There’s a Shroud of the Avatar novel in the works, and it’s being credited to both developer Richard Garriott and author Tracy Hickman. Publisher Macmillan’s website lists the book’s title as The Sword of Midras, A Shroud of the Avatar Novel. The site also says that the book is the first volume of the Blade of the Avatar trilogy.
Hickman is a bestselling author of popular fantasy novels including the Deathgate Cycle and various excursions into the Dragonlance universe.
Vulc mindshadow lazylex Oh nice, they’re adding more to it for the actual printed book.  Thanks for clarifying that!
mindshadow lazylex Yes, looks to be same novel but with extra chapters to bring it up to a proper length. This will likely eventually be the first part of a trilogy of books by the publisher. Hickman is also apparently tying in fiction from SotA into Underworld Ascendant.
lazylex It’s the same thing. Â Basically book one of the Blade of the Avatar trilogy is now called “Sword of Midras”.
BigMikeyOcho It’s the same book that has already been written and made available to their backers. Â They announced some time ago the book would become a trilogy, so basically they gave this first book its own title as book one of the BotA trilogy.
Lethality Satyros Bah, Sats a troll.  If SotA were uninspired, it wouldn’t have one of the best communities in the genre. I don’t think there is a better game for RPers (though Revival may give SotA a run for the money in that regard!).
BigMikeyOcho That’s exactly what I was wondering.  /head-scratcher  I agree that Hickman is a pretty average writer.  That said, I loved Wendig’s Aftermath and people hated it.  But I am all for tie-in books, if they enrichen the game world.
Shroud of the Avatar is going to be the sleeper hit MMO of the decade. Look past the slightly dated graphics and get in now before missing the train.
Shroud has already revolutionized the MMO industry and this will become more evident around release and the first year after.  Get a ticket for the ride now, before you miss out.
Even in pre-alpha there is more depth to Shroud than most MMOs since UO and SWG.
Sooooo… is this aside from the book that is already out from a pledge backing, Blade of the Avatar? Or is it the same book, just renamed and published? The latter being the most likely, if they’re considering it the “first”.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21847200-blade-of-the-avatar
This has been in the works for a long time, actually. Â Last year at Dragon Con there was a SotA panel with Richard, Starr and Tracy and they discussed the storytelling aspects behind it. Â The trilogy takes place a long time before our avatars ever arrive, so what we’ll see in the game will have a history behind it. Â Kind of like reading LotR before playing LotRO.
Satyros You can just continue not being a fan by not posting. You don’t have to drag it down. This is the problem with today’s gamers.