If the images on the left look familiar, you probably played Sagaland, the German edition of Fabled Lands, which was released in 1998 by Ravensburger Buchverlag. The style of the artwork was very different from the original books, kind of a cross between Hannes Bok and Carl Barks only a lot more cartoony than either. It had a charm of its own, but it was all vignettes and close-ups. It didn't illustrate the world in the sweeping, immersive way that Russ's dynamic landscapes, street scenes and battlefields do.Anyway, German FL fans who have been holding their breath for a new edition need risk asphyxiation no longer. Nicolai Bonczyk, of Frankfurt RPG publishers Mantikore Verlag, has just started re-releasing the series under the title Legends of Harkuna. The first book, Das Reich des Krieges, is out now and book two is already in the pipeline. A parcel of copies just arrived from Germany and I can tell you that they really look marvellous, with a high-quality paper that does full justice to the crisp reproductions of Russ's illustrations.
I have some other gamebook news that I'm dying to reveal but the deals aren't finalized yet. Suffice it to say at this stage that fans of Fabled Lands and Virtual Reality will have plenty to talk about. And as for talk of an all-new gamebook by me and Jamie - that's just a rumour. You didn't hear it from me.
Woah, I really like these covers. I do agreed with Russ' artworks. Russ' arts really bought certain realism. Needless to say, these pictures of you and Jamie in cartoonish form is quite funny!
ReplyDeleteI will look forward to coming announcement!
Cheers
Joe
Hi Joe - yes, I do like those cartoon pictures. We were a little slimmer and handsomer in those dim distant days, though, as the photo on my author page on Amazon.com attests!
ReplyDeleteLovely covers. Particularly "Das Reich", which looks almost... Legendary. 8^)
ReplyDeleteThe cartoon characters remind me of the latest artwork in a certain classic zany traitorous sci-fi RPG that was very recently reprinted and whose-name-must-not-be-mentioned, in accordance with Complex Order #8574483291-Gamma (subsection 4 para 4.3.8).
Hmm... I think I know the game you're talking about, Jiminy, but if I say it you'd have to kill me.
ReplyDeleteHuzzah! I played the 'Sagaland' books as a child and the illustrations always slightly freaked me out, because they were so different from the rest of the book. But I kinda liked it. And that picture of the mermaids in book 3 was awesome, in a scary kind of way...
ReplyDeleteStill, I'm SO gonna buy the new one. And the new title "Legenden von Harkuna" sounds way better than the old "Sagaland".
My crusade of turning roleplaying friends into Fabled Land addicts is going well, by the way. The support is spreading! ;)
I'm going to need to check out those mermaids...
ReplyDeleteAnd I just bought the new english edition... :-)
ReplyDeleteBut that's really great news, because I'm currently only in possession of book 1 and 2. So hopefully the release will continue, because the old books cost a fortune these days.
By the way, do the abilities of your Fabled Lands Charakter reflect your actual skills or are they just chosen randomly?
I think the most accurate way to answer that, Stewie, is to say the scores were "inspired by real life".
ReplyDeleteAlthough I prefer Russ's artwork, I rather like the German illustrations. They're nice and stylized.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Hamza. The Sagaland art style (by L Ghepetto btw) doesn't work so well for evoking a fantasy world in the detail you need in gamebooks and RPGs, but it is warm and welcoming and would be perfect for a character-based novel like The Lost Prince.
ReplyDeleteI just hope the new edition gains some new fans as well. I'm not sure if the fabled lands series can play out its strengths (travelling between books, quest and codes from other books influencing the story, the feeling of an endless world) when Mantikore Verlag publishes the books separatly and in long time intervals (I think I read somewhere that they're going to publish the new german Cities of Gold and Glory Reich des Goldes in spring 2012). Sure, those publishers have to minimize the risks of their investments, but lets hope that will not be too disadvantageous for the sucess of the new edition in Germany.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that FL comes into its own when you have several books to adventure across, but hopefully each book is enjoyable in its own right. As a small publisher with a lot of translation work to do, Mantikore probably can't get the books out any faster - so let's hope German readers will stick with the series as it builds up.
ReplyDeleteHey
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if they fixed some mistakes in the German editions such as mixed-up codewords or the non-existing temple of Nagil in Wheatfields. Moreover the previously extinguished connections to the other books (for instance it's impossible to travel from Smogmaw further inland) should be reintegrated. But what am I bickering about ... gonna buy them anyways :-D and I think I'll save my breath for the good news to come.
Cheers
Andreas
Still no news of book 5 and 6 reprints ? The suspense is killing me....
ReplyDeleteThe news I talked about in the post doesn't concern print copies of 5 and 6, but I do have a ray of hope about those. Over the last few months, sales of Books 1-4 have been steadily picking up, and if that trend continues it could become economically feasible for Fabled Lands LLP to go ahead with more print gamebooks. (Although I have to add that the price of Kindles has never looked more attractive...)
ReplyDeleteThat is still a beautiful ray of hope. :) I will wish heavily for that trend to increase!
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, make sure you enjoy lovely sunlight outside!
Cheers
Joe
Wait - the sun's out? Why didn't anyone tell me sooner? And to think I've been staring at this PC monitor all day!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to read that paperback editions of FL 5 and 6 are not only a dream. I understand you when you say that kindle editions become every day more actractive, but I don't think these ones should completely rule out a print edition, cause I'm not sure the target would be the very same...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, let's keep fingers crossed in the hope that FL LLP completes the project (yes I know, this morning I'm quite optimistic. :) )
Certainly a major UK publisher (Gollancz) seems to believe there is a market for gamebooks in print, Kingfede, as they are releasing DestinyQuest in trade paperback next year.
ReplyDeleteI got myself a copy of destinyquest a few months ago, and all i can say is that its a terribe gamebook believe me... it doesn't even come close to FL
ReplyDeleteso if DQ can sell many paper copies, i dont see why FL would fail.....
German reader here. I really enjoyed these books as a kid. Although some things were incorrectly translated like missing links to (yet) non-existing books (especially in the third volume) and some code words.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't figured out what the code in the waterfall in book 2 is supposed to say. Any hints with this one? Has this even been translated properly?
@Dave: How is book seven coming along? Now that I am grown up, I will certainly read it in the original english version. :D
Anonymous DQ reader: I haven't read it, so can't comment, but I know it has sold 1800 copies (according to The Bookseller) and has won many devoted fans. The Bookseller also reports the Gollancz edition will be a trade paperback at £14.99, which seems a slightly counter-intuitive format for gamebooks, but with the backing of a major publisher like that it stands a good chance.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous II - that code has been figured out by several clever members of the Yahoo FL group, but I'm dubious that the German translator (Caroline Görnandt) would have been able to render an equivalent version unless she is also a crack codebreaker. Which could explain why you haven't been able to solve it!
There is a fan-written Book 7 out there (600 sections) and Greywood Publishing will be releasing sourcebooks for Ankon-Konu and other regions as part of the RPG. As for an official Book 7 gamebook - well, let's see if Gollancz can revive the gamebook market.
Thanks a lot, Dave, at least I know now that there is an answer to that mystery and that some people out there know it. :-) When I've read Simon Singh's "The Code Book" several years ago I immediately thought of that strange message in Book Two, that puzzled me as a kid. But I wasn't sure if the code had been translated to German (As you feared it wasn't) and if it was a Code after all. But now, with your confirmation and my improved language skills, I might give it a serious try ... or at least ask the guys in the Yahoo FL group.
ReplyDeleteAgain, thank you for this blog and your answers, Dave, it's really great that you still care about the Fabled Lands and their readers, even if it's probably not the most moneymaking of your many projects.
And to be completely honest, I only played as your charakter once and far more often as Jamie, because he had the better stats, especially when it comes to "Kampfkraft", and his picture looked more "heroic" to me. I hope you never mind. :-)
Actually, Stewie, you weren't supposed to use either of us as characters - we were only included in the books as a joke! (That's why our biogs didn't feature as characters in the new books, or rather among the downloadable characters on the Spark Furnace website.)
ReplyDeleteHi... the cartoony look of the old Sagaland books was certainly due in part to the time-honoured strategy of German publishers to aim at a younger target group than English game books (see the cover of the first ed. of Warlock of FTM - 'Der Hexenmeister vom Flammenden Berg' - for a particularly outrageous example).
ReplyDeleteNoticing about code words that need translation should certainly be the translator's task, but overall continuity of codewords should have publishers on their toes (boo for Ravensburger there).
I'm curious to see what the new translation is like, though... honetsly, the blurb on the Amazon page contains some bits that get me worried. (off to order the book - I'll be back :) )