Every so often I reread the lore news posts, and now I feel I have to state how much I enjoy them. I know next to nothing about D&D, and my knowledge of these types of fantasy worlds (meaning based on the classic races like dwarves, elves, halflings, and orcs in addition to humans) is pretty much restricted to Tolkien’s legendarium (and The Elder Scrolls to a far lesser extent), so maybe that’s part of the reason why, but to me the world you are building with Solasta is a pleasant, fresh take on things.
Making the humans the outsiders, coming from another world; gods that are not linked to the creation of that particular world; having such water-affined halflings and orcs evolving from humans … it all excites me very much and I can’t wait to learn more about the world and its history.
The importance of the four organisations that sit on the Legacy Council of the Eastern Realms and their interest in Badlands exploration suggest to me that discovering the history of the Manacalon Empire and what was before the Cataclysm might be a not too small part of the game. I certainly hope to find many books and other lore pieces in the world to sink myself into. I want to read about a rich world and learn about the nations, races, and people. As a lover of ancestries, I hope to find many familiar dynasties through the ages, to find a story about someone and realise that earlier you had already heard what his great-grandfather was up to, and so on …
I’d be already interested to hear what your process is like at Tactical Adventures regarding the lore. Do you have one loremeister whose sole job it is to eagerly write away and build all the world, or is it more of a team effort and everyone contributes something?
Anyway, thanks already for the things you have shared with us so far! I’m very much looking forward to diving into the world when the game releases, and I’ll gladly devour every bit of lore that you throw our way until then …
Hello Pete,
Thanks for your message, it’s very nice to see that our work on the lore of Solasta is appreciated.
To answer your question, we work as a triumvirate and this is the result of how the team was build and to what end.
Antoine Guillaud is the mind behind the big ideas, he came up with the concept of Solasta and the basis of its history and it still one of the most creative minds behind Solasta’s particularities. He’s a huge history fan and has read (or so it seems) all fantasy books in the world.
Graeme Davis is a very experienced writer with lots of feats in the RPG world, both on pen and paper and video games. As we knew him from previous collaborations, we asked him to bring his expertise and talent when we started creating Solasta. He’s probably the closest thing we have to a lorekeeper, and most certainly English writing keeper.
On my side, I was responsible to support the creation while ensuring we could make it work in the game.
Also at first, we gathered feedback from all the dev team but now we’re more into refining the details.
We had countless brainstorms and generally divided the work between ourselves, before reuniting to discuss and decide the final version of everything.
In the end, the game itself sometimes tells us we need to change details, because video game implementation requires it and we want everything we deliver in the lore to be coherent with the game’s content.
We also had a few times when we had to go very far into detail, for instance when we had to release information about lore elements for kickstarter votes and other articles. We wanted to make sure everything your read on this website is set in stone and that you can already start to become an expert on Solasta.
Thanks for your support,
Best,
Tactical Zaz
Thanks for the interesting insight, I appreciate that!
I agree, the world is really wonderful. At first I was a bit disappointed that some of the weirder D&D races like Tieflings or Half-orcs do not appear, but the Solastan races are unique enough and have their own special lore that certainly shakes things up. I'm excited to learn more about the world beyond Early Access.
A hoopy frood who really knows where his towel is.
Agree. The new world with no need to follow classic rules or keep restrictions from license allow you to experiment and make it more interesting.
Having now finished the EA, I'd just like to add my voice in agreement. The world as depicted feels like a "proper" fantasy world that's similar enough to be familiar, but has its own charm.
I would also like to ad my appreciation, as those before me have done.
Aside: Anyone else think that Dragonborn have been hinted at, from the statue in the library to the book excerpt if you fight a certain person?
Cheers
Miles to go before I sleep
The world as depicted feels like a "proper" fantasy world that's similar enough to be familiar, but has its own charm.
Agree. Would be nice to get more info about the world in game while working on quests or studying the world while travelling. 😊
The lore sounds interesting and I'd like to see more of it in-game. It'd be more likely to spark interest in others this way - at least it would be more likely than just releasing the sourcebook.
Every so often I reread the lore news posts, and now I feel I have to state how much I enjoy them. I know next to nothing about D&D, and my knowledge of these types of fantasy worlds (meaning based on the classic races like dwarves, elves, halflings, and orcs in addition to humans) is pretty much restricted to Tolkien’s legendarium (and The Elder Scrolls to a far lesser extent), so maybe that’s part of the reason why, but to me the world you are building with Solasta is a pleasant, fresh take on things.
Agreed on everything.
I am usually resistant to homebrew, which often seems to me as poorer versions of existing lore.
This team is creating something from scratch and we are enjoying the journey.
I wish I were part of the game design team.
Congratularions to all.