Author Interview: Joel Havenstone, "Choice of Rebels: Uprising"

[No_This_Is_Patrick]

Its out already

[COGZealot]

…Only on the App Store.

[No_This_Is_Patrick]

Its on Google Play right now.

[Carlos.R]

@No_This_Is_Patrick

Its on Google Play right now.

play.google.com

Choice of Rebels: Uprising

Lead the revolt against a bloodthirsty empire, wielding its own magic against i...

Free

[COGZealot]

Yes, but not everyone here uses Google Play.

[idonotlikeusernames]

Steam, at least here in (Western) Europe is not only much more expensive it can also be as much as a day behind on its releases as a result of using processes automated for the US West-Coast, while charging us extra for the privilege.

[Eric_Moser]

Great interview with our resident Voice of Reason, Havenstone. (did not @ him since I’m sure he will be very busy!)

Already bought my copy on App Store!

[Longwaywest]

Amazing work @Havenstone I’ve been frantically refreshing / waiting for this to come available. Can’t wait to do an official playthrugh after years of watching the game develop.

Time to herd some mules.

[Havenstone]

Thanks, all! If you haven’t already, feel free to come over to https://www.facebook.com/pg/jhavenstone for updates and to https://www.facebook.com/pg/jhavenstone/community for public discussion.

[thatdodgymoggie]

When I checked Steam it said it’s going to release tomorrow (I’m so excited tbh - I’ve really missed this game) but I don’t know if that’s dependent on location.

---

Edit: I forgot to say to Havenstone - congratulations! It was such a great surprise to see this announcement and I can’t wait to play again.

[Havenstone]

@idonotlikeusernames

Also I thought our mc’s home province was more like France colonized by the Byzantines.

It’s like Britain in that there’s both a French and an Anglo-Saxon cultural zone – though I suppose that would map reasonably well onto the langue d’oiul/langue d’oc divide if France was the focus. This will become more relevant starting next game, when there’s the potential to divide the strongly homelander “Laconnier” faction in Grand Shayard over the issue of a single national language. The Old Shayarin spoken in the Rim, it turns out, is rather different from the Old Shayarin spoken on the Coast.

@Vertigo

And what a cover! That’s not what I was expecting a Plektos to look like, but it’s certainly a looker!

It sits well in the epic fantasy novel tradition of a talented artist imagining things a bit differently than the author, too.

@Protagonist

I’m curious about the comparison between the game-world’s religion and evangelical Christianity. Would you mind elaborating on that a little? I’d have pegged the Aztec religion as its closest real-world analogue.

You’re right that one of its most vivid features – the institutionalized human sacrifice – is more Aztec or Phoenician than anything else. Abrahamic monotheisms had long converted that aspect of religion into animal sacrifice and/or a single substitutionary sacrifice. But the religion of Xthonos is a monotheism that valorizes compassion and correct belief, and whose vocabulary and institutional structure is plainly Christian. Most of the saving graces of real-world Christianity have been stripped out of it, as well as many of the specifically evangelical aspects (the personal, engaged God, for one huge example, has been replaced by an Aristotelian prime mover). Ultimately, Xthonism is a caricature of the Christianities that support an oppressive status quo, a temptation to which evangelicalism specifically has been prone in a few different countries (though happily, it’s also been a source of resistance and liberation).

Back to the mule-wrangling!

[idonotlikeusernames]

@Havenstone

for public discussion.

I was rather hoping you’d continue to use this forum for public discussion as I don’t do social media, particularly Facebook.

@Havenstone

This will become more relevant starting next game, when there’s the potential to divide the strongly homelander “Laconnier” faction in Grand Shayard over the issue of a single national language. The Old Shayarin spoken in the Rim, it turns out, is rather different from the Old Shayarin spoken on the Coast.

Interesting. Still I guess I’ve always imagined Shayard’s “decadent” nobles as being more French-esque and I may have imagined those later Kings and Queens of Shayard having run a super decadent Versailles-esque court system to boost their own central power.

[Havenstone]

@idonotlikeusernames

I was rather hoping you’d continue to use this forum for public discussion

I couldn’t possibly quit the forum. I meant, “public discussion with a wider public than the one that registers to post on the CoG Forum.”

[idonotlikeusernames]

Ugh, my bad my brain seems to be taking some things too literally today, ugh.

[Havenstone]

No, not at all – my post was ambiguous. Happy to clarify.

[MichaelCrank]

Oooh just tried the first chapter! Can’t wait to buy the rest of it tomorrow!

[augustus27]

Yeah, but I promised myself I wouldn’t buy a new CoG or HG during the week, or before the email comes out, since I’d probably skip my classes to play it😅. (Especially since this one is @Havenstone’s)

[cascat07]

@Havenstone seems like it’s doing pretty well on the App Store at least. #29 on the paid chart and #1 in the RPG category!

[andymwhy]

Congratulations! That’s fantastic work. It’s great to see one of the old guard doing so well!

[idonotlikeusernames]

I deserves to be number 1 in that RPG category, imho.