Lynn Abbey's Space Halfling Email to DarkSun-L - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Lynn Abbey's Space Halfling Email to DarkSun-L

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
gforce99
Nov 19, 2003 10:10:06 hope I'm doing this right... I hope you'll all bear with me if I'm not.

I got the list address from a list subscriber I met at a convention last
year. Until then, I had no idea that there was still such interest in the
Dark Sun milieu -- or that anyone was reading my Dark Sun novels so
carefully. It's quite an honor; I'm very flattered.

In fairness, though, it has to be said that the three Dark Sun books were
not written during TSR's finest hours. The game department and the book
department communicated primarily by rumor and although I would give the
book department outlines that were roughly one-third the length of the
finished book with the understanding that they would be reviewed and vetted
by the game department, I never once got any feedback. (When it came time
to do DragonKing, I was told that if I could write the novel in next 90
days, there'd be no need to get the gaming department's approval.)

The downside of all that freedom was that if I had a question about how the
milieu worked, I could never get an authoritative answer -- so I would make
things up. Sometimes I'd make things up that I was sure the game department
wouldn't approve -- on the assumption that in disapproving the prose they'd
have to answer my questions. This strategy never failed to backfire.

This is why I'm so honored (and surprised) that some of you seem to have
enjoyed the books. You all have FAR more knowledge of Athas than I have or
had. My reference materials were: the first boxed set, the psionicist's
handbook, Troy Denning's Prism books, the hard-cover Dragon-Kings
supplement, and (for Hamanu's biography) something called "Beyond the Prism
Pentad".

Anyway, as I understand them, at least a few Athasian druids consider it
their purpose and destiny to restore the Athasian wastelands.
Philosophically, they have a lot in common with contemporary back-to-nature
and Earth-First movements. They're not particularly tolerant of folk who
don't agree with them and their standard of "right" and "wrong" is governed
by whether an act will tend to bring a wasted area back to natural life.
The druids I wrote about avoid places like mountains because mountains don't
fit into their world view (because I thought there were a lot of
contradictions in the reference materials that I had regarding the 10+
Guardians into which druidic characters were supposed to evolve).

I tried to imply that Telhami and her "congregation" might be considered
heretical by other druids -- I was hedging my bets because I couldn't get
the game department to answer my questions about druids in general... and I
had questions about druids because I knew from the beginning that I was
going to write about the dilemmas of a "good" man (Pavek) in a stable, but
completely corrupt, society and I felt that druids offered a better contrast
to the templars than any other "priestly" variant class.

(You can probably tell that I'm not much of a gamer. I started playing D&D
before it had numbers and when all the rule books could be fitted into a
rather small brown box. We played head-to-head, like poker, usually one PC
(with 3 NPC assistants) versus the DM. We rolled for hit points, but
everything else was negotiated, and you could never be smarter or wiser than
you actually were. Needless to say, my group stopped gaming about the time
AD&D came on the market... we went on to put together THIEVES' WORLD.)

Hamanu's story was a true roller-coaster ride. The only guidance I got from
TSR was that, when the book ended, no reader should be able to tell what, if
anything, had actually changed in Urik, or Athas-proper, because the milieu
was going to be completely re-constructed. (I was told that the halflings
were coming back in planet-killer space ships to do war with the
Dragon-kings and recreate the Blue era. I thought that had zero potential
for the sort of stories I like to write and my goal, when I began plotting
the book, was to keep Urik safe from the game department and put Hamanu
someplace where they couldn't mess with him.)

In order for Hamanu's story to work, he had to go up against a character who
was more "evil" than he was... and that meant Rajaat, which meant Ur Draxa,
the Gray, and the Black. It also meant trying to reconcile the material in
"Beyond the Prism Pentad" with the Pentad itself... and without TSR's help.
I managed to get a few maps of Ur Draxa, but I didn't know if they were
"official", so I had to flood the place with sludge and fog to create
believable confusion on Hamanu's part (since he should have known how the
city was laid out and how it worked). I never did figure out the Black or
the Gray; fortunately, Hamanu didn't understand them either, so it wasn't
difficult to create believable confusion.

After I finished DragonKing, the game department did answer most of the
questions I'd raised over the preceding years... naturally they answered
them their own way, which contradicted much of what I'd laid out in my three
books. There's is the "official" version, but I like to think that Hamanu's
was the truth... at least as he understood it.

I know the old Lion of Urik would be pleased (but not surprised) to find
that Dark Sun continues to exist on the Internet.

If anyone ever has questions about why things are the way they are in the
books I wrote, I'll be happy to answer them -- I only hope you won't be too
disappointed by my answers.

All for now...

Lynn Abbey
#2
zombiegleemax
Nov 20, 2003 10:10:18 That was extremely informative...

Darksun could use some re-engineering itself...
#3
zombiegleemax
Nov 20, 2003 23:15:26 I couldn't agree more.

"Cry havoc and let slip the Hamsters of War!"
#4
zombiegleemax
Nov 25, 2003 4:57:07 BTW, it could be a good idea to have all of Lynn's letters in a sticky & locked thread.

Possibly mixed together with other feedback the original DS authors (both game and books) have provided over the years.

That is, so we don't have to dig them out every once in a while :D
#5
gforce99
Nov 25, 2003 6:26:03 This was the one and only post by Abbey on the DarkSun-L list.
If someone can sticky this thread, that would be good.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 gforce99 Nov 19, 2003 10:10:06	hope I'm doing this right... I hope you'll all bear with me if I'm not. I got the list address from a list subscriber I met at a convention last year. Until then, I had no idea that there was still such interest in the Dark Sun milieu -- or that anyone was reading my Dark Sun novels so carefully. It's quite an honor; I'm very flattered. In fairness, though, it has to be said that the three Dark Sun books were not written during TSR's finest hours. The game department and the book department communicated primarily by rumor and although I would give the book department outlines that were roughly one-third the length of the finished book with the understanding that they would be reviewed and vetted by the game department, I never once got any feedback. (When it came time to do DragonKing, I was told that if I could write the novel in next 90 days, there'd be no need to get the gaming department's approval.) The downside of all that freedom was that if I had a question about how the milieu worked, I could never get an authoritative answer -- so I would make things up. Sometimes I'd make things up that I was sure the game department wouldn't approve -- on the assumption that in disapproving the prose they'd have to answer my questions. This strategy never failed to backfire. This is why I'm so honored (and surprised) that some of you seem to have enjoyed the books. You all have FAR more knowledge of Athas than I have or had. My reference materials were: the first boxed set, the psionicist's handbook, Troy Denning's Prism books, the hard-cover Dragon-Kings supplement, and (for Hamanu's biography) something called "Beyond the Prism Pentad". Anyway, as I understand them, at least a few Athasian druids consider it their purpose and destiny to restore the Athasian wastelands. Philosophically, they have a lot in common with contemporary back-to-nature and Earth-First movements. They're not particularly tolerant of folk who don't agree with them and their standard of "right" and "wrong" is governed by whether an act will tend to bring a wasted area back to natural life. The druids I wrote about avoid places like mountains because mountains don't fit into their world view (because I thought there were a lot of contradictions in the reference materials that I had regarding the 10+ Guardians into which druidic characters were supposed to evolve). I tried to imply that Telhami and her "congregation" might be considered heretical by other druids -- I was hedging my bets because I couldn't get the game department to answer my questions about druids in general... and I had questions about druids because I knew from the beginning that I was going to write about the dilemmas of a "good" man (Pavek) in a stable, but completely corrupt, society and I felt that druids offered a better contrast to the templars than any other "priestly" variant class. (You can probably tell that I'm not much of a gamer. I started playing D&D before it had numbers and when all the rule books could be fitted into a rather small brown box. We played head-to-head, like poker, usually one PC (with 3 NPC assistants) versus the DM. We rolled for hit points, but everything else was negotiated, and you could never be smarter or wiser than you actually were. Needless to say, my group stopped gaming about the time AD&D came on the market... we went on to put together THIEVES' WORLD.) Hamanu's story was a true roller-coaster ride. The only guidance I got from TSR was that, when the book ended, no reader should be able to tell what, if anything, had actually changed in Urik, or Athas-proper, because the milieu was going to be completely re-constructed. (I was told that the halflings were coming back in planet-killer space ships to do war with the Dragon-kings and recreate the Blue era. I thought that had zero potential for the sort of stories I like to write and my goal, when I began plotting the book, was to keep Urik safe from the game department and put Hamanu someplace where they couldn't mess with him.) In order for Hamanu's story to work, he had to go up against a character who was more "evil" than he was... and that meant Rajaat, which meant Ur Draxa, the Gray, and the Black. It also meant trying to reconcile the material in "Beyond the Prism Pentad" with the Pentad itself... and without TSR's help. I managed to get a few maps of Ur Draxa, but I didn't know if they were "official", so I had to flood the place with sludge and fog to create believable confusion on Hamanu's part (since he should have known how the city was laid out and how it worked). I never did figure out the Black or the Gray; fortunately, Hamanu didn't understand them either, so it wasn't difficult to create believable confusion. After I finished DragonKing, the game department did answer most of the questions I'd raised over the preceding years... naturally they answered them their own way, which contradicted much of what I'd laid out in my three books. There's is the "official" version, but I like to think that Hamanu's was the truth... at least as he understood it. I know the old Lion of Urik would be pleased (but not surprised) to find that Dark Sun continues to exist on the Internet. If anyone ever has questions about why things are the way they are in the books I wrote, I'll be happy to answer them -- I only hope you won't be too disappointed by my answers. All for now... Lynn Abbey
#2 zombiegleemax Nov 20, 2003 10:10:18	That was extremely informative... Darksun could use some re-engineering itself...
#3 zombiegleemax Nov 20, 2003 23:15:26	I couldn't agree more. "Cry havoc and let slip the Hamsters of War!"
#4 zombiegleemax Nov 25, 2003 4:57:07	BTW, it could be a good idea to have all of Lynn's letters in a sticky & locked thread. Possibly mixed together with other feedback the original DS authors (both game and books) have provided over the years. That is, so we don't have to dig them out every once in a while :D
#5 gforce99 Nov 25, 2003 6:26:03	This was the one and only post by Abbey on the DarkSun-L list. If someone can sticky this thread, that would be good.