Expeditions: Viking - June Newsletter

The June newsletter for Expeditions: Viking:

Heil og sæl - Happy & Healthy

Greetings and well met fellow Viking. We're pleased that you've joined us once more (or for the first time) for this Expeditions: Viking saga.

As the fairer weather sets in, we toil away to bring you more news on your favourite Viking themed RPG. This week sees us not only looking back at RPC Germany and a nice article from The Daily Crate, but also looking ahead to what July might bring (you should probably pay attention at this point).

Tíðendi - News

We're entering the "quiet" period in the gaming industry, with summer coming up, but that doesn't mean we're taking it easy.

With less big events to attend, we set our attention to some smaller gigs with kindred spirits, and have been busy planning our own little thing. We'll get to the latter in just a minute but first, being fans of viking garb and kit, we set sail to Germany, to bring them much Viking goodness at the RPC (Role Play Convention), with a little sneak peek at the game for all the fine folk there.

Right from the first newsletter, we've brought you articles of those fortunate enough to get some hands on time with our game. This month will be no different. The wonderful people over at The Daily Crate gave us a lovely little writeup after dipping their feet in our world, and you should absolutely give it a read.

In Development

For us character design is an important part of bringing the historical world of Expeditions: Viking to life, so to speak. In this developer diary, featured in Gameinformer, August Hansen breaks down the art team's motivations and research discoveries when tackling character design.

Click here to watch the video

Freyja’s Viking Facts

In today's day and age, it's often hard to distinguish fact from fiction. The pre-recorded era is hard to keep track of at the best of times, and the ability for people to make up their own, more colourful facts, doesn't help matters along.

But fret not. Stuck at a party talking about historically accurate viking facts, but don't know what sources to believe? Well your friendly neighbourhood Logic Artists have your back!

Each and every Friday at @expeditionsgame we’ll post some true facts about Vikings that are either exaggerated or missed entirely. We’ve named each one of these “oh so scholarly” posts Freyja’s Friday Fun Facts after the goddess Freyja, who’s known for her wisdom and whom Friday is said to be named after. Clever, huh?

Yet, there’s only so much truth you can drop in 140 characters, and we want to drop it hard. So, with that in mind, we’re going to bring you some cool tidbits that we think will be to your Viking, erh, liking.

Not everything you've heard about vikings is true and some of what you might not have heard, is.

While the exact year is unknown, it is estimated that around year 1000, the Viking Leif Erikson discovered what would later be known as America. It was given the name "Vinland" (pronounced "Winland").

Now, there are two theories as to why, with the most popular pointing to the nordic word "vin" (wine) and the pressence of natural grapevines in the area they're believed to have landed in.

The other theory suggests that the pronounciation is actually "vinland" with a hard vowel. This would imply the use was that of the proto-norse "vinju" which means meadow or pasture.

Regardless of whether the vikings named the land for the landscape or the drink, one thing remains:

The Vikings, as would prove to be a theme amongst Europeans coming to the Americas for the first time, got on terribly with the locals.

If you're curious as to why this tends to be the result, why not check out Expeditions: Conquistador on steam. Odds are you'll fare better than the Vikings did. You see, archaeologists found a slew of arrow heads in the ruins of the first settlement, so it's not a stretch the assume that the Vikings were "persuaded" to leave whence they came and never return.

Tala - Communicate

And now, the reveal we've been teasing at. Some of you might have heard about Chris Avellone. If the name doesn't ring a bell, some of the games he's worked on most surely will: Fallout 2, Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, KOTOR2, Neverwinter Nights 2. Those seem more familiar? Heh, we thought so. Well, it's our absolute pleasure to reveal that he's dropping by our office to do a little workshop with us. See if some of that RPG-God magic can't sprinkle over our viking world.

Which is cool for us, and obvioiusly you when the game comes out. But there has to be more to this, right? I'm glad you asked!

We'd love to take some questions and the like from you guys, so if there's anything you'd like to ask Lord Chris, about game design, RPG's or anything else you can think of, we'd love for you to throw the questions up on Twitter or Facebook, and we'll pick a few for him to answer.

Till next time
Be your friend's
true friend.
Return gift for gift.
Repay laughter
with laughter again
but betrayal with treachery.

- The Havamal -