Who are Howard and Leiber?

[Mystery Man]

Howard and Leiber? She's never even seen a book by either of them.

Too bad for her, she should work on remedying that oversight.

If multiclassing is common, does not Richard of the Sword of Truth have the skills of a Ranger, Healer and Sorcerer?

Don't forget S&M Master.

 

[Captain Tagon]

Too bad for her, she should work on remedying that oversight.

EDIT: Blah, edited out bitterness towards having spent money on any of Howard's work. Summary of point, not everyone likes Howard so there is no need to insist that someone is necessarily missing out by not having read him.

 

[WayneLigon]

I don't much care what they read as long as they read anything at all. More than a few times in meetings at the FLGS the question has been 'What fantasy fiction have you read' and some people admitting to never having read any. They were, universally, the worst players as well.

 

[Turjan]

We talk about "Vancian" magic, but it really isn't any more - D&D has used it far more than Vance ever did. It isn't "Vancian" magic, it is "D&D" magic.

I did really not want to start a discussion of 'Vancian magic' here. Fact is that the wizard's magic is still very similar to the original as described in Vance's first fantasy book. It's got its roots there, and it shows. My point was actually that in this case not only his work is all but forgotten, but even Vance's name has vanished into obscurity, at least in the U.S. And I understood that you wanted your fantasy RPG based on current fantasy literature and not on some obscure, old tomes vanished with the winds of time. As I often hear this criticism of D&D and its "illogical magic system that is not based in fantasy", I think the point is valid here.

In this sense, I found your answer inconsistent. If we want D&D to emulate itself, we can forget about your topic .

 

[Turjan]

Of course, Howard's original stories have recently been republished by Ballantine (so far: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, Soloman Kane, The Bloody Crown of Conan, andBran Mak Morn: The Last king -- with more to come!).

Ah, thanks ! As I said, I'm not really up to date as far as fantasy literature goes. It's so hard to find the good ones there .

 

[Glyfair]

One of the interesting things about all of this is how D&D has itself influenced fantasy fiction. One of the biggest writers of fantasy fiction - Ray Feist - started from a D&D-inspired RPG. Then you have Stephen Brust as well - though getting his books in Ballarat is a real struggle.

A lot of modern fantasy has a strong roleplaying background. A lot of the shared world universes came from roleplaying sessions. IIRC, George R. R. Martin's shared word of Wild Cards was derived from a Superworld campaign.

Honestly, a good percentage of my fantasy background came from trying to read most of the references in the AD&D DMG (and later, the Dragon's Giant's in the Earth). I had been exposed to Howard, Tolkein and the major ones before D&D. However, if it wasn't for that list, I wouldn't have found Jirel of Joiry, the Dying Earth, Morgaine or the the Face in the Frost.

 

[Desdichado]

The Golden Ass is the one true fantasy novel.

All others are but pale imitations.

Are you sure that's a fantasy novel?

 

[Mystery Man]

EDIT: Blah, edited out bitterness towards having spent money on any of Howard's work. Summary of point, not everyone likes Howard so there is no need to insist that someone is necessarily missing out by not having read him.

Howard's OK, Lieber is great. Some of the yoots of today would be lost on his prose though, being dumbed down by the likes of Harry Potter and such. Yeah, I'm a snob.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Are you sure that's a fantasy novel?

Oh yeah. Witches, polymorph potions, gods speaking in dreams - it's got all the earmarks.

 

[Desdichado]

Sounds more like a letter to Penthouse.