I Took My Licks: An Adventurer's Biography, by Dranko Coaltongue
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I Took My Licks: An Adventurer's Biography, by Dranko Coaltongue
Hi Sagiro, happy new year! I was wondering if you've had any developments on the novel front, such as potential distribution channels. I hope your work is going well, I'm definitely looking forward to being entertained by the adventures of Abernathy's Company once again.
I suggested to a friend in mid-November that they might enjoy the story hour as a great example of what a game could be. I sent SteveAC's compilation PDFs, and then, just on a whim, started browsing through part 1 once again. Which turned into a full re-read. Which included all the other parts as well.
Thanks for your work on this, I'm looking forward to seeing something both new and familiar - kind of like the Veronica Mars movie. Same characters, familiar story but still new things to see and experience. Have a great weekend!
Hey Sagiro, I recently completed a complete read of your entire Story Hour. I'm obviously a fan, and I wouldn't hesitate to include the Adventures of Abernathy's Company as one of my favorite fantasy stories, regardless of its origin as a retelling of a tabletop game. The characters in it feel a lot more 'real' to me than most in genre fiction . I do wish the ending was on a more certain note, since some of my favorite characters ended up kinda dead, and not knowing if they come back is sad, as well as not knowing what kind of life the Company builds for itself in the underground...I mean, who was left? Ernie, Aravis, and Flicker? I especially liked the flashes into the war on the surface (P's death was frickin' awesome).
So when you feel the Ventifact Colossus is ready for publishing, be assured that at least one person is going to buy it (plus all the friends I have who still pay attention to my book recommendations). I'm waiting for it's release with bated breath, and curious as to how you end up fictionalizing some of the D&Disms of your game. I would guess that there'd be some trimming down of the spell lists, and characters end up getting wounded far less often.
Also, I'd like to add that a dozen edits of a book is pretty impressive (and a little intimidating, since as a writer with a bloated, fragile ego I can barely stand three passes over my works). Good luck with the editing, and better luck with the marketing afterwards.
First, thanks for taking the time to post. I'm glad you enjoyed the Story Hour! As for the book, I've reached the point where I'm handing it off to a copy editor, assuming (perhaps naively) that it's past the point of needing a developmental edit. I'm trying out an editor a week from today; we'll see how that goes, and if it goes well, I'll probably have only one more pass through the book before I start all the fiddly details of actually publishing it. Short version: it's close! I think!
As for the D&D-isms, and translating it generally from game to book, it's been challenging, but not quite as awful as I once feared. The magic system, such as it is, will feel familiar to D&D players but is not the Full Vancian. There are, as you surmise, fewer combats, though the Company get into armed tussles on several occasions. And I had to scale way back on the ubiquity of healing, as (I felt) the function of traditional D&D clerics would sap too much of the tension out of a novel.
When I started this project, I expected I'd just be rearranging the furniture of the Story Hour, but otherwise hewing closely to the source material. Instead, I found myself writing a whole new story that, while heavily based on the original game, is really it's own work. All sorts of stuff happens differently, scenes get merged or cut, characters are altered, side quests generally get jettisoned, and of course all the game-ist stuff gets stripped out as much as possible. Oh, and there are no "races" per se -- no elves, dwarves or halflings, at least. (Though one will not have to peer too closely to see that if you scratch at Kibi, there's something Dwarf-like underneath.
It's been a fascinating process, and I'm very excited about how it's shaping up. Also, I'm working on Book 2, "The Crosser's Maze."
I'll post more details as they become available.
Oh, and there are no "races" per se -- no elves, dwarves or halflings, at least.
Why is that? Ease of writing? I found that curious, wondering what the reason for no races might be.