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Post by Bewildered Badger on Sept 1, 2009 8:51:59 GMT -5
This month's Signs and Portents, available for free from the Mongoose website, features a very impressive guide to the city of Anskavern. UK readers might recognise the owner of the Bait'N'Switch shop ;D.
Lot's of interesting details there. If this had been available when I created my Anskavern born Kai Lord for the 'Strands Of Fate', I'd certainly have used this for background information.
Also of interest, a small article by Gillian Pearce explaining how the map was drawn.
There's also a reference, in the Mongoose news section, to the multiplayer game book. It has now been given the go ahead, and should be out early next year.
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Post by Beowuuf on Sept 1, 2009 10:55:04 GMT -5
Ooh, more of Grey Wolf's goodness?
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Post by greywolf on Sept 2, 2009 4:32:41 GMT -5
*takes a bow* Yeah, I'm pretty much working solidly on Lone Wolf from now until we run out of towns/cities/villages and ideas Gill will be doing the maps as well for all of them. This will probably rival the level of detail I created for the Sommerlund Guide as well to be honest. Both Toran and Anskavern are already far more detailed than they were originally in that (and significantly different)
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Post by Simey on Sept 2, 2009 5:36:47 GMT -5
This is very cool in all but one respect: can we please spell the name correctly - it's Anska ven! No 'r'! Yours, pedantically - Simey.
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Post by greywolf on Sept 2, 2009 6:04:51 GMT -5
Wrong, it's Anskavern and that comes from Joe directly. One of the first things I asked Joe himself when I started to work on the article was that very self same question.
How does one spell Anskavern.
His answer:
Anskavern
...with an 'r'
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Post by Simey on Sept 4, 2009 10:43:02 GMT -5
That's wierd. Has he changed his mind over the years or something? I remember there being one map - in The Magnamund Companion, I believe - that always bugged me a bit because it spelled the city 'Anskavern' whilst all other maps and references I recall seeing, new and old books, spell it 'Anskaven'. If he's not changed his mind at some point, quite a number of people - probably including himself - have got it wrong in the past.
Not that it actually really matters, of course. Unless you're a total pedant like me! ;D
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Post by Samildanach on Sept 4, 2009 10:52:35 GMT -5
I've seen it spelled both ways in different places, but the spelling without the R is easily the most common. That's the way it's spelled on most of the maps and in most of the text, as far as I recall. For that reason I consider it the correct spelling, and Joe can kiss my behind. I also find it aesthetically a more pleasing word without the R.
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Post by Simey on Sept 6, 2009 15:11:06 GMT -5
I also find it aesthetically a more pleasing word without the R. Totally agreed. Which may well another reason why I mentioned it in the first place! There is something more authentically Scandinavian-seeming about it without the ' r'. But 'tis a fantasy world, so may we all choose that which we prefer.
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Post by greywolf on Sept 7, 2009 7:48:11 GMT -5
I've seen it spelled both ways in different places, but the spelling without the R is easily the most common. That's the way it's spelled on most of the maps and in most of the text, as far as I recall. For that reason I consider it the correct spelling, and Joe can kiss my behind. I also find it aesthetically a more pleasing word without the R. He may kiss yours, but he has final say over everything that goes into Lone Wolf, he vets it all. So, if the man says it's Anskavern with an 'r', it's with an r. It'd just get edited to an r regardless... But hey, if you end up working on Lone Wolf for Mongoose you'll have all this to come, until then, I do what gets me paid. Like it or not.
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Post by greywolf on Sept 7, 2009 7:51:21 GMT -5
I also find it aesthetically a more pleasing word without the R. Totally agreed. Which may well another reason why I mentioned it in the first place! There is something more authentically Scandinavian-seeming about it without the ' r'. But 'tis a fantasy world, so may we all choose that which we prefer. It's Joe's fantasy world and if you want, you can argue with him, however, you'll end up having to use an 'r' in Anskavern just like me. Or anyone else that works on Lone Wolf in the future In all seriousness however, as I mentioned above, regardless of what you might think is your way of doing it, in the end, it's Joe's ultimate decision...end of story. I prefer Anskaven, however, he deems it to be with an r. I would be the same with my world, if I decided that a name was better another way and I'd still got the rights to it...I'd just say: Ok, this is how it is...tough...
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Post by Doomy on Sept 7, 2009 8:42:28 GMT -5
The distinction is only really important to canonical works. If any of us non-Mongoose staff have occasion to spell "Anskavern" it'll probably be in a Magnamund-based RPG or the West Watch or something along those lines. In an RPG, the GM can spell it any way s/he damn well pleases. Or just blow it up, never to be mentioned again.
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Post by Samildanach on Sept 7, 2009 14:01:17 GMT -5
I've seen it spelled both ways in different places, but the spelling without the R is easily the most common. That's the way it's spelled on most of the maps and in most of the text, as far as I recall. For that reason I consider it the correct spelling, and Joe can kiss my behind. I also find it aesthetically a more pleasing word without the R. He may kiss yours, but he has final say over everything that goes into Lone Wolf, he vets it all. So, if the man says it's Anskavern with an 'r', it's with an r. It'd just get edited to an r regardless... But hey, if you end up working on Lone Wolf for Mongoose you'll have all this to come, until then, I do what gets me paid. Like it or not. I'm well aware of that. I wasn't criticising you; I was just saying I disagree with Joe. Obviously he gets to decide, and his spelling must be used in everything official, but I will always spell it Anskaven. I wasn't looking for a fight.
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Post by Simey on Sept 8, 2009 0:08:39 GMT -5
Er, yeah - me neither.
I can't see myself writing any official Lone Wolf stuff, like....ever. I was just saying that in an unofficial capacity, each to his own. Joe Dever's rights arbitrate on official stuff goes without saying.
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Post by greywolf on Sept 8, 2009 4:42:58 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm not looking for a fight either guys, just to explain that. I for one have always spelled it Anskaven, so when I'd written the article...I submitted a quick mail to Joe and got the answer with the r. Thank Kai/Ishir for find/replace I'd have preferred it with Anskaven too, it does have a nicer/lighter feel to it without the r. Doomy: as far as I know the articles for S&P are not RPG based, they can be used as reference as part of the RPG (and the up-coming mp gamebook(s)) but they're more about filling in some of the blanks and providing a guide to Magnamund that's greater in scope than the Sommerlund Guide ever was. At least that was my brief. Obviously, some of the details in various places have to be added (approved by Joe of course) and fiddled with. However you raise the excellent point that the GM can do what they want with it, which is exactly why the articles are there in the first place - nothing is set in stone even in a canon work, you can still change everything.
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Post by mongooseaugust on Sept 8, 2009 15:25:59 GMT -5
<chuckles> I think if you weren't looking for a fight, signing off on your previous post with 'tough' was probably impolitic. Excellent points all the way around though. In the end, Grey Wolf's quite right. Joe's decision trumps the whole lot and when you write in the setting in an official capacity his word is Law. (That said, I sorta prefer it without the 'r' too! ) -August
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