Richard Baker Books

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Richard Baker is an American author that writes science fiction and fantasy. He is best known for his work on Dungeons and Dragons.

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Born in 1941 in Florida, Baker has been a writer, a creative director, and a game developer. As a child, the author never dreamt that his resume would feature such roles and achievements.

A graduate of Virginia Tech, Richard Baker studied English in college. Following his graduation in 1988, the author joined the US Navy, landing a position on the USS Tortuga as a deck officer.

Baker was a Junior Grade Lieutenant by the time he left. A husband to his college sweetheart and a father to two girls, Baker’s love for reading was sparked at a young age. His hometown library had a science fiction section that no one had bothered to update in a very long time.

But that did not matter to Baker who dug his way through Tolkien’s works before exploring the likes of Robert Heinlein, Robert E. Howard, and Doc Smith. The people who know Baker will tell you that he loves the Golden Age of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

And you wouldn’t be wrong in presuming that his interests were shaped by that science fiction section of his hometown library. The author started playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1979.

He had a passion for the game. As such, once he left the army, he sent an application to TSR, the people behind Dungeons and Dragons. Richard Baker was on the hunt for a new career but he did not actually expect TSR to give him a job.

And yet they responded positively to his resume, asking the author to complete a writing test. Whatever he eventually produced must have piqued the interest of the right person at TSR because they scheduled an interview and then hired him.

Baker had done some writing before but none of his work had ever been published. So he was treading into unchartered waters when TSR brought him aboard in 1991.

The author’s role was pretty diverse. He spent quite a bit of time writing for the product lines at the company. He also produced articles for a number of magazines. Some of his more notable achievements include the work he did on the Forgotten Realms.

He also played a significant role in the Birthright campaign’s design. While he was quite proud of the Birthright boxed set (winner of the Origins Award), Baker’s crowning achievement is Alternity.

While his work on Dungeons and Dragons merely built upon the efforts of other creators, Richard Baker was part of the team that crafted Alternity from the ground up. The undertaking was exhausting but Baker also learned quite a bit.

That being said, Baker was always grateful for the opportunity TSR gave him to write stories set in established universes. He found it much easier to maneuver his plots because he did not have to do all the hard work of giving the settings their depth.

His only objective was to use the worlds that other people had created to tell his own stories, and that was a process he enjoyed.

Best Richard Baker Books

Baker has imputed some of his success to the fact that he writes what entertains him, with some of the best titles in his bibliography including:

Forsaken House: The demonic elf monsters of House Dlardrageth were defeated and imprisoned by the residents of the elven realms a long time ago. But now they have returned and they will stop at nothing to claim what they perceive to be their birthright.

Araevin is an elf mage who knows that the glades of the High Forest have been infected by a dangerous enemy. Araevin must sacrifice his sanity to stop their conquest in its tracks.

Forsaken House takes place in the world of the Forgotten Realms. It is the first novel in the Last Mythal series.

Farthest Reach: The second novel in the Last Mythal series finds Araevini Teshurr at Tower Reilloch from where he hopes to understand the magical knowledge the Nightstar gave him. Once he realizes that the mages have nothing more to teach him, he embarks on a new journey, one that will bring him to his betrothed.

Meanwhile, Queen Sarya was defeated by the elves but she isn’t ready to surrender. Now she has an ally, a demon prince with whose help she hopes to decimate the elven army that will seek her out.

When Does The Next Richard Baker book come out?

Richard Baker doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Scornful Stars and was released on December, 3rd 2019. It is the newest book in the Breaker of Empires Series.

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