Ted Peterson, True Gentleman Appreciation Thread

[Twinfalls]

So Ted Peterson seems to have been finally booted out of TES completely. Here's his comment on the TES boards just recently. Note how he stays poetic to the end..

(Adventurous Putty @ Jun 17 2008, 01:27 PM)
And besides, MK's alter ego is Vehk; Tedder's alter egos are a bunch of nerdy authors. Should the argument get physical, they wouldn't stand a chance.

To nerdy authorship from Madness’s Summit,
I’ve fallen shivering, down and down I plummet,
Dropping lower and lower each night and day,
Merely look to the Hunt and nest of corvus corvidae
And you’ll hear the last of the Dam Dog’s moans
As the abyss becomes one of thorns and bones
From God to scribe to naught but a fading breeze
To the house of the scrolls someone else has the keyes.

The 'keyes' right at the end is a reference to Greg Keyes, who has been given the role of writing TES stuff in some form or another, possibly a novel. 'Madness's Summit' is his pet fondness for Sheogorath, whose character Peterson created if I'm not mistaken (I'm no TES scholar-nerd)

For those of you who don't know, Ted Peterson was a lead designer on Daggerfall and wrote for Morrowind, and a book or two for Oblivion. This guy is a true gentleman, if you ever wade through the toxic marshes of the ESF, his interactions with fans are always gracious and generous. He was a writer by trade before joining Bethesda, and it's clear that writing has remained his passion. Yet he is on record as stating that he offered to write a TES novel, but his proposals were rejected by Todd Howard for unstated reasons.

The guy is a damn fine writer. Here are a couple of his works - good, straightforward, entertaining pieces of fantasy with a classical humour and lack of pretension (though he could also get plenty weird when he wanted to):

Dance in Fire
The Argonian Account

(they follow the same character's travails so they're worth reading sequentially)

I am not familiar with Keyes' work. Have any of you read his stuff? He sure knows how to inspire a complete lack of expectation:

Q: What are you currently working on at the moment?

Greg Keyes: Right now I'm trying to figure out what I want to write next. I finished Thorn and Bone and got to thinking, “What now?” I wasn't really sure. I was just approached to write some Elder Scrolls, though, and it's great because my research is to play Oblivion [Elder Scrolls IV]. [Laughs]

Q: Cliffhangers are an integral part of your work, and they're often used to end almost every chapter of your books. How do you avoid having them become a gimmick?

Greg Keyes: I don't know! It's just something I've done in almost all of my books. In fact, I was writing some books on Babylon 5 a couple of years ago. I got about halfway through one of the books and something just didn't feel right about it. I realized, “Wait a minute - I'm not switching chapters between different characters.”

I think I do it because I like that kind of writing myself. You know, you read a chapter about one guy and think, “I don't care about him, I want to know what happened to the other guy!” But then you get attached to the current character, which means you don't want to leave him when his chapter ends and swings back to the first guy.

I would say that a lot of that probably comes more from movies than other literature. I'm heavily influenced by movies. In fact, that question about stereotypes and characters...you look at Ang Lee's early work, where he would take a typical story and put an odd twist into it. I know some people are annoyed by that switching chapters thing, but a lot of the things I watched and read growing up were like that, and I liked it. It's also a way of keeping things fresh for me as well.

Q: Contrary to many entries in the epic fantasy genre, time passes quickly in your books. What led to this technique?

Greg Keyes: Sometimes, a couple of days will occupy a large chunk of the book, and then a month will pass. I think that I like a faster pace. To a larger extent, a lot of things that influenced me growing up moved really quickly. You see that influence in my work, and I just kind of like to move things along, not getting bogged down for too long.

It really does seem like the end of TES as we knew it. Despite the improvements to their gaming formula made by Bethesda in FO3, I can't see TES returning to the works of art they were before Oblivion.

 

[Drakron]

I wonder if we get lucky and get another dose of this situation ...

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=10403

To be honest ... after Oblivion, TES is headed towards "generic fantasy setting nº196653/5", Ted getting out is not a bad thing per say since as long Todd is heading Bethsoft its clear Ted talent will just go to waste.

 

[Shagnak]

"Booted out"? Has he been fired? Or did he leave (possibly due to having had enough)?

As for Keyes, he's a reasonably well known/respected fantasy/sf writer, despite his forays into tie-ins. There are certainly a lot of worse fantasy writers out there.

 

[Helton]

Yeah ship's sinking. Ship's sunk. I honestly don't think I read most of Tedders' stuff, mostly just the metaphysical crap which I think was mostly MK. But word on the street was good and there's a tear-jerker in there somewhere.

How detached from the ES game world can the lore get before it falls into the seperating crevice?

 

[Twinfalls]

"Booted out"? Has he been fired? Or did he leave (possibly due to having had enough)?

He had offered to write TES novels and was rejected. He was also not approached to write any of the Shivering Isles expansion despite his affiliation with Sheogorath, and seemed exasperated by this in his posts. So it seems to be effectively the same...

But if anyone knows more info it would be interesting.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Yet he is on record as stating that he offered to write a TES novel, but his proposals were rejected by Todd Howard for unstated reasons.

Huh...that's weird. Unless he was asking to do it on company time in lieu of his other duties, I can't see why Todd would shoot it down.

It really does seem like the end of TES as we knew it.

I figured the time for that sentiment was either after Morrowind, or after Oblivion. Both made such sweeping changes to the core of The Elder Scrolls series to make it a completely different beast than it's predecessor(s).

Despite the improvements to their gaming formula made by Bethesda in FO3,

Not going to argue there weren't improvements, but I think their formula has been the same from Morrowind on and will probably stay that way. They'll keep making games with shoddy core mechanics and broken character systems and try to compensate with huge quantities of content, shiny graphics, and gimmicks. Or in Morrowind's case, a really well made setting.

I can't see TES returning to the works of art they were before Oblivion.

If you're talking about the rich, well thought-out, detailed, and unique setting of The Elder Scrolls and how it will never return to the level it was at during Morrowind, I can't argue with that. They'll likely crank out more generic fantasy. Ten bucks on Skyrim being the next locale.

He was also not approached to write any of the Shivering Isles expansion despite his affiliation with Sheogorath, and seemed exasperated by this in his posts.

Ouch. That's a low blow right there; having a character you created wrenched out of your control and handled by someone else in a work revolving around that character. Especially considering the awful job they did with Sheogorath in the Shivering Isles. Pretty admirable that he was able to take something like that so well.

 

[Drakron]

Huh...that's weird. Unless he was asking to do it on company time in lieu of his other duties, I can't see why Todd would shoot it down.

Well I guess its a IP thing ... Bethsoft is not a book publisher so I do not even get why he wanted to write TES novels since who was going to publish then? not Bethsoft ...

 

[Longshanks]

Despite the improvements to their gaming formula made by Bethesda in FO3,

Not going to argue there weren't improvements, but I think their formula has been the same from Morrowind on and will probably stay that way. They'll keep making games with shoddy core mechanics and broken character systems and try to compensate with huge quantities of content, shiny graphics, and gimmicks. Or in Morrowind's case, a really well made setting.

Fallout 3 was just further confirmation that they'll not be doing anything but standard Bethesda in the forseeable future. If working on a sequel to games with very different design goals than TES did not see a significant change, I don't know what would.

Anyway, TES has never been my thing. Some guy I've never heard of leaving Bethesda, possibly being sacked, and writing over-wrought poetry as lamentation does not spark any memories of long lost better days for me, it's all just a bit really.

 

[Shagnak]

He had offered to write TES novels and was rejected. He was also not approached to write any of the Shivering Isles expansion despite his affiliation with Sheogorath, and seemed exasperated by this in his posts. So it seems to be effectively the same...

Sorry, I wasn't sure whether he was contracted to do TES stuff or whether he was "permanent" staff at Bethesda (where it wouldn't quite be the same).

Either way, seems a shame. But I have a feeling that Beth have already moved way past artistry, never to return, well before this fellow moved on. The "bang wallop!" of Oblivion and then Fallout 3 (which took it to massive extremes) seem to be their direction these days.

 

[St. Toxic]

(I'm no TES scholar-nerd)

Well, you could've fooled me.

 

[overtenemy]

I thought MK wrote most of Morrowind, not Peterson, and Oblivion making no sense was a direct result of losing MK. It's a shame either way, but be honest, did you actually have any hope that there'd ever be another good ES game? Or even another well-written ES game? I sure as fuck didn't.

 

[Wyrmlord]

I thought Julian Lefay did Daggerfall as a lead.

 

[hakuroshi]

Teddders had leave Bethesda after Daggerfall actually and before Morrowind. His only contribution to Morrowind was to write a lot of books, though he was very interested in the settings development. He was active at ESF long after that but as I have not been there for years now I can not say how he was recently. He did roleplay Sheogorath sometimes and it was hilarious. He is not a genius, but well... he is good in what he does. So the last link to old TES has gone his own way.

Edit: Peterson was Lead Designer for DF. LeFay was the Highest authority over the game - don't remenber how his actual position was called.

 

[Jason]

The guy is a damn fine writer.

Too bad he now makes frightening games for Savage Entertainment.

 

[Twinfalls]

I thought MK wrote most of Morrowind, not Peterson, and Oblivion making no sense was a direct result of losing MK. It's a shame either way, but be honest, did you actually have any hope that there'd ever be another good ES game? Or even another well-written ES game? I sure as fuck didn't.

To be honest, I meant this not so much as a 'zomg what really went down here' thread, but an acknowledgment of a fine individual and his work, which doesn't get mentioned that much on these boards. Especially since he is now well and truly finished contributing TES material, or so it would seem.

The guy is a damn fine writer.

Too bad he now makes frightening games for Savage Entertainment.

Mounted combat!!

That's his day job, but writing TES stuff has been outside of that ever since he left. It's a shame he was knocked back on the offer to write a TES novel, whatever the reasons. I'd have loved to read it.

 

[Jormungandr]

I cannot find this thread you refer to on the ESF. Is it already wiped?

[edit] nm, I was looking under the wrong handle. He has two, at least.

 

[Lim-Lim]

He was also not approached to write any of the Shivering Isles expansion despite his affiliation with Sheogorath.

They propably tought that he wasn't going to stay silent about the assrape that Sheogorath got in Shivering Isles, given his love for the character.

 

[David Xachaturian]

That means the next TES game will be a MMORPG. Games like this do not need good writers, nor conscience.