The Stormreach Campaign

[DANTEIL]

I just downloaded this and am looking forward to reading. Amazing job putting this together, even just mainly for the storyline elements (which I have always found confusing and mish-mashy since I seem to rarely hit questlines in logical story order). Makes me envious that your static group got to go through all of this. fun!

[Uska]

cool

[Son_of_the_South]

What a massive undertaking! Props to you, well done!

[Deadlock]

Just a quick thanks to Draculetta and Pineleaf over at DDOPlayers for their article on the Stormreach Campaign.

Glad you guys enjoyed and looking forward to your 50th cast.

And a thanks to everyone for the kind comments in the thread and the +1 reps, especially to those I usually spend my time arguing with on the main boards.

[Saekee]

I tried to convert it to Kindle's format but it was too big to send via email. But then the images are so well done, I did not want to lose them. So I will read it slowly on the computer. Props to you for doing this insane amount of labor.

[geoffhanna]

Just wanted to point out that the hardcover version of this is just about the most impressive DDO-related thing I have ever seen.

Awesome.

[Vargouille]

Just wanted to point out that the hardcover version of this is just about the most impressive DDO-related thing I have ever seen.

Having held it in my hands and looked at it, and shared it with some other long time DDO devs: Yes. It's pretty awesome.

[Deadlock]

Having held it in my hands and looked at it, and shared it with some other long time DDO devs: Yes. It's pretty awesome.

We're still talking about the book, right?

To celebrate their 50th episode, DDOPlayers have one of these to give away. Completely free to enter and someone must win.

There are only 25 of these in existence so it's most definitely a limited opportunity.

[Jango-EX]

OH. MY. GOD.

THIS IS SO AWESOME!

Gonna hunt for a vampire right now. Guess shroud of the vampire doesn't count?

[cdbd3rd]

We're still talking about the book, right?

To celebrate their 50th episode, DDOPlayers have one of these to give away. Completely free to enter and someone must win.

There are only 25 of these in existence so it's most definitely a limited opportunity.

Awesome contest!


I didn't see it mentioned, so - is there a limit on number of entries? 1 per email address? 1 per game account (tho not sure how you'd verify that)?

[Saekee]

how about uploading it to LuLu as a print-on-demand softcover? Am reading it slowly due to needing to use my computer, which is at a standing desk.

[Deadlock]

Awesome contest!


I didn't see it mentioned, so - is there a limit on number of entries? 1 per email address? 1 per game account (tho not sure how you'd verify that)?

No idea man, Draculetta would be the best person to ask. I would guess that provided the email and character in the screenshot were different they would count as a "unique" submission.

[Deadlock]

how about uploading it to LuLu as a print-on-demand softcover? Am reading it slowly due to needing to use my computer, which is at a standing desk.

At 324 full-colour pages it's not so simple. If you would like to have someone print you a copy, I'm happy for you to do that provided you're not trying to resell it.

Would definitely recommend entering DDO Player's competition for a chance at winning a hardback copy.

[Saekee]

At 324 full-colour pages it's not so simple. If you would like to have someone print you a copy, I'm happy for you to do that provided you're not trying to resell it.

Would definitely recommend entering DDO Player's competition for a chance at winning a hardback copy.

Ahhh good point! My dissertation was the same length but cheap since it was just text. (No worries--would never even consider trying to resell).

I will be entering the contest!

I have barely dented the pdf and it is giving me goosebumps. 4 years of playing this game and I was ignorant of the storylines!

[HAL]

Wow, very cool publication. Congratulations on finishing it and thank you for sharing

[Deadlock]

Patrick over at DDOCast has one of the limited number of hardback copies to give away as part of their 400th episode celebrations.



You can find out how to enter by watching episode 400 over at www.ddocast.com. Good luck to everyone who enters.

[Phoenix-daBard]

Thanks for this. I went into the hospital a week before this was released for emergency brain surgery and my only computer was my tablet. Reading this provided excellent therapy on a subject I really enjoyed over the past few weeks.

Thank you very much!

[Ron]

I was lucky enough to get a hard copy of this book, and have spent the last couple of weeks reading through it. Just thought I would post some thoughts I have on the project.

I think just about everyone to some extent has been guilty of "clicking on the first line of dialog" until the quest is bestowed and then running for the entrance. I certainly have. That's just a part of MMOs, you're there to run the dungeons, not read pages of dialog, and that is especially true in cases where there is a party of six people involved. At best you might be able to skim through the text quickly. Which is too bad, because the devs put together a pretty decent storyline, and in a lot of cases, we just don't see it.

Deadlock has conquered that problem by putting the lore into book form. You can sit down at your leisure and read the story. And being in prose form, he has expanded on the characters and settings, while keeping true to the original lore the devs put together. It is an absolutely engrossing read.

The book is set up in chapters, with each chapter encompassing a few related quests within a level or two of each other. I really like how Deadlock took the existing lore and tied everything together. The devs did this to some extent (which DL took and expanded upon), but there are also quite a few one-off quests in the game, and DL took all of those and wrapped them together. Each chapter starts off with a "storyline" section, which effectively is the expanded lore as given by the quest-givers for the upcoming series of quests. There is then a short "objectives" section, which will outline the overall goals the party will be undertaking. Then in the "Adventuring Notes" area, you find the list of anywhere from three to six quests (usually, though in a couple of cases there are more or less) tied into that chapter. Also included here are any Wilderness area notes. This section includes some stats on experience earned, base level, etc. And then finally, in the "Victory" section, which is meant to be read after completing the series of quests, he ties up the storyline describing your triumph, very often transitioning seamlessly into the next chapter's story.

I cannot stress enough what a great read this is. If you play DDO with any regularity at all, I highly recommend you grab the PDF and read it. What would be really awesome would be to set up a static group and run a chapter with each session, making sure everyone has read the chapter intro, then run the quests (actually reading the in-game lore), and everyone logs out to read the Victory section (and prepare for the next session's chapter, reading the Storyline for that one).

One of the things this book will do is encourage a more thorough reading of the in-game lore, I think. As someone earlier up-thread has already said, this is probably the most awesome third party project ever done for this game. I very highly recommend everybody go get a copy of the PDF immediately. Immediately!!

Ron

[Deadlock]

DDOCast's 400th winner copy is in the post. Congratulations to Kyle who won it.



Geoff over at DDOGamer has the last fansite copy to give away. For a last chance to win, with no limit on the number of entries you can make, check out DDOGamer's competition page. The closing date isn't until 13th November so still plenty of time to enter.

[Deadlock]

Congratulations to Kevin who was selected at random and won a hardback copy of the Stormreach Campaign over at DDOGamer.



Lots of excellent haiku entries that Geoff's compiled up into a gif.



With over a hundred and fifty entries, it’s great to see so many people participating in the competition.