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Greyhawk: Gord the Rogue #1
Sea of Death
Few people have ventured into the Ashen Desert, and fewer still have returned to tell of what they saw and how they managed to survive. But a young man named Gord cannot allow himself to be disheartened by this knowledge. Part of an ancient and evil artifact is hidden somewhere in the Ashen Desert, buried beneath the arid and deadly landscape of this forsakens area, and Gord has accepted the challenge of finding and holding the Final Key to keep it out of the hands of those who would use it for evil purposes.
394 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 23, 2013
As an author, Gygax makes a pretty good game designer. By the evidence of this book, at least. It only really came together at the points of adventure, when the characters were in an interesting and dangerous place--the subsurface of the Ashen Desert or the domed City Out of Mind--and they were doing the exploring and adventuring and fighting thing. You know, like the freaking game, right?
But whenever some characterization was called for, whenever someone needed to open their mouth, something stupid came out. The interplanar politics of the demons sounds like petty bickering at a PTA meeting gone weirdly awry. Gord and Leda didn't seem to know how people actually talk to one another. And the combat banter was long-winded and was essentially non-witty versions of "I kill you real good now!"
As a writer, Gygax seemed to be easily distracted by details. At one point the pantaloons (or whatever) of some combatant were lovingly described and related to his ethnicity. That opponent, of course, died within a page. Later, a pole arm comes into the hands of a protagonist, and Gygax felt compelled to describe it as a fauchard-fork-bill with (specific) modifications. It's never brought up again.
Still, in final judgement I can't call it bad. There was evidence that, paraphrasing Alfred Bester, Gygax was starting to run out of bad writing. After about 130 pages of indeterminable demonic bickering and Gord wandering through encounters with nomads, Gygax hits the reader with several pages of exposition about the history and ecology of the Ashen Desert. This, I felt, is where the book actually began. For some reason this worldbuilding material was not nearly as dry as it could have been (probably because Gygax could churn it out in his sleep), and it actually seemed to reset the quality of writing, or at least focus it on the plot and setting.
But whenever some characterization was called for, whenever someone needed to open their mouth, something stupid came out. The interplanar politics of the demons sounds like petty bickering at a PTA meeting gone weirdly awry. Gord and Leda didn't seem to know how people actually talk to one another. And the combat banter was long-winded and was essentially non-witty versions of "I kill you real good now!"
As a writer, Gygax seemed to be easily distracted by details. At one point the pantaloons (or whatever) of some combatant were lovingly described and related to his ethnicity. That opponent, of course, died within a page. Later, a pole arm comes into the hands of a protagonist, and Gygax felt compelled to describe it as a fauchard-fork-bill with (specific) modifications. It's never brought up again.
Still, in final judgement I can't call it bad. There was evidence that, paraphrasing Alfred Bester, Gygax was starting to run out of bad writing. After about 130 pages of indeterminable demonic bickering and Gord wandering through encounters with nomads, Gygax hits the reader with several pages of exposition about the history and ecology of the Ashen Desert. This, I felt, is where the book actually began. For some reason this worldbuilding material was not nearly as dry as it could have been (probably because Gygax could churn it out in his sleep), and it actually seemed to reset the quality of writing, or at least focus it on the plot and setting.
March 3, 2022
Another re-read, circa 2022, keeping meticulous notes on Gygax's inconsistencies and numerous deus ex machinas. Why? I dunno, just because it's like a game to me and because it has helped me finally make sense of some of the things in this story that never seemed to before.
A re-read circa 2019 as I tried to purposefully keep track of Gygax’s revisionist history of Gord. A so-so entry, but one that appeals nonetheless because it is set in Greyhawk.
A re-read circa 2019 as I tried to purposefully keep track of Gygax’s revisionist history of Gord. A so-so entry, but one that appeals nonetheless because it is set in Greyhawk.
September 27, 2021
Five stars for probably nobody in the world but me, I'm a sucker for this old fantasy series written by the creator of the Dungeons and Dragons game back in the 1980s. This is the third book in the series, and the last one that's not terrible, and I enjoyed the hell out of re-reading it.
April 18, 2018
Set in a trackless desert
14 September 2012
Comments on this book seem to go form the fact that it is pulp fiction to Gary Gygax not being able to write his way out of a wet paper bag. Well, I must admit that I found Gygax's stories more entertaining and readable than those written by Ed Greenwood, so my question is, if Gygax is that bad, then where does it leave Ed Greenwood?
This story is set on Gygax's World of Greyhawk, the fantasy realm that he created for the Dungeons and Dragons game that he developed, though I am wondering whether this book was written after he threw in the towel and left TSR (I believe it was). The one thing that attracted me to this book is that it is set in this huge trackless desert that sits on the otherside of a range of mountains, and it was one of those places that every time I looked at a map of the world I would always have attacks of imagination as to what adventure I would set there.
It is funny how the idea of the magically created desert was effectively stolen by Ed Greenwood when he created the Forgotten Realms, however I suspect that the difference between the Anaroch and the Sea of Dust is that the Sea of Dust is pretty much just endless tracks of sand (which is the impression that I get from this book), whereas the Anaroch has lots of different types of desert in it. However, I guess this is all a moot point because both of these places do not exist, and even then, I suspect that both ideas were based on the Sahara.
14 September 2012
Comments on this book seem to go form the fact that it is pulp fiction to Gary Gygax not being able to write his way out of a wet paper bag. Well, I must admit that I found Gygax's stories more entertaining and readable than those written by Ed Greenwood, so my question is, if Gygax is that bad, then where does it leave Ed Greenwood?
This story is set on Gygax's World of Greyhawk, the fantasy realm that he created for the Dungeons and Dragons game that he developed, though I am wondering whether this book was written after he threw in the towel and left TSR (I believe it was). The one thing that attracted me to this book is that it is set in this huge trackless desert that sits on the otherside of a range of mountains, and it was one of those places that every time I looked at a map of the world I would always have attacks of imagination as to what adventure I would set there.
It is funny how the idea of the magically created desert was effectively stolen by Ed Greenwood when he created the Forgotten Realms, however I suspect that the difference between the Anaroch and the Sea of Dust is that the Sea of Dust is pretty much just endless tracks of sand (which is the impression that I get from this book), whereas the Anaroch has lots of different types of desert in it. However, I guess this is all a moot point because both of these places do not exist, and even then, I suspect that both ideas were based on the Sahara.
January 3, 2014
Gygax didn't intend for this book to be studied in any serious literature class. Or, to put it another way, if you're looking for a story that will change your life, this book is not it (I would recommend "A Tale of Two Cities" and "War and Peace" for that).
I had some difficulty finding anything interesting in the chapters set in the Abyss, although I suspect that stems partly from not knowing knowing the various demons involved. I also found the Rexfelis scenes to have the same flavor as "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser." But when the book finally moved from the setup to the actual story, I enjoyed it.
This book was written while Greyhawk was still in the "look at this great world I created for my personal games" phase. But the story is easy enough to follow while including enough plot twists to keep things interesting. Plus, if the goal was to make me want to run a campaign (partly) set in the Ashen Desert (which I suspect it was), then Gygax was successful.
I had some difficulty finding anything interesting in the chapters set in the Abyss, although I suspect that stems partly from not knowing knowing the various demons involved. I also found the Rexfelis scenes to have the same flavor as "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser." But when the book finally moved from the setup to the actual story, I enjoyed it.
This book was written while Greyhawk was still in the "look at this great world I created for my personal games" phase. But the story is easy enough to follow while including enough plot twists to keep things interesting. Plus, if the goal was to make me want to run a campaign (partly) set in the Ashen Desert (which I suspect it was), then Gygax was successful.
December 3, 2008
God bless Gygax; for someone so imaginative and innovative, he couldn't write his way out of a wet paper bag.
February 12, 2016
Good fantasy read by the creator of dungeons and dragons. Recommended
May 8, 2024
There weren’t any black and white illustrations within the text of the novel except for in the pages preceding the map at the beginning. That’s the first thing that struck me about the differences between book 1 and books 0 and 0.5 aside from the Greyhawk logo being dropped from the cover art. Another thing that came to my attention after reading Artifact of Evil and realizing that characters are indeed supposed to become phenomenally more powerful once they start accumulating magic items is that yes, romantic relationships do have a place in adventuring. One of my favorite subplots is Gord’s love affair with an unlikely heroine. I also got a kick out of the evil female character/s and how they behave towards superiors, inferiors, and enemies. I can understand why Gygax got passed over for the Pulitzer for this series. The characters aren’t fleshed out or examined in a “life as a whole” context to examine the motivations for their actions. On the other hand, this is a good example of a “one man quest” after the episodic nature of the travels, education, and world development of Saga of Old City, or the globetrotting, world-at-war large scope approach taken in Artifact of Evil. I’m already reading Night Arrent.
July 21, 2020
This is the third novel with Gord the Rogue as the central character but technically its the first in the Gord the Rogue Series. The first two novels were published under the Greyhawk Adventures series. Maybe its the change in 'what series it belongs to' but "Sea of Death " is the best of the three novels. While the previous books had excellent descriptions of combat, the overall plots were complex with too many characters. Sea of Death is relatively straight forward with enough characters to reflect the changing locations, but not so many as to lose track. The adventure itself is also relatively straight forward.
In Sea of Death, Gord is racing against time to find the final component of a magical key that will release a great evil upon Oerth. The key is believed to be in an ancient city, long buried under the sand after it fought a magical battle with its neighbors. Gord must face the descendants of the city, now devolved to hideous man-apes and pygmies, while also preventing the artifact from falling into the hands of two separate demonic forces and their champions who also searching for the prize.
In Sea of Death, Gord is racing against time to find the final component of a magical key that will release a great evil upon Oerth. The key is believed to be in an ancient city, long buried under the sand after it fought a magical battle with its neighbors. Gord must face the descendants of the city, now devolved to hideous man-apes and pygmies, while also preventing the artifact from falling into the hands of two separate demonic forces and their champions who also searching for the prize.
July 11, 2022
To be honest, I didn't finish it this time through. I have read the whole of it before when it first came out, but this time I got about 80 pages in and asked myself "is it really worth it to keep reading this painful a book" and the answer is "no".
Sea of Death lacks even the fascination of a "how high level play works in D&D per Gygax" artifact of the second one in the series, and certainly lacks the "compellation of pulp adventures" charm of the first. It picks up somewhat after the second book, with the motivating events of play being driven by demons vying with each other in this family inter-dynastic squabble with the mortal agents being just pawns of them or the gods. It's all over-written, and sadly, joyless.
Gygax really needed these edited down and split to 1960's paperback fantasy size, where this could have been three book s of Elric length about the fate of the world in vast cosmic powers. but he makes even the fantastic elements so mundane and over-explained. it's a shame.
Sea of Death lacks even the fascination of a "how high level play works in D&D per Gygax" artifact of the second one in the series, and certainly lacks the "compellation of pulp adventures" charm of the first. It picks up somewhat after the second book, with the motivating events of play being driven by demons vying with each other in this family inter-dynastic squabble with the mortal agents being just pawns of them or the gods. It's all over-written, and sadly, joyless.
Gygax really needed these edited down and split to 1960's paperback fantasy size, where this could have been three book s of Elric length about the fate of the world in vast cosmic powers. but he makes even the fantastic elements so mundane and over-explained. it's a shame.
May 9, 2025
Its been about thirty years since I last read this book. As the third book following the exploits of Gord of Greyhawk, Gygax does well. The entire book is a progression of three groups trying to retrieve the final artifact of evil. There is love and pain and lots of hex crawling with some great random encounters throughout. Gord always manages to find people willing to join forces with him, which is the case in most peoples games. There is always another NPC around the corner who helps advance the cause and no one will miss when they die. Gygax will stretch your vocabulary and he will introduce you to new terms and ideas. One has to wonder where he learned all these little used words, or did he just sit around thumbing through a 100 year old thesaurus.
My only complaint is the end of the book. I think Gygax stretched the ending well beyond the necessary. The last thirty pages could have been summed up in about five pages and it became pretty painful. I have read three of these in a row, but I am going to wait a bit to reread Come Endless Darkness.
My only complaint is the end of the book. I think Gygax stretched the ending well beyond the necessary. The last thirty pages could have been summed up in about five pages and it became pretty painful. I have read three of these in a row, but I am going to wait a bit to reread Come Endless Darkness.
October 18, 2019
This is really a continuation of the the first two 'World of Greyhawk' books that Gygax wrote, presumably under TSR. This one was certainly better than the last one, but still just mediocre at best. At least Gord does stuff this time around. I feel like Gygax is expecting that we as readers know the entire working of the Greyhawk pantheon, including the complex relationships between the various demon lords and devils. I'm not sure really what was going on at the beginning of this one, but after I muscled my way thru those scenes, we get to Gord having some Persian flavored adventures.
I can't say I recommend this one.
I can't say I recommend this one.
August 21, 2021
As it often happens, the finale of any book is read faster than the rest, because the pace quickens at the end, and this one makes no difference. Gord ends another adventure, surely his biggest, most tragic and most exceptional, and the book clearly finishes with a hang on.
Gygax writing is not the best around, but we all owe him for creating D&D and such characters as Gord, his adventures and many more.
The book is absolutely enjoyable, in many moments a pure D&D advenuture, in others a passable read. All in all a book which deserves to be read, for fans of D&D, and a must for any fan of, and player on, Oerth.
Gygax writing is not the best around, but we all owe him for creating D&D and such characters as Gord, his adventures and many more.
The book is absolutely enjoyable, in many moments a pure D&D advenuture, in others a passable read. All in all a book which deserves to be read, for fans of D&D, and a must for any fan of, and player on, Oerth.
June 24, 2023
Picked this book up because I play D&D and wanted to see if Gary could write an actual fantasy novel. I might be in the minority but I thought it was pretty good! Solid plot line, decent character development and an easy cast of characters to get to know and follow. The only thing I would ding Gary on was the few romantic “scenes” of the story. They seemed rushed, awkward and completely unnecessary.
December 16, 2023
Oh man, I feel like a jerk saying this book was bad. I wanted it to be good so much! Gygax obviously has a great mind for fantasy, but that just doesn't translate into being a good narrative storyteller. I would have loved to sit in on one of his games, and I kind of hoped reading his books would give a vicarious version of that, but this book was just painful!
April 29, 2021
In a word "meh."
November 15, 2019
This was the second series of fantasy books I ever read. It made me fall in love with D&D, and led me to paper top role playing.. It all started with this series of books!
September 12, 2011
This was originally my introduction to the Gord the Rogue series, back in the early 90's. Surprisingly, it's still a good read. It's better than the first two books with a tight story and decent characterization. I really enjoyed the demon point of view parts of the book the most. Even if you never read another Gord book, this one is worth reading.
September 11, 2016
No this is not great literature but it is one of my favorites from my teen years. I lost my original copy of this book about 25 years ago and finally found a used copy a few days ago. It was pretty much as I remember it. :)
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews