Sunday, July 06, 2008

Robert Jordan's Heir

So, not to disappoint any of you, but this post is about fantasy fiction and GURPS. . . so if you don't care for either, consider yourself warned.

I'm sure that all of you who care already know, but Robert Jordan died of a rare blood disease prior to finishing his 12th and final book in the Wheel of Time series. I enjoyed the series, and would have preferred if he would have finished before passing on. I guess no one thought to ask me. Well, Robert Jordan's wife was left with the task of choosing someone to finish the series. She chose a BYU English professor named Brandon Sanderson.

I highly recommend Sanderson's writing. I have read Elantris, Mistborn, Well of Ascension, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, and Warbreaker. I just finished Warbreaker on Friday night (actually Saturday morning) and I really liked it.

Brandon Sanderson has a way of writing that is full of unexpected twists and turns that surprise the reader and make the story so interesting. He is an ideal choice for finishing the Wheel of Time series.

My favorite of his works are Elantris and Warbreaker. While I was reading the latter, I was reminded of when I played GURPS with my buddies and I as game master included some plot twists and misdirections for the party to deal with.

I loved it when Ashitaka, Dante, Louie Lebeaux, Martin Luther, the Maxwell, and Reginald Whitlock debated for the entire play session about whether they were fighting for the right side. I was glad that they chose well and came out on the side of good.

I also enjoyed when they (in a different campaign) blindly followed an evil priest to slaughter several pacifistic healer clerics. Oops.

I miss those times. I doubt we'll ever get together and play again, but it sure was fun.

5 comments:

Cougarg said...

Good times!

Tim said...

I'm trying to convince April that we should name our future kids names like "Maxwell". I tell her that, with a common last name like ours, our kids need an uncommon first name. I don't think she buys it.

Cougarg said...

Maxwell is not too bad, I know a Maxwell. Now if you want to name them "The" Maxwell Jones, I could understand her hesitation. LOL

Anonymous said...

Another session that stood out for me was in one of John's campaigns ... the one with the really different races (monkey people, lizard people, etc)? I just remember there were a couple of sessions where the group was conversing with an entire senate. John did a brilliant job handling all the different NPCs. It was just one of those times when GURPS wasn't about rolling dice. Good times, as Cougarg says.

Aaron said...

Speaking of which, do any of you have my dice. You know the blue and red ones in the camouflage bag? Where did the miniatures get to. I bet they are in the same place. And yes, I think "the Maxwell" Jones has kind of a cool ring to it.