1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

Books Focusing on Dungeon Crawl?

Discussion in 'Booktalk' started by ToddMcF2002, Mar 15, 2006.

  1. ToddMcF2002 Gems: 6/31
    Latest gem: Jasper

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2004
    Messages:
    181
    Likes Received:
    0
    Remove all ads!
    [​IMG] I started reading Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor and it got me thinking. I really like how it dives into the dungeon crawl in the first 40 pages or so and seems to balance the D&D dungeon crawl aspects vs. character development pretty effectively.

    Of course its not War and Peace but it fits the bill - real old school D&D, in an actual dungeon ;) .

    Anyone know of any others like this? With an actual dungeon crawl?

    BTW I've read Salvatore's Dark Elf Trilogy and Icewind Dale and thought it was hit or miss. I loved Homeland but the rest I found lacking.
     
    ToddMcF2002, Mar 15, 2006
    #1
  2. Arabwel

    Arabwel Screaming towards Apotheosis Veteran

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2001
    Messages:
    7,965
    Media:
    2
    Likes Received:
    16
    Gender:
    Female
    the Greyhawk books based on D&D adventure modules fit the bill nicely - definite drawling :D
     
    Arabwel, Mar 15, 2006
    #2
  3. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,653
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    570
    Gender:
    Male
    Taluntain, Mar 16, 2006
    #3

  4. ToddMcF2002 Gems: 6/31
    Latest gem: Jasper

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2004
    Messages:
    181
    Likes Received:
    0
    Thanks for the Greyhawk tip. I should have mentioned that when I bought POR I also picked up some Greyhawk:

    Tomb of Horrors
    Keep on the Borderlands
    Temple of Elemental Evil

    Taluntain, are you saying that the D&D series (vs. Forgotten Realms) are more likely to contain actual dungeons?
     
    ToddMcF2002, Mar 16, 2006
    #4
  5. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,653
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    570
    Gender:
    Male
    Yep, far more. I haven't actually read any, but most of those are about dungeons crawls as far as I know.
     
    Taluntain, Mar 16, 2006
    #5

  6. ToddMcF2002 Gems: 6/31
    Latest gem: Jasper

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2004
    Messages:
    181
    Likes Received:
    0
    Excellent! I'm on it. As an aside - since you mentioned the name - I really need to pick up a copy of Planescape Torment (the game). Its the one glaring hole in my completist collection...
     
    ToddMcF2002, Mar 16, 2006
    #6

  7. Arawn Gems: 4/31
    Latest gem: Sunstone

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2004
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    0
    If you go for the Greyhawk books, start with Paul Kidd. Those books are a trilogy about a ranger, his animated hellhound pelt Cinders and a Escalla, the fairy princess, the fight scenes, the dialogue, the characters are just above and beyond anything WOTC ever printed.(Yes, Kidd blows Salvatore out of the water.) Be aware the books are drama but at the same time pokes some gentle fun at D&D genre, I know some people don't appreciate that.

    I don't for the life of understand why WOTC isn't churning out Kidd's work like their other rather forgetable authors.
     
    Arawn, Mar 17, 2006
    #7

  8. SlickRCBD Gems: 29/31
    Latest gem: Glittering Beljuril

     Resourceful Adored Veteran

    Joined:
    May 7, 2005
    Messages:
    3,136
    Media:
    47
    Likes Received:
    188
    Gender:
    Male
    Well, the only other CRPG tie-in besides the Baldur's Gate I've seen was "Curse of the Azure Bonds" and the novel "Azure Bonds" by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak. The novel was part of the "Finder's Stone" trilogy.

    The game was also what actually got me started on RPGs. It made me go out and buy Pool of Radiance (NOT the version covered on this site, but the original one), though Silver Blades or Pools of Darkness never did make it to the Apple II.
     
    SlickRCBD, Mar 17, 2006
    #8

  9. ToddMcF2002 Gems: 6/31
    Latest gem: Jasper

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2004
    Messages:
    181
    Likes Received:
    0
    Thanks for the Paul Kidd recommendation. I read a few pages of White Plume Mountain the other day since I had already picked it up and I thought it was written pretty well and I immediately liked the low charisma Ranger character.

    I also read a few pages of Temple of Elemental Evil and I was equally impressed.

    I'll buy Kidd's other two books right now.

    The Azure Bonds and Finder's Stone trilogy don't appear to be related? Great reviews though - although Azure Bonds looks like its Out of Print. I'll grab it used.

    I got a good chuckle out of the withering reviews of the T.H. Lain D&D series. I read a few pages of The Savage Caves and... LOL!
    Literally it reads like my 5 year old son talks.
    Have a good chuckle. Note BTW, I might still buy it ;)

    http://www.wizards.com/books/dnd/samples/88220.pdf
     
    ToddMcF2002, Mar 17, 2006
    #9
  10. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,653
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    570
    Gender:
    Male
    T.H. Lain is a pseudonim for a bunch of writers, so the stuff that's crap was probably written by Athans. But not all of it is bad - after a few books other, better writers took over, and those novels are much better.

    All the Azure Bonds books have been out of print for years, and only two of the original Finder's Stone trilogy books aren't - Finder's Bane and Tymora's Luck. The "series" has been renamed to The Lost Gods. The books are listed at the bottom of http://www.sorcerers.net/Books/index_fr3.php

    [ March 17, 2006, 19:52: Message edited by: Taluntain ]
     
    Taluntain, Mar 17, 2006
    #10

  11. ToddMcF2002 Gems: 6/31
    Latest gem: Jasper

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2004
    Messages:
    181
    Likes Received:
    0
    A pseudonim eh? I'll have to check them out individually then.

    You mention "Azure Bonds" books in plural? There is more than one?
     
    ToddMcF2002, Mar 17, 2006
    #11
  12. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

    Joined:
    Jun 11, 2000
    Messages:
    23,653
    Media:
    494
    Likes Received:
    570
    Gender:
    Male
    Bad wording, should have said that all the books in the series along with Azure Bonds have been out of print for years.
     
    Taluntain, Mar 18, 2006
    #12

  13. ToddMcF2002 Gems: 6/31
    Latest gem: Jasper

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2004
    Messages:
    181
    Likes Received:
    0
    So I picked up Azure Bonds as well as the remaining Greyhawk books used:
    Descent into the Depths of the Earth
    Queen of the Demonweb Pits
    Keep on the Borderlands

    The only problem is that Against the Giants is OOP and $16 is the cheapest I can find. The reviews are horrid. Anyone think its worth $16?

    hmmmm....I hate having 6 of the 7! Its just driving me nuts! Someone give me good reason to waste the $16 + shipping :)
     
    ToddMcF2002, Mar 21, 2006
    #13
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.