Good Books

[Justin Martin]

The name that escapes you is Raymond E Feist. The third book in that series
is now available 'Rage of a Demon Lord'

Justin

- ----------
> From: William M. Fisher
> To: birthright@MPGN.COM
> Subject: [BIRTHRIGHT] - Good Books
> Date: Friday, 9 May 1997 1:11
>
> David Eddings is very good with political-fantasy writings. He looks
> at politics from the point of view of warlords, citizens, theives, all
> sorts of characters. He has many Ideas that can be adapted to a
> Birthright setting easily. Also the Serpentwar Saga (the author's name
> escapes me) is good reading, the second book is "Rise of a merchant
> prince" and deals with economics and guild tradings wonderfully (a must
> for rogue PC's)
> -WMFII
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[Krazy Kat]

Issac Asimov's FOundation Trilogy has some good examples of policial
dealings in it, especially transitions in power from one type of
political system to annother. It's SF, though, and not strictly
applicable. The Dune saga also has a lot of politics in it.

[Undertaker]

At 01:55 AM 5/7/97 -0800, Grendel Todd(greyhavn@creative.net)wrote:
>

>
> Has anyone else come across helpful books such as this?
>
>Grendel Todd

You knew I had to say it, but here it is anyway: No BR Player or DM should
be without a copy of Sun Tzu's "The Art of War." At least IMHO.

Undertaker, richt@metrolink.net

"War is a matter of vital importance to the State;
the province of life or death;
the road to survival or ruin.
It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied."
-Sun Tzu,(The Art of War)-

[Undertaker]

At 03:11 PM 5/8/97 +0000, William M. Fisher(wmfisher@bellsouth.net)wrote:
>

>
> Also the Serpentwar Saga (the author's name
>escapes me) is good reading, the second book is "Rise of a merchant
>prince" and deals with economics and guild tradings wonderfully (a must
>for rogue PC's)
>

The author's name is Raymond Fiest. And his books are good BR material.
While the "Serpent War" is great I suggest also looking at the "Riftwar
Saga"(the first book is called "Magician: Apprentice", and its by the same
author. Give them a look.

Undertaker, richt@metrolink.net

"War is a matter of vital importance to the State;
the province of life or death;
the road to survival or ruin.
It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied."
-Sun Tzu,(The Art of War)-

[802967876@RUMAC.UPR.CLU.]

There is a great book everyone on this list should read: Sun Tzu's
ART OF WAR. It teaches strategy for both players and DMs.

Luis

[Vestrii@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-05-07 07:06:12 EDT, you write:

> As an example: At one point it looked like an upstart vassal was going
> to rebel by hireing large numbers of Mercinary troops, so the PC
> supported regent performed an espionage action and bribed the Merc
> commanders to desert if the rogue vassal declaired war (worked too!)
> Has anyone else come across helpful books such as this?

You might want to read the Art of War. It's not exactly related to BR or
even a medieval setting but it does help get the strategic juices flowing.

Dave

[Vestrii@aol.co]

In a message dated 97-05-08 01:39:49 EDT, you write:

> Birthright setting easily. Also the Serpentwar Saga (the author's name
> escapes me) is good reading, the second book is "Rise of a merchant
> prince" and deals with economics and guild tradings wonderfully (a must
> for rogue PC's)

That would be Raymond E. Feist. The final book was recently released
in hardcover.

Dave

[Matthew M. Colville]

>The Dune saga also has a lot of politics in it.


This has to be the biggest understatement I've ever heard.


The Dune saga is byzantine in it's political
machinations! I defy any DM to come close to the level of
sophistication and intrigue that Herbert did in his novels!

[Matthew M. Colville]

>Something I'd like to recomend everyone check out is Machiavelli's
"The

>Prince", a book actualy written for Nobles such as those found in the

>Birthright settling. As a handbook of Medieval politics it's truely

>impressive.

> As an example: At one point it looked like an upstart vassal was
going

>to rebel by hireing large numbers of Mercinary troops, so the PC

>supported regent performed an espionage action and bribed the Merc

>commanders to desert if the rogue vassal declaired war (worked too!)

> Has anyone else come across helpful books such as this?

>

>Grendel Todd


The best book, ever, written on war is - in my opinion - On The
Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace. It's a recent book by
Donald Kagan, a professor of History at both Cornell and Yale.

It is absolutely the most fantastic book I've read about war, ever.
And I've read Sun Tzu and Machiavelli (and I try not to misrepresent
either of them as is so often done on this newsgroup.) Kagan does an
amazing job of describing how wars actually develop.
It is impossible to understate the value of this book to anyone
interested in the history of war and it's place in the human
experience. I recommend it, not really to GMs, but to players who want
revolutionary ideas that are 2,000 years old.

Kagan analyzes, using contemporary sources, and compares the
Peloponnnesian War, the First and Second World War, The Second Punic
War, and the Cuban Missle Crisis. Great stuff.


Also, play Diplomacy. Play lots of Diplomacy and I garuntee you your
Domain Turns will change.

[Michael Andrew Cullingha]

> The author's name is Raymond Fiest. And his books are good BR material.
> While the "Serpent War" is great I suggest also looking at the "Riftwar
> Saga"(the first book is called "Magician: Apprentice", and its by the same
> author. Give them a look.
>
> Undertaker, richt@metrolink.net

Three other books by Raymond Feist along with somenbody else
(Janny Wurts?) are the Empire Trilogy (Daughter of the Empire,
Servant of the Empire, and Mistress of the Empire). These
are also good in terms of detailing the politics of an area.
The area itself is more Oriental in flavour, I believe, but
bits and pieces can easily be adapted to a BIRTHRIGHT
campaign.

Mike
P.S. I'm from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, although I'm working
for the summer just outside Quebec City, Quebec.
- --
***********************************
Michael Cullingham
macullin@acs.ucalgary.ca
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~macullin/
***********************************