The System:
General Comments
One thing that I dislike about the Fighting Fantasy system is that with the exception of Sorcery, there is no character evolution! In other words, you can't carry a character over from one book to the next. Maybe I've been biased by the Lone Wolf tradition, but NONE of the books let you carry a character over to another, and only 2 of them, Trial of Champions and Armies of Death, have you playing the same character (and this character cannot be transferred from the former to the latter). Furthermore, there are no skills which you can select. I feel that having the player select the skills he has personalises the gaming experience, and makes the game more fun. Quality of writing varies from book to book, since (despite what the book cover leads you to think) there were many writers who wrote FF books.
Attributes
There are 3 main attributes : Skill, Stamina and Luck. (a few books have additional attributes, but these are the exceptions and are not covered here) These attributes measure a wide range of characteristics. Skill is a measure of the character's general and fighting ability and is calculated by rolling a six sided die and adding 6. Stamina is his "life" or hit points and also measures his will to survive. It is derived by rolling 2 six sided dice and adding 12. It measures his stamina and toughness as well. Luck is hard to define, but briefly, it is how lucky the character is. It is determined the same way as Skill - rolling a six sided die and adding 6.
Rolls are often called for against Skill, Luck and rarely, Stamina. These rolls test whether your character succedds in doing a certain task, depending on what is rolled against. For example, a roll against Skill is needed to pick a lock.
Combat
Combat is rather simple, it is divided into rounds. 2 dice are rolled for each of the combatants. The result is added to the Skill and is the Attack Strength. The person with the higher Attack Strength wounds the other for 2 stamina points. The damage system is rather too simple for my liking, though a roll for luck can be used to do more damage to the other party or lessen damage done to you.
Shortcomings
One very overpowered part of the system, in my opinion, is the use of provisions. Provisions are food and in almost all the books, they restore 4 Stamina - as much as 1/4 a character's hit point total. This is rather overpowered for a simple meal, and they are relatively easy to acquire.
At the start of many of the early books, a Potion of (Attribute) was given to the player. These had the effect of restoring the Attribute to the initial value, maybe a touch too powerful. However, the early books were quite tough, so this is probably fair.
Many puzzles in Fighting Fantasy are irritating - they require the reader to slowly and tediously work out an answer and then to convert it into numbers, often by the system (Let A=1, B=2, C=3 etc... sum up all the numbers and turn to the section). This is extremely tiring and it is easy to lose track of the numbers, making scribbling furiously on a piece of paper a necessity.
In all or almost all of the books, one can carry unlimited items. Ridiculous, isn't it?
Variations
This system is expanded in Fighting Fantasy - the Introductory Role Playing Game. It is further developed in Advanced Fighting Fantasy. These 2 systems are like Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, but simpler. They let you play a role playing game with friends.
In certain books, modifications are made. For example, in the Citadel of Chaos, you have a limited amount of spells which you can cast. In Dead of Night, Moonrunner and Midnight Rogue, among others, you can choose some skills for your character which will be useful later on. Some books have a fourth attribute, which varies according to the book. For example, House of Hell has a FEAR rating which determines id you're scared to death (neat huh?)
Sorcery! was a 4 book series written entirely by Steve Jackson. It had many ways in which it differed from normal Fighting Fantasy. You could choose to be a Wizard or a Warrior. The former could cast spells which were identified by 3 letter codes. Many of the spells needed spell components, which added an interesting flavour to gameplay as you had to look for them to fully utilise your potential. However, you needed to memorise the whole Spell Book - you were not allowed to look at it even once through all the 4 books! (you could check it in a shop in Book 3, but that was an exceptional case).
Jackson had a unique way of writing. For example, it pays to knock before entering a house. Also, the books are linked together not only by plot but by certain things you do (confused? This is hard to phrase). If you met someone in one book, you would benefit in the next book.
There are also assorted ingenious anti-cheating measures. For example, phony spell options are put into the text whcih will drain your STAMINA if you try to cast them. Also, if you try to cast spell without the spell components (which are impossible to have gotten at that point in the text) the spell fizzles, and you lose stamina!