There are a lot of books based on/set in game worlds, so what do people think of them? The main ones seem to be GW/WoD books, with the D&D settings coming in behind them and a few others.

Based on what I've read there are a lot of GW based books, some quite good. Dan Abnett is a hell of a writer and most of his stuff is top notch, like the "Gaunt's ghosts" series. Another great one from GW, maybe theur best, is "Lord of the Night" which is an excellent book on several levels. As a 40k novel it's great because it sticks to the mythos, but also presents an alternative view to the history of the 40k universe that is plausible and makes you wonder how things 'really' went in the founding of the imperium, and if the emperor was as pure and noble as imperial theology teaches.

Psychologically it's close to "The silence of the lambs" in some ways, as two disparate characters on opposite sides of the fence discover each other and find that each has much to learn from the other.

I think LotN is the best GW novel I've ever read and can recommend it to most gamers.

As to bad ones, I tried reading a D&D based novel, something about a vampire and an elf, and just couldn't keep reading it. I gave it to a friend of mine who'se into D&D. I can't even recall the title, it was so bad.

The few WoD novels I read long ago were generally as dreary and depressing as the setting itself, tho there were a few good short stories in some of the collections.

There was a battletech novel written by Vic Milan. Given that I hate battletech I've never read it, but Vic Milan is a good writer and someone I know personally, so I'll say that it's probably a good battletech novel.

Feel free to express your own feelings towards any game based books you want to.

I like the Warhammer stories by Jack Yeovil (Kim Newman), conveniently compiled in Genevieve Undead.  C.L. Werner's Witchhunter and Witchfinder are also good.

Beyond those, I think most RPG-based novels are pretty bad.  Certainly the D&D ones.

I've only ever read Shadowrun and D&D books. In both cases it was hit or miss for quality.

I've found that if you do into them expecting everything to conform to rules you're going to be disappointed.

Quote from: James McMurrayI've only ever read Shadowrun and D&D books. In both cases it was hit or miss for quality.

I've found that if you do into them expecting everything to conform to rules you're going to be disappointed.

You've definitely got a point there. The GW novel "Fire warrior" was supposed to be a 40k novel, but there was no way in HELL the events could possibly have happened in the game.

I always thought Ian Watson's take on W40K was pretty cool. I've read some fantasy novels based on games, didn't really dig them.

Regards,
David R

I have yet to find a good game-based novel.  I don't think they exist.

There are some that are better than others, but I wouldn't put a one above anything by Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, GRRM, etc.

I read them sometimes because it provides good setting background, but never for quality fiction.

-O

Quote from: obrynI have yet to find a good game-based novel.  I don't think they exist.

There are some that are better than others, but I wouldn't put a one above anything by Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, GRRM, etc.

I read them sometimes because it provides good setting background, but never for quality fiction.

-O

"Lord of the Night" was very good, and for the most part the Eisenhorn trilogy was as well. Both were in the 40K line by GW.

As I mentionned a while ago, there's a link on my blog to an article about the history of GW's fiction line and how they've essentially had every great British writer produce something for them over the years. Newman's different in that he actually enjoyed writing his books but people like Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Stephen Baxter and so on did it for the money and were vaguely horrified at the GW people lecturing them at great length about how thou shalt not fuck with their IP in any way.

Having said that, I think that generation of GW writers were something of an exception to the rule as most game tie-in novels are a complete and utter waste of your time and everyone else's.

So you shouldn't read them... you should read novels by Mary Gentle as she's a gamer and arguably one of the most exciting fantasy/SF writers in operation at the moment.  She wrote Ash, which is about 650,000 long and WILL kick your arse, it's even spawned a recent prequel which wasm somewhat shamefully released without much fanfare a couple of weeks ago.

The GW books written by people who could actually write were good.

The rest, life's too short.  And frankly, if I had a million years left I'd still say that.

There's too much good fiction out there to waste time reading that shit.

I might make an exception for something like say Delta Green, where the guys writing the stories also created the setting (so at least it's their ideas) but even then only if recommended by people I trusted.

Well, I assume we're talking about official game novels, as quite some fantasy authors base their characters or worlds on their gaming worlds, or at least get some inspiration from that.

Most D&D novels are pretty bad, but sometimes they make for decent reading. Sometimes you need some fireballs to clear the cobwebs of Donaldson'ish depression stuff or some of the more pansy female fantasy lit...

The only Warhammer novel I read was a rather badly done Phantom of the Opera reimagining. I think it even had a female vampire protagonist. Yuck.

I'll just have to nate that in comparison the German RPG novels suck up the ground from bottomless depths. It often reads like teenage goths writing novels -- but it's probably more their hippy teachers...

Books -> Games = okay
Games -> Books = Erm, better not...
Movies -> Books = Oh my.

I enjoyed some of the Shadowrun novels, but I was thirteen at the time and they probably sucked.  I'll echo that some of the GW novels were great

I don't know if this counts as it hasn't been released yet (or AFAIK, finished), but an early draft of the YotZ novel that Tim's been threatening was fantastic.  Think Chuck Palunik meets Tom Clancy.  I was creeped out and he hadn't even reached Zero Hour.

Quote from: Sosthenes...The only Warhammer novel I read was a rather badly done Phantom of the Opera reimagining. I think it even had a female vampire protagonist. Yuck....

That sounds like Drachenfels by Jack Yeovil (Kim Newman).  It is widely regarded as one of the best (if not the best) novels written for the Warhammer Old World.  And most people respect Yeovil/Newman as a writer.  So given that you've admitted to reading Salvatore elsewhere, I'll just have to dismiss your 'Yuck' reaction as a case of 'throwing pearls at swine'.  

These days I avoid game fiction like the plague.  As a youth I enjoyed the first couple Gord of Greyhawk books by Gary Gygax, even though these days they strike me as a poor imitation of Leiber with a Greyhawk travelogue as the backdrop.  The first few Dragonlance novels seemed respectable.

Past that, the only game novels I've read were the Cyborg Commando trilogy.  The less said about that, the better.

Quote from: AkrasiaThat sounds like Drachenfels by Jack Yeovil (Kim Newman).  It is widely regarded as one of the best (if not the best) novels written for the Warhammer Old World.

Let me repeat that: The book had a vampire protagonist.
IIRC, it even had some weird octopus mutant as the Phantom, though I might confuse that with yet another PotO satire. Chick-lit horror and baroque satire isn't exactly the first image I get when I think of the WFRP world. I can't say much about the writing, it's been quite some time since I read it. No Penny Dreadful, but it didn't exactly encourage me to buy more Warhammer novels.

Quote from: AkrasiaSo given that you've admitted to reading Salvatore elsewhere, I'll just have to dismiss your 'Yuck' reaction as a case of 'throwing pearls at swine'.  

I admit a lot of things -- due to some photos on the internet I can't exactly deny them. Reading fantasy isn't something deep and brooding most of the time, so I can read the worst trash as long as the writing and themes aren't totally atrocious. Lots of D&D novels sound like glorified adventure logs. That goes a long way to prevent pretentiousness... I still wouldn't call them good novels, though Salvatore still is better than the usual Eddings drivel.

I liked:

Gaunts Ghosts for WH40k
Riders of the Dead
Ed Greenwoods stuff
Dragonlance novels

They might not be up there with the better authors, but they are entertaining reads.