So, Whatever Happened to Fafhrd and Greymouser?

[The_Gneech]

Heck, I know people who can't stand Conan but love Wheel of Time.

The other DM in my group is like that. He runs games like that too ... it makes for a certain amount of play style clash.

HIM: *rattles off some prophecy, obviously intending we should be intrigued and fascinated and want to investigate*

ME: "I head down to the Temple of the Rat and steal the ruby eyes from the idol."

HIM: "..."

-The Gneech

 

[buzz]

There is no accounting for taste, sadly enough.

FWIW, I'm not trying to slam Salvatore or Stackpole or whomever. I haven't read any of those books. It just makes me marvel, as there is so much great, classic fiction out there that wasn't intended as a product tie-in.

And, really, every fan of D&D needs to read Fafhrd and Grey Mouser. They scream classic D&D more than any other influence IMO... LOTR, Conan, and Vance included.

EDIT: Which makes me even more sad that Mongoose has the Lankhmar license and it tying to their crappified RuneQuest re-vamp. If ever there was a D&D that could do the setting justice, it's 3e. Just look at the rule-breaking 1e writeups of them in the original Deities & Demigods. They're multiclassed 3e characters, just twenty years early.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

FWIW, I'm not trying to slam Salvatore or Stackpole or whomever. I haven't read any of those books. It just makes me marvel, as there is so much great, classic fiction out there that wasn't intended as a product tie-in.

And, really, every fan of D&D needs to read Fafhrd and Grey Mouser. They scream classic D&D more than any other influence IMO... LOTR, Conan, and Vance included.

QFT. This stuff is just perfect old school D&D to me.

 

[Dark Seraph]

FWIW, I'm not trying to slam Salvatore or Stackpole or whomever. I haven't read any of those books. It just makes me marvel, as there is so much great, classic fiction out there that wasn't intended as a product tie-in.

And, really, every fan of D&D needs to read Fafhrd and Grey Mouser. They scream classic D&D more than any other influence IMO... LOTR, Conan, and Vance included.

EDIT: Which makes me even more sad that Mongoose has the Lankhmar license and it tying to their crappified RuneQuest re-vamp. If ever there was a D&D that could do the setting justice, it's 3e. Just look at the rule-breaking 1e writeups of them in the original Deities & Demigods. They're multiclassed 3e characters, just twenty years early.

my feelings precisely...fantasy novels in recent years have become bland and tasteless mass productions of the same formula repeated ad nauseum, just cleverly hidden in colourful wrappers and star spangled marketing passing off as something they are far beneath...with the exception of George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, Raymond E Feist's Magician, David Edding's Belgarion series, and few such...

DS.

 

[Ibram]

One of the reasons I love coming to this board is that its a good way to learn of things like the DH reprint... I've been waiting for a good collection of the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser books to pick up, and this looks like it.

 

[Tonguez]

fantasy novels in recent years have become bland and tasteless mass productions of the same formula repeated ad nauseum, ...with the exception of George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire (1), Raymond E Feist's Magician (2), David Edding's Belgarion series (3), and few such...

DS.

um you do realise that fantasy novels have ALWAYS been like this - with the exception of...

Anyway yes I too enjoyed the Lankhmar stories (along with Conan, Soloman Kane, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars) whereas I can not stand the DnD novels - so yep to each his own

 

[Thunderfoot]

I lump the D&D novels right up there with gamer fiction. Its not that it isn't well written, I just can't ever find a vested reason to root for the "heroes". F&GM are great stories,as memntioned earlier the banter between them ise awesome.

Another series I really got into was the "Sanctuary" stories edited by RL Asprin. The concept of multiple authors writting things from the different perspectives of different characters was radical to say the least (a little hard to follow at times, but spot on once you get the hang of it.) It actually broadened my horizons as a GM becuase I had to think of the motivations of others from every angle. It led to my villians and NPCs being multi-dimesional, instead of ol' cliche'.

 

[MerricB]

The books are older. They are shorter. They are written more... well, having a good grasp of the English language wouldn't hurt. Lots of words used that have fallen out of common use.

They're written in a style that is different than today's language, making them much harder to read for younger people. "Old-fashioned" may be one way of describing it, which does not denigrate it but merely explains it.

Charles Dickens is still read today, but his language and writing style is not the language and writing style of today. There is a barrier there to comprehension and enjoyment. So it is with all older writers.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Don't get me wrong...I'm sure some of those writers are actually pretty good...gamefic is just another outlet in a fairly small sci-fi/fantasy fiction market. But gamefic- even PRO gamefic- leaves me cold.

If/when I were to see one of them write a book not related to some RPG or licensed movie/TV product, I'd be willing to consider reading it...though in all honesty, some of the few I've seen still did nothing for me.

 

[Nikosandros]

New Mongoose "RuneQuest" Lankhmar supplement that I hesitate to even mention:
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/h...st&PHPSESSID=ed5c37ec2d234a87b9ef9a44468c4c83

Is it so bad?

Or is it because you dislike MRQ in general?