In the week before It's a Dog's Life went on sale at RPGNow, I ran two last playtest sessions with two completely different groups of players. One group is largely made up of friends and players I've gamed with all my gaming life, and the other of gamers I only met in the last year or so.(I really need to post them in actual play - they were great sessions).

The first group, who are used to me throwing my homebrews at them, have enjoyed Dog's Life for about a dozen or more sessions through its development. The second group, who I was worried would actually catch onto the game (being avid Hero System and d20 fans) nevertheless enjoyed it, so much they were actually asking to play again.

Anyway, my point is that at the end of the first session the players said what a great book or even animated movie this game would make. I would probably have let this pass if the second group, without me prompting them, said much the same thing during the session.

Now, I can't let this go without at least exploring some possibilities. Anyone here have any thoughts or suggestions? I can't write myself, but I am definately interested in putting the idea to a writer. How would I go about this? What are the pitfalls? I had a quick check of the Pixar website - they do not accept any unsolicited material. How would I go about getting a movie company even slightly interested? Am I getting a bit ahead of myself? Am I barking up the wrong tree? (excuse the pun).

I guess others of you may have had similar ideas about games of your own? What did you do - file and forget? Or did you look into the possibilities at all? How far did you get - what experiences did you have?

Simon W
http://www.geocities.com/dogs_life2003/

Hi Simon,

My only advice is to consult a lawyer.

My not-advice (i.e. discard as you see fit): Do not leap about in joy because you or a friend think any creative work you've done "would" be a good movie. Everyone thinks that.

Ultimately, the only people whose opinion matters about that issue are the people who really have the ability to make movies. They already have their own creative sources, whether themselves or others.

I know way too many people who've spent years, even decades, living in the dream of pitching their brilliant ideas and hoping they'll find "the guy" who will make those ideas into the smash hit they just know it will be.

There is no "guy."

Best,
Ron

Yep, pretty much what I thought. I suppose it was just two diferent sources independently saying the same thing that just sparked that little bit of an idea.

Perhaps I'll just have to try my hand at writing my first novel.

Simon W
http://www.geocities.com/dogs_life2003/