Using Actual Book Plots in D&D

[SirBellias]

Hey, y'all.

So for one of the games I'm going to be in, the DM just told me that the plot he has in mind will be The Inheritance Cycle. Not based on it, not using the setting, the actual plot of the books.

I didn't read the entire series, but I did get through the first book, and it was okay, I guess. He has said that he's never done anything like this before, and hopes he won't have to railroad us too hard, but will let us differ from the book if it makes sense for us to do so.

Has anyone else tried this idea out? Because it sounds rather antithetical to what the majority opinion is here. I'm going to see how it goes, because it may be better than he made it out to be, but has this ever actually worked for anyone here?

I'm not too thrilled, but I hate making assumptions, especially since I haven't played a game with him before.

[Green Elf]

The problem 8 I have is that the plot is already revealed in the series. I would say he should shape his own story and have a very similar setting. This may be some boring stuff man. Watch out and give him some suggestions. It should hopefully be good from there.

[Kami2awa]

I haven't read the Inheritance Cycle, but I have some advice on mapping book plots onto RPGs. The major thing is to be aware that certain storytelling methods work better in some media than others. For example, there are far more car chases in films than books - because films can show visual spectacle more easily. OTOH, it is often more difficult in a film to portray characters' thoughts, with this often being dependent on the actors rather than the script.

RPGs present a unique challenge because you the GM don't have full control over the characters and the story.
Unless you intend quite a lot of railroading, the plot of your game will probably diverge from that of the books. What happens, for example, if an NPC dies who has an important role later on? What happens if the players fail a challenge at which they succeeded at in the book, or vice versa?

Furthermore, RPGs are limited to a small number of viewpoints - you can't easily cut away to show what the villain is doing, for example. Of course, some books would suit this as a lot of books don't use an "omniscient narrator" but instead are limited to one or two characters' points of view.

RPGs also require balance between characters, whereas other forms of story don't. Consider the imbalance between the members of the Fellowship of the Ring. One is an angelic being of huge supernatural power, whereas one is a gardener who happened to be nearby at the time. In a book, this works because Sam undergoes enormous growth and development. In an RPG, it would likely be frustrating for Sam's player to watch Gandalf solve all the challenges faced by the party.

[arrowed]

I love the Inheritance Cycle! Eragon was one of my first high fantasy novels as a kid. But... I have reservations on whether this will work. If you know the plot, you know what the DM wants to happen, and intentionally or not you will metagame on that knowledge. I think the looser your DM holds to the plot, the more fun you'll have, and the more likely it is people who have read the books will be on even footing with those who haven't. The Inheritance Cycle's main plot isn't massively twisty, to the point where people accuse it of mimicking another franchise, so I doubt it'll be much more railroady than normal. I think it'll work if it's just the main objectives of the group he takes from the plot, with macguffins and BBEGs in mostly the same places.

[Quiver]

I remember a video by Noah Antwiler, where he mentioned basing an RPG off of Babylon 5... with the twist that things would be just off a little. It was Babylon 5, but Babylon 5 where the main characters had been replaced by the RPG players...

And with the caveat that things would not be as they were in the series. Specifically, the example he gave was, "If the players know Mordin is evil, they'll just gun him down. But maybe in this universe, he's not evil. Maybe in this universe, he's an encyclopedia salesman". That stops them using the knowledge they know from the show to game the system, and let him create and deviate from canon and be appluaded for it, rather than have someone point out how it breaks the rules set down in episode X of season Y.

I think, using the Inheritance Cycle in that manner? That could work. It let's him drop the players into a setting which is (preumably) familiar to all of them, so they all know what the rules are going forward... but let's him twist things however he wants. Maybe Galbatorix really IS a benevolent king in this world and it's just bad propaganda. Maybe the dragon riders were facists, and the players discover they are villain protagonists, and are faced with the question "What do?"

Giving players the assurance of a set narrative, only to sweep it out from under them... that could be very satisfying. And it let's the DM practice his own story telling style and tropes.

[Vinyadan]

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=612

Awesomesauce.

[Necroticplague]

I haven't read the Inheritance Cycle, but I have some advice on mapping book plots onto RPGs. The major thing is to be aware that certain storytelling methods work better in some media than others. For example, there are far more car chases in films than books - because films can show visual spectacle more easily. OTOH, it is often more difficult in a film to portray characters' thoughts, with this often being dependent on the actors rather than the script.

RPGs also require balance between characters, whereas other forms of story don't. Consider the imbalance between the members of the Fellowship of the Ring. One is an angelic being of huge supernatural power, whereas one is a gardener who happened to be nearby at the time. In a book, this works because Sam undergoes enormous growth and development. In an RPG, it would likely be frustrating for Sam's player to watch Gandalf solve all the challenges faced by the party.

Just to back up these points, I find one problem with book-type plots in RPGs is that players are much less likely to act like book characters due. In most non-interactive media, you can see people doing really stupid things all the time, because it ultimately helps create complications to the plot that spice things up. Like in the old slashers, where everyone splits up for no discernable reason. Similarly, powerful beings are limited in effect on the plot because their hands tend to be tied by greater forces. However, players tend to not do these things and hold themselves back like that. So while the horror character might split up and get picked off one-by-one, the horror player is very unlikely to. Likewise, while Gandalf might have been constantly off-screen, and rarely used his immense power directly to the party, a player would abuse that power any time they think it could help.

Or to simplify: Characters act to create complications, players will typically act to eliminate complications. Adjust accordingly.

[Anonymouswizard]

The Inheritance Cycle's main plot isn't massively twisty, to the point where people accuse it of mimicking another franchise, so I doubt it'll be much more railroady than normal.

Me and my brother had a lot of fun once we discovered that the author had decided to write a science fiction series. I think we got as far as:

'A farm boy is trained to be a Smedi while saving a princess from the Soth Empire, and ends up destroying their superweapon. Unfortunately, a year later the Soth attack the rebels on the planet Hith, and the farm boy must travel to another planet to learn the ways of the Morce from a great master.'

I remember a video by Noah Antwiler, where he mentioned basing an RPG off of Babylon 5... with the twist that things would be just off a little. It was Babylon 5, but Babylon 5 where the main characters had been replaced by the RPG players...

That is the way to do it. It's why, the one time I played a Star Wars game, we were warned that the galaxy was different (although the only major deviation we came across was that a lot of Storm Troopers were still cloned on Kamino).

[SirBellias]

Yeah, that all makes sense to me. Another complication is that he's giving us all characters from the series, and most of the players haven't read any of the books. Which could be a good thing, since that gives him more freedom to change things around, or a bad thing, as no one will know the intricacies of the setting (not that there were many...). I guess it really depends on how close he wants to keep to the main plot, and how badly everyone else wants to deviate from it.

[Flickerdart]

A premise of a book is fine. A plot? It's going to go off the rails within the first hour.

[Anonymouswizard]

Yeah, that all makes sense to me. Another complication is that he's giving us all characters from the series, and most of the players haven't read any of the books. Which could be a good thing, since that gives him more freedom to change things around, or a bad thing, as no one will know the intricacies of the setting (not that there were many...). I guess it really depends on how close he wants to keep to the main plot, and how badly everyone else wants to deviate from it.

I'm trying to think of suitable PCs, and assuming that you want the majority of people playing humans I can see:
-Brom - has a bit of magic, a bit of swordplay, and a handful of social and survival skills. Although he rarely uses his magic, so just give him weak magic and he'd be a suitable PC. You'd have to let the player survive his fatal encounter though.
-Roran - he's your basic fighter type with a ash of social skills. As long as people except him being better incombat than Brom (maybe he has higher stats due to be younger) he'd make a decent PC.
-Murtagh is another good option, and again is mainly a straight fighter type (maybe something like Fate Accelerated would be better). You'd have to be fine retconning his fate from the end of book 1 though.
-Nasuada maybe, if the party's not as focused on adventuring. Yes she does participate in combat, but she's pretty much tied to the rest of Varden command.
-Orik could work, dwarves seem to have about human level abilities in this universe.
-Carn? It's been a long time since I've read the books.

You can't really include any elves or dragon riders, as they are significantly more powerful than humans.

[SirBellias]

Okay, so now he is saying he expects it to go off the rails fast, and can react to that. Though we are still basing our characters off of the ones in the book at the start, though. Which is strange to me, as everyone will be at different levels, and in different places, but I'm sure he will deal with that in a nonobtuse way. My character is based on Murtagh.... Building a Warblade, because that sounds amusing. And I may actually be able to win some of the fights that are in the book.

So it appears the premise has changed from "follow the plot of the book" to "start at the opening of the book and see what happens." I think he's expecting to use a lot of the main plot points, at least, but that shouldn't be an issue since I forgot most of them, and the other guy who has read the books is a new player. I'll update this after the first session.

[Knaight]

So it appears the premise has changed from "follow the plot of the book" to "start at the opening of the book and see what happens." I think he's expecting to use a lot of the main plot points, at least, but that shouldn't be an issue since I forgot most of them, and the other guy who has read the books is a new player. I'll update this after the first session.

This is fairly functional, it's just the use of an established setting. It's kind of a terrible setting, but this is D&D and standards are low.

[GungHo]

My character is based on Murtagh

I would make references to how I'm just two weeks from retirement and being worried about dying on the toilet.

[prufock]

So it appears the premise has changed from "follow the plot of the book" to "start at the opening of the book and see what happens."

This is very much a good thing. Plot depends heavily on what the characters do. This means if he wants to follow the plot, he's expecting your characters to behave as they do in the book, which isn't a role-playing game, it's a group retelling of the same story.

The new approach is more like an alternate history. Things in the background may be happening the same way, but your characters can make new decisions that alter the plot.