AMA [June 10] Margaret Weis, Author (TSR, Dragonlance, Margaret Weis Productions, Cortex, Firefly RPG, Star of the Guardians)

[margaretweis]

Margaret Weis Productions has designed so many great games around licensed properties-- so good I've purchased games for properties I didn't care for and used them to run other things (I didn't watch Smallville, for example, but so many people told me how great the RPG was that I bought it and loved it). Unfortunately, licensing is a fickle world, and game lines are often discontinued when the license ends-- Marvel Heroic RP is a serious contender for most effective superhero RPG of all time, but that game obviously had to end with the Marvel license. At the same time, MWP has hired some of the greatest minds in gaming to work on Cortex system games, and many of those designers have also created successful games based on original content elsewhere. Recently, the Cortex Hacker's Guide demonstrated the extreme versatility of the Cortex engine in powering all kinds of different settings. Will there be a point when MWP puts out an RPG (Cortex or otherwise) based on an original property created for that game, which customers can buy and get into, secure in the knowledge that MWP won't ever have to discontinue it based on business concerns out of their control?

"Not even the gods can see the future." (quote from the Dragonships novels!). Thanks for the kind words about the system. My crew is awesome and we have all kinds of ideas for future jobs. Right now, we're concentrating on Firefly. Thanks! Margaret

 

[margaretweis]

Hi. What is the status of Heroic Role-play? It has been advertised as "coming soon" for a very long time and yet we've heard little to nothing about it or its status. Thanks.

We got a little side-tracked with Firefly, which required "all hands on deck". Heroic RPG is still on the burner. Just moved to the back. Thanks! Margaret

 

[margaretweis]

Hello Margaret. It's great for you to take the time for this kind of exercise, thanks a lot for that.

I have seen one of your novel series has been recently picked up for film and television, the star of the guardian. It's great and I hope we will hear soon more details about that, but what I wanna ask is based on another series of yours, co-written with Tracy Hickman, the death gate cycle. Did you ever think that this world of yours would make a great setting for a rpg and is there any plans to revisit it in the future (be it as new novel(s), comics, film, serie, or a new rpg based on it) ? Does the nature of the cycle, being co written would complicate things for such deriative works to emerges ?

I think it would make a great RPG, especially the magic system. With four worlds (plus), a Deathgate RPG would be a very long and complex adventure series to produce. But we're thinking about it! Thanks! Margaret

 

[greychan]

I know you are involved with flyball and dogs. Do you have any amusing stories of someone in those circles ever recognize you and going all fanboy/girl on you at a tournament?

 

[Phaide]

We got a little side-tracked with Firefly, which required "all hands on deck". Heroic RPG is still on the burner. Just moved to the back. Thanks! Margaret

Thanks for the reply, and let me say what a genuine treat it is to get to talk to you even if it is only through the written word. Regarding your answer, do you have a ballpark guess as to whether it will be this year or next before we see Heroic? Do you have a setting for it or will it be left in a generic format? Thanks.

 

[JStillfeather]

My only question is why did Dragonlance become all soup operaish with the whole the God from another pantheon but with amnesia?

 

[margaretweis]

Two questions: Where do you go for continuing inspiration for new ideas, new worlds, new stories? Are there particular authors/games/RPGs/books that you find particularly useful for idea generation?

Second, are there are any of your creations, particularly characters in your writing, of which you are particularly fond? Do you "connect" with any of them more than others? (Obviously asking an author to pick a "favorite" character is sort of like asking a parent who their favorite child is, but nonetheless......)

For example, I've always felt Jonathan the Lazar from Death Gate #3, Fire Sea, to be one of the most interesting characters in all of fantasy fiction. Was he your creation or Tracy's?

1) Tracy always says "there's a warehouse in Detroit . . ."
2) I was always close to Raistlin. Loved writing Tasslehoff. Lady Maigrey is me as I want to be, not who I am. Also fond of Raoul and the Little One.

Thanks! Margaret

 

[margaretweis]

Since I've been very much enjoying the Firefly RPG lately...

- Is there anything you can tell us about your future plans for that line, beyond "Ghosts in the Black"?

- Any chance of getting Tracy Hickman to pen another episode in the 'Verse?

- Do you have a favourite episode/character?

Thanks!

Lots of ideas for product. Still thinking. I loved Tracy's adventure! My favorite episode is the Shindig! Thanks, Margaret

 

[margaretweis]

I know you are involved with flyball and dogs. Do you have any amusing stories of someone in those circles ever recognize you and going all fanboy/girl on you at a tournament?

Haha! Mostly I'm just another dog person. My crazy Sheltie, Joey the Thug, probably has more fans than I do. Thanks! Margaret

 

[margaretweis]

My only question is why did Dragonlance become all soup operaish with the whole the God from another pantheon but with amnesia?

Seemed like a good idea at the time. Thanks! Margaret

 

[margaretweis]

Thanks for the reply, and let me say what a genuine treat it is to get to talk to you even if it is only through the written word. Regarding your answer, do you have a ballpark guess as to whether it will be this year or next before we see Heroic? Do you have a setting for it or will it be left in a generic format? Thanks.

My pleasure! Let's say it will be sooner than later. Thanks!

 

[margaretweis]

Hi Margaret,

Thanks for providing me with countless hours of reading pleasure. Also thanks for your part in increasing the popularity of fantasy as a genre.

My favourite among your series has always been The Rose of the Prophet. Sadly, it rarely, if ever, seems to get any recognition. What do you think is the reason?

It's a different kind of fantasy. Not your standard dwarves, elves, etc. It did hit the NY Times list when it first came out. It was fun to write! Thanks! Margaret

 

[margaretweis]

Ignoring the animated movie, is there any chance of any Dragonlance movies in the future?

I wish! I haven't heard anything. But then, WoTC doesn't keep me in the loop! Thanks! Margaret

 

[Morrus]

Thank you so much for doing this, Margaret!

Like many, I loved Raistlin in my teenage years. And, like many kids my age, I got into debates along the lines of "Elminster vs. Raistlin - who would win?" I've grown out of that now; honest!

I've read in the past that you wrote Raistlin to "break the rules" and that he was not supposed to have game stats to reflect his power level at the end. And then there are stats in a few books - Dragonlance Adventures (1E) puts him at 18th level, as I recall. What was yours and Tracy's intention when writing that last Legends book? Is he intended to be Elminster-esque in level? Or was 18th more reflective of how you saw him? Can you talk a little about the decision to cap DL characters at 18th level?

Also, you spoke earlier about having material you cut from the books. Could you give us an idea of what that material was? Did some of that material make it into the later trilogy, the Lost Chronicles? (I somehow only discovered those about a year ago, and devoured them!)

 

[margaretweis]

Thank you so much for doing this, Margaret!

Like many, I loved Raistlin in my teenage years. And, like many kids my age, I got into debates along the lines of "Elminster vs. Raistlin - who would win?" I've grown out of that now; honest!

I've read in the past that you wrote Raistlin to "break the rules" and that he was not supposed to have game stats to reflect his power level at the end. And then there are stats in a few books - Dragonlance Adventures (1E) puts him at 18th level, as I recall. What was yours and Tracy's intention when writing that last Legends book? Is he intended to be Elminster-esque in level? Or was 18th more reflective of how you saw him? Can you talk a little about the decision to cap DL characters at 18th level?

Also, you spoke earlier about having material you cut from the books. Could you give us an idea of what that material was? Did some of that material make it into the later trilogy, the Lost Chronicles? (I somehow only discovered those about a year ago, and devoured them!)

About Raistlin and levels, I was a writer first and a gamer second. I played D&D, to this day, someone has to tell me what dice to roll. We tried to stick to levels at the beginning of the novels, because we thought that would be important to the reader. We found out it wasn't. They didn't care what level Raistlin was, therefore did neither Tracy and I. We were more interested in telling the story.

I kind of remember talk about capping DL at 18th level, but that was all in the game department. Not sure what the reasoning was. The book department didn't get into things like that.

As to what was cut from the novels. We did line-editing on the books, cutting lines to reduce chapters to a certain word count. Which meant that every page of the Chronicles books is missing material. I have actually rewritten the first chapters, adding in the material that was cut. It's not on paper. It's in my heart.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to be here! Margaret

 

[Guang]

The Death Gate Cycle is among my favorites, and I've re-read it several times over the years. In the interactions between the elves and humans on the world of fire (Prydain, I think, in Elven Star, I think), it seemed obvious to me on my first reading back in high school in the late 80's that the elves were Asian, humans were Black, and, after some searching through book one, that Dwarves were White. I then concluded that this was written as the future of OUR world, which had been destroyed and rebuilt by magic.
So: am I out of my mind or is this close to your intention in that series? If so, could you pls tell me how that became an idea you wanted to use, and why you chose the racial matchup that you did?

 

[Cinderwolf]

Margaret - your "Death Gate Cycle" books were among some of my first fantasy novels (I'll admit I was a little bit of a late bloomer, finding the series when I was 16) and quickly found a place in my heart! Before I forget: Thank you for everything you've written!

Have you ever considered returning to the Death Gate universe at all or is there ever perhaps a chance (no matter how slim) we may ever see the aftermath of the Sartan and Patryn war on screen in the future?

 

[margaretweis]

The Death Gate Cycle is among my favorites, and I've re-read it several times over the years. In the interactions between the elves and humans on the world of fire (Prydain, I think, in Elven Star, I think), it seemed obvious to me on my first reading back in high school in the late 80's that the elves were Asian, humans were Black, and, after some searching through book one, that Dwarves were White. I then concluded that this was written as the future of OUR world, which had been destroyed and rebuilt by magic.
So: am I out of my mind or is this close to your intention in that series? If so, could you pls tell me how that became an idea you wanted to use, and why you chose the racial matchup that you did?

We did have some idea that the world was Earth as you discovered. I was not consciously thinking of the racial make-up, however. Although that could have crept in without my knowing it! Thanks! Margaret

 

[margaretweis]

Margaret - your "Death Gate Cycle" books were among some of my first fantasy novels (I'll admit I was a little bit of a late bloomer, finding the series when I was 16) and quickly found a place in my heart! Before I forget: Thank you for everything you've written!

Have you ever considered returning to the Death Gate universe at all or is there ever perhaps a chance (no matter how slim) we may ever see the aftermath of the Sartan and Patryn war on screen in the future?

I've never thought about going back. We told the story we wanted to tell. Thanks! Margaret

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Hello,

One of the serious heartbreaks I had was when the Marvel Annihilation storyline for the Heroic Role-playing didnt get printed. I have always adored the Galactic level concerns int he Marvel Universe and was ready to go all in on those products, only to find out that only PDFs were released.
Can you give some backstory to that? Was it impossible to get a small extension on the Marvel license?

Any insights would be appreciated.

Also, what new RPGs might be on the horizon?

Thanks,

Desh