Rewriting a Novel's End - Alternative Plays Out in Game

Novelist Drew Wagar was all set to reveal his next Elite Dangerous novel's ending in game. One of the book's important characters, Salomé, was to be literally escorted across the galaxy to deliver crucial information about a megaship called the Zurara. Two player groups, The Children of Raxxla and the Premonition Allied Coalition, were charged with protecting her along her journey.

But players had something else in mind. As the event had uncovered itself, a "sleeper assassin" infiltrated the Premonition Allied Coalition (apparently missing that "premonition" part...). During the final stages of the escort mission, the Smiling Dog Crew member assassinated Salomé, a feat possible only due to the fact that she wasn't labeled as an NPC, but was rather "player controlled" by Drew Wagar himself. The wily assassin had added her to his friends list in order to keep track of her movements in space and waited long enough to find a quiet location to take out her ship.

The assassin's name? Harry Potter!

It appears that Wagar, though not originally planning to end his novel this way, had made provision for her possible death. It seems that that will now be part of the official record.

Yes, I had anticipated her death. Clearly that was a highly probable outcome. Personally I was hoping she would make it. She had a speech all ready to go – she liked speeches. That will never see the light of day now because you changed the story. But this wasn’t scripted, there was only preparation for as many eventualities as we could foresee. The logs in the Teorge system were revealed by the three protagonists that did make the flight.

You can check out Wagar's site all about the Elite Dangerous escort mission.

Via PCGamesN