Literature / Endless Quest

The Endless Quest books are three series of Gamebooks published by TSR between 1982 and 1996. The majority of the books were based on Dungeons & Dragons, while others were based on other TSR properties like Gamma World and Top Secret, or even licensed properties that TSR owned at the time like Conan and Tarzan.

Mirrorstone, a division of Wizards of the Coast, began republishing the Endless Quest series in January 2008, updating the titles and making them gender-neutral.

A related series of gamebooks, initially titled Super Endless Quest but later retitled Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Gamebooks, was published from 1985 to 1988, adding a slightly more complex game system with stats and dice-rolling. A spinoff called Heart Quest tried to attract female readership by focusing on female adventurers finding romance on their quest. Another spinoff, lasting only four books, was Endless Quest: Crimson Crystal Adventures, which was mostly the same system-wise as the main books, but came with a red plastic inlay that could be used to reveal secrets hidden in some of the illustrations to help make decisions.

Consider also the Fantasy Forest books, thinner interactive books also by TSR but meant for younger readers. It even had a tie-in series based on the Dungeons & Dragons TV series.

Series One

1. Dungeon of Dread
2. Mountain of Mirrors
3. Pillars of Pentegarn
4. Return to Brookmere
5. Revolt Of The Dwarves
6. Revenge of the Rainbow Dragons
7. Hero Of Washington Square
8. Villains Of Volturnus
9. Robbers and Robots
10. Circus of Fear
11. Spell Of The Winter Wizard
12. Light on Quests Mountain
13. Dragon Of Doom
14. Raid On Nightmare Castle
15. Under Dragons Wing
16. The Dragons Ransom
17. Captive Planet
18. King's Quest (1984)
19. Conan The Undaunted
20. Conan And The Prophecy
21. Duel Of The Masters
22. The Endless Catacombs
23. Blade of the Young Samurai
24. Trouble On Artule
25. Conan The Outlaw
26. Tarzan And The Well Of Slaves
27. Lair Of The Lich
28. Mystery Of The Ancients
29. Tower Of Darkness
30. The Fireseed
31. Tarzan And The Tower Of Diamonds
32. Prisoner Of Elderwood
33. Knight Of Illusion
34. Claw Of The Dragon
35. Vision Of Doom
36. Song Of The Dark Druid

Crimson Crystal Adventures

1. Riddle Of The Griffon
2. Search For The Pegasus
3. Renegades Of Luntar
4. Stop That Witch

Series Two

1. Dungeon Of Fear
2. Castle Of The Undead
3. Secret Of The Djinn
4. The Siege Of The Tower
5. A Wild Ride
6. Forest of Darkness
7. American Knights
8. Night Of The Tiger
9. Galactic Challenge
10. Bigbys Curse
11. The Twenty Four Hour War
12. The Test (unpublished)
13. Sands of Deception (unpublished)

Super Endless Quest/Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Gamebooks

1. Prisoners of Pax Tharkas
2. The Ghost Tower
3. Escape From Castle Quarras
4. The Soulforge
5. Test Of The Ninja
6. Master Of Ravenloft
7. Sceptre of Power, Part 1 of the Kingdoms of Sorcery Trilogy
8. Nightmare Realm Of Baba Yaga
9. The Sorcerer's Crown, Part 2 of the Kingdoms of Sorcery Trilogy
10. Lords Of Doom
11. Clash of the Sorcerers, Part 3 of the Kingdoms of Sorcery Trilogy
12. Curse Of The Werewolf
13. Gates Of Death
14. Trail Sinister
15. The Vanishing City
16. Shadow Over Nordmaar
17. Spawn Of Dragonspear
18. Prince Of Thieves

Heart Quest

1. Ring Of The Ruby Dragon
2. Talisman Of Valdegarde
3. Secret Sorceress
4. Isle Of Illusion
5. Moon Dragon Summer
6. Lady Of The Winds

---

Tropes found in this series:

• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In Revenge of the Rainbow Dragons, if you choose to drink an unknown potion that promised to make you "strong", you get an ending where you are turned into a giant.
• Bewitched Amphibians: Zig-zagged in Dungeon of Dread due to the above trope... except the toad in question is large and fierce enough to hold its own.
• Circus of Fear: One of the books was actually called Circus of Fear, featuring a circus run by bad guys and all the usual circus animals replaced with monsters from the D&D Bestiary.
• Kid Hero: In most of the books your character is a kid or teen, to tie into how these books are seemingly meant as an introduction aid for kids to the full games.
• Revive Kills Zombie: One of the endings of Lair of the Lich results from you casting raise dead on the lich from his own spell book, rendering him a powerless old man. Incidentally, this is not how the spell works in D&D, but hey, Rule of Funny.
• Shapeshifter Showdown: One ending in King's Quest can become this, if the player hooked up with the wizard party member.

---