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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
 Posted - 09 Apr 2004 : 16:56:37
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quote:
Originally posted by PyrateJenni
Eyup. Of course, I'm waiting for the howls of outrage from the fanbois when male homosexuality is tastefully hinted at.
Mongoose Publishing had a very tasteful and humorous scene in Sheloth: City of the Drow which featured one half-drow character assuming her drow master was gay. The whole thing came to a head after she witnessed another male trying to flirt with her master while presenting a gift. |
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Lord Rad
Great Reader
United Kingdom
2080 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2004 : 19:10:30
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| Sirius, just a quick question as youve mentioned it... what are you ratings on Sheloth? Ive been pondering over purchasing it for quite some time but not sure as to its usefulness? Plenty fluff? |
Lord Rad
"What? No, I wasn't reading your module. I was just looking at the pictures"
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 09 Apr 2004 : 20:08:07
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quote:
Originally posted by Rad
Sirius, just a quick question as youve mentioned it... what are you ratings on Sheloth? Ive been pondering over purchasing it for quite some time but not sure as to its usefulness? Plenty fluff?
Definitely more fluff than you'd find in a WOTC product. It's very much what it advertises to be, a generic drow city that can be set in any world with minor modifications. The best parts that highlight the city's flavor come from little story blocks spaced throughout the product. Within these blocks, the tale is told of a male drow assassin's relationship with a half-drow he discovers on the streets. This portion of the book didn't come from the author, but an editor who added it afterwards. In my opinion, this little story is better than many tales that are published as novels. |
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J D Dunsany
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
180 Posts |
Posted - 13 Apr 2004 : 13:06:29
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Hmmm... some interesting stuff in this thread...
Firstly, to address the topic, I'd recommend anything by Elaine Cunningham. I started my FR journey with 'Threat From The Sea' and 'Counsellors and Kings', both of which are good gripping series in their own right, but 'Counsellors...' blew me away. It's an intricately plotted series with some great set pieces (battles between extremely powerful magic users always make me happy for some reason) and, as I'm finding out is typical with EC's work, even the incidental characters have a quirky life of their own.
For that reason, I'd also recommend 'Starlight and Shadows'. (Although, to be fair, I haven't read 'Windwalker' yet!) Like some of the posters on this thread the idea of the Drow doesn't overly excite me, but Liriel Baenre is simply a superb character - her Drow outlook is necessarily seasoned by her encounters with the surface world and her relationship with Fyodor is one of the most touching and believable I've come across in fantasy literature. Brilliant stuff. I can't recommend it highly enough.
As to a FR movie... I have mixed feelings about this. Partly because I don't think any screen adaptation could do the vast incredibly diverse setting of the Realms justice, but mainly because whoever would undertake such a project would be faced with almost impossible choices to make. Which 'realms' would you use in the film? Which characters? I understand the call for an 'all-new' story with all new characters, but a lot of the Realms' appeal lies in its unique characters. Any FR film worth its salt would have to have at least some of Drizzt, Elminster, Alustriel, the Simbul, Liriel, Wulfgar etc.
My personal fantasy (which will never happen! ) is a FR TV series with a fairly large ensemble cast with a mix of already known FR characters and all-new ones in a number of seemingly unrelated adventures that then, as the season progresses, turn out to be one large potentially Realms-shattering event. You wouldn't have Drizzt or Elminster in every episode, but they would each appear in a three or four episode block within the season. You may even have two or three different sets of adventurers throughout the season, coming together for the story arc's climax. Continuity could be provided by a narrator (Volo?)... and I'm getting carried away here. There's probably a million and one reasons why it wouldn't work, and I'm well aware of the many differences between a long-established line of tie-in fantasy novels and a TV production, but my dream would be to one day see a series that adequately conveys the scope, imagination and incredible diversity of the Realms in a way that even a non-fan would find enjoyable and absorbing.
Ah, well... Got some more coursework to mark. Back to reality! 
Yours,
JDD |
"How content that young woman looks, don't you think? How content, and yet how flammable." - Lemony Snicket, The Unauthorized Autobiography |
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What books to read next....
