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    Canonfire :: View topic - What If new Greyhawk novels were written?
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    What If new Greyhawk novels were written?
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    Apprentice Greytalker

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    Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:31 am  
    What If new Greyhawk novels were written?

    Here is a question that I hope prompts some interesting discussion. I am not sure if some one asked this question before and if so I apologize for its redundancy. If WotC actually published a new original Greyhawk Novel, written by someone such as R.A. Salvatore or the like...

    1). Would you all buy it, support it?
    2). Would it become Canon?

    I ask these questions because from reading this and other forums, we Greytalkers are a tough breed to impress.
    Adept Greytalker

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    Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:07 am  

    1. not if it was written by RA Salvatore, maybe if it was written by a decent author.
    2. quite possibly, unless WotC decided otherwise. ("Official canon" that it, it would have no bearing on my game of course).
    Apprentice Greytalker

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    Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:27 am  
    RE:

    That is interesting... Which authors would you prefer? I am reading the Icewind Dale Trilogy now and think it is ok. It could be better but I believe it was one of his first books so I was reserving judgement until I read some of his later stuff.
    Adept Greytalker

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    Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:45 am  

    the icewind dale trilogy was indeed okay, but RA's books have gotten progressivly worse as time has gone on, lol...

    personaly if it actually came about I would prefer to see an entirly new crop of authors, of the FR authers that I actualy enjoy reading few if any of them would seem to have the intrests in the greyhawk setting to do it justice. Maybe if the could pull Dougless Niles out what ever rock he has crawled under, or James Ward, both of whom have workded on Greyhawk products in the past.
    Master Greytalker

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    Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:48 am  
    Salvatore

    Tgsantini, you may have noticed that Drizzt, Drow and RA Salvatore cause a great deal of angst on CF! I do not think he deserves the discredit he often receives here, though I am not implying that he is a Homer/Dickens/Twain figure in literature either.

    Everyone has a right and responsability to read as they choose, but some of the complaints against Salvatore are often (not always, but often) misplaced. For similar reasons many here hate drow, and consider them overdone. Along similar lines, they hate 50th level ubermunchkin games. I have never seen (personally that is) drow overdone in a GH campaign, nor 50th level silliness.

    In GH, I think drow hold a different position; if one divorces them from the FR setting, or looks at previous treatment of drow in GH, you would find that they hold a very different niche in the world and are not nearly so overexposed. They still make fine villans, foils, or occasional hit squad.

    Personally, I would love Salvatore to write such a novel... it would give GH a boost like it has not seen since the 83 boxed set and the classic modules. Wheather it was Canon would depend on the treatment of the setting and the position of WOTC. This is due to a history of poor novels which, if held as canon, would destory the WoGH, or make it so different as to be unplayable.
    Adept Greytalker

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    Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:58 am  

    To be clear, my problems with Salvatore has nothing what so ever to do with Drizzt, nor drow, it has to do with a poor and cliched writing style, most obvious in the latest group of books, and his constant use of dwarves as nothing but comic relief with names like Muffinhead and Dagnabit. (with only a very few "serious dwarves" in the books, consider how much of the time is spent in dwarven settings this is a horrendeous tragidy).

    While R. A. Salvator would most certianly provide a nice boost to greyhawk, that is not what the initial question asked, it asked if I would buy them, which I would not.... not to say that I would not try to give the man the benifit of the doubt, I would probably check it out from the library and give it a once over, despite my expectations.
    Master Greytalker

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    Fri Jul 15, 2005 1:37 pm  
    Fair

    That is a fair response, and a fair criticism of his works. And a reasonable assesment of my reply. I certainly meant no offense to you of the vowel less name. Smile


    However, for Tgsantini's benefit I would suggest the following. The question:


    "If WotC actually published a new original Greyhawk Novel, written by someone such as R.A. Salvatore or the like...

    1). Would you all buy it, support it?
    2). Would it become Canon? "

    Will draw a considerably different response on the CF! boards than:

    "If WotC actually published a new original Greyhawk Novel, written by a know author with a reasonable story..

    1). Would you all buy it, support it?
    2). Would it become Canon? "
    Apprentice Greytalker

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    Sat Jul 16, 2005 2:45 pm  
    RE:

    Please understand I did not mean to cause anyone any angst. I understood that choosing to use R. A. Salvatore in my intial question was not going to sit well with some Greytalkers. The only reason I did is because he is an author of some fame in this particlur area. I believe that some of his books have hit the NY Times Bestseller list. That is the reason I used his name. I simply could not think of any other "famous" author with experience in the D&D realm that have sold as many books as he has. Not to say that Bruce Cordell or Jim Ward etc aren't good authors, but I do not think they have been on the NYT Best seller list. If they have, my apologies.

    Well I agree that the quality of the content would speak to whether it was Canon or not. I personally believe that if WotC actually made a real investment in the WoGH they would reap the benefits of good profits. I am not sure whether this book would need a Well known author or not but I am getting the impression that the first attempt would have to be from a Well Known writer.
    CF Admin

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    Sat Jul 16, 2005 3:40 pm  

    I haven't read the various "funny" GH novels published by WotC over the past five years or so by Thomas Kidd and/or Thomas Reid (not sure if his were supposed to be humorous or not) like ToEE, WPM, or AtG but I did read Keith Strohm's Tomb of Horrors, and it was on par with the EGG novels and with Bailey's NightWatch: while it wasn't Melville, it was just-fine gaming fiction.

    Strohm made good used GH elements in The Tomb of Horrors, including Acererak (obviously), the City of Greyhawk, the various gods of GH (including Tharizdun), its geography, etc. My only real gripe about the novel was that the ending seemed a bit rushed: after the smooth and easy, well-developed pacing of the quest that lead up to the entry into the Tomb, the percentage of the narrative that actually took place in the Tomb was only about a fifth of the novel or so, which was a bit of a disappointment.

    Even with that minor quibble in mind, If Strohm wrote another GH novel, I'd pick it up.
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    Sat Jul 16, 2005 8:58 pm  
    Tomb of Horrors

    I too loved Strohm's book and your assesment was right on the money. The ending was indeed rushed. I especially liked the 2nd to last chapter where the hero actually speaks with Heironeous, excellent. It is unfortunate that WotC put a 250 to 300 page limit on their lesser known writers. Strohm's book could have easily been expanded especially in the tomb itself. I did read White Plume Mountain. I liked Kidd's characters with the exception of the Pixie, I could have done without her. Against the Giants had a lot of potential but was extremely rushed. They went into detail adventuring in the Steading but just glanced through the Frost and Fire Giants just to get to the Drow. It would have been much better as 3 separate books but of course Greyhawk always gets the short end of the stick.

    Now if Strohm did write another Greyhawk novel do you think it could become Canon?
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    Sun Jul 17, 2005 2:59 pm  

    grodog wrote:
    haven't read the various "funny" GH novels published by WotC over the past five years or so by Thomas Kidd and/or Thomas Reid (not sure if his were supposed to be humorous or not) like ToEE, WPM, or AtG but I did read Keith Strohm's Tomb of Horrors, and it was on par with the EGG novels and with Bailey's NightWatch: while it wasn't Melville, it was just-fine gaming fiction.


    Thomas Reid's ToEE is worth the read as far as that goes and is not 'funny' while Kidd's tone is half written as a joke and seems hard to pin down on what he is trying to do with his tale. Reid's take on the Temple of Elemental Evil isnt far off from the orginal modules tone and he seems to grasp the setting as well as the nuiances of the politics at that time in the region. In any case few of the GH novels have hit the nail on the head or made much impact on moving the setting in any direction other than pure camp.
    Any new novelist wont be able to please any of the hard core GH fans, following in the footsteps of Reid and Strohms examples would do well by me.
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    Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:13 pm  

    Dethand wrote:
    Thomas Reid's ToEE is worth the read as far as that goes and is not 'funny' while Kidd's tone is half written as a joke and seems hard to pin down on what he is trying to do with his tale. Reid's take on the Temple of Elemental Evil isnt far off from the orginal modules tone and he seems to grasp the setting as well as the nuiances of the politics at that time in the region.


    Thanks for the recommendation, Dethand! I found a copy of this at a local used bookstore for $3.50, so I picked it up. It's a good GH read---definitely on par with Strohm's work, and well-worth a few dollars and two evenings of reading time.
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    Thu Aug 04, 2005 4:08 am  

    Slightly OT:
    If they (WotC or Iron Hammer Graphics whoever) would decide to continue the excellent Vecna: Hand of the Revenant graphic novel, I would definately buy two at least.

    (If you don't know what V:HotR is check out the Reviews section hereon CF!)
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    Fri Aug 12, 2005 5:22 pm  
    Unlikely event...too high a risk of $

    And thats not the only risk. Aside from questionable potential profit ther are much more serious dangers to be considered. Given the quality of previous material published, there is a serious possibility that the trees of the Earth itself may collectively retreat back into the ground to prevent such a callow waste of their precious pulp, thereby depriving the world of almost all oxygen producing flora. It would be a sad end indeed for a world already much in need of clean air. But hey, its just a theory. There's always a built in market for D&D novels... and if the publisher doesn't go overboard and break the bank by making more copies than will ever sell, it might just happen. As for me, I'll stick with the classics, Robert E Howard, Michael Moorcock, L.Sprague deCamp, etc.
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    Mon Sep 05, 2005 5:25 pm  

    If a new Greyhawk book were to be written, I'd look it over. If it really had something to do with Greyhawk, I'd buy it. If the author was really good, I'd recommend it. If it really had the spirit of Greyhawk, I'd call it canon. Unforunately, outside of the Paul Kidd novels (sorry, I never read the Gygax novels) all the rest has been lackluster to terrible. Since I feel that way about RPG novels in general, though, its pretty much par for the course. BTW, I don't consider the "D&D" novels (those thin little books that came out about two or three years ago that used WoG gods but little else) to be Greyhawk at all, let alone good.
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    Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:43 pm  
    Saw Gary in Sept

    He continues to promise that Troll Lord will release the Gord books in Hardcover and that Wizards is after him to write something for Dragon. So I guess we have to keep our eyes open.
    CF Admin

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    Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:28 pm  

    On a semi-related note, Modi Thorsson just got back in touch with me after being busy for the past few years. Hopefully I'll be able to dig up my old interview with him for the OJ, and finish it this time around :D
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    Thu Nov 03, 2005 6:57 am  

    T
    O
    E
    E

    S
    P
    O
    I
    L
    E
    R


    The only thing I really disliked in the pocket book of ToEE was using a baklunish monk as member of the Scarlet Brotherhood
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    Thu Nov 03, 2005 8:34 am  

    Yes, I found that a bit odd myself. But, I thought, maybe I was just missing something.
    Apprentice Greytalker

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    Fri Nov 25, 2005 3:09 pm  

    I'd at least buy the 1st novel, and if drew me in I'd continue buying the line. This wold be a good way for the LG community to let the rest of teh GH fans know what is going on, perhaps a writer getting to use LG modules to tell the whole story of what's going on in various regions.
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    Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:01 pm  
    greyhawk Books

    Hello all. For years I have thought that the World of Greyhawk has been dead. But I started with this campaign from the very beginning of my adventures. This is where I began and will end. The subject of authoring a book of greyhawk has been in my mind for years, just wondering why it has not been done. I would love to read it. I would love to write it myself. Why desginate an author already on the "books" when we here know that we could publish a book worth the read, with the knowledge of the lands, the people and the history. Why leave it to someone else. We all should be writing right now!!
    Master Greytalker

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    Sun Mar 19, 2006 5:56 pm  

    Well, Castanamir, you can write it! and publish here!

    But, as to print publishing, that is pretty much a non-starter. The WOTC company line is that they only want to support a small number of worlds. However, they have admitted that they are afraid that the superior quality of the Greyhawk stories and world will pull most of their FRs fans away. And they have spent far too much money force feeding them over the last five years.

    Anyway, the Intellectual Property holder, WOTC, has put the kabash on anything new, at least for the near future.
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    Sat Apr 29, 2006 3:03 pm  

    Howdy All,

    This is an interesting question. I would buy the novels if they truly focused on the WoG and how the characters interacted with the world. I would like to see a group of adventurers grow and become something as opposed to just reading about them completing an adventure. I enjoyed the Gord of Greyhawk novels for what they were (are?) and I think something similar needs to be written. The WoG is just so rich and fertile, it is amazing that WotC hasn't done much with it. They (WotC) could easily create a line of novels. Wink
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    Fri Nov 03, 2006 7:57 am  
    Collabouration

    Hell, yes! But it would have to be a good writer. I too have enjoyed Strom's Tomb and I am big fan of Gary's novels, especially the illustrations of the first two convey what Greyhawk was all about to me (the last one, I think was attempt to seek revenge down upon TSR). I have not read Nightwatch, yet. I read Return to Quag Keep and like the original it was bit of a bore but good in mood just pacing was off and it certainly was not a Greyhawk novel just like the first - a novel that used elements of Greyhawk as a setting (much as I find the 3.5 adventures do).

    It boggles the mind that some of the great supplement/adventure writers cannot write a novel, as I would very much like see a Mona or a Reynolds novel. But, I understand the skills are different but surely they can provide an outline and some Masters college student can ghost write the rest or at least share the dual credit. They have the ideas and good sense of the setting and the student can make it happen.
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    Thu Nov 09, 2006 7:18 am  

    Personally, I'd like to see what a good author could do with Greyhawk. By good I mean someone like John Ringo, David Drake, SM Stirling, or David Weber. A proven commodity.
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    Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:39 pm  

    I want a good story, interesting characters grounded in the world around them. I do not want a GH supplement.

    As for an author, I would love to see Michael A. Stackpole. His work on the Battletech, Star Wars, and Shadowrun licenses were standouts. I can highly recommend his original fantasy series The DragonCrown War Cycle.

    The problem is, without someone at WotC to create a GH story bible, someone that cares enough about the background to shepherd the project through the publishing cycle... I just don't see new books that would be a fun read and provide a sense of the Greyhawk setting in our future.

    My two coppers,

    Bryan Blumklotz
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    Tue Dec 05, 2006 5:47 pm  

    Saracenus wrote:
    I want a good story, interesting characters grounded in the world around them. I do not want a GH supplement.

    As for an author, I would love to see Michael A. Stackpole. His work on the Battletech, Star Wars, and Shadowrun licenses were standouts. I can highly recommend his original fantasy series The DragonCrown War Cycle.

    The problem is, without someone at WotC to create a GH story bible, someone that cares enough about the background to shepherd the project through the publishing cycle... I just don't see new books that would be a fun read and provide a sense of the Greyhawk setting in our future.

    My two coppers,

    Bryan Blumklotz
    AKA Saracenus


    Stackpole!?!? I'm sorry if he's your favorite, but what a hack! Some of the worst excuses for novels ever written were his Jedi novels. If he's the best GH could get, don't bother.
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    Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:52 am  

    I would much rather see some previously unknown but life-long fan of Greyhawk write some new books than an established author that doesn't know or love the setting churning out some #words=$$$ books.

    I'll read anything with Greyhawk on it just to see what they are doing, but from past experiance I know my peeves will be 1) The author not knowing the setting he/she is writting in well enough to avoid errors like the Balklundish Scarlet Brotherhood Monk in ToEE. 2) WotC forcing them to keep the book so short they can't do a good job and 3) That they keep rehashing old Greyhawk stories (and badly at that) rather than developing new ones that fit well into the world.
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    Fri Dec 08, 2006 10:44 pm  

    Ahem to what Saracenus says...
    Thats what id be interested in, a good quality written book, maybe even a triology. It doesnt need to be some big epic, world changing story (as like the original dragonlance saga), but just a quality story with some intelligent reference to the greyhawk world and some detail to flesh out a certain region/race/organisation or whatever. To be honest, when the original books came out thats what I thought they were going to be. I was a bit disappointed when I discovered they were based on the classic modules, and even more disappointed when I read the ones I did...
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    Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:58 pm  

    I think doing books based on the modules was a poor idea. There just isn't any way to do a decent job in a few hundered pages compaired to what some of us spent months or years roleplaying. It was disappointing to see the author try to rush though the adventure when you knew that there was so much more story and flavor there that they weren't touching.

    Against the Giants they used the Paladin to avoid the whole upper floor of the Hill Giant Steading, Temple of Elemental Evil to meet hardly anyone in Hammlet and nobody in Nulb. I think I agree with Phantasm and the others that have expressed the feeling that it should be a series set somewhere new or focusing on and developing something reletively unknown within Greyhawk.
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    Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:13 pm  

    I find it very interesting that WotC has allowed such glaring errors in their novels. I think that the greatest challenge that WotC has to overcome is not story or author, but the fans. Greyhawk fans are rabid when it comes to canon. I think that if a series of novels were written in southern lands away from Iuz or even in the once former Great Kingdom (Ahlissa or the Northern Province), the opportunity exist to not get caught up in canon.

    I think that WotC should also return to it's roots so to speak. Pixies, demi-humans, etc. generally do not help the the reader relate to the character or the story. Used as supporting characters, these elements are great, but I digress. Make a character or group of characters that need to travel the world and see just how brutal the villains are and just how grey the world can become with politics is an option. Throwing little things into the story like the different dress and languages would help sooth traditional fans. An honest heroic group of characters would reinvent WoG and get folks away from the anti-social grunge hero or batman the dark knight type of hero. I would love a story where the characters and the reader don't realize the main villain is say...a Rakshasa?

    I see and hear too many young players talk about how they have a halfdrow-half demon character running around with an Ogre paladin who has been befriended by a dread necromaner who has baby beholder as a familiar, while their friend the druid with his dire wolf is running around the local town gathering information "discreetly." Yes, that was a run on sentence. Wink But my point has been made; let's see a group of characters that need to work together to be victorious instead of focusing on each others overwhelming abilities to crush the ever so tolerant and overmatched peasant classes and villains.

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    Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:59 am  

    Quote:
    I see and hear too many young players talk about how they have a halfdrow-half demon character running around with an Ogre paladin who has been befriended by a dread necromaner who has baby beholder as a familiar, while their friend the druid with his dire wolf is running around the local town gathering information "discreetly." Yes, that was a run on sentence


    Without sounding too much like an old fart, this is exactly what is wrong with 3.5 and Living Greyhawk. Although, 1e had rules to play the Gold Dragon, it was never taken seriously.

    That combined with skills & feats that before were just the Referee's imagination.

    Sorry, off topic, I know but if 3.5 is going to inspire fiction we have to think how to combine the heroic with the romantic. And, that is what is missing from Greyhawk today. It inspires the Epic but lacks the mysteries of the old Gary Gygax's adventures.
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    Wed Dec 13, 2006 4:00 pm  
    Agreed

    I agree with you completely. I am an old fart Wink There needs to be a certain fantasy continuity. I still look at the old artwork in the 1st ed books and get a strange feeling about the game. There's a certain lurking mystery. Who knows what that band of halflings is doing, where they are coming from or where they are headed and do you really want to start trouble with them? Monsters should be mysterious, terrible beasts that have a purpose in an area. Demons and drow, at least in WoG, are some of the most feared entities known. Most of the monsters out there are unknown to the locals and even the ones that are scare the crap out of them. Just my two coppers.

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    Mon Dec 18, 2006 5:48 pm  

    Imagination is definately one of the things I miss from first edition... PHB, DMG, MMI, MMII, FF, UA and that was about it; and the last three you didn't really need. So much was left up to us to dream up and enjoy the process of the dreaming.

    My major grip with second edition was that, after they came out with the main books they kept coming out with books that were, frankly, garbage. Usually 50% telling you how to do things that should have been left to your imagination (like how to pick and play character personalities), 40% reprinting things already printed somewhere else, 5% charactersheets, tables, indexes, etc. and finally that 5% of actual new material that everyone had to buy the book to see.

    Of course WotC has taken all that and taken it to an even further level of 'lets give em as little as possible for their buck'

    I just wish they would go back to the formula of a small set of well thought out core rule books and then spend the rest of the time developing the campaign worlds and publishing modules. To bad what would be good for the game isn't good for Hasbro's short-term profit margin.
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    Mon Dec 18, 2006 6:29 pm  

    Interesting thought; what is good for the game isn't good for Hasbro's short term profit. I'm not sure I agree with this, but that's a different matter. Cool What would be good for Hasbro's shareholders would be a series of quality novels and from there video games. WoG has so much material to offer that it's simply staggering. I can imagine a few of the novels lines:

    The Sheldomar Valley Trilogy

    The Dim Forest Chronicles

    Path to the Paynim

    Return of the Horned Society

    Ahlissan Saga

    Hardluck in Hardby

    The Pale Inquisition

    Shadows of Sterich

    Rage in Ratik

    Crimson and Onyx; the secret war in Berghoff

    Tales of the Bright Desert

    Weird of the Wild Coast

    Medegian Honor

    Nyrond Hope

    The March of the Ulek States

    The Almor Heresy

    Flinty Hills; the Stout War

    I mean geez, there is so much that could be done. How many game supplements could be made? Just my two coppers.

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    Fri Jul 27, 2007 9:32 am  

    My quic backround: I started playing AD&D in 1981 when I was 11. I blinked and 14 years went by Wink . I read all the Gord of Greyhawk books by Gary when they came out and still like picking them up every now and then. I am somewhat familiar with the whole fiasco with his ex-wife and how she got control of D&D and she sold it and Coast asked him back to chair it(ok, maybe I don't know all the details...).


    My question is: Everyone here is talking about what authors would do justice to the WoG, but what is stopping Gary from doing them? He seems like a natural choice for more books on Gord? Maybe I'm missing something...
    Novice

    Joined: Jan 07, 2007
    Posts: 1
    From: The March of Bissel

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    Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:44 pm  

    Of the recent novels, I really enjoyed the Paul Kidd/Justicar ones. The others were mediocre, but I'd still buy new ones.
    Master Greytalker

    Joined: Jun 25, 2007
    Posts: 951
    From: Neck Deep in the Viscounty of Verbobonc

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    Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:14 pm  

    I would definitely NOT buy any novels, since a) none of those I've seen so far adequately capture the feel of the setting, IMO (except, perhaps, for those written by EGG himself), b) I don't like reading books based on D&D because I feel the two genres (fiction and roleplaying) do not mesh well, and c) because I find that authors' interpretations of established setting usually do not gibe with my own interpretations. None of this is to criticize anyone, it's simply a personal perception.

    Would it become canon? Given that no author to date (including EGG) has yet to produce a work that is truly consistent with established canon (or even close, in most cases), I doubt it.
    Apprentice Greytalker

    Joined: Dec 26, 2003
    Posts: 17


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    Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:31 pm  

    This is all very interesting. I agree that most of the material concerning Greyhawk has been subpar. It is a shame because as someone stated earlier there is so much that can be done. I would like to see a novel about a fresh group of adventures in some region of the world that has very little to do with previous modules.
    I do think that all the modules have the making for a very good novel if the writer, assuming they have talent, were allowed to write a novel without restriction. To clarify, I mean not limited to 250 pages, and did not have to showcase the game in their writing.
    Even the latest, or should I say last, Greyhawk module seemed to be an updated rehash of an old theme. I would definitely buy whatever book they did publish only because I am hoping to use their own greed against them. I do enjoy the writings here on Canonfire and would also love to see a Greyhawk novel here.
    Master Greytalker

    Joined: Jun 25, 2007
    Posts: 951
    From: Neck Deep in the Viscounty of Verbobonc

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    Wed Sep 12, 2007 2:35 pm  

    there is a section here for fiction. I highly recommend it; there's some good stuff in there.
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