Kingdoms of Sorcery is a trilogy that made up the 7th, 9th and 11th books in the Super Endless Quest series, by then known as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Gamebooks.
It consists of:
- Sceptre of Power
- The Sorcerer's Crown
- Clash of the Sorcerers
In them the player controls Carr Delling, son of The Archmage, Landor, as he begins his own journey learning the arts of sorcery that his long-missing father pursued. In the process he unites a number of disparate factions into opposing the machinations of the dark goddess Lloth.
The player controls the same character in a connected story over multiple books, although unlike other interactive fantasy books with ongoing storylines such as Lone Wolf or the Sorcery! sub-series of Fighting Fantasy, it has no mechanics for importing the player's character from one book to another. Mainly due to about five years passing between each book, and Carr's magic powers growing by leaps and bounds between them.
Kingdoms of Sorcery provides examples of:
- Arch-Enemy: Carr's main enemy is a drow named Arno who worships the goddess Lloth.
- Awesome, but Impractical: In the last book, Carr's learned a "permanence" spell where the reader can deduct a point from his Intelligence score to automatically be able to use another spell at will. While that sounds kind of cool, winning the Final Battle involves a series of saving throws against his Intelligence score, which means using this ability is an extremely bad idea.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Carr's relationship with his Love Interest, the elven druid Dalris. Mainly over the physical toll his learning magic is having on him (see Power at a Price).
- Cool Crown: The Crown of Aerdrie, that Carr acquires for successfully completing the second book.
- Disappeared Dad: It's mentioned that Carr's father was a powerful wizard mixed up in some very big things, but Carr's a little too busy with his own set of problems to find out exactly what happened to him in the span of the trilogy.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Tarasque that Arno's meddling threatens to set free in the last book.
- Friend to All Living Things: The druidess Dalris, who comes down on Carr for even wanting to kill a dangerous creature like a manticore.
- Kavorka Man: Carr's elven magic tutor, Thayne, fries himself trying to use a Magic Wand that it's only safe for Carr to touch, at the beginning of the second book. A cleric ally of theirs manages to get Thayne reincarnated in the body of a repulsive gnome, who nonetheless is noted as being extremely appealing to women for some unknown reason.
- Power at a Price: Carr becomes a proficient mage, eventually running the magic school his uncle did and succeeding to an even higher level of knowledge than said uncle ever did, but by the third book his health has declined greatly as a result. He has a bad limp and is described as looking a lot older than he really is.
- Series Continuity Error: In the first book, the player has the choice between Carr learning magic at the formal university run by his uncle, or learning from his father's old friend Thayne in the forest. To meet all the major characters in the series, the reader has to read the book twice and experience both paths, despite the paths being mutually exclusive. The second book's attempts to say Carr knows all of the characters despite this were less than graceful.
- Squishy Wizard: There are a few minor chances for Carr to get out of trouble by fighting early in the series, but this flat-out is not an option anymore once he starts learning magic. Especially as he gets even squishier over the course of the series, to where just walking is becoming a problem for him by the last book.
- Unintentionally Unwinnable: The last book in the trilogy unfortunately suffered from some poor checking, and there are parts that lead to the wrong paths, along with parts that just aren't accessible.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: By the second book Carr's started becoming a jerk sometimes to his allies who are worried about his pursuit of magic power.
- You Lose at Zero Trust: The Charisma score isn't just a measure of how convincing Carr is, but his friends' trust. Being a jerk to them will make him lose points from it. Becomes a rather literal example because he has to convince them to give him the Crown of Aerdrie so he has a prayer of winning the final battle in the last book.
