Dungeons & Dragons & Novels: Revisiting Gary Gygax’s Saga of Old Town

First , Gary GygaxcreatedDungeons & Dragons . Then , he created the phantasy man of Oerth and its expectant urban center , Greyhawk . Then , he set his mind to save a D&D novel set in Greyhawk — the story of Gord , a immature street urchin who rises from poverty and imprisonment to become one of the superlative thieves on the major planet . And in write Greyhawk : Saga of Old City , Gary Gygax created something quite horrendous .

First matter first : We require to separate Gygax therole - play gamepioneer and Gygax the novelist . One can be the creator of the most democratic RPG ever and the writer of a very spoilt book ; the two are not reciprocally exclusive . And it ’s decidedly worth mark that 1985 ’s Saga of Old City is Gygax ’s first - ever novel , ( although of course , he write a million D&D dangerous undertaking module before creating Gord the Rogue ) but that does n’t justify all the unpleasantness he fills on virtually every page of this book . I ’m racking my brain trying to recall of anything positive to say about this novel , and all I ’ve obtain is that it ’s not the worst technically indite record I ’ve brush up for “ Dungeons & Dragons & Novels . ”

Everything else is the pit . The first melodic line of talks is “ Shiteater . ” Gord pees himself on page 13 . The first of five female characters , only one of whom has more than a XII lines of dialogue , is depict as having been “ a veteran strumpet by the age of 13 . ” Gygax also revels in the wretchedness he can bring down upon Gord . He starts in the city of Greyhawk as a young , abused orphan who ’s grateful to be caught steal , thrown into a reek prison , and forced to backbreaking labor because it gives him a picayune intellectual nourishment semi - regularly . Eventually , he ’s brought into the mendicant ’ order to be a stealer ( which is uncanny because there ’s also definitely a thieves ’ guild , that D&D basic ) where he acquire his trade and eventually set out on a series of adventures throughout the realm of Oerth . Actually , “ series of adventures ” might be a euphemism for a “ series of ho - hum D&D plot session . ” There ’s no overarching patch in the novel whatever . Gord has no emotional growth . The “ adventures ” are utterly illogical from each other , and even the longest only lasts six of the book ’s 33 chapter .

Inset of Clyde Caldwell’s cover for D&D creator Gary Gygax’s first Greyhawk novel, Saga of Old City.

Inset of Clyde Caldwell’s cover for D&D creator Gary Gygax’s first Greyhawk novel, Saga of Old City.Image:Clyde Caldwell/Wizards of the Coast

What Saga of Old City is — besides a Bible that spends only 18 % of its pages inside Greyhawk ’s Old City district — is a copy of a player - made Dungeons & Dragons character leveling up . I ’ve talk about how it ’s kind of fun when you may get a peek at the gears of the D&D mechanics inside the tale , but without a story , it ’s gear all the way down . Reading the book is like reading a transcript of a bunch of very stock , very ho - hum gaming sessions : Gord is attacked by bandits . Gord sails on a ship that is attacked by a sea serpent . Gord decides to steal treasure from a thieves ’ club somewhere . Gord must rescue a personality - less damsel in distress and escape a keep . Gord is attack by more bandits . Gord decides to fight in a fight . Gord contend a demon for a witching artefact . At the final stage of each escapade , there ’s an more and more difficult challenge for him to present , and an increase amount of treasure that he receives for his worry . It ’s like Gygax rolled up Gord on a fiber sheet , reckon out a few scenarios to place him in , and then meticulously numerate the experience points a regular D&D would have realize for fighting that routine of brigand and what treasure type he would receive for kill them . In fact , at the end of the book , Gygax literally reveals what Gord ’s D&D stats were during the first and final chapters .

Somehow , the immense majority of the other characters in the book have even less personality than a fill in character sheet . I could only line them as either their jobs or their characters ’ classes ( for example , Thief , Ranger , Druid , etc . ) . A few I could append an adjective to , such as the evil Beggarmaster and the amiable warrior Chert . Here ’s the ultimate example of how badly these characters are written : At one point , Gord is traveling with a couple of companions he likes , and they have a conversation where “ each of them discover facts about the other . ” We never read a line of talks , nor discover out what these facts are . Sadly , the only two lineament that perplex out are Gerran , only because he ’s one of Gord ’s fellow thief who ends up being a spy later in the book , and the aforementioned damoiselle - in - distress , Evaleigh , because she ’s in four full chapters . She ’s such a one - dimensional stereotype she ’s basically an object , another item for Gord to steal , whose treasure is the sex she rewards him at the death of the adventure for rescue her .

It ’s all terrible , but it might be mitigate if Gord were n’t so deeply unlikeable . He ’s greedy , niggling , and vindicative . He think of four of the script ’s five female grapheme only in intimate terms ; the fifth escapes his lecherousness solely because she wants to have sexuality with someone else . When he join a Romani troupe — of grade negatively stereotyped in the story — he “ wins ” one woman after a affaire d’honneur but apace make up one’s mind she ’s “ a nag and a bitch . ” The most flagitious example is when he generate the noble Evaleigh to her home and he ’s thrown in prison . He pretty quickly assumes she ’s abandoned him and hates her but when he ’s liberate and realizes Evaleigh was transport forth to another nobleman because she was trapped in an staged marriage ceremony — even though she sends him a note wishing she could have remain with him — Gord calls her “ a liar and a bitch . ” Gord suck . I hate Gord .

The full cover of Caldwell’s cover for Saga of Old City.

The full cover of Caldwell’s cover for Saga of Old City.Photo: Rob Bricken/io9

Gygax is clearly trying to indite a Robert E. Howard - expressive style , Conan the wild - case fantasy of warrior , black art , monsters , and aphrodisiac woman , but he only succeeds on the most technological of levels . Howard ’s lineament had personalities and deepness , and his stories had an imagination that reached far beyond the first edition of the Dungeons & Dragons Players Guide . If I had to play in D&D plot like this , I ’d have quit by chapter five .

I find very weird about hate a novel written by the father of Dungeons & Dragons , but there ’s nothing wonderful about the illusion in Saga of Old City . It ’s just deeply , deep unpleasant . So while I might give the technical written material a 4 on a 1d20 — he ’s more competent at setting and action description than R.A. Salvatore inThe Crystal Shard , at least Salvatore ’s characters were trenchant and memorable — but a penalty of -2 , along with a -3 for its unlimited misogyny . In the end , that leaves Saga of Old City with -1 — technically not a critical miss , but still an utter nonstarter . Somehow , there are six more novel Gygax ’s Gord series , which seems utterly impossible yield that he defeats a full - on fiend at the closing of Saga of Old City , has multiple magical weapons and items , and seems ( based on the stats Gygax gives for him ) to be at least sixteenth level . I do n’t know where he can mayhap go from here . I just know I have no desire to chance out .

Assorted Musings:

Consider this a Trigger Warning for just about everything . I have only partially described the horrible misogyny . Do n’t take this book .

I also found all the place names , swayer , and politics in the book to be completely unmemorable and abysmal , but I was never familiar with Greyhawk in the slightest , so I ’m run short to take responsibility for that . The novel has more than enough faults .

There is a townspeople named Stoink . That one did stick in my mind .

And the less exciting back cover. No comment.

And the less exciting back cover. No comment.Photo: Rob Bricken/io9

Gord ’s last stats at the conclusion of the novel , for the record , are : Strength 17 , Dexterity 18 , Constitution 16 , Intelligence 16 , Wisdom 14 , and Charisma 15 . If you know your D&D , you know these scores are bananas .

At one point a pack of “ wolfweres ” shows up . I thought it was a judgement - boggling typographical error , but it turns out there were animate being called wolfweres in early Advanced Dungeons & Dragons . They ’re wolves who can turn over into werewolves instead of human being . If Saga of Old City was better , I might have found this funny .

If for some reason , if you ’re kidnap by a sociopath who somehow forces you to read either Saga of Old City orSpellfire , Saw - flair , choose Spellfire every sentence . At least at some full stop , it ’s entertainingly frightening .

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Despite my distaste for the prose , unnumbered thanks to Christopher M. for send out it to me to review !

Next up : I ’m fleeing back to the Forgotten Realms viaShadowdale , by Scott Ciencin ! Sorry it ’s so long since the last D&D&N ; since I ’ve been help out io9 full - fourth dimension while Beth ’s on maternity leave-taking , I ’ve been too engaged for excess - curricular activities . I should be back on track briefly .

Do n’t read this book .

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