# Book recommendations for a cheesy D&Dish fantasy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 15, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318 "2012-07-15T17:46:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/1 "2012-07-15T17:46:02Z")
This morning, 've realized that 've not read any new fantasy in over a year, which is, clearly, an act of blasphemy. Which begs a question-- can you guys recommend a book along the lines of “Villains by necessity” by Eve Forward? Something mildly funny, with over the top tabletop stereotypes which end up being loveable characters in the end. Margaret Weiss’s “Soulforge” was another one I’ve rather enjoyed. Brownie points if the recommended book has a deadpan snarker and/or a witty necromancer/dark mage in it. Thank you muchly… ---
**Author:** ![tadtooornamental](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@tadtooornamental](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tadtooornamental)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/2 "2012-07-15T18:04:58Z")
Have you read the rest of the Margaret Weiss Dragonlance books? Raistlin is a main character in all the Weiss/Hickman books, and he can always be counted on for a good snark. Or a good dark mage-ness. ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/3 "2012-07-15T18:06:38Z")
Most of them, I have, although the snarky dark mage-ness isn’t quite as thick in the non-Twin series of the books… ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/4 "2012-07-15T21:50:26Z")
Dark Elf Trilogy with Drizzt? That’s pretty damn cheesy, but fun to read. R.A. Salvatore, and there’s shitloads of them if you end up wanting to go on a tear with the character group. ---
**Author:** ![azraiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@azraiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/azraiel)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/5 "2012-07-16T01:09:01Z")
Not overly D&Dish, but with many of the same elements… Have you read the Taltos series by Steven Brust? I don’t know if I could do it justice in a few words, so I’ll just recommend it. Light, fun, and quick-reading, you can get the first three books in one [volume](http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Jhereg-Steven-Brust/dp/0441006159/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_c). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/6 "2012-07-16T01:12:05Z")
[Grunts](http://www.amazon.com/Grunts-Mary-Gentle/dp/0451454537/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342401024&sr=8-1&keywords=grunts+gentle) by Mary Gentle. Except that nobody’s a Good Guy. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/7 "2012-07-16T01:40:03Z")
Try the _Chicks/Chainmail_ series, edited by Esther Friesner. Female protagonists, mostly female authors, lots of stereotyping, and mostly pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/8 "2012-07-16T03:02:47Z")
Will check this batch out… haven’t even heard of most of 'em. Thanks, dopers. Knew I could count on you. 8D ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/9 "2012-07-16T03:25:02Z")
I don’t read a lot of fantasy so take my recommendations as those of an outsider. But I have read and enjoyed several of John Moore’s fantasy/comedies in the last year: _Bad Prince Charlie_, _Heroics for Beginners_, and _The Unhandsome Prince_. He also wrote _A Fate Worse Than Dragons_ but I haven’t read that yet. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/10 "2012-07-16T03:32:02Z")
The [_Black Company_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Company) series by Glen Cook. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/11 "2012-07-16T09:16:18Z")
Diana Wynne Jones: _Tough Guide to Fantasyland_ and _Dark Lord of Derkholm_. The Tough Guide isn’t a story, it’s a reference book of fantasy tropes. Derkholm is about a world that has someone running tours through it, constantly, and that someone is insisting that the whole world perform the fantasy tropes. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/12 "2012-07-16T09:45:05Z")
The [Garrett P.I. novels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Cook#Garrett_P.I.) by Glen Cook. Elves, dwarves, ogres, and all sorts of crossbreeds in an extremely corrupt fantasy city; Garret is basically a fantasy hard-boiled Private Investigator. Lots of snarking. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/13 "2012-07-16T10:09:24Z")
The Guardians of the Flame by Joel Rosenberg. Bunch of college kids play a roleplaying game, with one of their professors as Dungeonmaster. Except that the professor turns out to be a very powerful mage that has been exiled from the world he’s got their characters playing in. At the end of the first chapter, he casts a spell that puts their minds into their characters, so they can help him get himself back there. But since he didn’t bother to ask before putting them in mortal danger in an unfamiliar world, they aren’t really in the mood to do his quests for him. Very cheesy, though it gets pretty serious at points. The thief character in particular is pretty funny. And the dragon, too. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/14 "2012-07-16T20:54:53Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > He also wrote _A Fate Worse Than Dragons_ but I haven’t read that yet. I found it mostly blah, but there was one scene parodying _The Princess Bride_ that may be worth the price alone. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/15 "2012-07-16T21:54:55Z")
Probably sillier than what you’re looking for, but: **[A Malady of Magicks](http://www.amazon.com/Malady-Magicks-Craig-Shaw-Gardner/dp/0441516629/)** and following series by Craig Shaw Gardner. The books follow Ebenezum, the world’s greatest wizard, who is allergic to magic. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/16 "2012-07-16T22:15:13Z")
If you haven’t read them already Fritz Leiber’s \*[Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fafhrd_and_the_Gray_Mouser)\*stories are worth reading - he basically defined the steroeotypes that RPGs picked up on. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/17 "2012-07-16T22:28:47Z")
Terry Pratchett’s best work is far, far better than cheesy D&D fantasy, but his fantasy work (mostly) started with _The Colour Of Magic_, which is a parody of several of the staples of the Fantasy section. There is even a snarky evil necromancer (in a very minor role). ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/18 "2012-07-16T22:32:57Z")
And in a nice symmetry (from the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser wikipedia page) > [@](#): > > In Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are parodied as Bravd and the Weasel. Although Ankh-Morpork bears more than a passing resemblance to Lankhmar, Pratchett, known for the use of pastiche in his early works, has been quoted as not intending a direct takeoff.[9] Some of the features of similarity (e.g. a thieves’ guild, and a general air of degeneracy) may instead be common tropes of fantasy literature, although it could be argued, especially in the case of the thieves’ guild, that many of the tropes in question originated with Leiber. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-recommendations-for-a-cheesy-d-dish-fantasy/628318/19 "2012-07-16T22:40:58Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > The Guardians of the Flame by Joel Rosenberg. Bunch of college kids play a roleplaying game, with one of their professors as Dungeonmaster. Except that the professor turns out to be a very powerful mage that has been exiled from the world he’s got their characters playing in. At the end of the first chapter, he casts a spell that puts their minds into their characters, so they can help him get himself back there. But since he didn’t bother to ask before putting them in mortal danger in an unfamiliar world, they aren’t really in the mood to do his quests for him. > > Very cheesy, though it gets pretty serious at points. The thief character in particular is pretty funny. And the dragon, too. I actually liked **D’Shai** better, thoush sadly it only has one sequel novel. I’m not sure I’d call the main character a snarker, but he’s an outsider with more than a few comments about the stratified society that he lives in. The magic system was novel and meshed with the social system very well.