Creating the Dragonlance World

The Dragonlance game world was originally created for TSR by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman in the early 1980s, and has since spawned over 150 successful fantasy novels, modules, and sourcebooks.  Margaret and Tracy’s debut novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, introduced us to the Heroes of the Lance and set the stage for one of the most intricate, engrossing, and richly-detailed fantasy storylines ever written.  Fans have been asking for a movie ever since, and, now, nearly twenty-five years later, we’re finally going to get one.  On January 15, 2008, Paramount will release an animated movie adaptation of Dragons of Autumn Twilight, starring such actors as Kiefer Sutherland (Raistlin), Lucy Lawless (Goldmoon), and Jason Marsden (Tasslehoff – and Myron from Fallout 2!).

In order to get a better understanding of how the Dragonlance world and “The Companions” were originally created, we fired over a set of questions to the duo that started it all. Our questions and Margaret and Tracy’s answers to follow:

GB: For those readers who may not be entirely familiar with Dragonlance and the world of Krynn, can you give us a brief introduction to the setting? What makes it different from other D&D settings?

Margaret: For me, this goes back twenty years to when we were developing the Dragonlance world. Some things that made it different then were: 1) Women in major heroic roles. 2) Heroes who were “nobody”. That is, heroes who were middle class working people (not kings, nobles, princes). 3) Heroes with flaws: Tanis lusting after Kitiara, Caramon’s alcoholism, Raistlin’s dark ambition, religious intolerance, racial prejudice, etc. 4) The use of humor is very important to lighten what could otherwise be a very dark story. So thank the gods for Tasslehoff! (Though some of the kender’s companions might not agree!).

Tracy: It’s all about the story. Dragonlance was the groundbreaking world that set out to tell a story first and have an adventure second.

GB: What prompted you to create the Dragonlance game world in the first place? Did you have to convince TSR that the Dragonlance setting would be a good idea or were they on board from the beginning?

Margaret: Tracy needs to answer this. I came on board after the project was well into production. I do remember that management wanted to kill Dragonlance once. Tracy spent days coming up with sales figures for the first game modules. He presented them to management to prove that DL was actually outperforming all other D&D settings.

Tracy: The genesis for Dragonlance sprang out of personal desperation. My wife Laura and I had been out of work for over six months in northern Utah. Desperate to buy shoes for our children that winter, we sent some game adventures we had written to TSR in the hopes that they pay us five hundred dollars for them. As it turned out, they offered us a job. So we packed up our few belongings and started off across the wide north American plains on our hopeful way to a new life. It was during those long hours driving across the flatlands that Laura and I discussed what we might bring to this game company that would justify their actually PAYING us to make games for them. It was then that Dragonlance was born.

GB: How did the two of you initially meet and begin collaborating on Dragons of Autumn Twilight? Did you ever imagine that you’d wind up being a team for the next 20+ years?

Margaret: I came on board in the fall of 1983. I was hired as an editor by Jean Black, head of the TSR, Inc. book department. One of my tasks was to work with the Dragonlance setting. I was to develop a plot line that we could give to a famous fantasy writer who would then write the novels. I started sitting in on the Dragonlance game product meetings and there I met Tracy and the rest of the DL team: Michael Williams, Larry Elmore, Doug Niles, Harold Johnson. I fell in love with the world and the characters. As I worked on the plot, it became increasingly clear to both Tracy and me that we were the ones who should write this book because no one else could love the world as we did.

Tracy: The company had actually hired a writer from outside the company to write the books. As his pages started coming in, Margaret and I could see that he just didn’t have the vision of the world that we did. So we convinced Jean Black – editor at the time – to let us give it a try. We wrote the prologue and the first five chapters over a single weekend just on the hope it would be accepted … and it was.

GB: Larry Elmore’s cover art for your many Dragonlance novels and handbooks is arguably some of the finest and most recognizable artwork ever created for the role-playing industry. How did he originally become involved with Dragonlance? Would you say that his artwork helped contribute to the world of Krynn and inspire the stories the two of you have created over the years?

Tracy: Larry was there practically from the beginning. We wanted to sell this big project to the company and get everyone on board. We approached Larry and asked if he would be willing to do some ‘˜spec’ drawing depicting the story that we wanted to tell. Graciously, Larry did far more than we expected, producing not only voluminous drawing but four paintings designed specifically for that sales presentation. His art and covers have a lot to do with how we got here today.

Margaret: I have had so many readers tell me the reason they bought the book was because Larry’s painting of the three characters on the front of the original Dragons of Autumn Twilight seemed to be speaking directly to them. Larry was and still is a big part of Dragonlance. His art will be featured on Lost Leaves from the Inn of the Last home, the final DL product coming out from Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd.

GB: Your Dragonlance novels featured some of the most memorable characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading about (Tanis, Raistlin, Tasslehoff, Fizban, and Lord Soth, to name a few). Can you give us an idea of what it took to come up with each character’s background and personality before actually starting the writing process?

Tracy: Initially the characters were put together – quite literally – by committee! Everyone working on the project would set around a conference table and eventually we came up with a ‘˜typical’ party of adventurers that would be the core of our story. What we didn’t know at the time was that a good party of D&D adventurers does NOT necessarily make for good novel writing; there were far too many characters on stage at the same time. Every time they went anywhere in the first book, they moved like a tour group. Worse, before we started working on the books they were very two-dimensional characters. Breathing life and dimension into these characters was both challenging and rewarding.

Margaret: The one I remember most clearly was Raistlin. When I was developing the plot for the book, I had to come up with back stories for the characters, give them personalities, etc. All I had to go on was: the artists’ portrayals of the characters and their game stats! With Raistlin, I knew he was a third level wizard (which non-gaming readers of the novel would say, “Huh?”), that he was frail and sickly and that he had a strong and powerful twin brother, Caramon. I knew that their companions called Raistlin “the Sly One”. I also knew from the artwork that Raistlin had golden skin and hourglass eyes. I had to find a plausible reason for all these. The most difficult was, of course, the golden skin and hourglass eyes. I knew it wasn’t genetic–Caramon looked perfectly normal. So the answer was, of course, the magic. The magic had done something to Raistlin, changed him. I asked myself: What if a mage had to undergo some sort of test? What if that test was one in which you had to stake your life on the outcome? Failure means death! How would your overprotective twin brother, who has guarded you all his life, feel about that? Answering these questions led me to know and understand the character of Raistlin as I have known few other characters (or even real live people!).

Margaret: Tracy and I always work together on the story line. Then I do the writing and he develops the world, background, etc. I always called him (now I email him!) with questions. For example (spoilers ahead), when the fiery mountain is about to fall on Tasslehoff at the end of the first book, I called Tracy and said, “Well, we’ve just killed off Tas because I can’t see how on earth he’s going to survive this.” Tracy came up with the answer and Tas was saved! The funniest time was when I was writing the third book in Legends. We were facing a horrendous deadline and I’d just come to the ending and realized that we’d made a terrible mistake. In this scene, Caramon has to enter the Abyss. Now, Tracy and I had made poor Raistlin go through all kinds of hell trying to enter Hell (including traveling back in time) and now what was I going to do–just have Caramon stroll right through the Portal? I called Tracy and I was almost in tears. “What are we going to do?” Tracy said, “Calm down. I have the answer.” I picked up my pen. Tracy went on: “There is a little known fact about Caramon that enables him to enter the Abyss.” I was writing feverishly. “Yes, what is it?” Tracy replied solemnly, “Caramon always carries American Express.” We did finally find a way to get Caramon where he needed to be, but I still laugh when I recall that.

Tracy: Margaret and I have developed a deep and abiding friendship built on a foundation of great respect. It’s a joy for us to work together whenever a project comes along that interests us. We are currently working on a new six-book project together called ‘˜Dragonships’ … a fantasy-meets-vikings epic … and it’s still just as fun as ever.

GB: How would you compare your writing style in the 80’s to the present day? Do you think the Chronicles and Legends series, specifically, would be significantly different if you started working on them now?

Margaret: I hope that I’ve grown as a writer in twenty years! I can’t ever read anything I’ve written because I want to go back and rewrite it to make it better. One reason we wrote the Lost Chronicles series is to fill in the gaping holes that exist in the Dragonlance Chronicles.

Tracy: That’s true! When we first discussed Lost Chronicles, one of our concerns was the difference in our writing styles from back then to the present. We decided that it was best to just use the craft that we had now rather than try to mimic our younger selves.

GB: When did you first learn that a movie based on Dragons of Autumn Twilight was going to be made and how much input has the two of you had during its creation?

Margaret I was in a restaurant in Galveston, Texas, with my sister and nieces when Cindi Rice called me to tell me that a movie deal had been made and was underway. Now, I have to admit that I was a bit nervous. Over the years, I’d heard about various DL movie proposals. One was from a Japanese anime company. They even sent along artwork. I still remember a Raistlin with big eyes looking about twelve, holding a little bird in his hand. Yeah, right! I also remember a truly horrendous DL script for Autumn Twilight in which there was absolutely nothing recognizable left of our story. I can’t tell you how great it made me feel to read George Strayton’s script and to discuss it with him and find out how truly dedicated he was to maintaining our vision of the book. And then to work with the director on the art and the composer on the music! And then to find out that some of the voice actors are fans. I can’t thank the producers and Will and Karl and George enough. It’s been such a wonderful experience.

Tracy: I recall that when I first heard of the production, it didn’t make a big impression on me. There has been so many rumors down the years and false hopes raised that this just felt like it would be another dead end. But it turned out to be the real deal and, much to my amazement, the producers, writers and director were all willing to invite us in and let us help. They listened to us, to the extent that they were allowed, and I like to think that we helped.

GB: What challenges are involved with telling the Dragons of Autumn Twilight storyline in less than 2 hours? Are there any particular moments from the story that needed to be cut in order to fit into the movie’s timeframe?

Margaret: Of course, lots had to be cut, but that’s okay. That gives people a reason to read the book! 🙂 One of my favorite scenes was cut, however, and I persuaded the producers to put it back in. That was Raistlin’s farewell scene to the little gully dwarf, Bupu. This scene is important to me because it shows us a tender side to Raistlin’s dark character, a side of him that is essential to understanding him and his actions later on in what we hope will be two more movies! I had a chance to hear Kiefer Sutherland reading this scene and I was moved to tears.

Tracy: You may find it shocking but I would have actually had them cut a good deal more! I would have preferred it if the first movie closed about mid-way through Autumn Twilight but Wizards of the Coast insisted that the entire book be in the first film. George Strayton did an absolutely magnificent job of dealing with the tightrope walk of getting the story in and creating solid screenplay. I’ve spoke to George recently on this … we’re both sorry to have lost the scene with the wicker dragon.

GB: It has been over 15 years since we played The Dark Queen of Krynn, which ended up being SSI’s final Dragonlance video game. Now that a movie will be bringing the setting even further into the spotlight, what is the chance that we might see a new video game based in the Dragonlance setting?

Margaret: Second to a movie, a video game is high on the fan’s wish list. I’d love to see one. I guess you’ll have to ask Atari that question.

Tracy: I’m looking more toward the second and third movies before we start thinking video game. If the first movie is a financial success then we can make an even better second film. A better second film means an even better third film and that means the possibility of computer or console games. For me, this first film is the start of a wonderful journey … not a destination.

Thanks for your time, Margaret and Tracy. Keep up the amazing work!

Dragons of Autumn Twilight will be released on DVD on January 15, 2008. Click here to pre-order a copy now.