Editing Dying Earth (section)

== Legacy ==
{{main|Dying Earth subgenre}}

The [[Dying Earth subgenre]] of science fiction is named in recognition of Vance's role in standardizing a setting, the entropically dying earth and sun.{{clarify |date=June 2012}} Its importance was recognized with the publication of ''[[Songs of the Dying Earth]]'', a tribute anthology edited by [[George R. R. Martin]] and [[Gardner Dozois]] (Subterranean, 2009). Each short story in the anthology is set on the Dying Earth, and concludes with a short acknowledgement by the author of Vance's influence on them.

===Print===
[[Gene Wolfe]]'s ''[[The Book of the New Sun]]'' (1980–83) is set in a slightly similar world, and was written under Vance's influence. Wolfe suggested in ''[[The Castle of the Otter]]'', a collection of essays, that he inserted the book ''The Dying Earth'' into his fictional world under the title ''The Book of Gold'' (specifically, Wolfe wrote that the "Book of Gold" mentioned in ''The Book of the New Sun'' is different for each reader, but for him it was "The Dying Earth").{{page needed |date=June 2012}} Wolfe has extended the series.<ref>{{isfdb series | |Solar Cycle}}. 2012-.</ref>

[[Michael Shea (author)|Michael Shea]]'s novel ''Nifft the Lean'' (1982), his second book eight years after ''A Quest for Simbilis'', also owes much debt to Vance's creation, since the protagonist of the story is a petty thief (not unlike Cugel the Clever), who travels and struggles in an exotic world. Shea returned to Nifft with 1997 and 2000 sequels.<ref>{{isfdb series |722 |Nifft}}. 2012-.</ref>

The Archonate stories by [[Matt Hughes (writer)|Matthew Hughes]] — the 1994 novel ''Fools Errant'' and numerous works in this millennium<ref>{{isfdb series |12506 |Archonate Universe}}. 2012-.</ref> —
take place in "the penultimate age of Old Earth," a period of science and technology that is on the verge of transforming into the magical era of the time of the Dying Earth.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}
Booklist has called him Vance's "heir apparent." (Review by Carl Hays of The Gist Hunter and Other Stories, Booklist, August 2005)<!-- this sentence copied from our article on Hughes -->

===Role-playing===

The original creators of the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' games were fans of Jack Vance and incorporated many aspects of the ''Dying Earth'' series into the game. The [[Magic (gaming)|magic]] system, in which a wizard is limited in the number of spells that can be simultaneously remembered and forgets them once they are cast, was based on the magic of Dying Earth. In [[role-playing game]] circles, this sort of magic system is called "Vancian" or "Vancean".<ref>GURPS Thaumatology- page 56</ref> Some of the spells from ''Dungeons & Dragons'' are based on spells mentioned in the ''Dying Earth'' series, such as the ''prismatic spray''. Magic items from the ''Dying Earth'' stories such as [[ioun stones]] also made their way into ''Dungeons & Dragons''. One of the deities of magic in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' is named [[Vecna]], an anagram of "Vance".<ref name=gygax/>

The ''[[Talislanta]]'' role-playing game designed by [[Stephan Michael Sechi]] and originally published in 1987 by [[Bard Games]] was inspired by the works of Jack Vance so much so that the first release, ''[[The Chronicles of Talislanta]]'', is dedicated to the author.

There is an official ''[[The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game|Dying Earth]]'' role-playing game published by [[Pelgrane Press]] with an occasional magazine ''The Excellent Prismatic Spray'' (named after a magic spell). The game situates players in Vance's world populated by desperately extravagant people. Many other role-playing settings pay homage to the series by including fantasy elements he invented such as the darkness-dwelling [[Grue (monster)|Grues]].

Monte Cook identifies ''The Dying Earth'' as an inspiration for his game ''[[Numenera]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Numenera Discovery|last1=Cook|first1=Monte|last2=Cordell|first2=Bruce R.|last3=Reynolds|first3=Sean K.|year=2018|chapter=Appendix B: Bibliography and Resources|page=403|isbn=978-1-939979-77-3}}</ref>

''[[Goodman Games]]'' have announced the publication of the setting using their ''[[Dungeon Crawl Classics]]'' roleplaying game system, running a successful ''[[Kickstarter]]'' campaign for it. The game was released in 2023.