lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley (08/02/85)
From: lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley (1st Lt. RYN Leigh Ann Hussey) Whatever bad things Silverbob may have done, you can't ascribe this turkey to him, nor does he deserve it. I grant you, I can't give the author's name at the moment (it's something like Greenbaum?), but he also had an article in Writer's Digest telling how to make your fantasy stories live. Unfortunately, he doesn't believe in any of the things he's writing about, so none of them can "live". Besides that, the books are trash. The never-ending D&D game, indeed! With obviously contrived devices to make the story *meaningful* -- growing relationships, dealing with motherhood, delivering moral lectures (SPOILER immediately follows) to the evil, egotistical professor who gets them into the game-world in the first place. (End Spoiler). Pure garbage, poorly written (but trying REAL HARD to sound good), taking 4+ books to say what could have been said in half that number, or better still, not at all. If you really want decent Adventure Gaming in SF&F, I recommend Dream Park by Steve Barnes and Larry Niven. It's about a future theme park (ala Disneyland) where adventurers participate in real-time games, with them- selves as characters (though they put on character personae). Monsters and bad men, strange and interesting subplots, REAL GODDAMMIT characters (!) not stereotypical college students (though there are students in it as I recall), mystery, murder, and (deep breath) the South Sea Cargo Cult!! Lots of fun, well written. Ahem. Flame off. Leigh Ann
mberkman@bbnccs (08/03/85)
From: Melinda Berkman <mberkman@bbnccs.ARPA> As I am sure several people will mention, Robert Silverberg did not write Guardians of the Flame. It would be difficult to imagine Silverberg writing something as non-depressing as this wonderful series. Joel Rosenberg takes the credit. He takes a plot that has been done horribly several other times, the "game players suddenly find themselves in the world of the game" shtick, and makes it work, in the process creating characters that are the most believable fantasy characters that I've found since Tolkien. But I don't think that this series could have been generated from a game-playing session. The obsession that motivates the characters simply isn't strong enough for the basis of the usual D&D campaign. Players seem to get restless if they're not saving the world. Just leading good safe productive lives, which is the goal of some of the characters in the series, is hardly the sort of thing that rouses the blood of weekend adventurers. Rosenberg's other book, Ties of Blood and Silver, is also very good. I cried at the end and then called my mother and told her the story, leaving out the nasty parts. You will have a good feeling when you finish reading this book. Melinda Berkman
Scott_D._Gellerman.osbunorth@Xerox.ARPA (08/06/85)
From: gellerman.osbunorth@Xerox.ARPA I would like to defend The Guardian of the Flame Series. I personally loved the books and am looking forward to the next one. In fact, everyone I've talked to who has read them either liked them or loved them. I've recommended them to people and they thanked me not scolded me as the last review (or should that be, critique) would suggest. I mean, that is a pretty harsh beating for a series that has pretty damn good character developement (you really get to know them), plenty of action (ala D&D, but so what -- it's done well), and a little comic relief (from Elegon and such) to keep it interesting. Personally, I really enjoy SF with a twist of humor, and Rosenberg (sorry, but Greenbaum or Silverbob weren't very close) does quite a good job with it. Sure, it gets cute sometimes, but some people like that. Take the Xanth books by Piers Anthony -- they get just as cute and they're best-sellers. A lot of people out there like this stuff! Scott Gellerman (Gellerman.osbunorth@xerox)
mte@busch.UUCP (Moshe Eliovson) (08/09/85)
While the characterizations may not be optimal
this is due to the fact that this was taken from a role
playing game. Not all characters in the game campaign
will be played by an animated player, so often the game
master (DM) or whoever wrote this had to create the
characterization from impression alone. Add to this the
fact that the author of this book is probably not a true
"writer" in the sense that this type of book is a recreation
of sequential events, which are not neccesarily his/her
ideas, rather than a full creation of the writer's imagination.
The ending to the third book clearly shows the
constant game player that this is created from a game:
DM: So you've killed the lord and there's no
ruler in the area, unrest threatens...
Players: Hmmm......
Solution: Well since in this setting all this area belongs
to the king who is an npc (non-playing character) why not
make the game interesting and reward the pc (player) for
succesfully making it through the campaign.
Moshe Eliovson
{allegra, ihnp4}!we53!busch!mte