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March 15 Update: NGM Boxset Release (Patreon)

Published:
2020-03-15 21:02:16
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Promotion is the worst. -_- It's just soul-draining for me, even when it's successful. Yesterday wasn't even effective, as my map post didn't really catch on:

https://old.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/fio9k0/the_chorhan_expanse_one_region_x_three_cultures/ 

Click through if you want to read some TBS worldbuilding that I thought was interesting, anyway! On that note, after the much better than expected launch, TBS is now doing just okay. Far from a shameful ranking, but not quite as hoped. Thanks to all of you who supported, allowing it to punch above its weight for a while. If you want to throw in a review or anything else, that would still help.

Meanwhile, my most recent release is a less exciting boxset of my finished trilogy, New Game Minus. If you've been waiting to try this for cheap... you can probably get a free one as a patron, I'll just need to create another version. But it's also cheap or free on Kindle Unlimited. Boxsets are straightforward because they almost instantly turn a profit, and this one hasn't done bad at all for an old series.

Unfortunately, I've had a bad week creatively. I had writing goals and I did not hit them. I did take some time for a real break, though, which was pleasant. It would be more pleasant if I could really fall into some creative work in the near future here.

Since a couple of you have asked me about COVID-19 stuff: don't worry, I'm fine. No local cases, many institutions shut down but not total lockdown. I have plenty of food and I don't want to go outside anyway. If you're in an impacted region, take sensible precautions and stay healthy! Maybe one of my games or books can entertain meanwhile. ^-^

Comments

WaxerRed

Well, if you want a silver lining. There might be more people buying kindle books now that business and schools are off most places. So maybe you'll get a second surge!

sierralee

This is a real thing! There have been threads where people invited authors to recommend books, or to offer freebies, to give people stuff to do while they're off. I don't know how effective posting in them was, but I got a least a few people messaging me!

WaxerRed

So what you're saying is...I should cough on as many people as possible and keep this virus going for the book!

Mip

Since you brought up New Game Minus, do you plan to have audiobooks made for the rest of the series? I rather enjoyed the one for Changing Faces.

sierralee

I'm not sure if there's a gaming equivalent, but I can hope. >So what you're saying is...I should cough on as many people as possible and keep this virus going for the book! That is absolutely the main thing you should take away from my post.

sierralee

The original narrator bailed on me and it really set me back. It would be nice to do in theory, but it's a lot of extra work.

Lamsey

That Coran map is much better than the previous version I saw. It's useful in a different way from a modern topological map - it'd be crap for navigation, but it's a lot more interesting from a cultural and aesthetic perspective. I particularly like the way it's as if the Coran compass has only three points - "Who gives a shit about north? Nothing but grass and savages that way..."

Mip

Oh, that sucks, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you find another narrator and the time / energy / budget to keep it going some day.

DankPotatoes

I just know that the bastards at the book publishing companies started this pandemic to increase their sales. Truly the most evil business in the world.

DankPotatoes

A general question to any of the patrons who've read multiple of Sierra's books: I've just finished the Wheel of Time, (after several years) and yet the Corona pandemic has left me with a lot of spare time. So assuming my tastes lie somewhere similar to the tone and style of TLS (NSFW by no means necessary), which of her titles would you recommend reading?

LOLtohru

The Brightest Shadow is my favorite of them but your tastes might not match mine so I'll say a little more. New Game Minus: The big thing to know about this one is that it's LitRPG. That means that gameplay elements like levels and stats are literalized in the text (and in this case lampooned a bit). To me this one takes a while to get going but eventually a fun party comes together. This one has elements satirizing sexual fantasy somewhat similar to TLS. Street Cultivation: The most straightforward and fast-paced of the three. Rick is a fairly normal/relatable guy in a world where magic is fully controlled by capitalism and he fights people to support his sick sister. The Brightest Shadow: The most epic fantasy of the three. Some people have complained about it being slow but personally I was fascinated by the worldbuilding and character development all the way through. It's not TOO similar to WOT (having a wuxia element) but it's the most similar in terms of being a multi-POV book with a huge scope.

Darthjake

The Kindle Box set of NGM was only 2.99, was slightly irritated as I'd bought book 1 and 2, but book 3 wasn't available that I saw except in the box set. So I bought it and then I see book 3. I may or may not pick it up so I've got the individual books as well as the box set, but I certainly won't be returning any of them, as I enjoyed them too much. I do wish there had been a resolution about Danniah and Gharavi's relationship with Bloodwraith.

Decanter

Surprised you didn't mention that book 1 of NGM is temporarily free. I was able to get at least one person into it that way. This Coran map is new to me, so I'm glad you linked it. Finally, I didn't get an email about this Patreon post.

sierralee

Yeah, I commissioned a different version based on the feedback of you and others. I had fun with the idea of maps reflecting cultures.

sierralee

I meant the boxset to be the clearly superior option, now that it's out. Up to you which ones you get, but you've already supported me a great deal. ^-^ >I do wish there had been a resolution about Danniah and Gharavi's relationship with Bloodwraith. Yeah, this is a bit of a cop-out on my part. But since I was ending it as a trilogy, I decided to let the different factions in the audience just believe what they want.

sierralee

Oh, I... forgot about that sale. Too much promotion. >Finally, I didn't get an email about this Patreon post. Patreon why. =/

WaxerRed

LOLtohru did a pretty fantastic job with to the point descriptions, but just one thing I wanted to add on New Game Minus being a "LitRpg" It IS a "LitRpg" not a facade "Litrpg" that just throws words like "XP" and "Lag "and "Boss fight" around as buzz words (lookin at you SAO) But the book reflects that the author has actually played a video game in her day and the world reflects it. While keeping up an entertaining story, the 'rules of the game' are clearly defined and are not sacrificed for the sake of the narrative. And it FEELS like it's set in a real game I'd love to play. I recommend buy brightest shadow to help with the first week sales figures for SL but otherwise NGM might be a good place to start as a fun easy going fantasy to enjoy with the dark times of the "Corona Plague" outside our doors.

DukeLeto7

Hey, SL, Lore questions on Erosian bunny costumes and the start of the reign of Estaven. Simon IDed them as "a traditional Erosian garment" in Stineford in Ch1, but the bunny costume member of Estaven's harem contradicts this statement, and implies it was invented by Estaven. OK, now Simon's travels in Thenours and then the Renthnor Wilds must have been after Wendis died in 1128 but prior to his adopting Robin, which I place between somewhere 1140 and 1145 when Robin was aged 6-11. Now Dari's dialogue in the hole suggests her parents booked it out of rot13istan in favor of Ardford out of fear of Estaven when she was old enough to understand what was happening, but before she was old enough to take care of herself. Something like an age of 8-15, suggesting Estaven took over Erosia between 1140 and 1147. Fheliel also explained that she made "drastic preparations" to repulse an attack from Estaven after watching his rise during the trade negotiations. That implies he appeared during her reign. She was 39 at the Gathering in 1154, so it's pretty unlikely that she was reigning as early as 1142. OK, so everything says that Simon passed through Thenours sometime in the 1130s, but Estaven didn't appear and subjugate Erosia until at least 1140 and probably later than 1145. So if Estaven invented the bunny costume after coming to power, how did Simon come to believe it was a "traditional Erosian costume" when he visited the region a decade earlier?

Decanter

At least this way you get the extra chapter.

DukeLeto7

Real Trivia... It looks like it's possible to make it through Yhilin III and III.5 without ever visiting the square and seeing Yarra's lecture, thus learning that Simon is now named Dargai. This is potentially confusing once folks start using the name in after Eustrin and beyond. (I've been poring over the event code, but I'd need to replay test to confirm.) I think slapping in a Retcon switch turned on by the scene in question and adding it to Janine's section end event will fix the problem if you think it warrants fixing.

DankPotatoes

Alright, thanks for the input guys! After fighting my way through WoT I think I'm ready for something shorter and fast-paced so I think i'll give Street Cultivation a go. Might buy Brightest Shadow and save it for later. Thanks!

sierralee

Congrats, this time you've found an inconsistency due to certain plans not being nailed down at the beginning of the game. The second issue: retconning a switch might be slightly technically better, but since I don't have time to verify it, I think I won't to avoid potential bugs.

DukeLeto7

Both entirely fair. I think I'm done annoying you until April, so take care and don't be a Yarra when it comes to disease transmission precautions. :p

Darthjake

True, and I did enjoy Izzy's story.

Decanter

Why are you calling Yarra a plague vector? :/

DukeLeto7

I'm just saying that serial unprotected sex with many partners might not be the most ideal social distancing practice.

sierralee

You're RUINING my pandemic response plans.

Aris Katsaris

A couple suggestions for potential small improvements in TLS, textual or other : (1) At the Ardford summit, when Simon is discussing the concept of an alliance vs the Doomed King plan, he says the following: https://imgur.com/9MjVXs2 The sentence "It would have advantages, but.." is momentarily confusing, because the pronoun is somewhat unclear (Simon might be referring to the Doomed King plan, rather than the alliance). I think it would be better if this sentence was saying "The alliance would have advantages, but..." or "An alliance would have advantages, but...") (2) How about that when making the "True Princess Armor" for Nalili, if we still have the previous "Princess Armor", the Princess Armor itself should be used/removed as material and there shouldn't be a 5000 Sx monetary cost? (3) I've only played around with editing switches in regards to this, not actually replayed this part -- but in the last update (when we finally get to meet them) are there only two sets of flavour texts for the Succubi Knights (corresponding to a favourable vs a non-favourable result in Gawnfall), and thus there's no distinction (not even in flavour, let alone in costs) between best & 2nd best result, and similarly no distinction between worst & 2nd worst result? The last of these (a distinction between the Church actively rejecting the Succubi Knights, and merely not supporting them) I had thought would be more crucial, and that a complete rejection might prevent them from being formed at all... (4) Lastly for now, and this will probably be a bit more controversial suggestion, but here is what Simon currently says after Robin reveals her attraction: https://imgur.com/3QJiqMr Instead of "I don't respect you any less, Robin." could this sentence be made into "You haven't lost any of my respect, Robin." ? The reason I'm asking this may sound a bit strange, but... Robin at this point is afraid of losing Simon's respect, and Simon knows this and he's spent some minutes listening in silence thinking about how to respond, so I feel that he shouldn't begin a sentence with the words "I don't respect you" even if they are to be immediately followed by "any less". Because making Robin afraid for even a fraction of a second is not what he would want. Anyway, I had felt how Simon is constructing that sentence currently was a bit careless, exactly because it depends solely on the last word to make the sentence comforting/supportive. (Ofcourse, in real life, tone would also convey the meaning, so eh... I can see that it's not that important a suggestion)

sierralee

Thanks for your attention to detail! 1) Sure, that's clearer. 2) Not unreasonable, but it would retroactively punish all current saves. 3) I don't necessarily include dialogue for all the subtle gradations of a decision. That said, I meant the dividing line to be between Gawnfall accepting or rejecting them. It is possible that I misinterpreted my own switches, but you'd need to be more specific about which ones you mean. 4) In real life his expression and tone would make it clear, but I see your point about it being in pure text. I'll change it, and I might as well make some faceset changes, since Simon has better faces than when that scene was written.

Aris Katsaris

In regards to (2), if you want an idea to not penalize old saves, perhaps if a player has both the Princess Armor & the True Princess Armor (making the former obsolete), perhaps the Succubi Armorer buys the old Princess Armor from Nalili for 5000 Sx (as opposed to the 2500 Sx you can get from selling anywhere else). You could even make the sale happen automatically off-screen (e.g. when talking to Nalili she mentions that now she has her new armor, she gave her old one to the Armorer and the armorer reimbursed her costs) Just brainstorming here, as always feel free to ignore me. :-) In regards to (3)... I meant that in Gawnfall there seem to be the following 4 gradations on the issue of the Succubi knights, from best to worst: (a) "The church actually agreed to assist in their creation - more than just nominally. Yelarel is quite pleased." Switches [SUCKNI: Accepted] and also [SUCKNI: Bonus] ) (b) "The church actually agreed to assist in their creation. Yelarel is pleased." (Switch [SUCKNI: Accepted]) (c) "Reactions were mixed but they didn't reject it outright, so she's going forward on her own" (no switches) (d) "Unfortunately, her proposal was rejected. She's going to keep working at it on her own, but..." (Switch [SUCKNI: Rejected]) --- it surprised me a bit that good results (a) and (b) don't seem to currently have much difference (besides the additional Religion stat bonus we got at the Council), and similarly with the 'rejection' result not having much difference with the seemingly more neutral 'Reactions were mixed but they didn't reject it outright' result... But I see that even with the worst result Yelarel says she'll keep working on the knights, so it's probably not as important a distinction as I had remembered/misremembered.

WaxerRed

When visiting the Elven meeting point during the Erosian war, the "Sickle" will no longer be dug up. Which is fine, it's been years someone ought to have filled it. But when we visit it again in the most recent world exploring it is dug up again, making the entire game literally unplayable. 0/10 IGN.

sierralee

It will all add up to something in the end, but I made most of the flavor text around a binary accepted/didn't divide.

Aris Katsaris

Minor bug report. I tested visitiing Ryoken with Erosia stats set to 0 (https://imgur.com/qtMYHRZ) and Erosia stats set to 20 (https://imgur.com/zj4gRiB) In both cases, the pieces of the broken 'arch' that are missing (so five squares when the stat is 0 and three squares when the stat is 20), actually block the Simon sprite from moving through them. (so in both of the screenshots I can't move forward from where Simon is currently, and in the first screenshot I can't move left/right either)

Rachnera

Replaying the game, some thoughts: Maybe some Chapter 1 investment could be removed from the Ledger, especially the one that are definitely obsolete by this point, like the Anti-corruption campaign, the Yhilin Bank (not the core lender but the poor guy we put out of his misery back in Chapter 3) or the various mercenaries? No Sublime Dildo or Sublime Buttplug? SP preservation seems to have been completely abandoned as a mechanism (maybe on purpose, for balance reasons?) And finally... Uyae appears to be suffering from some sort of Aquaman syndrome: She's only ever plot-relevant when the plot is about Zirantia. Sure, not every companion needs to be equally important, but still, Dari has her side gig as an investigator in top of being a (former) unwoman, Fuani is chief of staff, while Uyae basically hangs out almost silently until someone mentions Zirantia. Her other specifics, like for example her particular fighting style, strangely barely get a mention.

Rachnera

Also, no Divine Claw Charm 2 with full resistance to most status effects?

sierralee

Removing old investments has been raised before, but I also like the idea of the Ledger clearly showing your past choices. I wish I had the capability of allowing only partial SP preservation, but with the engine it's hardcoded all or nothing. Essentially, SP preservation is one of the more overpowered elements left in the game. I intentionally decided that players would have to sacrifice stats to have it in most cases. On Uyae... that's fair. Zirantia is her main cause, but I should try to give her some other content. An upgraded Divine Claw Charm is planned for other circumstances.