The majority of Feist's works are part of
The Riftwar Universe, and feature the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan. Human magicians and other creatures on the two planets are able to create rifts through dimensionless space that can connect planets in different solar systems. The novels and short stories of The Riftwar Universe record the adventures of various people on these worlds.
Midkemia was originally created as an alternative to the
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)
role-playing game. When Feist studied at the
University of California, San Diego, he and his friends created a new role-playing game based on their own original world of Midkemia. They called themselves the
Thursday Nighters, because they played the Midkemia role-playing game every Thursday evening. After some time, when the group changed and began meeting on Fridays, they became known as the
Friday Nighters. The original group have since formed a company called
Midkemia Press, which has continued publishing campaigns set in that universe. Feist acknowledges that the
Tekumel setting from
M. A. R. Barker's
Empire of the Petal Throne was the source for much of Kelewan. The original D&D campaign which he based his books on had an invasion of the Midkemia world by
Tekumel. As a result, much of the background of Kelewan – the Tsurani Empire, the lack of metals and horses, the Cho'ja, the pantheons of 10 major and 10 minor gods – comes from
Tekumel. Feist claims to have been unaware of this origin when he wrote
Magician. ==Works==