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Friday 5 September 2014

Living on the Edge

In amongst all the news about the Way of the Tiger last year, you won't have failed to notice that my own favourite Kickstarter goal was the one to have Leo Hartas draw an original fantasy map for the world of Orb. Well, my real favourite Kickstarter goal would have been for my and Leo's Mirabilis project, but you know what I mean.

The stretch goal having been reached, Leo has been hard at work on a map of Irsmuncast-nigh-Edge, a city of the Manmarch. If you're going to Fighting Fantasy Fest you might even get the chance to buy the original artwork. I asked Leo and Orb's creator, Mark Smith, about the creative process.

DM: Mark, when designing a city, do you start out by drawing a rough map or do you prefer that to come later?

Mark Smith: I would do things slightly differently now- but this is how it worked back then. When designing a city I first took into account its geography – and proximity to other significant places – and the reasons why people would either immigrate or emigrate. Then I introduced the random factor of assigning temples from the Pantheon of Orb, and I will only modify that roster of temples if it is absolutely necessary – meaning I can't find a plausible rationale and back story for how and why the temples were founded there in that mix of temples.

DM: Can you tell us a bit about how the city got its name?

MS: Irsmuncast Nigh Edge is a shortening of what was originally 'The first camp of men near to the Rift’ (aka the Edge) and, understandably, it is not that close to the Edge. It’s the first settlement that you would come to in the Manmarch if you were journeying away from the Rift.

Since the Rift is like the edge of the world and spews forth evil and danger we can guess a few things about the nature of the Irmuncast inhabitants These tend to be either hardy or hopeless folk who can/must live under the shadow or threat of an incursion of evil. Some couldn't find success in safer places so had to make a go of it in Irsmuncast. Over time Irsmuncast became stronger- more able to defend itself and was able to sustain or attract wealthy and privileged people like Golspiel and others. The farmlands that supply the city are all to the west of the city as any to the east would be t0o easily despoiled by Orcs and so on.

I noted in the books that it was a city of 20,000 souls. I now think it is more likely it has around 35-40,000 inhabitants. but has reached the maximum sustainable by the farmlands to the west and so food is not overly plentiful.

DM: Leo, your maps have got a real feel for the place - what techniques are you using that give them that edge over other fantasy maps?

Leo Hartas: Illustrated maps, whether of real or imagined locations, must fulfill the necessity of practical use and readability while also be entertaining, adding atmosphere and style to the world.

With the Irsmuncast map, I was provided with a detailed sketch and copious notes to work from. Often the maps I did for Fighting Fantasy had to be based on barely more than a scribble on the back of an envelope. I am happy to work with either so long as there's enough information to do a pencil rough to submit to the publishers and authors. At that point it is easy to see what needs adding or changing and which spelling mistakes I've made (and I always seem to make them!).

To get to that point I lay out the components of the map in pencil on the paper I'm going to paint on (Bockinford 180 lb hot pressed watercolour) to have a pleasing composition and be clear and easy to read. I always have a dilemma at the beginning of any project about going traditional or digital, as I can work in either or a combination. For the Irsmuncast map, I decided on entirely traditional because I felt it should exist as a physical object, giving a little tactile authenticity to a fantasy world.

DM: What sources do you find inspire you when making a fantasy map?

LH: The Way of the Tiger world is loosely oriental, so I started looking online for old Japanese and Chinese maps for ideas of the look. The ones I found were rather short on decorative motifs so I widened my search to include all kinds of Eastern art. In the end I'd not found anything specific so just started doodling possible ideas, building a mash up of all kinds of influences into something that hopefully is new but contains the right cultural "feel". My whole thinking process is pretty fluid in that I don't have much of a plan and change stuff all the time. Even when the colour goes on, although I'll have a rough idea of what I am aiming at, half of it will be experimenting on the paper and trying to rescue it from cock-ups. This gung-ho way of working is probably why I went grey early! During all of this I listen to audiobooks. Somehow the half concentration unlocks an intuitive streak, while at the same time I get to plow through hundreds of novels.

38 comments:

  1. Sorry for the off topic post, but I was wondering if there will be any more printing of Fabled Lands books 2, 3, and 6, all of which seem to be unavailable on most amazons, including amazon.ca where I ordered them a few weeks ago along with the others. Are the books out of print?

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    1. No. It could be that Amazon is trying to put the squeeze on Lightning Source, who are our print-on-demand company for books 1-4.The books are listed as in stock on Amazon US and Amazon UK - and even when they are "out of stock" (as of course they always are with POD) Amazon will take an order and the books usually deliver within 4-5 days.

      Alternatives... You can order FL 5 and 6 from the Createspace store:

      https://www.createspace.com/3955142

      and you can buy all our books from Barnes & Noble:

      http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/fabled-lands-thomson?keyword=fabled+lands+thomson&store=book

      I know Amazon Canada seems to be slow stocking the Blood Sword books, and we don't know why that is, but they do list FL books as "shipping within 2-5 weeks". (It'll be a lot quicker than that, I promise you.) And you can also get new copies there via Amazon Marketplace:

      http://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/1478377100/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&sr=&qid=

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    2. Unfortunately it is not quicker than that either for the books 2 and 3 or book 6, all of which I ordered 2 weeks ago and are still listed in my order page as Not Shipped. I guess I'll just keep waiting and hope they figure out what the heck they're doing.

      I ordered books 1, 4, and 5 at the same time and had them days later (also Heart of Ice, which I just finished and thought was phenomenal)

      Shipping prices from other stores aside Canadia charge an arm, leg, and firstborn for shipping, so Barns and Noble is out (they also pack their books terribly)

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    3. I'm sorry to hear it. Let me know how it goes. If this is going to be a recurring problem with Amazon Canada, maybe we can find some other way to supply the books there. Well, I say that, but I don't have any bright ideas... Suggestions, anyone?

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    4. Glad you liked Heart of Ice btw. I know I keep banging on about this, but reviews - on Goodreads, Amazon, blogs, all of the above - really help spread the word. Not as sexy as a Kickstarter campaign but just as effective. (In fact, if everybody who asks us to do a KS for books 7-12 just put a 5-star review on Amazon, we might be able to get them written!)

      Since you got books 1, 4 and 5 without any problem, I'm hopeful this is just a temporary hiccup. They're all coming from the same print on demand companies, so there's no logical reason for the other books to take any longer.

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    5. Books 2, 3, and 6 just shipped according to an Amazon.ca email I just got. Looks like it was just a waiting game. A strange, confusing waiting game, but at least they're sending them! I've been waiting to dig into book 1 until I have all 6, so I'm really excited that the rest are finally on their way!

      I just left you a 5-star review for Heart of Ice on both Amazon.ca and Amazon.com and I'll review the Fabled Lands books as well once I have read them as well.

      On a completely unrelated aside, I just found out that you wrote the TMNT books I used to read over and over again as a kid. I still have my copy of Red Herrings. Small world :) Thanks for all the memories and awesome books!

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    6. TMNT, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet... The one series they didn't ask me to write, which I'd have done for free, was Fireball XL5. I wish somebody would dig out those old shows & colorize them for today's audience.

      Anyway, heartfelt thanks for the review, especially this bit:

      "It's a race to the end of the world and you're not the only one in the running! Friends become enemies and enemies will become allies before the end."

      That's pretty much the perfect description of Heart of Ice. It should be the back cover blurb!

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    7. I was worried that bit sounded a bit too... 'promo-y' but it really fit and I'm glad I kept it. Glad you liked the review!

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  2. Does anyone have any idea at all where I can get the fan-written Book 7. While I, like everyone else would much prefer the full-on literary heroine-crack that the official book 7-12 would provide. I find myself needing some "methadone" to help tide me over.

    Also, where any more supplements/book released for the Fabled Lands RPG? I just got the core rulebook and Sokara and was wondering if any further books had been written/released.

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    1. If you mean Way of the Tiger book 7, John, I'd hardly call it fan-written, as the author is David Walters, an established fantasy author in his own right. After a mere 26 years trapped in a web, Avenger leaps free in WOTT 7: Redeemer - due out from Megara Entertainment later this year.

      Meanwhile, my own literary heroine is Lizzie Bennet, but if you meant the new FL books that fans wrote... There are at least two out there somewhere, maybe on the FL Yahoo Group? One of them starts with an altimeter spinning uselessly, IIRC, which is what you'd hope on board a ship, lol.

      And btw don't miss Pace's Journal, another unofficial but absolutely brilliant contribution to the FL universe:

      https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw-D3aeeCY9EeFRtOUQ2MUdPTkU/edit?usp=sharing

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    2. Just noticed your other question about the FL RPG, John. (That's what I get for skim-reading.) I only ever saw the core rulebook and the Sokara sourcebook. I think the game died after that for lack of interest. A great shame, as the rules were really neat, being both true to the world and easy to use.

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    3. John, I have the fan-written FL7 in a PDF (I think) which I'd be happy to email you if you can somehow convey to me to email address without incurring mountains of spam!

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    4. Bless you, sir! I would very much appreciate a copy of that. Thank you in advance! My e-mail address is johntfs1@yahoo.com

      And don't worry about spam. That's the address I give to free advertisers to prevent spam from landing in my main address.

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  3. I'm sorry. I was talking about the Fabled Lands fan version of Book 7. I tried joining the main Yahoo group but never heard back from the moderator and was eventually automatically rejected. I've tried signing up again, but it's highly possible the group has been abandoned.

    That journal was kind of neat. I liked that. I've never got the Talenaxor duel because I ended up making my Scouting roll when pursuing Lauria. That led to me first "Holy crap!" moment in Fabled Lands. I sneaked into Lauria's place, managed to avoid waking her and was presented the option of either robbing her and kidnapping her. I chose kidnapping, figuring that I'd end up ransoming her to a thieves' guild or just dropping her off at a guardhouse (also I had like 20,000 shards in various banks, investments, storage areas and on my person, so robbery just seemed... irrelevant). That did not happen. Instead, I wound up selling my roguish rival as a sex slave. I've played a lot of gamebooks. I've done some questionable things with nominally heroic characters. I've never sold one of my enemies as a sex slave before. And that was my first real understanding of the level of, call it "moral freedom" that Fabled Lands has. This series gives you the freedom to be evil, which means that your choice to be good has actual meaning here, instead of simply being the default, assumed path that must be followed or you'll be destroyed/losr the game.

    BTW, I've adapted a version of the "changing class" rules from the Fabled Lands RPG. You can change class when you raise in Rank. Your Abilities must allow you to qualify for the beginning level of that class when you make the change (A Wayfarer shifting to become a Mage must have a Magic of at least 6, etc.. When you do this, you do not increase Defense or Stamina. Instead, you become "Rank 1" in your new class, though you retain your previous Stamina until your new class's Rank exceed your old Rank. Any further increases in Rank go to that new class unless they result from a quest that is specific to your old Class. Any rolls involving Rank use the current class, but you may still apply effects from a previous class.

    A Warrior who rose to Rank 4 before deciding to become a Mage is now Rank 2 as a Mage. While sailing in the Violet Ocean his ship is set upon by pirates, whom he chooses to fight. When he adds his Rank (and modifiers for his crew), he adds a 2 because he is a Rank 2 Mage. However, because he was (and sort of is) a Warrior, he rolls three dice instead of two to fight off the pirates. Once he rises to Rank 5 as a Mage (which he should do after winning enough battles with Pirates and the like) he rolls for increased Stamina and gains his new Defense bonus.

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    1. It's only in the last few years, reading Fighting Fantasy reviews online, that I've realized most gamebookers aren't interested in roleplaying. They enjoy bringing 21st century sensibilities to medievalish settings ("It's a gorgon!" "Is she called Zola, fnar fnar.") whereas a roleplayer wants to immerse by trying to get into a different culture and worldview. So, yes, slavery in Uttaku is a fact of life, and though most people would balk at selling a human being to the Uttakin, it's entirely up to you as player how you feel about that.

      Btw I wouldn't necessarily jump to the conclusion that the slaver wants Lauria for sex. It could just as easily be for sacrifice or some other decadent Uttakin practice. In any case, this is Lauria we're talking about. She'll get out of it before the hangover has worn off, and you can bet that slaver (and you) will rue the day ;-)

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  4. Two points. First, I did not expect the kidnap option to lead to selling Lauria to a slaver. My joy in finding that out didn't come from "Yes, I can enslave people!" It came from discovering that Fabled :Lands was a much different game world than most others. If doing real evil is an available choice that does not lead to immediate death or punishment, then doing good is also a real choice and that's a cool thing indeed.

    Second, there's the horse, zebra, unicorn story. You hear a large, four-legged hooved creature galloping down the rode. The creature might be a zebra. It could perhaps even be a unicorn, but it's probably a horse.

    The slaver comments appreciatively on Lauria's white skin. He could be planning to sell her to the cannibal cult (that your character may well have joined) because they wanted "white meat" for their rituals. He may even recognize her as the Faceless King's lost bride and the next time you encounter Lauria will be in her new capacity as "God-Empress of Uttaku. But he's probably going to sell her as a sex slave.

    I have to admit that even though the best thing to do in the Lauria story is confront her twice in Dweomer, (assuming you survive the Bluewood, you'll get a +1 to (your presumably already high) Scouting and a +1 back to Charisma) I sell her to the Uttakuns because I want to see where that story goes next. I want to find out where the Civil codewords takes me, even though I'm pretty sure it won't take me anywhere pleasant.

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    1. I honestly can't remember the answer to that one, John. But I'm pretty sure Lauria shows up again eventually.

      And yes, I agree with your point about the moral freedom of the FL world. Unlike Legend, say, there is no omniscient moral agency behind the world. The decisions you make may be moral or not, but if you choose to be "good' then it's good for its own sake, not for any reward. Which, as you say, is really what moral choices are all about.

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    2. And btw how horrible it would be if you did meet her next time on the throne of Uttaku. Oops.

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    3. Unless you'd been to Akatsurai, fallen fall of a particular monster and then replaced the Faceless King in a bloodless coup first! Wahahaha!

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    4. Nice use of a mujina curse there, James. Is that a thing that can actually happen in book 5? It should be! (I really ought to re-read those books sometime.)

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    5. I don't believe it can, unfortunately. IIRC, losing your face drops CHARISMA to 1. You can recover your own face, or get a really really good face with CHARISMA 12 and a codeword (that I always imagined as going to bite you in Book 11 or something). I don't believe Book 5 checks for any F* codewords at the Court of Hidden Faces... although it would be awesome if you did. You scare children, but the Uttaku think you're awesome. Or a threat and throw you in the Blood Garden...

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    6. In RuneQuest, being dead is a huge minus to Charisma. But then look at El Cid.

      And yes, FL is a (mostly) realistic world. Imagine what would happen if you turned up at ISIS headquarters with "proof" that you're descended from Muhammad. Wouldn't go well.

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    7. Hi, I'm curious too to know the fate of Lauria and Civil codewords.
      It will be more interesting that, instead of be able to escape by herself, because this will just reset the choice effect, find her in chains and loincloth enslaved by some wicked sorceress.
      This will explain why she is not able to break out and also give the starting point for 2 quest:
      - agree to save her in exchange of the thief-loot that her keep in her secret hideout, and so face the sorceress
      - after that, keep her as slave companion and travel to her hideout to get the reward avoid her attempt of back-stab and flee

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    8. Keep Lauria as a slave? Yeah, good luck with that. You've heard of holding a tiger by the tail, right?

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    9. It is exactly because that! More troubles mean more adventure. I remember a similar situation with Foxglove in The Way of the Tiger; so it is a scenario that can be exploit in an adventure and it is more original that just have the umpteenth fight with a wild monster.

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  5. I haven't yet explored every book yet but I haven't encountered her in person after the slaving thing. If you lose the "Mirror of the Sun" through death, robbery or "selling" it for 8000 Shards to the King Tiger, the Sun priests in Book 4 mention that Lauria is the one who brings it back to them (and gets the rewards instead of your character).

    Maybe you already do meet her there. Perhaps the real Faceless King is tied up in a closet somewhere (no need for a gag since he has no mouth even if he must scream) and she's disguised herself as him, tricked you out of your hard-won Tatsu Pearl and is just waiting to lower the boom on your newly minted Masked Lordness...

    I have to admit that of all the various Gods, I kind of like Nagil the most. For one thing, he's the only one you really get to meet in person. For another, he gives you the best presents (White Sword, free resurrections, etc.). Right now I'm playing through the series as a Troubadour who is his Chosen One. I envision him as a Byronesque pioneer of early Death Metal music.

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  6. Speaking of explorations, one thing I found was a couple of "city traps" where you get to the city but can't leave without money or certain equipment.

    Dweomer is the first of these. If you blow all your money on studying (or get robbed by the ex-scholars or whatever) you're trapped there unless you deliberately anger the Master of your school (or fail to flunk the Sanctity test to get admitted in the first place).

    The worse trap is Hagashin. You can get there by portal, ship or balloon, but you can't leave except by ship or death. Even after you go into the countryside and deal with the god (and probably the wizard) nothing you find in the countryside can be sold at the Hagashin market. You can't even sell Lanterns or Rope, which you'd think would be common, useful (and thus salable) items in a thriving seaport city. I'd also still like to find a use for the silver chopsticks aside from as something to give to the priests on that island near Mukagawa to help get the "Frog" codeword.

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    1. In the real world, or at least in movies and literature, I guess there are many cases of people getting washed up in a port and never managing to leave. Hmm. There's the seed of an FL adventure in this somewhere.

      At least you'll be able to get out of Dweomer with the republication of The Keep of the Lich Lord in a few weeks. All you need in that book is to be in Dweomer; you don't need any money. So maybe I'll set the next FL Quest in Hagashin. Job done.

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    2. Cool. Will you be using the Fabled Lands RPG rules for Keep of the Lich Lord so I can incorporate it into my other Fabled Lands books?

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    3. It uses the standard FL rules, so you can play it using any character in Dweomer. But being a single-story gamebook, there are no resurrections, so we recommend starting a new character in Keep who will then be able to continue in books 1-6.

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  7. Sounds cool. I like to begin the books as a Rank 1 character, but I get a little tired of starting over in Book 1 as the doofus on the boat. This sounds like an excellent alternate origin.

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  8. One other vital question. Is Keep of the Lich Liord coming out in any format other than Iphone or Ipad? Because I don't have either of those things and I really want to buy/play this.

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    1. It's actually just coming out as a printed book, John. But I have to say again: the only real future gamebooks have is as apps, so maybe treat yourself to an iPad this Christmas?

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  9. I think I can get most of the apps through iTunes anyway. However, I'm very happy that it'll be a printed book. I greatly prefer printed media. A work doesn't feel as real to me unless it's on paper. Plus, if Putin kicks off WWIII, I'll still be able to play my gamebooks in spite of all the radiation and EMPs in the atmosphere. So, bright side there. Any word on the release date or a place I can pre-order it?

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    1. I think it'll be the second half of October. Unfortunately there's no way for us to set up a pre-order; we just hit "publish" on Createspace and it goes on sale on Amazon later that day. Don't worry about missing it, as I'll put up a post as soon as it's published.

      Btw John, did you spot MikeH's offer to email you book 7? (see comment above)

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    2. I completely missed his offer earlier and thank you for pointing it out to me. I've actually just ordered the original version of The Keep of the Lich Lord (along with the complete series of Wiseguy). I plan to compare the two "Lich Lord" books with an eye toward translating Fighting Fantasy into Fabled Lands so that I can add a crapload of "new" quests to the series.

      One you publish it, you can be sure that I will purchase it.

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  10. MikeH, now that I think about it, it'd probably be best if you just sent the fa-written Book 7 to johntfs@hotmail.com since Hotmail/Outlook does a better job with attached files. Thank you again for helping me out.

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    1. No problem John, I'll aim to email this through to you this evening when I'm back home. Enjoy. :)

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