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From: lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Guardians of the Flame (A Flame!)
Message-ID: <3057@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 2-Aug-85 14:50:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: topaz.3057
Posted: Fri Aug  2 14:50:29 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Aug-85 21:05:45 EDT
Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 32

From: lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley (1st Lt. RYN Leigh Ann Hussey)

Whatever bad things Silverbob may have done, you can't ascribe this
turkey to him, nor does he deserve it.

I grant you, I can't give the author's name at the moment (it's something
like Greenbaum?), but he also had an article in Writer's Digest telling
how to make your fantasy stories live.  Unfortunately, he doesn't believe
in any of the things he's writing about, so none of them can "live".

Besides that, the books are trash.  The never-ending D&D game, indeed!
With obviously contrived devices to make the story *meaningful* --
growing relationships, dealing with motherhood, delivering moral lectures
(SPOILER immediately follows) to the evil, egotistical professor who gets
them into the game-world in the first place. (End Spoiler).

Pure garbage, poorly written (but trying REAL HARD to sound good), taking
4+ books to say what could have been said in half that number, or better
still, not at all.

If you really want decent Adventure Gaming in SF&F, I recommend Dream Park
by Steve Barnes and Larry Niven.  It's about a future theme park (ala
Disneyland)  where adventurers participate in real-time games, with them-
selves as characters (though they put on character personae).  Monsters
and bad men, strange and interesting subplots, REAL GODDAMMIT characters 
(!) not stereotypical college students (though there are students in it
as I recall), mystery, murder, and (deep breath) the South Sea Cargo Cult!!
Lots of fun, well written.

Ahem.  Flame off.

Leigh Ann