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Post by kolinovic on Jan 20, 2021 9:51:19 GMT
Many thanks for that insight Vincent! Really interesting, the range of sources for your ideas. Can I ask, do you guys all know each other for a long time?
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Post by Black Cat on Jan 20, 2021 19:46:56 GMT
Can I ask, do you guys all know each other for a long time? I could even add: how did it happen that Joe picked you to complete the series? Was it because you've worked with him on the RPG with the staff of Scriptarium and he knew what you could do?
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Post by zorkraan on Jan 24, 2021 16:39:36 GMT
Many thanks for that insight Vincent! Really interesting, the range of sources for your ideas. Can I ask, do you guys all know each other for a long time? Actually I made a talk in Germany 2 years ago to present the team and how we met each others and work together... To summarize, the frenchies (Florent Haro, Eric Dubourg, Reinaldo Gomez-Larenas...) are all close friends of mine, with whom I founded the association Scriptarium dedicated to the gamebook universes around 2010. Scriptarium was more than happy to publish the early versions of Oiseau's Autumn Snow gamebooks in French in 2010, for instance, and at the same time we were enlisted by Joe Dever first to review the new material written for the LW RPG, then to write supplements, and finally bonus adventures. We meet each other several times a year and mail each others each week.
I've also the fantastic players I gamemaster in rpg sessions. Few of them knew Lone Wolf at the beginning, but all became fond of the universe, and during the last decade they have playtested several scenes which were lated included in the gamebooks (remember the infiltration of the camp of the Acolytes in LW30?). Some of the new characters we introduced were actually inspired by theirs (after Joe's validation of course).
It is while we reviewed the RPG material that I got in touch, and became friend with August Hahn, around 2012. We are separated by an ocean but we send email to each other each month, and discuss every corner of the LW universe. At the same time, I also met the German specialists (Alexander Kühnert, Swen Harder) of the LW universe at the Manticon organized by the german publisher Mantikore Verlag, we also became friends and have worked together on several projects, like the BAs of LW22 and Grey Star 3. It's always a pleasure to meet each others in Germany at the successive Manticons.
The same can be said with the Italians, Francesco Mattioli (maps) and Alberto dal Lago (covers), whom I met for the first time in 2012 notably at Lucca Comics & Games. We have great times each year we can meet at Lucca, there are wonderful restaurants there, and the most fanatical LW fans . Around 2015-2016, the Scriptarium team got expanded with the arrival of many non french contributors, including authors of bonus adventures like Gavyn Duthie and Andreas Andreou, who have become friends too and are of great help. And of course, we all met Ben Dever in 2016, he immediately became a great and inspiring leader for the team. I got in touch of Ian Page only recently, after the passing of Joe. We are not in regular contact but we discussed a lot everything related to Grey Star post War of the Wizards. The other experts who review the LW gamebooks were met during the recent years on Projectaon or Facebook. I hope to meet many more of you at future conventions .
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Post by zorkraan on Jan 24, 2021 16:49:52 GMT
Here's a idea for a tribute to Joe Dever that you could put on the 1st few pages of Book 32, I'm posting what I think would be the best small tribute and I mean this suggestion in a very nice way. What do you think? We dedicate this great book to the great memory of the great man that was The great Joe Dever, a great person who was a great author and a great parent Thanks for the suggestion! We have actually something in mind to celebrate Joe Dever in the last book.
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Post by zorkraan on Jan 24, 2021 17:08:16 GMT
I could even add: how did it happen that Joe picked you to complete the series? Was it because you've worked with him on the RPG with the staff of Scriptarium and he knew what you could do? Well, it's the main reason I think!
Actually, our relationships evolved from a working relationship to a real friendship after we met each others during various conventions all around Europe (I even gamemastered a rpg session in which he was a player, playing a Kai Lord, and he had great fun), inviting each other's at the restaurant and so on, to speak of things not related to Magnamund. And we liked it, to such an extent Joe came to vacation to my city during a weekend in 2014. I do think he decided during that weekend that if he should pick up someone to complete the saga if something went wrong, it should be me. We had a great time and we discussed in depth the universe of Lone Wolf. I explained him one of the RPG campaign I made for my players and which I planned to release one day, and he was impressed by the tie-ins and connections I made within his universe. He praised my vision of Magnamund, and evoked for the first time he would need my support for... LW31. As some of you may know now, LW31 has a quite complex story, which completes many storylines of various LW books. Joe already wanted my help at that time to check that everything worked well in the story of that specific tome, before he started to write it... And naturally in 2015 he tasked me with co-writing the bonus adventure of LW29, The Tides of Gorgoron, which is very important for the main scenario of the saga as you may know. I think this very project definitely convinced him, even if he never explained me clearly why.
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Post by kolinovic on Jan 25, 2021 9:44:37 GMT
That's great, Vincent, really interesting how it grew organically into a global team!
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Post by kekataagtheavenger on Feb 7, 2021 17:14:50 GMT
Hi Vincent,
Could you please provide more information about my favourite hero in the books - Kekataag the Avenger. He's awesome! What's his story?
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Post by kolinovic on Feb 9, 2021 15:37:39 GMT
One slightly cheeky question - depending on whether you authors are fans of Alyss and the other divergences from within the Legends series - is there any temptation for Book 32 to give Qinefer or any of the others a horrible death?
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Post by zorkraan on Feb 12, 2021 18:05:44 GMT
Hi Vincent, Could you please provide more information about my favourite hero in the books - Kekataag the Avenger. He's awesome! What's his story? Sorry for the delay, and sorry for disappointing, but I wasn't given so much information concerning this badass servant of Naar, said to the "latest champion" of the Dark God in book 20 (which somehow contradicts his possible involvment in the building of Naaros, suggested in the first LW RPG), arguably the most powerful Undead in the universe, created from a formidable living warrior. We may explore his back story in further works, but I won't promise anything at that point.
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Post by zorkraan on Feb 12, 2021 18:12:10 GMT
One slightly cheeky question - depending on whether you authors are fans of Alyss and the other divergences from within the Legends series - is there any temptation for Book 32 to give Qinefer or any of the others a horrible death? Ha ha ha, I guess you're not a fan of the Legends' characters, aren't you ? Actually, I can't of course spoil anything but Joe was really fond of some aspects of the scenario of these books. He did like the character of Alyss (perhaps less the others...), which is why she was so important in the events of LW19-20.
For book 32, well you'll see who's in and who (if any) will die ;-).
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andyc
Kai Lord
Posts: 210
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Post by andyc on Feb 12, 2021 19:09:12 GMT
Hi Vincent, Could you please provide more information about my favourite hero in the books - Kekataag the Avenger. He's awesome! What's his story? Sorry for the delay, and sorry for disappointing, but I wasn't given so much information concerning this badass servant of Naar, said to the "latest champion" of the Dark God in book 20 (which somehow contradicts his possible involvment in the building of Naaros, suggested in the first LW RPG), arguably the most powerful Undead in the universe, created from a formidable living warrior. We may explore his back story in further works, but I won't promise anything at that point. He could have been involved in the building of Naaros and later became the Champion of Naar, possibly after the previous Champion met their demise (hence 'The Avenger')?
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Post by redseven on Feb 13, 2021 1:20:24 GMT
As a Lone Wolf fan from way back in the 80s when I was 8 (Shadow On The Sand Super Edition with two adventures!!!), hats off to team LW for books 30 & 31. Joe raised the bar with LW 29, and you guys have taken it and created what feels like the culmination of all the best ideas from the entire series. I find it very impressive how you guys have added so much ‘more’ to Books 30 & 31, without losing that kind of LW ‘feel’ Joe established with the initial 28 books. New Order used to be my least favorite series, but now it’s easily the best based on the strength of books 29-31 alone. Seriously, great work.
But now, I have to ask, is there any chance Team LW will use the Definitive Editions to remaster books 2-28? Bringing them closer to the high bar set by 29-31? I’m not suggesting anything as extensive as Joe’s 2007 Flight From The Dark. But adding in a little extra lore and prose here or there, cutting down on the padding sections (Book 21, sections 75 > 139/274 I’m looking at you...) and either embellishing existing paths or adding in a divergent path or two would be awesome additions.
Is it possible for the Definitive Editions to address any of the long standing balance issues that evolved with the series? One of the things I really liked while reading 29-31 was the feeling that a character started in book 21 with 0,0 stat rolls had a very realistic chance of completing those books without cheating. Obviously, for all intents and purposes, that’s impossible in Books 1-20 and that seems broken from a design standpoint.
I would personally love seeing the whole set (Books 1-28+) rebalanced around a 0,0 character being “hard mode”, where optimal play is required for a reasonable chance at success. Find the best gear, find and use the best consumables, ideal discipline selection, optimal paths to limit danger, etc. Right now, for me, a full campaign starts with near max stats, prep for a few tough fights, and steamrolling the rest of the campagin. It’s good to have some books more difficult than others, but having a 10-20 CS advantage for basically everything else gets old. This also opens up a 9,9 character as “easy mode”, giving a more casual and forgiving campaign to newer players and anyone else who wants that.
Is it possible to address issues between campaign and standalone players? The Sommerswerd is the most obvious problem and has been discussed on the forums ad nauseam, as I’m sure you’re very well aware. Can the SS be added to the starting equipment in Books 3-20, copying the New Order approach to the Kai Weapons? LW without his signature weapon feels wrong anyways.
Can all players, campaign and standalone, get access to the “hidden” discipline bonuses that carry over from completed Kai/Magnakai series? Players on a full campaign already have the advantage of extra gear. “Free” weaponskill/weaponmastery/mindblast/psi-surge/healing/curing bonuses seem excessive and only add to balance headaches. This would also give New Order players more flexibility to choose their disciplines. Right now Grand Weaponmastery and Kai-Surge are basically mandatory due to the large boosts to CS. These, the SS and all the gear were cool rewards as a kid as I acquired my original paperback collection out of order. With the whole series available online, that doesn’t seem important anymore. Now it just seem like a balance headache.
As a much lesser concern, can any of the issues/questions surrounding weapons be cleared up or improved on? 2h weapons seem pointless other than to occasionally punish the player for using them. Having 9 different melee weapon types seems pointless as there’s little reason to use one over the other. And after acquiring the Sommerswerd and Kai Weapon, normal weapons become almost pointless save a few limited cases.
I apologize for the lengthy post, I just finished Book 31 and my imagination has sort of run away with the possibilities. I can completely understand if you can’t really comment on the Definitive Editions themselves. However, is there anything at all you can say about any plan or will or desire to address any of the above going forward?
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Post by kekataagtheavenger on Feb 13, 2021 11:16:40 GMT
Sorry for the delay, and sorry for disappointing, but I wasn't given so much information concerning this badass servant of Naar, said to the "latest champion" of the Dark God in book 20 (which somehow contradicts his possible involvment in the building of Naaros, suggested in the first LW RPG), arguably the most powerful Undead in the universe, created from a formidable living warrior. We may explore his back story in further works, but I won't promise anything at that point. He could have been involved in the building of Naaros and later became the Champion of Naar, possibly after the previous Champion met their demise (hence 'The Avenger')? Thanks Vincent and Andy for the reply! My understanding is that Kekataag has conquered a world and has been given place in Naaros as a reward for his actions. At least Agarash is also very nice so I might have to switch alliances for now. Further works will be awesome
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Post by rhygar on Feb 13, 2021 14:19:26 GMT
Book 32 size. We see the physical width of Book 31, and know that Book 32 will have more paragraphs. Like GhostofLandar says in the other thread, I too would urge you ‘not to strip down anything’. You and your team are not beholden to a publishing company which might set arbitrary conditions like maximum word counts or a forced reduction in paragraphs. So my question is: would you consider having the last book consist of two volumes if needs be?
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Post by zorkraan on Feb 19, 2021 10:03:38 GMT
As a Lone Wolf fan from way back in the 80s when I was 8 (Shadow On The Sand Super Edition with two adventures!!!), hats off to team LW for books 30 & 31. Joe raised the bar with LW 29, and you guys have taken it and created what feels like the culmination of all the best ideas from the entire series. I find it very impressive how you guys have added so much ‘more’ to Books 30 & 31, without losing that kind of LW ‘feel’ Joe established with the initial 28 books. New Order used to be my least favorite series, but now it’s easily the best based on the strength of books 29-31 alone. Seriously, great work. Thank you it really makes my day!!! But now, I have to ask, is there any chance Team LW will use the Definitive Editions to remaster books 2-28? Bringing them closer to the high bar set by 29-31? I’m not suggesting anything as extensive as Joe’s 2007 Flight From The Dark. But adding in a little extra lore and prose here or there, cutting down on the padding sections (Book 21, sections 75 > 139/274 I’m looking at you...) and either embellishing existing paths or adding in a divergent path or two would be awesome additions. Here the topic is greater than my own work, so I won't answer for Holmgard Press. What I know is that it is not intended to rewrite or heavily modify what Joe Dever has established in his 29 first books. But you'll be happy to learn that extra lore was added by Joe himself in the "Definitive Editions" of LW1 and LW2 to be released by Holmgard Press, since he started to work on that in 2015. Some "padding sections" will be actually replaced, like in LW17. All the wrong paths and inconsistencies will be corrected. But no supplementary paths / plots. It is Joe's work and we don't want to alter it. Is it possible for the Definitive Editions to address any of the long standing balance issues that evolved with the series? One of the things I really liked while reading 29-31 was the feeling that a character started in book 21 with 0,0 stat rolls had a very realistic chance of completing those books without cheating. Obviously, for all intents and purposes, that’s impossible in Books 1-20 and that seems broken from a design standpoint. I would personally love seeing the whole set (Books 1-28+) rebalanced around a 0,0 character being “hard mode”, where optimal play is required for a reasonable chance at success. Find the best gear, find and use the best consumables, ideal discipline selection, optimal paths to limit danger, etc. Right now, for me, a full campaign starts with near max stats, prep for a few tough fights, and steamrolling the rest of the campagin. It’s good to have some books more difficult than others, but having a 10-20 CS advantage for basically everything else gets old. This also opens up a 9,9 character as “easy mode”, giving a more casual and forgiving campaign to newer players and anyone else who wants that. Is it possible to address issues between campaign and standalone players? The Sommerswerd is the most obvious problem and has been discussed on the forums ad nauseam, as I’m sure you’re very well aware. Can the SS be added to the starting equipment in Books 3-20, copying the New Order approach to the Kai Weapons? LW without his signature weapon feels wrong anyways. Can all players, campaign and standalone, get access to the “hidden” discipline bonuses that carry over from completed Kai/Magnakai series? Players on a full campaign already have the advantage of extra gear. “Free” weaponskill/weaponmastery/mindblast/psi-surge/healing/curing bonuses seem excessive and only add to balance headaches. This would also give New Order players more flexibility to choose their disciplines. Right now Grand Weaponmastery and Kai-Surge are basically mandatory due to the large boosts to CS. These, the SS and all the gear were cool rewards as a kid as I acquired my original paperback collection out of order. With the whole series available online, that doesn’t seem important anymore. Now it just seem like a balance headache. Thanks a lot for that brainstorm, we are definitely aware of the balance problems, notably between campaign and standalone players and we try to find ways to improve that. There will be changes between book 28 and 29 in this regards, so that the 17 years between these books are taken into account in the progression of the NO KGM. The Sommerswerd and the hidden disciplines bonuses are other crucial issues and are currently considered. I can't guarantee we'll find a satisying way but we're trying.
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