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Message: <blockquote data-quote="aramis erak" data-source="post: 6492469" data-attributes="member: 6779310">Drizzt has been a major seller for years. Whatever his flaws as an author, he sells. And he puts the setting into the mind of fans. There is a long history of fans of the novels finding the RPG... not just D&D, either. Traveller, Castle Falkenstein, Star Wars, Star Trek. Decent movies do it better, but books are a big part of the brand. And, to be honest, RA Salvatore's name is pretty well the name most people  think of when they hear "Forgotten Realms".  Even many gamers think Salvatore before Greenwood. (For me, the order is Salvatore, Gygax, Greenwood. And Greenwood was only added to my mental map this year. And I've never even read a novel by any of them.)So, even if his role in the game side is negligible, RA Salvatore is big in brand awareness. His writing may be formulaic, or dross, but if so, it's dross that sells.Greyhawk needs either an analogue to RA Salvatore, or an analogue to Ed Greenwood, or both. And Jim Ward really didn't do what Mr Greenwood did.... (The Greyhawk hardcover really isn't good. And despite having been there in the beginning, Mr. Ward wasn't out there hyping it to fans. And he wasn't driving it 30+ years later, either. Unlike Mr. Greenwood.) Greyhawk's never had an analogue to RA Salvatore. Until this year (2015), despite gaming for a 34 years, I was unaware there had ever been Greyhawk novels.So, really, if Greyhawk is to get anything, it's likely to be a one-off. If it isn't a one-off - it's going to be tied to some videogame, licensed on the cheap, or novel coming out, written by a fan, sold to the publisher on the cheap, and published on speculation.Mr. Salvatore made it well known. Mr. Greenwood made it worth playing in. Different contributions.</blockquote>

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