Anime Are there any Actually Good D&D books?

[Fedora Master]

I've read the Drizzt stuff when I was a dumb kid. The War of the Spider Queen was alright too. But looking around for more cheap novels to consoom it seems that most of them are just straight up dime store trash with a heavy dose of fetishism.

Which of the books are actually worth reading? Im interested in Dark Sun but the Prism Pentad apparently shits all over the established lore of that setting.

 

[Gregz]

Dragons of Autumn Twilight

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/259836.Dragons_of_Autumn_Twilight

 

[The Avatar]

You're not going to find any great works of prose in a D&D book, but Pages of Pain by Troy Denning isn't half bad.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/545098.Pages_of_Pain

 

[agris]

As in actual D&D? I would suggest (re)reading Tolkien if you haven't, or if you're really committed to reading about D&D, read 1st ed AD&D source books. The player's guide, GM's guide, and monstrous manual are wonderfully evocative, without the dime store fetishism you're talking about. Of course it isn't a narrative, but it'll scratch a D&D itch more than those hacky books.

 

[Azalin]

If you are interested in Dark Sun Prism Pentad is good as most of Troy Denning's novels it does move the storyline of the entire world forward and you should read at least the first book since almost everything in the setting happens after that,Sorak's books(Tribe of One trilogy and Broken Blade) were just,Outcast was the best among them,the Urik trilogy was interesting and different(Brazen Gambit,Cinnabar Shadows and Rise and Fall of a Dragon King)although I am not sure the last one is canon.Personally I liked The Darkness before the Dawn but it's not very faithful to the lore.

If you want go for other world Weis and Hickman's various Dragonlance books are some of the best DnD novels you can get,Chronicles is the best among them.

Ravenloft setting Vampire of the Mists,I Strahd: Memoirs of a Vampire,I Strahd:War against Azalin,Dance of the Dead,Scholar of Decay,Carnival of Fear and some of the Tales of Ravenloft anthology were good

Just don't expect anything like what you might get from well known fantasy authors though

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Which of the books are actually worth reading?

The first D&D/AD&D novel published by TSR was Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman in 1984, taking place in the new Dragonlance campaign setting, followed by another two books to complete the planned trilogy (Chronicles) and then a sequel trilogy (Legends). The Dragonlance setting was consciously designed for a series of 12 adventure modules offering players an epic quest modeled after Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the burgeoning commercial success of Tolkien derivatives in the fantasy literature market led TSR to also try its hand at an accompanying trilogy of novels, which sold better than their wildest dreams. When TSR entered into a new focus on campaign settings in 1987, they began pumping out novels in the new Forgotten Realms setting (starting with the Moonshae trilogy written for its own Celtic-inspired setting but plunked into the Realms off the western coast) as well as publishing ever more Dragonlance novels and similarly creating at least one novel series for Spelljammer (1989), Ravenloft (1990), and Dark Sun (1991). However, the quality of the other writers couldn't match Weis and Hickman, and the average quality generally deteriorated over the years as the outpouring of books swelled.

Aside from the original two Dragonlance trilogies, you would be best served by looking for short story anthologies, which obviously were always of mixed quality by various authors but often had several worthwhile stories in any book. In particular, the Dragonlance setting had two trilogies of anthologies (Tales and Tales II), each with a novella written by Weis and Hickman, but there were also anthologies set in the Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft.

 

[Fedora Master]

I've read the Dragonlance stuff I just remembered now and wasn't a big fan. Raistlin owns but the setting also gave us Kender and Tinker Gnomes, so...

It's a bit odd that out of the hundreds of books that got written only about two authors - Salvatore and those DL Mormons - turned out to be any good.

 

[lightbane]

Dragonlance, they were fun books indeed... Except the parts where Kenders, especially Tas, showed up. And the retard "good gods" who literally did nothing while the bad guys were reading their gear, only reacting at the last minute. Also, fuck Paladine and his watered down copy of Gandalf.

 

[Jvegi]

Other than Drizzt stuff I remember reading The Cleric Quintet series. I liked it, but I don't remember why.

 

[Morblot]

I don't know if you've read any Elaine Cunningham, but in case you haven't: DON'T. She's awful, worse than fucking Greenwood.

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

I've read the Dragonlance stuff I just remembered now and wasn't a big fan. Raistlin owns but the setting also gave us Kender and Tinker Gnomes, so...

It's a bit odd that out of the hundreds of books that got written only about two authors - Salvatore and those DL Mormons - turned out to be any good.

I liked prequels and original trilogy of cycle of book, but I did not liked sequel books at all (except maybe book about stone that cursed dwarves).

 

[laclongquan]

If you have some good Chinese-English auto translator, there is some good amateur writings playing around in DnD universe written by Chinese.

Not Google translate, mind. We have our own Chinese- Vietnamese auto translator website, so I imagine there's good equivalent for C-E. Absolutely no reason not to.

There's some strict following DnD mechanism, and there's some loosely followings~ it depends on authors. Time of Troubles' Baldur Gate era is a most popular sector, but there's even Sigil settings.

 

[Melan]

The Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms books are pretty dire. I read the first DL trilogy in my early teens, and even then had the hunch this was not exactly good stuff. Salvatore was one step worse, and the rest went downhill from there (weird Ed's transgender fantasies come to mind). For some reason, TSR's books never rose even to the level of good pulp. So you have pulp fiction that's D&Desque, but none of the official novels cut it. Apparently, even Gygax's Gord the Rogue books are lacking.

The Word of Chaos and its first sequels are great and much more fun than TSR's attempts (featuring Skandar Graun, half-orc cleric of Chaos as their anti-hero), but they were written in the Hungarian and never translated.

I think the most enjoyable AD&D-based writing I have read in English has been Navero (of the Correct and Unalterable Way), a series of ancient play reports posted on USENET around 1989-1990. They are rough, they are not serious, but they are a tremendous amount of fun. Unlike TSR fare, which tries to do epic fantasy but fails, it is about a bunch of nobodies having adventures in fantasyland.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

None of them are great, but I did enjoy Kaz the Minotaur, The Black Wing, and Knight of the Black Rose. I heard Planescape: Pages of Pain isn't bad.

I'd really recommend these Appendix N books instead, which really feel like old school D&D and whose influences you can see in the early TSR rulebooks and adventure modules:

- Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions
- Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and Grey Mouser series
- Jack Vance's The Dying Earth

 

[lightbane]

I may be mistaken or misremembering, but I'm certain that outside of Dragonlance's main trilogy, every other writer tried his best to screw over Kenders, as they should. Is that true? Can anyone confirm?

 

[ValeVelKal]

I read quite a few when I was younger, but the only acceptable ones were the early DragonLance books, and the Drizzt saga. Everything else was terrible, though I did not read the Dark Sun books.

There is no lack of good non-D&D Fantasy Books... And if you want social cred, go for the little-known (light) fantasy books of Nobel Prize Selma Lagerlöf : The Ring of the Löwenskölds, Herr Arne's Hoard or The Changeling [aka Trolls & Men]. She is so much more than her boring book about a brat travelling through Sweden - plus this was before Tolkien became standard and everyone started just copying him.

 

[luj1]

Salvatore's stuff?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Baldur's gate novelization.
All 3 of them.

 

[deuxhero]

I enjoyed the Infestation 2 D&D comic (Ask IDW what the hell is with the name. As far as I can tell "Infestation" was a brand for various licensed comics they put out and "Infestation 2" is another series of books). Seeing as how it's a continuation of Night of the Long Shadows and Taint of the Black Brigade by the same author, those two books might be good.

 

[Erebus]

You're not going to find any great works of prose in a D&D book, but Pages of Pain by Troy Denning isn't half bad.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/545098.Pages_of_Pain

"Pages of Pain" is actually pretty decent.

It's not a good Planescape book, though. It doesn't get the setting, or it doesn't care to. "Fire and Dust" (freely available on the Net by the author's will) is much better in that regard.

Troy Denning is a bit uneven. I remember one novel that felt like he'd planned to write a Star Wars book and been told at the last minute to make it a Forgotten Realms book instead. Still, he's not that bad. I remember finding "Faces of Deception" rather good.

 

[negator2vc]

As a very big fan of the World of Dragonlance I must say that they are a quite a few good books (in addition to the main trilogies) with memorable characters (some of them I read them again recently) like:
- Bridges of Time꞉ 02 - Legacy of Steel (highlight the relationship between Sara Dunstan and dragon Cobalt)
- Dark Disciple Series (highlight - the story of Mina and her origin)
- Heroes꞉ 04 - Kaz, the Minotaur (Kaz! Minotaur!)
- Kang's Regiment Series (hight point - the alternative view of the dragonian's life and the quest for to save their race and to find a home instead of being the evil monster)
- Kingpriest Series (not all the books, I think 1 and 3) but the "battle" of character between Cathan and Beldinas during a very turbulent time was very good.
- Linsha Series (the relatioship between Linsha Majere and the dragon)
- Preludes I #3 - Brothers Majere (I very nice mystery + one of the few appearance of a demigod in the world of Krynn)
- Raistlin Chronicles 1-2 (raistlin... enough said ;-) )

Also I remember a few good stories in these anthologies (I think to remember one of them had a story about what happened to dragon Cobalt - from Legacy of Steel novel):
Bertrem's Guide to the War of Souls, Volume I
Bertrem's Guide to the War of Souls, Volume II

There are other of course but these I remember the most. Especially the ones that had the relatioship of human rider and dragons!

 

[Bara]

I enjoyed the Infestation 2 D&D comic (Ask IDW what the hell is with the name. As far as I can tell "Infestation" was a brand for various licensed comics they put out and "Infestation 2" is another series of books). Seeing as how it's a continuation of Night of the Long Shadows and Taint of the Black Brigade by the same author, those two books might be good.

I think they put all of those comics together in the Dungeons & Dragons: Abraxis Wren of Eberron collection.

I still keep a copy of Taint of the Black Brigade on my shelf it was a good read.

 

[laclongquan]

And if you want social cred, go for the little-known (light) fantasy books of Nobel Prize Selma Lagerlöf : The Ring of the Löwenskölds, Herr Arne's Hoard or The Changeling [aka Trolls & Men]. She is so much more than her boring book about a brat travelling through Sweden - plus this was before Tolkien became standard and everyone started just copying him.

Hmm... If I ever read of those tittles, they would be too so much less of an impact compare to Nil and his geese. Since I remember nothing else from her.

Nils book is a great one.

 

[Ysaye]

Of Salvatore's work, I liked the Cleric Quintet when I was in highschool; the main character Cadderly is somewhat of a clueless bore who slowly turns into powerful religious fanatic who ignores his girlfriend (why she hangs around at the end goodness knows?), but some of the other characters that he meets are semi-interesting, there is a lot more travel / location variety than the Drizzt books and I always felt it was better writing than the Drizzt series. I suspect though that if I went back to it I would find the first book a bore, the second and third would be passable, fourth predictable and the fifth semi-passable with some of the characters getting their comeuppance.

I agree with the suggestions of Negator2vc and would also suggest the Death's Gate series by the same authors of the good Dragonlance books. Those books are ones I did go back to a couple of years ago; the writing quality is poor at times but the different worlds and the unfolding linkages between them are interesting - I particularly liked the 2nd and 3rd book as well as some bits of the latter ones that close the loop. I suspect some of these books may have influenced the Eberron setting.

 

[negator2vc]

I agree with the suggestions of Negator2vc and would also suggest the Death's Gate series by the same authors of the good Dragonlance books. Those books are ones I did go back to a couple of years ago; the writing quality is poor at times but the different worlds and the unfolding linkages between them are interesting - I particularly liked the 2nd and 3rd book as well as some bits of the latter ones that close the loop. I suspect some of these books may have influenced the Eberron setting.

Death Gate! Now that's some nice books! And the game that was based on the books was different enough that you could easily enjoy it even if you read the books. The villain(s) of the books were far more interesting that the one in the game.