SoZ Preview at IGN

[Erebus]

Of all the derivative works I've read, the author I hate the least so far is Richard Knaak. This is based on his Warcraft trilogy, The War of the Ancients. This is the part where you get to laugh and point. Right.

MWAHAHAHAHAHA !!!! *points*

Eh eh... I admit I haven't read the War of the Ancient. But I've read the Sunwell Trilogy (a manga, of all things !) that he also wrote. It had my favorite Warcraft III character (Sylvanas) but it still sucked a lot. "Day of the Dragon" wasn't quite as bad, but it wasn't too good either.

However, I'd still like to read some decent FR stories, so bearing in mind that "decent" is a subjective thing, what would be considered the best of the so-called AD&D fan-fiction?

I'd say... "Prince of Lies"... "Crucible" (and a few other books by Troy Denning, such as "Faces of Deception")... the Twin trilogy by Weis and Hickman... and that's it, I cannot think of anything to add.

Wait, no ! The best D&D fanfiction I know of... is really fanfiction. (Hey, come back here ! Don't run away !) It's "Fire and Dust" by James Gardner, one of the few stories using the Planescape setting (and one of the very few not butchering it). It was meant to be published as a D&D novel but the stupid editor didn't like it and so the author released it on the internet. You can find it with a simple Google search and read it for free.

 

[Data4]

Thanks. I've read most of W/H's Dragonlance stuff, and it's okay. Tolkien for kids, basically, but at least they know how to flow the narrative, unlike Salvatore. I was just thinking something in the FR setting that didn't have all the suckage of Drizzle Mah Nizzle in it would be nice, if something good existed.

Knaak, like W/H, gets the mechanics of writing done in such a way as to not be annoying, and since I sorta kinda like Warcraft lore, it made the WotA trilogy a decent read. I'm not sure if it was the fact that the Sunwell Trilogy was a medium that Knaak didn't feel comfortable with or what. I've never read it, but you're not the first person I've seen to say it sucked.

Just a side note, when I hate a writing style, I can really hate it. For all the crap I give Salvatore, he's nowhere near as bad as David Eddings when it comes to dialog. I tried to read one of the Belgarion books earlier today, and after a couple of pages of dialog, I threw the book across the room. His is the only writing that provokes me that violently. :D

 

[Wyrmlord]

There was this bit in one of David Edding's books, in which a particular character recites a story about her abused childhood. When she mentions about how she got brutal revenge on her tormentors, each character says, "Yes!"

It has to be the cheesiest writing I have seen in my life.

 

[Data4]

There was this bit in one of David Edding's books, in which a particular character recites a story about her abused childhood. When she mentions about how she got brutal revenge on her tormentors, each character says, "Yes!"

It has to be the cheesiest writing I have seen in my life.

Believe it or not, Eddings is or was a literature professor. Dude wouldn't know a pronoun if it hit him in the face.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Look, actually, I like Eddings. He is fun to read. But alot of his characters are rather cheesy.

There is one thief who keeps switching between thick cockney ('Allo guv'na, fanceh a brew?) and polished speech (You have my compliments, my queen). Extremely annoying.

 

[Data4]

Oh, he writes the narrative parts pretty decently, and his overall ideas are interesting. It's just the dialog, and his stuff tends to be dialog heavy. I mean, this is how I read his stuff:

"Hello, Maria," John said.
"Hello, John," Maria said.
"You look lovely today, Maria." John said.
"Why thank you, John. You look handsome yourself," Maria replied.
"So, Maria, do you want to have a picnic?" Jon said.
"Why yes, John, I would love to have a picnic." Maria said.
"That's great, Maria," John said, "I will get a basket."
"Okay, John." Maria said.

That might be an exaggeration, but not by much. I'm so busy rewriting his dialog in my head that it's hard to follow the story sometimes. If he could drop the constant name utterances, use some pronouns, and indicate intent descriptively, it'd flow a hell of a lot better. Like this, for instance:

John looked up from his ledger of the day's sales and spotted his beautiful wife Maria entering through the front door of the store. "Why hello, my dearest," he said, taking her hands in his and kissing her softly on the cheek, "You're looking as lovely as ever."
Maria demured, curling her lips into a distinctive cupid's bow smile, "And you, handsome as always, love." She looked down at her husband's hands, "And not a speck of dust. Letting the help carry the load again, I see. Tsk tsk."
"Consider it owner privileged," he laughed, "and besides, the weather this afternoon couldn't be better... for... a picnic?"
Maria's eye lit up, "Oh, John, that would be wonderful! Down by the lake, where we used to go before we were married?"
"You read my mind," he replied, "Come, help me get a basket together. If we're lucky, we can catch the sunset over the water."

etc... etc...

 

[Elwro]

Of all the derivative works I've read, the author I hate the least so far is Richard Knaak. This is based on his Warcraft trilogy, The War of the Ancients. This is the part where you get to laugh and point. Right. Anyway, I've seen that he's written Dragonlance stories, as well as stuff based on Diablo. So, understanding that this is all pulp anyway and isn't exactly pullitzer material, has anyone read any of these other works if his?

I read a Dragonlance book by him. "The Legend of Huma" or something like that. I think it was better than Weis & Hickman, at least.

 

[made]

"The Legend of Huma"

That and "Kaz the Minotaur" are probably the most memorable Dragonlance novels for me, but I also liked most of W&H's stuff. Then again, if you're 13 you're easily impressed by an epic story, and don't put much weight on the quality of writing.

 

[Warden]

"Great".. they have bumped up the starting level - "to make it easier for ECL characters".

"Although the starting level has been bumped up a bit to make the beginning of the game a bit easier for ECL characters."
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/vi ... &forum=128

What's the new starting level?

Fuck..

 

[Jaime Lannister]

Martin's sex scenes are the worst, anyone who liked them needs Sam's mast up their ass.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Just check up what the game is like when it is actually finished. Everything is bound to change throughout development period.

Trying to analyse every small bit of developer information would be akin to being like a Canadian hockey fan who starts disparaging debates over every hockey rule change.

 

[Lesifoere]

Martin's sex scenes are the worst, anyone who liked them needs Sam's mast up their ass.

What, you didn't like "Myrish swamp"? Hur hur. And you mean pink mast.

 

[Warden]

Just check up what the game is like when it is actually finished. Everything is bound to change throughout development period.

Trying to analyse every small bit of developer information would be akin to being like a Canadian hockey fan who starts disparaging debates over every hockey rule change.

Sure..
But it's not every bit of information. It's just that I hate "artificially" raising the starting level to solve the problem of the weak low level d&d chars.
Why not modifying level 1 a bit and let players enjoy starting from scratch?
They'll raise the starting level because chars have low HP at lvl 1 - isn't it better to bump up the HP at lvl 1 a bit instead?

 

[inwoker]

no

 

[Hümmelgümpf]

They'll raise the starting level because chars have low HP at lvl 1 - isn't it better to bump up the HP at lvl 1 a bit instead?

That's what 4E did.

 

[Warden]

That's what 4E did.

Of course, because it's logical, and Obsi could do it as well; modify 3.5 rules a bit - WotC doesn't care about old rulesets anyway..

But no, lets drop on players 1000s of free XP instead!

 

[Kogorn]

NWN vault did a contest with a mod in between SoU and HoU for NWN1 and I wouldn't be surprise if they did a prequel contest for SoZ.

 

[Seboss]

Look, actually, I like Eddings. He is fun to read.

His whole "Western Europe against the evil Middle East - but in Fantasy!" business makes me want to puke.

 

[Lesifoere]

Look, actually, I like Eddings. He is fun to read.

His whole "Western Europe against the evil Middle East - but in Fantasy!" business makes me want to puke.

Not to mention "each ethical group shares one single personality between all members!" or the whole misguided attempt at feminism. Fuck Eddings. With a red-hot poker, please.

 

[Radisshu]

Look, actually, I like Eddings. He is fun to read.

His whole "Western Europe against the evil Middle East - but in Fantasy!" business makes me want to puke.

Not to mention "each ethical group shares one single personality between all members!" or the whole misguided attempt at feminism. Fuck Eddings. With a red-hot poker, please.

I only read like half of one of his books a very long time ago, what's his attempt at feminism?

 

[Elwro]

I don't see what the problem is with chars starting at a higher experience level. It's entirely reasonable. Changing the rules would be overkill for something as trivial as this.

 

[Ammar]

Look, actually, I like Eddings. He is fun to read.

His whole "Western Europe against the evil Middle East - but in Fantasy!" business makes me want to puke.

Not to mention "each ethical group shares one single personality between all members!" or the whole misguided attempt at feminism. Fuck Eddings. With a red-hot poker, please.

Not to mention that he's getting worse as an author as time progresses. Belgariad had at least some redeeming qualities, Elenium was okay as well -but the Dreamers series OTH is one of the worst series I ever had the misfortune to read.

 

[Lesifoere]

Look, actually, I like Eddings. He is fun to read.

His whole "Western Europe against the evil Middle East - but in Fantasy!" business makes me want to puke.

Not to mention "each ethical group shares one single personality between all members!" or the whole misguided attempt at feminism. Fuck Eddings. With a red-hot poker, please.

I only read like half of one of his books a very long time ago, what's his attempt at feminism?

In his world, supposedly feminist women--like that sorceress chick with the white lock of hair--have the attitude of "oh, men are so silly they need wives to GENTLY GUIDE THEM" and some "women must be feminine in exactly this manner or they're silly" condescension. Eddings confuses sexism with feminism, apparently. (Yes, yes, I know what the Codex in general thinks of feminism, etc etc.)

 

[Warden]

I don't see what the problem is with chars starting at a higher experience level. It's entirely reasonable. Changing the rules would be overkill for something as trivial as this.

Oh yeah, clearly adding 10 hp to level 1 characters is overkill comapred to dropping 6000 xp, in a new story, from the blue sky. It's raining XP, alleluia it's raining XP..

 

[Darth Roxor]

I don't see what the problem is with chars starting at a higher experience level. It's entirely reasonable. Changing the rules would be overkill for something as trivial as this.

Oh yeah, clearly adding 10 hp to level 1 characters is overkill comapred to dropping 6000 xp, in a new story, from the blue sky. It's raining XP, alleluia it's raining XP..

Aren't you supposed to be some sort of mercenary/man-at-arms/whatever? Level 1 = farmboy, and a mercenary would kind of *need* to be experienced in the first place before someone ships him into some strange islands.