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Friday 9 October 2020

Dragons ahoy!

Here's a moment that every adventurer in the Fabled Lands has experienced: the confrontation with Vayss the Sea Dragon. (Yes, I know he's a sea dragon and he lives in a lake -- but I'm not going to argue with him.)

This gorgeous piece of artwork is by Renie Aganchyan, whose brother Bernar Aganchyan is the game's art director. That's one talented family!

It's just a taste of the goodies Prime Games have in store when their Fabled Lands CRPG erupts from the depths early next year. Players will be able to explore the lands of Sokara, Golnir, the Great Steppes and hopefully Uttaku too. And that's just for starters. Further releases will add other lands, and Jamie and I are looking at writing all-new books in the series if the CRPG kindles fresh interest. The year ahead could be a great time to explore uncharted waters.


46 comments:

  1. Any possibility that FL8 (or 9 or 10, etc) might be part of that? Paul did amazing work on FL7. But figure part of the fruits of that labor is that he's swamped with work.

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    1. Eventually the Prime Games CRPG will, we hope, take in the whole FL world -- as long as we can keep up with the writing. Laying tracks ahead of the train is how I see it.

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  2. But is your comment implying that if the CRPG isn’t popular, then future FL books are unlikely? Or was FL7 successful enough (despite Megara’s efforts) to warrant more?

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    1. The books are a labour of love, Tim. The trouble with making them financially viable is all the artwork, editing and layout, which took the lion's share of the book 7 Kickstarter. And it didn't help that a lot of the people who backed that KS never received their copy from Megara, so I don't know how much goodwill there would be for another KS even if Jamie and I ran it personally.

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    2. I would back another kickstarter for Fabled Lands books. I bet a lot of other people would too. It is well known what went wrong last time and we know it would not go that way again.

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    3. I second, third and fourth that emotion. Any time you guys want to run a KS for FL8 or any other FL, I'll be there with credit card in hand.

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    4. As I've recently purchased them all for the second time around, I'll fifth that. Reading the posts I've realised I omitted Lich-Lord from the order, so will rectify that soon.

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    5. Thanks for responding. I agree with everyone above. I think there’s a core group who love the books and will buy regardless, and they know what went down last time. But I do get the financial situation too, particularly where the core group of fans is presumably quite low. Anyway, I hope you find some financially viable way of continuing the series, and I’ll keep buying whatever you produce!

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    6. I’m pretty new to FL and have just bought 1-6 and would back another Kickstarter for sure

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    7. Wow, I hadn't got any idea there were such serious issues with the publisher. I missed the KS and bought my copy last month. Loved it and came here to see if there were any plans for more. Would definitely join a KS if you do write Book 8.

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    8. Thanks. I feel we're tarred with the brush of that FL7 KS now, but the only way Jamie and I can know for sure is to try it. If the CRPG does well enough, that would help stimulate interest in further books.

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  3. If you do write Book 8 here are some things I'd like in it. What do you think?

    A chance to meet Lauria and get involved in another of her schemes but this time you double-cross her rather then her double-crossing you

    The chance to acquire antique weapons that due to their age sell for more then normal, for example A +1 weapon that has the same sale value as A +3 weapon or A +5 weapon that sells for what A +6 weapon costs

    At least 1 Quest and preferably 2 Quests that only The Warrior can do that guarantees he gains a rank and if their are 2 and you succeed at both you get a unique reward

    The chance to get A Artefact that is Sacred to The God Sig that can only be done by A Initiate of Sig and if you succeed nets you A Item that gives you +4 Thievery and raises 1 stat of your choice by +1 and this can even be used to raise Nahual

    A encounter that you gain something from, it only happens if you have fought Namagal and what you gain depends on if you spared him or killed him or were killed and resurrected

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    1. Paul Gresty and Jamie are both keen to write book 8 so I'll pass your ideas along to them. I particularly like the weapon that's worth more because it's an antique. Powergamers will ignore it as not being worth the cost, but it might be useful in other ways than just in combat.

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    2. I wasn't thinking of buying 1, rather I was thinking of it being something you'd either loot from A Tomb or steal from A Temple or other place that is sacred to a evil god or be given as a reward from a collector after you save his entire family

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    3. I've had a few more idea's and 1 question about Keep of The Liche Lord, What do you think?

      Have somewhere were you can increase the bonus's that things that can be used in Spirit Combat give you in regular Combat but not Spirit Combat.

      For example The Crystal Dagger will still give you +2 Combat in Spirit Combat but its bonus in regular Combat can go as high as +5

      Have A Demi-God give you A Mission that he or she directly benefits from and in return he or will increase the bonuses that give both 1 weapon and 1 bit of armour give your in Spirit Combat

      As a example The Crystal Daggers bonus in Spirit Combat being increased to +3 Combat and The Suit Crocodile Armours bonus in Spirit Combat being increased to +5 Defence

      As the question about Keep of The Liche Lord if a character is good enough to be able to beat Lord Mortis without using The Ivory Spear what is to stop him or her from not using it, keeping it and using Molherns Smithy to make it even stronger

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    4. I'd better leave Paul Gresty to answer the questions about spirit combat, as that's his invention. But as for the ivory spear -- sure, if you keep it then there's nothing to stop you taking it to Molhern's Smithy.

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    5. And to be fair, you really don't have to be all that good in battle to beat the Lich Lord as long as you visit the Castellan's mom. Honestly, beating the Liche Lord by throwing the Spear is probably a whole lot tougher than beating him in straight combat with or without it.

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    6. I've A idea for A Unique Fabled Lands Book that you can get to from any place that lets you travel to Book 3, but it has to be your first Book, you can't go back to it

      You could even make this books character a lot more powerful then most starting characters then lower his stats to that of a normal starting character and justify it as the effects of 1 or more of age, lasting injuries, not getting enough quality food and ill health caused by spending time awaiting a trial that he walked away from after bribing the jury

      What more as its supposed to be set 10 to 12 years or so before the main Books and because they held the titles then but not now you can kill them and the reason it won't effect the official books is because the current holders of those titles got them after the 1's that either you or another killed at the point in time this book died

      Examples are The Last King of Sokaras Former Heir, The Former General of Sokara, Baroness Vanna's Former Chief Wizard, Lauria's Fathers Father that at the time was The Head of All Hellions College, Kascuf The Deathless a few weeks before he became Deathless, The Former King of The Ratmen, The Former Pirate King and several minor Akutsurai Nobles that because you killed them in the official Book 6 their younger brothers have their titles

      Basically you travel throughout a variation of the area covered by Book 3 and can choose to either trade or be someone that hunts only Pirates or be someone that hunts all criminals, get unique versions of normal things and even do a bit of trading before retiring from that live, becoming A Adventurer and doing the regular books

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    7. I like the idea. In fact the way we might do it is to set a 13th Fabled Lands books 100 years *after* the events of the main series. The character would have some points in books 8-12 where they can travel through time or go into a Rip Van Winkle sleep. The 13th book would cover the entire Fabled Lands and you'd be able to see what effect your actions had on history. Various codewords would decide what the world was like a century later.

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    8. If we get to that 13th book, I think we might call it A Hundred Winters (a nod to Tennyson's poem "The Sleeping Beauty": https://www.bartleby.com/360/2/228.html ) but we have to write the others first.

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  4. Ooops just realized that in the section on the weapons that sell for more then normal I meant to put a mixture of quality and rarity rather then age

    Also I realized that in the section on Artefact that is Sacred to The God Sig I meant to put recover A stolen Artefact not get A Artefact. Sorry

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  5. I'll confess that in terms of game mechanics one of objectives with the mechanic of spirit combat is to impose a type of challenge that's somewhat immune to powergaming, even for really high-level characters. And so I tried to control quite tightly the elements that could give advantages for spirit combat - high-level characters might have much high Stamina scores than other characters, and a few extra points in their MAGIC or SANCTITY, but otherwise they're pretty much just as capable (or ineffectual) as anybody else.

    And so I'd be very wary of including any way of modifying those items that can influence spirit combat. I mean, I see that here your suggestion actually wouldn't impact how that item behaves in spirit combat, so I wouldn't have any big problem with something like that. I'm just paranoid about opening floodgates that I may not be able to close again.

    (This is my idealised theory behind spirit combat, in any case; in reality I've found that determined enough players can usually find a few unanticipated areas to poke at... I am myself a rules-lawyer powergamer; I take some pride in the exploits I've found for the Fabled Lands books so far...)

    Regarding quests for specific Professions... Yes, that's certainly something interesting. At higher levels, when a player's stats tend to be pretty high, the Professions tend to blur together a little - so I think it's certainly interesting to provide Profession-based advantages (or disadvantages). In The Serpent King's Domain, high-level Wayfarers can potentially gain a pretty significant advantage that the other Professions don't have access to. Who knows if we'll see more of that type of thing in future books...

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    1. Well, presumably you know (or at least have some idea) if we'll see more of that type in future books since you're pretty much the one writing them. I don't recall specifically but I think I had some idea about combining the White Sword and Equilibrium into an item that gave +8 to Combat and +6 to Spirit Combat. Of course doing that meant sacrificing several other unique items (one being the Ring of Ultimate Power, I think) and I had it cost something like 100,000 Shards as well. The resulting item was the Grey Sword. And after all that effort, you got a Weapon which was 1 point higher than the Serpent's tooth in Spirit combat.

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  6. I've got a question about Dragon Warriors

    I'm using Tables I made for determining a characters initial Social Class, initial Social Status and background

    The problem is that 1 of my players character rolled a initial Social Class, initial Social Status and background that's very troublesome. Can you advise?

    The problem is that the player in question fairly rolled A 100 for Social Status, A 70 for Homeland then A 3 followed by A 40 on Birth

    This means that he/The Character, is the oldest child and therefore heir of The Reigning King or Queen of The Country that is The Worlds Weakest Super Power and has 3 younger siblings

    So how do you suggest I justify the future king of The Worlds Weakest Super power becoming a mere adventurer?, what kind of guards would you suggest he have nearby? and what kind of extra's should he start with?

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    1. Your simplest solution is to use the background tables in the DW rulebook. But if you want to homebrew it, consider what could go wrong with being the eldest son of a king. Maybe the character's mother died, the king remarried, and now his stepmother and siblings all want him dead. The royal families of history are notable for committing as many atrocities on each other as on other people. You can look at medieval dynasties for inspiration (the Byzantines got up to some eye-poppingly murderous deeds) or at contemporary examples like the royal families of Nepal, Thailand or Arabian states. Your character might be on the run for his life and be lucky to have got out of the country alive. There could well be factions within the country that would rally round him if he returned, but he'd still have to tread carefully. A noble who offers to install him as king will want something in return. The character might end up a puppet ruler -- or on the losing side in a failed coup. Wasn't Aragorn in a similar situation? (Somebody who's read Lord of the Rings will have to chip in here.)

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    2. And I'm omitting the most obvious complication in your character's backstory: he's the oldest son, but that needn't mean he's the heir. A bastard will never be king, but is just enough of a threat to the legitimate princes and princesses to be worth eliminating.

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  7. If I won at least Six Million on The Lottery how would you feel about me single-handely my funding the last 5 Books at the following rates per Book? and I'm such a fan of the series that all I want is to be officially acknowledge as having single-handely funded the last 5 Books and the total costs, for me, would be are £84,000x5x5 or £2,100,000

    Since you and Jamie own the copyright £84,000 each, if someone else writes them another £84,000 goes to him or her and if you write them then even if Jamie doesn't help, another £42,000 each to you and Jamie, another £84,000 to whoever does the art and another £84,000 to make as many copies as possible

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  8. I'm not greedy, I'd settle for just $42,000. I've got my fingers crossed for you to win!

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    1. Trust me I think you are worth a lot more then the £84,000 per book, which means a total of £420,000, that I would pay you but I have to have enough to ensure that me, my parents and younger brother have enough to enjoy a very luxurious lifestyle

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    2. That's very kind. Well, I'm rooting for you to win and looking forward to writing those books if so!

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  9. How about we each list our favorite character from Fabled Lands Books 1 to 7 and The Fabled Lands version of Keep of The Liche Lord? and for characters that appear in more then 1 Book you can list any 1 Book they've appeared in. Here's mine

    In Book 1 its General Grieve Marlock, in Book 2 its Baroness Vanna, in Book 3 its Amchas One Eye, in Book 4 its Lord Kumononosu, in Book 5 its Targdaz, in Book 6 its Takakura, in Book 7 its Namagal and in Keep of The Liche Lord its Kandogor

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    1. Jamie will be pleased to hear about Targdaz, who was his character in our Tirikelu campaign. I'm partial to Lauria myself, but then she is based on my wife!

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  10. The idea of another book which is set 100 years in the future sounds great!
    I imagine a lot of steam-punky elements. And probably an unbidden visitation or two by Holyamu. (book 5, my favorite character!)
    So how about a sort of special edition of the existing books? Like a Fabled Lands: Seasons, or something along these lines, where only a few passages are modified (e.g. to grant access to the future, or a carnival, or something having closed down due to repairs, while someplace else there is an extra shop, or so), but most of the book remains the same. It would certainly appeal to me, having an ever-so-slightly alternative edition of the books. And I would reckon that the majority of the existing fanbase would purchase such a book, just for completion's sake, while it would not make a difference to novice fabled land players, whether they have the original book, or the modified one.

    Also I find that spirit combat works quite well as a means of maintaining a certain level of challenge. This could probably be furthered by introducing class-specific (one-time)actions, or items, which could make a certain encounter a piece of cake for one class, but a living hell for another.

    It's fantastic to hear, well, basically anything on the books. But I also appreciate the fortnightly scenarios and stuff.
    And I'm really hyped about the computer game!

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    1. I suppose the Fabled Lands Quests sort of function that way, as they add extra sections to existing books. Paul Gresty's remix of my book Castle of Lost Souls is ready to go and adds a big chunk of questing to Book Two.

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  11. I've got another idea, how about we each list our favorite villain from A Book by Dave Morris that isn't A Fabled Lands Book and give him/her/it the stats and abilities we think he/she/it would have if he/she/it was in The Fabled Lands?. Mines Honric from Way of The Tiger. Here he is and don't forget that he is said to be Orbs Greatest Living Warrior

    Honric has got Combat 37, Defence 26 and Stamina 115, can't be fought in Spirit Combat and killing him is such a great feat that if your rank is 14 or less you raise to Rank 15, otherwise you gain 1 Rank

    His Magic Sword lets him get 2 attacks per turn and he can't take damage during the 2nd 1, no matter how high your defence he'll always wound you on A 8 or more and it cancels the abilities of all your magical gear but not stuff that can be used in Nahual Fights

    This means that at best your attack roll is Combat 12 and +7 for Equilbrium or 19, this means that no matter what you'll need at least A 8 wound to him and he will never need less then A 8 to wound you

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    1. Damontir the Mad, the villain in The Temple of Flame (my second-ever gamebook) was originally my character in a short-lived RuneQuest campaign.

      Now, would somebody like to give the stats for Peter Strewel and Dumpster Windrip from Can You Brexit?

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  12. I have a question about The Unique Magic Sword(I've forgot its namet) that Honric uses in The Way of The Tiger Books. Can you give me a answer?

    His Unique Sword is said to prevent any and all Magic Spells from effecting the person holding it but does that also apply to beneficial Magic Spells?

    As 1 example he wins a fight but is very badly injured, despite winning the fight theirs a chance that he will still die and the only way to guarantee he lives is for his allies to use powerful Magic to heal him

    The problem is that since his Unique Sword prevents any and all Magic Spells from working on him will it also stop his allies from using Magic Spells to save his life?

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    1. I'm afraid I'm not familiar enough with the Way of the Tiger books to answer this one, but I'll ask Jamie and Mark to comment.

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    2. The sword in question is called Sorcerak... It seems that the very presence of the sword dispels nearby magic - in one scene, Thaum casts an illusion transforming a (non-magical) sword into a flower... and merely unsheathing the sword is enough to dispel the illusion. Notably, Honoric also sleeps with it unsheathed on his bed...

      I'd guess that sheathing the sword allows magic to affect the person who possesses it. But, of course, Jamie and Mark are the voices of authority here. Maybe the sword's dispel magic ability has an 'off' switch...?

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    3. Since it didn't affect Thaum's illusion until it was unsheathed, I'd say you can have magical healing while owning the sword. You just have to put it back in its scabbard.

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  13. I've got A Fabled Lands Question that is about something that some consider cheating but others, including me don't. Can you answer it?

    If I'm in a fight with a foe that no matter what my character will always harm but no matter what he/she/it can never harm me would it be cheating to go to the paragraph you go to if you win without rolling any dice?

    After all its a fight that even if I roll nothing but double 1's for my character and roll nothing but double 6's for my foe I can't lose?

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    1. I guess that's sensible. After all, you could say what you're doing there is fast-forwarding to the end of the fight, seeing as you know you can't lose or be hurt.

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  14. Here's 2 things I'd like to see in Book 8. What do you think?

    1 of them is a fight with a paragraph to turn to in a fight in which no matter what you can't harm your foe and your foe can't harm you

    Another is the chance to either spare or kill A Crime Lord enemy unique to Book 8, that has no immediate reward but has other effects

    For example if you encounter later his criminal Empire if you spared him you get the only item in the series that gives +4 Thievery but if you killed him they kill you

    As another example if you encounter later his main rivals criminal Empire if you spared him they kill you but if you killed him you get a permanent +1 Thievery

    Theirs also the bonus that no matter which criminal empire you're now on the good side of if you're A Rogue you gain A Rank, if you're not you gain a permanent Thievery Blessing

    Their is also the option that if you are A Rogue but lose the powers of 1 at Shimae's Shrine you can get The Thievery Bonus

    Theirs also the option that if you aren't A Rogue but become 1 either by being A Priest who ate A Tatsu Pearl or at Shimae's Shrine you can get The +1 Rank

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    1. Good ideas. Paul and Jamie look like being the leads on Book 8, if and when it happens, so I'll ask if they have any comments.

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    2. Certainly, I think it's a great idea to include significant choices that have long-term ramifications - in your example here, sparing the master criminal sends you down one route; choosing to kill him sends you down another. And, yes, it seems reasonable that in a crime-heavy section of the story, Rogues have an opportunity to shine.

      I have to confess that, personally, I rarely approach writing FL with the specific rewards (or losses) for choices foremost in my mind. In earlier drafts of The Serpent Kings Domain, there were lots of sentences like this: 'The villagers are overjoyed that you have saved them. To express their gratitude, they give you XXXXX REWARD XXXXX and wish you well in your travels. Turn to 377.'

      Maybe that's also because it was only quite late into the planning that I wrote up a definitive 'item list' for the book. Planning ahead and detailed record-keeping: the twin secrets of good sandbox gamebook writing.

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  15. How about we each write our favorite thing about Fabled Lands Book 1 to 7 and The Fabled Lands version of Keep of The Liche Lord?. Here's mine

    In Book 1 its that every profession has 1 task that only they can do and guarantees them a rank

    In Book 2 its the fact that with enough time and luck you can raise all stats that are below 6 to 6 and can also raise Sancitity and Thievery to 12

    In Book 3 its the fact that if you're using A warrior then this Book alone can get you to Rank 13

    In Book 4 its the sheer variety of encounters, places and people you can go to, meet, talk to and interact with

    In Book 5 its that theirs a chance to become the only Masked Lord/Lady of Uttaku that's definitely not a evil, mean and possibly insane bad guys

    In Book 6 its the fact that you can potentially help both the countries ruler and someone that wants his throne without repercussions

    In Book 7 its the fact that you can fight a god with the intent of killing him yet if you win you can choose to spare him

    In The Fabled Lands version of Keep of The Liche its the fact that if you know what you are doing you can get The Ivory Spear and The Spell that destroys undead(name forgot) kill Mortiss with that Spell and keep The Ivory Spear that does double damage

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