| From: | Jarmo Karonen jarmo.karonen@***.fi |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Jak Koke E-Mail (Concerning the SR Novels) |
| Date: | Fri, 16 Jul 1999 15:07:32 +0300 |
see it even though I didn't even get mail from the list... ;)
Twist wrote:
>The novels should maintain a simple ideal: Never interact with the
events in
>the sourcebooks. Leave the sourcebooks to the players. That doesn't
mean
>you can't use the SR personalities, just don't take our plot hooks.
Why?
>If you must have novels interact with the sourcebooks, at least
>follow the Bug City/Burning Bright axiom: Introduce the cool event,
and then
>step aside. Note this is the exact opposite of what the DHS did.
On the sidenote I have to say that I really loved the way Tom Dowd set
the Bug City with Burning Bright. I would like to see something similar
done again. And I think that it might be the best way to introduce big
plots in novels without upsetting gamers like Twist while at the same
time keeping us -the big plot lovers- happy.
>Don't make
>your character a superhero.
What's wrong with superheroes? :)
>Make them feel pain, and make them lose almost
>as often as they win. Make the victories small, and make them hard
fought.
I think that most of the time Dragonheart Series followed these rules.
Ryan Mercury had weaknesses and his victories were hard fought. Of
course he managed to do some things easily. If he hadn't, it would have
been unrealistic. After all, he was a high-level character with curtain
skills...
>Don't make the ultra-secret Aztechnology dela clinic guarded by three
guys
>with baseball bats (pretty much, compared to what was stored there).
The extraction from the delta clinic just wasn't the biggest things in
the Series. Why make the opposition damn hard if there were bigger
battles and plot twists in store?
>Try and
>eliminate the gratuitous sex scenes, or just suggest them (see 2XS and
>Night's Pawn).
I actually enjoyed them... I think that they were written with quite a
good taste.
>And, above all and I say again: STAY AWAY FROM THE SOURCEBOOK PLOTS!!!
!
>They are for the gamers. Novels that use the sourcebook plots
eliminate GM
>options and become boring in continually seeing the same perspective in
both
>products. If I read about the mysterious Dunkelzahn assassination in
PoaD, I
>don't want to pick up a novel and see the answer plainly on the page
and have
>the sourcebook's mystery mean nothing and become silly, nevermind
negating
>whatever plots the GM had made up for Dunk's assassination. The
sourcebooks
>are supposed to provide the gaming mystery you base your adventures off
of.
>The novels are supposed to tell the stories different from the
sourceboks,
>and to give you the flavor of the game universe. Don't let either step
on
>the other's toes, or you cut back on the enjoyment of both.
Now here we go...
I really can't see your problem. How come novels foil gamemaster plots?
You can simply ignore what's written in a novel. If it is a problem,
it's because you made it.
To continue with this, I don't see novels telling the same plots as
sourcebooks. How can you say that? Somebody else complained how he can't
follow the arc because the novels are telling the different side of it
than sourcebooks. (I actually can't see the problem with this either:
novels are cheaper than sourcebooks, so why not buy them too...)
Sourcebook suggest many things, and novels pick one. That doesn't mean
_you_ have to pick the same one as the novel. It's there for the folks
who like to see the plotline resolved for them or shown how it can be
resolved. I don't actually see Shadowrun novels as real literature or
novels; they are different kind of sourcebooks and usually far more
entertaining than the actual sourcebooks...
- J. Karonen
