Joel Rosenberg--Guardians of the Flame

[Zarathustra]

The cliche thread reminded me of this long-forgotten series. I read it in high school, and haven't touched it since. I remember thinking that it was a unique way to tell a fantasy story, but looking back, it seems to have included every single cliche listed in that thread. However, I'm now wondering if really was the victim of cliche, or it it turned the cliches on their heads.

Here's the general idea: a group of college students get together to play some D&D. Little do they know, their Dungeon Master is a high ranking wizard in the world he's been leading them through. They've actually been preparing for a journey in that land without their knowledge. Then, on one crucial night, he transports them into the magical realm. Once there, they are their charcters, with all the powers/skills of those characters.

This, to me, was turning the D&D character cliches on their head. Rather than getting silly, the book immediately turns dark and gruesome as the characters struggle to come to grips with their new "identities." Some try to embrace their skills (to disastrous results), while others struggle to remain who they were before.

Their main goal is to get back to their world--but in the process of finding the way out, they realize an even greater goal within the fantasy world (I won't spoil it). Some charcters realize that they can even apply their real world skills to this land and create something that has never been seen in this fantasy world--thus helping its inhabitants and realizing their true potential beyond the D&D skills.

The best thing about this series is its brutal realism (I can still hear the wet popping sound of a shoulder being ripped out of its joint) and its characters. It built itself upon an ever-increasing scope and pace until the 5th book, where IMO it quickly went downhill. Sigh.

What do the rest of you think of it?

[jelerak]

Damn...I haven't thought about this series in probably 15 - 20 years.

There is one quote that I vividly remember in this series, though I have long ago forgotten the characters.

It went something like this :

character 1 : 'there is a method to his madness'

character 2 : 'yeah, but there is too much madness to his method'

Serious paraphrasing there, but when I was 16 or 17 years old, that was just such a cool bit of dialogue.

But, it was dark, moderately realistic in it's character building, and definately cliched, but really enjoyable...at least in my much younger and more innocent days as a reader...

[Zarathustra]

Surely we're not the only two on the Watch to have read this series. Seriously, people, there were four good books here. Maybe I need to revisit them (20 years later) and make sure that claim holds, but at the time I thought this was a kick ass series. I can't believe there are only two of us.

[Roland of Gilead]

I recall the books, but never read them.

Is this the same Joel Rosenberg who writes contemporary thrillers under this name, only with a middle initial?

[rusmeister]

I read 'em. The shocker was the real world danger in a D&D fantasy setting. One of the guys getting really really for-real killed and 2 of the girls getting raped made me sit up and pay attention. The feeling that there was real risk at stake made complacency unlikely. I followed through a few more of the books. After the third one it kind of lost interest.