A better place to start is to pick out something you don't like, and write the rebuttal to it.
I suppose I could start at Genesis and work my way through the whole Bible one book at a time.
Favorite Fiction Authors
(133 posts) (30 voices)-
I'm glad The Dark Tower series was brought up, although I'm afraid I can't dislike any of the books. Loved some more than others, but all were amazing in my opinion. Plus you get to look back and make connections to so much of King's other work.
King's Eyes of the Dragon was amazing, probably my single favorite fantasy book ever.
King's The Stand, brilliant, although I don't think it qualifies as fantasy.Chronicles of Amber also at the top of the list, although I've only read the first 2. After reading this thread I've got to get Lord of Light.
As a kid, I loved the Dragonlance series. Can't remember the authors for the life of me and don't care to google it at the moment.
Although, I did also enjoy Terry Brooks at that time and the Shannara series and I now realize how bad that really was. I suppose though that if you're entertained while reading, then it was a success.Love Tolkien, always have. The depth and detail to me was amazing. I can never get over that he is the only author that I've read that has created an entire world that's so detailed and rich in history that it's almost believable. I must admit that aside from The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy, most of what I've read reads like a history book, although it is more interesting than our own.
Posted 2 years ago # -
UrsaMinor
MemberI found "Sword of Shannara" to be a big disappointment. Earth to Terry, somebody already wrote "Lord of the Rings"! It was such a blatant act of plagiarism that I never picked up another book in the series. Tolkien's plot and characters in Groucho glasses, but without any of the mythic depth.
Can't stand Hicks and Weisman (the Dragonlance authors). To each his own. I was also not a kid when I read their stuff, so that may have something to do with it.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Yoav
MemberI find Dragonlance books useful for long flights. They can fill that time but if I land before I'm done I have no problem leaving it without caring about how it ends. They don't require any level of concentration but are good enough to make me look busy enough to hopefully discourage the annoying idiot in the next seat from attempting a conversation.
Posted 2 years ago # -
UrsaMinor
MemberI cut my teeth on the first edition of D&D, back in the days when it wasn't a roleplaying game system as much as a serving suggestion for one.
A couple years ago I played 3.5 and wasn't impressed. The rules felt like a straitjacket. I've skimmed through the 4.0 rules and I'm not impressed either. Give me an open-ended point-and-skill system without character classes or levels, like GURPS, and I'm much happier.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Ty
ModeratorI love 3.5 D&D, or the slightly newer Pathfinder system which uses the same basic design.
I am not fond of GURPS. It's two steps away from "make it up as you go along."
I'm a strongly narrativist gamer, so that seems counter-intuitive, but I find that some of the best role playing hooks come out of creating complex (on paper) characters with lots of skill and abilities, and then coming up with a story reason for them to exist.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Elemenope
ModeratorLearned on 2nd ed, but was on the ground floor for 3rd ed (which IMHO was a vast improvement). By the time it got to 3.5 it had accumulated ridiculous amounts of cruft, but in my experience as long as everyone keeps in mind Rule #0 (DM always rules) and Rule #0.5 (Wheaton's Rule: "Don't be a dick", especially as corollary to Rule #0), it works. Skimmed 4th ed and was not impressed (like W.O.Warcraft on a tabletop, basically), but have a couple friends who dig it, so I think it probably has more to do with me (and you, heh) getting old and inflexible and preferring that with which we originally learned.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Ty
ModeratorNo, I play regularly in a 4th edition game with some good friends. It is exactly WOW tablecraft. I enjoy it as a card and miniatures game. It resembles D&D not at all to me. But it is a huge hit with those who want to do miniatures fighting and find actual RP un-fun.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Ty
Moderator"it probably has more to do with me (and you, heh) getting old and inflexible and preferring that with which we originally learned. "
Also, no. I learned on the redbox edition, baby. I actually owned a copy of the "Chainmail" original rule set. I go all the way back. But 3.5 just clicked for me. It had everything I wanted as a DM. It's still my favorite system of all the iterations.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Elemenope
ModeratorAlso, no. I learned on the redbox edition, baby. I actually owned a copy of the "Chainmail" original rule set. I go all the way back.
Wow. Crazy nerd cred!
But 3.5 just clicked for me. It had everything I wanted as a DM. It's still my favorite system of all the iterations.
That's how I felt about 3.0; the d20 system made it pretty easy to just BS a rule mechanic of one wasn't on-hand for what you wanted to simulate, or if you wanted to ignore a clumsy mechanic (like fscking grappling!).
Posted 2 years ago # -
Ty
ModeratorIgnore the grappling rules. Always.
But 3.5 fixed some obviously broken class mechanics (like the poor 3.0 rangers), and added a few nifty new feats and things. I tend to play a very stripped down system, though. DM guide, classes only from the PHB, and the first monster manual. I ignore add-on books. Keeps the cruft down.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Elemenope
ModeratorBut 3.5 fixed some obviously broken class mechanics (like the poor 3.0 rangers), and added a few nifty new feats and things. I tend to play a very stripped down system, though. DM guide, classes only from the PHB, and the first monster manual. I ignore add-on books. Keeps the cruft down.
Indeed. The first week that 3rd ed was out a friend of mine figured out how to do 10,000d6 damage with a third level spell (a novel use of telekinesis' "cluster of objects" variation; apparently you could do xdy damage with telekinesis if you had a bundle or cluster of objects, with x being the number of objects and y normally being 1, which is bad enough, but is higher for objects designed as missile weapons. The big mistake was in setting a total weight limit for the objects, but NOT a total # of objects limit; Say hello to the magnificent impromptu crossbow bolt blunderbuss.). I would hope they fixed that little problem.
Posted 2 years ago # -
3.5 was so broken, though. 4.0 is a different game, I'll give you that, but I think that's kind of a good thing. Granted, I played with people who like to "optimize" their characters, which can get out of hand pretty quickly. 4.0 is good because it lets people who haven't played before jump in easily, and it doesn't *require* extensive patching and house rulings in order to even work. While I like the additional flexibility available in 3 and 3.5, I have to admit I don't like using a product that expects me to finish designing their gameplay for them.
I don't remember the name of the crappy fantasy book I burned behind my dorm, but it had Drizzt in it.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Ty
Moderator"While I like the additional flexibility available in 3 and 3.5, I have to admit I don't like using a product that expects me to finish designing their gameplay for them. "
I don't know where you get "so broken" from. I've run games in 3.5 for years and have yet to stumble across all the brokenness. And I don't know where I've had to finish designing their gameplay either. I need examples."
But while I enjoy playing with my friends, 4.0 isn't anything remotely resembling an RPG anymore. It's World of Warcraft. It's five minutes of reading the description of the quest from the book, then two hours of fighting. Then five more minutes reading the description of the next area, then two hours of fighting. I've found a way to enjoy the card game/miniatures game tactical aspects of it. It's sort of fantasy battletech at this point. But it's an RPG with all the RP ripped out.
Posted 2 years ago # -
UrsaMinor
MemberI miss my copy of Chainmail. It's been AWOL since shortly after I graduated from college. That was thirty years ago, so I've given up hope that it's going to surface again. I do still have my redbox edition of D&D, plus all the classic supplements like Greyhawk and Blackmoor, and random bits and pieces of the first hardcover version of AD&D.
But what I really like to play is Traveller...the classic Little Black Books, baby!
Posted 2 years ago # -
It's funny, I "played" for probably 5 or 6 years before I ever actually played the game with another person. I grew up in a small, mostly baptist town in OK and there were few people that would allow their children to partake since we were "devil worshipers" and all.
It wasn't until college that I met people to seriously play with.
Ty, from what you described, what it's become probably isn't anything that I would enjoy, now or then. My best memories of D&D campaigns had very little dice rolling. It was all about the story that the DM was weaving and how we fleshed it out for him.
I used to fantasize about the possibility of a D&D computer game, back when the only option was a paper game. If I had the desire to play WoW, I wouldn't play it on paper, I'd just play it, although I guess I'm a little old because I prefer UO ;)
Posted 2 years ago # -
Elemenope
ModeratorI used to fantasize about the possibility of a D&D computer game, back when the only option was a paper game. If I had the desire to play WoW, I wouldn't play it on paper, I'd just play it, although I guess I'm a little old because I prefer UO ;)
Get your hands on a copy of Baldur's Gate 2. Best D&D implementation ever, and for my money best CRPG ever. Awesome all the way through.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Ty
Moderator"Ty, from what you described, what it's become probably isn't anything that I would enjoy, now or then. My best memories of D&D campaigns had very little dice rolling. It was all about the story that the DM was weaving and how we fleshed it out for him."
I agree. And for my money, 3.5 was the best edition ever for this type of gameplay. Though the newer implementation of it, called Pathfinder, is pretty damn good too.
Posted 2 years ago #
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