If you didn’t catch it last week, check out “Days of High Adventure: Gaming Fiction,” Matt Forbeck‘s recent article at The Escapist about gaming tie-in fiction. He begins with a highly informed discussion of the fundamental differences between games and stories, and moves on to talk about tie-in fiction’s commercial and critical nature.
Games consist of events… If you string enough events together you can start to see a pattern form among them. As humans, we recognize patterns, and we build narratives out of them—stories. […]
A sharp storyteller can find the narrative in a grocery list, and games give up far more than that.
A correct and fine thing, that. At least, as long as the realization doesn’t lead to RPG fans at game conventions trying to tell their favorite designers all about the gripping exploits of their favorite cheeses.