# WAR OF THE BURNING SKY - the novel!



## Morrus (Sep 17, 2009)

Starting next month, EN World will be hosting a new column - none other than WotBS conceptualizerationer and lead designer on the original adventures - Ryan "Rangerwickett" Nock.

And the best part?  Ryan has spent many months working on his WotBS novel.  And we're going to be publishing it, for free, as a monthly serial column!

I've read the first 60,000 words or so (don't worry, the column itself will be in chunks of 10K, possibly less depending on how that looks on a web page), and it's really good.  The main heroes are NPCs you may be familiar with from the adventures: Rantle, Diogenes, Kathor, Torrent (these, I believe, were the actual PCs in Ryan's original campaign, although he can probably clarify that), along with later additions such as Crystin, Haddin, Tiljann and Katrina.

The first installment will appear at the beginning of October, and there will be an installment every month thereafter.  In addition to being a damn fine read, it's also a great accompaniment for a DM running the campaign.

We hope you enjoy it!


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## Erywin (Sep 17, 2009)

BEST IDEA EVAR! I look forward to reading the story as Wickett had envisioned it. Good show!

Cheers,
E


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## Catulle (Sep 21, 2009)

Sounds really interesting; is this going to be something I should fend prospective players away from, though, or more of a historical story taking us up to "Day One" of the adventure series?

Either way, I look forward to reading it!

Regards,

Barry


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## Morrus (Sep 21, 2009)

Catulle said:


> Sounds really interesting; is this going to be something I should fend prospective players away from,




Yep, it follows the adventure series. Players should avoid!


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## El Mahdi (Sep 23, 2009)

Very Cool!  (Except yet another reason to spend time on ENWorld ... my wife is going to HATE it!)


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## Morrus (Oct 1, 2009)

The first part is up! Please take the time to comment on it, also!

http://www.enworld.org/forum/blogs/rangerwickett/1971-wotbs-pt-1-scouring-gate-pass.html


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## RangerWickett (Dec 9, 2009)

We now have the third installment out, and there will probably be a small intermission that we'll post over the Christmas-New Year's week.

I am a little disappointed in the slim feedback we've been getting, so I wanted to ask those who have spared a glance at this thread, would you prefer more regular posts of shorter lengths? Right now each installment is 3 chapters long, which might understandably be longer than most people want to devote to reading while at a computer.

What do you think? Is the size an issue, or do we just need to do a better job of advertising and getting people interested in clicking through the first time? 

And of course, for those who _are_ reading, please let us know how you like it.


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## sfedi (Dec 9, 2009)

In my case, I'm definetely waiting to print it to read it. So I guess length is an issue for me.


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## Daern (Dec 9, 2009)

I've enjoyed the two installments so far, but they are rather long.  I would like more frequent single chapters I think.
I dig the project.  It is really neat to get yet another perspective on the storyline, and it is a great twist that it features all these NPCs.  So, as a DM guide I recommend it! 
Really, as support for deep characterization of NPCs in the modules, this can't be beat.  
I don't know why there's not more feedback...perhaps cross posting in various forums and places would help?  
Anyway's keep up the good work!  Thanks again for a great campaign.


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## talarei07 (Dec 9, 2009)

just read through the whole thing. i like what ive read so far the only complaint is having to wait so long to get enough of it to read at once


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## Morrus (Dec 9, 2009)

That's amusing.  A post saying "it's too long" and then a post saying "it's too short".

I think it's safe to assume we've projected it nicely in the middle.


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## Falkus (Dec 9, 2009)

So far, I've enjoyed it. I can definitely see this being useful for me for characterizing the NPCs when I finally get a chance to run it.


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## RangerWickett (Dec 24, 2009)

Because it's my birthday, I decided to post a tiny update, an intermission between the first and second episodes, wherein we introduce Shalosha.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/blogs/rangerwickett/1970-war-burning-sky-novel.html


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## sfedi (Dec 24, 2009)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANGER!!!

I'm looking forward to your work! Thanks!


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## Daern (Jan 6, 2010)

The new chapters are action packed!  As a DM about to run the encounter with Boreas and the Fire Forest this is particularly and timely.  I hope you don't mind if I use your descriptions in my campaign!  Cheers.


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## RangerWickett (Jan 7, 2010)

Please, feel free.

Part of the fun in writing the novel is maintaining the core of the modules' plot, but putting an interesting spin on it that feels authentic without being obvious. I don't want to have every scenario play out just like the adventures (and I certainly don't have the word count available to cover every combat encounter a typical D&D module contains). Hopefully the next two installments will accomplish that.


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## EugeneZ (Jan 25, 2010)

Since you said you're looking for feedback, I just thought I'd post that I mean to read it, but haven't gotten a chance to. I'll post something more substantial once I do so, but I don't know when that'll be.

That said, I skimmed the post lengths and they seem fine to me...


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## Qwillion (Jan 25, 2010)

Will we be able to get the full story eventualy in paperback via lulu?


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## Morrus (Jan 25, 2010)

Qwillion said:


> Will we be able to get the full story eventualy in paperback via lulu?




I honestly don't know.  There are no specific plans to at the moment, but there's no specific plan not to, either.  That sort of thing would be a year or more away anyway.


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## Daern (Feb 18, 2010)

*New Chapter soon???*

Looking forward to the continuing saga...


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## RangerWickett (Feb 27, 2010)

Right now I'm posting weekly excerpts on the Storyhour forum, to try to attract more readers. Also, Russ has me waiting for a bit due to some logistical hiccups, but I hope to get back to posting soon.


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