Dragons, deadly quests, Arthurian adventure, bizarre dreamworlds . . . and a dead wizard who insists your name is Pip.
I never played the GrailQuest gamebooks as a kid.
In fact, until a few years ago, I didn’t even know they existed.
I stumbled across these first three volumes sometime after beginning Rediscovered Realms and, naturally, did what any responsible middle-aged fantasy adventurer would do:
I bought them . . . and let them linger on my gamebook shelf ever since.
So this week, I finally pulled them down — not for a full playthrough or review, but simply to crack open these forgotten fantasy artifacts and see what strange adventures have been hiding inside since 1984.
And strange they are.
There are dragons. King Arthur. Camelot. Dice. Deadly combat. Dreamworlds. John Higgins illustrations. Les Edwards covers.
And a long-dead Merlin who reaches through the pages, casts a spell on you, transports you into another body, and informs you that henceforth your name is “Pip”.
Let’s take a look.
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Wait... My Name Is Pip?!
These are the first 3 of the series which I own. According to Demian’s Gamebook Page, there were 8 in total that were released.
Kveto, a long-time fellow adventuring party member of Rediscovered Realms had this to say about the series:
Let’s crack open the first book which we’ll be exploring in this edition, “The Castle of Darkness”
You immediately are greeted with the Quest Journal sheet:
YOUR QUEST JOURNAL — Life Points, Experience Points, equipment, gold and battle records. I especially like that gold is explicitly marked “To be kept for future adventures.” Already there's a sense that Pip's exploits are meant to continue from book to book.
Followed by the teaser intro:
And the table of contents which mentions that Merlin is on-deck!
And that’s what immediately caught my attention: GrailQuest doesn’t simply dump a set of game rules in your lap and shove you toward paragraph 1.
Merlin talks you into the adventure.
And this isn’t necessarily the stately, mysterious Merlin you might expect. He’s old. He’s dead. He’s impatient. He tells you not to fidget. He complains that casting this particular spell requires writing an entire book — which happens to be the book you’re holding.
Then he explains that he’s going to magically whisk you out of your own time, stuff you into another body in the days of King Arthur, and employ you as his apprentice.
Oh, and your name will be Pip.
“I can’t help that.”
There’s a wonderfully cheeky British humor running through the whole explanation. It feels less like receiving instructions from a legendary wizard and more like being drafted into a Monty Python sketch by a mildly irritated sorcerer.
Illuminations from Camelot
I always loved the interior illustrations of the classic gamebooks, and looking at the ones in GrailQuest gives me that same joy.
John Higgins (of 2000 AD, Judge Dredd, and Watchmen comic fame) did a great job illustrating scrolls, vampires, swords, castles, monsters and more.
If you like the Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf style, you’ll love these.
Here’s a few to give you a flavor:
WELCOME TO AVALON — Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin, Excalibur and the Round Table give the series a recognizable Arthurian foundation — but Brennan seems perfectly happy to get silly with it.
Oh, and did you notice the front covers? Those are by none other than Les Edwards, whose amazing artistic career spans over 50 years of movie posters and book covers of all genres (SciFi, Fantasy, Horror, and more).
Here is the original GrailQuest logo he created:
And his cover image from GrailQuest #1
For those with eyes to see, they might recognize this exact illustration from another cool fantasy product that came 9 years later . . . BattleCards!!!
ENTER THE DREAMTIME — This is one of the stranger mechanics worth highlighting. Going to sleep can apparently send Pip into an entirely separate adventuring realm — with its own rules and the very real possibility of getting killed there. (So much for getting your beauty sleep.)
Without ruining this adventure for others, I won’t show the other cool illustrations or passages, but I think this gives a good idea of what these books are like.
The last page of The Castle of Darkness gives you a Quick Reference for the Rules of Combat.
Here they are for anyone interested in a condensed version of the game mechanics:
And that’s where I’ll close the book . . .for now.
I still haven’t actually played a GrailQuest adventure, so consider this less a review than an archaeological dig through one peculiar corner of the Great Gamebook Age.
But after finally peeking inside The Castle of Darkness, I’m considerably more curious than I was before.
The Arthurian setting, John Higgins’ artwork, some fun-sounding game mechanics, and especially Brennan’s irreverent, fourth-wall-breaking Merlin give GrailQuest a personality all its own.
Perhaps soon I’ll have to sharpen a pencil, grab two dice, and discover whether I can get Pip to actually survive his first quest.
Although I’m still not entirely sold on the name.
. . . Yet, I hold hopes of “Great Expectations” . . .
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💬Tavern Talk
❓Did you ever own or play any of the GrailQuest gamebooks — or is this your first encounter with them?
❓What do you think of Merlin speaking directly to the reader and humorously explaining the rules and your journey into Avalon?
❓Do you dig the old-school black-and-white fantasy artwork in gamebooks like these?
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These books are actual real spells that transport you to another world as Merlin says in the intro (the secret is that all books are).
As a kid, I found a couple of these in my 5th grade classroom and made my own dice out of paper since I didn’t have any on hand. I loved the first book and even though I got stuck in a room where I could not solve the puzzle to escape, it was a truly magical experience. I think I have actually been chasing that feeling ever since :)
I recently collected the same three books in this article. Same editions. I had a wonderful few hours playing through the first one (I solved the puzzle this time 😆). I won’t spoil anything but it has some very creative encounters. Thanks for sharing this!
Grailquest was an awesome addition to the "chose your own adventure with dice" game book genre. The humor in there is great! Just avoid the dreaded entry 13!
These books are actual real spells that transport you to another world as Merlin says in the intro (the secret is that all books are).
As a kid, I found a couple of these in my 5th grade classroom and made my own dice out of paper since I didn’t have any on hand. I loved the first book and even though I got stuck in a room where I could not solve the puzzle to escape, it was a truly magical experience. I think I have actually been chasing that feeling ever since :)
I recently collected the same three books in this article. Same editions. I had a wonderful few hours playing through the first one (I solved the puzzle this time 😆). I won’t spoil anything but it has some very creative encounters. Thanks for sharing this!
Grailquest was an awesome addition to the "chose your own adventure with dice" game book genre. The humor in there is great! Just avoid the dreaded entry 13!