Dying Earth - Turjan or Cugel

[catseye yellow]

those who have read through Vance's DE cycle know that there was a substantial tonal shift from earliest short stories collected in the eponymous collection to latter date Cugel and Rhialto stories. while earliest stories were more "serious" and in the vein of horror latter stories were more humorous.

turjan is lean and competent heroic adventurer and while liane is cugel prototype he is more competent and sinister (though cugel can be more dangerous to those around him). cugel on the other hand while totally amoral and self-serving is more prone to verbose shouting matches and base swindles than swordplay. rhialto, incredibly powerful that he is, is also a little bit more buffoonish and pompous than mazirian or pandelume.

so, what is your preference? do you plan to mix and match or go straight for one or other?

[finarvyn]

Cugel was always my favorite.

[catseye yellow]

i would concur that cugel stories are more fun but some of the original set were also very interesting (like turjan's story and liane the wayfarer). also, maybe one could argue that the gap between sensibilities of the original set and latter cugel stories is literally the gap that exists between how one expects D&D adventure to unfold and how it actually plays out.

[Pesky]

Rhialto is probably my fave.

[catseye yellow]

ah, yes failed to mention rhialto in the topic header. i love ALL DE stories but in some way rhialto is the most comical of three. not that it is bad but i prefer cugel. that said for actual gaming i would go for the turjan feel with helpings of cugel and smatterings of rhialto. cook under dying sun for thirty aeons. serve cold like vengeance!

[pulsemeat]

I absolutely adored the first two books (Dying Earth & Eyes). Every page had some fantastic, insane concept that was dying to be expressed. I found myself laughing out loud and constantly pestering my wife about the latest crazy event I just read.

Then Cugel's Saga was fun in a mannerpunk sort of way, and Rhialto was so dull I couldn't finish it.

So I'm gonna go with Turjan.

[Steel Rabbit]

I absolutely love Cugel, though I have a soft spot for knaves that get themselves into trouble through their own actions...