In the heyday of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the mid-1980’s, I wrote for TSR…back when they were financially viable and long before they sold to Wizards of the Coast, the makers of Magic: The Gathering trading cards. I was a free-lance author and TSR wanted to root their fantasy worlds either in the Dragonlance saga, a series of novels they published, or in fantasy worlds where they controlled the intellectual property, avoiding the pitfalls that tripped up the early D&D creators when they decided to build games without the rights, such as the ill-fated Barsoom expansion set based entirely on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars series.
My first publication for TSR was a game entitled “The Flowers of Flame” based in an alternative Asian history, and the legends and lore of Japan and the Middle Kingdom. Here is the cover of Dungeon Magazine featuring my game.
The editors at TSR contracted for additional work over the next few years, including more fantasy games based on Dragonlance and the Orient, such as contributing to the updated Monster Manual and these…
My work for TSR culminated in a request to contribute to the Oriental Adventures Kara-Tur Eastern Realms boxed set, a complete fantasy world based on the history and legends of Japan, Korea, China and Southeast Asia. Medieval Japan provided the basis for the world building, with samurais and the bushido code underlying many of the adventures and storylines. This boxed set included detailed maps with unexplained locations and opportunities for side adventuring as well as the key plot lines for players and dungeon masters to exploit. I was exceptionally pleased that all my maps were chosen for the package. At the time I was lucky enough to have a dedicated group of play-testers who would happily help me work through plot holes for the price of a pizza! Writing for TSR helped me recognize the rich opportunities for stories employing legends and the historical record, and planted the seeds for my current work.
