Harry Potter will never happen unless someone can convince Rowling it would be a good idea. She's already said no like 100 times. Though out of all of these, I think it would do the best.
If you're looking for incredible worlds, fantastic characters and amazing stories you need to start reading Michael Moorcock. His Eternal Champion books span ages and you have the Elric of Melniboné books, the Corum series, the Erekose books, the Dorian Hawkmoon novels, the Dancers at the End of Time trilogy, just to mention a few.
I'd pick those 5 series over anything mentioned in the article. If anyone hasn't read any of these you really are missing out. I highly recommend them.
I personally would love to see old school Dragonlance done into an MMO. Though not a fan of the D & D settings normally, I think Krynn has a lot of potential. Especially if done right after the Catacalysm - would be a very dark time period to set a game in.
Dragonlance as a world actually existed prior to D&D, but wasn't written fully and published until after D&D was out in the world. As the author let their DM use their fantasy setting as a basis to create their original campaign. It wasn't until AD&D that someone turned it into an official D&D setting/module some years later. While I agree that the world would be spectacular to base a game on. It would need to be greatly before the Cataclysm. As the immediately before, after, and WAAAAAAAAY after of that event, has been covered by the books. Up to hundreds of years afterwards. I think an MMO setting which takes place during the ascension of the gods during the original time of dragons on Krynn would be an excellent point. Since there's literally no lore depicting that time, and it would allow for clear factions between the major powers, and the minor ones that work with/fore them. It was also a time when division amongst the races was paramount to each ones survival.
For great world settings, I'd have to nod towards Zelazny's Amber/Courts of Chaos, Philip Jose Farmer's World of Tiers, and Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders setting; all would be interesting and unique, without the cookie cutter medieval/elf/dwarf/dragon/etc icons that pepper a lot of fantasy.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
Currently reading the Wheel of Time. Read the first few books years ago (easily 15-20), but now decided to read them again from the start and to complete the series.
It certainly has a lot to offer, but current MMOs (or in the "near" future, 5-10 years) won't be able to make use of half of it. While the story certainly leaves enough room for any amount of games (even without the ages repeating themselves), it's unlikely we would see any more of it once an MMO swoops up the WoT gaming fans.
Maybe they should do another WoT (non-mmo) rpg, and this time not focus on the engine, but on the game.
On top of that, not everything has to be turned into an MMO. Or even game.
On the other hand, while we are speaking about turning stuff into a game/MMO, i'd love to see a good Babylon 5 game. Though another series or big screen movie would be preferable..
I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore
Wheel of Time's universe could be amazing. But dear God you would have to be SO SO CAREFUL in your gameplay design. Aes Sedai in the books are overpowered to the point of ridiculousness. If you gimped them, people would bitch. If you didn't gimp them, no one would play anything else. The only solution would be to make all the other gameplay paths as interesting/useful as Aes Sedai somehow.
Or, you could perhaps do what Star Wars Galaxies originally came up with, except a lot better. Make the path of discovering that you can channel a long and strange one, and once you get it have it be incredibly dangerous. Channel in the wrong place and the Children of the Light could be on your ass. If you're a man, the Red Ajah would try to capture and Gentle you. Once you're severed/gentled, that's it for you, no more being an Aes Sedai until someone in the game figures out how to Heal it. Yeah. It could work!
The Mistborn Trilogy. I thought this too while reading the books. I also felt they would make great movies . If you like Brandon Sanderson I highly suggesting Patrick Rothfuss. He is doing a great job with the Kingkiller Chronicles series.
On the top of MMORPGs I think Brandon Sandersons Stormlight Archive series would make much more sense. It has built in classes and an opposing faction with powers as well. It fits the mmo model much better and has a lot more diversity than the mistborn series.
I've been hoping for a Harry Potter MMO for years now. I started the series just after Order of the Phoenix, they instantly became my favorite books of all time, and being a huge MMO fan, I immediately saw the potential... But only if planned and executed very, VERY carefully. You can't screw it up with an IP that huge.
In fact, me, my wife, and all my friends were pretty convinced that Pottermore, before the reveal, was going to be an HP MMO announcement. I even still see potential for storytelling in an HP MMO, more so, after experiencing the new content she's provided on that site.
I imagine experiencing Draco's backstory, or McGonagall's (to name just a few), through the use of Pensieves. I can see memories being special rewards, or hidden lore objects, etc, that the player could use and participate in (as far as participation goes in memories) at their leisure.
So much of it is already built in a way that could intelligently translate to an MMO. And I think so much could be done with it - Player housing across, well, the planet, really, considering the real wizarding world isn't solely contained within Great Britain, but with modes of faster travel. I always envisioned Hogwarts as your first step and class-building training grounds, but beefed up for a not-so-quick experience through your schooling, and then it's off into the dangerous real world.
Player-run shops in Diagonal Alley and Hogsmeade, neighboring the NPC shops we already know; running a shop in a small player-run village, even. And that's just a few ideas amongst a long list I've thought of as I've read.
I think, with the right perspective, attention to detail, and a balance between fun and intelligence, an HP MMO could be amazing. But, again, they couldn't just do a mediocre job, slap the HP logo on it, and expect it to be a success. Real thought would have to go into every aspect.
I've also been reading Mistborn recently and, again, if done with care, an MMO after this series could be incredible. In fact, just about anything by Brandon Sanderson would be. Funnily enough, he was also chosen to finish the Wheel of Time series... All of his books are fleshed out in pretty amazing ways, and all of his magic systems are based off of a give and take system - They have limits, which makes them feel that much more real.
Game History (the ones that count): Everquest, Everquest 2, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, Planetside 2
i think each book mentioned (at least the ones ive read) are both yes and no for making into MMO's like a harry potter set MMO yes cool idea but not if its set at hogwarts and your a student that would end up been dumb, same gose for wheel of time yes it would make an ok mmo but i think that would make a better single player game.
belgariad and the malloreon series. David Eddings. I would pay so much all day everyday for a movies series and game series, as long as it was professionally done like LOTR.
12 books of greatness. They are typical, and pretty much a cookie cutter fantasy, in the way of LOTR, dragon lance, and more, but the characters are amazing, and some of his ideas are pretty interesting to contemplate.
The author chose well with wheel of time. I would pick a different Sanderson series.. the stormlight archive! It's going to end up with a lot more source material than the fairly short mist born books. Plus, ya know, it's awesome.
Those would be 2 of my 5.
The others, the gentleman bastards books, mentioned above. Dune, Obvobvobv. And for a twist, something victorian. Like, conan doyle.
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Comments
That's always number one on my list
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
This
If you're looking for incredible worlds, fantastic characters and amazing stories you need to start reading Michael Moorcock. His Eternal Champion books span ages and you have the Elric of Melniboné books, the Corum series, the Erekose books, the Dorian Hawkmoon novels, the Dancers at the End of Time trilogy, just to mention a few.
I'd pick those 5 series over anything mentioned in the article. If anyone hasn't read any of these you really are missing out. I highly recommend them.
Dragonlance as a world actually existed prior to D&D, but wasn't written fully and published until after D&D was out in the world. As the author let their DM use their fantasy setting as a basis to create their original campaign. It wasn't until AD&D that someone turned it into an official D&D setting/module some years later. While I agree that the world would be spectacular to base a game on. It would need to be greatly before the Cataclysm. As the immediately before, after, and WAAAAAAAAY after of that event, has been covered by the books. Up to hundreds of years afterwards. I think an MMO setting which takes place during the ascension of the gods during the original time of dragons on Krynn would be an excellent point. Since there's literally no lore depicting that time, and it would allow for clear factions between the major powers, and the minor ones that work with/fore them. It was also a time when division amongst the races was paramount to each ones survival.
For great world settings, I'd have to nod towards Zelazny's Amber/Courts of Chaos, Philip Jose Farmer's World of Tiers, and Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders setting; all would be interesting and unique, without the cookie cutter medieval/elf/dwarf/dragon/etc icons that pepper a lot of fantasy.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
Currently reading the Wheel of Time. Read the first few books years ago (easily 15-20), but now decided to read them again from the start and to complete the series.
It certainly has a lot to offer, but current MMOs (or in the "near" future, 5-10 years) won't be able to make use of half of it. While the story certainly leaves enough room for any amount of games (even without the ages repeating themselves), it's unlikely we would see any more of it once an MMO swoops up the WoT gaming fans.
Maybe they should do another WoT (non-mmo) rpg, and this time not focus on the engine, but on the game.
On top of that, not everything has to be turned into an MMO. Or even game.
On the other hand, while we are speaking about turning stuff into a game/MMO, i'd love to see a good Babylon 5 game. Though another series or big screen movie would be preferable..
I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore
Wheel of Time's universe could be amazing. But dear God you would have to be SO SO CAREFUL in your gameplay design. Aes Sedai in the books are overpowered to the point of ridiculousness. If you gimped them, people would bitch. If you didn't gimp them, no one would play anything else. The only solution would be to make all the other gameplay paths as interesting/useful as Aes Sedai somehow.
Or, you could perhaps do what Star Wars Galaxies originally came up with, except a lot better. Make the path of discovering that you can channel a long and strange one, and once you get it have it be incredibly dangerous. Channel in the wrong place and the Children of the Light could be on your ass. If you're a man, the Red Ajah would try to capture and Gentle you. Once you're severed/gentled, that's it for you, no more being an Aes Sedai until someone in the game figures out how to Heal it. Yeah. It could work!
I'm showing my age here but this would be my list of top 5 in no particular order.
David Eddings - The Belgariad
Terry Brook - The Shannara Series (any)
Raymond E Feist - The Riftwar Saga
Piers Anthony - Battle Circle or Xanth
David Duncan - The Reluctant Swordsman
The Mistborn Trilogy. I thought this too while reading the books. I also felt they would make great movies
. If you like Brandon Sanderson I highly suggesting Patrick Rothfuss. He is doing a great job with the Kingkiller Chronicles series.
On the top of MMORPGs I think Brandon Sandersons Stormlight Archive series would make much more sense. It has built in classes and an opposing faction with powers as well. It fits the mmo model much better and has a lot more diversity than the mistborn series.
I've been hoping for a Harry Potter MMO for years now. I started the series just after Order of the Phoenix, they instantly became my favorite books of all time, and being a huge MMO fan, I immediately saw the potential... But only if planned and executed very, VERY carefully. You can't screw it up with an IP that huge.
In fact, me, my wife, and all my friends were pretty convinced that Pottermore, before the reveal, was going to be an HP MMO announcement. I even still see potential for storytelling in an HP MMO, more so, after experiencing the new content she's provided on that site.
I imagine experiencing Draco's backstory, or McGonagall's (to name just a few), through the use of Pensieves. I can see memories being special rewards, or hidden lore objects, etc, that the player could use and participate in (as far as participation goes in memories) at their leisure.
So much of it is already built in a way that could intelligently translate to an MMO. And I think so much could be done with it - Player housing across, well, the planet, really, considering the real wizarding world isn't solely contained within Great Britain, but with modes of faster travel. I always envisioned Hogwarts as your first step and class-building training grounds, but beefed up for a not-so-quick experience through your schooling, and then it's off into the dangerous real world.
Player-run shops in Diagonal Alley and Hogsmeade, neighboring the NPC shops we already know; running a shop in a small player-run village, even. And that's just a few ideas amongst a long list I've thought of as I've read.
I think, with the right perspective, attention to detail, and a balance between fun and intelligence, an HP MMO could be amazing. But, again, they couldn't just do a mediocre job, slap the HP logo on it, and expect it to be a success. Real thought would have to go into every aspect.
I've also been reading Mistborn recently and, again, if done with care, an MMO after this series could be incredible. In fact, just about anything by Brandon Sanderson would be. Funnily enough, he was also chosen to finish the Wheel of Time series... All of his books are fleshed out in pretty amazing ways, and all of his magic systems are based off of a give and take system - They have limits, which makes them feel that much more real.
Game History (the ones that count): Everquest, Everquest 2, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft, Planetside 2
Gentleman Bastards!
No, I'm not cursing at you guys. That's the name of the series I'm rooting for.
belgariad and the malloreon series. David Eddings. I would pay so much all day everyday for a movies series and game series, as long as it was professionally done like LOTR.
12 books of greatness. They are typical, and pretty much a cookie cutter fantasy, in the way of LOTR, dragon lance, and more, but the characters are amazing, and some of his ideas are pretty interesting to contemplate.
Yes, Yes, a thousand times yes to a well done Harry Potter MMO that feels just like the books!
I would pick a different Sanderson series.. the stormlight archive! It's going to end up with a lot more source material than the fairly short mist born books. Plus, ya know, it's awesome.
Those would be 2 of my 5.
The others, the gentleman bastards books, mentioned above. Dune, Obvobvobv. And for a twist, something victorian. Like, conan doyle.
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins