Vancian magic?
- Thread starter KenM
- Start date
Alaric_Prympax
First Post
The Dying Earth series. I've got the 4 books in a 1 Volume paperback, I don't know the individual names of the books. I haven't read them yet but it's on my list.
the Jester
Legend
The Dying Earth books are great- it's completely obvious that dnd's magic is from them (there are clear spell and item swipes, such as prismatic spray and ioun stones).
That's all I've read of his, though.
That's all I've read of his, though.
All four Dying Earth Novels have been reprinted in one big trade paperback a few years ago:
"Tales of the Dying Earth" by Jack Vance
$17.95 USD
741 pages
Orb Books
Tom Doughtery Associates, LLC
(www.tor.com)
ISBN: 0=312-87456-1
The novels are individually called:
The Dying Earth
The Eyes of the Overworld
Cugel's Saga
Rhialto the Marvellous
Most of the books feature the adventures of Cugel the Clever, a swashbuckling (and almost completely amoral) rogue in a fantasy far future version of Earth. He tries to burgle a strange wizard's mansion and gets "Dimension Doored" to the far side of the world. The stories detail his attempts to return home by any means necessary and exact revenge on the offending wizard. There are also a number of short stories and vignettes as well.
These books really influenced the D&D magic system--spells are memorized, cast and forgotten by powerful and reclusive wizards with strange eccentricities and obsessions (Mordenkainen, Bigby and the Circle of Eight are all modelled after characters from the "Rhialto" novel).
The language of the books is prosaic and flowery, and evokes a strong sense of setting. A lot of the flowery language used in old 1st Edition AD&D books by Gary Gygax--Mr. Gygax's writing style in fact, is influenced by the Vance Books.
You might also want to check out Robin Laws' narrativst style Dying Earth RPG that came out a couple of years ago for source material, if you want to use the setting for gaming. It's pretty cool.
Fun trivia Fact: Vance was a prolific writer, and in addition to tons of sci fi and fantasy, wrote dozens of mystery novels under the pen name, Ellery Queen.
"Tales of the Dying Earth" by Jack Vance
$17.95 USD
741 pages
Orb Books
Tom Doughtery Associates, LLC
(www.tor.com)
ISBN: 0=312-87456-1
The novels are individually called:
The Dying Earth
The Eyes of the Overworld
Cugel's Saga
Rhialto the Marvellous
Most of the books feature the adventures of Cugel the Clever, a swashbuckling (and almost completely amoral) rogue in a fantasy far future version of Earth. He tries to burgle a strange wizard's mansion and gets "Dimension Doored" to the far side of the world. The stories detail his attempts to return home by any means necessary and exact revenge on the offending wizard. There are also a number of short stories and vignettes as well.
These books really influenced the D&D magic system--spells are memorized, cast and forgotten by powerful and reclusive wizards with strange eccentricities and obsessions (Mordenkainen, Bigby and the Circle of Eight are all modelled after characters from the "Rhialto" novel).
The language of the books is prosaic and flowery, and evokes a strong sense of setting. A lot of the flowery language used in old 1st Edition AD&D books by Gary Gygax--Mr. Gygax's writing style in fact, is influenced by the Vance Books.
You might also want to check out Robin Laws' narrativst style Dying Earth RPG that came out a couple of years ago for source material, if you want to use the setting for gaming. It's pretty cool.
Fun trivia Fact: Vance was a prolific writer, and in addition to tons of sci fi and fantasy, wrote dozens of mystery novels under the pen name, Ellery Queen.
I know Jack wrote mysteries under the name John Holbrook Vance (I have one of them, The Pleasant Grove Murders).LostWorldsMike
First Post
Voobaha said:
Actually, if memory serves, it was Theodore Sturgeon who "was" Ellery Queen. At least that's what it said in the book of literary pseudonyms at the library.
