Any other GMs here novelise their campaigns?

Spooky · April 15, 2025, 06:59:08 AM

I started writing recaps for players after each session about six years ago. About 3 years ago I started to rewrite these in novel format. I've printed up a couple of zines with collections of the chapters. I'm now continuing to "publish" with a substack I just started.

Does anyone else do this kind of thing here?

zircher · April 15, 2025, 11:25:16 AM

I'm mainly a solo player these days and that means a lot of writing. I do make short stories out of a lot of my game sessions. My current campaign is written in Japanese replay format so it reads kind of like a movie script and is novel length (99,667 words according to Libre Office Writer.)

BadApple · April 15, 2025, 12:30:35 PM

I kind of feel that this would be a breach of trust with my players if I did this.

Omega · April 15, 2025, 03:05:29 PM

Look up a little thing called "Record of Lodoss War". That started as a series of magazine articles on how to play D&D with play logs. And then was novellized and became its own thing in Japan because TSR dropped the ball on licensing it.

Turning RP logs into stories goes back to at least the late 80s to early 90s. Mostly in the form of short stories. But some have gone quite long.

There is also a web comic based on a groups Keep on the Borderland campaign. Probably lots more.

Insane Nerd Ramblings · April 15, 2025, 03:29:08 PM

I did the opposite: I turned my RPG setting into a series of novels. I basically wanted a tie-in. They actually started off as fiction that was gonna be at the start of the campaign/player's handbook and then evolved into fully realized characters.

Spooky · April 15, 2025, 06:04:13 PM

Quote from: zircher on April 15, 2025, 11:25:16 AMI'm mainly a solo player these days and that means a lot of writing. I do make short stories out of a lot of my game sessions. My current campaign is written in Japanese replay format so it reads kind of like a movie script and is novel length (99,667 words according to Libre Office Writer.)

Coolness. What's Japanese replay format?

Spooky · April 15, 2025, 06:06:45 PM

Quote from: Omega on April 15, 2025, 03:05:29 PMLook up a little thing called "Record of Lodoss War". That started as a series of magazine articles on how to play D&D with play logs. And then was novellized and became its own thing in Japan because TSR dropped the ball on licensing it.

Yeah. Am familiar. I was watching VHS fansubs of Lodoss War at my local anime club in the mid-90s.

I had heard it was a real campaign. But I'd forgotten. Thanks for reminding me.

Spooky · April 15, 2025, 06:07:10 PM

Quote from: Insane Nerd Ramblings on April 15, 2025, 03:29:08 PMI did the opposite: I turned my RPG setting into a series of novels. I basically wanted a tie-in. They actually started off as fiction that was gonna be at the start of the campaign/player's handbook and then evolved into fully realized characters.

Cool man.

Spooky · April 15, 2025, 06:08:42 PM

Quote from: BadApple on April 15, 2025, 12:30:35 PMI kind of feel that this would be a breach of trust with my players if I did this.

Mine are in on it and love it. One guy wants to make his campaign into a script for netflix from my writing.

zircher · April 15, 2025, 07:12:45 PM

Quote from: Spooky on April 15, 2025, 06:04:13 PMCoolness. What's Japanese replay format?

In it's raw form, it is a transcription of a roleplaying session. Often seen as a tutorial, but they became of thing on their own and many many digest sized magazines were published for dozens of games. Record of Lodoss War probably being the most famous to western fans.

Just for fun, here's the hub for my current campaign, Endless Sky. Check out part one to get an idea for the (simplified) format that I use.

Omega · April 15, 2025, 09:40:08 PM

Quote from: Spooky on April 15, 2025, 06:04:13 PM
Quote from: zircher on April 15, 2025, 11:25:16 AMI'm mainly a solo player these days and that means a lot of writing. I do make short stories out of a lot of my game sessions. My current campaign is written in Japanese replay format so it reads kind of like a movie script and is novel length (99,667 words according to Libre Office Writer.)

Coolness. What's Japanese replay format?

From the ones I saw it seems to be like how Gygax and BX D&D presented examples of play.
DM: Having killed the Hobgoblins, you find a set of stairs leading down to the south.
Morgan: We are going down the stairs.
DM: After 30' you reach a round landing with two sets of stairs. One goes down to the east. One goes down to the west.
Morgan: Fredric looks down the east and Silverleaf looks down the west. What so we see?

Including the OOC commentary. Which the BX one has. But also chargen and setup/introduction and so on.

Reckall · April 16, 2025, 12:21:54 AM

I don't novelize my campaigns, but two players of mine, husband and wife, write and draw comic books. They did a run about their two characters in my D&D campaign a few years ago.

OTOH, I'm a comic book writer, and I create my characters by using RPGs since the '90s. GURPS is, IMHO, still the best system for creating characters, but CoC (any edition) and D&D 3/.5E are great too.

Spooky · April 16, 2025, 02:35:40 AM

Quote from: Omega on April 15, 2025, 09:40:08 PM
Quote from: Spooky on April 15, 2025, 06:04:13 PM
Quote from: zircher on April 15, 2025, 11:25:16 AMI'm mainly a solo player these days and that means a lot of writing. I do make short stories out of a lot of my game sessions. My current campaign is written in Japanese replay format so it reads kind of like a movie script and is novel length (99,667 words according to Libre Office Writer.)

Coolness. What's Japanese replay format?

From the ones I saw it seems to be like how Gygax and BX D&D presented examples of play.
DM: Having killed the Hobgoblins, you find a set of stairs leading down to the south.
Morgan: We are going down the stairs.
DM: After 30' you reach a round landing with two sets of stairs. One goes down to the east. One goes down to the west.
Morgan: Fredric looks down the east and Silverleaf looks down the west. What so we see?

Including the OOC commentary. Which the BX one has. But also chargen and setup/introduction and so on.

That's interesting. I'm guessing it's "Japanese" format because some Jap magazine serialised a campaign in the Gygax example of play way or something?

Spooky · April 16, 2025, 02:42:29 AM

Quote from: zircher on April 15, 2025, 07:12:45 PM
Quote from: Spooky on April 15, 2025, 06:04:13 PMCoolness. What's Japanese replay format?

In it's raw form, it is a transcription of a roleplaying session. Often seen as a tutorial, but they became of thing on their own and many many digest sized magazines were published for dozens of games. Record of Lodoss War probably being the most famous to western fans.

Just for fun, here's the hub for my current campaign, Endless Sky. Check out part one to get an idea for the (simplified) format that I use.

I had a look. A completely different approach to me! I use traditional prose that come out of my AARs. Nice little website.

Kiero · April 16, 2025, 08:40:22 AM

This is how The Expanse came to be written as a series of books.

It was a setting, originally created for a videogame, then run as a play-by-post game, which the GM and another writer turned into novels.