Forum: scifi.stackexchange.com
Tags: <story-identification><books>
Title: Science fiction series where in each novel, a man travels from planet to planet and helps the inhabitants in overthrowing their oppressors
Question: I don't remember much but I do remember that each novel takes place on a new planet where there was usually some sort of social upheaval/revolution happening and he helps the inhabitants overthrow their oppressors.  I think that in the first book he was alone but then gains a companion in his travels.

Answers:
sents: text: I believe you are thinking of the Rogue Wizard series, by Christopher Stasheff.
text: The timing is about right (1993-2001)
text: although the original book in the series was written much earlier (1979).
text: The protagonist's real name is Magnus d'Armand
text: but most of the time he goes by his pseudonym Gar Pike, in order to minimize the risk of his activities causing trouble for his family.
text: As you say, he wanders the galaxy protecting the innocent and overthrowing oppressors.
text: You might also remember his possession of various Psi powers, though he usually tries to avoid using them until it becomes absolutely necessary to do so.
text: In the first of the newer books, A Wizard in Absentia , Magnus is alone.
text: This is a prequel and comes first in terms of the in-universe chronology.
text: It is followed by the original A Wizard in Bedlam at the end of which he acquires a companion.
text: There are ten books in the series in all, and the storyline is concluded in The Warlock's Last Ride from the related Warlock of Gramarye series .
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/5930/Harry Johnston
score: 34
sents: text: This could be the Stainless Steel Rat series, by Harry Harrison.
text: Those are very openly comic stories about James Bolivar DiGriz.
text: He is a former thief and now intergalactic super-spy for the Special Corps.
text: He starts off alone, but marries the villainess of the first novel and they become a team; their sons are also involved in some of the stories.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/107250/Toledo
score: 11
sents: text: Jack Chalker's Four Lords of the Diamond series follows an agent whose mind is remotely implanted in a host assassin on each of four worlds of the Warden Diamond system.
text: In each book his mission is to investigate and overthrow the Lord of that world.
text: But each of his duplicates learns more about the corruption of the intergalactic government that he works for and each one deviates more and more from the mission.
text: The books are Lilith:
text: A Snake in the Grass (1981) Cerberus:
text: A Wolf in the Fold (1982) Charon: A Dragon at the Gate (1982) Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail (1983)
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/107336/djs
score: 5
sents: text: Could be Tuf Voyaging Haviland Tuf has a "seedship" and travels around and tries to help different worlds, at a cost.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/107341/Steven
score: 3
sents: text: This feels like the Death Gate cycle , where the first four books fit the theme of travelling between worlds (via magical gates rather than interstellar ships) and influencing the peoples there.
text: One world even involved a kind of communist uprising.
text: The latter books then tie the worlds together for a larger story.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/62816/Brian R
score: 2
sents: text: Could it be E. C. Tubb's Dumarest saga?
text: The lead character is looking for Earth, and each book ends up on a new planet having adventures.
text: The first one is The Winds of Gath .
text: Wikipedia notes:
text: Gath is a world with a unique tourist attraction: a mountain-sized white noise amplifier.
text: With no indigenous economy other than the tourist slave labor trade, Dumarest struggles to break free from this dead-end world.
text: Dumarest becomes attached to the retinue of the Matriarch of Kund and unwittingly finds himself embroiled in the vicious and complex political intrigues of the Matriarch's court.
text: After some keen detective work from Dumarest and the ensuing deadly battle with the Cyclan, Dumarest prevails and escapes from the backwater planet.
answer_details: author: scifi.stackexchange.com/users/107349/James
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
It is not clear exaclty which book the question refers to, but there are several possibilities. The Rogue Wizard series by Christopher Stasheff features a similar storyline. Similarly, The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison and the Death Gate cycle also have plots like this.
There are a number of possibilities, including Christopher Stasheff's Rogue Wizard series, Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series and E. C. Tubb's Dumarest saga.