Taking a look back at Season 1 of 100 Endings Book Club, before returning in September.
Season 1 of 100 Endings Book Club
Soon after 31 Days of Gamebooks in July last year, the idea of a gamebook book club was born. The 100 Endings Book Club started in September 2025 with the classic Heart of Ice by Dave Morris, and followed up with a gamebook or series each month after that. We finished Season 1 with Steam Highwayman in May and a summer break until September when we start again.
It's been a pleasure to run the 100 Endings Book Club. We've played lots of gamebooks, with most discussion on Discord, some on Reddit and a minor presence on Facebook. I'm also assuming lots of people bought and played the books without ever saying anything, maybe contributing with an upvote or nod.
The gamebook highlights for me were the Interview with Dave Morris, managing to finish Creature of Havoc for the first time and finishing with Steam Highwayman, my favourite series!
There was lots of people (including me) reading new gamebooks and trying things out of their usual reading preferences. There's a small community which formed on our 100 Endings Discord Server. They've even organised to do a mini-bookclub for the Lindenbaum Competition over the summer (while I'm having a break from organising).
Two of the books we had the authors active in our discussions, making rules questions easier and getting an inside perspective.
Our Books Were....
From first to last in series our books were.
- Heart of Ice by Dave Morris (Sept 2025, theme of Getting it Started). Plus an Interview with Dave Morris in the same month.
- Nightshift by Victoria Hancox (Oct 2025, theme of Horror). Plus an Interview with Victoria Hancox from the same month.
- Scorpion Swamp by Steve Jackson (USA) (Nov 2025, theme of Fighting Fantasy)
- Lost in the City by Joseph Fry (Dec 2025, New Gamebooks by New Authors). Previous Interview with Joseph Fry from September
- The Darkness over Arkham by Jonathan Green (Jan 2026, New Gamebooks by Established Authors). Plus an interview with Jonathan from 2025.
- Twilight's Edge by August Hahn - Chronicles of Magnamund (Feb 2026, theme of Science Fiction). Plus an interview with August Hahn from the same month.
- Fabled Lands by Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson (Mar 2026, theme of open-world series) . Previous interviews with Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson.
- Creature of Havoc and House of Hell by Steve Jackson (UK) (April 2026, theme of Fighting Fantasy by Steve Jackson UK).
- Steam Highwayman by Martin Barnabas Noutch (May 2026, theme of open-world series - was joint winner for March poll) Previous interview with Martin and follow-up interview a year later.
Unintentionally we actually had a fair spread of genres.
- 2-3 Horror (Nightshift, Darkness over Arkham plus House of Hell)
- 2-3 Fantasy (Scorpion Swamp, Fabled Lands plus Creature of Havoc)
- 1 Steampunk (Steam Highwayman)
- 1 Post-Apocalypse (Heart of Ice)
- 1 Space Fantasy (Twilight's Edge),
- 1 Modern (Lost in the City)
Considering how many of the popular gamebooks are fantasy, and that's normally the genre I favour, that's a pleasant surprise!
Future Plans
Season two of the 100 Endings Book Club will remain mostly the same as season 1.
We'll be doing a book or series each month. There will still be a vote for most months, taking feedback on which gamebooks and series to include. And I'll request interviews with the author(s) of the series we choose.
One idea I'm toying with is a chat or two on the Discord about the read for the month. Probably toward the end of the month and not a long event.
Another are more months with two books of the same author / series. Such as when we had both House of Hell and Creature of Havoc for Steve Jackson (UK). This gives another option if folk have played a book before.
Returning categories will most likely be Horror, New Gamebooks by New Authors and Open-World Series. We might try Science Fiction again, trying to get an actual science fiction book!
New categories I'm considering include Tactical Combat, Classic Series, 2nd Chance and Visual Gamebooks.
Finishing Up
If you've got any recommendations, questions or a gamebook to recommend, send me a message on Discord, Reddit or on the old-school contact form.
