Basis of modern fantasy: D&D (was "Sword and sorcery" thoughts needed)( rec.arts.sf.written)
Peter Meilinger
Joe Slater (joeDEL...@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au) wrote:
: Lawrence Watt-Evans <lawr...@clark.net> wrote:
: >For what it's worth, parts of Ethshar were developed back when I was
: >in grade school -- the maps, climate, linguistics, and so on were at
: >least vaguely roughed out before D&D was ever invented. The magic,
: >though, was indeed partly inspired by D&D -- I really liked the D&D
: >distinction between regular magic and clerical magic, though I hated
: >the terminology, and I decided to come up with something that kept
: >what I saw as the good, original elements while dumping the stuff I
: >thought was stupid.
: >
: >But I also borrowed ideas from Jack Vance and, of all people, John
: >Jakes. It's not just D&D, by any means.
: Oh, surely. I'm just trying to show the extent of D&D's influence.
: Incidentally, are you ever going to use your Sorcerors in a foreground
: role?
I'd like to see that as well, or at least a few sorcerors in bigger
roles. I liked the forensic sorceror in The Spell Of The Black Dagger
quite a bit.
: Where do those talismans and things come from, anyway?
I thought they all came from the losers of the big war we saw in
The Misenchanted Sword? And for some reason I have the feeling noone
is making them anymore, but I don't know if I actually read that in
any of the books.
: My hunch
: is that they're actually technological, and you're going to merge _The
: Cyborg and the Sorceror_ with the Ethshar series.
I thought they were technological myself until that gene scanner thing
in Black Dagger. It's standard technology in a sci-fi setting, but
it seemed too much for a fantasy series. If it's technology on a level
with The Cyborg And The Sorceror though, even that would make sense.
And aren't there Scientists in Ethshar, or someone by a similar name,
who just use simple gadgets? I thought one showed up in The Unwilling
Warlord or maybe Blood of a Dragon.
Pete
Peter Meilinger
Lawrence Watt-Evans (lawr...@clark.net) wrote:
: On 14 Dec 1999 18:29:57 GMT, mell...@bu.edu (Peter Meilinger) wrote:
: >: Incidentally, are you ever going to use your Sorcerors in a foreground
: >: role?
: >
: >I'd like to see that as well, or at least a few sorcerors in bigger
: >roles. I liked the forensic sorceror in The Spell Of The Black Dagger
: >quite a bit.
: Note to self: Put more sorcerers in next Ethshar novel.
Sounds good to me.
: >: Where do those talismans and things come from, anyway?
: >
: >I thought they all came from the losers of the big war we saw in
: >The Misenchanted Sword?
: A lot do; others are made by the sorcerers themselves.
: > And for some reason I have the feeling noone
: >is making them anymore, but I don't know if I actually read that in
: >any of the books.
: Nope. People are still making them.
Oho, this I did not realize. Sorcery did start as a style used only
by the side that lost the war though, didn't it? Or at least they used
it more than the winning side? I'd swear that was in one of the books.
: >And aren't there Scientists in Ethshar, or someone by a similar name,
: >who just use simple gadgets? I thought one showed up in The Unwilling
: >Warlord or maybe Blood of a Dragon.
: There are scientists, yeah -- I know they've been mentioned, though I
: don't recall them ever actually appearing. There are also
: prestidigitators, herbalists, ritual dancers, etc. -- all mentioned
: but not seen.
I don't know if a scientist actually appeared. I just remembered a
mention either when the kid from Blood of a Dragon was shopping around
looking for a type of magic he could or when The Unwilling Warlord
himself was shopping around looking for magical troops.
And come to think of it, in Blood of a Dragon didn't the sorceror
who tested the kid just ask him some mathematical questions? That
would seem to be evidence on the side of the talismans being technological,
or at least similar to technology.
Pete