Shepherds of Haven (WIP) (DEMO UPDATE: 3 Aug 2021)

I guess I’m… lucky? In that regard. Or rather, lucky in my unluckiness? :rofl:
Unlucky because our dear leader is not avaible to male characters, and well, he’s by far my favorite. Lucky because it leaves only Trouble I’m interested in for a romantic path, so I don’t have to choose.

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Well our characters are similar only difference being I went with Tallys and only became a captain because of what happened in the tavern.

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On a cliff
Inquisitor: whoever is in the rear cart I’m going fast as I can but I’m stuck behind some dick in a red cart who isn’t going very fast
Blade: slow and steady Safety First when on the road
Trouble and Tallys: but we are not in the road
Blade: all the more reason we have little traction with the surface of the road which isn’t a road because it’s a cliff Counterpoint I’m in command and I order you stop complaining

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“Too close to the Hunters, who all have white hair”

This was 10000000% inspired by the Witcher series right? This is a reference to Geralt? Please? I need this

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Sorry, it’s not! :slight_smile: This series and the Hunters’ white hair thing was written wayyyy before the Witcher came out—I also never played the series! It just started with me having a thing for white-haired guys in anime when I was like 12 and then translating that to Halek and eventually his entire race LOL

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I mean, the actual Witcher, the books and the original polish TV series, are pretty old by now, so it could have been that I guess? :rofl:
I mean maybe, I don’t know exactly HOW old.

Yes, I’m a nerd and I reject the games because I love the books and the “original” series.

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Gotta admit though, Wild Hunt was awesome (in my opinion) :joy:

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Maybe the animes you were watching were inspired by the Witcher novels. The original novels in Polish released in the early nineties. It is not uncommon for anime to draw inspiration from other written and televised works. Just as you have drawn inspiration from childhood anime series.

We all have our sources of inspiration that themselves got inspiration from somewhere.

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So I currently have the alpha build version because I desperately needed to know more about these characters, the lore, and even about the side characters, and you don’t disappoint. At all. Most authors focus on romance in these games, which, before I get flamed, is the point, I know. However, I recently finished a route with Red and Hunter!MC were exes and in the process of getting back together, and I love love loooooooooved it.

I also loved the friendship I got with Trouble while on this route.

Caine. Omg, Caine. At first I was like haha forget that kid, who cares what happens to him? But then I replayed again and again and he owns a corner of my heart now.

Constantly failed to finish the chapter four mission because I was focused on creating a certain type of character (and getting their stats) but after defeating the mission twice I shrieked with joy because now I know it’s not race locked or something… I was just dumb.

U.U What people are screaming about is true. I saw those greyed out options that I’m assuming is for a MC with high Nerves of Steel and I was tempted to restart again this morning.

I’m excited for this and Mind Blind…

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Right now I am just waiting for her novel to ship on July 6th, so I have something to read til this story is finished. I absolutely love her writing style. If you do, you should check out her novel on bookshop.org.

Here is the link: https://bookshop.org/books/we-have-always-been-here/9780756417291

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I reached the end of the public demo and immediately went to patreon.

This forum and its many WIPS are gonna bankrupt me :sob::scream::rofl:

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Also upon restarting, I’ve realized that the Shepards wear wolf(ish) medallions… just like a witcher!

I’m curious which anime helped inspire you here, I bet the creators list Witcher among their inspirations :blush:

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Thank you so much @2xs, I truly appreciate you! :blush: For anyone else, there are more preorder links in the OP as well if you’re interested! :slight_smile:

Thank you so much for your support!!! :sparkling_heart:

Actually, there isn’t a wolf on their medallions, it’s a sun because that’s the symbol of the Autarchy! :slight_smile: There is a rampant hound on their uniforms at first, though!

The actual game/story of the Shepherds is more inspired by books and games (Dragon Age, Persona, Fire Emblem), but the idea to have Halek have white hair stemmed from InuYasha, Bleach, and Fruits Basket, lol. White-haired and sometimes very intense pretty boys/ladies’ men have been around a loooong time lmao! I know the Witcher series is older than most people think, and it probably did influence later pieces of media, but as far as I know, it’s very unlikely that it influenced any of the original shows/books/games that ended up first inspiring me for Shepherds in the early 2000s! (Except Dragon Age maybe, though I’d say it’s more likely that both were influenced by Baldur’s Gate.) You never know, though!

God, thank you so much, this is such a kind comment and so inspiring for me! :sob:

Major, story-altering decisions will never be locked to something race or anything like that! :slight_smile: Just so you know in the future LOL they’re more than likely stat-based or influenced by some earlier decisions! Failure can sometimes be fun as well, though… :wink:

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In another life, if Patreon accepted prepaid debit cards (and yes, I have a Paypal acc with a debit card attached but it just doesn’t work :sweat_smile:), I’d be more than happy to fund you, Shepherd, on a yearly basis, and I don’t even like Patreon that much tbh lol! However, I think it’s more prudent and better for my wallet overall if I wait for the beta build/complete game and buy the book as @2xs suggested. It’s very rare for me to be taken in so deeply by someone’s writing but this is professional quality content here.

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Paypal is afraid of all the adult content created and have blocked Patreon support, not the other way around. Just an FYI

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That’s annoying… well, its only five bucks so I decided to stay through June at least. thanks for all the info <3

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Thank you so much, this is such high praise! :sob: :heart:

Also, I forgot to mention this over here, but for anyone interested, I am running a month-long Shepherds of Haven fan event throughout June! Participants can post (even in this thread) a fanwork inspired by one of the prompts for this month, and they’ll receive a special role in our Discord if they’re members, as well as simply partake in the camaraderie and joy of the event! People have already begun to create and share really amazing and incredible pieces, so if you want to spread the love, please feel free!

This is not a contest, but a way to have fun and celebrate ShoH and the creativity of the amazing fans and readers who are supporting it. As such, any fanwork is welcome, from fanart and fanfiction to moodboards and commissioned works!

More details and list of prompts here!


Also, it’s one month until the release of my novel, WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE. It’s an exciting and nerve-wracking time!!! To celebrate that, I’ll also be hosting a giveaway this month for the wonderful fans who preorder a copy of my book; in exchange for proof of purchase, I’ll send you a swag pack with both WHABH and Shepherds goodies. I’ll be posting the official details very soon on June 6th, so keep an eye out and be prepared for that!


Finally, in Shepherds news, we’ve reached 560,000 words on the alpha build and are about 55-60% done with the story. I’m taking this month to wrap up Chapter 6–I’ve even sworn to not drink bubble tea until I’m done with it, which is a big deal–and then I’ll move on to Chapter 7 next month. I may take a few weeks off to celebrate the release of my book and take care of interviews and stuff, but I haven’t decided on that for sure yet! I might also update the public demo in July or after, but it depends on how much work I’m getting done on all those other areas first.

Thanks for sticking with me, and for your incredible support as always. I hope you’re all having a great start to your June! :sunflower:

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Well, better say later than never, since the original release of the demo, it was UST enchanting, and excellent writing, and only get better from each new chapter releases over the years and increasing the lore and the stories of the conpanions in the course of our adventure, I must say I’m impressed, also i fell inspiration for classic series, animes, videogames and books with settings and some plot related with your proyect here steampunk/fantasy/dark fantasy, even reminds me of one of my personal favorite, Berserk by Kentaro Miura, a classic, specially the classic arcs and in his original source, guts™ best protagonist fight me! :fist_right: ::fist_left: I’m so glad your proyect still going forward, and thanks to all the people who support you all the way, the best of luck for ya @rinari, sheperd out.:+1:

PS: That cliffhanger though…

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Hi there!

I just wanted to say that I’m really enjoying the demo so far but I’m running into an issue that I’m not sure is purposeful or not. When I’m going through the catacombs with Trouble and we wind up killing all of the Equalists there turns out to be no children there. Then Inquisitors show up and take over the investigation. Trouble then asks if I think they will find the children. All of the options except “We’ll Keep looking ourselves…” seem to make the scene skip ahead. Because the next page then says “When you’re sure Trouble and the children are far away…” as if we have found the children. Just wanted to bring this to your attention in case it was a bug.

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Rinari if you had a choice what prank would you do in this shepherd of Haven world