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Two reviewers on Tor.com are writing critiques/reviews of the Appendix N books from Gygax's Dungeon Masters Guide. They've done three so far.
Link.
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Three Hearts and Three Lions is the shiznit.
Very entertaining read. I'll be keeping an eye out for the follow ups.
Thanks for the heads-up!
Ooh! A new one on Fritz!
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August Derleth is the next author in the "Appendix N" readings. It makes me want to read along with them! Or play some "Call of Cthulhu." Link!
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Roger Zelazny is the next at-bat for the Tor.com whirlwind review of D&D's Appendix N authors.
I must admit, I've only ever read Zelazny's short fiction, so I really ought to pick up the Amber books.
I find that article on Zelazny to be weird.
Don't get me wrong. When I first read "Nine Princes", I was slow to warm up to it too. It took some reflection for me to realize what made the book so great: the concept of shadow-shifting. Yes, magical inter-planar travel has been done to death, but the idea of willing the changes in your environment, while taking a walk, resulting in your shifting to a slightly different reality seems incredibly original to me. (Or at least, I don't KNOW of any other fantasy universes with such a concept.)
Once I realized that, I got hooked. (Also, the trumps were nifty.) I had to reread the first book with my new-found appreciation before moving onto the other 9 books, which I read multiple times.
In the Tor.com article, though, Tim Callahan mentions, as far as I can tell, only three saving graces of the novel: the amnesia plot device, the pattern, and the escape at the end. Callahan says nothing about the star concept of the novel! And he barely mentions the trumps!
Callahan says "That’s a complete novel according to the standards of 1970?" I would respond "Well... yeah, because your synopsis left out the whole main point of the book!"
Maybe someone should just ask Callahan "What did you think of the shadow-shifting concept?" Maybe that question would get him to think about the matter, just the way I did. Then maybe he'd get hooked the way I did.
I will admit that I agree with the article on one point: the book is not very D&D-like. If the game draws any inspiration from the Amber series, I don't see any sign. In fact, the reason I read the article in the first place was because I was wondering what sort of resemblance anyone can see between Amber and D&D, and now I know the answer: not much.
I'm not sure I understand the resemblance. Do you mean that 3.x's concept of "holding the charge" comes from Merlin's spell-casting method? That strikes me as being more like some re-flavoring of Vancian spellcasting.
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No. IIRC, hanging spells consisted of casting them most of the way and leaving them incomplete but for a few key words/gestures, and my understanding is that 3.x reflavored Vancian magic in a similar way--the caster prepares a spell by running through most of it except for a few key words/gestures (which is why power word spells take up so much space in a wizard's spell book, Varsuvius...). It's not the Vancian idea of forcing a spell into your mind, which you then cast complete and forget.
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Shadow-shifting shifts reality?...hmmm. Now I'm even more intrigued. The next Appendix N read is one of my favorite authors, L. Sprague de Camp.
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Roger Zelazny is the next at-bat for the Tor.com whirlwind review of D&D's Appendix N authors.
I must admit, I've only ever read Zelazny's short fiction, so I really ought to pick up the Amber books.
As a Zelazny snob, I sometimes feel that his Amber books were stuff he churned out to pay the bills. Having read your review of the first Amber novel, you probably graded it more generously than I would have, since I didn't really care for those books at all, and only had the whole set because it was the only thing you could get all five books of as a single 'book' with a Science Fiction Book Club membership. :)
Lord of Light and Isle of the Dead are my two favorites, with Creatures of Light & Darkness, Jack of Shadows, Dilvish the Damned and The Changing Land being next up.
If you have the inclination to give Zelazny another shot, read Lord of Light. I was, like, eight, when I first read it, and it has a huge flashback that takes up a good half the book, which, at that age, I just totally failed to grok. After I reread it, it made much more sense and I found it to be a really great story, with some fascinating characters and concepts.
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Roger Zelazny is the next at-bat for the Tor.com whirlwind review of D&D's Appendix N authors.
I must admit, I've only ever read Zelazny's short fiction, so I really ought to pick up the Amber books.
As a Zelazny snob, I sometimes feel that his Amber books were stuff he churned out to pay the bills. Having read your review of the first Amber novel, you probably graded it more generously than I would have, since I didn't really care for those books at all, and only had the whole set because it was the only thing you could get all five books of as a single 'book' with a Science Fiction Book Club membership. :)
Set, I didn't write all of the reviews I'm linking to. In fact, I didn't write any of them. I'm just linking to the Tor website because I find them interesting and relevant to RPG culture. But I will keep "Lords of Light" in mind when I pick up some Zelazny at the library, and maybe try it before the "Amber" books.
Lord of Light is a stunning book. Really worth your time. When it comes to Amber, I always felt Guns of Avalon to be the best of the bunch - things are still unclear, unknown, mysterious, and yet it does connect. Later in the series, the feeling is quite different, and, IMO, not as delicious.
I also read To Die in Italbar, which had a concept or two I liked, but on the whole did not pan out. Dream Master and Eye of Cat were far better, but confirmed what I already knew: the dear Zelazny seems more or less unable to write endings, despite his obvious other skills at writing.
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I need to get out more... I'd read all of the ones they've reviewed so far. Hope they do Bellairs' The Face in the Frost next -- possibly the best book about wizards ever written.
I can't believe we're talking about particular Zelazny books; your mission as a literate RPG nerd (is there any other kind?) is to read every single thing he ever wrote.
Roadmarks, man, Roadmarks.
I can't believe we're talking about particular Zelazny books; your mission as a literate RPG nerd (is there any other kind?) is to read every single thing he ever wrote.
I'm just about there -- even read his stupid Rome-to-South-America pulp crime novel, and I've got his foray into nonfiction on my Kindle. Roadmarks was cool, but I liked Today We Choose Faces better. And Doorways in the Sand was even better. "Doodlehums!"
That's Dead Man's Brother you're talking about, right? (Published posthumously, fairly recently.) 'Cause I made an effort to read it and was left feeling all, "Hey, Neil Gaiman, I think you oversold that one."
Kirth, you've jut got to read Samuel R. Delany. In one of his short (well, short-ish) stories he's got Zelazny as the leader of a grav-biker gang leader. We in Some strange Power's Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line is the title; also, it was published with a Zelazny story as a Tor Double, so think junk just got meta! :P
Well, I've never read Lest Darkness Falls so I can't comment on the book, but on this:
"These relationships are cartoonish in the worst possible way—and they show a prudishness and a self-righteousness and a dismissive cruelty on the part of the narrator that can’t help but reflect back on the author:
'Dorothea was a nice girl, yes, pretty, and reasonably bright. But she was not extraordinary in these respects; there were plenty of others equally attractive. To be frank, Dorothea was a pretty average young woman. And being Italian, she’d probably be fat at thirty-five.'”
Well, this seems to be largely accurate with the women on my mother's side of the family--except for the ones who became junkies.
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I need to get out more... I'd read all of the ones they've reviewed so far. Hope they do Bellairs' The Face in the Frost next -- possibly the best book about wizards ever written.
It has been FOREVER since I've read John Bellairs! I read all of the Anthony Monday and Lewis Barnavelt books when I was in middle school. Wow. That takes me back. I've got to re-read and see if they hold up now that I'm an adult with my "sophisticated" Eng Lit degree.
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Kirth, you've jut got to read Samuel R. Delany. In one of his short (well, short-ish) stories he's got Zelazny as the leader of a grav-biker gang leader. We in Some strange Power's Employ, Move on a Rigorous Line is the title; also, it was published with a Zelazny story as a Tor Double, so think junk just got meta! :P
Delany is on my To Read list, too.
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Well, I've never read Lest Darkness Falls so I can't comment on the book, but on this:
"These relationships are cartoonish in the worst possible way—and they show a prudishness and a self-righteousness and a dismissive cruelty on the part of the narrator that can’t help but reflect back on the author:
'Dorothea was a nice girl, yes, pretty, and reasonably bright. But she was not extraordinary in these respects; there were plenty of others equally attractive. To be frank, Dorothea was a pretty average young woman. And being Italian, she’d probably be fat at thirty-five.'”
Well, this seems to be largely accurate with the women on my mother's side of the family--except for the ones who became junkies.
Goblin junkies?! Wh...what apocalyptic, sociopathic, Night-Stalls-haunting pesh-pusher would do that?!
[serious face]
If the reviewer felt the portrayal of women by the author was "cartoonish" and got in the way of his enjoyment of the book, then he not only is entitled to say so, he should (because it is his review and it would be dishonest to not point out the parts of it he didn't like just because "oh, it's an old book and people had different attitudes back then.")
[/serious face]
I am certainly not one to quibble with digging out sexist attitudes in old books.
I'm just saying all of my female relatives, the ones who are Italian pinkskins, not goblins, were all fat by 35.
Except for my cousin who maintained her girlish figure by becoming addicted to heroin.
Back before I left being a used record store clerk to embark upon the exciting field of picking stuff up and putting it down elsewhere (and, consequently, lost a lot of fat), I had a conversation with one of my non-junkie female Italian cousins, a bank teller, and we speculated that our ancestresses probably kept off the weight by being destitute peasants.
Pffft. Goblins don't get to 35.
I, myself, am 36, dear Madame Sissyl.
Oooooh, that's sodding Book of Records for a gobbo! Stayed away from dogs and horses then?
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You're so cute when you're racist, Madame Sissyl.
IIRC, even that obscurantist tract Protocol of the Elders of the Anklebiters states that, left alone by pinkskins, we can easily make it to 50.
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Oooooh, that's sodding Book of Records for a gobbo! Stayed away from dogs and horses then?
I think you'll find it's called the Book of Sodding records, and there I am on page 35 - 'Greatest number of unnatural acts performed with three housemaids and a selection of root vegetables over 10 minutes' *smirks*
Methuselah there doesn't appear until page 152, where he [redacted] [redacted] and [redacted] until he was very sore and the tarrasque sued for emotional distress and breach of promise.
I've been enjoying these reviews, just to stay slightly on topic, although what I've heard of Zelazny hasn't reaaally grabbed me. Might try it if I can find it in the library, if the peasants haven't burned it down.
Comte, you're a man after my own heart; the guest wing is always available at the Dice Estate. We have had a small problem with goblin infestation, but what old manor house doesn't have a little vermin scurrying around behind the walls?
If you're taking Zelazny for a test drive, I'd recommend one of his stand alone books like Lord of Light; the Amber stuff is good, but there are oodles of books in the series.
The review for deCamp & Pratt's The Carnelian Cube is up, and man, did they hate it. This is the first one on the list I haven't read, and judging from the reviews, never will. Which is sad, because deCamp & Pratt's "Harold Shea" stories are some of my all-time favorites; I've probably read them 4-5 times.
THAT was not a kind review. Ouch.
Assuming you don't light yourselves on fire or something.You're so cute when you're racist, Madame Sissyl.
IIRC, even that obscurantist tract Protocol of the Elders of the Anklebiters states that, left alone by pinkskins, we can easily make it to 50.
Otoh, racism makes your butt look big, Comrade Jeff.
If my butt's already big, do I get a pass on the racism?
I have most of them moldering in boxes in a closet somewhere. When I expand into larger quarters next month I'll have to take a look.
Nothing against Gardner Fox (seriously, that last review nails it), but the Moldvay Basic Rulebook has a more extensive reading list. That was the one I remembered; when I went and read the one in the DMG, it was actually a bit short and lackluster.
At least Vance is mentioned in both; double nerd street cred squared!
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The next review in the Appendix N series is up: Gardner Fox!
YAY! YAY AGAIN! TRIPLE YAY!
I love Gardner Fox. Non-stop boobs 'n' battle, turned up to 25.
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Gardner Fox pioneered the oft-used method for "balancing" martial characters with the casters: just hand them powerful artifacts when they hit 6th level or so, and keep adding powers to them as the plot demands.
If, supposedly, Gary Gygax took the idea of the lich from Fox’s first Kothar book, then maybe Tim Callahan should have read and reviewed Fox's first Kothar book for "Advanced Readings in D&D". I don't see how "Kothar of the Magic Sword" would have inspired D&D any more than any other Conan or Conan-ripoff story.
Have you read the novel, or just the review? The reviwers are just picking stuff from Appendix N; they're not doing a comprehensive survey of what D&D elements were adapted from which works of fiction.
I'll confess that I only read the review.
I'm not expecting a comprehensive survey, but still, if this project represents "an effort to explore the origins of Dungeons & Dragons", and if Tim Callahan and Mordicai Knode heard that Gary Gygax took the idea of the lich from Fox’s first Kothar book, I do wonder why Tim Callahan wasted his time reading the SECOND one.
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Reading between the lines, I think he only had the second book. They're not super easy to find (though dirt cheap when you do find them, providing you don't buy online and get dunned for postage). To be honest, they're all pretty similar, so you can get a good idea of what the rest are like from reading that one.
Gardner's John Carter-a-likes (Warrior of Llarn, &c.) are pretty good, too