Bandersnatch is a graphic interpretation of an interactive episode from the Black Mirror series, in which we follow Stefan, a young developer from the 1980s who is trying to create a game based on a “choose your own adventure” book: Bandersnatch.

To create this book, I focused on gathering all the possible endings from the episode. The inside of the book consists of halftone screenshots and dialogues rewritten in a tone reminiscent of a “choose your own adventure” book.

The Redaction typeface serves as a bridge between the halftone images and the video game featured in the episode.

Shadowrun is a roleplaying game that was first released in 1989 by FASA Corporation, and is still published today in its current, sixth edition. For most of those editions, the primary typeface for body text has been Friz Quadrata (1966), which was also used for the game’s logo for the first and second editions (the latter from 1992), shown above.

Page from the main rulebook for the first edition of Shadowrun, from 1989, showing Friz Quadrata in both regular and bold varieties, as well as faux bold italics for the quote below the chapter title, as no true italics were available at the time.

Note the straight quote marks. FASA Corporation is known to have used Apple Macintoshes at their office, so the text was most likely laid out in columns on a computer but then pasted up for printing. (Early books often include a “Paste Up” credit; this particular one doesn’t.)

Page from the Street Samurai Catalog (1989, though this one is actually from the revised edition from 1992), a supplement for Shadowrun. Body text is Futura, with the page title in Helvetica Compressed and some small bits in Aachen.

Revised game logo for the third edition (1998), using a modified Friz Quadrata.

Front cover of New Seattle by Stephen Kenson. Originally published by FASA in 1999, this is a later edition by FanPro. All text on the cover, except for the stock number, is Tribe (1997); the stock number is Bronzo (1992). The latter was also used for the titles on the spines of most of the later third-edition books (though not on this one).

Page from New Seattle, showing the chapter title and drop capital in Badloc (1989). Body text of third-edition books was still Friz Quadrata, and even though by this time true italics of this existed, Shadowrun books kept using faux versions instead.

The statistics block below the map is in Futura Condensed, while the fictional “comments” in the text are ITC Avant Garde Gothic, as are some of the captions on the map. The circled arrow that starts off each comment is the greater-than symbol from Badloc, though set larger and lower than it would be if set at the same point size as the text itself.

Page header in New Seattle, in Tribe.

Typical page header for a third-edition Shadowrun book, also using Tribe.

Cover of the 1st edition, 3rd printing from 1981

Shatter is the typeface used for the original logo of Gamma World. This science fantasy role-playing game was designed by James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet, and first published by TSR, Inc. (Tactical Studies Rules) in 1978. Set in the mid-25th century, more than a century after a second nuclear war had destroyed human civilization, it’s notable as the first role-playing game in the post-apocalyptic subgenre. From RPG.net:

Gamma World takes place in the far future after cataclymic wars and destruction. Players play the survivors of this wasteland who fight savages, weird beasts and deranged robots, find and figure out ancient technology, and hopefully help rebuild civilization.
Players can be “pure strain humans” – normal people, or mutant humans, animals, and even plants and synthetic lifeforms – afflicted with wildly unrealistic and sometimes wacky mutations that serve either as cool powers or severely debilitating conditions.

The original Gamma World from 1978 came as a boxed set containing a 56-page rulebook, a map of a devastated North America, and five polyhedral dice. For the second edition from 1983, the logo in Shatter was replaced with something more elaborate, including gradients, a dimensional long shade, and highlight effects. See the Gamma World section at TSR Archives for an overview of the various editions, and read a review of the game by Tim Brannan.

Rule book cover, 1st edition, 2rd printing. The smaller type is set in Times New Roman Bold.

Map from the 1st edition, 3rd printing from 1981

Back of the 1st edition, 3rd printing from 1981

Cover of the first printing of the Monster Manual for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st edition, published by TSR Games in 1977. Cover design by David C. Sutherland III.

These are the original covers to the rulebooks of the 1st edition of the well known fantasy role-playing game Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. All three rulebooks have cover art done by David C. Sutherland III (1949–2005), and were published by TSR Games between 1977 (for the Monster Manual) and 1979 (for the Dungeon Masters Guide [sic]).

The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons logo uses Filmotype Quentin. This typeface had already been chosen for the original 1974 edition of the game. The titles are set in caps from Latin Bold Condensed, and smaller bits in Futura.

Cover for the first printing of the Players Handbook [sic] for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st edition, published by TSR Games in 1978. Cover design by David C. Sutherland III.

Cover for the first printing of the Dungeon Masters Guide [sic] for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st edition, published by TSR Games in 1979. Cover design by David C. Sutherland III.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: TimUnderhill. License: All Rights Reserved.

1: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, 1983. Cover art by Richard Corben.

When Laurel Leaf, an imprint of Dell, published the US version of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in November 1983, they adopted the book’s typographic identity featuring Bradley, which had been introduced with Puffin’s original UK edition the year before, see this post.

While Puffin changed to different cover typefaces for the subsequent books in the Fighting Fantasy series, Laurel Leaf stuck to Bradley for the complete run of the series. The Americans didn’t squeeze the letterforms, and also went less heavy with the caps: Author names as well as articles and prepositions in the titles are set in mixed case — Deathtrap Dungeon dispenses with the caps craze altogether — for a slightly less outlandish look.

The C gets the same simplified treatment as in the UK. Additionally, I and T (in non-initial position) exhibit alternate or altered forms that work better in all caps. From issue 5 on, these subtleties were forgotten, though. Now C, I and T show exclusively the standard letterforms.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: exaquint. License: All Rights Reserved.

2: The Citadel Of Chaos by Steve Jackson, 1983. Cover art by Richard Corben.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: TimUnderhill. License: All Rights Reserved.

3: The Forest Of Doom by Ian Livingstone, 1984. Cover art by Richard Corben.

The Titannica Fighting Fantasy Wiki on the US edition:

The gamebooks featured a new cover design with the first eleven books using a generic white background, whilst books 12 through 21 had a generic black background. Initially the gamebooks had completely new cover illustrations, by Richard Corben (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain to Island of the Lizard King) and R. Courtney (Scorpion Swamp to Freeway Fighter), until 1986 when with Temple of Terror the original Puffin Books cover illustration were used till the range ended with Trial of Champions. During this run House of Hell was retitled House of Hades.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: TimUnderhill. License: All Rights Reserved.

4. Starship Traveller by Steve Jackson, 1984. Cover art by Richard Corben.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: TimUnderhill. License: All Rights Reserved.

5: City of Thieves by Ian Livingstone, 1984. Cover art by Richard Corben.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: TimUnderhill. License: All Rights Reserved.

6: Deathtrap Dungeon by Ian Livingston, 1984. Cover art by Richard Corben.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: TimUnderhill. License: All Rights Reserved.

7: Island of the Lizard King by Ian Livingstone, 1985. Cover art by Richard Corben.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: TimUnderhill. License: All Rights Reserved.

8: Scorpion Swamp by (the other) Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, 1985. Cover art by Richard Courtney.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: exaquint. License: All Rights Reserved.

10: House Of Hades by Steve Jackson, 1985. Cover art by Richard Courtney.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: exaquint. License: All Rights Reserved.

12: Space Assassin by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, 1985. Cover art by Richard Courtney.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: exaquint. License: All Rights Reserved.

16: Seas Of Blood by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, 1986. Cover art by Rodney Matthews.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: exaquint. License: All Rights Reserved.

18: Rebel Planet by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, 1986. Cover art by Alan Craddock.

Source: www.flickr.com Dell Books. Photo: exaquint. License: All Rights Reserved.

19: Demons Of The Deep by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, 1987. Cover art by Les Edwards.

First edition, Puffin Books, 1982. Cover art by Peter Andrew Jones. The secondary typeface is Palatino Bold.

Bradley in the 1980s: At the tender age of 88, this quirky typeface became the cover star of what now is a fantasy classic. Set in all caps and additionally mechanically condensed, Bradley adorns the cover of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, “a single-player adventure gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and illustrated by Russ Nicholson. Originally published by Puffin Books in 1982, the title is the first gamebook in the Fighting Fantasy series.” — Wikipedia

The cover art is by Peter Andrew Jones. From the Titannica Fighting Fantasy Wiki, “the ultimate guide to the all things Fighting Fantasy related”:

The design of the cover was unusual for the time, in that book covers usually had the title along the top so they could be read on the “step” shelves found in stores — Jones, however, left room for the title of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in the middle of the cover, much to the consternation of the publishers.

The book has been adapted into a computer game produced by Crystal Computing and published by Puffin Books in 1984, and a board game published by Games Workshop in 1986. These spin-offs stick to Bradley for the visual identity.

Bradley in all caps is not easy to read, but that’s exactly why it works here: The medieval shapes add a good deal of mysteriousness, and are easily decipherable only for the initiated. There’s just one major simplification: C lost its diagonal stroke, see the book cover and the board game. The computer game packaging shows the unmodified form.

ZX Spectrum Software Pack, published in the The Puffin Personal Computer Collection, 1984.

Content of the ZX Spectrum Software Pack, including the game cassette and the 1983 “Colour Star” edition of the book.

Board game box, illustrated by Peter Andrew Jones, 1986. Here Bradley is used outlined. What might be dismissed as another quickly applied effect goes back all the way to the 1890s: metal Bradley came with an Outline style that was cut to register with the solid one for two-color printing.

Board game contents.

Game board with illustrations by Dave Andrews.

Ad for the board game. Smaller type is in ITC Garamond.

The Complete Thief’s Handbook, 2nd Edition

The redesigned logo that appeared in the mid-1980s for the Advanced edition of the genre-defining role-playing game is a modification of Friz Quadrata with an unusual open g. The supplementary typefaces used for the manuals and other AD&D books are paragons of 1970s fantasy style: Romic (Letraset) and ITC Benguiat [correction: ITC Korinna, see comments].

I-6 Ravenloft game module, published in 1983.

Monster Manual, 1978 edition.

Dungeon Master’s Guide

Player’s Handbook