Which author's work would you most like to see turned into a CRPG?

Originally Posted by Gallifrey
I've not actually read any of Mieville's books, but I've heard a great deal about them and from what I've been told, it sounds like a brilliant cRPG campaign setting. Very steampunk/fantasy-ish from the impressions I have.

I'd highly recommend them, first fantasy author in ages I've really felt unable to put down. I think China Mieville himself was a big D&D fan when younger and still reads the manuals, so there's that underlying tendency to (as he puts it) categorise the fantastic that gives a bit of underlying structure that leaves his work quite suitable for conversion. There was quite a funny bit in an interview with him:

The other, more nebulous, but very strong influence of RPGs was the weird fetish for systematization, the way everything is reduced to “game stats.” If you take something like Cthulhu in Lovecraft, for example, it is completely incomprehensible and beyond all human categorization. But in the game Call of Cthulhu, you see Cthulhu’s “strength,” “dexterity,” and so on, carefully expressed numerically. There’s something superheroically banalifying about that approach to the fantastic. On one level it misses the point entirely, but I must admit it appeals to me in its application of some weirdly misplaced rigor onto the fantastic: it’s a kind of exaggeratedly precise approach to secondary world creation.

Got to agree that putting stats on Cthulhu is pretty silly.

It veers away from books, but Joss Whedon writing a plot and character dialogue for a Firefly cRPG would be very cool. That's a setting that'd be brilliant fun to play in.

Good call, I'd love to play a firefly based cRPG. Or even a strategy Elite type game . . .

Originally Posted by Greyloch
I'd say my top choice would be Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles.

I also agree with those who mention a single player or NWN-style Conan game, that'd be great as well.

They were great, but so hard to condense into a computer game. You need relatively consistent abilities that do a particular thing, it'd be hard to represent godlike powers to manipulate Shadow in any way one wants.

Originally Posted by magerette
I've always thought that the alternate world that C.S. Lewis created in his Space Trilogy(Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength ) would make a very coherent setting for an RPG. I know he's best known for the Narnia books, but the world in the trilogy is much grimmer and more adult.

I'd forgotten those . . . I might have to raid the bookshelves at my parents house and refresh my memory. I do remember finding them way better than narnia, although still a bit christian for my atheist liking.

More traditional fantasy that would make an excellent game is the obscure Company of Glass trilogy by Valerie Leith.

I've never even heard of them, shame every sodding waterstones is just chock full of 10 million identikit "fantasy by numbers" David Eddings books. You'd recommend them then? For someone preferring the darker end of fantasy.

Originally Posted by narpet
If you're more into fantasy I would recommend his Swords series of books. Start with "The First Book of Swords" and work your way through the series. They are a gritty, non-Tolkien type of fantasy… some of the greatest books I've read.

Sounds like my kind of thing, I'll have a look on amazon.

Originally Posted by Gallifrey
When I look at the art created for the Conan MMO and am incredibly jealous, because they've nailed the look and atmosphere perfectly and I want to explore in all of that. But the gameplay and whole MMO aspect just brings it down. Nothing against MMOs, but I'd steer clear of a Conan MMO just as I would the LOTR MMO. A Conan RPG with multiplayer in the style of a NWN persistent world however, would be fantastic.

So frustrating that there's all these gameworlds with good engines, good graphics, interesting characters & character development and yet nobody can be bothered to spend some time taking the best bits and writing a story for them and knocking out a single player game. Such a waste! There must be a big non-MMO market that they're just completely ignoring, and the additional effort involved in throwing them a bone seems so minimal.

Frustrating, very frustrating.

Originally Posted by Bartacus
For me: Clive Barker's Imagica and offcourse the famous discworld series of Terry Pratchett.
Imo Imagica would lend itself perfectly for a game: the hero has a memoryloss but gradualy learns that he was a great sorcerer. The beings that venture in these worlds would be a magnificent view. And that last reason is why I think the discworld setting could be used too.

If they could make anything work with imagica that would be superb . . . is that the one with Sartori or whatever? With the pneuma . . .

Again it's tricky though, most of the best novels have magical powers that are quite open ended which is hard to represent in a computer game.

Originally Posted by Zaleukos
An RPG that somehow connects Jules Verne's books would be interesting, as would Les Tuniques Bleus - the RPG (there should be enough characters and locations to set up an RPG).

Jules vernes . . . journey to the cente of the earth?

Could be interesting, I'd like more victoriana type role playing systems. Does anyone remember a Space 1889 game? Seriously old now . . . I quite like that IP, it was a good one to play. I'd like a Lost World type setting as well (the conan doyle one).

Originally Posted by zima98
N. Gaiman "American Gods" - interesting characters and the good story can be think out for this.

No open ended character generation for that though I'd imagine . . . I'd like something set in the Neverwhere universe myself, but then I'm a Londoner.

On a vaguely related note, can I spam for my brother's upcoming fantasy novel?

http://felixgilman.com/books.html The cover art's not too great, please don't be put off by it . . . there's some quite amusing randomly generated stuff on the Author page as well.

Originally Posted by Benedict
No open ended character generation for that though I'd imagine . . . I'd like something set in the Neverwhere universe myself, but then I'm a Londoner.

Choose the emigrants culture of god it comes from - instead of choose race: elve, human, dwarf - diffreant abilities, strenghts and weaknesses .

Originally Posted by zima98
Choose the emigrants culture of god it comes from - instead of choose race: elve, human, dwarf - diffreant abilities, strenghts and weaknesses .

Hmmmm, so assuming relatively consistent representation of different elemental archetypes across different cultures you could pick the standard god type & the originating culture . . .

I'd feel guilty about reducing millenia of belief systems held by billions of people into a couple of character picks though . . .

I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan, but I don't think his stuff would make for a great RPG. An adventure game maybe, but not an RPG. He's all about the characters, their interactions, reactions and how they go about getting through their adventure. Take that away and you'd lose the key part of what makes Gaiman's work interesting.

I think Alan Moore's League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen would make a great RPG setting though. It could be populated with all manner of literary characters, quests, creatures and places.

Philip K. Dick's stories could make for an interesting RPG as well.

Originally Posted by Gallifrey
I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan, but I don't think his stuff would make for a great RPG. An adventure game maybe, but not an RPG. He's all about the characters, their interactions, reactions and how they go about getting through their adventure. Take that away and you'd lose the key part of what makes Gaiman's work interesting.

I think Alan Moore's League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen would make a great RPG setting though. It could be populated with all manner of literary characters, quests, creatures and places.

Philip K. Dick's stories could make for an interesting RPG as well.

Hmmm, I'd largely be inclined to agree. I think the neverwhere setting would have the perfect ingredient for starting a roleplaying game though - a novice suddenly finding himself in a whole new world that he needs to explore and that he's initially totally unprepared for.

Tell you what I've totally forgotten, and nobody else has mentioned - Dune. Not the main storyline that I think needs to be left alone, but a minor character rpg set in the overall universe. It's got some good ingredients, obvious character classes / archetypes with abilities (mentat, bene gesserit, smuggler, merchant, noble, probably not the spacers realistically), and most of the abilities (aside from the weird shit Paul does) are pretty consistent.

Originally Posted by Benedict
If they could make anything work with imagica that would be superb . . . is that the one with Sartori or whatever? With the pneuma . . .

Again it's tricky though, most of the best novels have magical powers that are quite open ended which is hard to represent in a computer game.

Yes, that's the one. For me it's the best book I've ever read and although there are a few sex scenes, it seems to fit in the story. (A thing I miss in most other books accept "It…" from Stephen King) With that pneuma thing, there's an awsome weapon, but I agree it would be difficult to implement the whole story in a game.

That's why I think a setting from a book is easier to implement then the whole story -> The discworld setting would certainly be a great one with all those different characters like Cohen the Barbarian and Rincewind for example. Still it would be difficult to implement the humor Terry Pratchett puts in his books.

Originally Posted by Bartacus
Yes, that's the one. For me it's the best book I've ever read and although there are a few sex scenes, it seems to fit in the story. (A thing I miss in most other books accept "It…" from Stephen King) With that pneuma thing, there's an awsome weapon, but I agree it would be difficult to implement the whole story in a game.

That's why I think a setting from a book is easier to implement then the whole story -> The discworld setting would certainly be a great one with all those different characters like Cohen the Barbarian and Rincewind for example. Still it would be difficult to implement the humor Terry Pratchett puts in his books.

Oh definitely, I've never seen the point of directly porting an actual novel into the game. You know what's going to happen and it'll never be as good as the actual book itself.

Doesn't Terry Pratchett's daughter already write for computer games? Rhianna pratchett I think . . . can't remember what game it was but she's definitely working somewhere in the industry.

Originally Posted by Benedict
Hmmm, I'd largely be inclined to agree. I think the neverwhere setting would have the perfect ingredient for starting a roleplaying game though - a novice suddenly finding himself in a whole new world that he needs to explore and that he's initially totally unprepared for.

The Neverwhere setting is wonderful, I agree. But thinking of it along the lines of an RPG, I think the wonder of the setting would get watered down. Neverwhere isn't about fighting baddies, gatherling loot and leveling up while completing quests. It'd make a great adventure game though.

Originally Posted by Gallifrey
The Neverwhere setting is wonderful, I agree. But thinking of it along the lines of an RPG, I think the wonder of the setting would get watered down. Neverwhere isn't about fighting baddies, gatherling loot and leveling up while completing quests. It'd make a great adventure game though.

I agree it wouldn't have the same feel at all, but the concept and atmosphere of a Below London would have a lot more depth than many settings.

Oh it absolutely would. London Below is a brilliant setting and being able to explore that in a game would be tremendous.

I do suppose though that it could make a passable RPG if the protagonist is not an outsider, but one of many characters that inhabits London Below. That might fit the RPG framework a bit more than playing an outsider that stumbles into it all. For example, you could play someone like Hunter rather than Richard.

Benedict, instead of posting nine times in a row you could have had multiple quotes in one post. That's what the 'quote +' button is for: press it for all quotes you want to include in your post, and for the last quote press the regular 'quote' button.

Originally Posted by Jaz
Benedict, instead of posting nine times in a row you could have had multiple quotes in one post. That's what the 'quote +' button is for: press it for all quotes you want to include in your post, and for the last quote press the regular 'quote' button.

What quote + button?