Market Mayhem 1984

Market Mayhem is a simple Fighting Fantasy-inspired boardgame published in Warlock (Issue 3 - Volume 1, Number 3).

The game takes place in the marketplace of Port Blacksand (the city of thieves in the Fighting Fantasy universe). One of the players is chosen to be the gamemaster, each of the other players is given a character with a secret objective. The gamemaster controls non-playing characters and is the only one to know each character's goal. Each character has three stats (SKILL, STAMINA and MOVE), some of them have extra rules, like a spell they can cast or a magic item they can use.

Each turn, players move their character on the board, then characters adjacent to each other can interact, often by fighting but other interactions are possible (like exchanging objects, talking...). Combat is resolved using standard Fighting Fantasy rules.

The goal of the game is to be the last character standing, having fulfilled his/her objective.

In April 2020, Ian Livingstone made the game available as a print and play with updated art assets. This is a free download, and he asks that a charitable donation be made to the National Videogame Museum. (See the Web Links section.)