Category: Tales of Vatan

Influences: Dungeons & Dragons

This is the first in a series of short posts discussing what influences my work. Each post will detail either an inspiration or a specific author.

First and foremost, at least when we’re talking about my fantasy stuff, is D&D. I played AD&D for the first time in the eighties and tried a lot of other RPG systems, from modern day things (d20 Modern, Twilight 2000, GURPS), White Wolf stuff, science fiction (various incarnations of Star Wars rpg’s) and some other oddballs. I always deeply enjoyed good RPG sessions and the concept for many of my characters finds its origin in characters I’ve played or wanted to play. Mostly wanted to play, which offers an insight into why I started writing.

The Alagariel series started off as a D&D style adventure story. I wanted to tell a tale that was like my ideal D&D game. It grew into a little more than that, but the first Alagariel like character I devised was somewhere in the early 2000’s. Many of the other important characters are my own PC’s or are inspired by those other people played.

I still wish I had the time for RPG’s and a group of people to play with, but it doesn’t fit into my life right now. Who knows, maybe one day.

The Half-Elven Orphan Starts October 3rd

The first book I will publish will be offered for free on this blog in weekly installments (59 of them at time of writing, which may change a little), starting on October 3rd at 1900hrs CEST. It is a fantasy novel set in the world of Vatan. It is the first book in the Alagariel series and the Tales of Vatan setting.

For future reference, the full title is The Half-Elven Orphan, Alagariel (Volume I), Tales of Vatan. I often struggle with figuring out read orders, so hopefully that helps a bit.

A few disclaimers:

  • There will be weekly installments, but I may choose to offer other work in the same time slot. So, it’s possible that in some weeks, I’ll put up something else on Thursday evening. It’s a highly likely that this book will eventually share its time slot with my first science fiction book “Dropship Down” set in the Total War setting. So it’s possible that it will take two years before the free versions of both books are fully published.
  • For the Half-Elven Orphan I will post a high resolution map of the area where most of the story is set. It will be released on the 9th of October 2024 in a seperate post.
  • The version on here is, initially at least, not the final print version. That said, it has been proof read by a group of people and generally received well enough that I’m comfortable posting it hear without its final edits. Besides final edits, I may still decide to change things too.
  • I may also post this to other online venues.
  • Obviously any and all support is appreciated. At the moment the only way that’s possible is via Patreon.

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