40 Years of The Crown of Kings

2025 marks 40 years since the publication of The Crown of Kings, the final volume of Steve Jackson's seminal gamebook miniseries, Sorcery!

The conclusion of the Sorcery! series starts with the Analander climbing through the Xamen Peaks to reach the Mampang Fortress, and then battle their way through the Archmage’s lair. The Crown of Kings came in at a whopping 800 references (a record yet to be broken by any other Fighting Fantasy gamebook) and was as epic an adventure as any Sorcery! fan could have hoped for. It also featured one of the most memorable (and clever) denouements of any adventure ever published, not to mention encounters with a god-headed Hydra and entire societies of birdmen and she-satyrs.

The God-headed Hydra, by John Blanche.

When pressed on the subject of which of the gamebooks he has written are his favourites, Jackson cites two: “Warlock because it was the first. And Sorcery! because it was the most complex. Creating a four-part adventure in which your actions in Book 2 might affect your choices in Book 4 was a real challenge.”

All four volumes are in print again in the UK, courtesy of Scholastic Books. And all four volumes are also now available in Portuguese, from Brazilian publisher Jambô Editora, including The Crown of Kings, which had previously been available in Brazil.

Rather like the recent Danish editions of the Sorcery! series, the Brazilian ones also come with a unique slipcase.

The Brazilian Sorcery! quartet.

The Danish Sorcery! quartet, plus Spell Book.

Gamebook Friday: JG breaks the Internet!

Okay, apologies for the clickbait-y title. What actually happened was, during the livestream of the actual play of The Tides of Innsmouth on Sunday, the stream starting glitching and Jordan Sorcery had to turn off the video feed. I think the problem was actually a combination of the heat and his beleaguered equipment.

Anyway, if you missed the livestream you can watch it again here...

And then on Wednesday night I took part in a live interview with Mathieu and Mark on Rôliste TV. However, rather lasting for the expected hour, it went on for almost two.

You can watch the interview in its entirety here...

Lastly, I was recently interviewed by Paul Semel about The Tides of Innsmouth. You can read the interview, in which I discuss things like my sources of inspiration and how I go about plotting an adventure gamebook, here.

If you've read The Tides of Innsmouth, and you are able to, please post a review of the adventure on Amazon, to help counter the damage done by people complaining about the quality of their print on demand copies (and which are not rip-offs). Thank you.

Gamebook Friday: Forthcoming Livestreams

For those who might be interested, I will be taking part in a couple of livestreams over the next few days.

On Sunday 15th June at 7:00pm, I will be joining Jordan Sorcery for a live playthrough of The Tides of Innsmouth. You can join the chat here to help decide what our Investigator does as they visit the sleepy seaside town of Innsmouth.

And then on Wednesday 18th June at 7:00pm, I will be chatting to Mathiew and Mark on the French YouTube channel Rôliste TV about my work in the gamebook genre. We will be discussing the history of Fighting Fantasy, adapting classics like Dracula, and my recent forays into the world of Arkham Horror.

Gamebook Friday: Continuing the Adventure with the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks

One of the features of the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks that makes them different from other gamebooks I have written, is that you can play through an adventure as multiple different Investigators; not just the different ones that appear in each book, but as any Investigator from any book, or any other source, including (to date) the Aconyte Books website and the Dark Horse comic The Terror at the End of Time.

But the gaming goodness doesn't end there. You can also play through multiple adventures with the same character and have them gain Experience which can then affect their stats - including their Abilities and Weaknesses - on a permanent basis.

You will find the rules for how to continue the adventure with one Investigator in this way in The Tides of Innsmouth, my latest Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks which is out now!

New Book Day: The Tides of Innsmouth

The Tides of Innsmouth, my second Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook is published today by Aconyte Books.

The book actually went on sale for the first time at the UK Games Expo at the weekend, and had sold out by 11:00am on Saturday, which was amazing.

The reviews have also started to come in and they make very satisfying reading for the person who wrote the book.

Just as The Darkness Over Arkham had the profiles of three Investigators included within it - those for Agnes Baker the Waitress, Nathaniel Cho the Boxer, and Rex Murphy the Reporter - there are three new Investiator profiles in The Tides of Innsmouth - Silas Marsh the Sailor, Kōhaku Narukami the Folklorist, and Marion Tavares the Trawler.

However, you can also play the adventure using any of the Investigators from The Darkness Over Arkham, or those that appear on the Aconyte website, or even those that appeared in the Dark Horse comic, The Terror at the End of Time.

To pick up your copy of The Tides of Innsmouth, click here.

I'm loving Joshua Cairós's cover art,
while Nick Tyler's design work is excellent as ever.