D&D Mechanics in Fiction

[Arcane Runes Press]

Who are you trying to sell this to?

Are you going for PDF online, or E-book sales? Or are you going to try and sell this to a publishing house?

Because (I'm not going to speak to legality at all here) I doubt you're going to find much success with the latter, if you're writing D&D with the serial numbers filed off. It isn't a matter of quality, per se - it's more the fact that it's going to be obvious "gaming fiction", and most places are going to reject manuscripts like that out of hand.

One of the most common complaints from editors and agents at cons is how often they're innundated with novels that read like D&D campaigns, and most of them are familiar enough with the tropes of D&D to recognize it when they see it.

 

[CockyWriter]

As a guy writing a webcomic based on a DnD game, my advice is: Stay the hell away from DnD as much as possible.

What I mean is instead of sticking to the basic mechanics, make your own.

You want magic to be casted only a few times a day? Maybe in your world, excessive magic use can disrupt the flow of energy, weaken your senses (eyesight, hearing), or cause physical strain.

As for spells, remember that magic can be literally anything. I don't say in my storyline "This spell will last six seconds. I casted "Charm Monster"." Instead, they just do it and describe it's effects. Instead of "Charm Monster", just describe the creature's pupil turning blank and obey it's master commands. If you are casting mage armor, you can make up your own effects, like a glowing purple armor shrouds the caster.

That way, you can avoid any serious conflict with other publishers and WOTC. As long as you make it look like you created it, instead of stole it, then it would be hard to for them to show proof that you 'stole' it from them.

 

[Sado]

As a guy writing a webcomic based on a DnD game, my advice is: Stay the hell away from DnD as much as possible.

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't planning on transposing an entire d&d campaign into a work of fiction. I may take some ideas here and there and integrate them into a story, and I wanted to know how much I can get away with.

 

[CockyWriter]

Like I said, don't make it too obvious that you 'stole' it from DnD. The fantasy genre, like the science fiction genre, is very broad and very limitless. WOTC can't sue you for magic, wizards, or sorcerers.

 

[lotuseater]

imho, the mechanics of your world are in the end really of little import. what matters is that you have a solid, gripping, and original story with unique characters. once you have that as a foundation, and you know what kind of story you want to tell, go ahead and start constructing the world around them. that way, your world can more readily lend itself to the types of themes you want to explore. you can start dealing with the specifics of the mechanics later.

creativity is key. don't limit yourself to some standard you've found in d&d or elsewhere. let your imagination explore all the different possibilities of how, for example, a monk might have trained, what abilities he/she has, etc. i think you'll find if you begin with story and character first, and you come up with some original ideas, you'll start developing a whole new concept of how a monk operates that feeds itself on the story you have in mind.

anyway, that's just my 2 cents

 

[Klaus]

In Brazil there has been a manga based on a fantasy setting that itself got ported to d20. It was titled Holy Avenger (in English) and featured a human rogue, a troglodyte barbarian, a human female druid and a half-elf female bard (posing as the most powerful mage in the world) looking for the realm's greatest hero, the Paladin, an über-powerful legend infused with the power of all gods.

The same company later published another comic titled Dungeon Crawlers (once again, in English) where the main characters were an elf ranger, a cowardly female human fighter named Brigandine and another woman I can't seem to recall. The opening sequence showed hobgoblins (disciplined, militaristic ones) taking over the elf realm.

 

[Insight]

Suppose I have a person I call a monk who is immune to all normal diseases, immune to all poisons, can set up vibrations within the body of another creature, and can assume an ethereal state (without actually calling these abilities Purity of Body, Diamond Body, Quivering Palm, and Empty Body, or even describing the abilities in those words)?

As long as you don't use the actual terms from the SRD, you are OK from a copyright standpoint. I suppose that if you actually wanted to copy the abilities of the Monk from the SRD, you could do so providing you do not plagiarize the description from the SRD or any published works. Note that this includes *anything* published, so it's not necessarily limited to the WOTC books.

You realize, of course, that non-gamers are going to find it awfully strange that a monk is doing these things, unless you are using an Oriental world (where Shaolin Monks were reputed to have powers such as these). If you are creating your world with a medieval European basis, you are going to have to spend time explaining why a reclusive monk is doing these things. Not to go too terribly off subject here, but this is one problem I have with the Monk class. Everything else from the PHB is obviously of European descent with the exception of the Monk. Very strange.

If you have already built a foundation for why monks have these abilities and/or your setting is not terribly European, I think you would be OK.