Have you read the "Gord the Rogue Series"

[Sneeki Two]

This series was written by Gary Gygax some years ago (I read it in 87 or 88). It started off as a TSR product but finished under another publisher (which is when it really got good). It took place in the world of Greyhawk and involved some high level play towards the end. The last book, I think, was one of the best in the series, "Dance of Demons". After reading this series I had a full understanding of the AD&D alignment system (for those of you who play). It also had some of the best Demon battles I have ever read (way better than anything in the Blood Wars Trilogy). The bad thing is this series is super rare to find. All I have left of it is a coverless copy of Dance of Demons (Loaned the others out and they never came back).

For you Ad&D old schoolers it had major characters such as:
The Circle of Eight
The Cat Lord
Heirophant Druids of the Cabal
(basically all the demon lords from the Monster Manual I, II)
Graatz - the demon lord
Orcus - Demon lord
Demogorgon - called the monkeyheads by all of his enemies, hehe (for those playing Baldur's Gate 2, TOB)
Iuz - the cambion
Anthraxus - Daemon Lord and his eight diseased ones
Zuggtmoy - Demon Queen of Fungi and wife of Iuz
Baphomet - Demon Lord
Fraz urb Luu - Demon Lord
Pazuzu - Demon Lord
Kostchtchie - Demon Lord (Giants)

[Djinn Raffo]

Hi Sneeki Two! Welcome!

No...i did not read it...but...
I remember a couple of years ago in a used store
checking out some books by Gygax. I read the first
few pages but due to a money thing and probably what i had in my hand i
did not buy the Gygax book.
Sounds like a lot of Demon Lords...?
I do remember the Greyhawk covers though...
Tell us more about it...please...?


[This message has been edited by Djinn Raffo (edited 08-12-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Djinn Raffo (edited 08-12-2001).]

[Sneeki Two]

Thanks for the welcome.
The ones with the Greyhawk covers were not quite as good, but were the first more or less.

The others were published by a company called Infinities Productions (think it was after Gygax left TSR.

The titles were:
Saga of Old City - TSR Greyhawk Cover
Artifact of Evil - TSR Greyhawk Cover
Sea of Death - Infinities Productions
Night Arrant - Infinities Productions
City of Hawks - Infinities Productions
Come Endless Darkness - Infinities Productions
Dance of Demons - Infinities Productions

I believe all of the Infinities Productions titles can be read without reading the first TSR titles.

The story is about a lowly rogue that grows up in the City of Greyhawk but slowly learns that he is to play a major role in the balance between the powers of Good, Evil, and Neutrality. It all revolves around the discovery of 3 evil artifacts of power that served as the keys to imprison the Ultimate Evil call Tharizdun (He is destined to bring the Demons, Daemons, and Devils under one power and essentially rule for eternity.) He was defeated before and locked away. The key to his prison was split into 3 theoparts (each a very powerful artifact in its own right).

The demons don't want Tharizdun to arrive (because they are Chaotic Evil). Each of the powerful Demonlords wants to be the supreme leader of the Abyss, not serve under Tharizdun (that would bring order(Lawfullness) to the Abyss).
Even though they don't want the theoparts to release Tharizdun, they struggle for the theoparts so they can use them to defeat each other (they constantly fight each other for dominance). Artifacts are what usually mean victory in the Abyss. Grazzt holds one called the Eye of Deception, and it is easily the most powerful artifact in the Abyss (So Grazzt is technically on top of the food chain, but the legions of Orcus and Demogorgon constantly threaten his rule).

The cambion Iuz(demigod half-demon son of Grazzt), with his mother Iggwilv and his consort Zuggtmoy also seek the theoparts, though he resides on Oerth.

The Devils lust for the parts so they can finally bring order for ALL of evil (because they are Lawful Evil). Tharizdun is their godsend. Mephistopheles is the ruler of the Nine Hells and knows when Tharizdun arrives he will sit at his right hand. Their primary minions on Oerth are the Horned Society and the Scarlet Brotherhood (cool to see monks in a novel).

The Daemons are ruled by Anthraxus on the planes of Tarterus, Gehenna, and Hades. Anthraxus doesnt care a single bit if Tharizdun is freed or not (Neutral Evil). All he wants is the power of the theoparts for himself, so he wheels and deals with all factions. If Tharizdun is freed he sees himself as sitting as his right hand.

The forces of Neutrality struggle to keep the balance between Good and Evil. They know if Tharizdun is freed the balance of power will be seriously out of whack. The Neutrals will work with goods or evils to get this done (they are True Neutrals). The Circle of Eight (Modenkainen, Tenser, Drawmij, Bigby, Melf, and so on) and the Heirophants of the Cabal (highest level druids), are among the many varied forces of Neutrality.

The Forces of Good play a small role in the whole thing (I forget why). They had a reason for this (though there is a part where Gord calls upon a Solaar(highest of the Devas) to help him out. The Solaar pretty much tells Gord, that they don't fight on the same side and that the neutrals sickened him. Gord was shocked as he thought the Solaar would welcome him. The Solaar only sees Good and Evil (there is no middle ground). When they fight evil, it is to the end. No quarter is given, no deals to be made. So he basically tells Gord to get out of his way let him do what he was summoned to do.)

That is what the big story was about. Gord has tons of adventures between the big stuff. He goes to the Demi-plane of shadow, he joins the army at one time, works as famous thief called the Black Cat, becomes a student, travels with gypsies, travels to other planes of existence and many other things.

If you are lucky to find the set, I highly recommend them.

[Djinn Raffo]

Sounds pretty cool. You highly recommend them.
What about Gygax's writing...can he hold a plot?

[Lord of Alcohol]

I liked the first two or three books, but thought they went downhill from there. I thought the writing and the story went way downhill from there. Sorry, just my opinion

[Sneeki Two]

Thats fine Lord. I completely understand. To me the first two didn't really do it for me. It depends on what your interested in. For me, if it holds my attention I'll read it. Also if it's told well, Ill read it. I haven't liked any of the other stuff he's written though (just didn't grab me).

Example:
Tolkien is highly praised for his story telling, but to me his "fairy tale" style of writing just doesn't do it for me (it kinda drags out for me). Is Tolkien bad? No way. It just doesn't agree with me.

I highly recommend them if you are or were a player of AD&D. If not, you may think they hold nothing special. I just kinda liked what was going on. I also liked the characters.

Just my 2.

[Memnoch]

Thanks for that very detailed review, Sneeky. I've read the first two, in fact they were the first two AD&D novels I ever read. I enjoyed Artifact of Evil more of the two, though Gygaz has a bit of a quaint style of prose. He sounds more like someone documenting a series of PnP adventures, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's definitely a great repository of information on some of the more classic infernal and abyssal powers which span worlds in AD&D.

One thing though: if Mephistopheles is the Overlord of Baator, then whatever happened to Asmodeus?

------------------

[Sneeki Two]

Im not really sure what happened to Asmodeus. I think there may have been some problems with TSR when he left. I know Anthraxus was changed to Infestix when he switched publishers (maybe for the same reasons). It was the exact same character but just with a new name. It didn't bother me much though. Many of the higher level beings were known for having several different names and avatars.

Most of the focus was on the Demons really. The devils weren't really trying to stop anything. Their society was very organized, and they had a clear plan of what they wanted. The demons...sigh...they were likely to change plans or sides for any reason. They would kill their most valued general just to vent some steam, and then kill the next most valued because he didn't stop him from killing the first general. (they did stupid things like that all the time, but in that society it was normal) They made Salvatore's drow seem almost tame.

Grazzt's second in command was an albino demon named Vuron. Vuron was very different from other demons because he was actually Lawful Evil (strange isn't it). Vuron was actually the one that kept Grazzt on top of the food chain. Vuron would often keep certain things from his liege because he new Grazzt was waaaay to impulsive and couldn't control his chaotic nature (he was the only rudder on Grazzt's ship). The other demonic factions had no rudder at all, so you can see how far they would get.

Anthraxus (the oinodaemon) was the closest any of the others got to having lawful council (he was Neutral Evil, mind you, and had his own agenda). Also there was big distrust where daemons were involved. If a demon lord bought daemon conscripts to bolster his own legions, he would lose cool points with all of his own troops usually.

I've actually started reading Dance of Demons again, and you are right in saying Gygax's style is a bit different (having finished George R.R. Martin's Storm of Swords most recently). But I still like the story.