Different author for each book, at least for the early ones. It was an early (after Dragonlance) attempt at a sort of combined media thing as there were adventures released that had the same basic story (but the adventures sucked, I hear).
The series starts with Shadowdale.
The Avatar Trilogy in the Forgotten Realms might interest you. It's a trilogy based in one of the D&D settings during a period of time when the gods are forced into the mortal world.
If you'll forgive me for a little bit of self-promotion, protagonists interacting with gods is one of the main themes in my book, Forging Divinity. The characters are investigating if certain "gods" are authentic or not, and they interact with the various members of that pantheon throughout the story. There are also other pantheons of deities within the same setting. If you like Sanderson's stuff, it's written in a somewhat similar style.