This page serves as the main FAQ area regarding the Bane of The Talebearer project. More answers will be added over time, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will add them here.
What is this project?
The most asked question I get regarding ‘Bane Of The Talebearer’ is what it is…. And that is hard to explain quickly. But let me try.
Bane of The Talebearer is a multi-media project that celebrates my love for three things:
– Japanese-based RPG videogames (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Secret of Mana, Terranigma, Zelda Link To the Past etc)
– Creating epic adventurous music that spans many genres (From metal to classical to jazzy to ambient and back)
– Story telling that combines humor with drama through voice acting
This project brings these disciplines together in one multimedia project. And right now, we are working on:
– An album + Artbook. This is a 74 song soundtrack detailing the story of this project which will include an artbook with descriptions and the storyline laid out to explain what every song represents.
– An audiodrama / podcast that tells the story from start to finish in episode format featuring the earlier mentioned music, sound fx and voice acting, telling the story start to finish in seasonal episodic format.
And my plan is to (hopefully) have this lead to a full fledged RPG videogame in the end!
I also made two videos talking about the project which you can find here:
So what is the story about?
Bane of The Talebearer is an epic fantasy based story that details the adventures of 4 unlikely heroes that join forces to save the lands of Rezalah from the dark clutches of The Brotherhood of Erafta and their plans for total world domination through superior magical firepower.
Our four main characters are all from different races and backgrounds who find eachother through (what seems to be) sheer luck, but end up being connected in ways that are not directly obvious. We have Leo, the Lyonere rogue outcast who is constantly on the run from his past. He carries a magical artifact known as the storybook which ties him to the balance of magic and the fate of the world. Next we have Arán, a seemingly fragile young orc boy who is trying to find his purpose and inner strength through studying healing magic. Third we have Errin, an elven huntress with a fiery temperament, who mostly travels to hunt and find things to entertain herself with. And finally we have Revon, a flamboyant magician from the mysterious Unaheh water tribe who travels the world to entertain whoever wants to be entertained with their magic shows.
It is a story that touches upon universal themes like friendship, comradery and the places we were born and raised in. But also covers topics like finding the home where we belong, willingness to fight for what is right, the burdens of tradition and finding your own voice and inner strength when overwhelming odds are stacked up against you.
Above all, this is a story about overcoming adversity. Proving that often, the characters who don’t fit “the mold” can bring about the biggest change.
But uh… Where is that videogame then?
Well … it doesn’t exist yet! And that’s exactly why I started making all of this stuff!
…Okay, allow me to explain.
I have always been a fan of RPG games and especially jRPGs. Epic storylines about unlikely groups of heroes coming together to save the world from evil have always had a massive attraction to me. As a child of the 90s, I was a huge fan of games like Terranigma, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy etc.
For me RPGs were everything and if you asked my younger me what he wanted to be, he would answer one thing:
“I want to be an rpg videogame designer”
Mini-Tom up until age 14
I tried to pursue this dream as a child up until my 14th year. It was then that I got bitten by the music bug and realized that, that was a creative world I could put my emotions, thoughts and expressions into in full effect.
What followed is a music career with multiple solo records under the name of TDW, tenures in multiple bands out of which Dreamwalkers Inc is my most recent one and becoming a studio owner and a labelboss. Basically I went into music with full dedication and it’s a life I love to live dearly.
But still, all those years, my love for videogames never went away and I kept playing on many consoles and lived many adventures from the comfort of my couch. I knew I chose music, but there was always that itch to do SOMETHING with my love for videogames. However, I didn’t know how to program, I didn’t know anyone in the industry, I didn’t know ANYTHING about it… But I did know how to write stories and make music! So in 2021, I decided to make the jump and started writing the storyline & characters that form the foundation of this project.
What followed was a game script for a complete videogame. We are talking detailed backstories, descriptions of tribes living in the world, a world map, character motivations and so much more. Basically making an entire world ready to go for a game or any other format on paper.
And instead of focusing what I couldn’t do, I decided to focus on what I could.
So I started writing music for this game that took place in my head and composed the soundtrack album that we are working on now. This album is now being produced and a lot of great musicians are already contributing to this project, which makes it cooler with every step!
This has led to the project expanding further and now also becoming a full fledged podcast / audio drama featuring many voice actors bringing this story to life. The planning is to release this podcast/audio drama in the course of 2025.
So, even if this videogame will never be made, there will be an album with an art book and a podcast/audiodrama telling this story and I am already beyond excited to see that all come to fruition!
