Epic Fantasy: The Five Essentials

[Lethosos]

Gamerz's mentioned Feist; I'd also reccomend the Empire Triliogy if you want to expose him to an alien civilization (The Empire of Tsuranni upon the metal-poor world of Kelwan) that's pretty epic in scope, yet narrow in focus. Still a tasty read, of course--there is a civilization-changing theme behind it, which is pretty epic to me.

Beowulf is a nice encapsulation of struggle and heroic deeds. It's anachronistic in prose, so anyone who reads the translated version should be capable of gleaning the meaning of the words. I know there is a good true-to-word translation on the 'net for easy reading.

The Lord of the Rings is an old standby--'nuff said.

I'm suprised no one mentioned The Adventures of Fafnir & the Grey Mouser--again, good heroic stories following a pair of adventurers bound by a common misfortune. Even if it's not epic, I'd still reccomend it to get a nice feel for depth in a fantasy genre.

The Record of Lodoss War is, again, an excellent choice--we're talking about a band of adventurers who are trying to stop an evil magician from taking over the island nation of Lodoss. Has all the usual tropes--magic, warfare, and plenty of smaller conflicts that help in charaterization of the PCs.

I think that'll do it for a quick run-down; you'd have to encapsulate some material here and there, but for the most part I can count on 4 or 5 books, perhaps a bit more if the LoTR books were read instead.

EDIT: Wrong set of Feist books. It's also a collaberation with Jenny Wurtz.

[Nightshade]

I'll second most of those listed, but I would like to mention the movie Krull. While certainly has elements of Sci-fi, I would call it an epic fantasy movie.

Nightshade

[katal3]

LoTR is certainlly Epic, but as far as capturing the feel, The Hobbit does it better in my oppinion. The Door into [Sunset] series by Diane Daune is a pretty good Epic Fantasy. Most of Melanie Rawn's works qualify too, but those tend to feel a little more High-Fantasy. Dragonriders of Pern also qualifies, but it casts aside many of the fantasy elements early on. The Anime Orphen (if you take out the comedic elements) has some of the Epic Tropes.

[Vanguard00]

Since it's unlikely that Epic Fantasy in and of itself will ever be truly original again, just about any of the books, shows and movies mentioned would do the trick.

1. LotR novels, including "The Hobbit", because it's the granddaddy of the genre.
2. LotR film, because your friend, having no experience with the genre, needs to see it to know what we (the discriminating public) are after.
3. Bullfinch's Mythology, because you need the sort of real world myth/legend reference in which to put it all into context.
4. Either The Belgariad or (preferred) Martin's Song of Ice & Fire series, to show what you can do with the actual characters involved.
5. "The Magnificent Seven" and "Star Wars" trilogy (the original set) movies to show contrast of approach while maintaining the basic elements of "sweeping tales of grand adventure" and "disparate characters coming together in common cause" and "facing the great evil" plot elements.

[gamerz123]

5. "The Magnificent Seven" and "Star Wars" trilogy (the original set) movies to show contrast of approach while maintaining the basic elements of "sweeping tales of grand adventure" and "disparate characters coming together in common cause" and "facing the great evil" plot elements.

I'd personally suggest seeing Kirosawa's original movies from which those two were copied...

"Seven Samuari"

"Hidden Fortress"

[Vanguard00]

I'd personally suggest seeing Kirosawa's original movies from which those two were copied...

"Seven Samuari"

"Hidden Fortress"

I was gonna suggest it--and should have, probably--but I tend to offer the Westernized versions because they're more identifiable to this audience, and the Western approach to the films lends more credence to the particular genre.

[Basil]

Lord of the Rings: classic book, just barely acceptable movie, and the touchstone of modern Epic Fantasy.

Diane Duane's Door Into (fitb): great stories, fascinating world.

A little-known gem; The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed by Kenneth Morris. The best retelling of the Mabinogi, hands down. Here is a man who understands not merely that words have a sound and a feel in addition to a meaning, but how to use meaning, feel and sound together.

The Light Fantastic and The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett; note, this is a duology, and both books should be read together. The perfect spoof of fantasy, mostly (but not entirely) taking on Epic Fantasy.

Hmmm.... I can't come up with a fifth right now. I'll get back to you on that.

[Beetle]

Trying not to repeat works not already suggested:

Chronicles of the Deryni by Katherine Kurtz (original trilogy only, please). Highly involved world with a historical feel and an interesting system of magic.

Touched by the Gods by Lawrence Watt-Evans. A single volume work! The Domdur Empire (long dominant because it really is favored by the gods) suddenly has to deal with a revolt powered by dark magic. The chosen champion of the empire (long unimportant since the Empire had no real problems) just wants to live his life. Heck, he doesn't even believe he really is the chosen champion (just because some wierd priest said something doesn't make it true). That explination doesn't really do it justice.

Time of the Dark by Barbara Hambly - a good example of the "people from earth end up in fantasy world" story that also qualifies as high fantasy.

I had Memory, Sorrow and Thorn but Markdoc beat me to it. Classic high fantasy.

[Thia Halmades]

Geh... I'm going to be repetitive, my apologies.

The Riftwar Saga - Raymond E. Feist. Many consider it crap, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and certainly has an epic scope, and its two central characters are both good examples of going from rags to ultimate power.

LOTR is so obvious its painful. Book & Film, but read the book first.

I don't consider the Taran Chronicles really Epic (point yielded: they change the world, but the saga is more of a personal journey about Taran, and it also has heavy shades of LOTR, although the end is a bit preachy. If you want to really convey the personal journey concept, I would recommend Aragorn (based on Arthur) over Taran (based on Aragorn, who's based on Arthur).

Morte D'Arthur.

I haven't read Gilgamesh (I fell asleep). The Odyssey (sic) is closer to the level of heroism you're looking for than the Iliad (which I have a lot of personal issues with, but we'll bypass that as it's been years since I've read it).

So, there's five. I could go on, but that wasn't the question.

[cutsleeve]

1. The Middle Earth series Hobbit and LOTR.
2. The Illiad and Oddessy
3. The Ramayana
4. Journey to the West -aka- The Monkey King
5. Arthurian Legends -or- The movie Excaliber which is a decent presentation of them.

[prestidigitator]

I have to add the Sword of Truth series (any one of the books would do).

Also, although definitely not fantasy, I would call any of Asimov's sci-fi series epic (Robot, Empire, Foundation).

[Dale A. Ward]

I know this is a bit off-topic, but I thought it might get a chuckle. This scene concerns the problems of trying to move the entire population of a village out of an evil empire. The advance group has entered a coastal city in order to charter transportation south along the coast to freedom. Now, they are reporting back to the rest of the villagers.

When Darmmen finished, Horst took his place and, with short, brisk sentences, related the lack of proper ships in Narda, how the dockworker recommended Clovis, and the deal that was brokered thereafter. However, the moment Horst mentioned the word barges, the villagers' cries of ire and discontent blotted out his voice.

Marching to the forefront of the group, Loring raised his arms for attention. "Barges?" said the cobbler. "Barges? We don't want no stinking barges!" He spat by his foot as people clamored with agreement.

- an actual quote from Eldest by Christopher Paolini, book 2 of the Inheritance trilogy.

This one quote actually caused a spit-take, and I spent the next 5 minutes laughing. I'm almost certain that the author inserted this line just to ease the dramatic tension that fills the rest of the book.

I have read the first two books, and I have to say that they are far from original. I detected influences from LotR, Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, and even Star Trek.

However, this does not mean that they aren't good. I enjoyed both books and look forward to the release of book 3.

[forged]

These are all great suggestions for things to watch and read to think about for an epic setting. And it certainly has added additional items to my reading list , but there is, unfortunately, a limit of time in this.

Based on that, I would watch Excalibur and maybe Willow (to get a completely different take on an epic quest to save the known world). While watching the various movies, I would be looking for what elements make the viewer feel that they are part of an epic quest and wanting it to succeed. I would also watch though for what elements would not transcend well into an rpg adventure that should be revolving around the characters.

I would then do something illogical and head to my nearest gaming store. I would look for game settings that fit the bill for epic settings to see what they did. (Reading the back cover and perhaps the introduction should be enough info to get a basic feel for their thoughts.) There are lots of other systems converted to HERO in this forum, but the settings I own (despite their flaws) that lend themselves to epic pretty easily are:

-- Midnight
-- Earthdawn

I'm sure there are plenty of others. I would probably also check out http://www.gamefaqs.com for some synopsis' on some computer "RPG" games that feel epic in scope, like the Baldur's Gate series or the Final Fantasy series of games.

Perhaps it is just me, but the game mechanic setting (even D&D) are secondary to the idea. The key is to decide on what sort of world-shaking event seems appealing to you, and then to give the world a feel that makes it seem more than just fake sets belonging to a stage. (And that by itself will take more time than one would likely have on ramping up for an idea.)

Just my two coppers on the thing. Even if it didn't pan out for the contest, it is fun to dream up ideas.

forged

PS. And thanks again for the great suggestions on things to check out when I get free time

[elarsen]

"Krul"