Would you buy FR novels if the game world didn't exist?

[Mean Eyed Cat]

1) If you like FR, do you like the novel or game side more?

2) Was your first introduction to FR via the game, the novels, or otherwise (video games for example)?

3) If you came to the game because of the novels, could you see yourself having come to the game had the novels not existed?

4) If you came to the novels because of the game, could you see yourself picking up the novels had there been no game?

First, I have always really liked most aspects of the Realms as a game setting. Here are my answers:

1) I definitely like the game side better [explanation below].

2) First introduction was the game, starting with the grey boxed set. I DMed a bunch of games in this setting. Pretty quickly after I started running games, I read the novels. I started with the Moonshae trilogy (loved), the Icewind Dale trilogy (okay), first three of the Avatar series (okay), and the Maztica & Empires trilogies (meh). I think the last series I tried to read was the Cleric Quintet and I never made it through because I found them boring. This pretty much turned me off from the books. However, I recently read the The City of Ravens and actually liked it.

3 & 4) The game lead me to the novels. Other than the Moonshae trilogy and maybe The City of Ravens, I probably could do without the novels.

I still run a FR game (we're going on our 4th year, yay!) and I will probably start up a new FR game when 4th edition comes out.

To me, there is a big difference between the game side and the novels. With the game, I am able to change things and, along with my players, make it our own (which we do a lot). Just because something is canon, doesn't necessarily mean it is in our games. With the novels, you are reading somebody's else's version of the Realms. And truth be told, their version (and particularly their style of writing) isn't always good

 

[werk]

(1) I prefer the game content now, more than the novels. The novels lost me a long time ago...after the second trilogy or so.

(2) I got Darkwalker just before the grey box came out.

 

[CruelSummerLord]

Think of this as an unofficial, unscientific research project to see how much novels and settings interact in terms of sales. There are two things I'm looking for:

1) If you like FR, do you like the novel or game side more?

2) Was your first introduction to FR via the game, the novels, or otherwise (video games for example)?

3) If you came to the game because of the novels, could you see yourself having come to the game had the novels not existed?

4) If you came to the novels because of the game, could you see yourself picking up the novels had there been no game?

1) Probably the game side, with the exception of Salvatore, as there are a lot of good ideas in FR that are unfortunately overshadowed by the worst aspects of the setting-Mary Sue NPCs, powerful wizards that are a dime a dozen, poor characterization, easily identifiable black and white villains and heroes

2) The novels, back when I somehow thought Jeff Grubb had talent.

3) You bet. I didn't even know FR was a D&D setting until I started reading D&D itself.

4) Only Salvatore's novels. At least he injects some shades of gray into his stories, and makes an effort to make most of them more than just glorified Mary Sues. Drizzt doesn't whine about being a drow anymore, given that he's now largely accepted by the surface world.

The rest-Greenwood, Cunningham, Grubb, etc.-are, from what I've seen, not worth mentioning and are the reason gaming fiction has such a wretched reputation.

 

[FreeXenon]

My first introduction was the grey boxed set back in the day, and I have been a fanboy since.
I like both sides quite a bit.

I have enjoyed the Elminster, Drizzt, and Seven Sisters books as well as others quite a bit.

I most likely would have not picked up the book had it not been for the game. I looked forward to the novels because I was already familiar with the characters and was looking for a different and much more active perspective on already well known characters. =)

 

[BadMojo]

The rest-Greenwood, Cunningham, Grubb, etc.-are, from what I've seen, not worth mentioning and are the reason gaming fiction has such a wretched reputation.

I won't disagree about Greenwood. He's a great world builder but the fiction I've read from him has been, well, no so good.

Don't know about Grubb.

I think you're doing a disservice to Elaine Cunningham by including her in that list. She's written some nuanced characters and hasn't done anything close to a "Mary Sue" character in any of her books. Paul Kemp is another Realms author who has done great stuff that seems to get ignored because it's "gaming fiction".

 

[DaveMage]

I'm surprised at the "Depths of Madness" thing. I really liked the first book by the same author (Ghostwalker) and the short story he wrote connected to Depths. I was going to read Depths next...kinda a bummer.

I posted my review on amazon.

There are some people that liked it, but the reviews are certainly mixed to be sure. Apparently, others liked Ghostwalker as well, so mayby there's hope for the author. (I have not read Ghostwalker.) Editing was the worst part of it, so who knows - the author may have written a great work that got hacked up by a pathetic editor.

 

[Claudius Gaius]

I've got a lot of the older, and some of the newer, Forgotten Realms game books - but not a single novel. I just don't read much game-setting fiction, I prefer not to hear "but that's not the way it was in novel XXIIV..."

 

[Drowbane]

My first exposure to the Realms was Darkwalker on Moonshae. Looking back I don't think it occured to me at the time that the FR were another setting for "that D&D game" I'd played a hand full of times with my older brother's group... a few years earlier.

Fast forward four years: I had my own (A)D&D (2e) group, a bookshelf full of FR (and Dragonlance, and non-D&D related fantasy) novels, and played exclusively FR mixed with a dash of Spelljammer and Planescape.

I've been a geek for fantasy as long as I can remember. I dimly recollect seeing some old kung fu movies (chinese sword & sorcery types) and was hooked from then on... I was probably 4-5yrs old. edit: probably why I never got the whole "get yer karate-men outta my fantasy!!"-thing. All hail Bo9S!

To date, I've read (nearly) every book Salvatore has written about everybody's favorite Drow Ranger. I've also played about half a dozen different Drow PCs (all in 2e... 3e was unkind to elves in general and to drow in particular). Most were some shade of Neutral or Evil... or both. The only Drizzt-clones I've ever seen were in Online RPGs. My single Good drow PC had issues, he waged a "holy war" on his own kind. One of my 2e DMs eventually declared him the "Chosen of Shevarash"... (not that he gave out any sort of mechanical benefit for it )

Jhanus "drowbane" Nasadra (chose his drow family name from a list of such... sure it turns out that my "bloody pissed off inky-elf", as another PC put it, was a lost son of the 1st House of Ched Nasad)... it has been said that I can talk non-stop about this character...

edit: I haven't yet gotten around to reading the Thousand Orcs tril.

As to the rep of "gaming fiction"... The internet is chock full of worthless opinions on subject matter of all kinds... how is this any different?

 

[Voadam]

4) If you came to the novels because of the game, could you see yourself picking up the novels had there been no game?

I'm guessing most people who play D&D could picture themselves picking up a fantasy novel.

An interesting poll would be how many play D&D but never read (nongaming) fantasy novels.

 

[Deset Gled]

1. Game.
2. Game.
3. n/a.
4. No.

My group has a couple of the FR books, but no one reads the novels. For many people like me, who use homebrew settings, the only reason to ever buy FR (or Eberron, or otherwise) is for exposure to new mechanics and easy NPCs. I was really happy with the Dervish came out in Complete Warrior (despite the fanboy PCs it created), because WotC didn't force us to buy a campaign book just to get something that should be available regardless of setting (3.0 Monk bracers, I'm looking at you).

Having FR be a book series with a D+D add on module would actually make me more likely to read the books, assuming they were good quality. I get the general impression that most FR novels are just fantasy pulp thats pushed out to cash in on the D+D setting.