Tag: News

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 52 weekly installments (it’s still possible that this number will change and that always means it will be more installments in total), 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.

If you wish to receive the weekly installment to this story in your inbox, please subscribe to the newsletter below.

Breaking News: USA Discovers another wormhole!

Washington DC, 2049.297.0338 (24 October). The United States State Department announced today that NASA, supported by the US Navy, has discovered and claimed yet another wormhole leading out of the Sol System.

NASA states adjoining system hosts several planets in the habitable zone. An unnamed senior US Navy source claimed that there were definitely planets that looked like they were habitable for humans, calling the system “prime real estate”. This is the fifth wormhole that the USA has discovered in the Solar System. An official stated the system on the far side of the wormhole has been named “Independence”. Reactions from the EU and the PRC are best described as lukewarm. Both entities released statements reiterating the need for a proper distribution of wormhole access among Earth’s major powers and called for the USA to relinquish control of the wormhole to the United Nations.

This is an in setting press release for Total War. It is not real.

Patreon Page

I’ve started a patreon page at patreon.com/jceberdt. I will be offering the possibility to support my work in two tiers. There’s going to be a general support tier for people who simply want to support me. It will get the same access to bonus material as the higher tiers, but no free books. The higher tier is going to come with a free book every year. The page is currently under review, I’ll post here when I have everything set up the way I want it.

Welcome!

Welcome to the first post on this website.

This site will host material related to my novels, including news, excerpts, free material, any related artwork and extra content like maps and 3D models or renders. I may occasionally post a short story too, but since my stories tend to be long, that will probably be rare.

This is a new journey for me and I hope there are people who enjoy reading my work as much as I do writing it!

The first book that I will publish, Alagariel, Volume I, a part of the Tales of Vatan setting, will kick off with Chapters of the book posted on this website every Thursday evening, for 47 weeks, starting in the beginning of October. The book will of course be available on the customary websites as an e-book and eventually be available for order as a paperback in bookstores as well.

I will also make a patreon page on the off chance there are people who wish to support my work and of course patrons will have some unique perks.

For now, if you wish to keep informed on progress, please send me an e-mail at mail_NO_SPAM_@jceberdt.eu (without the “_NO_SPAM_” part, obviously.) I will get a newsletter tool set up soon.

I have partial plans for many more things. I use a database system to keep track of characters, events, locations, families, titles and more for my books and eventually I’d like to make at least part of that available to regular readers. I also have the basics for companion books for the Tales of Vatan and Total War settings, which would include explanations, more lore, descriptions of families, locations, ranks, titles and more. I’d like to offer those companion works as an extra hopefully with extra artwork.

The last thing I may eventually do is make an RPG system to go with the various settings. I used to play tabletop RPG’s regularly and I have the framework for a system, though it’s a lot of playtesting away from publication.

All of the stuff I’ve been writing for twenty-five plus years has always only been for my personal fulfillment so putting it out there is certainly going to be an interesting new chapter.