Grail Quest is a series of gamebooks by J.H. Brennan .
The series is set around a young adventurer called Pip, who lives in the Middle Age at the time of King Arthur, and who gets missions from Merlin, doing grand quests in a fantasy-like world.
The series is very light-toned and doesn't take itself seriously, often spoofing the fantasy genre and inserting a lot of pure slapstick humor or non-sensical elements in order to make the play a fun read. There are still scarce serious dramatic moments, but they are mostly concentrated in very special moments.
If the player dies, he has to go to paragraph 14, which describes his afterdeath and tells him to calculate his data again and return to the beginning. Merlin then ressurects Pip, but if he goes adventuring again, all killed enemies remain dead and picked up objects remain disappeared.
One volume, Voyage of Terror, was almost totally out of the setting, where Pip is accidentally transported to ancient Greece by Merlin and has to venture with Jason and the Argonauts in a Greek mythology setting.
The books are illustrated by John Higgins.
Characters
- Pip: the hero of the series. He used to be a young farmer boy with his adoptive parents, but one day he was brought by soldier officers of Arthur to Merlin, who charged him with the mission to save Queen Guinevere who was abducted by evil sorcerer Ansalom, because all the knights of the Round table were too busy. Pip fights with a magical sword, Excalibur Junior, and wears a solid dragon-hide jacket when adventuring.
- Merlin: the wise old wizard, although not so wise. In every volume, he is the one who gives a mission to Pip, providing him items and some magic. Merlin tends to be sarcastic and grumpy, and even though he treats Pip like a stupid child, he still cares about him. Merlin has a strange habit of changing his home setting in every volume.
- Excalibur "E.J." Junior: Pip's magical sword. It was created by Merlin who based its design on King Arthur's sword (hence the "Junior") and given to Pip as his main weapon, which is quite powerful. A special trait to Excalibur Junior is that it has a mind and the ability to speak like a human. E.J. often enters in dialogue with Pip, showing its sarcastic temper.
- Nosferax: A vampire poet who is a recurrent character through the series. Nosferax loves to make poems and feels that he is a great artist, but the problem is that he is extremely clumsy at finding good rhymes, making his works a pain to hear (for the hero, at least). He can help Pip in his quest, but can get dangerous if Pip gets harsh with him.
- King Arthur: King Arthur of old legend. He is rarely seen, but as the king of the country, he takes important decisions on the land and has one of the most serious roles. He is the one who gives missions to Pip by the way of Merlin.
- King Pellinore: King Pellinore of Listinoise, a lost king, makes some appearances as a running gag, where his role seems mostly to confuse Pip by wearing a dark armor which makes him look like the Black Knight (Arthurian legend).
- Sorcerer Ansalom: An evil black-magic-using sorcerer, who is the main villain in the very first adventure. He returns as a ghost when Pip visits the Kingdom of the Dead and Pip discovers some of his dark rule remains in the last volume.
- The Black Knight: The Black Knight of old legend is the main villain in an adventure of Pip and proves to be one of the most spectacular of all.
Titles
1. Castle of Darkness (1984)
2. Den of Dragons (1984)
3. The Gateway of Doom (1984)
4. Voyage of Terror (1986)
5. Kingdom of Horror (1986)
6. Realm of Chaos (1987)
7. Tomb of Nightmares (1987)
8. Legion of the Dead (1987)
