Fanstratics月报#3#2020-11

来源：https://www.fanstratics.com/fstnewsletter03，以下由Cyrus翻译。

• Fanstratics Factions?
• FST有几个种族派系？
• I have designed 9 Factions, not including Neutral Troops, which could be considered a unofficial 10th Faction. There are also conceptual markers for 2 or 3 additional Factions, which could be part of subsequent Fanstratics (FST) expansions, assuming the game reaches market and is moderately successful. Note, I say Factions... not Towns. In HoMM3, we should have changed the terminology from ‘Towns’ to ‘Factions’, but we were trying to remain somewhat consistent with the HoMM2 convention (Barbarian Town, Knight Town, Warlock Town, etc.). This is the reason the largely human culture was called ‘Castle’ and not something else, like... the Alliance. In Fanstratics, each culture will have a proper Faction name. How many Factions ship with the initial game, is ultimately dependent on budget. If crowdfunding and Early Access sales meet expectations, it would be reasonable to craft and ship all 9. If crowdfunding and Early Access sales do not meet expectations, we may be forced to craft and ship less than 9. There is always the hope, post release sales would generate the revenue to continue building the remaining Factions, but there are no guarantees. Starting next month, I’ll detail a little about each Faction, but you can already begin to deduce the various cultures from the released concept art. To date, each piece of Troop concept art is taken from 1 Faction, and this will continue until we have revealed 9 Troops. Thereafter, we will start another cycle of 9. I’ll reveal conceptual details for the first Faction, starting with the December Newsletter.
• 设计了9个派系，不算中立兵种，不过中立势力可以视为第十个势力。如果游戏卖座，作为FST的后续拓展，可能还有两三个计划的派系。注意，是派系不是……城镇哦。我们把英雄无敌3的术语“城镇”更改为“派系”，并试图保留一些来自英雄无敌2设计的联系（比如野蛮人城，骑士城，术士城之类的）。这是我们称呼人类派系为“城堡”而非“联盟”之类的原因。在FST中，每种文化都会有个对应的派系名。最终游戏里有几个派系，要看预算。如果众筹和抢先体验销售达到预期，应该会有所有9个派系，反之就没9个那么多了。发售后收入可能用来制作其余派系，但这件事我们也不敢打包票。从下个月起，我们将介绍每个阵营，不过你们也能从已发布的概念艺术中推测出各个文化。迄今为止的每张概设原画都来自一个派系，这种发布方法会持续到9个派系都公开了一张原画为止。之后，我们将开始另一个9派系的原画周期循环。我们将从12月开始公布第一个派系的概念设计细节。

• Will there be a forum for suggestions and feedback?
• 会建个论坛提供建议和反馈渠道吗？
• At this stage, I’m unsure. Typically, if someone likes the game... they tend to quietly enjoy it. If someone plays the game, but is upset with a particular aspect... they join the company forum and vomit verbal poison. I’m looking at the viability of an in-game system to report bugs and give feedback. In this way, we’d get the player evaluations we desire, without the public misbehavior. Regardless, any feedback system won’t happen until Early Access.
• 目前不好说。通常喜欢这款游戏的人喜欢闷声享受游戏。如果有人玩的时候对某些方面感到不满，他们会直接在合作论坛吐槽。我们正在研究如何在游戏内搞个反馈系统，以此满足玩家评估的希望。总之在抢先体验开始前不会有什么反馈系统。

• Will Sir Mullich be in the game?
• 姆拉克爵士会在这款游戏里吗？
• ‘Sir Mullich’ is copyrighted by Ubisoft, and will not be in the game... but it wouldn’t be proper, for a spiritual successor to HoMM, to not have the screwy expression of ‘David Mullich’ somewhere in the game. I have told David, of my desire to put him in the game, and he hasn’t voiced any opposition. Of course, we will need to get a recent photo of him, which shouldn’t be a problem, as he likes to ham it up for the camera.
• 姆拉克爵士的版权在育碧手里，所以不会直接出现在游戏里。但作为英雄无敌精神续作，不带有“姆拉克爵士”这个标志显然不合适。我告诉David（David Mullich），希望能把他做进游戏，他也没提出异议。当然，我们得拍几张他的近期照片，这应该不成问题。

• Would you work with Ubisoft, if they approached you to make another HoMM game?
• 如果育碧邀请你们做另一款英雄无敌系列的游戏，你们会与育碧合作吗？
• I seriously doubt Ubisoft would approach me. If they did, I would want specific guarantees (production, financial, and creative), and I strongly doubt they would acquiesce. Overall, when you consider the collection of Might & Magic games Ubisoft has created, I suspect they have made money, but not the big numbers they desired. Unfortunately, for Ubisoft, Might & Magic has become a middling franchise, suited more for easily marketed spin offs. Which leads into the next question.
• 我觉得育碧不太能会联系我们。如果真的发生了，我会在产品、财务和创意方面提出具体要求，他们也不太可能接受。总的来说，我怀疑育碧制作的魔法门系列游戏应该赚了钱，但没他们预期的那么多。对育碧而言，魔法门就是个用来卖IP做衍生产品的中庸IP，这就引出了下个问题。

• Have you seen Might & Magic Era of Chaos?
• 你玩过魔法门：战争纪元了吗？
• Yes. I have been playing Era of Chaos (EoC), since it became available outside of China. It’s about what you would expect from a F2P mobile game; semi-automated game play, very long progression system, specific pay-to-win elements, etc. This being said... it isn’t bad. In many respects, the HoMM3 lore, characters, and mechanics, are well suited for a mobile translation. I must admit though, it’s a little odd seeing the HoMM3 ‘universe’ given another life in another genre. Once HoMM5 hit the shelves, I thought Erathia and Catherine were at a logical end.
• 是的，毕竟战争纪元在已经发布了国际版，我已经在玩它了。这游戏基本符合了你对F2P手机游戏的期望：半自动化对战，特别长的进阶系统，特定的双赢要素等等。这就是说……还不错。在英雄无敌3的故事概念、角色、机制等很多方面，这游戏的端游化都做得不错。不过看着英雄无敌3宇宙的另类重生，让人感到有些怪。毕竟当年英雄无敌5上市时，大家就觉得埃拉西亚和凯瑟琳的故事已经在逻辑上完结了。

Tavern of Might and Magic, 2019.02.28, Questions 1-11, of 58

This interview was conducted by Tavern of Might and Magic and GoodGame.ru, and published on February 28th, 2019, the 20th Anniversary of HoMM3. It’s a very long interview, almost 60 questions, and delves deep into unresolved lore, as well as other common questions. I’ll be posting between 10 to 15 questions per Newsletter, until we reach the end, after which we will roll into another interview.

以下是Tavern of Might and Magic和GoodGame.ru进行了一次访谈，并于2019年2月28日，即HoMM3成立20周年发布。采访时间很长，涉及将近60个问题，并深入探讨了未解决的知识和其他常见问题。之后每期大概会出现其中的10到15个问题。

Preface. I will answer these questions to the best of my recollection, but please keep in mind, it has been almost 20 years since HoMM3 and HoMM3: AB were created.

前言：我将尽力回答这些问题，但请记住，英雄无敌3和资料片都已经发售了将近二十年了。

• Have you followed the games that came out after you quit NWC (like Heroes Chronicles, HoMM4, etc,) to some degree?
• 你是否关注过你退出NWC以后的英雄无敌游戏（历代记，英雄无敌4等等）？
• I continue to follow the M&M catalog of games. Specifically, I have all seven HoMM titles, and have played each to varying degrees.
• 我一直关注魔法门系列游戏。具体说，我玩了英雄无敌全部七代作品。

• Did you consider the Price of Loyalty expansion for HoMM2 canon?
• 你是否认为英雄无敌2忠诚的代价是正统作品？
• Price of Loyalty was not developed in house at New World Computing, but contracted out to Cyberlore Studios. It was on the shelves before I ever joined NWC, and I do not recall ever having any lore discussions regarding the expansion. With this in mind, I cannot give an authoritative answer to this question… I can only give you my personal opinion. Yes, I consider it cannon.
• 忠诚的代价是外包作品，而且在我加入NWC前就已经上架了，我印象里没什么与该资料片相关的剧情讨论。因此，我不能对这个问题作出权威回答。对我个人而言，只能说：是的，我认为忠诚的代价是正统作品。

• Does Price of Loyalty take place on planet Enroth or just some random world (like HoMM 1-4 scenarios do)?
• 忠诚的代价是在恩洛斯上，还是在某个随机的时空（比如英雄无敌1到4的单关战役）里发生的？
• Succession Wars, Restoration of Erathia, and Armageddon’s Blade all took place on the same planet, but in different locales. For Price of Loyalty, I had no reason to believe it was not on the same planet, but tucked away in a different region so it would not interfere with NWC’s ongoing work. Keep in mind, if in some way it did present a ‘creative or continuity issue’, I could easily imagine a quick conversation among the design leads to retcon it to another world.
• 继承人之战，光复埃拉西亚和末日之刃的故事都发生在同一星球，但非同一大陆上。至于忠诚的代价，我没理由认为它不是发生在同一星球上，某个NWC之后没讲述过故事的区域的。如果它确实涉及了某些“创意或联系性上的问题”，那么我们很容易就能把它重新设计到另一个世界里。

• How familiar were you with the story and lore of the core Might and Magic series (particularly MM7, as it also takes place in Antagarich) and other Heroes titles?
• 您对魔法门系列（尤其是发生在恩塔格瑞大陆的魔法门7）和其他英雄无敌相关系列的故事概念是否熟悉？
• Prior to becoming an employee at New World Computing, I was like most fans. I played the games, followed the story, but was not deep into the lore. After becoming an employee, I focused on ‘big picture’ elements affecting what I was doing. For the gritty details, I relied on Christian Vanover and Jennifer Bullard to notify me of any thorny issues. I had near zero involvement in the development of MM7.
• 在入职NWC前，我就是个玩游戏、追故事的普通粉丝，没深入了解。但入职后，我会在意影响我正在做的东西的大局元素。在具体问题上，我依靠Christian Vanover 和Jennifer Bullard来提点我解决棘手的问题。我几乎没参与过魔法门7的开发。/li>

• How far ahead had you planned the storyline for future installments when working on HoMM3?
• 在制作英雄无敌3时，你设计了多远的未来故事线？
• Officially, there were never any storylines planned beyond the games in production. If we had any goal, it was to loosely tie one game into the next. MM6 into HoMM3 into MM7 into HoMM3:AB, etc. Having a ‘grand plan’ typically requires a singular individual, with the desire and power, to enforce such a long term goal over multiple years and multiple teams. In game development, people come and go, teams come and go, and turnover is high. For example, after HoMM3:AB, 3 of the 5 team leads either left the company or moved on to other projects.
• 除了制作中的游戏，没有任何计划中的故事情节。我们通常只会将故事松散地与另一个故事联结在一起，譬如魔法门6到英雄无敌3到魔法门7，再到魔法门3末日之刃等等。制定“长远计划”通常需要有个有目标和力量的人多年间在多个团队里实践。实际游戏开发中，人员和团队都来来往往，流动率很大。例如，在英雄无敌3末日之刃完成开发后，开发团队中五位主要成员中的三个要么离开公司，要么转向其他项目。

• How much were you involved in the second HoMM3 expansion’s development? The Shadow of Death was released after you’ve already left NWC, but maybe you know something about its story and lore details (so that we know if it’s appropriate to ask you questions regarding SoD)?
• 你参与了多少死亡阴影的开发？你再离开NWC后，死亡阴影才发售，但你可能对他的故事概念有所了解（以便我们询问相关问题）？
• I was not involved in the conception or creation of SoD. As far as I know, Jennifer Bullard was the project’s Lead Designer, and any questions you have about SoD would best be directed to her. In one of pre-release short stories published on the official website prior to the release of HoMM3, the one that serves as a brief introduction to the continent, there’s this phrase: The History of Erathia is long indeed, and like the Ironfists of Enroth, the Gryphonhearts have been the ruling family since before the Silence. However, HoMM1’s manual features letters from Lord Ironfist that established him coming to Enroth from another world and uniting that continent-spanning kingdom under his rule. HoMM2 was stated to take place 25 years after the end of HoMM1 campaign, Roland and Archibald being Lord Ironfist’s sons. That makes Ironfists ruling from around 1126 A.S. Was that backstory subtly retconned (and thus, HoMM1 is just Ironfist fighting other lords to succeed the throne that has already belong to his family)? Was it just a mistake? Or something else entirely? To me, this looks like a simple mistake.
• Fun fact: the part about the Gryphonhearts ruling Erathia since before the Silence was retconned in Heroes Chronicles: Warlords of the Wasteland. That game clearly takes place after the Silence and the downfall of Colonial Government, with technology already being quasi-medieval, the oppressive empire of Bracaduun ruling over most of the continent, and there being a barbarian conquest several generations prior. Granted, the campaign texts never directly state that WotW takes place after the Silence, but the depiction of the world heavily implies that. Plus, Armageddon’s Blade appears on the final map along with its default text about the hero finding the vault of the Ancients from before the Silence.
• 我没参与死亡阴影的概念或创意设计。据我所知，Jennifer Bullard是这个项目的总设计师，死亡阴影相关疑问最好直接咨询她。在英雄无敌3的官网先行小说中，有对大陆的简要介绍，其中有这么一句话：埃拉西亚的历史确实很长，就像恩洛斯的铁拳家族一样，格里芬哈特家族从寂静时代以来就一直统治着埃拉西亚。但英雄无敌1的手册中有铁拳领主的来信，这封信使他从另一个世界来到恩洛斯，并在他的统治下团结了这个横跨整片大陆的王国。据说英雄无敌2的继承人选拔是在英雄无敌1的故事结束25年后进行的，罗兰德和阿基巴德是铁拳领主的儿子。这使得铁拳家族的故事线巧妙地从1126 A.S.左右冲突了（所以说英雄无敌1的铁拳领主只是与其他领主作战，以接替属于他家族的王位？）。这是一个错误，还是有其他含义？对我来说这只是个简单的错误。
• 有趣的是，关于格里芬哈特家族从寂静时代前就一直统治着埃拉西亚的这段剧情，在英雄无敌历代记：废墟战神里重新改写了。废墟战神的故事显然是在寂静时代和殖民政府垮台后发生的，技术已经是准中世纪的，残酷帝国布拉卡顿统治着大陆的大部分地区，而野蛮人征服已经是几代人之前的事情了。诚然，游戏文本没有直接说明废墟战神的故事是在寂静时代之后发生的，但对世界的描述很大程度上暗示了这一点。此外，最后一关地图上出现了末日之刃，而默认的提示文字说明了英雄是在寂静时代前的远古宝物库中找到的末日之刃。

• There’s also an obvious retcon in another HoMM3 short story that deals with the origin of Deyja. It mentions this land being home to necromancers for nearly a millennium. MM6 establishes that Ethric the Mad simultaneously became the world’s first lich and necromancer after being buried in his tomb and rising from the dead. The tomb is said to have been built not very long ago, during the life of Edrics` great grandfather. Another NPC text calls necromancy a very new science. Thus, Deyja’s origin story retcons the time of Ethric becoming the first necromancer, making it take place much further in the past. I find this change to be interesting, as it makes necromancy an ancient menace (although the original concept of it being a new, but still very dangerous science is no less appealing to me), but am curious to know about how it was made, and how the backstory for Deyja was developed. Also, Deyja’s origin story mentions liches having to feed on the living to sustain their existence, which hasn’t been brought up since? Is it something more subtly that a vampire draining its victim, like the lich slowly causing the life around it to die, much as the necromancer did to that part of AvLee which is now Deyja?
• 在一篇关于迪迦（德迦，迪雅，H3亡灵）起源的短篇小说中，也有一个明显的逻辑回溯修订。它提到这片土地是亡灵巫师近一千年的家园。魔法门6则证实了，疯狂的伊西里克（Ethric the Mad，译注：山德鲁的老师，曾在死亡阴影战役提及）在被埋葬在坟墓里并从死亡中复活时，成为了世界上第一个尸巫和亡灵巫师。据说这座墓地是在伊西里克的曾祖父在世的时候建造的，其建成并不太久。不过另一篇NPC的文章称亡灵巫术是一门非常新的科学。因此，迪雅的起源故事追溯到了伊西里克成为第一个死灵法师的时间，使亡灵巫术的发现回溯修订到了更远的过去。我发现这种变化很有趣，因为它使死灵术成为一种古老的威胁(尽管它是一种新的，但仍然非常危险的科学，这个最初概念对我来说同样有吸引力，但我很想知道它是如何制作的，以及迪雅的背景故事是如何发展的)。此外，迪雅的起源故事提到尸巫必须以活人为食来维持它们的存在，但这点从那以后就没有人提起过？吸血鬼吸干了它的受害者，就像尸巫慢慢地让它周围的生命死去一样，就像亡灵巫师对现在属于迪雅、曾经属于阿维利（埃里，H3壁垒）的土地所做的那样，是不是非常微妙？
• Unfortunately, for HoMM3, Deyja had no real backstory developed beyond what is commonly known. The Necromancers` cult was exiled from the nation of Bracada (the southern mountains I mentioned earlier). Wandering the continent, the cult eventually settled in AvLee - a region teeming with life. As for Liches feeding on the ‘living’, I suspect you are referring to the short story, ‘Necromancy Origin’ by Marcus Finch. Your assumptions are generally correct. In the short story, Liches are described as needing to ‘feed on life to survive’. Think of a Lich as something of a ‘lifeforce vortex’, slowly and progressively draining life from its living surroundings. For a Lich, ‘lifeforce’ is the air in which it breathes. This doesn’t mean a Lich couldn’t ‘life drain’ a singular human target, but a Lich certainly has no taste for flesh or blood.
• 不幸的是，对于英雄无敌3来说，迪迦除了耳熟能详之外，并没有什么实际的背景故事。亡灵法师教派被驱逐出布拉卡达(我之前提到的南部山脉)。这个教团在大陆上游荡，最终定居在阿维利——一个充满生命的地区。至于以“活人”为食的尸巫这个设定，我怀疑你指的是马库斯·芬奇（Marcus Finch）的短篇小说《亡灵巫术起源》。你的假设基本上是正确的。在这个短篇故事中，尸巫被描述为需要“以生命为生”。把尸巫想象成某种“生命力漩涡”，慢慢地、逐步地从它的生活环境中吸取生命。对于尸巫来说，“生命力”是它呼吸的空气。这并不意味着尸巫不能“生命虹吸”一个单一的人类目标，但尸巫肯定不喜欢血肉。

• On that note, a question about Armageddon’s Blade. From what is revealed about it both in the original version of the expansion’s story (a fragment of that is the cinematic intro) and the final one, this artifact is an Ancient weapon, either created by the Ancients or stored by them underground. One Armageddon’s Blade is created by Kreegans, forged from demonic relics by Kazandar. The text about another such blade being found in an Ancient vault still remains in the game (and this weapon is already fabled in the world before being constructed by Kazandar). Can you tell us something more about Armageddon’s Blade? Was the one that is deep underground ever found?
• 说到这儿，有一个关于末日之刃的问题。从资料片的原始版本（介绍影片中的一个片段）和最终版本中透露的信息来看，这个神器是一件古老的武器，可能是远古神民创造的，或者是他们储存在地下的。而另一柄末日之刃由克里根人（Kreegan）制造，由卡伦达（Kazandar，译注：游戏内曾使用变体名Khazandar指代，著名的铸剑师）用恶魔的遗物锻造而成。游戏中还保存着关于在一个古老的墓穴中发现的另一把这样的剑的文字（这柄武器在卡伦达铸造之前就已经是世间的传说了）。你能告诉我们更多关于末日之刃的事情吗?深埋地下的那柄曾经被发现过吗?
• If I understand this correctly, ‘context’ appears to have led to a continuity issue. There are Armageddon’s Blade references in the intro movie, the origin campaign, and the single player maps. For the campaign, Armageddon’s Blade was supposed to be a ‘recipe’. A terrible weapon from before the Silence. Anyone could create it with the required parts. The obvious analogy is a nuclear bomb. Anyone can make a nuclear bomb if they have the resources and knowledge. In the case of the campaign, Xeron has the resources and Kazandar has the knowledge. In the case of the intro cinematic and single player maps, Armageddon’s Blade is presented as a singular artifact. When an artifact is collected by a Hero, there is a window displaying a paragraph of flavor text. For Armageddon’s Blade, the text is... “Deep beneath the earth, you find a vault of the Ancients from before the Silence. Inside you find a sealed casket, deeply etched with dire warnings. Ignoring them, you break the seal. Inside, you find Armageddon`s Blade.” How would I resolve all of this? I would say, Armageddon’s Blade was built by Kazandar for Xeron to use in the war between Lucifer and Catherine. This does not exclude other constructions of the same recipe from existing elsewhere. Regarding deep lore, unless there is evidence to the contrary, I would say Armageddon’s Blade was an angelic weapon (note the golden bird on the hilt), forged from demonic weapons, used primarily to exterminate the Kreegans. Knowing this, the Kreegans attempted use of the blade in the campaign is rather ironic.
• 如果我理解正确的话，“文本”似乎导致了连续性问题。在介绍影片、起源战役和单人地图中都有提及末日之刃。在战役中，末日之刃被认为是一类寂静时代之前的可怕武器，有个“武器配方”，且任何人都可以用所需的部件铸造它。一个明显的类比是核弹。只要有资源和知识，任何人都可以制造核弹。就战役而言，塞尔伦（Xeron，译注：地狱英雄）拥有资源，卡伦达拥有知识。在介绍影片和单人地图的情况下，末日之刃被呈现为一件神器。当英雄收集到一个部件时，会有一个窗口显示一段风格文本。末日之刃的提示文字是“在地底的最深处，你发现了一幢历史久远的建筑物，里面放着一个诡异的盒子。你毫不犹豫的挥刀斩断了封印，得到了末日之刃。”。这该如何解释？我想说，末日之刃是卡伦达为塞尔伦制造的，用于路西法克林根和凯瑟琳之间的战争。这并不排除其他地方也有相同配方的其他部件。关于背后的设定，除非有相反的证据，我认为末日之刃是一种天使武器(注意剑柄上的金色鸟)，由恶魔武器锻造而成，主要用于消灭克里根人。要是知道了这一点，克里根人在战役中尝试使用这把剑是相当讽刺的。

• Near the end of the Armageddon’s Blade campaign, Gelu has a dream that involves him uniting Antagarich, doing so with the help of a blade (presumed to be the eponymous sword) and a mysterious steel-haired woman. Who was the woman?
• 在末日之刃战役接近尾声时，格鲁做了一个梦，在一把剑（被认为是同名剑）和一个神秘的短发女人的帮助下，他将恩塔格瑞大陆联合起来。那个女人是谁？
• Marcus Pregent was responsible for putting together the fine details of the Armageddon’s Blade Campaign. If I remember correctly, he was simply laying the groundwork for potential storylines he was hoping to develop in later expansions. Officially, there were no plans for the ‘steel-haired woman’.
• Marcus Pregent负责整理末日之刃战役的细节。如果我没记错的话，他只是在为他希望在以后的扩展中发展的潜在的故事情节奠定基础。官方并没有为这个“短发女人”制定计划。

• Also, Gelu’s dream is revealed to be prophetic, as one possible course of events. The other being that a great destruction befalls the worlds if Gelu’s destiny is disrupted. Was the Reckoning (the destruction of the world depicted in HoMM4) planned way back then, or was it just a potential story branch you guys considered, and the team decided to make it happen later?
• 同时，格鲁的梦被揭示为预言，作为一种可能的事件进程。另一种是，如果格鲁的命运被打乱，世界将遭受巨大的毁灭。大清算(英雄无敌4中描述的毁灭世界)是早在那时就计划好了，还是它只是你们考虑过的一个潜在的故事分支，而团队决定稍后再做?
• Again, this was Marcus laying the groundwork for potential storylines in later expansions. At the time, this ‘story hook’ was unrelated to HoMM4. Lore work for HoMM4, and the idea for ‘the Reckoning’, did not begin until long after I had left NWC.
• 同样，这是Marcus Pregent为以后扩展的潜在故事线奠定的基础。当时，这种“故事挂钩”与英雄无敌4无关。英雄无敌4的故事工作和“大清算”的想法是在我离开NWC很久之后才出现的。