Helpful Score: 1
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS fans take note! Do you like war games? Can you belive playing pieces might come alive?
Six road companions travel under a wizard's geas to encounter and destroy unknown evil. Descriptive delineation, action and special powers hold the identifying reader in the company of Elf Ingrge, bard Wymarc, cleric Deav Dyne, swordsman Milo Jagan, lizardman Gulth, pseudo-dragon Afreeta, berserker Naile Fangtooth, and battle maid Yevele.
Go to the sign of Marvel's Axe, a dubious inn on the edge of the Thieves Quarter in the city of Greyhawk, and look to your own wrist. If you perceive a bracelet and dangling dice, watch for the next throw in the war against Law and Chaos, and be prepared to follow the compelling geas.
A sequel will be coming out soon, RETURN TO QUAG KEEP.
Six road companions travel under a wizard's geas to encounter and destroy unknown evil. Descriptive delineation, action and special powers hold the identifying reader in the company of Elf Ingrge, bard Wymarc, cleric Deav Dyne, swordsman Milo Jagan, lizardman Gulth, pseudo-dragon Afreeta, berserker Naile Fangtooth, and battle maid Yevele.
Go to the sign of Marvel's Axe, a dubious inn on the edge of the Thieves Quarter in the city of Greyhawk, and look to your own wrist. If you perceive a bracelet and dangling dice, watch for the next throw in the war against Law and Chaos, and be prepared to follow the compelling geas.
A sequel will be coming out soon, RETURN TO QUAG KEEP.
Helpful Score: 1
Classic fantasy, based on the author's early encounter with the predecessor to the popular Dungeons and Dragons game. A bit dated, but an interesting book for the 70's.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a pretty fun book, but should be of especial interest to anyone interested in fantasy role-playing games; Quag Keep was the first novel based on Dungeons & Dragons game (or any other RPG for that matter)-- part of it was published in a 1978 issue of Dragon magazine.
OK...so I only gave this book two stars but I am glad to have read it. Sounds weird perhaps but as a collector of Role Playing Game items(mainly Dungeons & Dragons)this is a "must have" in the literature department because it represents the first book ever written based on the D&D game world.
I personally have a hard time with Andre Norton's writing style - so perhaps that colored my perceptions of the book a bit - but I found the overall adventure fairly boring. I did enjoy the little nods to the Realm of Greyhawk and the character classes, but I thought the book might have been much better if the author had perhaps clarified the final battle especially...which easily could have added another "star" worth in the ratings department.
Some questions left unanswered or unexplored: What was the "single sheet of time-browned paper" that was so important in the final scene? Why was the mystical gamemaster transporting people into Greyhawk at all? What was his motivation? etc...etc...
I do intend on reading "Return to Quag Keep" to see if any of these questions are revealed. I did like the characters for the most part, and the pseudo-dragon was a nice touch as a companion also.
I personally have a hard time with Andre Norton's writing style - so perhaps that colored my perceptions of the book a bit - but I found the overall adventure fairly boring. I did enjoy the little nods to the Realm of Greyhawk and the character classes, but I thought the book might have been much better if the author had perhaps clarified the final battle especially...which easily could have added another "star" worth in the ratings department.
Some questions left unanswered or unexplored: What was the "single sheet of time-browned paper" that was so important in the final scene? Why was the mystical gamemaster transporting people into Greyhawk at all? What was his motivation? etc...etc...
I do intend on reading "Return to Quag Keep" to see if any of these questions are revealed. I did like the characters for the most part, and the pseudo-dragon was a nice touch as a companion also.
