Given that she was 7 or 8 books into the series before the show came out? Plenty.
Charlaine Harris hits the urban fantasy, mystery, and romance buttons, folks. Nobody should be surprised to hear she was successful before the TV show.
Are we on the cusp of a Tabletop Hollywood moment?
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
Given that she was 7 or 8 books into the series before the show came out? Plenty.
Charlaine Harris hits the urban fantasy, mystery, and romance buttons, folks. Nobody should be surprised to hear she was successful before the TV show.
RivetGeekWil
Lead developer Tribes in the Dark
Maybe (considering how book sales reporting works).
But how many Sookie novels were used as the basis for well known video games?
How many were seen on the set of a major movie and caused a lawsuit?
But overall the point was responding to the idea that because they tried it with VtM once, in 1996—when absolutely VtM had a bigger built in audience than the Stackhouse books—and it wasn't successful that meant they'd had their shot with a WoD-based property and that was it.
@Reynard Asked about whether or not RPGs were going to see an increase in getting picked up by studios, and aside from overly narrow definitions of "Hollywood" or "Game" that are offered as reasons why not, the answer is yes. It has been happening. Tabletop rpg properties have been optioned for TV or in talks to do so or have been in talks (I know of a couple that were explored but it didn't happen). We can quibble over how much interest there is, but the interest is there.
Oh, sure, I was more curious where the "optioned by HBO" line was.
Rabulias
the Incomparably Shrewd and Clever
I think we need to consider a difference in comparing novel audiences to game audiences. To me, 37 million copies of a 13-book series says an audience of maybe 3 to 5 million (assuming most of them bought all the books). 10 million game titles might represent 1 million unique buyers (a total guesstimate), but most buyers would be GMs, which would have players, so the total audience would grow to maybe 4 to 5 million.
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trappedslider
Legend
Harris was originally contracted to write 10 books and then she signed a contract for three additional books.
One day, while early for a dental appointment, Alan Ball was browsing through a Barnes & Noble bookshop and came across Dead Until Dark (2001), the first installment in Harris' series. He read the entries that followed and became interested in "bringing [Harris'] vision to television".
Also, Harris already had two other adaptation options for the books, and there's already a reboot in development.
So please tell me how WoD had/has a bigger audience. (I also will admit to having read the first snookie book)
One day, while early for a dental appointment, Alan Ball was browsing through a Barnes & Noble bookshop and came across Dead Until Dark (2001), the first installment in Harris' series. He read the entries that followed and became interested in "bringing [Harris'] vision to television".
Also, Harris already had two other adaptation options for the books, and there's already a reboot in development.
So please tell me how WoD had/has a bigger audience. (I also will admit to having read the first snookie book)
"Well-known"... for having bombed? Bloodlines initially sold all of 72000 copies, and its failure contributed to the demise of Troika games, so I don't now if this really supports the idea that the ready-made V:tM audience is huge and chomping at the bit for media content.
But, if we must - Sookie Stackhouse is a protatonist in The Sims 3, and back in the day, there was Dying for Daylight as well.
I don't think that really speaks to how large the extant market for media is at all, so...
Ryujin
Legend
I would say that your math on the RPG side is grossly over inflated.
Rabulias
the Incomparably Shrewd and Clever
So what would your interpretation be? I admit my guesstimate of unique purchasers is just a guess, but I stand by my point that most of them will be GMs and there will be an attendant number of players.
Ryujin
Legend
I can only speak of my own experience here. In most of the games I've played, all of the players had at least the basic books. Time apart simply didn't lend itself to passing around a single copy for things like character creation, or understanding the basic ruleset. In addition there are the people who buy RPGs, but never actually play them. I own the following from the original runs: VtM, VMA, MtA, WtO, WtA, CtD. I have played precisely one of those; Vampire, the Masquerade.
RivetGeekWil
Lead developer Tribes in the Dark
And the other thing is... Hollywood is full of gamers. I'm not just taking actors. Directors, producers, writers. Critical Role is a product of this.
I never suggested that it was huge and "chomping at the bit". Just pushing back on the notion that because there was True Blood, there's no need for (or interest) in WoD-based media (or that comparing it to Kindred: the Embraced, which was made before the Stackhouse novels even existed, is even a good comparison). But the thing is that a WoD-based TV show as of last year is already in development. So apparently the interest was there.
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