I’m pleased to share a newly created page featuring video clips from my Sanctum of the Archmage game modules.
The Sanctum modules are highly story-based games that emphasize plot, world building, dialogue, and character interaction. In addition to being teasers for the saga, these scenes are intended to showcase my skills as a writer, storyteller, and role-playing game designer.
Here’s an update on recent and upcoming projects in the Sanctum of the Archmage Saga!
Sanctum of the Archmage: The Sight and The Quest, EE Version was published on June 6th! This v5.0 release includes a number of new features, including major custom content updates and re-writes to the XP and crafting systems. The beginning in the forests of southern Carlissa has also been re-built using the excellent Wild Woods tileset, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. This release will only work in Beamdog’s Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition, although I’m planning an update that should work in NWN 1.69 as well.
A Steam release of the EE Version is also planned for later this year. When that happens will depend on how long it takes me to work out how to re-package the modules for it, and/or to get permission to re-post the required custom content projects on Steam. Some folks at the Neverwinter Vault are developing a one-click install solution that would draw directly from its archives, and if I can make that work from Steam that would be the best and easiest solution. I’ll post updates as I learn more. I’ve had information that players are increasingly checking only the Steam workshop for new EE modules, though, so it’s looking increasingly important for me to get Sanctum on it as well.
After that, I’m planning to resume development of Sanctum of the Archmage 3: The Miracle Worker. How much time I’ll be able to devote to it, though, will depend on the level of interest in the re-release of Sanctum 1 & 2. If they do well and there’s a growth in the player base for NWN:EE, then I’ll definitely try to put more of my (sadly limited) time into that effort. If not, then I may need to switch more of my focus back to resuming work on my novel writing projects. And speaking of that …
This is a painful lesson that I learned from last year’s launch of my first novel, Dawn of Chaos. Without the right promotional work, you can write and publish a book, but next to no one will notice (let alone buy) it. It’s also easy to fall into the many pitfalls of modern indie publishing, such as the curse of the polluted also-boughts (which, of course, I did).
I’ve been devoting a lot of my spare time in recent months to correcting those oversights by reading and listening to dozens of books, articles, and podcasts on indie book marketing and publishing. A review of my first novel has also helped me recognize some opportunities I have to improve them. So I’ve decided to make a thorough edit of Dawn of Chaos my next writing project before getting back to finishing my next novel, Wrath of the Peregrine King.
Sadly, thanks to the changes made by Facebook to its algorithms this year, the ability of Facebook pages like mine to reach fans has been steadily (and notably) diminishing. Since a shift to Facebook Groups rather than pages seems to be the becoming the advised way to stay in touch with fans, I’ve gone ahead and created a Sanctum of the Archmage – Facebook Group. If you’re on Facebook, please feel free to visit and join!
That’s all for now. Thanks again for your interest and attention, and stay tuned for upcoming announcements!Sincerely,
I’ve just posted this over on the Beamdog Forums and on the Neverwinter Vault, and wanted to share it on my blog as well. There are screenshots on the Beamdog thread for those who may be interested.
Sanctum of the Archmage: Enhanced Edition
I’ve been working in recent weeks on developing an EE compatible edition of the Sanctum of the Archmage modules. That work’s mostly done now. I should be able to release SotA:EE Edition v1.0 after another playtesting run, probably in a few weeks at most.
I took advantage of the opportunity to add a couple of new features that I had cut for the remake that I released in September. Aside from minor typo fixes and the like, I also did a complete re-write to both the XP and the crafting systems. Players should now be able to advance to level 11 by the end of Chapter 2, and the penalties for using companions and summons have been flattened. Players should also be able to craft many more (and better) items from both mundane and magical materials alike.
I’m not planning to do much more to revise Chapter 1 and 2 for EE, though. The reason is that I’ve decided that any new modding efforts on my part are probably better devoted to resuming development of Chapter 3, which I suspended several years ago to begin writing my Sanctum of the Archmage novels. I’ve opened up the third module again in the EE editor, cleaned it up, and finally finished the extensive scripting needed for the elaborate “flying system” that it will feature. That will likely take a while, given my other commitments (writing, work and life in general). But all of it will be done in and for EE. And I’ll be looking to take advantage of every opportunity I can to include new content and features made possible by the extended edition.
I’m pleased to announce that the long-awaited v4.2 remake of the Sanctum of the Archmage game modules is finally available! Testing is complete, the documentation has been updated, and the files were packaged and uploaded on September 30th.
Version v4.2 represents a significant update to the Sanctum of the Archmage modules. It combines a number of new features in The Sight with a major remake of the previous (v3.4) version of The Quest. Formerly released as “The Miracle Worker: Act I,” The Quest has been unavailable in any form since the loss of the IGN Vault in 2014. Version 4.2 is the first release of Chapter 2 that is compatible with version 4 or later of The Sight.
With the v4.2 update, Sanctum 1 and 2 now use the same custom content architecture and can be played as a unified campaign. As a result, I am releasing them together on my current page for the saga on the Neverwinter Vault. Chapter 2 has been re-written to add new areas, quests, and dialogs, and lore from the Sanctum of the Archmage novels.
I hope you all enjoy the new version, and thank you very much for your interest!
Tony Donadio (Andarian)
Author, Sanctum of the Archmage
I’m pleased to announce that the long-awaited v4.2 remake of the Sanctum of the Archmage game modules is nearly ready for release! Testing is complete and the only remaining tasks are to update the documentation and to package and upload the files. It should be available on the Neverwinter Vault sometime during this weekend (the last of September).
Version v4.2 represents a significant update to the Sanctum of the Archmage modules. It combines a number of new features in The Sight with a major remake of the previous (v3.4) version of The Quest. Formerly released as “The Miracle Worker: Act I,” The Quest has been unavailable in any form since the loss of the IGN Vault in 2014. Version 4.2 is the first release of Chapter 2 that is compatible with version 4 or later of The Sight.
With the v4.2 update, Sanctum 1 and 2 now use the same custom content architecture and can be played as a unified campaign. As a result, I am releasing them together on my current page for the saga on the Neverwinter Vault. Chapter 2 has been re-written to add new areas, quests, and dialogs, and lore from the Sanctum of the Archmage novels.
I will follow up with another announcement — hopefully in another day or two at most — once I’ve finished releasing theupdate. I hope you’ll enjoy the new version, and thank you very much for your interest!
Tony Donadio (Andarian)
Author, Sanctum of the Archmage
I’ve now finished a full playthrough of the soon-to-be-released remake of the Neverwinter Nights module series, Sanctum of the Archmage: The Sight and The Quest. I found a handful of bugs and issues that I still need to resolve, which I’ll need to plan time for over the next few weeks. After one more playthrough to ensure they’re worked out, I should be able to release the remake sometime this summer.
The Sanctum v4.2 update will include a number of new and updated features to The Sight. More importantly, though, it will include a complete remake of the second module in the series, now titled The Quest. Originally released in 2007 as “The Miracle Worker, Act I,” it has never been published in a form compatible with the v4.x remake of The Sight. And it has been unavailable in any form since IGN’s Neverwinter Vault died in 2014.
The second module in the Sanctum series was very well received by the NWN player community of the time, receiving the Bronze Award for Module of the Year and the Golden Dragon Award for Best RPG in 2007. I’m very happy to finally be making the soon to be released (and I think, greatly improved!) version of it available to the Neverwinter Nights player community.
After our recent scare, and in the face of growing uncertainty about continued availability of IGN’s Neverwinter Nights Vault, I have gone ahead and created a new project page for the “v4” remakes of Sanctum of the Archmage – The Sight on the New Neverwinter Vault:
Sanctum of the Archmage – The Sight at the New Neverwinter Vault.
I strongly encourage everyone who wants to download, play, comment, and vote on the V4 releases of the Sanctum of the Archmage modules to do so here, or to use the project’s new page on the New Neverwinter Vault.
The old (v3.4) versions of Chapters 1 and 2 will remain available for now on their historical pages on IGN’s old Neverwinter Nights Vault.
“The Fire Elves long ago rejected the values of love and family. Everyone is property of the state. Hellwomen compete for the attention of males, paying dowries for their sexual attentions. If they conceive and give birth, the child is taken to be raised in a communal education center. The mother is paid for her contribution to society — and the greater the status of the father, the greater the payment.”
— A’Lindra Ta’Lin, Sanctum of the Archmage: The Sight
EDIT 1/5/2012: I’ve added a couple of additional (and minor) bugfixes, and updated the patch to release 4.0c. This should be the last patch to version 4.0 before the release of v4.1.
EDIT 1/4/2012: I’ve added one more bugfix (see 1st comment for details) and updated the patch to level v40b.
I’ve uploaded an updated patch hak (to version 4.0a) for the recent Sanctum v40 release. It fixes two bugs that I found, in completing the “Beastmen in Exile” and “Earthen Road” quests. You can find it at the following link — just download and unzip the file, and use it to replace the existing SanctumPatchV4Q.hak file in your hak directory:
I’m also working on a module update to version 4.1, which should be out by tomorrow. It fixes these bugs and a few other very minor issues, and adds a couple of new features (mostly related to some new and improved items available in the treasure system).
SPOILER ALERT: See the first comment for details about the issues fixed by the patch.
I’m pleased to (finally!) announce the release of the updated Neverwinter Nights module for Sanctum of the Archmage, Chapter 1: The Sight, version 4.0! The new files are up and can be downloaded now. See the following PDF for details on the required downloads:
A word of warning in advance: the download requirements for the updated version of the module are very large — including, among other packages, both Project Q v1.5 and CEP v2.4.
I’d like to extend special thanks to my Beta testers, who did a thorough and outstanding job of helping me shake out the bugs in the final versions; the principals at Project Q, for their years-long support in helping me to integrate their content into the updated version; and my players, for their always encouraging support and interest.
— Andarian