Can a D&D Campaign make a great Novel? Under which conditions?

[Wombat]

A novel based on a D&D campaign should be judged by the same criteria as any other novel -- are there believable characters? does the plot catch my interest? are there too many "inside jokes" and other such references? do I have to know the world before I read the book or am I able to learn about it as I read? is the writing engaging? am I able to understand the motivations of the characters?

Simple, really...

 

[MonkeyDragon]

I agree with most of the points above. Here's my addition:

In most RPGs, you have the party of PCs, all of whom are of roughly equal importance. Some may have the spotlight in one bit of the adventure, some in other bits, but overall, no one stands out.

In most successful fiction (novels, films, etc), you have one protagonist. This is the one person that the audiance most identifies with and wants to see succeed. The plot and theme most heavily revolve around the protagonist and how they change from beginning to end. That's not to say that there aren't other "main" characters, but there's still focus on that protagonist.

Example: There are a bunch of people in the Fellowship, and they all have well-developed personalities and goals, as well as plots that feature them. Frodo, however, is the protagonist, and the most important bits of plot and insight revolve around him in some way.

Thus, I think that for an rpg novel to work, it needs to be changed from "a story about a band of brave adventurers searching out the world-saving widget" to "a story about Joe, who, with a band of brave adventurers, searches out the world-saving widget, verbing noun about his own noun along the way."

Of course, there will always be exceptions, but in general, I find this to be a necessary bit of structure.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

In most successful fiction (novels, films, etc), you have one protagonist. This is the one person that the audiance most identifies with and wants to see succeed. The plot and theme most heavily revolve around the protagonist and how they change from beginning to end. That's not to say that there aren't other "main" characters, but there's still focus on that protagonist.

True. Even if we think of the classic D&D "games" that inspired novels ... the first that immediately comes to mind are the Dragonlance Trilogy that we all know and love. THose stories were about Tannis as much as anyone else. I think the authors did a great job keeping the rest of the party interesting to the readers. But the point of the book was to get the reader to identify one way or another about Tannis.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Raymond E. Fiest made a writing career out of exactly this.

He asked about a *great* novel,though.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Thus, I think that for an rpg novel to work, it needs to be changed from "a story about a band of brave adventurers searching out the world-saving widget" to "a story about Joe, who, with a band of brave adventurers, searches out the world-saving widget, verbing noun about his own noun along the way."

Heck, if I could just fill in the perfect verbs and nouns, I would have a great novel written already!

But seriously, I agree with MonkeyDragon. It's usually better if the focus is on one person.

 

[Odhanan]

He asked about a *great* novel,though.

Indeed. Just so we're clear: I'm speaking of creating a successful/great novel out of a D&D campaign, whatever "successful" or "great" would mean in terms of subjective quality, sells and so on. It's up to you to define what qualifies as "great" in this context.