A few notes, from the various threads:
Licensed novels can be a good deal financially for the writer, but it largely depends upon the contract. The D&D books tend not to pay as well these days as they did in, say, the 1990s, when the novels were selling tens or, more likely, hundreds of thousands of copies. (And often continue to sell.) Also, some projects that once offered royalties and cuts of translations and so on may not do so now, as licensing fees have gone way up; as fees go up, the writers tend to get squeezed. We fought to improve the D&D fiction contracts in the late 80s and early 90s, and I hope the most recent contracts reflect those gains.
Some folks still see licensed fiction as "slumming," but that's not as common a hot take now as it once was. The same with the publishing industry frowning at writers and editors "admitting" they play TTRPGs. (At the time, I had someone in the industry tell me it was a big mistake to mention in my First Quest article back in
Dragon #208 that my gaming shaped my storytelling.) Where the criticism of the licensed projects is accurate and on target is in slamming how they are sometimes (often?) run, with editorial and licensing overreach and the creators losing control or even participation in their creations once the book is done. There's also a growing concern about what I call IP washing, with properties changing owners and the new owners refusing to honor old contracts, as happened recently with Disney and the novels and comics related to Star Wars, Alien, and other IPs they bought.
Romantacy storylines and cozy play style are already happening at D&D tables. The book existing is just openly admitting that, which makes it a potential gateway to the game for people who might not realize that's an option. The D&D fiction has always served this purpose in the spread of the game. D&D already supports this kind of play, so there's no need to change the rules, and any romance or relationship mechanisms run the risk of being misused and undermining concepts of consent (player and character).
I recently published a short (3K words) article about the history of D&D fiction and its interaction with the game rules--"The Wyrm That Eats Its Tail"--in
New Edge Sword & Sorcery #5. It covers a lot of the topics related to what we are seeing reflected in this announcement. I enjoy the magazine a lot and have been subscribing since issue #1.
New Edge Sword & Sorcery – Made with love for the classics, and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling!
If you happen to be at the Philly Area Game Expo this coming weekend, I am giving my talk on "An Insider History of D&D Fiction" on Saturday. I gave it previously at Gary Con.
