The Thief of Dreams Novel Kickstarter by Betrayal at Krondor Author Neal Hallford
 

RPG veteran Neal Hallford, lead writer of the classic RPG Betrayal at Krondor, gamers' most favourite screen saver Dungeon Siege and a couple of other well known RPGs, started a Kickstarter campaign to fund a couple of months full time work on his fantasy novel The Thief of Dreams.
The Thief of Dreams will be
Betrayal at Krondor is an all-time classic which pushed game writing forward and combined a slick interface for its time with a lot of depth and turn-based combat. Krondor series creator Raymond E. Feist later made Neal Hallford's BaK story canon by writing a novel based on it which made it onto the NYT bestseller list.
The Kickstarter is currently at 3k$ of 24k$ with 30 days to go.
A successful book Kickstarter could even be an important stepping stone for an upcoming spiritual successor to Betrayal at Krondor, says The Codex.
Thanks, Charles.
More information.

Hm, hm… Not sure what to think of this one… Sounds like standard fantasy fare…

Can i just have another BAK game please?

Betrayal at Kronder and Dungeon Siege had the same writer ?

REALLY ?

-Sergorn

Yeah how did he go from a good story to doing simplistic stories.

You want pledges to write a novel? I don't know what his process is but it sounds bogus to me. I'm writing a novel myself, but not asking for any handouts thanks.

Run of the mill fantasy novels don't typically earn an author 24K for a full run. Only bestsellers would make this much money for the author. Now the publisher on the other hand….

I don't blame the guy for trying this. There are a lot of people who spend money very foolishly. I personally wouldn't give him a dime when there are hundreds of fantasy novels that are free or at minimal cost at Smashwords, Good Reads, etc.

Well, not REALLY, I mean Feist was the writer for BAK and he was not involved in dungeon siege there you have the difference….

let's hope we'll see another kick starter for BAK 2 instead involving Feist.

I had thought Raymond E. Feist was heavily involved in writing for that game - at least at the broader level of the main plot. Maybe that explains why it might not be readily apparent that dungeon siege and betrayal at krondor had the same person in the lead writer position on staff?

I thought so too, actually.

Am I reading the KS wrong or do you have to contribute like 40 bucks just to get a paperback version??? That seems a bit wrong to me, /boggle.



-Carn

Definitely reading it wrong … If you aren't in the US you have to add $24 "for shipping" that makes $64. Thief of Dreams? … It's a steal.

No. Hallford explains it in the FAQ, and there are other sources too. Hallford wrote the game, Feist made a novel out of it. They stayed out of each others' way, probably apart from a couple of meetings to nail down the key points.

Haha Roq, saw what ya did there!! This one totally seems like a money grab to me, I'm not paying 64 bucks for a paperback, lol.



-Carn

Read the updates too for international shipping.

It seems pretty clear to me that he prefers the digital tiers (20$ for a download is the cheapest serious option). Creating and shipping physical goods in low volume is quite expensive. Printing 3000 books is cheap, printing 200 is not.

For me, reading a book on a computer is about as enticing as watching TV shows on my computer monitor….it won't happen. I like to hold a physical book in my hand while I read, and I like to watch tv/movies on my huge tv, not a little 26 inch monitor. HE might like digital books, but I bet most people still prefer the real thing in their hands.


-Carn

I prefer a real book too.

Hallford posted some details about the RPG he is working on at the Codex a month ago. Spiritual successor to BaK. He and his partners will cook it slowly and if they really decide to give it a serious shot, they'll prepare something serious to show for day 1 of the Kickstarter. If possible even exploration or early combat.

So I guess his first own Kickstarter is also a means to test the waters and to get some of the formalities and problems out of the way. Maybe he even wants to recycle his book as story for the game, which would reduce the game's budget somewhat.

What I didn't know is that Hallford had been the intended lead writer for GPG's failed Wildfire Kickstarter.

Maybe he can just team up with Fargo or Obsidian and make a BAK-like game?

I'm with you, but I have recently come to make the move toward the digital as well, mainly because I am running out of freaking shelf space… So I got a Kindle from the girlfriend, and well… I'm liking it. It's not that bad, really, and I mean, it beats having to haul (a) voluminous book(s) around when traveling.

Sorry for the OT.

I read all of my books on a portable device like my PSP or my phone.

PS. I wonder if he knows that books usually cost about $10 unless they are hardcover. I think that the only reason he has gotten anything is because of the hope that there will be a spiritual sequel to BAK. I just hope that after this fails he won't give up on the BAK spiritual sequel.