At Cymera, the horror and sci-fi festival in Edinburgh, Sebastien de Castell took the stage under the watch of host E.M. Faulds with Scottish author Cameron Johnston to talk about The Malevolent Eight (Sebastien) and The Last Shield (Cameron).
I asked both authors which of their settings would have made the best TTRPG or board game, and why. Cameron Johnston answered second, suggesting that Sebastien de Castell’s The Malevolent Seven (book one), with its battles and mercenary companies, would make for a good wargame.
However, Sebastien de Castell answered first and told the audience that several publishers had approached him to ask about a TTRPG for The Greatcoats.
There is no The Greatcoats TTRPG, and, unfortunately, it seems unlikely there would ever be one.
Sebastien explained that when a book gets optioned for TV or film, the author must surrender all the ancillary rights. He joked that it would include The Greatcoats musical play, as if there would ever be one. It does, though, mean that any The Greatcoats TTRPG would be part of the deal.
Sebastien de Castell did not say that The Greatcoats had been optioned. He might have been advised not to pursue the TTRPG deal, as it could make securing future TV or movie rights more difficult. Geek Native readers will know that once a book has been optioned, it very rarely means a TV show or movie will appear. It means that someone owns the rights, and they’re probably happy to stop their competitors from having it.
Unfortunately, this gotcha applies to all other authors, too and explains why so few successful novels ever quickly become TTRPG settings.
Earlier, in Cymera, prolific sci-fi author and gamer Adrian Tchaikovsky told an audience in the same theatre that he was refusing to move forward with a fantasy novel idea because he wanted the TTRPG first. Perhaps Sebastien de Castell gotcha with licenses and rights is one of the reasons why Tchaikovsky needs to be so firm with his demands.
Quick Links
- Book one: Traitor’s Blade.
