Baldur's Gate Books

[Jerr Conner]

Ok, so I've been reading some of the reviews on Amazon.com and they don't seem to popular.

Plus, people have given away some spoilers. For instance, two people had to gripe that Imoen is a:

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P

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Lesbian in the book, and they seem to have attributed this to her not being 'innocent' anymore.

How is Imoen's being a lesbian make her not 'innocent'?

Also, they kept saying something about Minsc having red hair and all this other jazz about too much blood and so forth.

So if anyone has ever read the books, are they good or bad in your opinion?

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Feh, the books are blasphemy. They are simply horrid. And I *DESPISE* Abdel, Gorion's ward.. I cannot tell you enough how much I hate those books. If you want a good book on the Realms, pick up something by Elaine Cunningham. Not... that... I'm endorsing book discussions on this board, no sir. No, I'll just go now. But seriously, get Evermeet or Elfshadow.. You won't be disappointed.

[Jerr Conner]

Originally posted by Illumina Drathiran'ar: Feh, the books are blasphemy. They are simply horrid. And I *DESPISE* Abdel, Gorion's ward.. I cannot tell you enough how much I hate those books. If you want a good book on the Realms, pick up something by Elaine Cunningham. Not... that... I'm endorsing book discussions on this board, no sir. No, I'll just go now. But seriously, get Evermeet or Elfshadow.. You won't be disappointed.

There was more hatred against Abdel, I heard he sucks...

[Horatio]

Hey, outta interest, wasn't there a book after ToB? Has anyone heard of this?

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Abdel isn't even INTERESTING! There's no fighting against the taint, he's just kill kill kill kill, kill kill hack slash hack slash hack slash. And for the record, they mutilate the plot. Sarevok doesn't kill Gorion, a bunch of hired goons do. Xan isn't found in the mines, but outside in a field somewhere. The list goes on. And that orbbvith Abdel is like putting moves on Jahiera WHILE SHE'S STILL ALIVE! DIE DIE DIE!

[Daniel]

The Baldurs Gate and the planescape torment novels were absolute crap, They could have been so much better if the writer had actually played any of the games.

[ 07-24-2002, 07:39 PM: Message edited by: Daniel ]

[Gargoyle]

Agreed, I expected much more, but when you take into consideration, that most people who have played the game's series are most likely more interested in the realm's than the people who wrote the books, it's "probably" understandable!

[Jerr Conner]

Originally posted by Gargoyle: Agreed, I expected much more, but when you take into consideration, that most people who have played the game's series are most likely more interested in the realm's than the people who wrote the books, it's "probably" understandable!

I'm a bit of a writer myself, however if there were even a slim chance that someone actually asked me, and offered me money to write a Baldur's Gate Saga, I might be tempted to take it up.

However, from one person who has played the game, I haven't actually played Dungeons and Dragons in a long while and have forgotten most of the rules. I could write a story about Baldur's Gate if I'm given two years to totally learn the game backwards and forwards so I know where every NPC is. I could keep the book accurate in that aspect, however I wouldn't be able to keep the book accurate to the D&D game, and no one can really.

When you write a book, you can't write it based upon the rules of a game. It's way to constrictive on the creative process, and trust me, the book would really suck. There's a reason why someone in a book can cast five magic missiles and still be an apprentice while in the game, they could cast only one. The game rules make sense for the game, but not for an actual story. Games have rules for a reason, to even up the odds. In a book, though, the world has to be portrayed more realistically, no rules.

It makes sense for an apprentice to have only one magic missile spell in a game because the game's rules set it up that the apprentice goes up against someone of equal strength. That's not always true in a 'real world'. The book talks about the 'real world' (Qouted because it's not a real world, but a fantasy world that isn't a game). It's more than likely that the apprentice has a limited amount of magic, however if he/she memorizes a spell that doesn't mean he/she forgets it. If you memorize something totally, the only way to truly forget it would be amnesia I think. I'd expect an apprentice to be able to cast twenty magic missiles, I just would also expect them to run out of energy soon.

Set rules ruin any creative process for a book.

So what I'm saying is I'd be like those authors that some people hate, I wouldn't go by the game rules, but I have my reasons for it.

As for cliches, well that's unavoidable, in a world where everything has been done to death. Besides, my main character would be gay ;C)

[Alisttair]

Yes but the stories themselves aren't accurate. THe BG books don't have problems concerning wther it uses D&D rules or not, it's the fact that the story doesn't go with that of the game.

SOme game rules go well for story writing anyways. MOre magic missiles is explained as a spellcaster who has had more experience casting the sppell and thus can cast a stronger version of it. ANd the spells being wiped from the mind, well the unlimited rule would be making the character in the story too powerfull, but having the spells as energy or something that is expended makes sense.

[Jerr Conner]

Originally posted by Alisttair: Yes but the stories themselves aren't accurate. THe BG books don't have problems concerning wther it uses D&D rules or not, it's the fact that the story doesn't go with that of the game. SOme game rules go well for story writing anyways. MOre magic missiles is explained as a spellcaster who has had more experience casting the sppell and thus can cast a stronger version of it. ANd the spells being wiped from the mind, well the unlimited rule would be making the character in the story too powerfull, but having the spells as energy or something that is expended makes sense.

The energy thing is basically what I'm getting at. It makes more sense for someone to lose energy than to just plain forget something.

I'm not going to believe that a wizard who has been working magic for over twenty years forgets the magic missile spell after he's used it a maximum of twenty times. Quite the opposite, I believe he'll remember the spell for the rest of his days.

Just like I'll believe an apprentice will. Granted, if he forgets the words at a certain moment, I'll expect him to remember again once he looks up the spell. It's just like any cook who forgets part of a recipe he's learned, he'll go look it up.

But anyway, I can understand about the book going against some of the innate stuff in the game. For instance, I'd be a little peeved if I found out they made Jaheira a weak person instead of a strong person.

Other than that, I can't see how people can be upset about Imoen's gayness unless they have some religious thing about it, considering the game itself never really mentions anything about her being gay or straight, therefore it's not going against the game.

I also wouldn't be able to understand why people would be against Abdel being evil, mainly because it goes with the game. In BG, you can choose to be evil, or good.

Other than all of that jazz, everything else I can understand. It's like when I played Indiana Jones and it turned out nothing like the movie it was made from. (The third one I believed)

You can even keep Nora from taking the grail!