Grailquest - Running Jokes

Running Jokes

• In every book, once you are killed you have to turn to the infamous section 14. This rule is true for all of J.H. Brennan's gamebooks, except the Demonspawn series where the killed player must go to the section 13.
• Merlin's eccentricities are showcased in each book with Merlin acquiring a new dwelling, more bizarre and off-the-wall than the last. In Castle of Darkness, Merlin lives in a log castle. He's moved to a crystal cave in Den of Dragons. By Gateway of Doom, he has moved into the lightning-blasted remains of an ancient druid oak. Voyage of Terror shows Merlin trying out a magical bubble spell which places a home of sorts at the bottom of the well in the town square of Glastonbury Village. In Kingdom of Horror he has created a home in the shape of a large six-sided die up in the Welsh Mountains. Realm of Chaos actually showcases two of Merlin's homes: the first being the enormous barrel-shaped house he is living in at the beginning, and the second one being a sort of abandoned fortress in the Astral Plane. Tomb of Nightmares has Merlin living inside a hollowed-out roc egg, presented to King Arthur by a drunken Arab sailor and given to the wizard when the King had no other idea of what to do with it. Only the final book in the series omits specific details about Merlin's home, though wherever it stands, there is a one-way door out of it which leads into Hell.
• In Realm of Chaos, Pip finds a book "about some idiot called Fire*Wolf", who is the hero of Demonspawn, another series by J.H. Brennan.
• Upon meeting Pip, most people recognize him as "...the one that put paid to old Ansalom, eh?" Ansalom, as previously noted, was the villain in the first book. In addition, the further along in the series one gets, the more titles get appended to Pip's name. By the end of the series, Pip is known as the Wizard Basher, Dragon Slayer, Gateway Closer, Realm Saver, and Chaos Tamer and is often addressed by all of those titles at once by Merlin or E.J. and often at times when brevity would be far better for the circumstances.