Dungeons & Dragons (novels)

Dungeons & Dragons novels are works of fantasy fiction that are based upon campaign settings released for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

History

The first novel based on the Dungeons & Dragons game was Quag Keep (1978) by Andre Norton. Based upon Norton's first experience at playing the Dungeons & Dragons game, it told the story of seven gamers who were drawn into a fantasy setting. The sequel, Return to Quag Keep (2006), was published after Norton had died in 2005.^[1]

A series of authorized novels began in the early 1980s with a survey of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons players. The feedback indicated that the players wanted more dragons in the media products from TSR, Inc. In May, 1983, TSR commissioned Tracy Hickman to produce a new campaign setting that would be called Dragonlance. For marketing purposes, TSR also decided to release a series of books based in the same setting. The first three books became the highly successful Dragonlance Chronicles Trilogy.^[2]

As the time and cost needed to develop a commercial role-playing game are rarely matched by the profits made from selling the end product, the rulesbooks are primarily sold to create a market for the sale of related products. TSR found a lucrative market when they released a series spinoff novels based on the Dragonlance and Dark Sun campaign settings.^[3] These novels stood on their own and did not require knowledge of the game rules, making them accessible by a more general audience.^[4]

The most successful of the novel series produced by TSR during the 1990s were the books based upon the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance settings. These works also proved to have an unusual shelf life, remaining in print for at least a decade. As a result, some fantasy fiction authors that were introduced through the TSR novels became popular authors. Among these are R. A. Salvatore and the writing partnership of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.^[4] Before they went bankrupt in 1997, TSR had published 242 novels based in their campaign settings, with 55 set in the Dragonlance setting and 64 set in the world of Forgotten Realms. TSR's novels were published in ten languages and some made it on to international best seller lists. Other publishers followed the TSR model, including FASA, White Wolf and West End Games.^[5]

By the 2000s, a significant portion of all fantasy paperbacks sales were being published by Wizards of the Coast, the American game company that acquired TSR in 1997.^[6] The works of R. A. Salvatore in particular have proven very popular, with his novels appearing on the New York Times best seller list 22 times as of 2010.^[7]

Authors

See also: T. H. Lain

The following authors have written one or more full length Dungeons & Dragons novels:^[6][8][9]

• Lynn Abbey
• Mark Anthony
• Keith Baker
• Don Bassingthwaite
• Elaine Bergstrom
• John Gregory Betancourt
• Edward Bolme
• Timothy Brown
• Richard Lee Byers
• Andria Cardarelle
• Tonya R. Carter
• Scott Ciencin
• Adrian Cole
• David Cook
• Paul Crilley
• Elaine Cunningham
• Tina Daniell
• Graeme Davis
• Troy Denning
• Gene DeWeese
• Parker De Wolf
• P. N. Elrod
• Rose Estes
• Nigel Findley
• Matt Forbeck
• Christie Golden
• Ed Greenwood
• Jeff Grubb
• Thorarinn Gunnarsson
• Gary Gygax^[10]
• Laurell K. Hamilton
• Simon Hawke
• D.J. Heinrich
• Samantha Henderson
• Tracy Hickman
• Russ T. Howard
• Tanya Huff
• Ryan Hughes
• J. Robert King
• Mary Kirchoff
• Jeff LaSala
• James Lowder
• Dixie Lee McKeone
• Roger E. Moore
• Douglas Niles
• Kate Novak
• David A. Page
• Ellen Porath
• Thomas M. Reid
• Marsheila Rockwell
• R. A. Salvatore
• Morris Simon
• Kevin Stein
• Paul B. Thompson
• Tim Waggoner
• Margaret Weis
• Michael Williams
• Chet Williamson
• Steve Winter
• Rich Wulf
• James Wyatt

Campaign settings

The following Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings have had one or more published novels based in the same fantasy world:

• Birthright
• Dark Sun
• Dragonlance
• Eberron
• Forgotten Realms
• Greyhawk
• Kara-Tur
• Mystara
• Planescape
• Ravenloft
• Spelljammer

References

1. ^ Norton, Andre; Rabe, Jean (2008). Return to Quag Keep. Macmillan. p. 3. ISBN 0765351528. 
2. ^ Mackay, Daniel (2001). The fantasy role-playing game: a new performing art. McFarland. pp. 18–19. ISBN 0786408154. 
3. ^ Clute, John; Grant, John (1999). The encyclopedia of fantasy (2nd ed.). Macmillan. p. 383. ISBN 0312198698. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Oxoby, Marc (2003). The 1990s. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 148. ISBN 0313316155. 
5. ^ Mackay, Daniel (2001). The fantasy role-playing game: a new performing art. McFarland. p. 20. ISBN 0786408154. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Buker, Derek M. (2002). The science fiction and fantasy readers' advisory: the librarian's guide to cyborgs, aliens, and sorcerers. ALA Editions. pp. 127–128. ISBN 0838908314. 
7. ^ "R.A. Salvatore New Book Deal". Wizards of the Coast. January 11, 2010. http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4news/20100111. Retrieved 2010-01-22. 
8. ^ Brown, Charles N.; Contento, William G. (January 2, 2010). "Site Directory". The Locus Index to Science Fiction. Lotus Publications. http://www.locusmag.com/index/. Retrieved 2010-01-25.  Note: individual authors can also be confirmed by a search from the Lotus home page.
9. ^ Slavicsek, Bill; Baker, Richard (2005). "The Ten Best D&D Novels". Dungeons & dragons for dummies. For Dummies. pp. 373–375. ISBN 0764584596. 
10. ^ Modine, Austin (March 4, 2008). "Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax dies". The Register. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/04/gary_gygax_dies_at_69/. Retrieved 2010-01-23.