Wesnoth History

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jeremywosborne

Wesnoth History

Post by jeremywosborne »

I've thoroughly enjoyed all of the time I've spent playing Wesnoth, and have been looking for some way to contribute to the game.

I've looked for the History of Wesnoth and couldn't find it. The background stuff like: details of Asheviere's fall prior to the HttT campaign; how Delfador turned into a little purple yoda with some major dark side lightning; what happened to Li'Sar after she took the throne; what Gweddry's parents were thinking when they named him.

Perhaps I'm the only one who likes to read background stories in games, like the little vignettes from Wasteland, the stories in the Ultima games, even the books inside of the Eldar Scrolls games, but I'd love to read (or write) the stories behind the "History for Wesnoth."

So I guess here's the questions:

1) Is there a repository for the history outside of the games? The only thing I found was the following for HttT:
http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/HtttStoryLine

This is good, but still tied to the scenarios of a campaign. Doesn't read like a story (not sure it was meant to) and doesn't have a Prelude/Epilogue.

2) I can code, but trust me, you're happy I'm not contributing code. I do love to write and would love to collect/write the history on Wesnoth.

3) If I go the route of #2, I think writing the history of the Wesnoth stories outside of a wiki (either one hosted by wesnoth.org or on Wikipedia, or someplace I haven't thought of) would be counterproductive, because lord knows I'm going to make mistakes and need people watching over what I do. But if I took the lead and started writing and organizing, others could correct my blunders as I go (or just read and laugh).

Okay, this post was a bit wordy. If anyone can guide me in some direction, I'd appreciate it.

- Jeremy

PS. I think this is the right place to post this, although if it's not, please let me know and I'll start the thread in the appropriate forum.
jeremywosborne

Duh

Post by jeremywosborne »

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zookeeper
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Post by zookeeper »

Also, there is a very slowly progressing project to write a little bit more detailed descriptions of the general setting, races, geography, history and such. Just thought I'd mention that it is in progress, in case someone suggests that exactly that should be done.
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Post by CIB »

Whee, does that project have a website? =)
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Post by Darn Penguin »

Keep in mind that the more of Wesnoth's history is set in stone, the less creative freedom there will be for those who wish to create custom content. If you tell the entire story, what will remain for others to write?

Oh, and the reason for the Delfador transformation: Krillin wills it so.
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Post by CIB »

Darn Penguin wrote:Keep in mind that the more of Wesnoth's history is set in stone, the less creative freedom there will be for those who wish to create custom content. If you tell the entire story, what will remain for others to write?
I'd rather have a complete story of Wesnoth as text than only some pieces as scenarios.
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Post by zookeeper »

Darn Penguin wrote:Keep in mind that the more of Wesnoth's history is set in stone, the less creative freedom there will be for those who wish to create custom content. If you tell the entire story, what will remain for others to write?
That doesn't make much sense. :?
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Post by CIB »

zookeeper wrote: That doesn't make much sense. :?
Huh? Makes much sense IMO.. Could you explain what exactly doesn't make sense maybe? =)
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Post by thissneppah »

Darn Penguin wrote:Keep in mind that the more of Wesnoth's history is set in stone, the less creative freedom there will be for those who wish to create custom content.
I think that this is already handled well by the current Wesnoth history account by stating that it is actually scholars’ interpretation of verbal traditions and few written accounts not undisputable fact. So what you read might not be what actually happened – *enter custom content*. Anyway there is no reason why the history can’t change as more contents is added, this seems like a very Wesnothian way of things. And can I say I’m all for a fuller version of Wesnoth history, if jeremywosborne wants to help out I don’t see why not but then again I have no authority in this matter.
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Post by zookeeper »

CIB wrote:
zookeeper wrote: That doesn't make much sense. :?
Huh? Makes much sense IMO.. Could you explain what exactly doesn't make sense maybe? =)
Sure. No matter how much we set the official main history in stone, you still have an endless number of possibilities for content creation.

Besides, currently half of the UMC's (campaigns) seem to be placed on some distant unknown land featuring unknown characters, none of which have anything to do with Wesnoth and are never mentioned anywhere outside that particular campaign. I don't count inventing stuff that doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the game and it's setting as particularly creative. Or it may be creative, but it's also boring. I'd rather play a campaign that visibly ties in with the rest of the storyline instead of something that doesn't. And if there is no extensive main storyline, it's harder to make campaigns like that since there aren't much hooks you can use. Unless one is a genius, creativity can almost only be used well if there are constraints on what you can do, like a big main storyline into which you must fit the storyline of your campaign. Providing a detailed main storyline provides people with more hooks with which to tie their campaign to the main storyline and makes it easier to have the same events used as reference points (or just mentioned) across different campaigns, which is good.

Also, describing something in the main storyline doesn't mean that you can't make a campaign where you can play those exact events! On the contrary, such campaigns would be better to have than ones in which you get to play through events unrelated to everything else.
jeremywosborne

History

Post by jeremywosborne »

zookeeper wrote: Sure. No matter how much we set the official main history in stone, you still have an endless number of possibilities for content creation.
You said it just like I was thinking, zookeeper. I have to admit, I've only been playing the game since the 1.1 development build (or whatever build was development and turned into 1.2 stable) and am currently playing around with the 1.3.1 development build.

There have been cool changes to some scenarios (like the hint that there is a secret easter egg scenario in HttT) and the artwork and animation, but the story seems what I would call in the final draft stages. Sure, there will always be some tweaks here and there, but Konrad and Delfador and others have actually developed their own histories through the released versions of game.

What I am going to do (and actually started last night once I found out how to access the wiki, adding a bit of info from the Burning Suns campaign) is capture the more static history.

But heck, I like that my second post in the forums actually got some attention. You guys are cool. I look forward to being one of the historians here.
jeremywosborne

PS

Post by jeremywosborne »

By the way, I never did credit to who put the previous history together. If the previous historians are reading this, I want to build on your work, not replace it. You guys (or gals, if they actually play this game) did a great job.
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Re: PS

Post by Temuchin Khan »

jeremywosborne wrote:or gals, if they actually play this game
There are a few. One of them was introduced to the game by me, although I'm not sure if she's a member of the forums.
jeremywosborne

Re: PS

Post by jeremywosborne »

Temuchin Khan wrote:
jeremywosborne wrote:or gals, if they actually play this game
There are a few. One of them was introduced to the game by me, although I'm not sure if she's a member of the forums.
Holy cow, a real woman? That reminds me of that scene with Triumph the dog telling the woman waiting in line to get tickets to Star Wars 2, attack of the clones and saying, "Oh my gosh, among all these nerds, a real woman! Honey, you have the veritable pick of the litter!"

;)

Keep trying to get my girlfriend into these games. Emphasis on trying.
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Re: PS

Post by turin »

jeremywosborne wrote:By the way, I never did credit to who put the previous history together. If the previous historians are reading this, I want to build on your work, not replace it. You guys (or gals, if they actually play this game) did a great job.
b(-_-)-b

Go for it. I wish you luck.

BTW, what Gweddry's parents (i.e., me and my brother) were thinking when they named him was - hey, we need a name for the main character. Let's take the name from the first unit we recruit in a multiplayer game! :P
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