Sorry I’ve been taking so long in updating this project, but I did get a bit stuck reading through Night Arrant, something which might happen as I hit some duller or harder going novel as we progress through the history of D&D. 

Written by Gygax and set in the Gord the Rogue sequence of novels, mostly in and around the city of Greyhawk, this is a collection of nine short stories. I’ve always had kind of a hard time reading Gygax’s writing and this is no exception, he has a very deliberate flow that clearly owes a lot to some of his writing and thematic influences, foremost among them being Fritz Leiber and Robert E. Howard. As you read through the stories it is in fact very easy to see how these sword and sorcery pioneers were the biggest influence on Gygax, rather than Tolkien or other high fantasists. 

As is usual with these kinds of collections the stories are hit and miss, but all of them are pretty good at fleshing out the world of Greyhawk with my favourite being Twistbuck’s Game, a true encyclopedia of names and symbols for inns and taverns in the city with a quite humorous twist to it. All in all worth reading if you are into Greyhawk.