The Guardians of the Flame Series by Joel Rosenberg

First of all, because I am one of those people who dreamed of being my D&D character. My favorite character was Katiyana Swiftarrow - a battle mage archer who shot first, and asked questions later - if you survived. It's from that character that I took my online persona's name.

Second of all, it's an incredible adventure story, freeing the oppressed, fighting slavery, and fascinating to watch the characters try to shut off the 20th Century way of looking at the world. It's also interesting to watch them try to bring as much from their world into this one as they can.

Finally, one of the most poignant parts of the book involve one of the characters who is in a wheelchair in the real world. However, when he travels to the Game World, he becomes a strong Dwarven fighter. There is a lot of twists and turns - but imagine, not being able to even walk and talk normally, to becoming a healthy mobile person (even if your legs were a little bit short *smile*).

There are some adult themes later on in the series (a rape of a main character, slavery is one of the sub-plots), however overall the series is a good read, and definitely one of those you-can't-put-it-down kind of books IF you like adventure fantasy novels.

That you have a story evolving over 10 books allows you to have multiple generations of characters, and really watch the world change as a result of what they accomplish there.