“Hire the fans!” is an overdone reddit meme at this point, but…
You land a job at Blizzard in a role that allows you to greenlight Warcraft novels. You can’t do anything groundbreaking, you can’t work with Christie Golden, and what you greenlight can’t impact the lore too heavily (e.g. you can’t really do anything that impacts the central Warcraft ‘narrative’).
What would you want to see published?
For me: I’d love some kind of SI:7 Files. A shameless somewhat campy James Bond/Bourne/Spy set of short stories that embrace some of the silliness of the Cataclysm era of storytelling but without going too far.
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I’d finally get the chance to make Bolvar x Onyxia = Taelia official lore.
Something forsaken related without Calia or Lilian involved.
Also I would do everything in my power to not work with Christie Golden, she’s wrecked the lore enough.
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You’ve just brought back a memory of reading something like 10 years ago that I forgot I had…
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Something between a Chronicles approach and traditional narrative about the Troll wars.
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A PEAK memory I’m sure.
Another idea, one I’ve toyed around with on-and-off, is fleshing out Venetia into an actual location. The darker Dalaran, with criminal gangs and hilarious amounts of inequality+slavery, where the poorest sell their literal lifeblood to be turned into arcane energy that fuels those who live above. And since the sewers have to drain somewhere…well, that just happens to be on the heads of those who live at the figurative and literal bottom of society.
It would not have a happy ending for the protagonists.
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A rough outline of what actually happened between War of the Scaleborn and the War of the Ancients/Dragon Wars for dragons. You mean to tell me nothing at all happened between those 10k years and they all fell asleep?
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“Societies of Azeroth: A Diplomat’s Guide to the Customs of your Neighbours”
A book detailing the different Macro/Micro level governance of each of the playable races within WoW as well as the general layout of their zone(s) resources, how the average person within it lives and gets by, the local nuisances that plague said average person, local customs and traditions, particular religious festivals and events etc.
However, I do not wish to necessarily do it from an objective viewpoint either, because it isn’t intended to be a one-and-done deal of a book (and also because this allows me to skirt the ‘it can’t be major’ rule). Instead, the book is written from the P.O.V of two diplomats: one from the Alliance and one from the Horde, with their collective thoughts and experiences put together into this handibook. This allows Blizzard, should they ever need too for some reason, rewrite or edit bits of it where necessary without causing too much fuss because the views of 2 diplomats cannot encompass the whole of any culture and there will doubtless be nooks and crannies they’ve not managed to uncover or had time to extrapolate their views on.
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Something in a similar vein, I would write a book about folklore and curses of Azeroth, detailing various occult phenomenon that sometimes infest the world. Ranging from ‘mundane’ things like improper burials result in hauntings, grief and hatred manifesting as a spell and cursed bloodlines, to the specific events and tragedies both historical and contemporary.
The book is explored from the POV of a traveling cursebreaker who catalogs their journey and how they dealt with these occult cases.
yes, that is my RP character.
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I’d personally highlight the events between the Second and the Third Wars. The industrial revolution in Gilneas and Kul Tiras, the rise of the Cult of the Damned, the beginning of the Zandalari trying to unify the troll tribes, maybe the downfall of Eldre’thalas, and so on. Smaller stories about how we got where we are.
Unsure… So many things could be interesting to see. Already have a 50 pages origin story/build up taking place just before, and during the fall of Gilneas for Lochton. But it’ll most likely vanish on some online drive like hundreds of others of my writings. Haha.
Ideally I’d love to pull Blizzard back towards it’s pre-2009 publishing style. In other words, standalone novels that introduce original plots and characters or at the very least adapt stories from older games and background material into a paperback format like The Last Guardian. I would want to avoid writing an expansion tie-in where very little happens, featuring an enormous cast of lore characters who can’t die or evolve outside of the game world.
So if I had to follow the rule of not impacting the lore too heavily, the obvious choice is to write an anthology of short stories and old-fashioned fluff (with occasional illustrations) that help flesh out historical events that have been referenced in passing throughout the game world but aren’t big enough for a novel of their own.
A few ideas off the top of my head:
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The doomed plot by Farondis to destroy the Well of Eternity by using the Tidestone, only for his efforts to bring about the complete ruin of his people at the hands of Azshara.
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The fall of Loreth’Aran, the pre-Sundering coastal city where night elves and green dragons lived together under the blessing of Ysera before being wiped out by Deathwing’s flight.
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The tragedy of Tortheldrin who tried to save his Highborne from their magic addiction by containing the demon Immol’thar, and his gradual descent into madness as he begins sacrificing those same people to maintain control of that power.
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Finally, I’d love to write something to expand upon that weird bit of new lore from Exploring Azeroth about Lothrius Mooncaller rebuilding the Moon Guard in Shal’Aran with both night elves and nightborne.
Obviously I’m a sucker for elves but most races have similar bits of fluff littered around the game that help paint a vivid image of their culture and history in small doses, a bit like the inserts and anecdotes from old Warhammer army books.
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I’ve always wanted books to be supplementary to the story and expanding on the setting. Tell me about the cultures, practices, and history in depth of various races, groups, ideologies, etc.
Almost like a setting book for a TTRPG like D&D, what the Exploring: series could’ve been, but wasn’t quite.
When the books are narratively driven I’d want them to tell stories of characters we don’t see and engage with in the main plot very often, or expand upon gaps in the story that we only hear hinted at or abridged versions of in game. The need for us to read books to even vaguely discern a character’s motivations shouldn’t ever really occur.
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A book exploring the state of the orc clans from the end of Warcraft 3 to the beginning of the Om’gora in Dragonflight would help fill in many unaccounted-for years of their history.
It would examine how the orcish clans evolved (or dissolved) during this period. Why did clan identity fade within the New Horde? What caused the clans to become absorbed into the Horde as a unified whole, rather than maintaining their distinct traditions and leadership? How did the orcs themselves feel about the New Horde’s increasingly militaristic approach? And why did the Frostwolf Clan seem to resist these changes more successfully than the others?
Additionally, what became of figures like Jorin Deadeye before the Om’gora? Did he ever journey to Azeroth before Dragonflight, and what role did he play, if any, in the events of the Horde during those years?
The book would perhaps be a collection of short stories, each focusing on an orc from a different clan. Each story could be set in a different time period, depending on what was most significant for that clan. For example, a story about the Warsong Clan might take place during Wrath of the Lich King, reflecting their role in Northrend, while a story about the Frostwolves might focus on the Cataclysm, highlighting their apparent hatred toward the Forsaken and their isolation in Alterac.
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A series of Gob Squad books recounting their adventures where the universal framing device is one of the gobs telling their tale in a tavern.
How canon are they? ehhh ya mook, gotta pay extra if you wanna know that.
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Two possible ones. Either I’d write a murder mystery book of Magisters / Magistrix being killed within The Spire due to arcane rivalry.
Or alternatively write a collection of short stories book on different individual Taurens experiences throughout the major events that have shaped Azeroth so far.
Both would be fun to write.
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Tales of War: An anthology of short
stories from regular soldiers perspective in the zones the Alliance and Horde fought each other during the Cataclysm. One account for each race, and each one ties in a bit to the story of the zone that’s told through the quests.
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History of Seven Kingdoms From Time of Thoradin to the First War
With special focus on collapse of Arathi Empire and its aftermath. If I could add some lore to it myself, I would create some additional kingdoms that ended up absorbed by others centuries ago (specifically Hillsbrad and Stratholme, to serve as explanation for Lordaeron being so massive) since I’m not a fan of human kingdoms lasting for a millenium without major change.
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If it can’t impact the current narrative of WoW in any meaningful way?
I’d write a novel detailing the war between the Aldrachi and the Burning Legion. We have the rough framework of those events, but there are absolutely grounds for a more indepth narrative there.
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