Freeway Fighter - Attempt 1

Cover by Jim Burns

After a rogue killer virus, a vast, barbaric wilderness is all that remains of the world. Survivors like you either live in scattered, fortified towns, or roam outside as bandits. Life is lawless and dangerous.

YOUR mission is to cross the wilderness to the far-distant oil-refinery at San Anglo and bring vital supplies back to the peaceful town of New Hope. Even in the armed Dodge Interceptor you are given, the journey will be wild and perilous. Will YOU survive?

I can't tell you what a massive relief it is to be back playing a book in the main series.  Sorcery! is great, but tackling all of those wrap-up posts one after the other was a real slog.  I finished playing The Crown of Kings back in August, so they took the better part of a year.  I'm back on a more regular schedule now though - with all three of my blogs - and hopefully I can make some headway.  My whole goal with this blog was to make a point of playing every book in the series, especially those in the back half, so it's about time I properly got to it.

That brings me to Freeway Fighter, written by Ian Livingstone and illustrated by Kevin Bulmer, a book based on Australia's greatest contribution to science fiction and pop culture at large.  The UK gave us Doctor Who, the USA gave us Star Wars and Star Trek, and in return we gave the world Mad Max.  It's a smaller property, but for a window in the 1980s it inspired a shed-load of imitators in almost every medium you can name: movies, books, video games, pro-wrestling, you name it.  And yes, gamebooks, most notably Freeway Fighter and Joe Dever's Freeway Warrior.  (Jeez Joe, couldn't you have at least come up with a more original name?)

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little disappointed to be playing a sci-fi book.  None of them are among my favourites, and if my memory is correct I never owned any of them when I was a kid.  My friends had them, and I'd happily borrow them - well, all of them except Sky Lord - but when the time came to choose I always went for the fantasy books.  I don't think I've ever met a Fighting Fantasy fan who felt differently.  At least this one has its own novelty, though, being the only non-fantasy book that Ian wrote (in the original series, anyway).

The premise is this: in July 2022, when civilisation is at its peak, a killer virus wipes out 85 percent of the world's population in four days.  The survivors are left to carry on, with some choosing to band together in small settlements and others living lawlessly on the outside.  The hero of the book lives in a town called New Hope, and he's been tasked with driving to the distant town of San Anglo to collect a big tanker of petrol.  To accomplish that task, he's been provided with a modified Dodge Interceptor, complete with machine guns, rockets, and other gadgets.  The premise is a little bit close to home right now, but Ian puts a silver lining on it by frequently reminding the reader that, if civilisation falls, at least you'll get to drive really fast with no police around.

Reading the rules for this book was something of a revelation for me.  I've played Freeway Fighter plenty of times, but I don't think I've ever played it properly.  Here's a summary of the things that have changed from the baseline Fighting Fantasy rules:

• Instead of rolling 2d6 + 12 for Stamina, you roll 2d6 + 24.
• Nothing is mentioned about being able to Test your Luck in combat.
• Stats are rolled for your car.  Firepower is rolled on 1d6 + 6, and Armour is rolled on 2d6 + 24.
• Melee combat follows the usual process, but punches only do a single point of damage.  The first opponent to lose 6 Stamina points is knocked out.
• Shooting combat also works the same, but guns do more damage (usually 1d6).
• Vehicle combat works like missile combat, with the car's Firepower standing in for Skill and its Armour standing in for Stamina.  You can win any vehicle combat instantly by firing a rocket.

I must have only ever skimmed there rules, because I've always played it with the standard number of Stamina points, and I've never used the knockout rule.  I don't think I ever knew that you could use rockets in battle, either.  No wonder I've always found this one difficult to win.

For Skill I rolled an 11, for Stamina a 31, and for Luck an 11.  For my car, I rolled an 11 for Firepower and a 31 for Armour.  Those were very solid stats all around, and I had some confidence of at least making it a decent way through the book.

For my mission I'm given 200 credits.  I guess I have a gun as well.  My car has an unlimited supply of bullets, four rockets, three canisters of iron spikes, and two rear-mounted oil sprays.  The Adventure Sheet shows that I have two spare tyres, even though they're not mentioned in the text.  I've also got a med-kit, with ten packs of medical supplies. Each pack can be used at any time to restore 4 Stamina points.

Al Bundy had a beloved Dodge.
You don't think...?

I tore out of New Hope in my Dodge Interceptor, surprised at how quickly the world had fallen into disarray.  About 15 kilometres out of New Hope, I stopped at a small town and switched off the engine.  (Why?  That's like a five or ten minute drive.  Did I forget to take a wee before I left or something?)  I was about to get back in the car when I hear a gunshot, and I decided to investigate.

I tried to be stealthy, but upon rounding a corner I heard a voice threatening to fill me full of holes.  He asked me where I was from, and I decided to tell the truth: I was from New Hope.  The man stepped out into view and introduced himself as Johnson.  His wife and son had been killed a week ago, and he'd just now been attacked by dogs while looking for food.  He seemed like a good bloke, so I directed him to New Hope.  In turn, he warned me to avoid Joe's Garage, where they apparently rob anyone who stops there.  We shook hands and said our goodbyes.

She must have found the last bottle
of conditioner in the wastelands.

Further down the road I came to Joe's Garage, where I saw a girl in jeans and a t-shirt.  Johnson hadn't mentioned anything about a girl, so I pulled over.  I stepped out of the car to try out some of my smoothest moves, but a before I could start a bearded man stepped out with a crowbar and demanded my keys and credits.  I wasn't about to allow myself to be robbed by anyone armed with a crowbar, so I pulled my knife and went for his neck.

The Thug (Skill 7, Stamina 10) took a few hits from my knife before passing out from blood loss.  The girl took off in a hot rod, but rather than chase her I decided to search the garage.  All I found was a heavy chain, which I took with me.

I took off again, smiling as I got my engine up to 190km/h.  Further up the road I spotted an armour-plated Red Chevvy (Firepower 8, Armour 15) coming right at me, with a machine-gunner in a turret on the roof.  The occupants were obviously hostile, so I let them have it with my machine guns.  I took a small amount of return fire (reducing my Armour to 27), but soon enough the Chevvy was destroyed and I was on my way.

Is he wearing a bathrobe?

Not long after I was contacted on the radio by one of New Hope's leaders.  A gang of bikers had attacked them, killing eight people and kidnapping Sinclair, the council leader.  I promised to keep an eye out for them.  (I'm going to pretend that this is actually Clive Sinclair, eccentric English entrepreneur and the man responsible for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Knowing Ian's gaming history, I doubt that he picked the name by accident.)

I also stopped and refilled by petrol tank.  With no petrol left, I was going to have to find more if I was going to make it to San Anglo.  (No wonder New Hope needs petrol, they only have enough to fill a car up twice.)

The road north soon ended at a road heading east and west.  I turned to the east, and soon spotted an ambulance parked off to the right.  Thinking that I might be able to find some petrol, I pulled over to investigate.  The cab was empty, and there were no other signs of life, so I decided to take a look in the back.

I got no caption here, it's just
an ambulance.

As I opened the rear door there was a blinding explosion, and I was sent reeling backwards (with my Stamina reduced to 30).  Feeling too weak to reach the Interceptor, I decided to crawl into the long grass at the side of the road. A scruffy man wearing a headband and smoking a cigar soon appeared to investigate.  He was carrying a gun, and when he saw my blood trail he turned and fired blindly into the grass.  His shot missed (because of a Luck test that reduced my score to 10), and I returned fire on the Highwayman (Skill 8, Stamina 12).

Hampered by my injuries (which temporarily reduced my Skill to 10), I had some trouble killing the Highwayman, and he shot me multiple times before I finished him off.  (This reduced my Stamina to 17, and made the aforementioned Skill loss permanent.)  In his pockets I found 150 credits and a pair of knuckle-dusters.

Taking off again, I came to a side road heading south, and decided to check it out.  After a few miles (make up your mind Ian, is this world metric or not?) the road ended at a river.  A crude wooden bridge crossed it, and there was a sign warning me to keep out.  No skull and crossbones could deter me, so I decided to cross.

I bet he doesn't really mean it.

I steered carefully across, but my caution was all for naught, as somebody detonated a bomb underneath the bridge when I was halfway to the other side.  My adventure was over.

THE POST-GAME

That went pretty badly.  I got shot up at the ambulance, and then my desire to explore everywhere - regardless of warnings - got me an instant death.  I should have known better than to go driving off in the opposite direction of my destination.