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Good Fluff, Bad Fluff [re: Flying off the shelves]
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<blockquote data-quote="BiggusGeekus@Work" data-source="post: 952480" data-attributes="member: 7828"><p>I agree. But then there's just a certian <em>something</em> about a pistol-weilding skaven getting mauled by Brettonian knight.</p><p></p><p>Getting back on topic....</p><p></p><p>Gaming fiction/fluff/flavor is hard to write, IMHO. </p><p></p><p>I wrote columns for a local entertainment magazine called <em>On Tap</em>. It was a fun gig. I got to interview bands and basically got paid to hang out at bars. Those articles wrote themselves. Very easy. I've written satire. Again, not too hard for me. But writing gaming fiction? Hard.</p><p></p><p>The problem, to my mind, is that the setting gets in the way of the character development. With the entertainment magazine it was a piece of cake because most people know what a bar is like so you don't have to have to delve into expanatory sentences like "the person behind the bar -- known as the <em>bartender</em> -- pulled a 'tap' to cause the beer to flow into the glass." But in fantasy fiction, basic lifestyle assumptions sometimes just have to be spelled out. This problem is more predominant in gaming fiction where you have to keep an eye on the rulebook and make those rules come alive into a plausible story.</p><p></p><p>I mean, think about the kind of stuff we joke about. "You all meet in a tavern", "Since you destroyed the town, the mayor demands you go on a quest in repayment", "Even though you've never met him before, you quickly arrange a meeting with the baron". These kinds of things happen in games because its expedient and people have to be home by a certain hour. In literature you don't have that luxury. So the setting considerations you can ignore for a game suddenly get thrust into the light.</p><p></p><p></p><p>IMHO, of course.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BiggusGeekus@Work, post: 952480, member: 7828"] I agree. But then there's just a certian [i]something[/i] about a pistol-weilding skaven getting mauled by Brettonian knight. Getting back on topic.... Gaming fiction/fluff/flavor is hard to write, IMHO. I wrote columns for a local entertainment magazine called [i]On Tap[/i]. It was a fun gig. I got to interview bands and basically got paid to hang out at bars. Those articles wrote themselves. Very easy. I've written satire. Again, not too hard for me. But writing gaming fiction? Hard. The problem, to my mind, is that the setting gets in the way of the character development. With the entertainment magazine it was a piece of cake because most people know what a bar is like so you don't have to have to delve into expanatory sentences like "the person behind the bar -- known as the [i]bartender[/i] -- pulled a 'tap' to cause the beer to flow into the glass." But in fantasy fiction, basic lifestyle assumptions sometimes just have to be spelled out. This problem is more predominant in gaming fiction where you have to keep an eye on the rulebook and make those rules come alive into a plausible story. I mean, think about the kind of stuff we joke about. "You all meet in a tavern", "Since you destroyed the town, the mayor demands you go on a quest in repayment", "Even though you've never met him before, you quickly arrange a meeting with the baron". These kinds of things happen in games because its expedient and people have to be home by a certain hour. In literature you don't have that luxury. So the setting considerations you can ignore for a game suddenly get thrust into the light. IMHO, of course. [/QUOTE]
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