Recently I've been adding some of the Modiphius RPG adventures into my personal continuity/timeline, coincidentally. Can't wait to find out more about these.
I've never quite understood the idea of adding a game scenario to a fictional timeline. After all, each version of the game is going to be a somewhat different sequence of events happening to a different set of player characters. There isn't even a single fixed outcome, unless the game really "railroads" the players and limits their choices (which is something I've been trying not to do in my own scenarios). So there's no one version that counts as what "really" happened.
For sure, although some universes, such as Star Wars, count gaming scenarios as part of the timeline with "default" Light Side endings (in most cases), even with drastically-different Dark Side outcomes (such as with the Knights of the Old Republic series, which can end with the entire Republic getting conquered, for instance). Also, for many gaming franchises where player choice offers vastly-divergent endgame outcomes (such as Mass Effect, Fallout, The Witcher, etc.), you kind of pretty much have to have at least one designated "canonical" ending, especially for timeline-keeping purposes and developing the next game in the franchise (for example, did Commander Shepard cause a planetary genocide in one game, and how does that affect the universe in the next game, or did the player choose the opposite action, and which of those two choices should be "counted"? Or, did Geralt allow Prince Stennis to be killed, clearing the way for Saskia to take over the entire Pontar region, and if Andrzej Sapkowski writes any future novels, does he use this particular ending, or the one where King Henselt survives the peace conference?). In properties like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, where the games pretty much drive the franchise and the tie-ins are built around them, it's the games that possess branching storyline-outcomes which have to have a developer/writer's room-decision on which ones carry over into the "default" timeline of the universe, and which ones do not. The Witcher is a very unique case in that the franchise began with a number of prose works, and then the video games are the official, author-endorsed continuation of the books (and are arguably globally better-known than the books, as well). In franchises like Star Trek, you don't necessarily have to have a default "light-side"-type ending for RPG adventures, but I still count the overall events as having happened (usually taken from a logline in a sourcebook, or from the exterior cover of the adventure-module), but I simply don't specify what the final outcome is in my notes. For example, here's my entry for the Modiphius RPG module Away Team: Signals: I list the catalyst-events, but shy away from specifying a final outcome to the storyline (based on varying player-decisions that may occur during the course of the adventure).
I've spent the last 2 years writing, editing, and developing a ton of books and products for the Star Trek Adventures RPG by Modiphius, workload that won't stop any time soon. I'm writing and publishing my own novels in the meantime, and working on an original six-book series now that I'll probably start publishing over the summer. Maybe have the first book at Shore Leave, but we'll see how the spring and early summer goes (plus STA is keeping me pretty busy).
Have any of the story points where the player chooses the outcome played a role in the Mass Effect or Dragon Age books and comics? With the games, the later games were effected by the choices made in the earlier ones, so for there was no actual canon outcome for them.
^ The "Paragon" ending of Mass Effect 2 (where everyone lives during the suicide-mission) is considered the canonical timeline "default" by BioWare for the third game, and the ending in Dragon Age: Origins where Alistair becomes King of Ferelden is considered the canonical ending for that game (to give two examples) -- the subsequent DA novels and comics use the "King Alistair" player storyline-choice, for instance.
Oh, I didn't realize they had a default ending for 2, but I guess it makes they would do one for people who didn't play it before they played 3.
OK, just two more questions for Greg and Christopher. Greg, can you tell us if your new tie in novel is Trek or not? And any interest in writing original SF like Christopher? and also.. Christopher, does 'Only Superhuman' have superheroes whose powers are explained or is it also fantasy too? and also would you like to see your Hub universe series see the small or big screen some day?
As I said earlier in the thread, it's hard-SF. It's set in my primary original SF universe, so it's as plausible as I could make it. That was really my catalyst for the idea in the first place, my desire to explore what kinds of superpowers could actually be possible one day and what could plausibly justify the emergence of actual superheroes. It's been called the first hard-SF superhero novel, though I'm not certain if that's true. (By the way, Among the Wild Cybers, containing the rest of my published fiction in that universe plus a new Only Superhuman prequel story, is now available for preorder at Amazon and B&N, and the Kickstarter campaign for it should be starting soon.) Absolutely. I conceived it as a TV sitcom idea in the first place, before I concluded that I had no interest in working in TV. That shaped the whole concept and setting. A transportation hub is a good sitcom setting because of all the different characters that pass through it (see Taxi, Wings, The John Larroquette Show, etc.), and it's good for telling a wide range of science fiction stories without leaving your standing sets (see Babylon 5, Deep Space Nine, etc.). Making it the cheapest, most run-down Hubstation made it affordable for a TV budget as well as allowing for the comedy of failure and frustration, and having its facilities tailored to roughly humanlike bipeds was an excuse for mostly featuring aliens that could be played by humans in makeup (though I always imagined getting the Henson Studios to do creature effects for some of the species). The stories I've written have ended up going in a less sitcommy, less budget-constrained direction (especially the three new stories I have upcoming), but the basic premise could still work as a sitcom.
I suppose there's no harm in admitting that,no, it's not Trek. As for writing something original . . . that's on my New Year's Resolution list every year, but I've yet to get around to it. I have lots of notes and outlines stuck in files, but, honestly, between the tie-in work and editing books (like ONLY SUPERHUMAN) for Tor, it's hard to find time to write an original novel on spec. A good problem to have, I know. One of these days . . ..
Since it sounds like probably can't say what you're new tie-in is, can you say when you'll be able to say?
On the tie-in side, the Lethbridge-Stewart novel On His Majesty's National Service by myself and Dr Lynette Nusbacher has been officially announced. On the original novel side I have an SF thing called Triton Swarm coming from Severed Press. Nonfiction-wise, my wife Lesley and I are just delivering The Silver Achive #1: Sapphire And Steel Adventures One And Two, for publication by Obverse books.