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| Author | Any fans of fantasy here? (Read 90420 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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ShinobiKenobi
256 MB  Posts: 362 System 7 fan 
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on: June 11, 2025, 22:36
It's hard for me to read fiction, possibly because I feel like I could be researching something and learning something when I'm spending my time on something that's not real. But despite that, I've always loved fantasy since I was a little kid. So, I forced myself to give it another try. I've been reading Volume 1 of the Dragonlance Chronicles, Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It's two books in one. I've been trying to find out if they were originally separate books, but I haven't been able to. I'm on Book 2, and almost done with Vol. 1. My sister gave me her Volumes 2 and 3 to read. I also have volumes 0-3 of the Shannara Trilogy (Volume 0 was written after Volume 3). I started reading The Sword of Shannara also, because I sometimes get bored reading the same book. I like both books. The Shannara book is a little easier to read than the Dragonlance book, but that doesn't matter much to me. Do any of you have any fantasy series that you liked reading? |
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lauland
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512 MB Posts: 674 Symtes 7 Mewconer!
Reply #1 on: June 12, 2025, 01:01
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Hm...I read a lot...and I mean TONS...but has mostly been scifi, horror (but not TOO horrory), lots of mysteries. Been doing a bunch of "cozy mysteries" which are best described as a bit like Murder She Wrote, as in folksy, animal friendly (sometimes so goofy there's talking animals that SOLVE the mysteries), some romance elements, etc etc. Some "historic adventure" a bit like indiana jones, or involving crypids or relics. I do think I've read a few that could be described as fantasy recently, will have to look up their names...but no series, or if they were I only read the first one. Not because I didn't like them, but just because there's SO MANY OTHER BOOKS TO READ! I've enjoyed a few lately that I can only say were like "seems to be fantasy but oh my god it was really distopian and in the future the whole time", hilarity ensues, etc etc. And a couple where its "tech vs magic"...one was "two alternate worlds collide but one only has magic and tech is mythical vs one like the real world"...or magic stops working, so they have to resort to tech...or the other way around. I find mixed genres interesting, if done well. Never did read the Dragonlance's, but knew quite a few people who did, and told me at least some of them were far far better than you might expect from a book based on a spinoff of a roleplaying game. Off to read as we speak...a scifi: "Someone seeming to be Jesus shows up, makes people disappear, says they're the good Christians, but lo, a little girl says he's not who he appears to be, is a bad guy, she manifests supernatural powers, hilarity ensues"...
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #2 on: June 12, 2025, 02:40
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I will pick up and read most anything I come across. Fantasy is not at the top of my most like genre list. I read the Dragonriders of Pern trilogy long long ago, it was alright but forgetable. I was enamored with Herbert's short sci-fi stories and was a bit excited when Dune came out. I think that is considered sci-fi, but to me that is fantasy and I found it a huge chore to get through that trilogy. I had never heard of "cozy mystries", but yeah I like that assuming "Miss Marple" falls into that category.
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #3 on: June 12, 2025, 05:09
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The one fantasy set that I enjoyed reading when I was young was The Hobbit, followed sometime later by the Lord of the Rings. It was sad to see the first book end, but the next trilogy was all that it was cracked up to be!  If you haven't read them yet, I most definitely recommend them!It was also amazing to then see it portrayed in films, even if the main character's actor for the Hobbit in the first film of the trilogy was recast, understandably because he's supposed to be older in the trilogy and much younger in the first book, not helped by the fact that they were filmed in reverse order, much like the first two Star Wars film trilogies.
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snes1423
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256 MB Posts: 458 A Man born of Mechina
Reply #4 on: June 12, 2025, 10:36
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@cballero the lord of the ring's is a AWESOME book series ive read the book's and watched the og trilogy
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ShinobiKenobi
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256 MB Posts: 362 System 7 fan
Reply #5 on: June 12, 2025, 21:29
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@wove The Dragonriders of Pern was made into a game on the Sega Dreamcast. I wonder if anyone here has played it. @cballero The Hobbit is the only Tolkien book I've read so far. I can't remember if I read it before the movie came out or not - it was well over ten years ago. The LotR books are honestly kind of a low priority for me, only because I've seen the movies, and I'm more interested in reading something I haven't seen yet. @snes1423 That's cool that you've read the books. What did you like more, the books or the movies?
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snes1423
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256 MB Posts: 458 A Man born of Mechina
Reply #6 on: June 12, 2025, 22:36
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the bookd i hsvr 1st edition copies from the 1940's
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB  Posts: 2023
Reply #7 on: June 13, 2025, 06:51
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Like many, I was much into fantasy during my student years. The Hobbit and especially Lord of the Rings were two books I really loved. Especially everything that had to do with the brave riders of Rohan :-) There is also a local German language autor called Wolfgang Hohlbein (modern browser needed) who had written quite popular fantasy books back in the 1990's and 2000's. According to Wikipedia, he sold more than 42 million copies and has written 200 books. WOW. I think he was mostly a European phenomena though, any of you ever heard of him? (those outside of Europe?) @ShinobiKenobi - I wrote video game reviews at the time to finance my easy-going student life :-) and was quite into the Sega Dreamcast, hence I've played Dragon Riders (but didn't really like the game much 
Last Edit: June 13, 2025, 14:02 by Bolkonskij
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #8 on: June 13, 2025, 07:21
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It's amazing to note that Tolkien began creating the languages of his Hobbit book series in 1910, until he finally completed his bedtime storybook for his kids, The Hobbit in the 30s! TLotR trilogy wasn't completed until the mid-fifties, so it's fair to say that a lot of the content in his books never made it into the films, except that the bits that did are fairly faithful to his written lore. And as much as I thoroughly enjoyed the film adaptations, the books really captivate one's imagination to the point that the films almost feel like a wholly different set of works from his original texts But indeed, I totally get not wanting to revisit something you at least already have the big spoilers for! 
Last Edit: June 13, 2025, 07:23 by cballero
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ShinobiKenobi
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256 MB Posts: 362 System 7 fan
Reply #9 on: June 14, 2025, 03:53
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@snes1423 That's really cool that you have 1st edition copies! My Shannara books are 1st edition hardcovers. @Bolkonskij I haven't heard of him. I keep trying to learn a foreign language, but my ADHD always has other plans  I really want to learn German. And 200 books is crazy. I don't really research authors much, but a friend of mine told me Philip K. Dick wrote thousands of pages of Exogesis by hand, often hundreds of pages every day!@cballero I do want to read them eventually I liked Tolkien's writing style.
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lauland
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512 MB Posts: 674 Symtes 7 Mewconer!
Reply #10 on: July 03, 2025, 19:27
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One "weird" thing I used to do quite a lot was buy RPG games, such as D&D or GURPS, and mostly never play them. I'd read them almost like they were novels, seeing the stories acted out in my head, like a "choose your own adventure" book, enjoying all the maps especially. I read an interview once with one of the main GURPS people and they'd done a survey and found the majority of their purchasers did something similar, and never actually played them as RPGs. Anyway, so there's a strange genre of books called "LitRPG" which are mostly just fantasy (dragons and swords and wizards) novels, but they include the stats of the characters or other RPG elements, such as the characters "leveling up" or what character class ("Figher", "Magic User", etc) they are, etc. You can't play them as RPGs, but just read them like a normal novel. (But you get to know the main character's "Armor class", etc). You'd think I'd like these, but they usually don't include what I'd love to see, maps! And I want to know what was in those rooms the characters never went into. I want a map of the Dursley's house in Harry Potter! I want to see the full layout of the Hunger Games arenas! (What's under them, etc?). That sort of thing. And, in the actual book, not what somebody figured out, or in a "behind the scenes" or "visualizing" book. Anyway...just wishing authors did such things more. I just love me some maps.
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cballero
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1024 MB Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #11 on: July 04, 2025, 18:06
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Don't get me started on Dungeons and Maps! But only one game caught my full attention and I enjoy playing in emulation even today, and that's NES original Legend of Zelda and yes, I eventually, like you, did enjoy using its full world and dungeon maps!
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #12 on: July 06, 2025, 07:20
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@lauland so you just skipped the grinding part and went ahead with everything else? Interesting The one thing that does put me off is the indeed the senseless grinding part in old-style RPGs. That and random death. Like I had fired up The Bard's Tale on my IIci the other day but found it hard to play these days... you walk around the town, run into random groups of mobs (some weaker, some stronger) and fight them in an attempt to level up. There's the inevitable death because you run into a group of mobs stronger than your lowly lvl 2 toons, so it's back restore a saved game. Exhausting. I don't know how I went through this for days during my youth. Oh well, but then we had nothing and had to walk bare-footed 20 miles up a hill during snowstorms, right ? ;-) It's interesting we haven't really seen more "low gameplay" RPGs on the Mac. More like a book, less like a game. Perhaps with some "Choose your own adventure" book elements, but generally being more about great presentation, sound and atmosphere. Anybody know a RPG on the Mac that comes close to that description? The Madness of Roland perhaps?
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lauland
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512 MB Posts: 674 Symtes 7 Mewconer!
Reply #13 on: July 06, 2025, 15:37
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Yeah, at one point back in my youth, I was the eldest, or at least most read, of a friend group. I ended up being the "Dunegeon Master" mostly by default. At least that's how I remember it. Now, I hope I wasn't too heavy handed about it... Regardless, I would "cheat" for my players behind the scenes constantly. Because it was no fun if they died all the time, so I avoided the grind wherever possible, got them past the tricky parts, and silent steered them in to the right path. Made it a WHOLE lot more fun for everyone. ---- I play mostly single player FPS for that reason, I like ones that have at least some sort of story, and enjoy the architecture and design of the maps more than anything. So of course I love "Infocom" style interactive fiction. I know I'm not the only one here that has bought some of the new ones that have come out in the the 2010's and 2020's. There are some REALLY good ones out there. Many you can get for free, as the authors know trying to sell them is difficult. I'd think Myst and its ilk might meet your definition of "low gameplay RPG", and there are a ton of clones or wannabes of the original, though many of dubious quality. BTW Rebecca Heineman aka "Burger Becky" who was behind at least one of the Bard's Tale ports (and many many other games) showed up on the Leopard Ports discord the other day. She was looking for ways to cross build powerpc MacOS X apps on modern Mac hardware. We all tried to help her, but turns out there aren't very many, if any, good ways.
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #14 on: July 06, 2025, 17:22
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I remember the Bard's Tale being released with lots and lots of hype. A friend knowing I had a Commodore gave me a copy, a very boxed set. I never had any interest in games, just stuck it on the shelf and forgot about it. Twenty years later I noticed on retro sites lots and lots of talk about boxed games. People finding new in box copies, people going so far as to recreate boxes and the included items. That got me thinking of my copy of Bard's Tale still sitting on the shelf in all its shrink wrapped glory. So being the money grubber that I am I put it up on eBay. It brought a bloody a fortune. I wonder if who ever bought it was just a collector who would leave it forever in its shrink wrap, increasing in value with time (?), Or whether he/she just was really itching to try out the game.
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