High Level Literary Sources

[Hussar]

From another thread, and appologies to Wulf Ratbane for stealing his words:

I think typical high-level D&D play is a genre unto itself, without any familiar literary analog. I think that's why I have such a hard time getting into it.

I'm not sure if I agree with this, but, that got me to thinking. What fantasy genre stories are there out there that we could point to and say, "Yeah, that looks like high level DnD"? For me, I would say:

Stephen Erikson's Malazan Tales of the Fallen series. LOTS of high level stuff.

Michael Moorcock's Warhound and the World's Pain series, the Eternal Champion series, and possibly the Chronicles of Corum, although its been some time since I read that, so take it with a grain of salt.

But, beyond those two, I'm drawing a blank. I freely admit that fantasy is not my genre of choice to read, so, what am I missing?

 

[Geoff Watson]

Steven Brust's 'Jhereg' series.

Geoff.

 

[Dragonblade]

The Wheel of Time took many inspirations from D&D since Robert Jordan used to DM for his son. In that series there is a clear power progression amongst his characters. The latter books are a great example of "high level" characters being in the middle of world shaking events.

 

[Torx]

I'm re-reading Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber and the main character and his siblings reek of high-level D&Dness. They raise powerful armies, can stand toe-to-toe with a multitude of foes, duel for hours on end, alter reality on a whim, and heal themselves from monstrous injuries. It is very light on the magic end of things though.

 

[bowbe]

Karl Edward Wagner's "Kane" series.

Darkness Weaves, Bloodstone, Death Angel's Shadow, Dark Crusade.

Hard to find the out of print novels but Joe Kushner suggested to me looking them up through certain fantasy book clubs.

The Kane series is especially good if you don't mind a bit of science fiction, sorcery, swordplay, and a fractured and ultimately fully evil protagonist.

They fit the "high level" bill in that Kane is based on the Cain of biblical reference. Unable to die except in battle, but so long lived and so skilled in the arts of medecine, sorcery, swordplay, science and alien technology that in the end, few except powerful demons, witches, or alien artifacts have a chance of really ending him once and for all.

In other words, if you like settings like Blackmoor or Wilderlands of High Fantasy, you'll probably dig Kane. Likewise Wagner was a huge buff of horror fiction, so there are plenty of elder god, old ones, deep ones, and other references that enrich the play of the setting.

Clark Ashton Smith, a cohort of HP Lovecraft has some interesting short stories based in otherworldly and fantastic locations of space and time. Many have a feel of ancient India or the Middle east and feature poetic tales of horror and high fantasy told from the point of view of Liches, elementals and those who worship or strive against alien gods. Not necessarily "novel" type material but definitely story seed worthy.

Of the anthologies of Thieves world, you find cityscapes populated by a vast variety of high and low level "characters" who wield anything from a knife to a pedigree of godhead.

Loved old Moorcock. Chronicles of Corum, Elric, Hawkmoon, ect. ect. Good stuff and always what you could consider "High level" tho this has been covered already.

For a kick, read the Gord the Rogue novels by E.G. Gygax. Petty thief turns demigod and destroys the universe! Thats good fun and if it isn't high level I don't know what is. They were an entertaining read at very least.

I have tended to shy away from more of the "modern" authors. I have found some who are considered the popular stuff of todays fantasy genre to be confusing, gramatically frustrating and poorly written, or aimed at a much younger audience. I cut my teeth on Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter/Barsoon series which are far more sword and sorcery than science fiction.

Case

 

[BadMojo]

Steven Brust's 'Jhereg' series.

Geoff.

Definitely. Morrolan, Aliera, the Necromancer, Sethra Lavode, Vlad Taltos (although I think the multiclassing has lead to a suboptimal build) are all what I'd translate in to a high level D&D character. I'd probably say that Sethra and the Necromancer are probably Epic.

There are weapons that correspond with D&D artifacts, magic is readily available and there's also some great stuff on how the availability of resurrection magic would influence a society.

Kragar is a nice example of the PC whose player doesn't show up to sessions or tends to wander off.

 

[Tsillanabor]

Raymond Feist's Riftwar series, as well as some of the other books set in the same setting.

 

[Taraxia]

Frankly, folks like Fafhrd, the Grey Mouser and Conan would all be quite high-level if they were D&D characters. Elric's already been mentioned right?

Tamora Pierce's Conan-ish-inspired books, starting with Alanna and moving on, all seem to have pretty damn high-level characters as protagonists. They wield magic capable of blasting huge ancient monsters to bits, they teleport around all the time, heal grievous wounds by force of will, wield super-ancient super-powerful weapons, "weave" magic to create worldbreaking effects like storms and moving continents, and sit around and chat with the gods once in a while. It does get fairly annoying after a while.

 

[Someone]

Sapkowki´s Geralt of Rivia saga has characters that positively know that can fight a large number of weaker foes without much problem and wizards able to cast (at least) the equivalents of Teleport, Sending, Planar Binding and lots of blasting spells.

 

[jgbrowning]

I can't think of many books that have the save or die effects common in high level play. Having the protaganists die and then be raised isn't a common trope at all.

joe b.