The Sword and Laser discussion

I'm looking for fantasy/sci=fi series where there's a TON of books written in the same universe by multiple authors. Stuff like Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance Shadowrun, and Pathfinder.

Please suggest both the series, and where to start within them.

Everyone ignore this guy. He's spamming all the SFF groups with these posts so he can mock the genres like a hipster douchenozzle.

Again, as I said in another topic, Trike is right. It may not have been my intentions to come off this way, but regardless, it's who I've become with my roleplaying responses of a 13 year old.

I apologize, and I want to make it clear that I've stopped.

I'm'a take this guy at face value due to the apology although I will usually go with Trike's analysis.

Suggested SF series: Man/Kzin wars, concerning the interstellar wars between humanity and the eight feet tall feline Kzin.

It would be best to at least read the short "The Warriors" found in the collection Neutron Star and probably others. I would also suggest reading Ringworld first, as the Kzin and their history are a part of the plot there. Kzin continue to appear in the Ringworld followups, but I don't recommend those to any but hardcore Niven fans.

Niven eventually allowed other authors to "play" in the Known Space universe, specifically with the Kzin. There's some 14 books by now. Early ones include Poul Anderson, Dean Ing, and Jerry Pournelle. More at the link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-Kzi...

Thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt John.

So start with ringword? ok Just the first book, or the first 3 or what?

BTW, it does sounds interesting, and I think I'd enjoy them, and if anyone else has anything like it, by all means show to me. but when I say Fantasy universes written by different authors, I mean ones like Forgotten Realms, in the sense that there's not necessarily a MAIN story, but several authors making several stories within the same universe.

Edit: Here's a snake peok of what I'm got planned.

Homeland is set in 5 parts, each of which open with an essay from Drizzt, and from what I can remember, they're the best part of the trilogy. I admire how Salvatore delivers so much from half a page. I've taken influence from this with my P&P character sheet in games like D&D.

Anyways, this one talks about how Drizzt's childhood is as you'd expect, and how he had to deal with severe reverse-sexism. The poor guy.

Chapter 6 has probably my favorite part in the the Homeland. We learn why Drizzt uses two swords. He's extremely ambidexterous. He's asked to catch several tossed coins in in a specific hand, showing off his talent, and he catches them all, several times a row like it's nothing! I know you might say "Gary Stu!" To that I say "it's still pretty damn engaging!"

Chapter 7 this this fight with this drow Alton versus spiders, where a minor character almost ends up kamikazi-ing himself by dropping a fireball at his feet. How does he survive?

Chapter 8 is Zak training Drizzt and...it's not boring. I'm impressed. The most boring part of origin stories and it works! I remember dropping Red Sister because 10 chapters of training and it and showed no sign of stopping anytime. This time it was dare I say...fun!

Chapter 9 has Alton again getting assigned to spy on Drizzt, and be prepared to fight him when the time is right.

Chapter 10 we learn that Drizzt is Malice's final child, along with a few other interesting things that I can't recall.

Chapter 11: Final Chapter for part 2. Drizzt is reminded By Zak that he cannot ever lose a battle, for if he does, it is truly the end of him.

Well this was fun writing up. Hope someone got some joy out of this.

There are plenty, Thieves' World, Wild Cards, Medea: Harlan's World off the top of my head. There are also many works based off of the mythology created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Robert wrote: "There are plenty, Thieves' World, Wild Cards, Medea: Harlan's World off the top of my head. There are also many works based off of the mythology created by..."

Yeah, been recommended Theives World, but anything pre-80's I find intimidating.

Been recommended Wild Cards. I'll read it next time I feel like a comic book.

Medea is a bunch of short stories. It's not what I'm looking for here, but by all means recommend short stories as it's something that I'm sorely lacking in my to-read list.

The books you mentioned in your original post are all licenced series from games. In my local Chapters (the big chain bookstore where I live) there's a section for those series next to the fantasy section. Other series included would be Warhammer, Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon Five, and other D&D worlds like Eberron and Dark Sun.

I'd love to read some Star Wars. Specifically either the stuff that comes after Heir to the Empire. but even more I'd like to some stuff from the Knights of the Old Republic. Any recommendations?

Same request for D&D worlds. Any recommendations?

Some great suggestions coming. For the Man-Kzin stuff, to be clear, my suggestion is the following.

1. Find and read the short "The Warriors" which introduces the Kzinti
2. Highly recommend to read Ringworld to get some history of the Kzinti. Only the first book, the others can be ignored. Optional: Watch the Star Trek animated episode "The Slaver Weapon" to see a great mashup including the Kzinti.

After doing step 1 and possibly step 2, move on to Man-Kzin Wars.

That's...quite the commitment you're asking me to take.

MorteTorment(Unofficial World's Fastest Reader) wrote: "That's...quite the commitment you're asking me to take."

So this is probably the type of comment that Trike was talking about that makes you sound like a "douchenozzle".
John's not asking you to make any commitment whatsoever. You want recommendations on multi-author series and where to start. He recommended a series and pointed out the short story and novel to start with and you come back whining about it.
Make up your mind about whether you want help or not.

I do want help, and I didn't say that I was against the idea. It was more me saying "ok, better prepare myself for this." out loud. Sorry for the confusion, I know it's no excuse, but I have autism, and it's sometimes I really have an odd way of expressing myself.

Folks, let's be considerate of each other, m'kay?

Morte - I've not read the short story but you probably want to try the first novel in any event - it's a classic of the genre. If you don't like it, don't continue - the style isn't radically different in later volumes.

I apologise for my over-reaction. Everybody miscommunicates sometimes and I don't take that into account as often as I should.

I do too, Phil. I'm just getting soft in my old age. Not that I'm old. I mean... (pours more wine...)

MorteTorment(Unofficial World's Fastest Reader) wrote: "Same request for D&D worlds. Any recommendations?"

For D&D worlds, original publication order is a good way to go. Story ideas would be integrated into the evolving settings and setting changes would end up in the stories.

Dragonlance was the series I grew up reading and can speak best about. Most of its stories were organized into trilogies or sextants (6 book series).
Start with these nine books in this order, then either continue in publication order (like those of us reading them as they came out) or pick a story you like the sound of and read its series. There are something like 140 Dragonlance novels and short story collections (and other books), so they will keep you busy for a while.

The Chronicles Trilogy
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Dragons of Winter Night
Dragons of Spring Dawning

The Legends Trilogy
Time of the Twins
War of the Twins
Test of the Twins

Tales I Trilogy
The Magic of Krynn
Kender, Gully Dwarves, and Gnomes
Love and War


Many Forgotten Realms Readers get into the Drizzt books. Somebody put this together this list of the books in internal chronological order. Except for the first six books, this is also the order in which they were written.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/4913...

Phil wrote: "I apologise for my over-reaction. Everybody miscommunicates sometimes and I don't take that into account as often as I should."

Thank you for understanding sir. Still hoping that Trike will too.

Aaron wrote: "MorteTorment(Unofficial World's Fastest Reader) wrote: "Many Forgotten Realms Readers get into the Drizzt books. Somebody put this together this list of the books in internal chronological order. Except for the first six books, this is also the order in which they were written.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/4913..."

Yeah, Forgotten Realms and Star Wars are what I think I wanna focus on, and skim and comment on them. I'd really like to get some suggestions on different series by different authors between stuff. Drizzt I'm trying to give a second chance, but I wanna read more out of it.

Edit: Oh, and to be more specific, I'd like ot read some star wars books from the old republic, or stuff about Han and Leia's kids.

MorteTorment(Unofficial World's Fastest Reader) wrote: "Yeah, Forgotten Realms and Star Wars are what I think I wanna focus on, and skim and comment on them. I'd really like to get some suggestions on different series by different authors between stuff."

I haven't read very many of the Forgotten Realms novels, but Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb were both major contributors to it and I have enjoyed their novels I have novels I've read for many settings.