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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CruelSummerLord" data-source="post: 4556032" data-attributes="member: 48692">(NOTE TO MODERATORS: I don't know if this thread is on-topic or not, but it seemed like an appropriate place to put it, since it has to do with plots and places, and many of the posters would know what I'm trying to get at.)   Gaming fiction, whether rightly or wrongly, gets a very bad reputation for a variety of reasons, one of which is that a lot of it just isn't that good.  That said, where is it written that gaming fiction has to suck by default, or that it's all going to be hack work to begin with?   Has there ever been an effort to try and expand gaming fiction beyond your standard fantasy plots, in an attempt to show what the world is like beyond the standard band of adventurers?  Couldn't, for instance, The Count of Monte Cristo or War and Peace have been told in a fantasy setting, with orcs, elves and wizards, with as much effort put into the characters and the plot as into the setting or the "mechanics" of the world itself.   Of course, one might wonder why this is necessary, and why I would bother to add D&D conventions to my story.   The fact is, for whatever reason, Gary Gygax and his successors created a unique fantasy mythology, one that I have, admittedly, fallen in love with.  The demihuman racess, the monsters, the medieval technology, everything about it fires my imagination and gets my creativity going.  As a writer and a worldbuilder, it appeals to me immensely.  I don't game, and I don't need to-I'm both the DM and the players, and I have a rich fantasy experience all my own.   If you've seen my work at Canonfire, you may have noticed that a lot of it goes toward fleshing out the actual setting, how it works, the societies, histories and cultures of the various races and countries, and everything in between.  While I did this partly to offer ideas and fodder to any DMs and players out there, I also did it partly to develop the world of Greyhawk for its own sake.  Similarly, I've put a lot of effort into fleshing out the unique characters I've created, to make sure they can stand on their own, apart from the fantasy tropes.   Besides, who says gaming fiction necessarily has to apply to a band of bold adventurers and their dragon-slaying heroics?  It can, of course, but genres ranging from romance to drama to spy thrillers to murder mysteries could also fit in here too.   The Bridges of Madison County might center around a lonely noblewoman who succumbs to the charms of a wandering bard, The Outsiders might center around the problems faced by a street gang of thieves forced to flee when one of them murders a cruel dwarven noble, James Bond or Sherlock Holmes might have their own equivalents intriguing with rival elven kingdoms or tracking down the assassins who murdered the gnomish ambassador.  This is not to say that these exact stories would be retold or otherwise ripped off from the originals-I'm just using them as examples to show what kind of stories could be told.   I know how crazy this sounds, and I know it's highly unlikely I'd ever get to publish anything like this, not least due to copyright issues, but I just don't think gaming fiction has to limit itself to the stereotype of mediocre work that's gotten it such a bad reputation.   Again, my apologies if this is off topic.  I'm just throwing out some ideas here to try and get some response.</blockquote>

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