N15: Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber

Book Review!

N15: Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber

In “Appendix N” Gary Gygax credited Fritz Leiber as one of the strongest influences for D&D, specifically named the series that begins with the book Swords and Deviltry - the stories of the adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. My paperback copy of the book includes 152 pages and I enjoyed reading every page.

The Good

*This book shows Fafhrd running away from his barbarian people, thus giving his origin story in the beginning before later giving the Gray Mouser’s background as well.

*The characters felt real and the scenes generated lots of excitement.

The Bad

*Some people might complain about the ending of the story.

D&D Connections & Inspirations

*The D&D folks actually worked with Leiber and released modules for his world of Lankmar setting.

*The 2 main characters come across as a fun adventuring party, willing to journey from place to place for a chance at getting rich.

Overall

For my tastes, I give the work a 9/10 rating.

N16: “The Silver Key” by H. P. Lovecraft

Book Review!

N16: “The Silver Key” by H. P. Lovecraft

Without a doubt, H. P. Lovecraft’s tales of horror and suspense influenced the creation of Dungeons & Dragons. Any of Lovecraft’s story could easily represent his work, as pointed out in “Appendix N” for AD&D’s Dungeon Master Guide. Mindful that Robert J. Kuntz (Gary Gygax’s DM) gave Gygax’s character Mordenkainen a silver key that opened any door, I decided to review Lovecraft’s short story “The Silver Key.” My copy of the story came in at 11 pages, as part of The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre.

The Good

*As usual, Lovecraft creates a captivating and mysterious sense of atmosphere.

*Even the first line draws in readers: “When Randolph Carter was thirty he lost the key of the gate of dreams.”

The Bad

*The story shifts its perspective without any type of marking, which might confuse some readers.

*I enjoy the philosophical ramblings in the narration, but I know not all readers want to think that much while reading a short story.

D&D Connections & Inspirations

*The story mentions going into the woods and seeing fauns, aegipans, and dryads. I recently played in a D&D session in which a satyr charmed my character and took him off into the woods, away from his adventuring party.

*Robert J. Kuntz used the idea of the silver key as a magical artifact; in fact, the Lovecraft connection to the silver key here hints at Kuntz’s mysterious deception from his Maure Castle adventures.

*Of course, the Lovecraft mythos firmly established Far Realmsian creatures in the D&D universe.

Overall

For my tastes I give the work a 7/10 rating and wonder if, back in the day, Gary Gygax made the connection between his character’s silver key artifact and this story.

N5: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Book Review!

N5: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

In “Appendix N” Gary Gygax recommended the Pelucidar series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which includes Tarzan. For the sake of this review I decided to focus on the first Tarzan book by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Tarzan of the Apes. Project Gutenberg hots a legal, free version of the book: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78

The Good

*The book remains much better than any of the film and cartoon adaptations.

*Burroughs created exciting and suspenseful fight scenes.

*The ending of the book feels more realistic and meaningful than a Hollywood-style “happy ending.”

The Bad

*Because the story presents itself as existing in the real world, some readers might criticize the impossibility of certain elements.

*The Pelucidar/Hollow World connection only comes in later in the Tarzan book series.

D&D Connections & Inspirations

*If someone wanted to play a jungle/survival game of D&D with cannibals and wild animals as threats, then this book could easily provide the inspiration.

*This book likely helped inspire Gary Gygax’s D&D module WG6: Isle of the Ape.

Overall

For my tastes, I give the work a 5/10 rating because the story entertains but fails to fully captivate me.

N14: Hiero’s Journey by Sterling Lanier

Book Review!

N14: Hiero’s Journey by Sterling Lanier

In “Appendix N” Gary Gygax recommended Hiero’s Journey by Sterling Lanier. My paperback copy of the book contained 325 pages with copyright dates of 1973 and 1983. At first appearance this story looks like a fantasy tale, but the story actually contains post-apocalyptic science-fiction because the setting involves a future version of Earth millions of years after a nuclear annihilation that wipes out civilization and mutates the creatures of our world.

The Good

*I really enjoy post-apocalyptic science-fiction fantasy; we need more unique literature in this genre.

*The story stands out as an interesting exploration quest because Heiro’s people lack knowledge of what happened in the south. He discovers different mutated monsters and technology/magic on the way.

*The telepathic abilities in the story involve interesting rules and provide a uniqueness for this type of literature.

*Lanier masterfully narrates the combat sequences, taking into consideration the speed of the weapons and the ferociousness of the mutated monsters.

*When some monsters injured Hiero, he actually spent time healing and recovering.

The Bad

*Some readers might consider the main character too powerful since he comes across as a paladin/cleric/druid/ranger/warrior/psionicist with many innate skills and abilities.

D&D Connections & Inspirations

*Hiero, his mutant moose mount, and his sentient bear friend form an adventuring party engaged in an exploration quest.

*They fight evil wizards and monsters.

*The scene after the group kills the first wizard they fight involves a very typical D&D-style looting of the wizard's dead body, taking his magic/tech items.

Overall

I really enjoyed reading this book, not wanting to put down the text while reading. I give the work a 8/10 rating.

N13: Conan: “The Tower of the Elephant” by Robert E. Howard

Book Review!

N13: Conan: “The Tower of the Elephant” by Robert E. Howard

In “Appendix N” Gary Gygax recommended Robert E. Howard’s work, mentioning the Conan series by name. My favorite Conan story remains “The Tower of the Elephant.” Originally published in 1933 in Weird Tales, this story also appears in The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian book in which it includes 21 pages (with some amazing art as well).

The Good

*Conan impressively takes on multiple threats in his quest.

*The basic premise works great: the story includes Conan on a simple quest to break into a wizard’s tower and steal treasure.

*A surprise twist in this story ends up showing the more heart-touching, philosophical side of Conan.

The Bad

*None. Seriously.

D&D Connections & Inspirations

*A DM with a little time might easily turn this story into a D&D adventure.

*Even though Conan’s popular name includes “the Barbarian” as a title, I think he deserves some multi-classing into rogue.

*The creatures in the story all felt like D&D monsters.

Overall

For my tastes, I give the work a 10/10 rating. Robert E. Howard crafted fantasy perfection.

N12: Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman by Gardner F. Fox

Book Review!

N12: Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman by Gardner Fox

I chose Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman by Gardner F. Fox to represent the Kothar series recommended by Gary Gygax in “Appendix N” of the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide since this book comes first in the series. For this review, I flipped back through one of my favorite paperback novels. My copy of Kothar comes in at 153 pages with a copyright of 1969.

The Good

*I love science-fiction-based fantasy and the 2-page introduction to this book explained that Kothar lives on one of many worlds left behind by a massive civilization in the future. Apparently humanity moved out into the stars and colonized many worlds, but left them behind without technology due to some sort of apocalyptic event. Thus, what looks like a fantasy novel actually provides a post-apocalypse twist. Of course, after those 2 pages that element really disappears - but I like the concept.

*The book works as a collection of adventure stories.

*Fox created an interesting concept by making Kothar decide between keeping his powerful magic sword (with its curse that he never gets to keep his treasure) or becoming a rich man.

The Bad

*Many people accuse Kothar of existing as a literary “clone” of Conan the Barbarian; for the record, I feel the similarities between the characters create familiarity and the differences allow them enough uniqueness to know the difference between them.

*The parts of the book act more like a collection of short stories than as a cohesive novel. A reader not knowing this going into the work might feel let down by a lack of much overarching plot from one part of the book to another.

D&D Connections & Inspirations

*The fact that Ed Greenwood named his D&D setting the “Forgotten Realms” makes me think he embraced the same science-fiction based concept as the Kothar series since the fallen intergalactic society left “forgotten” worlds behind when it collapsed; many D&D authors likely established their worlds as a futuristic post-apocalyptic setting disguised as fantasy and the majority of fans simply missed the clues. Gary Gygax clearly embraced this concept with crashed spaceships and such in the Greyhawk setting.

*In the beginning of the story, an old lich give Kothar his magic sword.

*The story resembles a solo quest of a barbarian player plagued by an evil sorcerer, with some interesting NPCs involved along the way.

Overall

For whatever reason I love this simple adventure story. For my tastes, the book gets a 8/10 rating. This book exemplifies what I want to read to relax on the weekend, even if the text lacks literary merit.

N11: The Maker of the Universes by P. J. Farmer

Book Review!

N11: The Maker of the Universes by P. J. Farmer

In “Appendix N” Gary Gygax recommended P. J. Farmer’s World of Tiers series. For this review I read the first book in the series, from 1965, The Maker of the Universes. Philip Jose Farmer immediately captured my attention within the first 2 pages of the 150-page book.

The Good

*I like when authors quickly establish sympathetic protagonists and this book wasted no time in achieving that goal.

*Normally the trope of taking a modern man and putting him in a fantasy setting annoys me, but this time I enjoyed the trick.

The Bad

*After the first 80 pages of the book, I grew annoyed with the next 30ish pages because I felt the plot complications became repetitive.

*I easily predicted the twist at the end and felt it took away from the main character.

D&D Connections & Inspirations

*The travel story came across like a 1-player D&D campaign focused on exploration and combat.

*The monsters included axebeaks, giant eagles, and altered creatures.

*After reading this book, I developed a theory that the characters inspired the concepts of some of Greyhawk's ancient Suel wizards who created their own planes of existence.

Overall

I greatly enjoyed 70% of the book; thus a rating of 7/10 feels appropriate.