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Areader
Acolyte
USA
14 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Oct 2023 : 19:17:20
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From Amazon's listings:
Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin Hardcover – March 5, 2024
"Meet the newest Dungeons & Dragons party in the first epic adventure of The Fallbacks.
To become renowned adventurers, this party needs to survive their first job.
Tessalynde is an ambitious young rogue who dreams of leading Faerûn’s foremost adventuring party. While the crew she’s gathered isn’t the stuff of legend yet, she’s confident her guidance can get them there.
The team: Anson, a fighter too stubborn to stay down, even when the odds are stacked against him. Cazrin, a self-taught wizard determined to test her theoretical mettle against the real world. Baldric, a cleric who refuses to tie himself to a single deity when he can trade favors with them all. Lark, a bard with as many secrets as songs. And, of course, Uggie, a monstrous pet otyugh who loves giving hugs and eating trash.
Their first job: recovering a mysterious spellbook from a lost temple for a hefty payout. Tess hopes this assignment can turn her group of fledgling freelancers into a true team. But when their client is killed, their coin and his murderer both vanish, leaving the party to take the fall.
Stuck with a sentient, bloodthirsty grimoire and pursued by mercenaries and the undead, this is hardly the mission Tess envisioned. Her crew must save the day, get the gold, and clear the party’s name—which they haven’t even agreed upon yet! With the threats against them mounting, a single mistake will see this party over before it even begins.
Can this band of mismatched misfits stay together in the face of danger? Or are they bound for ruin?"
The author is Jaleigh Johnson.
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Seravin
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1251 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2023 : 20:58:11
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I'm really happy for another novel set in the Realms that isn't Drizzt & Co who I gave up with sometime around the 1000 orcs.
I wonder which area it will be set in. My sad expectation is it will be the Sword Coast/North, because we never get any other part of the Realms; but I live in hope for the Dales or Moonsea or Cormyr. |
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sno4wy
Senior Scribe
USA
466 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2023 : 23:55:53
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| This is super intriguing, and I've really enjoyed at least one Jaleigh book. There are some that she's written that was a bit... ??? for me. In any case, interesting choice of author to tap, I'm kind of surprised they didn't go with Richard Lee Byers, Erin M Evans, or Paul S Kemp. |
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Irennan
Great Reader
Italy
3802 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2023 : 10:01:46
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| Maybe they had other projects, or their price is higher than WotC is willing to pay (which, last time I checked, was below market standard). IIRC, Kemp spoke about this some years ago (and this isn't to say that Jaleigh Johnson is worth less than other authors, of course). |
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. |
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Seravin
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1251 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2023 : 10:48:17
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| I'm definitely going to pick this up. I kind of like a more traditional/tropey party based adventure. No more RSE please. |
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sno4wy
Senior Scribe
USA
466 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2023 : 18:51:52
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quote:
Originally posted by Irennan
Maybe they had other projects, or their price is higher than WotC is willing to pay (which, last time I checked, was below market standard). IIRC, Kemp spoke about this some years ago (and this isn't to say that Jaleigh Johnson is worth less than other authors, of course).
I knew about this with Kemp, and it made me really mad. It is all speculation, but I thought that they wouldn't do that anymore especially with the massive amount they're spending on Drizzt to continue shoving him down our throats. |
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Irennan
Great Reader
Italy
3802 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2023 : 09:50:31
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| I don't think Salvatore is on Wizards' paybook, they merely farmed the Drizzt IP to Harper Collins. As for why they decided to make this exception for him, it's likely due to the cult of Drizzt among readers, and perhaps even due to many of the WotC people being Salvatore fanboys. Remember when they actively tried to get readers to dislike Eilistraee and erased everything drow that wasn't Salvatore's (the overwhelming majority of it), just so that Drizzt could be "more special"? Remember a couple years ago, nwhen they chose to retcon away all drow and elven history, supposedly remove any Lolthite city that wasn't Menzo, and reduce the drow to a vision that Salvatore claimed "has always been his"? Yeah, I think it's safe to assume that there are people at Wizards that like Salvatore in the most toxic manner. While it isn't the design team that chooses how much authors should be paid, or whether IPs should be farmed or not, I think it would have been easy for them to convince the higher ups that farming Drizzt to Harper Collins was a profitable idea. |
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. |
Edited by - Irennan on 01 Nov 2023 10:03:59 |
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sno4wy
Senior Scribe
USA
466 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2023 : 21:02:11
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quote:
Originally posted by Irennan
I don't think Salvatore is on Wizards' paybook, they merely farmed the Drizzt IP to Harper Collins. As for why they decided to make this exception for him, it's likely due to the cult of Drizzt among readers, and perhaps even due to many of the WotC people being Salvatore fanboys. Remember when they actively tried to get readers to dislike Eilistraee and erased everything drow that wasn't Salvatore's (the overwhelming majority of it), just so that Drizzt could be "more special"? Remember a couple years ago, nwhen they chose to retcon away all drow and elven history, supposedly remove any Lolthite city that wasn't Menzo, and reduce the drow to a vision that Salvatore claimed "has always been his"? Yeah, I think it's safe to assume that there are people at Wizards that like Salvatore in the most toxic manner. While it isn't the design team that chooses how much authors should be paid, or whether IPs should be farmed or not, I think it would have been easy for them to convince the higher ups that farming Drizzt to Harper Collins was a profitable idea.
Oh yeah, I totally agree with all you've said, but even after farming out the IP to Harper Collins, WotC has still sunk a shitload of $$$ into Drizzt when they totally didn't need to. For instance, the ~35 pieces of new art for all of the e-book versions wouldn't have been cheap; even though some of them are pretty awful from a compositional and representative standpoint, they were done by an artist with substantial technical skill. Then there's all the new Drizzt merch, and apparently he's starring in a new digital game, the life-size Drizzt statues, Drizzt Halloween costumes, etc... |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4195 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2023 : 21:19:13
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Well...I like Drizzt.
Yup, I said it.
Having said THAT, however, I don't like the massive changes often associated with him. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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sno4wy
Senior Scribe
USA
466 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2023 : 23:14:30
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| I don't think there's anything wrong with liking Drizzt. My problem is with how much money WotC is throwing at him while refusing to pay other authors even market standard. |
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Giant Snake
Acolyte
32 Posts |
Posted - 01 Nov 2023 : 23:38:56
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| I will admit, the marketing worked on me. Drizzt was a recognizable name to me somehow even as I was brand new. It isn’t hard to figure out - he looked really cool and he is a heroic figure. It’s easy to follow as he explores The Realms. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36760 Posts |
Posted - 02 Nov 2023 : 01:49:41
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| This doesn't sound bad, but I cringe at the description of the characters -- especially a bard named Lark. And an otyugh named Uggie that loves giving hugs sounds like something out of a young adult novel. |
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redking
Learned Scribe
131 Posts |
Posted - 06 Nov 2023 : 14:49:38
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| I am surprised that WotC hasn't figured out that there is HUGE demand for arcane college style stories like Harry Potter. The Shadow Stone comes close, but the arcane college is just a backdrop, not really the main attraction. |
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Giant Snake
Acolyte
32 Posts |
Posted - 06 Nov 2023 : 17:29:55
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| I figure it’s left that way so your own mages can have their story. I never got into the books but I actually like mages. I think the more disjointed nature of the realms mean that they could easily be a one off apprentice of someone more powerful. Not much different than a warrior disciple really. |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7926 Posts |
Posted - 06 Nov 2023 : 21:52:40
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I'm not familiar with this author's works. But "Uggie, a monstrous pet otyugh who loves giving hugs and eating trash" is quite enough to keep me disinterested in this product. Unless, perhaps, I hear overwhelming praise about it from others.
This whole thing reads in a way which strikingly reminds me of page one from Rise of the Blade by Charles Moffat - an unofficial, probably illegal, and absolutely awful "Harpers" fanfic shamelessly self-promoted as a novel. (You'll see it appended to the end of the list of Harpers novels on wikis and sites, from time to time, before it gets culled off again. And you'll see reviews, discussions, and mentions of it churn around on the search engines, from time to time, before it gets culled off again.)
But perhaps this blurb was written by some marketing minion or dull managerial instead of by the actual author. Hope for the best, yes? |
[/Ayrik] |
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Shardnax
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 08 Nov 2023 : 19:15:17
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| The whole description sounds off putting and all over the place. |
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New Novel set in the Realms for March 2024
