Stonekeep
Encyclopedia
Stonekeep is a 1995
computer role-playing game for DOS
by Interplay Entertainment
. It is a first-person dungeon adventure with pre-rendered
environments and live-action cinematic sequences. Five years in production, Stonekeep was ranked #6 in Gamespot
's top ten vaporware
hall of shame. Stonekeep was later released by Good Old Games for Windows XP
and Windows Vista
, made available for purchase through Good Old Games's digital distribution
system. In January 2010 it was announced that a new game based on the original is in development for WiiWare
by Alpine Studios.
(Mercury
), Aquila
(Venus
), Thera (Earth
), Azrael
(Mars
), Marif (Jupiter
), Afri (Saturn
), Saffrini (Uranus
), Yoth-Soggoth
(Neptune
) the Master of Magick, and Kor-Soggoth (Pluto
) the Brother to Magick.
Stonekeep is centered on a hero, Drake. During the Devastation of the world by the insane god Khull-Khuum, the Shadowking, Drake the boy was saved from his castle
by a mysterious figure. Years later, Drake returned to the ruins of Stonekeep and the goddess Thera sends his spirit
out of his body into the ruins itself to explore, reclaim the land, and defeat Khull-Khuum.
Along the way, Drake makes many friends, including Farli, Karzak, and Dombur the dwarves; the great dragon Vermatrix; the elf Enigma; and the mysterious Wahooka, the King of goblins. He also rids the world of Khull-Khuum's evil minions and allies such as the sorceress Ice Queen.
Drake has two starting possessions to aid him: The magic scroll and the magic mirror.
The magic scroll allows the player to pick up an infinite number of items. Items of the same type can be combined together up to a maximum quantity of 99. Other items can be combined together such as a quiver which can hold 99 arrows.
The magic mirror allows the player to equip Drake and other characters with weapons, armour and accessories and to consume items to affect their status such as healing potions or bad smelling Throg food otherwise Drake can read scrolls used on him. Although Drake can wield any weapon, other characters like Farli and Karzak can only wield hammers, axes and shields. Certain weapons like polearms and heavy swords require Drake to have two free hands to wield one. Certain armour can be worn by certain characters. For instance only dwarves can wear dwarven platemail and only Drake can wear knight armour. Exceptional characters like Sparkle and Wahooka cannot be outfitted, but can still consume items.
The third possession is the journal available once the player procures it. The journal is divided into six sections. The first section of the journal records the statistics of Drake, shows the status of his current equipped weapons and describes the characteristics of his partners. Drake statistics are strength, agility, health and his weaponry skills including polearm, sword, magick, missiles and others. The second section of the journal records any clues and hints the player may come across. The third section of the journal is used for writing notes. The fourth section of the journal records items each time the player picks up a new type. The fifth section of the journal records runes each time the player comes across a new one. Unlike the items section, the runes do not have their own respective name recorded. The sixth section of the journal records the level maps that the players journeys through. Spots on the map can be clicked and notes referring to them can be written.
Stonekeep features an elaborate 'Magick' system where four types of runes are inscribed onto a spellcaster
: Mannish, Fae, Throggish, and Meta. The first three runes are used for offensive, defensive and special interaction purposes. The Meta runes enhance the effectiveness of the base runes, like double power multiplies a single firebolt in two. To use a spellcaster, it must contain adequate mana and runes must inscribed onto the shaft of the spellcaster. To inscribe runes on the spellcaster, the player needs to equip the spellcaster on either one of Drake's hands, open the journal onto the Runes section, take out the spellcaster and copy the runes onto the spell slots of the spellcaster. Then the runecaster can be taken out at any time and the spell that can be used has the spell slot highlighted and lauched on the indicated target point. Using the magic mirror, some spells can be aimed on the characters especially healing and quickness spells.
and Michael Quarles. It was intended to last only nine months and only supposed to cost $50K. However, because the initial stages of the game looked good it exceeded nine months, lasting a total of five years. Eventually there was a production crew of over 200 people, and costing a total of $5 million.
The initial story line was written by Oliphant, who also designed and programmed the graphics and artificial intelligence
engine for the game. The project started out being called Brian's Dungeon (named after Brian Fargo
, the president of Interplay Entertainment at the time). Fargo came up with the final name, Stonekeep. The production took much longer than expected because of the rapid advancement of personal computer
hardware
at the time; specifically, PC CPUs advancing from 80386, to 80486, to Pentiums in the years the game was being developed.
Oliphant, who originally designed the game and was lead programmer, left the game as the project passed its fourth year in development. He felt his continued presence was resulting in the constant addition of feature creep and changes (he was a contractor, and had initially only signed up for a nine-month project). After he left, the design became finalized and the product was shipped one year later. Michael Quarles, who was an Interplay employee, stayed as the game's producer and saw it through to the end.
The initial specification for the game included that it could not require a hard drive or a mouse, run on a 80286 CPU, use 640K, and run off floppy disk
s. At the project's end, the game had been upgraded to requiring a mouse, a hard drive, a 386 CPU, and ran off CD-ROM
. As a result, the engine had to be extensively modified throughout the production.
The initial motions of the monsters in the game were captured by using a blue screen outside with the sunlight. This resulted in uneven lighting from take to take, so eventually all that work was scrapped. Later a professional studio with controlled lighting was used.
According to Peter Oliphant, when the project was taken over by Michael Quarles, two questionable decisions were made. The game was always designed to be grid-based, where the player moved from grid to grid (in contrast to today's full freedom of motion 3D
environments). Peter Oliphant wanted the movement from center of grid to center of grid, but Michael Quarles changed this to edge of grid to edge of grid. This resulted in the problem that turning within a grid moved the player to the other side of the grid. Much of the long production was a result of correcting this lack of symmetry. The other questionable decision was to not include Peter Oliphant in the production of the motion graphics (Oliphant had extensive Hollywood background before becoming a game developer). One consequence was that the original combat graphics had been captured from the waist up only, as Michael Quarles had reasoned one must be close to a monster to fight it. Peter Oliphant, upon being delivered these graphics and seeing them for the first time, pointed out that the player could back away during a fight, which would result in seeing their legs. The legs therefore had to be drawn in by hand frame-by-frame to fix this, until these graphics were scrapped for a professional green screen
treatment used later on.
The movie at the beginning is the most expensive part of the production, costing nearly half a million dollars to produce. It is interesting to note this amount is 10 times more than the initial budget for the entire project.
About three years into the project, Peter Oliphant suggested to Brian Fargo that the product be delivered on CD-ROM. Fargo rejected this idea at the time, citing the failure of previous Interplay CD-ROM projects that had gone this route. Oliphant suggested this after Fargo requested him to drop his percentage of royalties
by half due to the high cost of production and goods to create the product, as it was at that time to be shipped on 8 floppy disks. The cost of one CD was about the cost of one floppy disk, and the possibilities for eight floppy disks having problems is much greater than a single CD, so the solution seemed obvious to Oliphant. And, in fact, six months later Fargo changed his mind and made the same decision.
The original skeleton in the game was an actual skeleton being worn by one of the artists, and was filmed against a green screen. Because of this there were no images/animations of the skeleton walking away from the player during game play. A few months before the game's release the skeleton was replaced with the 3D model which was used on the packaging.
). The Adrenaline Vault praised the game, stating, "This game was by far, IMHO, the best game of 1995 in it’s genre and is still an awesome game to play. You’re guaranteed to spend hours upon hours on this game and never tire of it’s thrill!" GameSpot
did not offer similar praises, concluding that "Stonekeep is a dated first-person RPG that suffers from a poor interface, little depth, and few frills."
and David Pulver. It was also translated into German. According to personal communication (via e-mail), David Pulver did the main work of the novel, for which both authors were hired. All rights of the novel went to Interplay.
The CD-ROM also included a file called "muffins.txt" which contained a recipe for Tim Cain's Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins.
A novel called The Oath of Stonekeep, which takes place in the world of Stonekeep, was written by Troy Denning
and published 1999 by Berkley Boulevard Books. Interplay's own Black Isle Studios
worked on a sequel
called Stonekeep 2: Godmaker for five years before cancelling it in 2001.
1995 in video gaming
-Events:*May 11 – Introduction of trade magazine GameWeek *May 11-16 — The 1st annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is held in Los Angeles, California...
computer role-playing game for DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
by Interplay Entertainment
Interplay Entertainment
Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed...
. It is a first-person dungeon adventure with pre-rendered
Pre-rendered
Pre-rendering is the process in which video footage is not rendered in real-time by the hardware that is outputing or playing back the video. Instead, the video is a recording of a footage that was previously rendered on a different equipment...
environments and live-action cinematic sequences. Five years in production, Stonekeep was ranked #6 in Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
's top ten vaporware
Vaporware
Vaporware is a term in the computer industry that describes a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually released nor officially canceled. Vaporware is also a term sometimes used to describe events that are announced or predicted,...
hall of shame. Stonekeep was later released by Good Old Games for Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
and Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
, made available for purchase through Good Old Games's digital distribution
Digital distribution
Online distribution, digital distribution, or electronic software distribution is the practice of delivering content without the use of physical media, typically by downloading via the internet directly to a consumer's device. Online distribution bypasses conventional physical distribution media,...
system. In January 2010 it was announced that a new game based on the original is in development for WiiWare
WiiWare
WiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section...
by Alpine Studios.
Story
Stonekeeps mythology revolves around a variety of gods associated with planets of the solar system. In order, they are HelionHelion
Helion may refer to:*Helion , helium nucleus*Helion *Hélion de Villeneuve , medieval knight*Jean Hélion , French painter*Helion Lodge*Helion, character in John C. Wright's trilogy The Golden Age...
(Mercury
Mercury (planet)
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
), Aquila
Aquila (constellation)
Aquila is a stellar constellation. Its name is Latin for 'eagle' and it is commonly represented as such. In mythology, Aquila was owned by the Roman god Jupiter and performed many tasks for him....
(Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
), Thera (Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
), Azrael
Azrael
Azrael is the name of the Archangel of Death in some extrabiblical traditions. He is also the angel of death in Islamic theology and Sikhism. It is an English form of the Arabic name ʿIzrāʾīl or Azra'eil , the name traditionally attributed to the angel of death in some sects of Islam and Sikhism,...
(Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
), Marif (Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
), Afri (Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
), Saffrini (Uranus
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus , the father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus...
), Yoth-Soggoth
Yog-Sothoth
Yog-Sothoth is a cosmic entity of the fictional Cthulhu Mythos and the Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft. Yog-Sothoth's name was first mentioned in his novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward...
(Neptune
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times...
) the Master of Magick, and Kor-Soggoth (Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
) the Brother to Magick.
Stonekeep is centered on a hero, Drake. During the Devastation of the world by the insane god Khull-Khuum, the Shadowking, Drake the boy was saved from his castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
by a mysterious figure. Years later, Drake returned to the ruins of Stonekeep and the goddess Thera sends his spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
out of his body into the ruins itself to explore, reclaim the land, and defeat Khull-Khuum.
Along the way, Drake makes many friends, including Farli, Karzak, and Dombur the dwarves; the great dragon Vermatrix; the elf Enigma; and the mysterious Wahooka, the King of goblins. He also rids the world of Khull-Khuum's evil minions and allies such as the sorceress Ice Queen.
Gameplay
Stonekeep is a first-person RPG in the style of Eye of the Beholder and Dungeon Master. The game is set in a series of underground labyrinths, filled with monsters, treasures and traps. The player uses the directional keys on the keyboard for movement and typing in notes in the journal and uses the mouse pointer to interact with objects and characters. The mouse pointer is usually a target indicator for aiming attacks and weapons wherever it is clicked. When the mouse pointer is moved onto a particular something it changes to another icon to indicate a different action. For example the mouse pointer changes to an eye when the player can examine things (often signs) or the mouse pointer changes into a spread-out hand when the player can pick up items. Other mouse pointers include opening and closing chests, opening and closing panels, pulling levers and switches, pressing buttons, drinking water and giving items.Drake has two starting possessions to aid him: The magic scroll and the magic mirror.
The magic scroll allows the player to pick up an infinite number of items. Items of the same type can be combined together up to a maximum quantity of 99. Other items can be combined together such as a quiver which can hold 99 arrows.
The magic mirror allows the player to equip Drake and other characters with weapons, armour and accessories and to consume items to affect their status such as healing potions or bad smelling Throg food otherwise Drake can read scrolls used on him. Although Drake can wield any weapon, other characters like Farli and Karzak can only wield hammers, axes and shields. Certain weapons like polearms and heavy swords require Drake to have two free hands to wield one. Certain armour can be worn by certain characters. For instance only dwarves can wear dwarven platemail and only Drake can wear knight armour. Exceptional characters like Sparkle and Wahooka cannot be outfitted, but can still consume items.
The third possession is the journal available once the player procures it. The journal is divided into six sections. The first section of the journal records the statistics of Drake, shows the status of his current equipped weapons and describes the characteristics of his partners. Drake statistics are strength, agility, health and his weaponry skills including polearm, sword, magick, missiles and others. The second section of the journal records any clues and hints the player may come across. The third section of the journal is used for writing notes. The fourth section of the journal records items each time the player picks up a new type. The fifth section of the journal records runes each time the player comes across a new one. Unlike the items section, the runes do not have their own respective name recorded. The sixth section of the journal records the level maps that the players journeys through. Spots on the map can be clicked and notes referring to them can be written.
Stonekeep features an elaborate 'Magick' system where four types of runes are inscribed onto a spellcaster
Spellcaster
A spellcaster in role-playing games refers to a creature capable of casting magic spells.See also:*Mage *Magician , a practitioner of magic as portrayed in works of fiction...
: Mannish, Fae, Throggish, and Meta. The first three runes are used for offensive, defensive and special interaction purposes. The Meta runes enhance the effectiveness of the base runes, like double power multiplies a single firebolt in two. To use a spellcaster, it must contain adequate mana and runes must inscribed onto the shaft of the spellcaster. To inscribe runes on the spellcaster, the player needs to equip the spellcaster on either one of Drake's hands, open the journal onto the Runes section, take out the spellcaster and copy the runes onto the spell slots of the spellcaster. Then the runecaster can be taken out at any time and the spell that can be used has the spell slot highlighted and lauched on the indicated target point. Using the magic mirror, some spells can be aimed on the characters especially healing and quickness spells.
Development
The project started out with just two people, Peter OliphantPeter Oliphant
Peter Oliphant is an American actor best known for playing Freddie Helper on The Dick Van Dyke Show. He is currently a computer game designer, programmer and producer. Some computer games he has worked on include Stonekeep and Lexi-Cross....
and Michael Quarles. It was intended to last only nine months and only supposed to cost $50K. However, because the initial stages of the game looked good it exceeded nine months, lasting a total of five years. Eventually there was a production crew of over 200 people, and costing a total of $5 million.
The initial story line was written by Oliphant, who also designed and programmed the graphics and artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
engine for the game. The project started out being called Brian's Dungeon (named after Brian Fargo
Brian Fargo
Brian Fargo is an American video game designer, developer, producer and executive probably best known for his company Interplay Entertainment.-Career Overview:...
, the president of Interplay Entertainment at the time). Fargo came up with the final name, Stonekeep. The production took much longer than expected because of the rapid advancement of personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
at the time; specifically, PC CPUs advancing from 80386, to 80486, to Pentiums in the years the game was being developed.
Oliphant, who originally designed the game and was lead programmer, left the game as the project passed its fourth year in development. He felt his continued presence was resulting in the constant addition of feature creep and changes (he was a contractor, and had initially only signed up for a nine-month project). After he left, the design became finalized and the product was shipped one year later. Michael Quarles, who was an Interplay employee, stayed as the game's producer and saw it through to the end.
The initial specification for the game included that it could not require a hard drive or a mouse, run on a 80286 CPU, use 640K, and run off floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
s. At the project's end, the game had been upgraded to requiring a mouse, a hard drive, a 386 CPU, and ran off CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
. As a result, the engine had to be extensively modified throughout the production.
The initial motions of the monsters in the game were captured by using a blue screen outside with the sunlight. This resulted in uneven lighting from take to take, so eventually all that work was scrapped. Later a professional studio with controlled lighting was used.
According to Peter Oliphant, when the project was taken over by Michael Quarles, two questionable decisions were made. The game was always designed to be grid-based, where the player moved from grid to grid (in contrast to today's full freedom of motion 3D
Three-dimensional space
Three-dimensional space is a geometric 3-parameters model of the physical universe in which we live. These three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and depth , although any three directions can be chosen, provided that they do not lie in the same plane.In physics and mathematics, a...
environments). Peter Oliphant wanted the movement from center of grid to center of grid, but Michael Quarles changed this to edge of grid to edge of grid. This resulted in the problem that turning within a grid moved the player to the other side of the grid. Much of the long production was a result of correcting this lack of symmetry. The other questionable decision was to not include Peter Oliphant in the production of the motion graphics (Oliphant had extensive Hollywood background before becoming a game developer). One consequence was that the original combat graphics had been captured from the waist up only, as Michael Quarles had reasoned one must be close to a monster to fight it. Peter Oliphant, upon being delivered these graphics and seeing them for the first time, pointed out that the player could back away during a fight, which would result in seeing their legs. The legs therefore had to be drawn in by hand frame-by-frame to fix this, until these graphics were scrapped for a professional green screen
Chroma key
Chroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
treatment used later on.
The movie at the beginning is the most expensive part of the production, costing nearly half a million dollars to produce. It is interesting to note this amount is 10 times more than the initial budget for the entire project.
About three years into the project, Peter Oliphant suggested to Brian Fargo that the product be delivered on CD-ROM. Fargo rejected this idea at the time, citing the failure of previous Interplay CD-ROM projects that had gone this route. Oliphant suggested this after Fargo requested him to drop his percentage of royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
by half due to the high cost of production and goods to create the product, as it was at that time to be shipped on 8 floppy disks. The cost of one CD was about the cost of one floppy disk, and the possibilities for eight floppy disks having problems is much greater than a single CD, so the solution seemed obvious to Oliphant. And, in fact, six months later Fargo changed his mind and made the same decision.
The original skeleton in the game was an actual skeleton being worn by one of the artists, and was filmed against a green screen. Because of this there were no images/animations of the skeleton walking away from the player during game play. A few months before the game's release the skeleton was replaced with the 3D model which was used on the packaging.
Reception
After the game's release, Stonekeep was awarded the Reader's Choice Role Playing Game Of the Year 1996 (Computer Gaming WorldComputer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
). The Adrenaline Vault praised the game, stating, "This game was by far, IMHO, the best game of 1995 in it’s genre and is still an awesome game to play. You’re guaranteed to spend hours upon hours on this game and never tire of it’s thrill!" GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
did not offer similar praises, concluding that "Stonekeep is a dated first-person RPG that suffers from a poor interface, little depth, and few frills."
Packaging and additional material
Stonekeep was packaged in an elaborate gravestone-style illustrated box and came with a white hardback novella, Thera Awakening, coauthored by Steve JacksonSteve Jackson (US)
Steve Jackson is an American game designer. After working for many years at Metagaming Concepts designing such games as Ogre and The Fantasy Trip, he left to found Steve Jackson Games in the early 1980s...
and David Pulver. It was also translated into German. According to personal communication (via e-mail), David Pulver did the main work of the novel, for which both authors were hired. All rights of the novel went to Interplay.
The CD-ROM also included a file called "muffins.txt" which contained a recipe for Tim Cain's Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins.
A novel called The Oath of Stonekeep, which takes place in the world of Stonekeep, was written by Troy Denning
Troy Denning
Troy Denning is a fantasy and science fiction author and game designer.-Career:Denning joined TSR as a game designer in 1981, and was promoted a year later to Manager of Designers, before he moved to the book department...
and published 1999 by Berkley Boulevard Books. Interplay's own Black Isle Studios
Black Isle Studios
Black Isle Studios was a division of the computer and video game developer and publisher Interplay Entertainment. Black Isle Studios was a division that developed computer role-playing games, and also published several games from other developers. It was based in Orange County, California, USA. The...
worked on a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
called Stonekeep 2: Godmaker for five years before cancelling it in 2001.