Casting Shadows

The prompt for the tenth day of the tenth anniversary edition of #RPGaDAY asks us to consider the tie-in fiction we appreciate, and from the titles we enjoy, to select a favorite for the purpose of spreading excitement and interest about it/them among our fellow gamers.

Quick Posting Tip:
By this point I am sure some people are beginning to worry about the plethora of “favorite X” prompts that are a feature of the first two RPGaDAY infographics. Historically, I have found two truths get reinforced when this term intersects with our demographic. The first is that many gamers buck the use of the word favorite when they are not initiating it. The second is that many gamers have a fluid relationship with favoritism and legitimately find it uncomfortable to conform to questions asking for one, three, five, ten, or whatever number of things that they like.
When you see “favorite” in the RPGaDAY context, it is asking you to choose an example or examples among the things that you love and enthuse about it/them as your response. This insight does not make the discomfort entirely cease, as our kind are full of love and must have many outlets into which that love can escape and grow, but it does, I think ease it enough to carry on through the gauntlet ahead~

Once again, my response for the podcast will be quite (well, totally) different from what gets shared here. Why? I am a gamer, too. I have my many and varied loves just like you yahoos do.

While it is completely true that I am not drawn to tie-in fiction, and also true that I have not explored much of the more popular and populous lists of such fiction, there is one exception which proves that rule: BattleTech. I have read more novels from the Mechwarrior universe than any other tie-in fiction. That still isn’t saying much as I have not read that many, (7 or 8 if memory serves me correctly), but some of that small number I have read numerous times because they are – when written by Michael Stackpole or William H. Keith – largely accurate representations of the IP, and even when they aren’t they are still engaging SF military fiction with compelling characters and lots of inspiring ideas. Chief among these are the Grey Death Legion novels, though although there are many of these, I can only recommend the first three. The reason for that is simple, and already laid bare in times past:

• I prefer to create within the basic frames presented by the games rather than employ the creations of others  
• I don’t tend to go for tie-in fiction
• Most importantly: I have only read the first three novels in the series