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The content on this blog is my personal opinion and does not reflect the views of the Department of Defense or the US Navy in any way.


Friday, August 17, 2018

Book Journal: The Dragon Below

One of the things I've been doing as I prepare to play Dungeons and Dragons in the Eberron campaign setting for the first time in a while is re-read some of the novels I've got which are set in it. In particular, I've been reading the Dragon Below trilogy by Don Bassingthwaite.

Probably the most memorable part of these novels for me, strangely enough, are some of the curses. I still use "Lords of the Host!" (referring to the primary pantheon of good gods in this setting) in place of things like "thank god" or "dear god", a practice which alternately confuses and amuses my non-nerdy friends when they hear it. (Admittedly, it's not unique to this book; "Nine Hells!" is another D&D themed curse from a different setting that I use a lot.) "I swear by the Three Dragons and the Twelve Moons" didn't stick as well as some of the other expressions I can remember, but it's still easily one of the most memorable lines in the entire trilogy for some reason. Not sure why.

As for the rest of the stuff in the book... well, it's a properly dramatic fantasy adventure, with plenty of evil cults trying to restore their gods' power, fighting with each other and with the main characters, and just generally being nasty. There's also a lot of wandering around as the main characters struggle to figure out exactly what the hell is going on, but the story actually does hold together quite well in the end. 

And the combat is excellent; a lot of novels based on Dungeons and Dragons tend to falter a bit on the fact that the mechanics which make for a good experience as part of a tabletop roleplaying game don't always work as well as the basis for a combat scene in a novel. It either makes for awkward combat scenes in which each character takes turns in order, or completely abandons some of the details that limit what normal players can do in combat. These novels generally manage to avoid both of those fates.

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