Anime Are there any Actually Good D&D books?

[Cael]

City of Towers is one book officially written by a single person.

I meant the rest of the trilogy.

 

[deuxhero]

Also by one person.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Also by one person.

Okay but what about the other books?

 

[AetherVagrant]

No.
At least nothing by Salvatore, nor the Dragonlance shit the writing is terrible in all of them and comparable to 40k or Magic the Gathering fiction. 40k shit might actually be better if you want scifi Tom Clancy crap.

 

[Fedora Master]

Reading the Haunted Lands books aka Szass Tam is a big undead Chad.

Book 3 they bring out a spellbook that supposedly contains a ritual to unmake all of existence except the caster, leaving him free to start over as the new Overgod.

Excuse me what? I mean epic stories must have epic stakes but I'm fairly certain Karsus Folly and the subsequent ban on extreme magic exists precisely to prevent that kind of shit.

 

[Gyor]

Reading the Haunted Lands books aka Szass Tam is a big undead Chad.

Book 3 they bring out a spellbook that supposedly contains a ritual to unmake all of existence except the caster, leaving him free to start over as the new Overgod.

Excuse me what? I mean epic stories must have epic stakes but I'm fairly certain Karsus Folly and the subsequent ban on extreme magic exists precisely to prevent that kind of shit.

Its why he has to do shit the hard way with dread rings, instead of just casting a tenth level spell.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy was pretty decent.

 

[hello friend]

I read the first Pools book and thought it was entertaining enough, really captures that DnD vibe in places. But then I went on to the next book and after reading about a third I can't go on anymore. There is a hard drop in quality from the first book. Seems like half of the bit I read was spent on the mage and the cleric from the first book whispering sweet nothings at each other. Is book 3 and 4 even worth reading? Those of you who have spoken warmly of this series, what did you think of the second book?

Azure Bonds trilogy wasn't half bad.

btw Dragonlance sucks

 

[Crashman]

I haven't seen anyone mention I, Strahd: Memoir of a Vampire yet. I've been reading it because my d&d group was playing thru our dm's modified version of Curse of Strahd, and he referenced some parts of the book. It's a decent read but don't expect an actual horror story.
Guardians of the Flame is pretty much an unofficial d&d series.
I'll even commit grand heresy and say that I don't think the Drizzt books are a crime against humanity. At least the first 6 books I've read are okay time wasters.
But I'd say you're better off finding the classic novels that inspired d&d like Conan and Elric and other old pulp fantasy.

 

[hello friend]

I found the first Elric book beyond terrible, do they improve from that point on?

 

[Crashman]

I found the first Elric book beyond terrible, do they improve from that point on?

Did you start with the first chronological book or the first one Moorcock The Dreaming City? I think they get better as the series goes on, especially near the end, but I will admit that none of the characters are particularly strong. The main focus is on Elric & his adventures in a very weird fantasy world. If you think you'll enjoy that, you'll enjoy Elric.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I found the first Elric book beyond terrible, do they improve from that point on?

If you're reading them in chronological order from Elric's perspective, then the first book is the novel Elric of Melniboné that was written after the Stormbringer novel that concludes the series.

I suggest for your first time reading the Elric series, try chronological order in terms of Moorcock's writing, which would be:

• The Dreaming City (found in the book The Weird of the White Wolf)
  
• While the Gods Laugh (The Weird of the White Wolf)
• The Stealer of Souls (The Bane of the Black Sword)
• Kings in Darkness (The Bane of the Black Sword)
  
• The Flamebringers (The Bane of the Black Sword)
• Stormbringer (novel, but first published as four stories)
• Prologue: The Dream of Earl Aubec (The Weird of the White Wolf)
• The Singing Citadel (The Weird of the White Wolf)
  
• The Torment of the Last Lord (The Vanishing Tower)
• To Snare the Pale Prince (The Vanishing Tower)
• Three Heroes with a Single Aim (The Vanishing Tower)
  
• Elric of Melniboné (novel)
• Sailing to the Past: The Jade Man's Eyes (The Sailor on the Seas of Fate)
  
• Sailing to the Future: Voyage on a Dark Ship (The Sailor on the Seas of Fate)
  
• Sailing to the Present: The Lands beyond the World (The Sailor on the Seas of Fate)
• Epilogue: To Rescue Tanelorn (The Bane of the Black Sword)

There are also a few even later novels, written from the 1980s onward. These were written from 1961 through 1977 (Stormbringer was published in novel form in 1965).

 

[hello friend]

Yeah it was Elric of Melnibone. I'll try chronological for my next foray.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Elric is a whiny fag though.

 

[Morblot]

Is book 3 and 4 even worth reading?

What book 4? I though it was a trilogy?

 

[hello friend]

Turns out it was a trilogy at first, and 20 years later or smth they wrote a book 4. I bet it's shit, but then again book 2 was also shit. Book 1 was evocative of that DnD feeling despite being very clumsily written, which is something. A lot of technically competent writers never manage to convey any kind of vibe like that.

 

[Fedora Master]

Faerun really is a magical realm.

 

[Jvegi]

Unrelated:

 

[rusty_shackleford]

the protagonist of Baldur's Gate(Abdel Adrian) eating Bodhi's breast is completely canon btw

Bodhi's whole body exploded in pain-a kind of burning agony she hadn't experienced since before she'd become a vampire. Things had pierced her flesh before, but weapons of steel or claw never hurt her. A blade had to be enchanted to make her bleed. No fist could bruise her, and no claw could rend her, but here she was, being torn apart by this thing's bare hands.

She'd tried to speak to him, to hypnotize him, to run from him, but nothing worked. The roof had been ripped off the Copper Coronet, revealing the dark, moonless sky. The thing that was once Abdel Adrian had destroyed the tavern, then turned its full attention on Bodhi. She'd even tried to tell him where to find the pieces of the Rynn Lanthorn. She'd tried admitting all her lies and manipulations. She'd even said she was sorry.

It took her leg off, and the pain was literally blinding. It ripped her arm off, and she almost passed out. She could feel cool blood drying all over her.

The creature bit into her chest, and she could feel her heart burst, and more blood exploded out everywhere. One of her breasts came off in its mouth, and she screamed. The sound was as alien in her ears as it was in her throat.

"Abdel!" she screamed, the blood that had filled her throat fountaining out with the name. "I love you… I loved you, Abdel…"

 

[Fedora Master]

"the pain was literally blinding"

 

[Cael]

the protagonist of Baldur's Gate(Abdel Adrian) eating Bodhi's breast is completely canon btw

Bodhi's whole body exploded in pain-a kind of burning agony she hadn't experienced since before she'd become a vampire. Things had pierced her flesh before, but weapons of steel or claw never hurt her. A blade had to be enchanted to make her bleed. No fist could bruise her, and no claw could rend her, but here she was, being torn apart by this thing's bare hands.

She'd tried to speak to him, to hypnotize him, to run from him, but nothing worked. The roof had been ripped off the Copper Coronet, revealing the dark, moonless sky. The thing that was once Abdel Adrian had destroyed the tavern, then turned its full attention on Bodhi. She'd even tried to tell him where to find the pieces of the Rynn Lanthorn. She'd tried admitting all her lies and manipulations. She'd even said she was sorry.

It took her leg off, and the pain was literally blinding. It ripped her arm off, and she almost passed out. She could feel cool blood drying all over her.

The creature bit into her chest, and she could feel her heart burst, and more blood exploded out everywhere. One of her breasts came off in its mouth, and she screamed. The sound was as alien in her ears as it was in her throat.

"Abdel!" she screamed, the blood that had filled her throat fountaining out with the name. "I love you… I loved you, Abdel…"

Well, after Ed Greenwood's virtual porn FR novels, I suppose it was a matter of time before the fetishists got into the act...

 

[Cross]

Bodhi's whole body exploded in pain-a kind of burning agony she hadn't experienced since before she'd become a vampire. Things had pierced her flesh before, but weapons of steel or claw never hurt her. A blade had to be enchanted to make her bleed. No fist could bruise her, and no claw could rend her, but here she was, being torn apart by this thing's bare hands.

Nothing says masterful storytelling like interrupting your action scene with a paragraph about the minutiae of enchanted weapons and creature immunities.

What's even funnier is that it's wrong. Creatures immune to non-magical weapons could harm each other with their claws and such (otherwise the D&D setting couldn't even function on a basic level).

 

[Cael]

Bodhi's whole body exploded in pain-a kind of burning agony she hadn't experienced since before she'd become a vampire. Things had pierced her flesh before, but weapons of steel or claw never hurt her. A blade had to be enchanted to make her bleed. No fist could bruise her, and no claw could rend her, but here she was, being torn apart by this thing's bare hands.

Nothing says masterful storytelling like interrupting your action scene with a paragraph about the minutiae of enchanted weapons and creature immunities.

What's even funnier is that it's wrong. Creatures immune to non-magical weapons could harm each other with their claws and such (otherwise the D&D setting couldn't even function on a basic level).

Only if they have the same immunities, I think.

 

[Hagashager]

The Dragonlance Books had an impact on me when I was a little boy. I liked Krynn as a setting.

My brother was obsessed with Drizzt for a while, but I never liked Drizzt or the Forgotten Realms as narrative settings.

The Dragonlance books are meant for children though, I have no intention of rereading them and I doubt you'll find them particularly noteworthy.

Apparently the setting was rebooted for DnD Next and I'm told it's exactly the kind of race-baiting, pandering hypocrisy I expected, so I'll never give it a look.

 

[Fedora Master]

I liked Raistlin when I was an edgy teen