Adapting Introduction
May 19, 2010 in Articles
Not so long ago I received a box of assorted books from a friend. I appreciate the contributions to my literary education; I find I lack the knowledge not only of the important authors but sometimes of which are the important ones. Yet as I devoured the gift, I wondered, and did so outloud on my Blogless Lepolt, whether I ought to write reviews of all these books.
And the one who so kindly provided them replied to my musings, I’d be more interested in your thoughts on how to use these various books for gaming worlds. Maybe not the book as it is, but some element of it.
It is perhaps a bit embarrassing that it has been a long time since I’ve adapted a book or movie or other story for game play–not, perhaps, since I did The Prisoner of Zenda for Multiverser: The Second Book of Worlds. Part of that is because the vast majority of the games I run are public games–the forum, conventions, demos–and I hesitate to use what will be perceived as “plagiarized” material, particularly by the authors but not much less by other game companies who spend money on licenses for popular works. Thus I rarely run games based on worlds or stories created by others, and I don’t think to adapt stories for game use that I will never run.
But you might run them; even if you don’t run the worlds I get from books I’ve read, you might learn something from these adaptations that will enable you to do your own.
Besides, I’m considerably less concerned about important authors getting upset about my use of their ideas in game worlds. I’ve met some of them now, and by and large they’re generally nice people–and whatever I tell you about how to run their stories in your games, you’ll probably need to obtain copies of their books to do it, so this is to their advantage.
Thus, in no particular hurry, on no particular schedule, and in no particular sequence, I am beginning a new series here at Gaming Outpost, what is I think the fourth series I’ve published here. I am titling it Adapting, to be followed by the author and book title to be so adapted in each article. The adaptations will be woefully sketchy for a wealth of reasons, but will focus on what I perceive as the best way to bring the player into the story or the story elements to the player. I trust Multiverser referees will benefit from the effort, and those who do not play that game might still find something of value in the process for designing adventures for their own campaigns.
And if not, they can switch to Multiverser.
Incidentally, the first series I wrote for Gaming Outpost was the brief Point/Counterpoint series co-authored with Ian O’Rourke in 2000/2001. This was followed by the Game Ideas Unlimited series which ran most of four years. More recently there have been several book review articles under the In re title. There have been numerous other individual articles here and elsewhere.