The Ten Years War

THE TEN YEARS WAR The second of the two-quantity 10th Anniversary omnibus version of the Forgotten Realms collection R.A. Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen was launched at present, and like my fellow Spider Queen Paul S. Kemp, that’s moved me to some recollections of the long, winding, typically confusing, typically irritating, and ultimately wonderful highway I traveled with that collection from idea to now. This is the collection that I need them to remember me forâ€"a minimum of as an editor at TSR/Wizards of the Coast. It was the toughest I ever worked, and though there were a couple of books (all by R.A. Salvatore, not coincidentally) that I labored on there that bought better, this was the one collection I loved probably the most and its success has meant probably the most to meâ€"and not only as a result of I’ve shared in it, financially. Books four, 5, and 6 (of 6) Let’s do this in random-thoughts fashion, kinda like Paul did: The idea came from Greyhawk . . . It looks like 1,000,000 years ago, however was extra like twelve and we were publishing a collection of novels set in the Greyhawk D&D setting, which had been novelizations of the traditional AD&D journey modules. We began a trilogy primarily based on the G-sequence, which was collected as Against the Giants, and when the first writer fell out for causes I truthfully don’t remember, Paul Kidd picked up from there for Descent Into the Depths of the Earth, carrying over characters he created for his White Plume Mountain novel, and ending up in Queen of the Demonweb Pits. This was the set of modules that introduced the drow to D&D canon, and the module ended with a confrontation between the participant characters and Lolth herself, within the Demonweb Pits. It’s understood that if you wish to really finish the module, you need to kill Lolth, and we needed the novel to have a satisfying ending, in order that meant Lolth dies on the finish of that e-book . . . proper? The original adventure module. Well, t hat got me thinking: If Lolth dies in Greyhawk, is she lifeless all over the place? If she’s dead all over the place, she’s dead within the Forgotten Realms world, too, then, and so what becomes of the drow, who have built their entire society round a Lolth-centered matriarchal theocracy? Sounded like a novel sequence to me. At the same time, we have been looking for a sequence that could use the gross sales strength of R.A. Salvatore to help kick some of our new FR authors up a notch or two in gross salesâ€"to bring them into the territory that was then occupied by Ed Greenwood, Elaine Cunningham, and Troy Denning. Lolth dies, drow go nuts . . . nicely, that had Bob Salvatore written all over it. I received’t belabor the point that Bob went into himself in his introduction to the primary omnibus, however ultimately I talked him into it, despite the fact that earlier than that I was informed by the top of the RPG staff that no, simply becuase Lolth dies in Greyhawk, that has n o effect on anything within the Forgotten Realms. Okay, then, nevertheless it was nonetheless a good suggestion, we just needed to tweak it somewhat. How the authors had been chosen . . . All six of us had written within the Realms earlier than, and as I mentioned above, the enterprise goal of the collection was to elevate a few of the third-tier FR authors up to the level of Greenwood, Cunningham, and Denning, so all three of them were excluded from the runningâ€"they didn’t want the gross sales increase that Bob’s name would offer. So, who then? Rich Baker was turning out to be our greatest “in home” creatorâ€"this is a guy with large chops and all of the D&D “road cred” you would ask for. Richard Lee Byers had blown me away with a brief story and then once more in subsequent books. Everything I stated about Rich applied to Thomas M. Reid. Lisa Smedman, like Byers, had confirmed herself as a member of the so-called “Sembia Seven” as a storyteller to be reckoned wit h, and with substantial RPG “cred” of her own. We suffered a bit during the last two, and right in regards to the time the pending launch of the first book was putting increased stress on us (who is “us”, by the way? That could be then managing editor Peter Archer, Executive Editor Mary Kirchoff, and me) to get the final two authors seated. Then my pal and partner-in-crime Jess Lebow was laid off in one of many rounds of publish-Pokémon downsizing and I received all pissed off. I wished him to write down Book 5, however then, possibly in an effort to calm me down, possibly as a result of they thought this all along, they asked me to put in writing it, and sorry, Jessâ€"love ya, manâ€"however I couldn’t say no. Based on the huge gross sales of the video game, and although the e-book itself was not what I would consider a creative success, I had sold a bunch of copies of Baldur’s Gate, so there was a enterprise case to be made for together with me. I needed Mel Odom to an chor the factorâ€"Mel is a great writer, and an excellent pal, and I knew he would do the homework necessary to take all the small print of five big books and wrap the entire thing up properly. He agreed, and the sequence list in the first version of the primary guide nonetheless has his name on it as creator of Resurrection. Why did he then abruptly drop out? I don’t even remember. I never requested him if he regretted it later, particularly after seeing Paul Kemp on the New York Times finest sellers list. And I won’t ask now. Enter Paul Kempâ€"one other of the Sembia Seven. Paul wasn’t on the original list due to the high hopes we had for the Erevis Cale Trilogyâ€"we had our fingers crossed that Paul would hit that center sales tier on his own, and likewise, how lots of the Sembia Seven could we recycle into this new collection? We already had two. But then, no Mel, deadline approaching . . . I knew I labored properly with Paul, and I knew he had the abilities to wrap it upâ €"I made the case for him and all people, including Bob, signed on,. The relaxation is historical past. The sequence bible was 102 pages long . . . This was the doc that helped everyone keep on message, and by it’s last model, dated December 1, 2003, it handed the a hundred-page mark. Here’s the text of the first page: R.A. Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen Series Bible The Series The sequence will run six books, releasing between 2002 and 2005. Each guide’s first printing might be in hardcover, with a paperback reprint to follow six months to a yr after the hardcover launch. The books are intended to be read in orderâ€"that is one big, six-part story. The sequence starts with the sudden disappearance of the drow goddess Lolth. Since the drow’s matriarchal society is at heart a Lolth-based mostly theocracy, when the priestesses lose their capability to forged spells and seem to have utterly lost contact with their goddess, civil struggle results. The collection protagoni sts are tasked with not only finding out what's mistaken with Lolth but doing something to return drow society to the established order. The Six Books Book 1: Dissolution by Richard Lee Byers, July 2002 (paperback reprint, April 2003) Book 2: Insurrection by Thomas M. Reid, December 2002 (paperback reprint, December 2003) Book 3: Condemnation by Richard Baker, May 2003 (paperback reprint, May 2004) Book 4: Extinction by Lisa Smedman, January 2004 (paperback reprint, February 2005) Book 5: Annihilation Philip Athans, July 2004 (paperback reprint, August 2005) Book 6: Resurrection Paul S. Kemp, April 2005 (paperback reprint, early 2006) R.A. Salvatore will be writing short prologues for every book and also will be studying outlines and manuscripts of all six books. All authors’ major contact might be Phil Athans, who will work with Bob to refine story and character path to maintain the overall imaginative and prescient of the sequence and the sanctity of the dark elf archetype. And here’s the table of contents: The Series1 The Characters Quenthel Baenre 2 Pharaun Mizzrym 4 Ryld Argith eight Valas Hune 10 Jeggred 12 Halisstra Melarn thirteen Danifae Yauntyrr 16 Nimor Imphraezl 19 The Story Book 1: Dissolution21 Book 2: Insurrection27 Book three: Condemnation33 Book 4: Extinction44 Book 5: Annihilation49 Book 6: Resurrection50 The Authors51 Complete D&D Character Stats56 Style Guide95 Rich Baker volunteered to work up complete (Third Edition) D&D stats for the major characters, and that was no small task, particularly since these were very excessive degree characters, however that proved essential with issues like what spells the spellcasters may solid (the D&D equivalent of how a lot wood can a woodchuck chuck), what magic gadgets they'd, what they had been proof against (or successfully resistant to), and so forth. The fashion information section included stuff like this: Protocol A priestess of Lolth who isn't a matron mother, and who isn't the highest rati ng priestess in attendance, should be referred to as “Mistress [first name].” The highest ranking priestess of Lolth in attendance should be known as simply “Mistress.” If there is multiple matron mom in attendance, solely the highest ranking can be known as merely “Matron Mother.” The others would be referred to as, “Matron Mother [House name].” Example: If you’re in a gathering with the matron mothers of Houses Baenre, Barrison Del’Armgo, and Mizzrym, and three priestess: Quenthel Baenre (the Mistress of Arach-Tinilith), Xorra Del’Armgo, and Greyanna Mizzrym, you'll tackle them as follows: Triel Baenre: Matron Mother Mez’Barris Armgo: Matron Mother Del’Armgo Miz’ri Mizzrym: Matron Mother Mizzrym Quenthel Baenre: Mistress Xorra Del’Armgo: Mistress Xorra Greyanna Mizzrym: Mistress Greyanna I love that sort of stuff. We forgot Quenthel was dead . . . I’ll end up with this one, since I’ve outed this earlier than. We went forward underneath the idea th at Quenthel Baenre could be in control of Arach Tinilith initially of the sequence, and nobody on a very big staff remembered that she was killed, by Drizzt, in an earlier e-book. As luckâ€"and it was luck, believe meâ€"would have it, although, Elaine Cunningham was ending up, after years left hanging, her personal drow trilogy. More luck: the FR timeline had progressed some years between the place her Liriel trilogy was set and the “present day” of the Spider Queen collection. And but more luck: Elaine’s trilogy occurred to have a drow priestess despatched to the Demonweb Pits. One livid phone name to Elaine: “Have Lolth ship somebody again along with her, somebody that surprises everybodyâ€"I’ll explain later!” Elaine added that, and Quenthel was resurrected. Whew. I may go on and on for hours, however that’s time higher spent reading the series itself, which now you can get in three forms: The authentic single books, in mass market or e-e-book type. A fashionable pa ir of gift units. Or the brand new omnibus editions. Enjoy! â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans My memory of the Quenthel story differs slightly. Yes, I was writing WINDWALKER at the time, the third guide of the Starlight & Shadows trilogy. A few years had passed for the reason that second e-book’s launch, and the Realms was within the midst of an edition change. While I was writing WINDWALKER, I realized that one of these rule modifications caused a HUGE plot continuity issue, so I requested the WotSQ story bible so that I may examine for other potential issues. My response to Quenthel was, “Wait a minuteâ€"I thought she was dead.” I pulled out some RAS books to double check. Sure sufficient, useless drow. I called Phil, and I distinctly recall the lengthy second of silence followed by his single-word summation of the situation. But the repair was straightforward. I was presently writing a scene in the drow afterlight, so it was only a matter of us determining the mechanics for scooping up Quenthel and bringing her back to Menzo.