36 réponses à ce sujet

[Savant1974]

Don't know if anyone here actually played it, but I made a series of mods for NWN under the banner 'the Aielund Saga' back in the day, and I decided to turn it into a series of novels. The just completed the first one, and the ebook is online now, in case you're looking for some good fantasy action/adventure reading

Website

/shameless plug

Modifié par Savant1974, 11 août 2011 - 02:44 .

[Elhanan]

Congrats! I have played the series several times, and your world is as complete, immersive, and comparable to the majority of the PW's experienced over these many moons. Best of luck moving forward!

[WebShaman]

I wish you the best of luck!

Although, I actually PREFER having Orcs, Goblins, etc (re: standard fare monsters) as opponents in my fantasy worlds. Too much has actually been done with the "human angle" IMHO. The Wheel of Time series, etc - just about bored me to death with the entire "human conflict set in a fantasy setting" after awhile. There is only so much human organization, plots, politics, etc that I can stomach, I guess.

If humanity is so strong that it can choose to "ignore" the outside menaces, then it sort of seems like all "monsters" (re: not humans) take a backseat, and threaten to disappear whatsoever from the fantasy world in question.

DAO got this balance right, IMHO. Though I would still have preferred goblins, orcs, etc to the Darkspawn.

DA2 seems to have such an imbalance in it, putting the Darkspawn on the backburner and center staging human organizations, groups, factions etc, as the main antagonists. While a fine adventure, it does not really feel like fantasy, but more like a historical reference to ages past...

Take, for example, the DL saga. I found that done well, all things considered. With your very rich, detailed world, you could of course have focused on similar themes, I feel. Very sad that it is not, and instead is more focused on the human struggle against human mechanisms.

Still, it is your novel, write it as you feel is appropriate.

[Elhanan]

@ WebShaman - Until you mentioned Orcs vs Humans, I never noticed. Instead, I was entranced by the deep NPC interactions, companion banter, and various story twists. And as a bonus, Dragons were to feared again; another perk of the DA and DL series, too.

[WebShaman]

Yeah, I know, I know. I am a hopeless D&D Oldschooler. I absolutely LOVE kobolds, Goblins, Orcs...as opponents *sigh*

I mean, you remember "Bree-yark"? Yeah.

And as for "Dragons were to be feared again"...bleh! DA2 makes and misuses Dragons again, much like NWN...gah!

Luckily for us NWNers, there is the improved Dragon AI tweaks...makes them much better IMHO.

[Rolo Kipp]

<perking his ears up...>

WebShaman wrote...

Luckily for us NWNers, there is the improved Dragon AI tweaks...makes them much better IMHO.

Improved Dragon ai?
Um, <drools a little, unnoticed> could you point me at it?

<...and tries to wiggle them>

[Savant1974]

Yes I'm attempting to strike a balance between monsters, demi-humans and regular human lands for the novels. But I didn't want to do orcs, goblins etc, I felt they'd been done too much in recent times. But there's still dragons and monsters along the way, where appropriate! I figured if there are to many external threats, then humanity would stick together a lot more, and I didn't want that
Thanks for the support

[MrZork]

I don't recall too many goblins, but there was at least fortress full of orcs that was pretty challenging (in chapter two?) in Aielund, nevermind that most of the first half of the saga is trying to deal with the (non-human) Ironlord. And, the second half (chapter 4A-4C)? Also lots of non-humans. I think the humans drive the storyline, but there's no shortage of monsters.

Anyway, I like non-human monsters, but I think Aielund does a great job of establishing credible threats in most of the encounters one has and that they be believable in the context of the story. I think that's what makes it fun and immersive, be the baddies mostly human or otherwise. And, so far, it's the only series I've played where one might have a dragon associate...

Anyway, I am a big fan of the Aielund Saga and I am not kidding when last week I was looking for a book to put on the kindle and wondered if you had finished the book version of your much-beloved mod. Anyway, best of luck with it.

BTW, does Amazon show how many people have purchased the book? I'd like to know which number I am. :-)

Modifié par MrZork, 12 août 2011 - 05:01 .

[Savant1974]

I checked this morning and it was at '12', but I'm not going to check it every five minutes (lol).

And yes, there are still monsters to deal with, such as the Ironlord (which was actually a human in the end), other constructs, dragons, monstrous animals etc, not to mention the ultimate big bad towards the end of the mods. I reduced the variety, but cranked up the detail and history of what's left. You'll see what I mean when you read it

Modifié par Savant1974, 12 août 2011 - 05:23 .

[jmlzemaggo]

Not only you probably made one of the top three modules in NWN history,
The Aielund Saga, 
another one hiding in my sig by respect to you, along with Stefan Gagne, but you also really, not only "talked about writing it" but actually really wrote a book about it?
I'm twice very impressed.
Yeah, as they're all saying, best of luck to you!

(Could you be so kind to give us the proper link of your "Aielund Saga" active site, downloads and discussions? You're having me confused here... )

Modifié par jmlzemaggo, 12 août 2011 - 06:24 .

[Savant1974]

Here's the WEBSITE link!

And yes, actually getting the book done was quite an achievement for me. Now I'm in the habit of writing every day, so I'm plowing into book two, based on the 2nd module in the saga

I don't have a forum section as of yet, I've been really lazy, relying on facebook instead.

Modifié par Savant1974, 12 août 2011 - 08:07 .

[WebShaman]

MrZork, I was not talking about the Mods themselves, but about the book. Savant1974 mentions in the description that the central focus is not "human vs outside forces" but more centered on "human vs human" sort of threats...

Sort of like DA2 has done it.

As for the improved Dragon AI, I believe it is included in Jassper's AI...or perhaps CODI? I can't remember...probably Jassper's.

I am not saying that this is wrong, or bad, mind you. Just expressing my personal likes here.

[MrZork]

WebShaman, I misread your comment, assuming you were talking about the modules. Sorry about that.

(I may give Jasperre's AI a try, if that's the one. Do you know if it's compatible with Tony K's, or are the two exclusive to one another?)

I haven't played DA2 yet (still working on the first DA and expansion/DLC). It would be too bad if they had even fewer monsters than DA:O (which I think generally has enough, though not as many as my NWN instincts had me expecting).

I suspect that novels benefit from a different focus than games because the fun is in the story and the combat isn't so central. Games have much more combat, so it's natural that a wider variety of opponents keeps things interesting. I guess I'll see how the mix Savant has chosen works out soon enough.

(BTW, I actually walked over to the PC to grab the kindle to read a chapter of this book, then decided to check the forums first...)

[jmlzemaggo]

Savant1974 wrote...

Don't know if anyone here actually played it, but I made a series of mods for NWN under the banner 'the Aielund Saga'...

                       

I just realised that's probably the funniest humility statement I ever read in these forums...

                                       

'looks like real talent always comes with it.
Humility, I mean...

Modifié par jmlzemaggo, 13 août 2011 - 10:53 .

[AndarianTD]

Congratulations, Savant! The Aielund Saga is one of the best of NWN's storytelling adventures, and I'll definitely want to check out your first novel.

EDIT : A Kindle book! Very cool -- something to read on my new Xoom. Did you self-publish it, and if so was it difficult to arrange? I may be trying to go a similar route with Sanctum of the Archmage in the next couple of years, so I'd be very interested in knowing what was involved, if you're willing to elaborate.

Modifié par AndarianTD, 13 août 2011 - 12:16 .

[WebShaman]

Jasspere's AI is not really compatable with Tony K's AI (does anyone know if TK includes the improved Dragon AI?). JAI is really for use in a Mod or PW, for builders IMHO. The beta version definitely needs work (we had it tweaked up pretty good for one of the PWs I worked on).

DA2 basically "recycles" the ol' DAO models, introducing a few new ones, and some improvements. But Darkspawn&Co. really take a backseat to human intrigues in DA2. Whereas in DAO the Darkspawn were the major enemy (The Blight), with human interactions in the background, DA2 is the opposite.

The storyline of DA2 is top notch! Best that I have ever seen to date, even better than FFTactics, and coming from me, that is saying a lot! I have been glued to the screen for the better part of two weeks now, and I am still not done!

[AndarianTD]

WebShaman wrote...

The storyline of DA2 is top notch! Best that I have ever seen to date, even better than FFTactics, and coming from me, that is saying a lot! I have been glued to the screen for the better part of two weeks now, and I am still not done!

I know this is slightly off-topic, but I just wanted to say that I completely agree. DA2 broke a lot of new ground as an example of how to do story-based RP. 

[WebShaman]

Yeah..ok, back on topic!

Savant1974, is your book part of a series, or a stand-alone work?

[Elhanan]

WebShaman wrote...

Yeah..ok, back on topic!

Savant1974, is your book part of a series, or a stand-alone work?

Series, I believe, as he mentioned a 2nd book based from the second mod.

But I gotta wonder: How is Savant going to possibly record the surprise, rage, fear, and sadness of the item strip to come in Act IV?!?

[WebShaman]

That is a good question! How do you get your reader to feel the same, raw, overboiling emotion that one has as a player, driving one to open the Mod, and remove that?

Hehe...

[amers1015]

Congrats Savant! I've started reading it and it's excellent so far! I will be returning to it tonight after I get the tiny lunatics, er...my kids, in bed.

[Challseus]

Savant, when I joined the NWN community back in 2004, along with Rick Burton, Adam Miller, and Stefan Gagne, you were one of the modders I looked up to. I'm glad you have realized your dream. Good luck!

[Savant1974]

AndarianTD wrote...
EDIT : A Kindle book! Very cool -- something to read on my new Xoom. Did you self-publish it, and if so was it difficult to arrange? I may be trying to go a similar route with Sanctum of the Archmage in the next couple of years, so I'd be very interested in knowing what was involved, if you're willing to elaborate.

I found all the documentation to be completely wrong, and had to figure it out by asking the help desk directly. I plan on writing up a quick webpage for my site detailing how I did it, since I found all the guides I'd use to be inadequate 

amers1015 wrote...

Congrats Savant! I've started reading
it and it's excellent so far! I will be returning to it tonight after I
get the tiny lunatics, er...my kids, in bed.

Lunatics, hehee, I love that. Glad you're enjoying it, I endevoured to make it a good read, even though a lot of fantasy sagas start off a bit slow. I made an effort to make it interesting and witty even when nothing much was happening. Also, chapter 19 onwards is where it goes into 'awesome mode', so keep an eye out 

WebShaman wrote...
Savant1974, is your book part of a series, or a stand-alone work?

I'm already nearly done with writing chapter 2 of book 2, based on 'Defender of the crown'. I'll be making books out of all of them, though I think act 4 will become two books instead of three, as they were smaller mods.

Book 4/5 will go more into what happens to betray the protagonist, which I glossed over in a montage in act 4 pt 1. As for how I'm going to capture that same feel, well, I haven't fully planned that bit out yet (it's a couple of years away) but there won't be a death involved, for starters (raise dead is a gaming mechanic designed to let players keep playing, not appropriate for a novel) and heading into Fairloch, the main characters won't be covered in magic items, as it's not wartime (again, a difference between the game and the novel). So I guess they'll be pre-stripped of magic items 

Finally, After book 5 is done and the saga ends, I'll be doing a second saga, the one I originally wanted to do in nwn2 as a new series of mods. I've started laying the groundwork for that already, so you'll eventually get to read what happens with Osric

Modifié par Savant1974, 14 août 2011 - 03:33 .

[Omega27]

Savant1974 wrote...

Yes I'm attempting to strike a balance between monsters, demi-humans and regular human lands for the novels. But I didn't want to do orcs, goblins etc, I felt they'd been done too much in recent times. But there's still dragons and monsters along the way, where appropriate! I figured if there are to many external threats, then humanity would stick together a lot more, and I didn't want that
Thanks for the support

Savant, im in total agreence with your idea. Im not knocking the whole Goblins and Orcs etc. Me personally in my new mod im bringing a balance for classic D&D and new age RPG's. Introducing and surrounding the player with more then a Friendly Human race, and hostile monsters. doing  my best to introduce a new world and setting.