So, this is apparently a thing..

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/metalweavedesigns/embers-of-the-forgotten-kingdom?ref=card

A Dark souls inspired "Lorebook" with no gaming stats, up on Kickstarter... Only, it doesn't seem like it's "Inspired" by Dark Souls so much as it blatantly ripped it off and decided to change a few names here and there..

Maybe they'll get lucky, since the company that created it is Japanese... Still, I wouldn't doubt if From Software or Bandai Namaco got word of this they'd send a cease and desist.

It just strikes me as so....Tacky. They're literally selling Dark Souls Fanfiction..

Quote from: Orphan81;917558It just strikes me as so....Tacky. They're literally selling Dark Souls Fanfiction..

Don't get me wrong, I admire the weirdness and just 'evil' beauty of the Dark Souls games... but the whole 'lore book with no gaming stats' sounds exactly like what you said- 'fanfiction'.  

I like how it says 'Pathfinder and 5e Compatible'.  By this standard, the research paper I wrote in middle school on Fort Sumter is compatible with 5e and Pathfinder.  The developers are getting lazier, or the customers are getting stupider.  I'm not sure which it is these days.

Eh, it doesn't seem that bad to me. It's not that different from a setting book.

I think less "borderline infringement" and more "knockoff". And there's nothing wrong with a knockoff if it's done right. I'm more bothered by the lack specific lack of system information. While I'm liking the trend to more system agnostic books, most of them still give some cursory info to gauge some of the basic stats.

Star Wars was born out of George not being able to get the rights to Flash Gordon. Flash Gordon was born out of King Features not being able to score the rights to John Carter of Mars.

The rip-off has a long and illustrious history in pop culture.

Quote from: Crüesader;917559I like how it says 'Pathfinder and 5e Compatible'.

It says  Pathfinder and D&D 5 compatible because, if you take a look at the KS, they have already signed with Ben McFarland and Robert J. Schwalb to work on adventures and companion rulebooks for PF, D&D5 and Shadow of the Demon Lord.

If they reach the SotDL companion book, I'm backing it. I've been loking forward to this since I saw it on Rob's FB.

Quote from: Just Another Snake Cult;917570
Star Wars was born out of George not being able to get the rights to Flash Gordon. Flash Gordon was born out of King Features not being able to score the rights to John Carter of Mars.

The rip-off has a long and illustrious history in pop culture.

This seems less "Rip off and create something new" and more "file the serial numbers off" to me. Dark Souls lore is very specific. This isn't the same thing as making your own pulpy Flash Gordon... Dark Souls is about a world that continually needs to be rekindled by a hero magically binding their soul to the first flame...it slowly withers, the land grows dark and rotten, and a Hero rises to start the process over..

The Stuff I've seen from this Kickstarter seems to be using the Fire imagery heavily, along with direct NPC analogues such as a Fire Keeper. The Pledge levels themselves are direct names of items found within the Dark Souls world..

I absolutely love Dark Souls, and would love a game inspired by it....but this seems like it's going to far, bordering on Fan Fiction rather than taking an idea and creating something similar yet still original.

Dark Souls lore is...  Pretty much nonexistent.  None of the information is actually useful to build a time line of what happened when.  It's all fan conjecture at best, and fanfiction every other way.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;917610Dark Souls lore is...  Pretty much nonexistent.  None of the information is actually useful to build a time line of what happened when.  It's all fan conjecture at best, and fanfiction every other way.

Whoa, whoa, easy there. The fact the lore and setting are purposefully ambiguous in parts don't mean there isn't a lore or setting. Even Bloodborne, the more ambiguous of the lot, have concrete facts that allow for a detailed chronology of events.

About the KS, I don't see much value in it. I already own the official Dark Souls strategy guide with every boss, creature, item, spell, weapons, etc. lavishly illustrated and catalogued, and it's pretty easy to use in any game.

What I would really see the value of, is a game designed from scratch to depict the series in all its subtleties, both mechanical and lore-wise.

Quote from: Itachi;917736Whoa, whoa, easy there. The fact the lore and setting are purposefully ambiguous in parts don't mean there isn't a lore or setting. Even Bloodborne, the more ambiguous of the lot, have concrete facts that allow for a detailed chronology of events.

As a lore junky when it comes to games, and having finished Dark Souls (the first game, god that was an exercise in tedium...  It's not a hard game, waiting to strike and massive damage isn't difficulty.  It's testing your patience.  Doesn't mean I didn't die way too often, though.) and collected as much lore as possible, there's not enough of it to even bother with making a time line. Things happen, and there's stories, but there's no idea when they happen in relation to each other.  It's all conjecture and interpretation, none of it is worth an actual book, because too much information has been left out of it.

Quote from: Itachi;917736About the KS, I don't see much value in it. I already own the official Dark Souls strategy guide with every boss, creature, item, spell, weapons, etc. lavishly illustrated and catalogued, and it's pretty easy to use in any game.

What I would really see the value of, is a game designed from scratch to depict the series in all its subtleties, both mechanical and lore-wise.

Why bother from scratch?  Find a favourite game, maybe Runequest, jack up the enemy damage and voila, you have a pretty good approximation.  And if you REALLY must do it, have explosive fire bombs go off against walls and set people on fire when they think that being inside an indestructible structure should keep them safe.