So, Lord of the Rings was hugely popular; 3 books. The Hobbit has been hugely popular; 1 book, somehow stretched to 3 movies. Game of Thrones is hugely popular; 5 seasons down with probably 2 to come.
Clearly, there is a huge ton of money to be made from people who grew up gaming in '70s and '80s basements, who have now been able to play those same games online instead of on paper or on table. (It really is much easier to get a party of a half-dozen together when you can draw from the entire country or world, rather than just your neighborhood.)
See also Penny-Arcade: http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2015/05/22/exile
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What would you send to the networks for suggestions? Bear in mind that you might want just short-term, or more far-reaching.
My first and immediate thought was, "Thieves World" anthology books. The first book was classic. The basic core was 3 books, with the 4th one coming later. Eventually it expanded to what, 14 anthologies plus 2-4 standalone novels (Tempus, the Wizard Wall, Lythande, maybe another few I can't recall). It's got nobility, it's got low-down sneakery, it's got invading race, it's got room for expansion, it's got many of the authors still alive to contribute more, it's gritty and dirty like GoT, it's pretty much got it all.
The one that I think would probably be the biggest hit: Dave Duncan's "Seventh Sword" trilogy (now in four books, thanks to "The Death of Nnanji").
BUT I would also like to see both of his four-book series, "A Man of His Word" and their sequel, "A Handful of Men".
I am proud to report that it took me the larger part of 18 hours (between when I first started thinking about this yesterday, and now when I'm posting) to even have Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" cross my mind. And the only reason that it did so was because of the "many possible seasons" (or movies) factor. But I would only want to see these actually done IF they left out the several hundred pages worth (of each book) of all the repetitive Defining Characteristic crap. (She pulls her hair, he wishes for beer, she thinks horny thoughts about Rand, he has a super-deluxe world-changing secret, and so on.)
Recluce. Order, chaos, long time span, tech, magic... 18 books gives plenty of source material.
BattleTech. Huge amounts of background info available, both rule-related (sourcebooks and so on) and literature (many, many books); again, most of the authors still alive for continuing additions.
Leo Frankowski's "CrossTime Engineer" series. (Only the good ones need apply, pretty much the first four and maaaayyyybe "Conrad's Lady"; "Conrad's Quest For Rubber" can sit it out on the shelf, thankyouverymuch.)
Drizzdt. Lots of writings there.
Ehvenor/Guardians of the Flame. Big winner for everyone who played D&D, because it's got the players mystically transported to that world. Can even test the waters with Andre Norton's "Quag Keep" as a standalone intro movie, because it has exactly the same plot premise.
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I think many/most/all of these could be done, and done well, with the same sort of production and special effects that we've gotten used to with modern movie & TV. (CrossTime Engineer and Seventh Sword don't even need any real "special effects" (i.e. "magic"), since they're based on real-tech.)
