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Post by moonblade on Sept 11, 2018 14:59:41 GMT
Okay! It took me a couple of days to get through both books (newborn baby stealing away most of my focus!). Here are my impressions: Pros: 1) I love the story. As others before me have mentioned, it is very much the story of a young, eager, brash and inexperienced girl who has been thrust into something well beyond her depth and ken. I had the advantage of knowing myself when Autumn Snow really shouldn't make a decision ( kicking the Black Crystal Cube, entering a necromancer's shop), but the fact that the options were there to begin with seemed really appropriate--so you can find out the hard way how to do things correctly, if you so desire! 2) The new and improved way of slowly gaining CS/EP is brilliant. 3) Regularly being able to find weapons that are better quality or more poorly made, so that they have genuine effect on your battles? Yes please, more of that. Great addition. 4) The overall feeling of tension and just barely escaping disaster on a regular basis is very welcome. Not that it's not present in the main canon, but it's a feeling that is very much diminished in the GM/NO series. 5) Last but certainly not least, Gary Chalk's new drawings are absolutely worth it. Even if you don't care for his style, the level of draftsmanship and detail is astonishing. Cons: 1) There's only one con that I saw immediately, but it's a big one. Something is very off with the Quality Control book-wide in Book 2. The spine image is distorted. The synopsis on the back appears to have been cut-off mid-sentence. Several of the small incidental images appear to have had their resolutions tampered with and they are noticeably blurry. More than one story section has different kerning from paragraph to paragraph, so some areas look bunched together and others are too spread apart. It makes for an odd read at times. That being said, I'm very excited for the future of this series, and I encourage all of you to get Book 2 if you haven't already received it.  |
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koreth
Kai Lord
The Cener Druids rule all. Accept it.
Posts: 111
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Post by koreth on Sept 25, 2018 2:29:49 GMT
Still waiting for mine, but very excited !
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Post by greg on Jan 18, 2019 12:29:21 GMT
Megara have posted on their kickstarter comments that they are financially struggling. So if anyone wants Autumn Snow books or grey Star collectors edition, now is the time to order.
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Post by timbit on Jan 21, 2019 3:13:01 GMT
Who owns the rights to Autumn Snow? I don't think Megara will be able to pull themselves out of this mess. Perhaps these books could be published to the same size/format as Lone Wolf 30? Would be nice to own a visually consistent collection.
(Along with Grey Star.... another Megara project that may never see the light of day...)
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Post by Oiseau on Jan 23, 2019 18:07:34 GMT
Well, here goes…
I’ve been told that Megara Entertainment’s Kickstarter for Autumn Snow 2 has basically devolved into a shitshow — accusations flying, pledges unfulfilled, weird attempts to sell illegal(?) PDFs of other books, a laundry list of excuses, and a lot of angry people, from what I’ve glimpsed in my dark, lonely corner of the universe. No idea what really happened.
For what little it’s worth, I’m sorry. There isn’t anything I can do about this. I haven’t actually spoken to Megara in two years, since the nearly complete lack of interest for AS1 finally snuffed out the dying embers of my motivation. The last time I sent the guy an email, I just gave him the French text for AS2 and said, “do whatever the F you want with it”. At that point, I didn’t care anymore. Now it appears it’s all over.
I don’t actually know what’s going on. I myself don’t have the books, except the single one I had Lulu’ed for myself a few years back. Nor do I have any money for refunds. I barely have enough to scratch out my own dreary existence. Somebody posted “enhanced PDFs” on the Kickstarter page, which I grabbed for the heck of it — that’s all I can offer you, if anyone still cares.
As for who owns the rights, I’m no lawyer, but I’m assuming it’s complicated. I wrote the stupid things, and I don’t remember signing any contracts to hand over anything, but surely Gary Chalk has rights over his illustrations, Joe Dever(’s estate) has rights over Lone Wolf and Magnamund in general, and Megara has rights over the page layout and whatever revisions & enhancements they made. Heck, for that matter, I didn’t translate AS2 to English myself, so there’s a translator in this mess somewhere. Not to mention that Dever rewrote every f!cking sentence of the English AS1, so I’m not even sure I can still be called the author of what finally came out. That didn’t help the motivation, by the way.
So basically, given the fact that this thread has been gathering dust bunnies for four-and-a-half years now, is there even a point in continuing these adventures?… Hell, the Autumn Snow character will be nine years old this spring…
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Post by Black Cat on Jan 24, 2019 20:23:28 GMT
I'm back on the project Aon board... My last post here was exactly 10 years ago when I announced the start of work on a Lone Wolf Online videogame... Long time!! Mikael, former CEO of Magnamund Studio and now GM of Megara for the past 7 years. For real?!? You were the big boss at Magnamund Studios? I sincerely hope that this new project will not end the same way the LW MMORPG ended back then. 5 years later... It seems it will end the same way! Oiseau: Since you are the author of the books, you have rights. Even if Joe modified your text in English, you are still considered the original author of the books (otherwise, Joe's name would had been on the cover alongside your own name as the auhtors). You could do whatever you want with the texts, especially since you say that you didn't signed any contract with Megara. |
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Post by greg on Jan 24, 2019 20:47:31 GMT
You've written a couple of cool books, that's quite an achievement. I really enjoyed the first and am still hoping to get the second. And I for one do not blame you for Megara's failures. |
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aggsol
Kai Lord
Thinking about gamebooks...
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Post by aggsol on Jan 24, 2019 22:31:50 GMT
this is sad. I always hoped for a German translation by Mantikore
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one
Kai Lord
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Post by one on Jan 24, 2019 22:43:58 GMT
Well, here goes… For what little it’s worth, I’m sorry. You have NOTHING to be sorry about. Heck, for that matter, I didn’t translate AS2 to English myself, so there’s a translator in this mess somewhere. I did notice that the English translation of AS2 was not as good as the first book. So basically, given the fact that this thread has been gathering dust bunnies for four-and-a-half years now, is there even a point in continuing these adventures?… Hell, the Autumn Snow character will be nine years old this spring… And Lone Wolf is around to 30 years old and I'm still eager to finish that saga.  I've realised that what saddens me most about the situation isn't the whole kickstarter, but that it seems to have demotivated and eaten away at your creative spark. AS1 and 2 are great gamebooks, they deserve to be published. As the author, you have rights and you deserve to be properly remunerated for your work. Please, contact Ben DeVere (Joe's son) and see what happens. I really want to see new versions of Autumn Snow available from magnamund.com when it opens. |
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Post by timbit on Jan 25, 2019 0:24:40 GMT
The above post by one articulates my thoughts exactly.
This is in no way your fault. Please don't shoulder any of the responsibility for this one (or get caught up in a shitstorm with Megara).
People love your books. I would be happy to buy them both (even though I already own volume 1) off of magnamund.com one day. I hope you make something from this if they are sold again.
At the very least, please keep writing as you have creative talent.
All the best!
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koreth
Kai Lord
The Cener Druids rule all. Accept it.
Posts: 111
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Post by koreth on Jan 25, 2019 2:29:15 GMT
Oiseau, I'm so sorry for your pain and situation. I really loved the AS1 and was finally able to download AS 2 and eagerly await to read it. Oiseau, thank you for writing the Autumn Snow books. I am/was a backer of the Megara printing, and it is truely unfortunate that you've lost your creative spark. Despite all the problems - none of which are your own making, you should be proud.
I'm possibly never again going be a Kickstarter backer, but know that I backed both AS books, and I thought it was great.
The fans must support the true fans. Publisher problems have always been with the Lone Wolf series.
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Post by Oiseau on Jan 25, 2019 15:01:04 GMT
Look… It wasn't Megara's situation that killed my "creative spark". I didn't even know Megara was in trouble until a few days ago, when someone asked me what I thought of the angry comments on Kickstarter.
Back in the day — it was years ago now — it was Lone Wolf nostalgia that powered Autumn Snow. I guess I just figured, hey, forum full of true fans, new Magnamund gamebook series, officially sanctioned by Joe Dever himself, illustrated by Gary Chalk himself — maybe it was presumptuous of me, but I thought it would just explode. I convinced myself there would be massive threads of discussion all over the forums: opinions, comparisons, reviews both good and bad, suggestions as to where to take the story next… you know, the expected reactions from fans of XYZ when new XYZ is released. I thought I was ready for criticism and unfavourable comparisons. What I wasn't ready for, was indifference. I think it was three years ago that Megara published AS1. This very thread has been around for over four years. Reading through it all, I think I count two, maybe three messages that contain, you know, at least something encouraging (not counting the recent reactions to my previous post).
So yeah, maybe I still own the rights, maybe I can do what I want with the series — but would anything be any different? I mean, it's not as if I ever truly gave up on gamebooks, they've been my whole life. In bouts of depression and boredom, I've been occasionally scratching out random paragraphs of various old nostalgia projects, and with the years, it adds up to quite a lot. I do have chunks of Autumn Snow 3, 4, 5… written down, among other crap. Well, in French. But say I finished one of them up. Translated the thing. Then what? Get ignored again? I just wish I could feel like there's a point to it.
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one
Kai Lord
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Post by one on Jan 26, 2019 7:09:14 GMT
Anyone writing gamebooks for the fame is about 30-40 years too late.
Why no buzz? There hasn't been much marketing done, a google search only turns up the kickstarter and megara's site in the top 10. Another big problem I can see is that the books are only available from Megara and even getting them from there has become very problematic. If they were available on Amazon you'd be able to see more feedback from buyers.
I do some freelance writing of RPG products and they don't get much discussion or many reviews either, but one thing that does encourage me is the trickle of royalties I get every month. It means people liked the product enough to buy it. I don't know what your exact financial circumstances are but - "I barely have enough to scratch out my own dreary existence", doesn't sound great. I also don't know what your financial arrangement with Megara is/was, but in my opinion you should have received a set sum from each of the kickstarters and some contractual arrangement around royalties for AS books sold to the general public.
I've yet to meet an author that doesn't get to the emotional place you currently seem to be at, at some point in their writing career. I was at that place about 6 months ago. I guess we've each got to find our own goal and victory condition for writing. (One of mine is to be paid a fair going rate for my work.)
I don't know if what I've said helps, but I hope it does.
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Post by greg on Jan 26, 2019 12:36:52 GMT
I have had a few articles and stories published over the years, but never a whole book. And it still gives me a charge to see my name at the top of a page.
I only have the first Autumn Snow book but it is a great book. It plays well, it is fun to read and it looks good. I know I would be hugely proud to have written such a book. You should be too.
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Post by milleniumbaby on Jan 26, 2019 14:24:09 GMT
Hi, as support, I loved the books. Heck I have a life full of work and kids and still played the first book three times and the second twice. I really would welcome more to come I think the system of healing was a stroke of genius and should have been like this from the start of LW1.
Steam Highwayman and Destiny Quest seem to be alive and kicking, and hopefully also making some money out of it (although I suspect it is a lost of hobby like in the case of Weg der Wachtel - derwegderwachtel.jimdo.com/)Mantikore seems to be doing well in German and there is even a new LW in Italian.
So please, continue with it. I really am hoping for a third and more installments, preferably in English, as my French is not very good.
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