I am currently reading Tomb of Horrors from the Greyhawk Classics (Fiction) line. Has anyone read any of the others in the series, are they any good. I was a bit turned off by Against the Giants when I saw one of the protagonists was a fairy but then again, I am old time Greyhawker.
My opinion of course, and no offense meant to Tom Reid, who admits that the book was a learning experience for him in writing, but DO NOT for the love of God waste your time reading "Temple of Elemental Evil." It is the worst written, worst edited book I've ever read. It's like watching a train wreck that takes several hours to happen. Near the end it looks almost like the editor went to sleep/gave up and didn't even try to do anything with the bad dialogue and continuity problems.
I agree smillan. That said, however, I did find a few good ideas that could be leveraged in a TOEE game in the novel (I liked the farmhouse/well, for example). _________________ Allan Grohe (grodog@gmail.com)
http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html
I agree smillan. That said, however, I did find a few good ideas that could be leveraged in a TOEE game in the novel (I liked the farmhouse/well, for example).
I'll agree with that, I liked the way the weather changed due to Zuggtmoy's influence. That was a nice touch. But as far as it's primary purpose -- for entertainment -- I was almost kind of offended that they couldn't even do a decent editing job. I'm not expecting great literature, but it's disrespectful to your fanbase to put out a sloppy product like that and gives the impression that we (gamers) will read any old crap with the correct product line logo stuck on it.
Sorry for the rant. That's just a real pet peeve of mine.
Might be poor form to do this on the Greyhawk site, but I would like to nominate Ed Greenwood for the worst fantasy writing I've ever come across. Can't remember the exact title, something House IIRC. Absolutely bog-awful. Many of the sentences did not make any grammatic sense. The plot was confusing (not helped by the long tortuous, Lovecraft-wanna-be sentences) and the characterisation awful. Without the awe. After 50 pages of reading in horrid fascination I could take no more. I didn't even give that one to a charity shop to sell on. That would have been the literary equivalent of putting anthrax in the mail.
While I've not read Tomb, I have wasted my time reading Keep on the Borderlands, Against the Giants, White Plume Mountain, and Descent into the Depths. They all were bad. And for the same reason, the various authors seems to have little or no knowlege of Greyhawk, almost as they were working off a list of names someone had handed to them and told them to write a generic fantasy story with these people/places in it. They aren't particularly entertaining and they have zero respect for continuity.
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