As questions come up frequently throughout our site we'll try to collect the answers here for your quick reference.

Questions:

  Where do I look for technical Help?

  Where can I get hints and other information?

  Where can I find answers about Chapter updates?

  Did someone say FREE?

  What do I actually get when I buy the Subscription?

  What kind of quality can a downloaded game have?

  What is an Episodic Computer Game Novel?

  Do I have to play all 6 Chapters of Siege?

  What Chapters CAN I play?

  Do I have to play the Chapters in a certain order?

  Do you expect me to pay 5 times to play all of Siege?

  What if I didn't get the first Chapters of Siege right away?

  When is each Chapter of Siege available?

  How big are the Chapters of Siege?

  Is Siege Multi-Player?

  Are all Digital Tome games going to be like Siege?

  What KIND of RPG is Siege?


Q:   What do I actually get when I buy the Subscription?
A:  Download Subscriptions are no longer offered. See our Order page for information on buying the Anthology CD.

Q:   What kind of quality can a downloaded game have?
A:  We believe that our total package is a big  innovation in the quality, value, and real enjoyment possible from games available by download. This is NOT just another cheap little download like the many thousands of games available elsewhere, this is an extremely unique project. We set out to offer all the fun and reward of a large and rich retail CD game environment in a carefully optimized form tuned for online distribution through today's faster connections . The entire 6-Chapter game anthology is also available on CD from HERE. You can also see a "movie trailer" preview of the game HERE.

Most of the bulky size of current CD games tends to be used for large (and expensive) non-essential content, like movie (cinematic) sequences, which we found as players that we tended to watch once then automatically hit "escape" to skip over every subsequent time we ran the game. Hours of download for moments of one-time viewing curiosity seemed an obvious tradeoff for our system. This set the priority for our whole philosophy, "focus on the actual play value, not Hollywood glitz or empty eye-candy."

We believe that  we have achieved our goals rather well with Siege of Avalon. A number of reviewers have measured Siege against some of the bigger and more successful retail CD games, and said that this title stacks up quite nicely by even those comparisons. When you have spent many hours playing just the free  Chapter 1 of Siege and you find yourself getting progressively more involved with the unique and layered story, then we hope you'll agree that we have accomplished something fairly special and worthy of playing through to the grand finale in Chapter 6. Once you complete Siege of Avalon  you may find yourself anxious to see the release of the sequel, Pillars of Avalon.

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Q:   What is an Episodic Computer Game Novel?
A:  Here is that answer in 3 parts:

  1. The best way to fully understand it is to try it. The first Chapter is available free. Grab it and give it a test drive.

  2. Sande has an article for the e-zine that explores this question in some detail, and is an easier read than anything I can offer.

  3. There are 2 radio interviews with Digital Tome's founders that you can listen to here:
  4. Visit the GPF site

    Click to hear Real Audio of interview
    Interview #1, August 2000
    Before release of Chapter 2

    Click to visit interview site
    Interview #2, July 2001
    The completion of Chapter 6

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Q:   Do I have to play all 6 Chapters of Siege?
A:  No. Siege has 3 "Key" chapters that tell the main story and solve the big quests. These are Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and the Grand Finale Chapter 6. The other 3 chapters are "Expansions"  that allow you to delve even further into the lore, land, local flavors, and adventure (ran out of "L" words).

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Q: What Chapters CAN I play?
A: All of them. You are not restricted by your Character Class, or any other selection.  The "Expansion" Chapters are enhanced for their relative class focus (Chapter 3 = Fighter, Chapter 4 = Scout, Chapter 5 = Mage), but any player can successfully complete any of these Chapters.  It will be easier to complete an expansion Chapter if you play it in a style consistent with its focus; for example, if a Fighter player enters the Mage Chapter then you really should teach your fighter at least some defensive magic to make combat more balanced.  Since the Character Class is not a strict limitation in Siege, you can create any hybrid of skills and capabilities you desire; thus allowing you to face all the environments and challenges of Avalon successfully with a highly unique and customized player character.  Character Class will mostly limit certain quests and advancements.

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Q:   Do I have to play the Chapters in a certain order?
A:  Yes, and no. You need to complete Chapter 1 to start Chapter 2. You need to complete Chapter 2 before playing any other chapters. You do not need to buy any or all of the Expansion Chapters, but the ones you do buy you need to play in order. You do need to complete all Expansion Chapters you have, if any, before you start playing Chapter 6, so that the game can come to a finish normally.

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Q:   Do you expect me to pay 5 times to play all of Siege?
A:  Well, that would be nice. With the new Anthology CD you get all 6 Chapters for one bargain price.

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Q:   What if I didn't get the first Chapters of Siege right away?
A:  Not a problem. Just grab the Anthology CD with all 6 Chapters and the whole saga awaits you.

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Q:   When is each Chapter of Siege available?
A:  All 6 Chapters of Siege of Avalon  have been released and are available NOW in a single Anthology CD from HERE.

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Q:   How big are the Chapters of Siege?
A:  The free initial Chapter 1 is about 120 Megabyte. All the subsequent Chapters are usually about half that size (final sizes vary with each Chapter). All 6 Chapters fit on a single CD in the Anthology package.

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Q:   Is Siege Multi-Player?
A:  No. We've focused on giving the best individual play value ever found in a downloadable graphic RPG, and saved a few major technical hurdles for the Pillars of Avalon  game now in development. Our Episodic Novels will support special "peer-to-peer" gaming in the future, and are expected to handle up to 4 players in a game through internet connections.

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Q:   Are all Digital Tome games going to be like Siege?
A:  No. Siege of Avalon  and Pillars of Avalon  are intentional works within the same grand story. They are "labors of first love" as one of our founder's is a CRPG aficionado of many years standing.

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Q:   What KIND of RPG is Siege?
A:  "Traditional" medieval fantasy RPG with real-time combat. The player is a young human male (Gender selection will be provided in Pillars) who just arrived on the scene at the culmination of a 12-year-long war. His skills and specialized capabilities will evolve throughout the game as the player decides, instead of being fixed by a "class" or "race" selection at the start of the game. Siege is a single-player game, with various Party members who can be added and dropped from the Party throughout the game. The Player can "assume full control" of any Party member at will.

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