S&S in Video and Computer Games

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

"I hit my head against the wooden side rail as the wagon wheel bounced over a rock. Hitting my head didn’t hurt nearly as bad as when I opened my eyes. Like needles palmed into my eyes, my brain hurt from the light. I squeezed my eyelids shut and as the searing light burned away, so did the pain."

So begins Jale Elliot's Skyrim-fiction. He mentions on his blog that: "The Skyrim game is a platform. It is the story template. I will exaggerate, simplify, re-route, re-word, and reanimate the base story to make it a little fresher than what we already know..
Lou Anders (co-editor of Swords & Dark Magic), voiced his enthusiasm of Skyrim. Also, Charles Gramlich (author of the Talera series), writes about his immersion in Skyrim, on his blog.

As a big fan of Skyrim I agree with the notion that it is great Sword & Sorcery, in a medium where goal-achievement can get ahead of story & atmosphere. It also makes for a great first-person narrative, where every player's choices form an (almost) unique narrative. That's what, probably, makes Elliot's gameplay adaptation so interesting to read...

[Jake]

Hi Periklis,

Thank you for offering a chance to share my work/hobby.

Having a couple books published, and not knowing how to connect with fantasy readers, I started the Skyrim blog. I figured if I wrote something that was fun and free, fans of fantasy could get a sampling of my style and perhaps explore my series of novels. Since self-published authors have control over their pricing and can drop their prices considerably––that makes for very tough competition. My books cost more because they are worth it, and this blog has been a fair way to prove my craft is solid.

I've been a fan of the Elder Scrolls series of games since the Morrowind game on the original X-Box. Skyrim's open world and established lore makes for great story-telling. Skyrim is a sub-arctic region in the realm of Tamriel. One facet of the game is a civil war that is tearing the country in two. The narrator of the story is Strumbul War-Proud, a 46-year old dairyman who is sucked into the political mess by Fate’s choosing.

One of the strongest reasons I chose Skyrim as my platform was there are several well established races in the game. To be exact, there are ten races to choose from; three elven, four human, a feline race as well as a lizard folk, and last but not least, orcish. Picking my narrator was difficult, but I decided that the Nord people were the most affected by the rebellion in Skyrim since it is their home. The Nords are a hardy people who take pride in their capabilities as warriors. They distrust spell-users but love enchanted weapons and armor. Generally, I prefer to play an arcane archer, using stealth and distance to make my kills. So as a player, creating an axe-wielding juggernaut will be outside my comfort zone.

What is most daunting about writing such a tale is how many open avenues are available. I’m currently following the intended game story about the return of the ultimate dragon slayer known to the Nords as the Dragonborn. That is not the intended path for the character Strumbul War-Proud. He will break from that path eventually.

My story is told along the dark fantasy vein. There are other Skyrim bloggers out there. If you want to try something a little more on the side of humor, find the Misadventures of Zander; that one is worth a good chuckle. Pen name Elspeth Aurilie and author Erica North both merge the Skyrim story with romance. I have links on my blog to some of the other free game-bloggers out there.


(Please forgive my html ignorance, this is a link to my blog's table of contents. http://skyrimprodigy.wordpress.com/na...
and to learn more about my books The Wrong Way Down or Crossing Mother's Grave, here is another link- http://jakeelliotfiction.com/my-book/ )

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

I confess that I haven't given the Elder Scrolls games as much attention as they deserve. Myself, my favorite sword & sorcery video game is probably The Witcher -- it has a lovely grubby low fantasy feel and (because the designers are from Eastern Europe, I assume) it has some of the best medieval buildings & village layouts that I've seen.

I also enjoyed the original books (at least, the two translated into English so far), which I think are already on the bookshelf -- The Last Wish and Blood of Elves.

[Jonathan]

I think MORROWIND has the best story of the Elder Scrolls series. Oblivion and Skyrim have good stories (and certainly better gameplay dynamics - fast travel was a boon), but the story of the Nerevarine was one of the best stories I have seen in a computer game.

[Jake]

Jonathan wrote: "I think MORROWIND has the best story of the Elder Scrolls series. Oblivion and Skyrim have good stories (and certainly better gameplay dynamics - fast travel was a boon), but the story of the Nerev..."

I agree absolutely, the story line was the best. I really miss Levitation, which I thought was an awesome spell, but the combat systems in Oblivion and Skyrim are far superior.

The next Skyrim expansion pack will be a re-boot of Solthhiem, which was the land of the not-so-great Morrowind Bloodmoon expansion. I think there might be a great opportunity for creative witting with that expansion.

[Jonathan]

"The next Skyrim expansion pack will be a re-boot of Solthhiem, which was the land of the not-so-great Morrowind Bloodmoon expansion. I think there might be a great opportunity for creative witting with that expansion."

I look forward to trying it. Of course, I've had SKYRIM for a year, and I've been so busy writing that I've only managed to get to level 11. So if I keep at that pace, I should get to the SKYRIM expansions sometime around 2024 or so.

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

"What is most daunting about writing such a tale is how many open avenues are available. I’m currently following the intended game story about the return of the ultimate dragon slayer known to the Nords as the Dragonborn. That is not the intended path for the character Strumbul War-Proud. He will break from that path eventually."

I've been playing Skyrim for more than a year (reached level 55 yesterday), without adding any expansion packs (PS3 players have to wait), and there is always more things to discover. It is a completely immersive experience. I'm really curious how Strumbul War-Proud's story will develop once he becomes entangled in the main storyline. I think the latest expansion requires to finish that in order to activate it.

I think MORROWIND has the best story of the Elder Scrolls series. Oblivion and Skyrim have good stories (and certainly better gameplay dynamics - fast travel was a boon), but the story of the Nerevarine was one of the best stories I have seen in a computer game."

I haven't played Morrowind, although the Nerevarine storyline seems to have many things in common with the Dovahkin (main) storyline in Skyrim. Here is a stream link that shows the Skyrim enhanced Morrowind from the latest expansion.

"I also enjoyed the original books (at least, the two translated into English so far), which I think are already on the bookshelf -- The Last Wish and Blood of Elves. "

I've read the first Witcher book (and liked it) but haven't played the games. There was also a nice (if low-budget) Tv series adaptation.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

I think Morrowind is the most interesting Elder Scrolls setting just because it's the furthest from standard fantasy tropes. But my understanding is that it also has the most primitive gameplay. I played maybe 10-15 hours each of Morrowind and Oblivion back in the day and keep meaning to return to them; someday.

[Jake]

I'd never played the Witcher, and by chance it was on sale at Steam the other day for $9.99 -- so I bought it. It is fun, the best parts of the game are the 'romantic interludes.' My wife is pissed!! Lol.

As for creative writing, The Witcher is too linear, the path is too set. Do the books follow the story-line, or are they off-shoot tales?

-----------------------------------------------

Addendum-- I just went and looked at the books, looks like the game was adapted from the novels. That is cool.

Also, my wife says she "isn't pissed that my goal in the game is to score as many women as possible." Shhh, she still said it with that tone. If you are married, you know the tone I'm talking about.

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

Jake wrote: "I'd never played the Witcher, and by chance it was on sale at Steam the other day for $9.99 -- so I bought it. It is fun, the best parts of the game are the 'romantic interludes.' My wife is pissed..."

I've actually only tried a demo of the first Witcher game and from the intro video seemed more action-oriented than the book. The collection of stories felt more like a deconstruction of epic fantasy tropes than an action pack, witch hunter tale. And the romance wasn't that explicit either (lol!).

[Sean]

Anyone playing Dragon's Crown? I picked this up for my Vita last night and enjoyed it.

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

Sean wrote: "Anyone playing Dragon's Crown? I picked this up for my Vita last night and enjoyed it."

Looks really good! I've loved side-scrollers ever since playing the original "Golden Axe" in the arcades. Hope it is available on PS3 in Europe soon...
I've beeen trying to finish Skyrim - Dawnguard and finally focusing on the S&S/ steampunk, Dishonored...

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Periklis wrote: "Looks really good! I've loved side-scrollers ever since playing the original "Golden Axe" in the arcades. Hope it is available on PS3 in Europe soon...
I've beeen trying to finish Skyrim - Dawnguard and finally focusing on the S&S/ steampunk, Dishonoured... "

Dishonored was excellent! I picked up the DLC but haven't played it yet -- need to finish Amalur first. I wish there was Dishonored fiction; so far, the closest I've been able to come is Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell, although it's more Renaissance than steampunk.

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

Joseph wrote: "Periklis wrote: "Looks really good! I've loved side-scrollers ever since playing the original "Golden Axe" in the arcades. Hope it is available on PS3 in Europe soon...
I've beeen trying to finish ..."

Thanks for suggesting Marmell's book. Which reminds me of the Thief games (there is a new title to be released with the NextGen consoles btw), the "ancestor" of Dishonored.

[Charles]

I'm certainly enjoying Skyrim. Working on level 58 at the moment, playing mostly a barbarian Nord character

[Charles]

By the way, I was playing a lot of Skyrim when I wrote "A Whisper in Ashes," and I think there is definitely some influence. This story is up free for reading at Heroic Fantasy Quarterly if anyone wants to check it out. http://www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com...

[Robin]

Haven't played it, but this game looks promising: Tiny Barbarian DX, "a 2D platform action game inspired by Sword & Sorcery fiction like Conan the Barbarian. Like the short stories that inspired it, the game is split up into episodes, each its own self-contained adventure."

There's also a free prequel game/demo explicitly based on Robert E. Howard's The Frost Giant's Daughter. (I'm kind of pleased that they're inspired by the fiction and not the Arnie movie, that's unfortunately rare.)

[Charles]

cool

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

Phil wrote: "Haven't played it, but this game looks promising: Tiny Barbarian DX, "a 2D platform action game inspired by Sword & Sorcery fiction like Conan the Barbarian. Like the short stories that inspired it..."

Looks great. Another indie/retro-inspired S&S game I'd recommend is Sword & Sorcery.