I started reading fantasy books first, C.S.Lewis and Tolkein. Then one of the kids in my Jr high classes started bringing in his D&D stuff and I've been hooked since. Another good author is Guy Gavriel Kay. His Fionavar series is good.
[url="http://www.gamebanshee.com"]GameBanshee[/url] Make your gaming scream! "I have seen them/I have watched them all fall/I have been them/I have watched myself crawl" "I will only complicate you/Trust in me and fall as well" "Quiet time...no more whine"
I went to a big book shop in London today and checked fantasy book corner. Then, I was panicked, and came back empty handed. I bought BG1 because I saw reviews in some computer magazines while looking for a game for holiday season. I didn't realise there is such a large back ground for a game at the time. I thought all RPG are completely independent -- I mean, I had no idea they share a same world/region/planescape, or whatever it's called.
"Strength without wisdom falls by its own weight."
A word to the wise is sufficient Minerva (Semi-retired SYMer)
Anywhere. It doesn't really matter. The "Cyric the Mad" series is pretty cool because you find out about the Gods. It gives a good history of the Gods, and how some of them ascended from humans to become gods.
Edit: I think the series is called the Avatar series, but I'm not sure.
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Magus, mighty conjurer, and summoner of vast amounts of words in the Planar Sphere Topic
----And yes, I am magusg, but I got tired of looking at that silly "pick an alternate name" name
[This message has been edited by Magus (edited 01-18-2001).]
Lost Souls: A bereft lover. A masterless familiar. Friends gone their separate ways. Time marches on, and destiny heralds the meeting of comrades old and new. Can they find what they're seeking? Or will the search bring them only more pain?
I started with Dragonlance. Margerat Weis and Tracy Hickmans seasons books. The first three, and the end of the age. Amazing fantasy books, and some of the characters are very powerful. Tanis Half-elven and Raistlin Majere are two of the best characters. It's like good and evil. I really felt for characters when I find out their fate, and I loved the Heroes of the Lance.
Another good one to start with is the Naria series believe it or not. It is fantasy, easy to read, and some are quite good, though others suck. Hold off on Tolkien until you know you like the genre. I read it as my first series, and felt overwhelmed. (Took me three months to read) Overall, any books, and authors mentioned in this post is worth it. They are all good books, and will quench your thirst for Fantasy.
As for me, back to my Fantasy writing. If anyone wants to see a bit of my writing check out [url="http://www.angelfire.com/games2/aegis"]www.angelfire.com/games2/aegis[/url] It is a site devoted to one of my favorite characters of mine, and find a way to incorperate him into all my stories. With that in mind, for those into fantasy reading, look out for a upcoming post by me. It'll be called excerpt. Part of a short story I write, take a peek, tell me what you think, I'll send you some stories if you like em. Keep in mind though, their mine! heh.
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"We should find more of these.... glues you keep taking about"
"There CLUES"
"Ya ya, whatever. Geez, one letter off, so crucify me!"
Religious ones should get this, if you don't and want to, just ask.
Originally posted by Minerva: So, where should I start? I like to know about the Forgotten Realms, but it's too much to find the way in!
The Avatar trilogy is pretty good. Its about how the gods were kicked out of there plane of existence and walked the land as mortals for a while. (This is how your char had a god for a father)
The Icewind Dale Trilogy is very good. It will introduce you to Drizzt and his band of adventurers that you run into in the game.
There is another good series that has Elminster and the Harpers but I cant remember what its called.
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"Four thousand throats may be cut in one night, by a running man."
- Klingon Crewman "Day of the Dove"
"Four thousand throats may be cut in one night, by a running man."
- Klingon Crewman "Day of the Dove"
I started playing (old) D&D in 1975, right out of the gates for it. Anyone else remember The Greyhawk, Blackmoor and Eldritch Wizardry softcover books??
I started reading fantasy after that, beginning with Tolkein. It remains my favorite, because of the richness of the fantasy world; nowhere else will you find the history, mythology and epic of the LotR series and the Silmarillion.
Other highly recommended series:
The Misplaced Legion by Harry Turtledove: first book of a series called the Videssos Cycle. The series is about a Roman Legion being magically transported into a fantasy world. The same world has later been used by the author for at least two other book trilogies.
The Earthsea trilogy, Ursula K. LeGuin: small books, easy reading; very good story for the small size. The main Character in many ways still defines for me what a Wizard should be.
Any book by Raymond E. Feist, starting with Magician: Apprentice....there are at LEAST two major series and a dozen books by Feist about the main character (magician named Pug) and those that live along side him in the world. If you like massively epic, save-the-universe-as-we-know-it type books, the Magician series is for you. The magician ends up being mega-powerful. Great character development. My only complaint about Feist is that he OBVIOUSLY drew a lot of his inspiration from Tolkein, too much: the elven language words he uses are verbatim copies of Tolkein's elven languages.
I also read a series called the "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant", the first book being "Lord Foul's Bane", and continuing for 5 more in two trilogies. I really like the secondary characters like the Lords (mages), a race of good Giants, and numerous other creatures and styles of magic; the title character, however, is SOOOOOO annoying with his constant "I hate myself so damn much, everyone else should hate me too..." (If you don't like Aerie's whining about her wings, you will HATE this guy). He is a leper, from the "real" world, transported to a magical world where his disease is cured, and he can't handle it. Problem is the natives think he is the messiah come to save them. Well, I for one hated him. Kinda drags down the story.
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"If you prefer, you could say EXPERT treasure hunter!"
--Gandalf the Grey, the Hobbit
"If you prefer, you could say EXPERT treasure hunter!"
--Gandalf the Grey, the Hobbit
If you want to read about Forgotten Realms, I recommend the Icewind Dale Trilogy as well. However, Salvatore also wrote a prequel trilogy called the Dark Elf trilogy. You might want to start there if you'd like to know more about Drizzt's past.
@geh4th D&D's changed a lot since then I remember preordering the 1st ed. DM's guide and waiting anxiously for it to be published.I saw your post on another thread about being annoyed with some of the nonsensical rules, the 3rd ed. is changing all that; any race can be any class, most skills learnable by anyone. Makes me wish they'd done it a long time ago. My group just ended up changing half the rules anyway.
[url="http://www.gamebanshee.com"]GameBanshee[/url] Make your gaming scream! "I have seen them/I have watched them all fall/I have been them/I have watched myself crawl" "I will only complicate you/Trust in me and fall as well" "Quiet time...no more whine"
Are the Forgotten Realms and other basic rules created by one person (or group), then spread/evolve from it? Sorry, this must be very basic for most of you, but I wonder why there are so many books written by different writers.
"Strength without wisdom falls by its own weight."
A word to the wise is sufficient Minerva (Semi-retired SYMer)
Basically, TSR has the world copyrighted, and writers that write about it have to approve it through them, so that their story doesn't contradict anything. But as far as I know they're still independent writers. They have to submit a plan and stay within the rules and stuff.
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Magus, mighty conjurer, and summoner of vast amounts of words in the Planar Sphere Topic
----And yes, I am magusg, but I got tired of looking at that silly "pick an alternate name" name
Lost Souls: A bereft lover. A masterless familiar. Friends gone their separate ways. Time marches on, and destiny heralds the meeting of comrades old and new. Can they find what they're seeking? Or will the search bring them only more pain?
I see... So, there is a world with those monsters and adventurers (not necessarily to each other), just like we are. Is it possible to create new towns or monsters in it?
I am born of curiousity! Always have a feeling of "I need to know"
"Strength without wisdom falls by its own weight."
A word to the wise is sufficient Minerva (Semi-retired SYMer)
Towns are never created...just elaborated upon I suppose the same thing could go for monsters, but it has to be within reason. In the end, TSR has the final say.
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Magus, mighty conjurer, and summoner of vast amounts of words in the Planar Sphere Topic
----And yes, I am magusg, but I got tired of looking at that silly "pick an alternate name" name
Lost Souls: A bereft lover. A masterless familiar. Friends gone their separate ways. Time marches on, and destiny heralds the meeting of comrades old and new. Can they find what they're seeking? Or will the search bring them only more pain?
I suppose the same thing could go for monsters, but it has to be within reason. In the end, TSR has the final say.
