The last three books of the series are co-written by Brandon Sanderson because Robert Jordan died in 2007 before completing the series.
1.
The Eye of the World
(January 15, 1990)
2.
The Great Hunt
(November 15, 1990)
3.
The Dragon Reborn
(October 15, 1991)
4.
The Shadow Rising
(September 15, 1992)
5.
The Fires of Heaven
(October 15, 1993)
6.
Lord of Chaos
(October 15, 1994)
7.
A Crown of Swords
(May 15, 1996)
8.
The Path of Daggers
(October 20, 1998)
9.
Winter's Heart
(November 9, 2000)
10.
Crossroads of Twilight
(January 7, 2003)
11.
Knife of Dreams
(October 11, 2005)
12.
The Gathering Storm
(October 27, 2009)
coauthored by Sanderson
13.
Towers of Midnight
(November 2, 2010)
coauthored by Sanderson
14.
A Memory of Light
(January 8, 2013)
coauthored by Sanderson
There are also 3 companion books to the series...
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
By Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson
The Wheel of Time Companion
By Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons
Patterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
By Robert Jordan and Amy Romanczuk
Conan the Barbarian
Robert Jordan also wrote 7 Conan books (based on the titular Sword and Sorcery character created by Robert E. Howard). They include:
Conan the Invincible (1982)
Conan the Defender (1982)
Conan the Unconquered (1983)
Conan the Triumphant (1983)
Conan the Magnificent (1984)
Conan the Destroyer (1984)
Conan the Victorious (1984)
Warrior of Altaii
This is Robert Jordan's very first novel, which is less well known. He supposedly wrote the 98,000 word first draft in just 13 days during the 1970s, but the book wasn't published until over 40 years later because it sat in publishing hell for decades. The rights had been purchased and later returned to the author, but the book wasn't printed until 2019 (12 years after Robert Jordan's death).
The book follows the adventures of Wulfgar, a warrior of the Altaii people, who is a Conan-esque character in a world of magic, prophets and royalty.
Robert Jordan also wrote a number of non-fantasy books, but they're not listed here.
During my recent Friday 2nd Edition D&D game one of the PCs died through no fault of his own.
He died because a different party member went off on their own to explore the dungeon solo. This is an inherently deadly problem. What if you run into something that you cannot handle on your own?
The kind of monster that can potentially kill a character with only 2 or 3 hits, and is pretty good at hitting.
This is what happened on Friday.
While one PC was changing into new plate mail armour (which takes about 10 rounds to do) the party cleric went off to explore on their own in a haunted keep.
They encountered a ghost, one of the biggest monsters within the keep, which ages a target 10 to 40 years per successful hit. (A character hit multiple times can potentially die from old age.)
After they heard screaming, the party rushed to help the cleric... but one of their best fighters was still changing into his new armour.
The disorganized party isn't able to work effectively because they were not prepared for this fight. They are split even when they do leap into action.
The cleric cast Sanctuary, effectively protecting themselves from the ghost.
The ghost proceeded to attack one of the bigger fighters in the party who was closest. They scored two hits, aging the fighter for 40 years each time.
The biggest fighter died at the age of 105 years old, going from age 25 to 105 in mere minutes.
The party later defeated the ghost, but they have suffered a horrific and unnecessary loss.
The ghost encounter is meant to be a hard battle, but if the entire party is present and prepared they should suffer minimal damage / aging.
But when you add splitting the party to the mix, suddenly that encounter becomes deadly.
Hence the saying (and the song):
"Never split the party."
The same player unfortunately bore the brunt of a similar incident a month ago when the party failed to navigate a lava fissure. They were using a safety rope, with someone with an 18 Strength holding the rope... But they character jumping over the lava fissure failed their jump check, and the PC holding the safety rope failed their Strength check to hold the rope. The chances of them both failing was one in 200, so highly unlikely (0.5%), but when it comes to deadly hazards people should be far more cautious.
Ask yourself, would YOU get on an airplane that has a 0.5% chance of crashing and killing you? Of course not. It is an unnecessary risk. But in Dungeons and Dragons players often assume they will be just fine and that the odds are in their favour, which it was, but eventually your luck can run out.
Now there are other ways the party could have have solved this particular terrain hazard.
Tie the rope to a door handle. A solid door would bear the weight of the person jumping no problem.
Build a bridge over the lava fissure. (I ran this dungeon once before and this is what the other party did. They used wood from broken wine barrels to build a bridge.)
Solve the problem using magic. Possibly by using a spell like Stone Shape or something similar to build a bridge.
Any number of other methods.
But these things happen sometimes when adventuring parties take unnecessary risks.
I am reminded of a different game from
about a decade ago when the party was climbing an icy mountain, and they
split the party and tried climbing it using different routes up the
mountain occupied by baddies. So not only were they dealing with dangerous icy falls, there were enemies attacking them, and they split the party. Three characters died that day because they didn't take
precautions (using ropes/etc) and they split the party. It was nearly a
party wipe.
What I have learned however is that when you run a
deadly campaign it brings out the problem solving in the group where
every hazard and obstacle is dealt with more finesse, and splitting the
party eventually becomes a rarity. Sometimes there are hiccups when the party makes
a mistake...
Like failing to rest before running into a boss fight, and
that can lead to PCs dying or even a TPK (the failing to rest example I
am thinking of did lead to a TPK). When a party gets a chance to rest, and they're not in a hurry, they should always rest - even within a dungeon. Especially before a boss fight.
The failing to rest before a
boss fight thing could always happen again too. All it takes is for the
majority of the party to say "Yeah, let's keep going. We don't need to
rest right now."
That is one of those mistakes players will make when they're low on hit points, low on spells, but they are not taking the danger seriously. Possibly because they've never had a TPK before.
For those who don't know a TPK stands for Total Party Kill. Everyone dies.
TPKs are very rare.
In order for a TPK to happen the DM needs to be running a deadly campaign (not pulling any punches or bending the rules to make sure the PCs survive) and the party needs to collectively make a huge mistake. Eg. Not resting to recuperate, rushing into a den of vampires unprepared, attacking something they know is too big for them to handle, etc.
So I think the party needs to have a chat about this issue. Everyone knows I run a deadly campaign, but now that they know that and have seen 2 character deaths in one month they need to start planning out their actions more carefully.
That doesn't mean they cannot take unnecessary risks, but there are such a thing as mitigating those risks. Eg. If the cleric hadn't wandered off, that would have been a much better solution. Alternatively, if the cleric really wanted to go off on their own they should have cast Sanctuary first... But even then that would be putting themselves at risk for traps or other hazards, and was not a guaranteed protection against monsters.
The Binary Alphabet is pretty easy to learn, but first you need to know what you are looking for. Each binary letter (or number) is an 8 digit code of 0s and 1s. To make it visually easier for you to recognize I have split the 8 digit code down the middle.
0110 0001 = a (for math reference 0000 0001 = 1)
0110 0010 = b (for math reference 0000 0010 = 2)
0110 0011 = c (because 1+2 = 3, so a+b = c)
0110 0100 = d (for math reference 0000 0100 = 4)
0110 0101 = e
See the pattern? Each letter in the alphabet starts with 011 and the
0s and 1s that follow indicate the number of the letter in the alphabet based upon math. When you reach 0111 0000 then it is a p or higher letter which means that when you see the first 0110 or 01111 it indicates whether it is at the beginning or the end of the alphabet. Otherwise you might confuse your Js with your Zs, so to speak.
The numbers in binary are coded in a similar way, starting with 0000
0000 for 0, 0000 0001 for 1, etc.
That's it. Binary isn't
complicated. It just requires a little bit of math. A 5 year old can
learn binary because it is really that easy. Someone who learns how to
read binary can get so good at it that they just look at the numbers of
0s and 1s and instantly recognize the numbers, letters or symbols.
If you want to stretch your nerd muscles you can people's questions with:
Of course, doing so... Some people will think you're insane. Or a huge dork. Or be really impressed.
Binary isn't just for computer dorks either.
Binary technically predates the invention of computers. The modern binary number system, the basis for binary code, was invented by German polymath Gottfried Leibniz in 1689.
What is a polymath?
A polymath is a person who has studied many different subjects and has an extensive knowledge of many subjects. Basically a polymath is another term for someone who is very nerdy. Similar to a polyglot (a person who speaks many languages).
Well, now that you've learned how to read the Binary Alphabet, you can add that as one of the languages you speak/read. Did that take less than 5 minutes? Yes, yes it did.
Speaking in binary code takes a long time however, so maybe only use that when you really want to show off to other nerds.
So there. That's my official film review. The movie is good. I am looking forward to Part Two when the main character, Paul, will start leaning into the messiah legend and taking advantage of it.
Oh wait...
SPOILER ALERT... STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOKS.
Paul is the messiah or is he?
Well... It is complicated.
Paul is the messiah, or the pretend messiah, or the pretend messiah is the messiah. Does it matter? But more importantly, Paul eventually becomes the villain.
Which will make Game of Thrones / Danaerys Targaryen fans feel that similar sense of betrayal when they realize the main character becomes the villain.
The best villains are the ones you learn to love first and then later learn to hate. Did you really think "the Mother of Dragons" was supposed to be a good character? She goes on her to quest to get the Iron Throne for what reason exactly? For vengeance? Conquest? Because she's a nice person? Definitely not the latter. She wants to conquer the world.
Paul, for all niceness, is a character bent on vengeance. He uses the tools, weapons and people at his disposal in order to achieve that vengeance. That is his primary motivation.
If you haven't read the books then you should go read them. Or read a synopsis for each book.
The new fans of the film(s) will be anxiously awaiting the 2nd film (Dune Part Two), which is already scheduled for October 20th 2023. So roughly 2 years from now. Which is plenty of time to read the books...
And even if you have already read the books, now is a good time to dust them off and reread the Dune series.
The books are:
Dune (by Frank Herbert)
Dune Messiah (by Frank Herbert)
Children of Dune (by Frank Herbert)
God Emperor of Dune (by Frank Herbert)
Heretics of Dune (by Frank Herbert)
Chapterhouse: Dune (by Frank Herbert)
Hunters of Dune (by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson)
Sandworms of Dune (by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson)
Sands of Dune [coming in 2022] (by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson)
Yep. You read that last one correctly. There is a new Dune book coming out June 28th 2022, which is co-authored by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. So thanks to the new film being a financial success we could be looking at the start of a film franchise with 10+ films that lasts most of the 2020s and 2030s.
Which will make fans of the books (and the films) really happy if the film series becomes super successful.
Is Dune Science Fiction or Fantasy???
It is both. It is also a Space Opera. Like Star Wars. The sandworms are basically the Dune equivalent of dragons (aka wyrms). Magic, the Force, the Weirding Way... similar concepts. So yes, Dune is both science fiction and fantasy (and a space opera).
I expect to hear a lot of silly people arguing about this over the coming years. So let's just get that out of the way now.
Publishing a fantasy book? Make sure you get a professional fantasy book editor.
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