). Really interesting, thanks for sharing :).

[@BastichB64K]

Excellent video ! I was unaware that there were 2 Steve Jacksons I just associated all that stuff to one person ! 😂👍 Now I know , thanks 👍👍👍

[@50shadesofbeige88]

Lol that disclaimer was fantastic.

[@destoo0]

For your RF connector, get an RCA to COAX adaptor. It makes the picture much clearer, bypassing that "Channel 3-4" box. I've bough a bag of 10 on amazon for peanuts. "F-Type Female Jack to RCA Male Plug"

[@adrianmorrow2240]

Wow. You just introduced me to a lot of new cool stuff. I can't wait to research the Steve Jackson Games vs US case. Seems interesting.

[@DaveF.]

Loved these books. Still do, in fact. If any one is interested in trying them, see if you find a copy of something called 'Creature of Havoc' - it's by a long way the best of the series - longer, more complex and deeper.

[@Tobiemoss]

I collected the gamebooks as a kid starting with Daggers of Darkness. The novel Trolltooth pass which brought together the 3 necromancers was pretty cool. Midnight Rogue in Port Blacksand was good and House of Hell was one of my faves yet not set on Titan.

[@falkon215]

I also have the CarWars Comic book series,it wasn't the best but at the time it was CarWars and I love it.

[@bitoxic]

Very interesting video... thanks for covering this topic!

[@ranmaz76]

Sorcery was awesome, my favourite series together with "lone wolf"

[@TheSudsy]

Plot Twist , Ian Jackson on was born in 1953 in USA, moved to UK and changed his name in 1975 to Livingston. His twin brother Steve, stayed in the US

[@richarddinsdale6722]

Interesting crossover between 2 classic 80`s hobbies. Perhaps a "Deathmatch" between UK Steve Jackson and USA Steve Jackson

[@falkon215]

I have a old collection of Spacegamer magazine,I read some were that Steve Jackson US owned that magazine after awhile.There is alot of CarWars material in them.

[@csbruce]

Interesting.

[@SomeMorganSomewhere]

Love Steve Jackson (US) games. Especially fond of Munchkin.

[@BarelyEinstein]

Darkwind: War on Wheels is a great turn based car combat game on Steam, although it's been around since 2006. It needs a sequel or a revamp pretty dang bad, but fans of Autoduel and Car Wars should absolutely have a look.

[@Zhixalom]

I think I may have some of those paper allergies because that very phrase alone gave me a serious case of involuntary giggles 😆❤

[@simonstergaard]

I remember them ! Totally forgot all about them.

[@Horos_de_Vega]

Ha... these books were VERY popular in France: they were released under the series "Livres dont Vous Êtes le Héro" with awesome arts.

[@OctavioJackson]

Played so much Car Wars! 🏎️🚓🚔🚔🚕🚖

[@Democraps_are_narrow-minded]

U earned my subscription. Ff57 and FF58 are very expensive

[@evilsdexter5261]

paper allergy he said :))) paper allergy on the web :))) good one

[@ericn4449]

the original illuminati was my favorite. A friend introduced me to it - we had many games back in the 80s. Sadly I found the CCG illuminati released in the 90s was not as playable, although my experience was limited.

[@MurderMostFowl]

I loved “choose your own adventure” books… I would love to read the Fighting Fantasy books too… they seem more like self guided RPGs

[@GreenAppelPie]

I had no idea, played the autodual for the PC, and car wars pen and paper. I did write a car wars assistant in basic that really speeded things up, quite a fun project.

[@logiciananimal]

I too as a kid (until somehow I figured it out as a teenager) was very confused by this. I still regard _Creature of Havoc_ (UK SJ) as one of the most brilliant works of interactive fiction ever. (But that may be because I regard its famous "mistake" as deliberate.)

[@GoatTheGoat]

Haha, I starting typing out a comment saying "There are two Steve Jacksons . . ."

[@granitepenguin]

Yeah, me too. My comment started out "You do realize there are two..." Kind of glad I held off. I look foolish enough already on the internet. :-)

[@Lee_Adamson_OCF]

Lol that is amazing. I had no idea that there were two.

[@MadLadDesigns]

Got most of the Fighting Fantasy & Sorcery books as well. :)

[@MarquisDeSang]

I just ordered the trilogy of Steam Highwaymen by Martin Barnabus. I love adventure books, solo TTRPG and Giant boardgames like Drunagor 1 and 2

[@midnitepagan9118]

I still own car wars and truckstop still in their little black plastic boxes. I think i bought it 1983 lol....

[@davidsantiagoalonso]

I'm so happy that you brought this up... It was the same in Australia. I would go to this shop called the Tin Soldier in the Sydney CBD and their was two sections of Steve Jackson which took a young me a long time to realise they were different. Only the more beaten up nerds knew the difference 😉 jk! Even the popular kids played d&d... Simple reason when I was in high school, one religious period a week or chess, art or ad&d. Great memories of gurps adapted games. Ironically, those who went to religion got bullied.

[@GreenTeaViewer]

Wow you played gurps at school? I went to school in Australia too, some kids played d&d but if you knew of games other than that you were clearly an ubernerd.

[@davidsantiagoalonso]

@@GreenTeaViewer honestly, we played some amazing rpgs in that time. I wish I remember some of the names. I do remember playing an rpg version of dragon ball z in the early 90s. We were the only kids in Australia that knew the series (I had watched it while on holiday in Spain, my friend brought the kit from Hong Kong). That was cool as the attacks were all martial art skills that took Ki points... But we were lucky, because our DM was friends with a guy who would travel from school to school with armour, bows, crossbows, chain mail, etc. So we took d&d to literal fight clubs. Made our own chain mail, swords, shields, gauntlets... Would fight each other on weekends in a park near on Roberts rd chullora / Enfield NSW Yes, we were ubernerds. It was a seriously fun time. Hitting each other with real swords in armour then going to play many types of d&d made life fun at that age. When ever I drive past those parks... I still smile.

[@Lunar_Atronach]

Fun fact: the video game series Final Fantasy was going to be called Fighting Fantasy but this series existed so it could not be called that

[@CanadianRetroThings]

I remember just about all of that stuff from my childhood but I never had a clue that Steve Jackson was two different people!

[@Trenchbroom]

Had a pirated copy of Autoduel for the C64 as a kid, thought it was decent. But what I really loved from the U.S. Steve Jackson was the Illuminati game (the original tabletop game, not the collectable card game). Any game that encourages players to cheat is alright in my book. Tons of fun with college friends back in the 90s.

[@LeonardCrassman]

Wow I never realised that!

[@8BitNaptime]

I love this kind of stuff. Have you ever heard of the Terran Trade Authority books? Full of illustrations and back stories.

[@666Astrosmurf]

Yea, I remember some of those books from the british Steve Jackson.

[@igormoreno3464]

Paper-based stuff on a retro computer channel...? COUNT ME IN

[@Tomahaukka]

For a good while I thought Steve Jackson just moved to USA and continued to make GURPS there.

[@AccCam]

We had Citadel of Chaos and so many others, my favourite was Freeway Fighter :D LOVED that RED Car! Was there any win path for House of Hell?? These books were such a great way to get 'non-readers' in to reading books. And while writing this I can see my collection of Choose Your Own Adventure books on my bookshelf :D Thanks to all those authors for making reading fun :D

[@HeyBirt]

Will the real Steve Jackson please stand up?

[@Laziter73]

Those FF books took alot of my yputh. Warlock of Firetop Mountain was so great, I wrote a BASIC version of it on my C64 (in Danish though). I added some crude graphics to it aswell. Most had to be loaded when needed, but it worked. Unfortunately I don't have it anymore as I sold all my C64 stuff in the early 90's. Also the Battlecars games, I wonder if they were an inspiration for the Carmageddon games on PC?

[@8_Bit]

That would be really cool to see your adaptation of Warlock! Battlecars might have been an inspiration for Carmageddon, but most likely they all draw from the movie "Death Race 2000" from 1975.

[@MurderMostFowl]

When I was a kid I thought car wars gameplay was like BattleTech with cars but I see it’s got quite a few differences and is not really a fair comparison at all

[@Lee_Adamson_OCF]

Dude, I just started doing some Old RPG stuff on my channel too. Cool.

[@justice4g]

I had that car wars deluxe edition, never actually played it and only just recently offloaded it

[@xmetax]

Same name. Same era. Same Same field of work. Same type book authors. Different continents... So the cloning worked.

[@Thiesi]

18:29 - So they put more effort into map design when it comes to towns than Amazon did with New World.

[@Balain99]

The Sorcery series has an iOS version too.

[@Jascle03]

There was a SNES game Battlecars I used to like. Wonder if it was based on the game book you showed.

[@mr.pavone9719]

When you think about it, the name Retro Racing is kinda oxymoronic.

[@doodemog]

Had ogre and autoduel for my Atari 800

[@giuseppe74921]

The Hands👋🖖👍👉 are much tanned in this video, the owner went on holiday could be

[@lassie6]

Wow...

[@rotordave81]

What about that epic C64 game, Duel Arena? Would have liked to see it here!

[@8_Bit]

If only I could have connected it to Steve Jackson somehow! :)

[@gklinger]

I am more confused than a goat in an astroturf factory.

[@8_Bit]

Then I have failed!