It’s not an understatement to say that the 2017 top-down medieval adventure video game 9th Dawn (a.k.a. 9th Dawn: Classic – Clunky Controls Edition) is a cult game. Try googling it; I dare you.
But people who loved that game are in for a treat as it’s not only getting an updated edition this week called 9th Dawn: Remake, it’s also getting a prequel novel called 9th Dawn: The Book Of Nameless, which is available as a PDF in a bundle with the game, and will be released individually as an eBook later this year, and as a limited edition print edition in 2025.
In the following email interview, The Book Of Nameless author L.R. Gaunt discusses what inspired and influenced this prequel novel, while discusses how exactly it connects to the new version of the game.
To start, what is 9th Dawn: The Book Of Nameless about, and what kind of a world is it set in?
The Book Of Nameless takes place in the kingdom of Montelorne, which was first established in 9th Dawn, an old school role-playing game, with classic heroic fantasy elements and magical creatures, some that players will recognize from the fantasy canon, and others which have been created for the game. With The Book Of Nameless, our goal was to expand on the existing 9th Dawn universe with a new story set 100 years before the events of the upcoming game 9th Dawn: Remake.
The Book Of Nameless takes place during a time of civil war, where the lords of Montelorne have begun feuding and rebelling against the current monarch, King Maltyr. It follows the fortunes of two friends, Fen Greenbelt and Rena the Teamaster, who are members of King Maltyr’s royal guard, the Guild of Valor. The story begins as Fen and Rena return from a mission to retrieve an object of immense magical power, and deliver it to the king. However, following this mission, a series of grave events begin to unfold throughout the kingdom, such as monster attacks, mystery illnesses, and a mysterious threat to King Maltyr’s life.
Fen and Rena must race against time to uncover the truth, and defeat the sinister forces that seek to seize control of the realm.
And can you expand a little on how The Book Of Nameless connects to the video game 9th Dawn?
In some ways, The Book Of Nameless sets up some of the conflict and characters that take place in 9th Dawn: Remake, but it was important for us to make sure that both the book and the game can be enjoyed as stand-alone bits of media. We understand that not all gamers are big fantasy readers, and vice versa, so the book was intended to compliment the game and expand on the lore, if that’s something that the players would be interested in.
Similarly, it was important to us that the book would still be accessible and enjoyable to people who have never played the 9th Dawn games, but are fans of heroic fantasy novels and enjoy a good monster battle. There’s a definite link between the book and the game, and we’d love for people to explore every part of the 9th Dawn universe, but readers can still enjoy The Book Of Nameless with no prior knowledge required.
As you said, The Book Of Nameless is being released to coincide with 9th Dawn: Remake, which is an updated version of 2012’s 9th Dawn: Classic. But is Nameless specifically tied to Remake or does it connect to both versions of the game?
I’d say that The Book Of Nameless is probably more closely tied to the events of 9th Dawn: Remake. Having spoken to the creator of the 9th Dawn series, I know that a big driver behind remaking the first game was to expand much more on the original plot and tie the first instalment in more closely to the rest of the series.
My understanding is that 9th Dawn: Classic was a project that had a lot of passion behind it, but faced limitations in terms of resource and at the time, was thought of as more of a one-shot game, rather than the foundation for an entire fantasy universe. But as time’s gone on, the series has grown and had a lot of success, so I hope that the decision to revisit the original game and expand on the lore with the novel will provide some good experiences for both players and readers alike.
So, whose idea was it to write a prequel to 9th Dawn: Remake, as opposed to a story that takes place at the same time or later?
I was approached by the creator of the 9th Dawn game series, who already had the idea for a prequel in mind. The team at Valorware were hard at work on 9th Dawn: Remake, so my understanding was that they were looking for creative ways to expand the world a little more and set up the events of the new game at the same time. As someone who’s always been a fan of multimedia franchises, (especially the Hellraiser universe, which spans books, comics, films, and video games) I was very excited to be involved.
What was it about writing a prequel to 9th Dawn that not only interested you in writing it, but also made you think you’d be a good person to write it?
So, I was approached by the game creator to be a part of the project due to my fiction writing background, but I was very clear that the fantasy genre would be pretty new territory for me. However, he felt that it could be a great opportunity to create a unique and different take on the genre, which wasn’t too reliant on existing tropes.
We spoke about it a bit more, and I shared some examples of my work, and because we were both really excited about the project and each had plenty of ideas to contribute, it just took off from there.
I’m really grateful to have been trusted with a fictional universe which is pretty much someone else’s baby, and I really hope that I’ve done it justice. I think it helped that the collaboration was really strong between everybody involved, but I was also given a great amount of free rein with the story. It’s honestly been an amazing experience all round, and I’m so happy to have had the opportunity to work on the book.
And then where did you get the idea for the story in The Book Of Nameless?
When it came to plotting out the story, the game creator and I sat down and fleshed out his initial ideas into the bare bones of the plot, as well as a loose chapter structure. The core ideas were all existing plans that he had for the 9th Dawn universe, but once we had the rough outline, I was given a lot of creative license to add secondary storylines and populate the book with new characters. As long as we hit the core plot points that we’d agreed, I was encouraged to get pretty creative with it, which was nice.
This did mean that what started out as a plan for a 90-page novella soon evolved into a 200-page fantasy novel, but thankfully everyone seems to be pleased with the final product.
How familiar were you with 9th Dawn before you started writing The Book Of Nameless?
The creator of 9th Dawn and I have actually known one another for a long time, but really got to be friends while we were a part of the same D&D party. I hadn’t been aware of the 9th Dawn series before then, as truth be told, I’m not a big gamer. However, when I played 9th Dawn III: Shadow Of Erthil, I was blown away, and it was my first introduction to just how innovative and expertly-made a lot of modern indie games are.
And how do you think being familiar with the series, but not the first game, influenced both what you wrote in The Book Of Nameless and how you wrote it?
I did ask the creator if I should go back and play all of the existing games as part of my research for the novel, but we agreed that it might end up influencing the writing of the book too much. With it being a prequel, I think I didn’t want to fall into the trap of trying to cram in too many existing characters and foreshadowing for later events, at the expense of the novel’s storyline. We’ve made sure to include some little Easter eggs for fans of the game, but didn’t want to beat readers over the head with them, or make it inaccessible to people who perhaps weren’t very familiar with the game.
Thankfully, now the book’s complete and the 9th Dawn: Remake release is coming up, I can go back and play the games from the beginning.
9th Dawn is an medieval fantasy game. Is The Book Of Nameless a medieval fantasy story, or is it something else?
We’ve definitely tried to make sure that The Book Of Nameless has stayed true to the medieval fantasy genre of the games, as that seems to be one of the things that players really love about the 9th Dawn series. We’ve drawn on a few characteristics of medieval fantasy within the plot, such as struggles for the crown and politics of the court, as well as some good old-fashioned swords and sorcery scenes as well. We hope there will be plenty for fans of medieval fantasy to enjoy in the novel.
So, what writers do you think had the biggest influence on how you wrote The Book Of Nameless?
That’s a great question, but a tricky one. I think because we wanted to make sure The Book Of Nameless could be enjoyed by a young audience as well (probably around 12+, due to the fighting), I think I probably drew inspiration from a lot of the fantasy books that I enjoyed at that age. There are probably plenty that I could cite as influences, but I’d say The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell was a huge influence on me as a young reader, as well as The Saga Of Darren Shan. I really admired the way these writers could portray dark subject matter for young readers without patronizing them, and build worlds that were so compelling to read.
The Book Of Nameless would probably fall more into the YA category than these two series, but I’d honestly say they had a massive influence on me as a reader, and a writer, and were a great introduction into the fantasy genre.
How about non-literary influences; do you think The Book Of Nameless was influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games? Aside from 9th Dawn, of course.
Probably too many to list, if I’m honest. I think there are a lot of different pieces of media that have influenced how I write, but might not seem to have any obvious impact on the novel. But one of the things that certainly did would be my time as a D&D player, and previous campaigns that I’ve been a part of. I really love the interactivity of tabletop role-playing games, and think that games like D&D can help a great deal when it comes to things like characterization in fantasy writing. You get a lot of experience in thinking how your character would respond to certain situations, and it’s normally very at odds with how a lot of us would.
For the courtly power struggles within the book, I’d say I was certainly influenced by Game Of Thrones, as well as the 2019 historical drama, The King, which I think both have some of the best political back-stabbing ever put to film.
Fantasy novel are sometimes stand-alone stories, and sometimes the beginning of larger sagas. What is The Book Of Nameless? Is it the first book in a series or a stand-alone story? Because there are two other 9th Dawngames…
There’s definitely potential for more books in the series, although there aren’t any concrete plans just yet. I’d love to turn the current novel into a series and continue the story with the new characters that have been introduced. The Book Of Namelesstakes place 100 years before the events of 9th Dawn: Remake, so I’d say there are plenty of stories left to tell in that time.
So, is there anything else you think people need to know about The Book Of Nameless?
I think the main thing I’d like to express is that readers don’t need any existing knowledge of the 9th Dawn series to enjoy The Book Of Nameless. It was really important to us that the book be accessible to everyone, and we’re excited to finally be able to release alongside 9th Dawn: Remake.
Finally, if someone enjoys The Book Of Nameless, what medieval fantasy novel or novella of someone else’s would you suggest they check out next?
As I mentioned, I’m still a bit of a newcomer to the fantasy genre, so I think a lot of people would have already read my recommendations.
For younger readers, I’d definitely recommend The Edge Chronicles (or anyone of any age, really — I think they’re great), and the Howl’s Castle series by Diana Wynne Jones, which I think has a really lovely “found family” theme throughout.
I also really enjoyed The Left Hand Of Darkness, and The Birthday Of The World And Other Stories by Ursula K. Le Guin. I know these are more sci-fi, but I think there are certain fantasy elements to be found too, so they might be of interest to your readers.
