"Exceptional Fluff" - the bane of RPGs (ranty)

[Dire Bare]

As soon as a RPG setting gets its own novels the novelists will wreck it . . . blah, blah, blah.

Whatever. Obviously there are many who don't feel this way, as the novels sell very well, often better than the RPG property they are based on. How many new Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance RPG books have we gotten in the past several years? How many novels? Certain D&D authors regularly hit the NYT bestsellers list (beyond R.A. Salvatore even).

You seem to have two separate issues, 1) all (or at least most) RPG-based novels are written by hacks, and 2) all (or at least most) RPG-based novels "wreck" the RPG setting.

In regards to the "they're all hacks" claim . . . It's all subjective of course, but the majority of RPG-novels put out by WotC today are of very high quality, with excellent authors. While tastes certainly vary, these books sell well, some authors often hit the NYT bestsellers list, and some of the better authors have developed quite a following. I somehow doubt you have any real experience reading these books beyond a small handful, but even if you've read them all and still think they all suck, you are in a minority.

There are restraints in genre fiction, and there are even more restraints when writing shared-world fiction, but many of WotC's stable of authors manage to quite well within these constraints.

In regards to the "they all wreck the setting" claim . . . . you've got a little more ground here, but still not much IMO. SOME of the various RPG-based novels make major changes to the settings, but most actually DO NOT. Again, you'd know that if you actually had reasonable experience with the many books WotC pumps out each year. And really, even with the famed RSEs (Realm Shaking Events) and their equivalents in other settings, many of them don't really change the setting much either. It's easy to ignore the "Rage of Dragons" event or the "Threat from the Sea" event in your campaign because all you are really missing out on is fighting a bunch of dragons or a bunch of sauhaugin. Some of the events do blow up cities or similar, IMO smaller, changes. Some change the cosmology in a big way, such as the recent Spellplague. But again, if you don't care for it, why does it have to happen in YOUR campaign?

The only RSE that's ever got under my skin was actually in the Dragonlance setting as the cosmology swung back and forth in huge ways three or four times. That planet has a LOT of catacylsms!!!

I've read just about every single TSR and WotC D&D novel released since they started with the original Dragonlance trilogy in the 80s, and while there have been some stinkers (especially in the late 80s and early 90s), the majority of the books are excellent reads.

I put folks who claim (without direct experience, usually) that all RPG-based fiction sucks in the same category as geeks who can't enjoy movies based on any preexisting geek property. Folks who need to relax and enjoy life more, and not get so hung up and overwrought on media they don't care for.

If you hate RPG fiction, then simply don't read it and ignore it! It's pretty easy to do and lots less impactful on your blood pressure! If a RPG sourcebook to your favorite setting includes major changes based on a novel you haven't read (or did read and hated), take the good ideas from the sourcebook and ignore the ones you don't like.

 

[Foundry of Decay]

I'm not impressed with the need to insult authors who think outside the scope of a number-crunching game. I know several authors, none of them are 'idiots' as far as I'm concerned. And in all honesty if I was given the choice between talking with an author or a game designer, I'd be talking with the author (Bonus points if the author is also a game designer though!)

As to the actual rant, there are a few reasons why I'm quite happy that novels don't always follow rules in an RPG. RPG's are about numbers, they are vastly, vastly different than novels. The Dragonlance series would have been far different if it had to follow the rules of second edition. Dalamar certainly wouldn't be casting lightening bolt after lightening bolt.

Having to worry about niddly details of game rules would likely drive most authors crazy. Having to keep track of things like: "Did he cast his magic missle for the day? Did they take 4 or 8 hp of damage from that dragon's breath? How many healing spells did the cleric have after healing Rugnar the fighter?" would drive most anyone loopy who wasn't participating in a game.

Here's an example, using 2e/3e (4e is new enough that the majority of novels wouldn't be written under its ruleset, but can be substituted with a few changes). You have Bingblat the mage. He's a rising 3rd level mage, as per the rules, but is more magically gifted than brilliant since the author wants to establish that he's not the brightest crayon in the box. He has 2 first level spells, and 1 second.

Bingblat is trying to escape a manor he's being held in. Instead of trying to create tension by tricking the guards into opening the door or him being able to steal the key to his cell using quick wits or fingers, he simply casts knock, and walks out.

But Bingblat is found! Curses! He only has colour spray and magic missile left in his arsenal, unless he was a fool and stayed in the room an extra 8 hours to regain his second level spell, as per the rules.

So, Bingblat blasts the first couple of guards with colour spray, success! While the guards are incapacitated he runs like hell down a hallway, and tries to escape through a ramp leading to the gate, since his climbing skill is miserable. He's stopped at the main gate by the baron and his retinue. The baron sneers, and tells him he'll be paying for what he's done. Sadly Bingblat has the negotiating skills of an orange, fails miserably at it, and just casts magic missile at the Baron.

The following page of the novel describes the raging whomping that Bingblat receives and his death after his minuscule pool of hp is drained in 2 hits.

This would, for all purposes, be a miserably BAD novel, but it was written as per the rules, for a character made within those boundaries. I'd personally be bored to tears if every other page had the group sitting around recovering spells and hp for a day, telling tales of the months they spent clearing out kobold warrens.

Do some novels go to far in changing the landscape? Most likely, but in the same vein, an author can't treat every location on the map with kid gloves because someone, somewhere, will want to run a game there and they don't have the presence of mind to simply ignore what the novel did to the area.

Some authors aren't very good, I'll give you that. But to treat the majority of them like 'idiots' because they don't all roll up characters before they start writing about them is an absolutely absurd notion. Having them stay away from every place on the map of the world because they might do something that makes a change in the precious landscape means you'll be left with novels as complicated in writing as 'Friends' was on T.V.

That's my toss of the copper, anyway.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

If you're going to break the rules of game X when you write your novel, don't put "This is a story set in the world of game X" on the cover. In a perfect world, it would be that simple. Unfortunately third and lower tier writers want to eat too, so wtiting for a game setting but telling their own story their own way is one of the easier ways to do so. Which is why I never read them.

 

[gizmo33]

One reason novels based on game setting are bad is because most game settings have rules that doesn't consider their impact on the way the setting's world would operate. In order for the story to be believeable, authors often would have to deviate from the setting's rules.

I wonder if players of RPGs have any lower desire for versimilitude in their games as novel writers have for their books. What's good for the novel writers might be good for the players as well, but working through all of the various spells/rituals and details and trying to bring them into a sensible whole takes a lot of effort and probably doesn't sell a lot of books to a casual audience, not as many as a new character class I'd think.

 

[nightwyrm]

I wonder if players of RPGs have any lower desire for versimilitude in their games as novel writers have for their books. What's good for the novel writers might be good for the players as well, but working through all of the various spells/rituals and details and trying to bring them into a sensible whole takes a lot of effort and probably doesn't sell a lot of books to a casual audience, not as many as a new character class I'd think.

I think DMs in general have a lot more leeway in sweeping weird things under the rug compared to writers. DMs can come up with ad-hoc explanations on the fly or try to direct the players' focus to something else. And because games are interactive, players may be too busy having fun playing to notice the little inconsistencies or just accept them as artifacts of using that particular ruleset.

Writers have to write for a bigger audience who may not be familiar with the game rules or the setting. The readers also have a lot more time rereading and dissecting the story for inconsistencies.

 

[Dire Bare]

Unfortunately third and lower tier writers want to eat too, so wtiting for a game setting but telling their own story their own way is one of the easier ways to do so.

So, all game-novel writers are "lower tier" . . . .

Which is why I never read them.

And you've never read any of them . . . .

Way to judge based on no direct experience. You win internet points!

Actually, I imagine you've at least attempted to read at least one or several game-novels over the years to develop your opinion, or at least I hope so. But even then, the small handful of books you may have read and disliked versus the entire genre? Sigh.

Besides, what's your idea of "lower tier"? Are authors who regularly make the NYT bestseller lists "lower tier"? Are authors who sell tons of books to eager fans "lower tier"? How is this determined? Or are you, like many in this thread, just someone who likes to insult artists (and their fans) with no basis in reality?

 

[Byronic]

While in general RPGs make for poor novels some aren't too bad. The World of Darkness novels aren't exactly on my favourite list but weren't bad for RPG novels. The setting for Raymond E Feist's "Magician" was originally for a roleplaying game (an alternative to DnD).

In general I agree with OP though.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I wonder if players of RPGs have any lower desire for versimilitude in their games as novel writers have for their books.

Based on the amount of abuse I've seen heaped on people for daring to use the 'v-word' here at EN World, yes. The desire is much, much lower. In fact I would say that many people are actively hostile to verisimilitude. "It's just a game. Ignore it. Why can't you just play D&D?" etc. etc.

Although it's probably more accurate to say that they're just hostile to anyone who disagrees with them on the correct level of verisimilitude.

 

[rowport]

... There are some really bad RPG-novels out there. I think the award goes to Prism Pentad, not just for completely breaking the setting but for doing it in the very first series of novels. They didn't even let the setting run for a couple years before wiping it out...

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Bottom line: Novels based in shared campaign settings cannot be as freely innovative as your average fantasy novel. You can still tell great stories (because all the best stories are about people, not classes and feats), but you have to obey certain restrictions.

I have seen this general premise knocking Prism Pentad for "wiping out" the Dark Sun setting several times, but always find it a bit baffling. Troy Denning was one of the co-developers of the setting itself as well as the author of the book series. Give your last points about "certain restrictions" of shared worlds, I would think that the setting developers have a free pass? Did folks complain about Greenwood changing Forgotten Realms? Or Weis/Hickman changing Dragonlance? Why is Dark Sun different? Or am I just imaging the dicotomy?

 

[Imban]

I have nothing but contempt for RPG novels that totally change significant parts of the setting (Prism Pentad) or are utter lunacy when compared with the established setting (Stardeep), but most of them aren't so bad. Or are bad, but only in that they were pretty much just phoned in - Salvatore does this occasionally because people still buy his stuff even when he does.

The novel heroes being impossibly better than your PCs is also really annoying, because I, at the very least, want to play the heroes. Sometimes this is the fault of the novelist (Shadowdale/Tantras/Waterdeep), whereas sometimes this is the fault of people adapting the novels back to the RPG - see Drizzt's nonsensical "X Slash" ability in his 2e writeup, whereas I never thought he was intrinsically better than a PC in the actual novels.

I have seen this general premise knocking Prism Pentad for "wiping out" the Dark Sun setting several times, but always find it a bit baffling. Troy Denning was one of the co-developers of the setting itself as well as the author of the book series. Give your last points about "certain restrictions" of shared worlds, I would think that the setting developers have a free pass? Did folks complain about Greenwood changing Forgotten Realms? Or Weis/Hickman changing Dragonlance? Why is Dark Sun different? Or am I just imaging the dicotomy?

The general feeling is that Greenwood never really changed FR in this way, but people complained pretty hard about the rapid series of cataclysms that hit Dragonlance for a while there, but those were also world-shaking events involving things beyond the reach of the PCs, rather than plot hooks the PCs could affect. The thing with Dark Sun was that the setting as presented in the original boxed set was much different from the setting post-Prism Pentad, and the Prism Pentad took up several of the major and obvious plot hooks that stood out to just about everyone that read the original boxed set and solved them instead of you.

And they were the first novels for Dark Sun, so it's not like many people got to really handle these plot hooks in their game before the much cooler NPCs swooped in and did it for them.