I've read the first two Dragonlance trilogies when I was in middle school. In college, I read FRs Avatar Trilogy. Over the past year, I read the first three Dark Elf collections. By and large, they were not all that well written, although I have to admit enjoying Dragonlance immensely as a child and respecting the nostalgia they engrained in me.
I think the problem with many of these books is they can never really end. This is a problem that we see in non-game related fiction (fantasy or -- to a lesser degree -- sci-fi) due to publishing concerns and the fact that the writer wants to make money (and may honestly have more to share about their characters/world), but in game-based fiction of the type I mentioned above, I think the problem is there is not time (and perhaps no desire) for true literary involvement or development.
I will mention that I may be expecting too much due to my degree (English Literature), but hear me out. One of the things I like about Robert Jordon and especially George R.R. Martin is that you get to know the characters instead of having their personalities, desres, and so on spoon-fed to you. I don't think most of the game-based fiction attempts to do this, and if they do, they do it poorly. Second, I think another major problem (and I saw this in Salvatore's Dark Elf stuff more than anywhere else) is that the author tells rather than shows. We know immediately that Drizz't is something different because Salvatore tells us. We know that Bruenor is not really a mean jerk, but in fact a loveable "father-figure" because Salvatore tells us. We know that Entreri is an honorable, but evil assassin because the author tells us. And this kind of story telling goes beyond the characters. We know immediately how dangerous a place is because we're told that it's dangerous.
Finally, while we all expect to have great fights in genre fantasy, I really don't want a full-blown explanation as to everything that's taking place. Granted, this is more of a critique of Salvatore, and I'm more interested in substance and development than knowing every single sword stroke, but I think the two can be merged. Jordan has done an excellent job with this. Rather than tell me every, single thrust, dogde, and feint, he shows the readers how deft and gifted his combatants are by revealing how they counter one special technique with another. Sure, on occassion it's nice to know move by move what's going on (there's a great description of some fights in Tad Williams fantasy cycle, the first of which is Dragonbone Chair, one of the best fantasy trilogies I ever read), but for the most part, I think such descriptions are cop-outs and fillers.
As for short stories... Well, I rarely read the stuff in Dragon. When I do, I'm usually pleased with it, but I'm just not drawn to it. I will admit that I like "high brow" stuff because I don't think it's impossible to have such fare with a fair amount of real action and violence (essential in high fantasy). George R. R. Martin and Tad Williams accomplished this, and I think the same can be accomplished in game-based fiction... assuming that's what the readers want. I don't think most readers are interested in more sophisitcated stuff, and that may be why we don't see it that often.
Anyway, I'm out.
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