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I've never read a D&D novel. No Drizzt or his friends. Elminster is a Greenwood proxy to me. Phlan is just a disgusting-looking Mexican dessert.

I may sully myself and read one. Are any of them good? And specifically, are the Dragonlance books worth reading?

Acrux wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 02:11

I've never read a D&D novel. No Drizzt or his friends. Elminster is a Greenwood proxy to me. Phlan is just a disgusting-looking Mexican dessert.

I may sully myself and read one. Are any of them good? And specifically, are the Dragonlance books worth reading?

I read the Dragon Lance novels as a child, they were my formative fantasy experience. I don't know how well they'd hold up if I reread them, but from what I can remember they were quite good. Which is quite surprising since they were written by a woman and a man who looks like one of the mutants who live in the sewers in Futurama.

My memory is of the main four books. I read one or two of the spinoffs set in the same universe, but I can't remember anything about them or if they were good or not.

Edit: Kender are superior to Hobbits or Halflings and are clearly the small-people master race.

OnTilt wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 02:25

Which is quite surprising since they were written by a woman and a man who

Thanks, yes, the main reason they'd be my consideration is because Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman both worked at TSR. (Not to mention Larry Elmore's art!)

Acrux wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 02:11

I've never read a D&D novel. No Drizzt or his friends. Elminster is a Greenwood proxy to me. Phlan is just a disgusting-looking Mexican dessert.

I may sully myself and read one. Are any of them good? And specifically, are the Dragonlance books worth reading?

i read dragonlance in 6th grade. Reread a bit of them recently and the prose was horrible, everything I hate about modern writing and why I prefer 100+ year old stuff. You might not agree.

I read a few chapters of one of Gygax's books, Saga of Old City, and he's actually a pretty good writer.

The first two trilogies (Chronicles and Legends) are probably worth reading. I thought they were great fun. Dragons of Summer Flame is fun fanservice, I liked it. It probably isn't that great though.

Any others I remember having tried were shit.

Novelization of Baldur's Gate, it's a trilogy.
Highly recommended!

Kalarion wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 04:26

The first two trilogies (Chronicles and Legends) are probably worth reading.

I picked up the Chronicles triology. I've got a backlog so I probably won't get to it for a while, but...

Emphyrio wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 04:13

Reread a bit of them recently and the prose was horrible, everything I hate about modern writing and why I prefer 100+ year old stuff.

....I mostly read classic literature, too. I'm not expecting this to be Dostoevsky or Dumas or Doyle, but hopefully it's readable.

there's Nick Smith's The Legend Of the 10 Elemental Masters, but it fits the description of being an 'RPG novel' way too literally for its own good

it's basically an experimental novel: an actual computer game but in the form of a book, and Nick leaves *nothing* to the imagination - every single insignificant detail is represented in the book some form or another, and Nick has the odd habit of writing down the exact hexadecimal value of each color of individual places or objects instead of writing down "blue" or "gray"

you might enjoy it as a odd curiosity, there's nothing else like it - but if you prefer a less-is-more writing style then you're not going to like it at all

Acrux wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 02:11

I've never read a D&D novel. No Drizzt or his friends. Elminster is a Greenwood proxy to me. Phlan is just a disgusting-looking Mexican dessert.

I may sully myself and read one. Are any of them good? And specifically, are the Dragonlance books worth reading?

I read the original trilogy, the sequel Twins trilogy, and the War of Souls trilogy. I remember the original trilogy being "okay", enjoyable enough for me to make it to the end but not very memorable. Characters are likeable enough and the plot advances at a decent enough pace. Definitely better than modern doorstopper fantasy with hundreds of subplots that go nowhere and fluff scenes and detestable characters. I remember the Twins trilogy being fun, I was rooting for Caramon. War of Souls was a mixed bag, though. On the one hand, there is excitement because kingdoms are being conquered or wiped out, but on the other hand it is mostly about new characters and the authors didn't do a good job getting me to care about the new guys or new antagonists who sailed from a far away continent.

I also read the first Icewind Dale novel. I finished it but can't recall anything about it. Probably the most unmemorable D&D book I've read. I also had another Drizzdt novel but never touched it.

Again, the Dragonlance books were fun enough for me to finish (and I've put plenty of books down and never picked them back up again), but a few years back I cleared off my bookshelf of books I finished but would never read again. Warcraft, Warhammer, Star Trek, etc. The Dragonlance books went too. I wound up keeping The Hobbit, LotR, Narnia, Dragon Riders of Pern, The Black Company, and a few others.

herkzter wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 05:31

there's Nick Smith's The Legend Of the 10 Elemental Masters, but it fits the description of being an 'RPG novel' way too literally for its own good

it's basically an experimental novel: an actual computer game but in the form of a book, and Nick leaves *nothing* to the imagination - every single insignificant detail is represented in the book some form or another, and Nick has the odd habit of writing down the exact hexadecimal value of each color of individual places or objects instead of writing down "blue" or "gray"

you might enjoy it as a odd curiosity, there's nothing else like it - but if you prefer a less-is-more writing style then you're not going to like it at all

That sounds terrible.

Going to echo what others have said already: I read Chronicles and Legends as a child, enjoyed both series, and found Legends more interesting.

I'd also like to suggest the Dead God trilogy (Forsaken/Forsworn/Forbidden), which takes place in the Scarred Lands D&D setting. It follows an elven cleric whose deity, the patron god of elfkind, was slain during the war between gods and titans. His goal is to resurrect his deity, which is difficult not just because he has no cleric powers without him, but because his death was so absolute that it wiped him from history and the memories mortals. I've read the series twice and enjoyed it both times.

WhiteShark wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 10:01

It follows an elven cleric whose deity, the patron god of elfkind, was slain during the war between gods and titans.

"THE GODS ARE DEAD AND ALSO PROBABLY FAKE CHUD"

Liberals really do only have one story.




-Humbaba

herkzter wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 05:31

there's Nick Smith's The Legend Of the 10 Elemental Masters, but it fits the description of being an 'RPG novel' way too literally for its own good

it's basically an experimental novel: an actual computer game but in the form of a book, and Nick leaves *nothing* to the imagination - every single insignificant detail is represented in the book some form or another, and Nick has the odd habit of writing down the exact hexadecimal value of each color of individual places or objects instead of writing down "blue" or "gray"

you might enjoy it as a odd curiosity, there's nothing else like it - but if you prefer a less-is-more writing style then you're not going to like it at all

Every day I pray that Knuckles will teleport here and loan me $3 for pizza before taking us back to his concrete dungeon with a customized bed just for me

Humbaba wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 10:10

WhiteShark wrote: ↑ March 16th, 2024, 10:01

It follows an elven cleric whose deity, the patron god of elfkind, was slain during the war between gods and titans.

"THE GODS ARE DEAD AND ALSO PROBABLY FAKE CHUD"

Liberals really do only have one story.




-Humbaba

they have a few others