Guild Wars 2

So, bein’ a PnP RPer for Twenty Years I gotta say I’d love ta see ah Guild Wars RPG; the world bein’ so very interestin’ an’ different than allota other settings out there. But, I don’ expect we’ll see that. So, instead, I’m thinkin’ I’m prolly not the only one what would love ta see a Guild Wars Lore Book released, with all sorts ah info about the setting, history, races, etc. Throw in some nice art work and, Bang!, yer just printin’ money.

This page all by itself tells ya there’s plenty ah people what are interested in the Lore, an’ plenty ah questions what need answering. There’s so much that could be filled in more, on jus’ about everything that it’d be easy ta fill a book – the problem would be figurin’ out what not ta put in so as ta keep the page count realistic.

Whatta think? Yay, yay? Yay? That’s what I thought.

Yeah I like where you are going. A sort of paper-back collection of lore?
The official wiki’s are great places to get a lot of lore though, especially the Guild Wars’ one; it is very extensive.
Guild Wars 2 wiki also has this nice page, for people unfamiliar with the world lore I guess:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lore

HarrisonLewis.6781:

Yeah I like where you are going. A sort of paper-back collection of lore?

That’s what I was thinkin’. Wiki’s are okay, but they can’t replace the feel of ah nice book in yer hand. ‘Sides which, there is allota info we just don’ know about the races, places and things in the setting that a book (or books) could reveal.

ArenaNet apparently have a ‘Guild Wars 2 Bible’ which has everything about the world, the history, all the secrets and plans for the future in it (the novel writers and people like that get to use it as a resource). Since they’re not likely to let us get our hands on that though… I would be keen for a good thick lore volume.

I’ve also been considering an ‘anthropology of Tyria’ blog, after realising how excited I got when discovering a new rank in quaggan social organisation the other day :P

Curuniel.4830:

ArenaNet apparently have a ‘Guild Wars 2 Bible’ which has everything about the world, the history, all the secrets and plans for the future in it (the novel writers and people like that get to use it as a resource). Since they’re not likely to let us get our hands on that though… I would be keen for a good thick lore volume.

I’ve also been considering an ‘anthropology of Tyria’ blog, after realising how excited I got when discovering a new rank in quaggan social organisation the other day :P

It would be nice to at least see an abridged version of this ‘Guild Wars 2 Bible’ even if most of it is information previously released.

I like this idea, but one thing, can you please use proper English grammer? I had to actually try a bit to understand what you were saying Jack

It takes as much effort to write like that as it does to read it, Rurik – you can tell it’s not just laziness because all the abbreviated words have apostrophes in the right places! So unfortunately I think it’s safe to say that Jack’s distinctive forum posts are a stylistic choice you’d have to talk her out of :P

Curuniel.4830:

ArenaNet apparently have a ‘Guild Wars 2 Bible’ which has everything about the world, the history, all the secrets and plans for the future in it (the novel writers and people like that get to use it as a resource). Since they’re not likely to let us get our hands on that though…

Why the hell not? That sounds awesome!

Curuniel.4830:

It takes as much effort to write like that as it does to read it, Rurik – you can tell it’s not just laziness because all the abbreviated words have apostrophes in the right places! So unfortunately I think it’s safe to say that Jack’s distinctive forum posts are a stylistic choice you’d have to talk her out of :P

well… I am pretty stubborn…. Challenge accepted! or not… too lazy

Odd View Sarvong.1098:

Curuniel.4830:

ArenaNet apparently have a ‘Guild Wars 2 Bible’ which has everything about the world, the history, all the secrets and plans for the future in it (the novel writers and people like that get to use it as a resource). Since they’re not likely to let us get our hands on that though…

Why the hell not? That sounds awesome!

Because it contains their potential plans for the future and they do not want people having it in case these plans do not pan out.

Rurik Telmonkin.3648:

Odd View Sarvong.1098:

Curuniel.4830:

ArenaNet apparently have a ‘Guild Wars 2 Bible’ which has everything about the world, the history, all the secrets and plans for the future in it (the novel writers and people like that get to use it as a resource). Since they’re not likely to let us get our hands on that though…

Why the hell not? That sounds awesome!

Because it contains their potential plans for the future and they do not want people having it in case these plans do not pan out.

Ahh. Gotcha. That’s fair enough. I’m still a strong advocate of a Big Book of Lore, though, and more novels wouldn’t hurt either.

Hey, A-Net! You want me to write one? I can do it! I can!

As a keen pen n paper-er, I would love to see an official GW2 RPG, maybe with a function to print your stats from the PC version on a character sheet <3

If they had the GW2 Bible for a reasonable price, I would get it and read it. Just my 2 cents.

My understanding was that the ‘bible’ includes the answers to a lot of our un-answered questions, secret bits of history that we don’t know about yet, and stuff like that. It lets them be consistent, but it would also give away a lot of the mysteries.

If they produced something like the ‘Making of GW2’ book but focusing on detailed lore and history, though, I would be pretty keen for that

I doubt they could release the bible as-is even if they wanted to.

I doubt this is a complete ‘book’ that can be read front to back, or even a series of complete articles. It’s probably more like a DM’s notes or a writers notebook, bits and pieces of ideas that aren’t fully formed but might be developed later or form the background for something else.

It’d probably take a lot of work to get it into a publishable format, even without omitting all the stuff they don’t want us to know.

If I remember right, the current “lore bible” is in the format of a wiki of some sort. I think I remember reading an article that Ree mentions that.

+1. Absolutely.

Danikat.8537:

I doubt they could release the bible as-is even if they wanted to.

This “bible” thing has kinda derailed the thread, I’m not askin’ for the designer’s notes ta be handed over ta us, but a thorough exploration of the world through lore an’ history. Give us more minutia about the races, tell us more about Orr an’ the buildings what we see ruined and broken all over the place, give us more about tech, magic, magitech; especially when we’ve see jus’ how far it can be pushed in Orr. Give us some more on some ah our favorite NPCs an’ some of the changes over the last 250 years that ya haven’ shown us. There’s really so much ta fill ah book with, they’d have no problem doin’ it if they put their backs inta it.

Jack of Tears.9458:

So, bein’ a PnP RPer for Twenty Years I gotta say I’d love ta see ah Guild Wars RPG; the world bein’ so very interestin’ an’ different than allota other settings out there. But, I don’ expect we’ll see that. So, instead, I’m thinkin’ I’m prolly not the only one what would love ta see a Guild Wars Lore Book released, with all sorts ah info about the setting, history, races, etc. Throw in some nice art work and, Bang!, yer just printin’ money.

This page all by itself tells ya there’s plenty ah people what are interested in the Lore, an’ plenty ah questions what need answering. There’s so much that could be filled in more, on jus’ about everything that it’d be easy ta fill a book – the problem would be figurin’ out what not ta put in so as ta keep the page count realistic.

Whatta think? Yay, yay? Yay? That’s what I thought.

First, I think you need a book on English grammar. But that’s off-topic.

Second, I agree. A Guild Wars RPG would be awesome.

It would be cool if they released an encyclopedia type book that was still in the continuity of the world. Have be named something like Encyclopedia Tyriannica.

I would LOVE a lore-book. I already read the 2 gw novels and enjoyed them thoroughly.
I’d buy a lore-book in the blink of an eye.
Rp is also something I enjoy, although I don’t do it often. However I’m always interested in different worlds and history.

Curae.1837:

I would LOVE a lore-book. I already read the 2 gw novels and enjoyed them thoroughly.
I’d buy a lore-book in the blink of an eye.
Rp is also something I enjoy, although I don’t do it often. However I’m always interested in different worlds and history.

Even if you don’t RP, rulebooks often have plenty of lore in them. The mechanics behind RPGs are also very interesting as they shed light on how the world feels.

EG: DND has a lot of mechanics to generate cities. Rolling a few cities is rather interesting to see what shows up. On the other hand Warhammer Fantasy RP has a lot of mechanics about disabilities and insanity which shows how harsh that world really is. All settings have gods and the mechanics of interacting with gods also have a lot of lore to them. Lastly, racial traits tend to go beyond the combat only, as such a lot of background is provided to properly RP said race. In the real world, the campaign book for Memoir ’44 is really interesting because it gives a rather clear view on World War 2 without being a 600 page tome. I bought that book without any intent of ever playing the campaigns.

Add 2 and 2 together and rulebooks contain a puppyload of story.

well the lore is there, you don’t need it in book form to roleplay. DnD’s system probably works well enough, maybe with some adaptations.

or you could try GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System), which theoretically works for any and all settings.

marnick.4305:

Curae.1837:

I would LOVE a lore-book. I already read the 2 gw novels and enjoyed them thoroughly.
I’d buy a lore-book in the blink of an eye.
Rp is also something I enjoy, although I don’t do it often. However I’m always interested in different worlds and history.

Even if you don’t RP, rulebooks often have plenty of lore in them. The mechanics behind RPGs are also very interesting as they shed light on how the world feels.

EG: DND has a lot of mechanics to generate cities. Rolling a few cities is rather interesting to see what shows up. On the other hand Warhammer Fantasy RP has a lot of mechanics about disabilities and insanity which shows how harsh that world really is. All settings have gods and the mechanics of interacting with gods also have a lot of lore to them. Lastly, racial traits tend to go beyond the combat only, as such a lot of background is provided to properly RP said race. In the real world, the campaign book for Memoir ’44 is really interesting because it gives a rather clear view on World War 2 without being a 600 page tome. I bought that book without any intent of ever playing the campaigns.

Add 2 and 2 together and rulebooks contain a puppyload of story.

Agreed. I’ve held on to a few of my DnD books long after I stopped playing anything except the PC games, and even bought the Draconomicon purely for the lore and artwork. (Although it also came in useful when I managed to wrangle my way into playing a gold dragon in an online free-form RP.)

And on the topic of DIY RP if anyone wants a very quick and easy set-up the old Fighting Fantasy books have a system which translates easily to PnP games, if you’re willing to accept the limitations of a fairly basic system. There was even a book released on how to do it which I used many years ago to create a Warcraft RPG.

(Which coincidentally came back to bite me in the kitten when I realised before it was even released that WoW could never live up to what I wanted it to be.)

More abitiously I wonder if Anet would be ok with us creating our own unofficial rule book for a GW RPG?

Before release, my boyfriend toyed with concocting rules for a table-top battle game (a la Warhammer and that sort of thing) based on Guild Wars 2. If there was any interest in that I’d happily suggest he take another look at the idea

A GW RPG could be great fun, because there’s lots of potential for player characters to have their own stories play out in the background of the games’ stories (heck, that’s what the game’s stories ARE half the time – we tag along!). As an occasional role-player in the game I always like fitting my own stories in the gaps.

Given what marnick said, what would the mechanics of a GW RPG emphasise? I feel like there should be lots to support the ideals of group co-operation and role flexibility.

if you want GW2 like mechanics for pnp you should play 4e. everyone can heal!

Well, my take on a GW2 RPG would at least need following compents:
- self sufficiency. The coolest parts in table top rpg is when the group is split up. GW2 supports that.

- the cross profession combos. I think these will be very, very important in a table top setting. At least you will take time to work them out compared to the online version

- a big focus on weapons. That’s more of a personal thing, but I like how weapons define your character. The DnD Paladin always had the quest of obtaining the Holy Avenger, other classes didn’t nearly have that personal quest.

- horizontal characters. In DnD your character becomes vastly more powerful over time, in WFRP this is far more subtle.