David Farland's Runelords series

[Master_Rahl22]

I searched the forums and can't believe there hasn't been a discussion about these. I'm reading the 4th book now and I'm really enjoying them. The world is interesting, the magic is nifty, and the bad guys are cool. If I wanted to pretend I had a literary degree I could talk about all sorts of other stuff but they're enjoyable books.

Also, did anybody else think about what an awesome setting for a game of D&D this would make? Farland almost flat out writes that the Runelords get buffs to the 6 attributes. Wizards are powerful but in different ways than Runelords so as not to overshadow them, and are much rarer. The various things the main characters encounter simply are crying out to become homebrewed monsters. That's all I had, just wanted to see if we could get a discussion started about it. Heck if there's enough interest, maybe we can start some homebrew as well.

[claypigeons]

The first 4 books (the ones that follow Gaborn) are great. I couldn't put them down. The reavers are an entertaining threat. The magic systems (both the wizards, and the rune system) are good, and fairly well done.

The second 4 were... Well, the first three books of the second set were great. There was a real sense of "OHSHI- this is the for realzies end of the universe" feeling. Without spoiling too much... the main characters were losing, and performing last-ditch maneuvers to try to turn the tide. The end of the third book (Wyrmling Horde) was actually a cliffhanger. Then the fourth book (Chaosbound) was horrible. One its own, it's a good book. It has a compelling character that returns from the original series. The story is even compelling. But as the last book of the series it is probably the worst I've ever read.




Complaining and many spoilers

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It wrapped NOTHING up. It runs parallel to the events in the first three books, and kind of tells you a little of what has happened since the end of the third. But nothing is changed. The universe is ending and the heroes have lost. All that's left is to mop up the survivors and let the One True Master of Evil sit on her throne and laugh.

Fallion failed to bind the worlds, and is (as of book three) locked in a dungeon mind-tied to a fire wizard. The OTMoE has possessed the shadow world's Earth King, and is 'choosing' his/her minions, making the already formidable wyrmlings THAT much more potent. The only setback she had on the shadow world was a lack of knowledge of rune magic. But they had MOUNTAINS of blood metal.

So much blood metal that a hill near a human settlement contained more of the (to them) useless metal than it took to make Raj Ahten. Then Fallion bound the two worlds, and suddenly they have excess amounts of blood metal AND the knowledge to use it. Wyrmlings, 9 foot tall bulky eugenic monstrosities now have the ability to take each others strength, stamina and metabolism. Not to mention the ability to take endowments from the now millions strong human population they take as slaves.

The OTMoE has won. She has a massively strong army. She has opened portals to several other worlds to take over and mine for resources (magic, slaves, soldiers, blood metal, etc.). Her victory is inevitible for a couple reasons. First, her only real threat is locked in a mortal body deep in her dungeons without any knowledge or ability to do what he is meant to do (bind the worlds. The one binding he did was a trick. All he did was repair a rune that bound two worlds.) Secondly, there is no real way for the humans to fight back effectively, let alone win, without serious Deus Ex Machina.

It's unfortunate, really. I don't mind downer endings if they are done well. But the Runelords saga didn't really end. It just kinda stopped. =-(

[Adumbration]

Agreed. The first four were great, and I absolutely adored the first book. It just has such a great atmosphere. The second four... Some good, but declining towards the end of things.

Homebrew would be cool. Not sure if his own forums haven't touched that yet, though.

[Master_Rahl22]

Hmm, well I'll avoid the spoiler tag since like I said I'm still reading Lair of Bones. I'm definitely enjoying it so I'm sure I'll finish the series, but maybe if I know some were disappointed with the last one then I can keep my expectations low.

I hadn't even considered his official forums regarding homebrew stuff. I'll have to check it out.

[Mewtarthio]

I read the first book. I thought it had a lot of potential. The endowments system was all sorts of awesome, particularly the endowments of metabolism. All and all, everything was set up to provide an interest world full of tough choices and conflict.

Then that wizard and his Chosen One showed up and took control of the plot. Rants and spoilers for the first book ahead:

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I'm not particularly fond of wizards or chosen ones on the best of days (at least, not the sort of archetype Binnesman represents), but I recognize they can be done well. Here, they weren't. At the very least, the elemental magic system ended up wiping out everything I liked about the endowments magic system. We basically end up with a system governed by strictly defined rules juxtaposed with a system that does whatever the author wants. Having both systems is a tricky proposition in itself; giving the main character access to the latter system is a bad idea.

Maybe later in the series, Farland develops rules for elemental magic. Maybe he uses that particular system just as well as the endowments system. I don't know. This book didn't inspire confidence, though. Several times, elemental magic ends up miraculously making an interesting conflict disappear. Gaborn has ended up despised by everyone on account of his grief-stricken friend's horrible mistake? It's cool: The ghosts of kings past are here to vouch for Gaborn's character. Gaborn needs endowments to fight Raj Ahten, but dislikes the idea of taking them from anyone who is not truly loyal to his cause? Well, now he's the Earth King and everyone in the region worships him as Messiah, so he can afford to be picky.

The power of Earth magic seems to overshadow everyone else at times, too. I can't help but feel like everyone's struggles are invalidated when the Earth shows that it can accomplish more with less effort. Take the scene where Chemoise's father kills Raj Ahten's metabolism vector. The man fights against magically-induced paralysis with sheer determination and, with great effort, cuts the villain off from the source of his nigh-invulnerability. I don't care if Ahten won the battle anyway, that's still a heroic accomplishment. Then, five minutes later, a tree falls on the Dedicates' wagon, killing everyone inside and robbing Raj Ahten of the greater part of his power without anyone lifting a finger. Chemoise's father managed to do nothing more than slightly affect the order in which Raj Ahten lost his powers. And even that's not as bad as when Binnesman, still exhausted from a ritual so draining that it aged him several years, effortlessly one-shots Raj Ahten and his highest-ranking followers.

Brief review: It had a lot of potential, but turned out pretty disappointing, in my opinion.

[Cheesegear]

I read the first book. I thought it had a lot of potential. The endowments system was all sorts of awesome, particularly the endowments of metabolism. All and all, everything was set up to provide an interest world full of tough choices and conflict.
[...]
It had a lot of potential, but turned out pretty disappointing, in my opinion.

I agree with this assessment. I can't really contribute anymore than say that, yeah, I liked it...Right up until the point where I didn't. Which was towards the end.

[Master_Rahl22]

Hmm, I didn't feel like that was any kind of Deus Ex Machina or anything like that because they mentioned throughout that the spirits of the dead were around and sometimes showed up. Also, while it may seem that the Earth magic can handle anything and everything in the spots you're referring to, and it is indeed powerful, it's not the trump card you seem to think it is. In addition, starting in book 2 Raj Ahten changes from the main antagonist to an interesting character in his own right and a new threat appears.

I did check the official forums and have seen nothing at all like D&D homebrew so I may start something up if I find myself with way too much free time.