Short stories and order...

[jibbajibba]

Certainly not, but I am suggesting that new material often attracts new readers.

Tolkien has had success by (1) having his books continually in print, (2) by having extra books like HOME published, (3) by having role-playing, wargame, and miniatures gaming products printed, and (4) by having cartoons and eventually movies. If Tolkien's books had gone out of print and no additional things would have been created, perhaps he would vanish from the shelves as well no matter how good the books might be.

Zelazny's books are hard to find, the games are even more rare and not supported. At least when the Betancourt books came out there was some level of "buzz" and something with Zelazny's name and Amber on a shelf somewhere.

Tolkien and Zelazny are simply not comparable. The LOTR is a life's work it contains the richest background and depth of any fantasy novel. there is so much to mine from Tolkein's notes alone that his son has relaeased more than a dozen compilations to keep fresh product in the stores.
Zelazny is a different beast. Nine Princes was written to pay bills. Zelazny is even internally inconsistent in his own world mixing dates and birth orders. I suspect at the time he never even thought that the books would be around much longer than a few years.
Its a greater truth to compare Zelazny to Leiber and we aren;t see a lot of Grey Mouser film/book/game adaptations well apart from D&D of course

[Evermasterx]

Zelazny is a different beast. Nine Princes was written to pay bills. Zelazny is even internally inconsistent in his own world mixing dates and birth orders. I suspect at the time he never even thought that the books would be around much longer than a few years.

I'm not convinced about this, because at page 60 of the Great Book of Amber, Nine Princes in Amber, Corwin while is walking the Pattern of Rebma, starts to remember and says, through the words of Zelazny: "... and even now, as I stand contemplating the Courts of Chaos, telling this story to the only one present to hear, that perhaps he may repeat it, that he will not die after I have died within, even now, I remember thee with love, city that I was born to rule..."
So in the very first book Zelazny already knew that Corwin in the last book would have been telling his tale to his son Merlin, at page 574, The Courts of Chaos.

[weilide]

I'm not convinced about this, because at page 60 of the Great Book of Amber, Nine Princes in Amber, Corwin while is walking the Pattern of Rebma, starts to remember and says, through the words of Zelazny: "... and even now, as I stand contemplating the Courts of Chaos, telling this story to the only one present to hear, that perhaps he may repeat it, that he will not die after I have died within, even now, I remember thee with love, city that I was born to rule..."
So in the very first book Zelazny already knew that Corwin in the last book would have been telling his tale to his son Merlin, at page 574, The Courts of Chaos.

Really, all he does is mention a place with an intriguing name and the existence of an (anonymous) addressee -- there's no evidence to suggest that he had much more than that.

[finarvyn]

It also predates ADRPG by about 12 years so ...

Actually, Paranoia was published in 1984, which predates the 1991 publication of ADRP at only 7 years. However, all accounts point to the fact that ADRP actually saw play as early as 1986, which is only 2 years after Paranoia. Personally, I doubt that Paranoia had any significant impact on the development of ADRP, but I might be wrong...

Or was there another reason for making the "predate" statement?

[jibbajibba]

Actually, Paranoia was published in 1984, which predates the 1991 publication of ADRP at only 7 years. However, all accounts point to the fact that ADRP actually saw play as early as 1986, which is only 2 years after Paranoia. Personally, I doubt that Paranoia had any significant impact on the development of ADRP, but I might be wrong...

Or was there another reason for making the "predate" statement?

Hehehe, we were looking for ways in which ADRPG influenced future games not what games influenced amber

[Jason D]

Actually, Paranoia was published in 1984, which predates the 1991 publication of ADRP at only 7 years. However, all accounts point to the fact that ADRP actually saw play as early as 1986, which is only 2 years after Paranoia. Personally, I doubt that Paranoia had any significant impact on the development of ADRP, but I might be wrong...

Or was there another reason for making the "predate" statement?

Erick did write material for Paranoia during the development of ADRP, so I can't imagine there was no impact.

[finarvyn]

Ouch. Can't believe that I forgot about Erick's Clones in Space module!

[RPGPundit]

There are a ton of games that were influenced by the ideas presented in Amber, without directly imitating rules.

Guardians of Order's games, pretty well all of them, had some extremely obvious amber influences, right down to gaming advice copied almost word-for-word from the Amber manual.

RPGPundit

[Jason D]

There are a ton of games that were influenced by the ideas presented in Amber, without directly imitating rules.

Guardians of Order's games, pretty well all of them, had some extremely obvious amber influences, right down to gaming advice copied almost word-for-word from the Amber manual.

RPGPundit

Two of the main guys in Guardians of Order, Mark Mackinnon and Jesse Scoble, were seriousAmber fans and players. I met them back before they'd formed GoO, at an Ambercon in Detroit.

Funny story they told me... Mark gave Erick a manuscript copy of the rulebook for BESM before it went to press, seeking feedback. Erick suggested he have it printed "backwards", like authentic Japanese manga, and put a page of fake Japanese text on the back cover.

Mark decided that it might not be the best idea for the US/Canadian market, and decided to print it the way he'd originally planned.