Welcome to
Norseband:
the Variant!
Norseband is a Norse-themed variant of the Angband computer game; its source code derives from FuryBand, which itself derives from Troubles of Middle-earth. Although it’s currently unfinished, this site has the files necessary to compile and play the game.
Eventually, Norseband will remove all material based on modern fiction (Tolkien’s, Lovecraft’s, or anyone else’s) in favor of the setting I’ve planned: a “legendary Earth” centered on ancient Scandinavian history and folklore, but including some other places where Norsemen traveled in the early Viking Age.
Currently, only an alpha version for Windows is available to download and play here; I'd be happy to upload a Macintosh-friendly release whenever a Mac user can compile the source into a working alpha release. (Of course, you'll get credit for your help on this page and in the game docs too!)
If you're a PC user and want to download/test the alpha release, you'll want to download norse-win_alpha.zip (2 megabytes)
When will a stable release of Norseband be available?
That depends on how much help I can get from other people who know how to edit the source code properly. Zop, The Fury, and Cosmic Gerbil have contributed a lot already; and I’m able to tweak text messages like the item flavors, at least. Still, there’s a lot more that needs finishing; here are my “to-do” lists arranged by priority.
When everything on the first list is done, I’ll have a playable beta release of Norseband. It will become a stable version when most of the second list is finished. The low-priority list isn’t as urgent as the first two, although I’d like to see those changes as stable updates come out.
Where can I learn more about your ideas and the progress you’re making?
Check these links first:
The variants section
of Pav’s Angband forums (search for
“Norseband” to find related posts)
The Norseband
development section of the FuryTech
forums
rec.games.roguelike.angband
(Web portal to the Usenet group; search for “Norseband” to find related posts)
Where can I reach you if I’ve got other questions or comments?
You’re welcome to e-mail me (try my GMail address if the other mailbox has problems).