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Hometown

Hometownbackstory

The Hometown is the home of the Heroes in the Quest for Glory games (players, authors, etc.). It's location can be anywhere, and is up to each player, or story writer.

Background

These are towns that he (or she) either grew up in, or where he started his first adventure from (as discussed in the manual for QFG1).

Some of the more odd in-game references to the Hero's hometown connect him to places associated with California and Sierra On-Line's hometowns Oakhurst and Coarsegold (where he apparently played baseball as a child: Oakhurst Talking Bears). See Unknown Hero and Hero. His home language is English[1] (but he knows Silmarian, Common (language), Griffin, Mordavian, Egyptian, among other languages as well to various degrees).

The game Narrator sometimes makes references to this hometown when discussing the hero in the games. It is the home of hero's family including Aunt Helen, his sister, grandmother, and parents (in QFG game universe). Home of someone known as the Town Guildmaster, home to the hero's dentists, healer, and accountant.

Though these details may not necessarily relate to each player or author's own backstories.

The Heroes are called from their hometown to travel to Spielburg to save the land from Baba Yaga.

Each player/writer could make their hometown anything they want it to be. But generally speaking in some stories he lives in a village that lies east of Spielburg where they start their journey. Or at least took a treacherous month's journey by any means necessary (flight, magic, foot, transportation, whatever) from whatever hometown/city they came from, from any part of the world to reach Spielburg Pass and enter into the valley from the 'East' (to fulfill the prophecy).

We did not name the hero, nor his starting village, for a reason. We wanted every player to imagine their own hero's background so that the player would really become a part of the story.-Corey Cole

McKenna the Magnificent's hometown (much like the 'in-game' Unknown Hero) was from Coarsegold/Oakhurst. She also met several other heroes from that area including Sonny the Snake, Charvel Steinburger and Max.

Devon Aidendale (each of them) was from the town of Willowsby (which lay about fourteen days away east (on foot) from Spielburg in good weather.

Local Adventurer’s Guild

One thing each hometown generally has in common is its local or neighborhood Adventurer's Guild. It is here were the Hero, a recently graduate of the Famous Adventurers' Correspondence School For Heroes, finds a Wanted Sign asking for help to save Spielburg.

WantedHeroPoster
A poster in your local Adventurer's guild reads:
Wanted: Hero. No Experience Necessary. Visit
Beautiful Spielburg, Fight Monsters, Defeat Brigands.
Reward And Title 'Hero Of Spielburg' To The Successful
Applicant.
It sounded good, especially the "no experience necessary" part.

As the newly Graduated Hero, McKenna the Magnificent pointed out her neighborhood Guild near Oakhurst/Coarsegold;

...my old buddy Max — he told me where to find my neighborhood Adventurer's Guild. He said something about a 'Hero Wanted' sign he'd seen on the board, for a place, called Spielburg — 'No Experience Necessary'. Hmm, Spielburg . . . sounds kinda nice, huh? Maybe I'll check it out.

Devon Aidendale (all four of him in their own dimensions) visited their local Willowsby Adventurer's Guild Hall.

...he went to the board and looked at the lone posted notice, written in fancy script on fine parchment.
Wanted: Hero
No Experience Necessary.
Visit Beautiful Spielburg,
Fight Monsters, Defeat Brigands.
Reward and Title "Hero of Spielburg"
to the Succesful Applicant.

Other heroes may have visited the Lucasville guild to read the poster there.

And others come from many other possible locations.

Each Hero's home town Adventurer's Guild has a traditional Moose head and other stuff monsters adorning the walls.[2] The old Town Guildmaster would teach the prospective Hero FACS training and other lessons. Such Griffon 101, Mordavian, Common, and Silmaria. He (or she) teaches magic users courses such as Arcania 101 and Rune Lore 101.[3]

In addition to Adventurer's Guild, each Hero's hometown usually has a Thieves’ Guild too. Were aspiring thieves can hang out (Willowsby did not, but Oakhurst/Coursegold Hero's did have one).[4]

The Heroes then traveled a difficult journey to reach Spielburg's gates...

Now, after a month's journey over treacherous terrain, narrowly evading death at every turn, you are no longer as enthusiastic. But here you are, at the town gates, and it's too late to turn back. You will defeat the monsters and brigands that plague Spielburg, or die trying (the latter seems more likely at this point!).

Hometowns

Heroes

...And many many more including; Jester, Joker, Wednesday, Brutus, Gonad the Barbarian, Dingleberry, Paladin, Thief Bob, Tyson, and Pennteller.

Gallery

See also

Behind the scenes

The town of Willowsby and character of Devon Aidendale became canon after they were published in Quest for Glory: The Authorized Strategy Guide) (though not mentioned in the games).[5] According to Corey Cole the hero's name and the name of his village is not given to intentionally allow players to decide on it themselves.[6][7] He has also said he was not a fan of the name because it is English sounding name in a German territory. Note: However, despite this opinion the Coles along with Mishell Baker previously went on to name the four heroes Heroes (Hero-U) with English names (Hawk, Falcon, Owl, and Wren) and their hometown of Alpendorf (but previously from Silmaria). Their background story is told in How To Be A Hero: By the Book (see Alternate Canon). Many player and sample Hero names are English names as well, with backgrounds which have nothing to do with Germany (example McKenna the Magnificent from Oakhurst/Coarsegold).

However, it is a safe bet to consider the 'four Devons' (or the four bird heroes for that matter, and many heroes of "Wanna"-be Hero) as separate heroes in the multiverse and only representative of an infinite number of heroes in that world (the guide itself points out that other player's heroes may have different backgrounds and adventures than the one's each Devon had passed through in the games).

While most hometowns did have "adventurer's guilds", Alpendorf does not, neither does it have a thieves' guild. The nearest adventurer's guild was in Siegburg (Spielburg) in the How To Be A Hero novels (the valley is also mirrored, and four heroes enter in from the west). In Devon's novels Willowsby doesn't appear to have any thieves' guild either, though it does have an elaborate Adventurer's Guild.

References

  1. ↑ Narrator (QFG2): "You should have kept your Griffin-English phrase book from Adventurer's School""
  2. ↑ This Adventurer's Guild Hall reminds you of the one in your home town. The traditional Moose head and other stuffed monsters (Saurus, Troll, Gryphon, Dragon, Cheetaur, and the terrible Antwerp) adorn the walls.
  3. ↑ This plaque looks almost like the one from the Lawyers' Guild. It reminds you of something from your old FACS training: "What do you get when you cross a lawyer with a demon from hell? Another lawyer." You remember your old Town Guildmaster's lesson: "What do you do if you're trapped in a room with a Cheetaur, a Minotaur, and a Lawyer, and have only two flame darts left? Shoot the Lawyer. Twice.
  4. ↑ Narrator (QFG4):"Your eye is drawn to the Thieves' Guild recruiting poster on the back wall; it gives you fond memories of your home guild."
  5. ↑ From the back matter: "This is the only officially authorized strategy guide to the Quest for Glory series. Don't try to be a hero without it!"
  6. ↑ "And by the way, mentions of "Devon Aidendale" and Willowsby (or Willowdale or whatever the name was) drive me crazy. Devon was just the name Paula Spiese chose for her QG hero, and she used him in the strategy guide she co-wrote with Lori. Those names have no "official place in the canon", except of course they've been enshrined on Wikipedia because they're part of a published book." "We did not name the hero, nor his starting village, for a reason. We wanted every player to imagine their own hero's background so that the player would really become a part of the story. So it's frustrating when I see other people adopt Paula's fantasy as their own. Still, if that makes the game more fun for you, go with it!"[1]
  7. ↑ "Our main objection to the Spiese book is that the Quest for Glory hero is supposed to be a reflection of the player. When Paula named her hero as Devon Aidendale, that became canon. We would have preferred he remain simply The Hero. But that's a trivial quibble."-Corey Cole [2]