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The original Dragonlance Chronicles with Weis and Hickman was groundbreaking stuff when it first came out.
I was ten when I received a copy of the Chronicles Collectors Edition. I still have it, though it is now quite old and battered. Everyone I speak to in gaming circles has at least some knowledge of this series and those that read it as a kid often share your sentiment.
I used to love the banter between Flint and Tasslehoff!
I loved Elfshadow
The Icewind Dale and Dragonlance books really brought me into D&D when I was younger. I tried to re-read them recently but I realized it destroyed the memories, so I put them away again.
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I've read very few D&D novels. Blackstaff and Blackstaff Tower (just ignore 4EFR and look at the history) by Steven Schend are my favorites.
I also really liked Azure Bonds by Jeff Grub and Kate Novak. (Book handed to me by the aforementioned Mr. Schend).
I've got a number of books I want to read, but they keep getting passed up due to me reading way to slowly lately.
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The original Dragonlance Chronicles with Weis and Hickman was groundbreaking stuff when it first came out. Although Dragonlance has been beat to death, I'll always have fond memories of summer days as a teen reading about Fewmaster Toede and Verminaard's war against the heroes.
Same as the original Icewind Dale and the introduction to Drizzt. Man, was he cool when he arrived on the scene! It's too bad, it followed the path it did.
Most of the Eberron stuff seems to be better written than the other FR series. Although not masterpieces by any stretch, they can give some pleasurable reading. I guess, like all things, my taste has matured and I have moved on to Martin, historical fiction and actual ancient history. It's hard to go back to the Forgotten Realms world after reading Martin. It's like comparing a Porsche to a Pinto.
Wow, you do speak for me completely. The Dragonlance Chronicles were something that gave RPG novels a kick in the pants. I think after that we all had belief in what an RPG novel could be. Later however, I feel the Dragonlance Writers became the worst enemies of their own setting. The space of time that the novels take place (around the original characters) was just too much. The changes they made were broad and over the top.
Unfortunately, many RPG novels that I have read as of late (mostly Eberron)feel too much the other way. The stories take place with a lot of possibilities for something terrible to happen, but end in such a manner that nothing "earth-shattering" really happened. They go from location to location defying "common sense", most of the time to unveil some tapestry of the setting, but never really doing anything of significance. It's like the Editor's gave the writer a leash that can stetch miles away, but at some point an automatic reel turns on and pulls the thing back to the original spot after a certain word count. In the end, you are back at the same place and all your footsteps are erased.
The novel could vary well have never happened. It rings cheesy to me. I want heroes that did something. Not ones that chased their tail.
At least in the Star Wars Novels, things do change. Heroes and Villians do make a difference.
Cheers,
Zuxius
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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Were that all that many RPG novels that predated Dragonlance Chronicles?
I know there's Quag Keep by Andre Norton (1979), but 1984 (for the start of Chronicles) looks to be earlier than anything else I can find. I wouldn't count Endless Quest books as novels :)
For reference, other early RPG novels - Artifact of Evil (Gord the Rogue): 1986. Darkwalker on Moonshae: 1987. Icewind Dale: 1988.
The Dragonlance books didn't so much "kick RPG novels in the pants" as start the genre.
Note I wouldn't count RPG-related fiction like Guardians of the Flame (1983) as precisely part of the genre, since books like that aren't tied to a particular game setting or set of game rules.
My impression is that Dark Sun is back in the mix for 4e. Somebody showed me a Dungeon or Dragon from their subscription (don't remember which) that had Dark Sun stuff in it. I'm sure a 4e person could tell you.
If you'll allow me to go really old-school here, I'd recommend the original FR book "Pool of Radiance". The sequel(s?) are utter crap-on-a-stick, but the first book was actually very good at capturing the feel of a low-level campaign. How often do characters in a novel start off at 1st level?
The best single D&D novel I ever read was The Rise and Fall of a Dragon King, a Dark Sun novel that was, if I recall correctly, written largely from the point-of-view of one of the setting's major villains. It was excellent, and notably it was written by Lynn Abbey, a mainstream SF and fantasy author (and creator of the popular Thieve's World shared world anthology series). I remember the Ravenloft novel I, Strahd attempted something similar and wasn't too bad, although it was a bit too close to Dracula for comfort at times.
I had most of the FR novels written up until the late 1990s and some of them were great. The Crystal Shard makes up for its author's lack of experience with infectious enthusiasm, which is a far cry from Salvatore's later, "I write Drizzt, you give me money," attitude which took over somewhere around Passage to Dawn. If they ever decide to go down the D&D movie route again, they should just make the Shard movie and be done with it.
However, I think the best FR series was The Empire Trilogy. The writers took a bit of a cruddy premise ("Do Genghis Khan in Faerun!") and worked wonders with it, presenting each of the three novels from a different cultural perspective: the first from a Khazari monk living within the Tuigan tribes, the second from a Shou general balancing court intrigue with defending the Empire and the third from King Azoun IV of Cormyr when he was still awesome. The books were interesting because there was no real good and evil, the Tuigan had their reasons for doing what they were doing and General Batu Min Ho was a genuinely tragic figure whose life was destroyed by the events surrounding him. It's a shame that they never set more novels in Kara-Tur, as the brief glimpse of it in Dragonwall made it appear far more interesting as a setting for stories than most of Faerun. Crusade is notable for featuring the best large set-piece battles ever featured in the FR novels and introducing the excellent and interesting character of General Vrakk, the peculiarly honourable Zhentarim orc general who earns Azoun's respect.
Naturally, the Empire Trilogy appears to be just about the only early FR novel series not recently reprinted in spiffy new covers. Hopefully they'll get round to it at some point.