Beyond Drizzt
An Interview with 38
Studios Director of Creative Content and Novelist R.A. Salvatore
Questions
by Cody
"Micajah" Bye
The Forgotten Realms, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign
setting, is
home to many a notorious monster and hero, but none are more famous
than Drizzt Do'Urden. The character is the epitome of a hero; the lone
wanderer who breaks from his tortured past to embark on adventures and
escapades with a group of misfits and kings, only content when his past
is forgotten and his swords are bare. The creator of the dark elf - and
often granted the title of the person who brought popularity to the
Forgotten
Realms - is a novelist by the name of R.A. Salvatore.
Known among author types for his constant desire to produce
high action and page-flipping material, Salvatore has a long and
established track record for putting together solid stories for print
and electronic settings. Along with his numerous novels and short
stories, many of you may recognize one of the video games he
worked on, Dungeons & Dragons: Demon Stone, which showcased
Salvatore's story-telling in an excellent (albeit short) game that
really drew players into its twists and turns. However, Salvatore may
now be facing his most daunting task yet; the creation of a massively
multiplayer online gaming world.
Just last year, in a strange but compelling turn of fate,
Salvatore was tapped by Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling to help him
create a new game for the online gaming marketplace. Salvatore will be
working with the team at 38 Studios to put together a living, breathing
world that players will find intriguing, familiar, yet original at the
same time. A daunting task for any storyteller, but Salvatore may be
the best suited individual for the feat.
We caught up with Salvatore to see how work was progressing on
the beginning concepts of his new world. In this first part of our two-part series (click here for the second part), we focus on the differences between MMO and novel writing and how Salvatore interacts with other members of the development team.
TTH:
R.A., before we get started with the questions concerning the world,
would you mind clearing up why the name of Green Monster Games was
changed to 38 Studios? Many of us were confused about the name change
and whether it signified anything important besides just a different
dubbing of your new studios.
alt="Bob Salvatore" title="Bob Salvatore" name="photo_j"
border="0" height="114" width="150">
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Bob Salvatore, Director of Creative Content for 38
Studios
style="font-weight: bold;">Bob: First of all,
it's Bob. I think Curt is the only person in the world who calls me "R.
A." When I got my first book deal and was asked how I wanted my name to
appear on the book. Bob? Robert? Something completely different? Well,
the guy who got me into reading (and thus, writing) was JRR Tolkien, so
I liked the idea of using my initials. Plus at that time, TSR, the
publisher, was full of Jeffs and Troys and Douglases, and I figured
that if I just used my initials, maybe I'd have a better chance of
people remembering me.
I
know, I know, that's pretty dumb, but hey, I was 29 years old, and all
of a sudden this amazing opportunity just showed up on my doorstep. So
despite the book covers, it's Bob.
To
answer your original question, it's really very simple: 38 Studios is a
better description of where we want to be with this company. We're an
entertainment company, and the "games" moniker was limiting to our
vision. We're creating the next generation of interactive entertainment.
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