Ep.29: How Fiction & RPGS feed one another
What changes when a novel becomes a roleplaying game, or a campaign becomes a novel? In Episode 30 of Modern Mythology, we explore the relationship between published fiction and tabletop RPGs: how shared worlds move between formats, and what happens when a story with a fixed course becomes something players can change.
We trace that exchange through Tolkien, Dragonlance and The Expanse, among many others, asking how closely a game should follow its source material. Does knowing the canon give players more to work with, or make them reluctant to change anything? And how much does a system need to capture the experience of a particular world? Call of Cthulhu, Vancian magic and Amber’s diceless play offer different answers.
James also discusses adapting his campaign into BLACKOUT: Terminal Ghosts, including the unexpected discovery that the party itself had become the forthcoming novel’s point of view. We consider what happens to NPC interiority, exposition and character relationships in that transition, and how writing fiction can change the way we run games. Along the way, we revisit character death and discuss mechanics that give players reasons to talk about something beyond their next objective.
Stay through the end for a preview of the BLACKOUT prologue.
For more on the discussion of System and Style check out our written articles and Scott’s additional thoughts on specific systems on our YouTube channel.
Topics discussed:
00:00:03 Back from hiatus
00:03:52 Fiction versus RPGs: fixed and open
00:04:56 Tolkien, folklore and Tolkienization
00:06:39 NPCs vs the party as POV.
00:10:23 Early connections between fiction and RPGs
00:18:26 Dragonlance as a feedback loop
00:23:25 Canon, extended eras and variants
00:29:18 Why D&D novelizations typically fall flat
00:31:21 Why Blackout was worth novelizing
00:35:38 Why play in an established setting
00:41:01 Grounding exposition in the characters
00:48:42 The Expanse began as a campaign
00:51:56 Licensing and stewardship as a death knell for creativity
00:54:36 Does the system capture the IP?
01:05:23 Adapt the setting, not the events
01:13:51 Connection scenes as mechanics
01:15:30 Death, and remembering it is fiction
01:20:32 Absent players, first drafts, editing
01:25:25 BLACKOUT: Terminal Ghosts prologue
