WotC WotC needs an Elon Musk

[Azzy]

In "not surprising to me" the last of the Drizzt books I read was riddled with this, so overdone, and completely unnecessary.

Oof. I'm glad I didn't read those, then.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Well you seem to be claiming you're an ultimate arbiter if what's acceptable.

Everyone keeps telling me that my opinions are my opinions until it's time to assert I'm claiming divinity.

What's the biggest fantasy franchise atm? Hint it's Game of Thrones.

Rest my case on popularity not equaling quality. The series doesn't even have an en--.

 

[Velderan]

What about Drow novels? It's been in them.

As backstory that is vaguely referenced or the actual SA is described in a scene as actively happening in the present?

Using GoT/HotD as an example, I can think of 4 scenes in both show's history that depict SA in one form or another:
1. The Dothraki raping women in a village they raided.
2. Sansa being raped by Ramsay Bolton on their wedding night.
3. Cersei being raped by Jaime after Joffrey died.
4. In HotD, they referenced Aegon Targaryen raping a servant.

Were any of those needed to sell that the attacker was a bad person? The dothraki were murdering unarmed civilians, we already know they're not nice. For Ramsay, Jaime, and Aegon, were the writers really overly concerned they were too likeable before those scenes and the SA was what put them over the top? I know Jaime is kind of a weird case because they teased a redemption arc with him before he ran back to Cersei in the end, but he was clearly not a nice person before having that scene with Cersei so it wasn't needed imo.

 

[Scribe]

Oof. I'm glad I didn't read those, then.

Yeah, and its funny/sad, because I thought The Companions was a pretty uplifting book, all told, to be followed up inside a novel or 2 with something I refused to let my son read.

Its been a few years (uhh almost 10) so I'm not 100% sure the memory remains true, but I stopped reading his work after that, it left such a bad vibe.

 

[Cadence]

I'm sure it was overdone, but that doesn't mean there is zero place for it, especially in that "second layer" discussed above. Setting books would fall into that category for me.

Does WotC spend much time aiming at the R/NC-17 (a la GoT) audience instead of the G, PG, and PG-13 one? It kind of feels like its not a thing that will work well for them in the social media era given the predominant age range the game is marketed at -- and that the internet probably provides plenty of if that's what someone is seeking for their games.

 

[Micah Sweet]

As backstory that is vaguely referenced or the actual SA is described in a scene as actively happening in the present?

Using GoT/HotD as an example, I can think of 4 scenes in both show's history that depict SA in one form of another:
1. The Dothraki raping women in a village they raided.
2. Sansa being raped by Ramsay Bolton on their wedding night.
3. Cersei being raped by Jaime after Joffrey died.
4. In HotD, they referenced Aegon Targaryen raping a servant.

Were any of those needed to sell that the attacker was a bad person? The dothraki were murdering unarmed civilians, we already know they're not nice. For Ramsay, Jaime, and Aegon, were the writers really overly concerned they were too likeable before those scenes and the SA was what put them over the top? I know Jaime is kind of a weird case because they teased a redemption arc with him before he ran back to Cersei in the end, but he was clearly not a nice person before having that scene with Cersei, it wasn't needed.

I'll give you number 3, but the others provide context and verisimilitude to a story with a close relationship with the history it was inspired from.

 

[Zardnaar]

What part of "WotC shouldn't publish content with SA in it" was unclear?

And yet some of the best Drow books included it.

Ones not written by RAS Elaine Cunningham and the WotSQ books.

RAS doesn't really have the chops to do it well or even write a decent Drizzt book for the last 15-20 years.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Does WotC spend much time aiming at the R/NC-17 audience instead of the G, PG, and PG-13 one? It kind of feels like its not a thing that will work well for them in the internet era -- and that the internet probably provides plenty of if that's what someone is seeking for their games.

I'm pretty much never advocating for what will.make WotC the most money, but rather what is appropriate optional fare for a fantasy roleplaying game with a least a veneer of historical frosting.

 

[Velderan]

I'm sure it was overdone, but that doesn't mean there is zero place for it, especially in that "second layer" discussed above. Setting books would fall into that category for me.

I interpret their list as including WotC published setting/adventure books in the top layer. The second layer would be stuff like Kobold Press' Midgard setting and things like that. Is that what you meant, @Gradine? With WotC publishing fewer individual books than what TSR used to crank out, I don't know if I'd consider anything they release minor material.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I interpret their list as including WotC published setting/adventure books in the top layer. The second layer would be stuff like Kobold Press' Midgard setting and things like that. Is that what you meant, @Gradine? With WotC publishing fewer individual books than what TSR used to crank out, I don't know if I'd consider anything they release minor material.

I would consider anything that isn't the core three, MMotM, Tasha's and Xanathar's as 2nd layer material.