The rapscallion known as Gord levels up his abilities as a thief during a series of quite random adventures across the lands of Oerth. Treasure. Betrayal. Mystery. Dexterity checks. Grab a can of Dr. Thunder and your dice bag, it's time to nerd out with another D&D novel, baby!
Despite being a massive geek for Dungeons & Dragons since around the age of seven and reading and then re-reading the original Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master Guide innumerable times, I'd never actually read a novel penned by Gary Gygax himself. I sought to rectify that by reaching for Saga of Old City, the first in a series of books featuring Gygax's own creation... Gord. Yes, Gord. Doesn't exactly have the same ring as a 'Conan' or 'Gray Mouser', but Gord is clearly Gygax's own attempt at creating an enduring fantasy pulp protagonist. Unfortunately, I don't think the esteemed godfather of D&D is able to stick the landing - at least not in this first offering.
The problems are evident right from the outset. The novel doesn't exactly open with anything grandiose or epic to get readers in the mood for dashing adventures. Instead, we're treated to our 'hero' being bullied and literally pissing himself in front of the other juveniles picking on him. Of course, Gord escapes and lives to fight another day, but doesn't exactly grow to be that much bigger in the intervening years that quickly pass by. I do find it slightly hilarious that instead of a muscle-bound hunk or a Merlin-esque wizard, Gygax went with a rascally manlet as his creation that would somehow make a stamp on the sword and sorcery genre.
Gord is framed as an underdog character we're meant to root for, but he's not exactly a Robin Hood type thief with a just cause that readers could easily rally behind, nor does he possess the unlimited vaults of charisma necessary to be a heel you can cheer for. Instead, Gord is a selfish jerk with a prevailing sense of avarice who participates in murders at various points in this novel and acts like a complete clown around women. Such was my disdain for Gord, I found myself actively rooting for his adversaries to kick his ass all over the pages of this book.
The other serious problem Saga of Old City suffers from is its structure. There is essentially no standard plot to this story other than 'Gord goes on a series of adventures'. This is written as a novel with standard chapter breaks, but it's really a collection of short stories cobbled together under the guise of a full-length novel. I don't have a problem with short stories, but the way Gygax has handled this is almost like a D&D campaign. You can clearly see where one adventure ends and another one abruptly begins, whisking Gord off in a completely different direction and ignoring any character development that may have occurred beforehand. A reader already attuned to tabletop role-playing games can also spot where Gord appears to 'level up', as his abilities and talents become more pronounced.
What does work here is Gygax's love for language and the flourishes of purple prose he employs from time to time, which fits in rather nicely for a pulp tale. Any author who can plausibly work the word 'lugubrious' into a sentence and still have it flow is a-okay in my book.
Still, I found Saga of Old City an absolute chore to finish, and I'm not exactly eager to take another trip with Gord on his adventures any time soon...
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