Quote from: Elliot WilenJust to be clear, I did read all of the Prydain books, with the exception of The Foundling and Other Tales (which I only just discovered exists, per Wikipedia), most likely in the 7th grade. I don't remember why I kept going all the way to the end; probably because they were an easy read and I was stuck in an English class where the teacher used some of class time to have us read from a bunch of books he had on the shelves.

   I'm Lloyd Alexander's bitch.  I admit that.  

   The Prydain novels were my second major fantasy read after being Narnia.  I loved Narnia--they were my first introduction to fantasy.  But Prydain blew me away as a *story*.  Compared to Lewis' characters, Taran the Assistant Pig Keeper and Gurgi and Eilonwy and the rest had a depth that few of the Narnia books had.  _Taran Wanderer_ remains a cherished part of my childhood reading experience for the way it explorered a lonely young man's search for his identity.

    A modern YA series I'd crib is, oddly, Terry Pratchett's "Johnny" series.  Now, while I am even more Pterry's bitch, I don't think his Discworld makes a good RPG setting.  The world is rich, but trying to game the unique tone Pratchett brings to the Discworld Chronicles isn't easy.  The one adventure in the back of GURPS Discworld didn't feel like a tale from the Chronicle at all.

    Now, the Johnny series is a little more accessible.  It takes a bunch of young, ordinary British children and throws them into an adventure with an absurd twist to a cliched idea.  "What if the aliens in the game surrendered" and what would really happen if you *could* see dead people can be set up as adventure seeds without having to convey the high humour of the Discworld.  The series actually runs rather like a YA Unknown Armies campaign.

Quote from: Elliot WilenAs for Harry Potter, I'm not judging the contents of the books, just the attraction to adults. I'm an adult (at least in the eyes of the law) and I'm not attracted to the books based on what I've picked up about them, including the first movie or so, which my wife watched on TV.

Just 'cause you're an adult doesn't mean you have to limit yourself to porn, you know.

I, too, am an adult in the eyes of the law, and yet I've loved *every* Pixar movie produced. Why? Because they're more than just kids movies. There are subtexts and jokes that kids just won't get, but that adults *do* get (and secretly snicker about over the heads of their kids). They also have amazing production values, decent dialog, and (*gasp*) a moral!

The very same is true about Harry Potter. It too has underlying themes that kids don't usually pick up on; they just see swooping brooms and spiffy magic.

Look... I don't know what things you've "picked up", but I'll bet it doesn't come close to the truth of the matter. Read the whole series. I promise, you won't regret it. Don't let your prejudices get in the way.

Quote from: ElectroKittyI, too, am an adult in the eyes of the law, and yet I've loved *every* Pixar movie produced.

I have, too, except for some qualms about the casual portrayal of death-dealing children in The Incredibles. I'm also an enormous fan of old Warner Brothers cartoons, Studio Ghibli films...even Sailor Moon was kind of fun for me. (But not Pokemon or anything with the word Rangers in the title.)

Entirely beside the point.

You'll just have to live with my never reading HP, unless you have some sort of Misery-like scenario planned. Or I happen to end up someplace very isolated with nothing else to do.

Quote from: BalbinusWizard of Earthsea.

I was halfway through the first of them when I realised that all the characters were black.

Well, brown.  From what I recall, LeGuin envisaged them as being akin to Pacific Northwest Coast natives, just as the Archipelago was patterned after the San Juan Islands where she was living some time around when she wrote the books (compare an outline of Havnor with Orcas Island).  Now, the people of the East Reach, they're black.

Anyway, brilliant books throughout.

I was also going to mention the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, the first of which is coming out as a film late this summer.

!i!

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaI was also going to mention the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman, the first of which is coming out as a film late this summer.

With all references to God ("The Authority") removed, from what I've heard.

Well, you can't allow children (children!) to be influenced by amoral atheistic teachings, can you?

Quote from: DrewWith all references to God ("The Authority") removed, from what I've heard.

"New Line is a company that makes films for economic returns.  You would hardly expect them to be anything else.  They have expressed worry about the possibility of HDM's perceived antireligiosity making it an unviable project financially.  My job is to get the film made in such a way that the spirit of the piece is carried through to the screen, and to do that I must contend not only with the difficulties of the material but with the fears of the studio.  Needless to say, all my best efforts will be directed towards keeping HDM as liberating and iconoclastic an experience as I can.  But there may be some modification of terms.  You will probably not hear of the 'Church' but you will hear of the Magisterium."

(From the interview here.)

Quote from: DrewWith all references to God ("The Authority") removed, from what I've heard.

Oh, for crying out...g'ah.

!i!

[Edit: I just read the interview, and the director, Chris Weitz, seemed to be approaching a prickly matter rather even-handedly.  However, the fact that he's obviously having to negotiate the matter at all with the studio, New Line, troubles me.]

Quote from: Elliot WilenYou'll just have to live with my never reading HP, unless you have some sort of Misery-like scenario planned. Or I happen to end up someplace very isolated with nothing else to do.

You know, there has to be a fanfic out there where Harry Potter, in a fit of sexual frustration brought on by puberty, becomes a necromancer who specializes in necrophilia...

Quote from: Dirk RemmeckeWhile I totally dig Earthsea I have to say that there isn't much setting in the novels. It is a very personal quest of one (or two, if you count Tenar) heroes, and all that travelling to the lands of the dead is not the basis for many different adventures.

I could imagine a home grown setting in the vein of Earthsea, though.

Can't quite agree--I think there is a fair amount of setting in the original trilogy and short stories written at about the same time.  That is, reading them I got a fairly distinct picture of the places and cultures, at least as much as you get in most fantasy worlds.  Roke, Atuan, and Gont especially stand out.  Roke is a great example of a mage school and Atuan of a spooky temple/underground complex.  And I really appreciated the attention to ritual--things like the 'long dance' or the ceremonies at the Tombs.  LeGuin's anthropological heritage really showed there, in a good way.

The real problem, IMO, is that LeGuin rewrote the setting and the underlying ideas of the world so greatly in the later novels and short stories.  This is true in the big sense--the revelations about how and why the 'land of the dead' came into existence, etc.--and in smaller things.  In the early books, for example, the material culture of Gont seems bronze age/early iron age.  In the later Tehanu and Other Wind it seems considerably more advanced.

Such re-interpretations are authorial privilege, of course, and Le Guin has said she's not much interested in continuity in her fiction.  But if I were making an Earthsea game, I'd base it on the first 3 novels--which are more consistent with one another--and ignore the later material, including the historical stuff from Tales of Earthsea.

Oh, and I think Rosemary Sutcliff's juveniles would be good RPG fodder.