Joel Rosenberg

[therogue5000]

I have to plug Joel's "Guardian's of the Flame" series. It got me into fantasy in a huge way, and really stirred my imagination for running my own campaigns for the last 20 years.
His "Keeper's of the Hidden Ways" is also incredibly cool, taking the old Norse mythology and putting a very cool spin to it.

[James Sutter]

FINALLY! I never talk to <i>anybody</i> who knows who Joel Rosenberg is, let alone actively enjoys him.... Though Richard A. Knaak was my first fantasy book, Rosenberg was a close second, and he's always been the epitome of the genre where I'm concerned - plenty of other folks do great work, have amazing new worlds and ideas, but something about his writing style just clicks with me. Both GotF and KotHW are equally amazing - I can remember being in about third grade and crying at the end of "The Heir Apparent". I think I became an English major just to try and write that scene someday. :)

I haven't had a chance to hit "Paladins" yet - anybody know if it's any good? I know the review in <i>AS</i> wasn't that laudatory, but I'm seriously hoping that's just a fluke.... :P

-James

[John C. Bunnell]

Just to amplify a bit on the aforementioned review:

The word I'd use to describe Paladins is strange. It's not that it's a bad book, per se; the story, as a story, works well enough. But I'm a consistency wonk, and the clash of period-senses -- the Arthurian/medieval paladin setup crossed with a Pirates of the Caribbean swashbuckler, and done in a style awfully close to that of Randall Garrett's "Lord Darcy" stories -- tended to grate on my sensibilities.

By and large I like Rosenberg's work (anyone who has not sought out D'Shai is missing a good bet), and if you're a Rosenberg fan you may well like <b>Paladins</b> better than I did. That was the sentiment I was trying to convey in the original review, not that readers shouldn't buy the book.

(Trust me, you'll know if I think a book is sufficiently flawed that you ought not shell out the money for it. Come to think of it, I just turned in a review like that....)

[tav_behemoth]

I recently re-read Guardians of the Flame, and what interested me most from an adult perspective was how dysfunctional the roleplaying group in the beginning was - rife with dominance behavior, interpersonal conflict, and a DM who is a manipulative autocrat in-game as well as in "real" life.

I tend to think that this reflects Rosenburg's own roleplaying experiences back in the early '80s; certainly when I read it back then, it didn't seem strange to me at all.

[Dave Baker]

tav_behemoth wrote:

I recently re-read Guardians of the Flame, and what interested me most from an adult perspective was how dysfunctional the roleplaying group in the beginning was - rife with dominance behavior, interpersonal conflict, and a DM who is a manipulative autocrat in-game as well as in "real" life.

I tend to think that this reflects Rosenburg's own roleplaying experiences back in the early '80s; certainly when I read it back then, it didn't seem strange to me at all.

Rosenberg actually didn't play any RPGs before he wrote the Guardians books -- he picked up the feel of it by observation. I totally agree with what you're saying about the group's interpersonal issues, tempered with the reminder that they were college students.

[Ryan Z.]

I have to agree on the dysfunctionality of the group. Amazing, in some sense, that they can even play together. Great series although it certainly peters out toward the end of the saga. Didn't like the Keepers... series as much.

As far as Knaak is concerned, I know he's doing series work once again. Amazingly, I've heard it's pretty good. If I recall correctly he's done a few Warcraft novels and I believe the Diablo novel.

[farewell2kings]

I picked up the Guardians of the Flame series by chance while I was browsing the UTEP bookstore while I was a sophomore in college in 1987 or 88. I read the first book and I was hooked. I got a lot of reading done back then when I had a two hour break between my first class and my next class. I value my old paperbacks greatly, especially that they're out of print now.

Emile and the Dutchman remains one of my favorite Sci-Fi stories as well--that drunken slob of a ship captain was one of the most memorable characters ever.