What are Add-On In-Game Items in the Survey and Why are they Helpful? Answering a Question from One of our Backers!
almost 7 years ago – Thu, Apr 25, 2019 at 12:30:54 AM

What are Add-On In-Game Items in the Survey and Why are they Helpful?  Answering a Question from One of our Backers!

I got a great question from one of our backers;  "I just looked at the backer survey and am having trouble getting my head  around these in-game items. Seems tempting to buy some of them. Are  they only useful for MMO play? Or are they useful for solo play as well?  (i.e. just give you a head start in the game) I assume you could  eventually buy a tavern or a castle, but perhaps it would take a long  time. The concept all seems so cool, but I am a little vague on the game  mechanics. Thanks."

So, here is my answer, re-posted so everyone can see it:

The add-ons are super useful for any type of  play, and remember, this game is solo-only first.  Why are they useful?   Because many of them are unique, and those that aren't are still rare  and are very, very expensive in the game (in Gold Sovereigns - GS - Also  often referred to in other fantasy games as GP or Gold Pieces).

First,  the exclusive ones are just that;  you can only get them here and now,  and they will not be available for regular gamers when the game is  released.  So, take the Castle for instance;  it's noted in the add-on  that you don't get access to it until access to 'Your Castle' becomes  available in the game, but the basic castle that comes with that access  is very simple ... it's like a large house made of stone, with a turret  or two.  The Exclusive Castle is quite a deal, and while you could  purchase something like it in the game, it would cost a hundred thousand  GS or more. Same with the Exclusive Taverns or Farms, especially the  Premium ones.  They are of direct benefit because both of them generate  income (GS) immediately when you acquire them in the game, and those  specific ones can't be acquired by other players in regular game play.   Also, as I will go on to explain in a near-future update, when you get  'stuff', it raises your RANK experience points (sergeant, lieutenant,  etc), which is different from your CLASS experience points (Mage or  Fighter, etc).  These add-ons accelerate the RANK XP.

Lastly,  even the non-exclusive items are cool, and the most popular is the  Porter Pass to Anywhere.  Why?  Because ANY Porter travel is very  expensive in-game, with the LEAST expensive trip being 1,000 GS each  way.  And, as the game moves on, and more and more distant travel  locations are available, the most distant Porter destinations cost  50,000 GS each way.  They are not meant to be practical or typically  usable.  So, a Porter Pass to Anywhere, even at the beginning allows you  at least to move back and forth from places right away.   

So,  yes, the Add-Ons basically, to me, add a bunch of fun to the game in  various different ways.  I hope that answers your question!

More Progress - The Druid Moot Animation Reveal! - And ... The Importance of Surveys!
almost 7 years ago – Sat, Apr 20, 2019 at 09:04:44 PM

More Progress - The Druid Moot Animation Reveal!  - And ... The Importance of Surveys!

We continue to plow forward with game progress, and now we're giving you the Druid Moot Reveal animation!  I think it's pretty awesome myself ... I'd really like to go there and explore.  Which, virtually, one day soon, we will all be able to do!

Also, the "Smoke Test" (preliminary send out of surveys to a small percentage of you) is complete, and we'll be sending surveys out to everyone on Monday morning (they will come to you from Backerkit.com).  These surveys are very important!  First, thanks to everyone in the test run who answered yours;  we have 63% answered of the test right now.  If you haven't answered, please do, it just takes a few minutes of your time and you don't have to create an account or anything.  This allows us to collect your mailing address if it's needed, let you check your pledge level, see all of the other cool add-ons that are available and such.  It helps us to lock everything down so we know who gets what and where it's going, so, please answer your survey when you get it!  :)

THE DRUID MOOT - EAGLE'S EYE VIEW  -  https://youtu.be/wFsuGq0gBbo 

From the novel;

"It was quite late in the day, well after sunset, when they arrived at The Moot.

Their small caravan turned right off the main track to travel down a loosely-packed one lane path, wagon-ruts still visible in the dried mud, but with green grass growing enough to show that wagons didn't often travel that way. About a quarter mile down, the track traveled through densely thick oak forest all around, they suddenly arrived at a huge clearing. The clearing seemed to be natural, as it was oddly shaped, not circular, more a wobbly oval shape, but it was hundreds of yards wide, gently sloping uphill to a tableau of giant stones arranged in a loose circle at the top of the hill. The stones were twelve or more feet high, and must have weighed several tons each, and they were arranged in what looked like a careful circle, like the crown on the top of the hill. To the left of the 'crown' of stones, there was a large earthen mound, covered with lush green grass, and its own crown, there was a small stone chimney from which wafted gentle wood smoke and the smells of sage and sandalwood. Off to the right, nestled near the edge of the clearing, were two or three dozen dome-like huts that looked as if they had grown from the ground, made entirely of vines and flowers, but with large welcoming doorways and windows and each with their own little stone chimneys atop.

The inside of the mound was a spectacular, living temple. It was a large space, some one hundred feet or more in diameter and about fifty feet high. Inside it was a perfect perpetual twilight, it seemed, for night had fallen fully now outside. Something Shadow couldn't see filled the room with the gentle glow of a perfect sunset just dipping below the horizon. Living vines over two feet thick climbed up and across all the walls, forming a dome, with brilliant dark-purple flowers extending from the leaves of tendril vines that intertwined the whole structure. Amidst those vines were smaller fern-like vines that sprouted only occasional white flowers, so that the walls and ceiling surrounding them was deep green coated in dark-purple and spotted with white dots.

Shadow gasped, staring up.

Markus looked at him strangely, and then stared up as well. He took a few seconds, and then he gasped as well.

Shadow could see that the entire interior mimicked the night sky perfectly. Every white flower was a dot where a star stood."

Next Character UP! 'Skinner' - The Ongoing Nasty Villain of the Game. This Guy is Mean, Nasty and Just No Fun At All.
almost 7 years ago – Mon, Apr 15, 2019 at 08:54:25 PM

Next Character UP!  'Skinner' - The Ongoing Nasty Villain of the Game.  This Guy is Mean, Nasty and Just No Fun At All.  

OH ... and finally, all the Survey issues are resolved, and they are going out now to a test group (the surveys will come from "backerkit.com"), and to everyone else in a few days!

Wheeeeee!  It's so much fun to see these characters begin to 'Come To Life'!  I LOVE THIS JOB!  And here's a bonus secret ... I really, really, want to play my own game.  No kidding.  This is the game I wanted to make all my life, but it's also the game I wanted to PLAY all my life!!!

So, next up is an ongoing villain who is just downright unlikable in every way.  He isn't just in the Pendellhaven Valley, he follows and harasses our heroes in not just the first novel ... but, spoiler-alert, he manages to escape doom and CONTINUES to harass into the future.  A BAD BAD MAN.

He looks vaguely charming, in an icky way.

--------

SKINNER: A lithe Human male was standing there, about 5' 10," he wore hardened leather armor, sported throwing knives along his belt band and what looked like the handle of an Elven short-sword coming off the left side of his back, and a short crossbow handle off the right of his back. Shadow pegged him right away as a Thief-Fighter, similar in type to Fara, but very much built for solo Exploring with all that gear.  He had long, stringy black hair, dark eyes, a lean and narrow face and a stubble beard.  He smiled in a way that had no humor.  He slid one of his throwing knives out of its belt sheath, not threateningly, as he did it slowly, and then he just started flipping it in his hand, letting it spin time and time again, higher and higher each time, always catching it by the handle.

--------

We move forward to one of our best heroes, Drudgeon.
almost 7 years ago – Thu, Apr 11, 2019 at 10:54:38 PM

We move forward to one of our best heroes, Drudgeon.  

 DRUDGEON: 

Although seated, the tower of a man looked like he'd be at least six-and-a-half feet tall standing. He was massively broad and heavily muscled and toned, with a chiseled, square-jawed masculine face, tousled dark hair and blazing blue eyes. But it was the armor that was the standout, besides his looks and physique. The armor...rippled. 

It was only partly an illusion. The light from the large fireplace flickered along all the delicate symmetrical ridges, like some kind of strange crossbreed of banded, chain and plate. His helmet was the same way, just...rippling there beside him on the table while he enjoyed a pint of grog and a large trencher of bread piled in with a deeply roasted smelling stew.

From the novel;

  Nodding, “Drudgeon," the huge man said, extending his hand. Shadow shook it.

Then Shadow stared intensely at the man's face. Glanced at his rippling armor and helmet. Glanced back at his face. "Honestly, 'The' Drudgeon?"

Chuckling, Drudgeon nodded. "Guilty, quite literally, as charged." Ω12

"But you're famous," Shadow said, astounded.

"Ah," Drudgeon said, "the correct word is 'infamous'. As in, well known, but not well loved."

“Wow,” Shadow said, still shaking his head in disbelief. “I mean, in the section on you at Hawksmoor, they taught us that...”

Drudgeon interjected, “They teach a class on me at Hawksmoor?”

Shadow nodded, “Yeah, sure they do. Well, I mean it’s on The Changers, your whole group, but you personally are pretty prominently featured. There’s this whole phrase where people say they are ‘giving it the Full Drudgeon,’ you know...going all out, rushing all crazy into battle. No fear and all that.”

Drudgeon chuckled, shaking his head, repeating, “‘Giving it the Full Drudgeon’? That’s pretty funny.”

“Yeah,” Shadow agreed, “and the phrase isn’t just about going into battle. You know, it’s about, well, your private life, too. Hardy nightlife, bedding down with, well I guess, everyone. Anyone, actually, they say. Living the fast life and all.”

“They teach that at Hawksmoor too?” Drudgeon asked, eyebrows raised.

Shadow laughed. “No, that part is just based on your reputation. That’s hearsay. But it’s pretty popular hearsay.”

“Well,” Drudgeon shrugged, “don’t believe everything you hear. Just believe...some of it, I guess.”

Shadow looked around, as if surprised at himself and what he was saying, as if it was coming from someone else. “Gods, I’m sorry. I must sound like a little kid or something. I just never expected to meet someone like you.”

“Well known, but definitely not loved,” Drudgeon repeated.

"Well, yes, I suppose. But, I mean, you did end the Raunos war, which was a very good thing. Sure, giving him back the Amulet was, well, crazy, but it worked, right? He's kept the ceasefire ever since then. He stays on the Eastern continent, and nobody's seen him or his armies since."

Drudgeon said, "Well, I didn't end the war personally, or alone. I had plenty of help from my unpredictable comrades."

"That's why they call you guys The Changers, though. Your unpredictability won the war."

"Not technically. It ended the war, it did not win it. That would be the technical part that The World Council censured us for. Apparently giving an infinitely powerful magical amulet to a giant black-winged super-demon who apparently isn't from this universe, thus making said super-demon invincible, well...The World Council frowns on that sort of thing." He shrugged, took another draught of his Meadows Stout.

Shadow shook his head in amazement. "I don't get it though. How did a group as inexperienced as you guys, right out of the Academy, how did you end up with the Raunos Amulet to begin with?"

Drudgeon's face went dark. "Well, that really wasn't our fault. That thing, it has a mind of its own. It wanted to get back to its Master. It needed someone stupid or crazy enough to give it to him. It found us, we didn't find It."

"But, as crazy as it was, the plan worked, right? I mean, Raunos has kept the ceasefire. He withdrew his forces the minute you handed him the amulet. He made the pact with you, swore it on the Amulet, and he can't go back on the pact without giving up the Amulet."

Drudgeon nodded, sipping his ale. "The World Council's wizards and sages have agreed on that point, and thus, the only reason we were censured rather than simply executed as enemies of the state." 

Moving Forward! Our first 'Main Character' Portrait is complete ... Introducing Fara, the female elven hero of our story!
about 7 years ago – Wed, Apr 03, 2019 at 09:03:38 PM

Moving Forward!  Our first 'Main Character' Portrait is complete ... Introducing Fara, the female Elven hero of our story!

The novel, and the game, feature 2 co-lead characters, Shadow and Fara.  Today we introduce the newly created portrait of Fara!  She's introduced in the novel when Shadow sees her in a tavern ...

"With long, golden silver-yellow hair flowing down her shoulders onto her chainmail armor, partly covered by a leather woodland tunic, her pure-Elf features were carved and softened as if by the most perfect sculptor.  He could tell by her color, hair and eyes that she was from the Northern Wood Elves high atop Sashire, somewhere along the west side of the Barrier Mountains in the Goldenwood Forest.  Her eyes were a green that was closer to a deep sea foam color, almost luminous, and she had smooth, slightly parted lips that formed a perfect cupid’s-bow shape beneath her small nose.  She had a green cloak around her shoulders, and a very nice compound bow beside her.  He guessed by the look of her, her armor, light footwear, and belt accoutrements and weapons, she must be a Ranger-Scout hybrid.  Stealth from the Thief Master Class, and from the Fighter Class, a bow for distance work, with long daggers for close-in.  She wasn't just the most beautiful Elf he'd ever seen, she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen."

And here's an excerpt from later in the book, when she tells Shadow her big secret, who she REALLY is (SPOILER ALERT!!):

"...Until she said, sighing deeply, “I’ve been lying to you.”  She looked away from him.

He waited a little for some kind of follow up.  When none came, he said, “Okay.  Does this mean you’ll stop lying now?  And tell me the truth...about whatever it is?”

Again, she remained silent.  Wrestling with something inside her.  It took a while, but apparently, the truth won out.  Or something did.  Still not looking at him, she whispered, “I’m not from Gilden.”

He said, “Okay.  Not the worst lie anyone could tell...though I have no idea why you’d tell it.”

She said, “You don’t understand.  That means I’m not Fara of Gilden.”

“Okay,” he said, still not seeing where this was going.

She went on, “I am Fara of Goldenwood City.”

He shook his head, still not grasping the significance.

“I am Fara of Goldenwood City,” she breathed, “of the Palace of the Goldenwood King.”  She then looked him in the eyes.  “I am his daughter.”

Shadow’s jaw dropped.  He stared at her, then all around, as if looking for other people to verify if what he’d heard was real or just something he imagined.  The guards, wherever they were, were well outside the barrier of silence, so they couldn’t have heard or verified."

"