Teflon Billy
Explorer
RSKennan said:
Some of the books for Shadowrun were pretty decent (those were the Nigel Findlay titles I was talking about earlier)
Can novels make or break a setting for you?
Some of the books for Shadowrun were pretty decent (those were the Nigel Findlay titles I was talking about earlier)
Belen
Adventurer
PaulKemp said:
Caveat: I wish you had posted this on Circvs Maximvs.
Was your post supposed to be readable? It was not. I have some idea of the point you must be trying to make, but who wants to try and pull it out of your post. Talk about poor writing!
I read most of the FR and DL novels. They were great reading when I was in Middle and High School and they were a good intro into a lot of fantasy themes; however, now I would view them as bad novels which were horribly written. I go out of my way to avoid setting novels these days.
Honestly, setting novels are bad. That is just reality.
Teflon Billy
Explorer
PaulKemp said:
That is a really thorough treatment of the idea that RPG fiction can't all be called bad. well done.
It, unfortuntely, doesn't much affect the reality of the situation...that RPG fiction isn't generally very good (either empirically or anecdotally).
I chose "it depends" because sometimes novels don't blend well with the game. It's a matter of preference. It depends on whether the DM/players read/enjoy the novels that pertain to the campaign in question.
When I was fourteen, I discovered Dragonlance right around the time I was finally able to play D&D. I experienced both simultaneously, and I thought the idea of novels having roots in the game was an incredible idea. It blended two things I enjoy, and both served to validate the other. Certainly gaming through Ansalon was an incredible experience for anyone who had read Chronicles. My fellow gamers and I agreed on that much. It was incredible seeing how differently things panned out at the table as oppose to in the pages of the novels. We all really enjoyed that.
I felt the same way when a fellow Dragonlance reader (and the guy who played Raistlin in my Classics campaign) handed me a copy of The Crystal Shard, and I was instantly drawn into RAS' pulp stories. A year later I had read 20 FR novels and felt prepared to run a campaign in Faerun (and was very excited to move on from DL). Almost nine years later, I'm still reading Greenwood and RAS (and a few other authors as well, like Kemp, Baker, Byers, and Cunningham), and I'm still running FR. Reading a novel dealing with events that tie into the game is a great merging of mediums. It feels like I'm contributing to the world-building of Faerun, at least for my players (some who also read the novels, some that don't).
I've recently had a similar experience with literature that stands above and beyond anything DL or FR: Robert E. Howard. After reading his Conan stories I've developed a need to game in Hyborea. I've already handed his stories off to some of my players, so they'll understand the flavor and the setting before we start playing. Once we start playing, they will (hopefully) be able to make a connection between what their PCs are doing and what Conan and Howard's other characters did. At least that's the plan.
When I was fourteen, I discovered Dragonlance right around the time I was finally able to play D&D. I experienced both simultaneously, and I thought the idea of novels having roots in the game was an incredible idea. It blended two things I enjoy, and both served to validate the other. Certainly gaming through Ansalon was an incredible experience for anyone who had read Chronicles. My fellow gamers and I agreed on that much. It was incredible seeing how differently things panned out at the table as oppose to in the pages of the novels. We all really enjoyed that.
I felt the same way when a fellow Dragonlance reader (and the guy who played Raistlin in my Classics campaign) handed me a copy of The Crystal Shard, and I was instantly drawn into RAS' pulp stories. A year later I had read 20 FR novels and felt prepared to run a campaign in Faerun (and was very excited to move on from DL). Almost nine years later, I'm still reading Greenwood and RAS (and a few other authors as well, like Kemp, Baker, Byers, and Cunningham), and I'm still running FR. Reading a novel dealing with events that tie into the game is a great merging of mediums. It feels like I'm contributing to the world-building of Faerun, at least for my players (some who also read the novels, some that don't).
I've recently had a similar experience with literature that stands above and beyond anything DL or FR: Robert E. Howard. After reading his Conan stories I've developed a need to game in Hyborea. I've already handed his stories off to some of my players, so they'll understand the flavor and the setting before we start playing. Once we start playing, they will (hopefully) be able to make a connection between what their PCs are doing and what Conan and Howard's other characters did. At least that's the plan.
mcrow
Explorer
Novels can make a setting more attractive.
When I homebrew, I know how everything works,looks, and feels in my gaming setting. When get a published setting, thats not always the case.
Not that I need a series of novels to GM a setting, but Its nice for getting the feel of the setting.
When I homebrew, I know how everything works,looks, and feels in my gaming setting. When get a published setting, thats not always the case.
Not that I need a series of novels to GM a setting, but Its nice for getting the feel of the setting.
Rodrigo Istalindir
Explorer
I just think that when you get right down to it, the genre is such that the best you can hope for is mediocrity with some sprinkles on top. Most art by nature is a solo endeavor; even when it is not (like with movies) the best works are driven by the vision of a single individual, even though there may be input by dozens of other people. Writing is no different, and while there are exceptions (Dumas, perhaps) more cooks make for a bland stew. Even though any individual novel may be the work of a single person, the cumulative weight of all the other books written for a setting inevitably fill in the borders. Where there should be 'here be dragons' instead we find lines of latitude and longitude. It's even an issue with authors that have successful series; eventually you spend too much time trying to be consistent with yourself and stop letting the creative side take the reins.
And, frankly, it doesn't help that the publishers of these books see them as cheap pump and dump efforts and don't devote the time and resources on editing and what-not to let them develop as much as possible.
And, frankly, it doesn't help that the publishers of these books see them as cheap pump and dump efforts and don't devote the time and resources on editing and what-not to let them develop as much as possible.
Teflon Billy
Explorer
PaulKemp said:
I think the last one I read all the way through was a re-reading of Lone Wolf, by Nigel Findlay.
About a year ago I grabbed a Gord the Rogue at a used book store book for a bus trip and liked it quite a bit.
I got a collection of Warhammer Fantasy short stories called "Ignorant Armies" that I thought was pretty good as well.
The rest, pretty much awful from top-to-bottom.
The first and worst few I read were those Crystal Shard/ Streams of Silver things starring the Heroes of the Forgotten Realms: Bruenor, Wulfgar, Drizzt...that bunch.
Awful.
Equally awful were the Dark Sun novels (which wouldn't have had to be very good to get me to like them, but couldn't even pull off "marginal"))
The FR novels where that hot girl with the magic tattoo and her extra-dimesional lizardman Paladin bodyguard didn't get finished.
Neither did the ones where Clerical magic went away.
I figure my life will be short enough without wasting time on stuff that is still bad after a few chapters.
RPG novels fall into that category a vast majority of the time.
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