In researching yesterday's post on "The Wererats of Relfren" I reached out to Grant Boucher, who co-wrote the adventure with William Kurt Wenz.
Boucher has had an amazing career in writing and in the visual effects industry. He very kindly agreed to answer some questions about his early days as an RPG designer.
"The Wererats of Relfren" in Dungeon #14 (Nov/Dec 1988). Illustration by Jennell Jaquays.
Q. Are there any anecdotes you can share behind the writing or conception of "The Wererats of Relfren"?
The design intent with Relfren was to create a simple but challenging D&D (rather than AD&D) adventure that took advantage of rarely used creatures so that even seasoned players would be unsuspecting of these unusual villains. As such, players should not be told the name of the adventure or shown the cover art until the big reveal.
Speaking of the cover, Paul (now Jennell) Jaquays really hit it out of the park on this one. The interior illustrations are among the finest examples and really delivered on the setting, action, characters, lighting, emotion, and humor. For example, the “police lineup” of Human, Rat, Giant Rat, Wererat, and Greater Wererat always brings a smile to my face while also being useful to DM and players alike. They remain among my favorites.
The key is to place one’s tongue firmly in cheek during this adventure. My gaming buddy Kurt and I have a twisted (and somewhat corny) sense of humor that worked well for this project. Game designers rarely get the opportunity to do comedy (beyond a slice-of-life moment here or there). In fact, I enjoyed this so much that I went on to write and design the humorous “The Queen of the Honeybee Hive” (from the award-winning Castle Greyhawk compilation), Gamma-Lot (for Paranoia), and Pumpkin Patch Panic (for Ghostbusters).
The “English-major in me” inspirations for this adventure came from Beauty and the Beast by Marie LePrince de Beaumont (see editor Barbara Young’s issue opening quote) and Edgar Allen Poe’s masterpiece, “The Masque of the Red Death” – specifically, the terrifying climactic reveal of the host’s true nature before the horrified party goers. Poe has remained a touchstone of mine throughout my writing career.
Q. I was impressed that the editors at Dungeon seemed to favour your adventures for the cover illustration.
The Editors of DUNGEON, Roger Moore (see below) and then Barbara Young, were always very gracious with the cover assignment for each issue. It was never something my creative partners and I ever expected. But, after the first couple, we tried to make sure everything we designed and submitted rose to that level. Roger called it an “ability to capture the moment” – by which I believe he meant staging the scene as dramatically as possible from the audience’s (aka the players’) perspective. This creative focus and discipline would eventually serve me well in Hollywood.
Speaking of DUNGEON covers – “Into the Fire” (DUNGEON#1) was originally a side quest in what was eventually published as “The Plight of Cirria” (DUNGEON#9). When the full adventure was submitted to DRAGON magazine (who used to publish user-submitted adventures in the olden days), Editor Roger E. Moore liked it (but knew it was way too long) and asked if the dragon side-quest could be pulled out into a standalone. The result was chosen to be the anchor adventure in the premier issue of a new magazine of just adventures to be called DUNGEON. As if that wasn’t wonderful enough, my favorite fantasy illustrator, the late great Keith Parkinson, was commissioned to do a painting of the dragon Flame surrounded by all of the unique treasures found in his hoard. When I saw the final result, I was over the moon, of course. Here was one of the finest artists working today transforming my creations into reality! Roger’s guidance and inspiration to a fledging writer (who initially needed a lot of help editing his own work, mind you) has had a profound impact on me and my life until this day.
Some thirty years later, that exact same Keith Parkinson masterwork would feature on the boy’s bedroom door throughout the entire climactic third act of the movie READY PLAYER ONE.
Q. I saw that you were also involved in the D&D movie, and got a chance to get to know Dave Arneson.
Dave was a wonderful gentleman, and it was my privilege to be able to call him my very dear old friend. Dave and I met at a GenCon and while he was teaching game design in Florida. We hit it off instantly. And when the original D&D movie crossed my visual effects front door, director Corey Solomon was ecstatic about the idea of having him come on set. So, Dave and I flew out to Prague during the shoot and got dressed up in proper wizard robes. We got to lurk in the background of a number of shots with a bunch of other mages during a dragon attack, but none of those escaped the cutting room floor. Fortunately, the actual footage of the two of us is found on the old DVD version as a deleted scene/outtake.
Grant Boucher with Dave Arneson (left) on the set of the Dungeons & Dragons (2000) movie
We were talking a lot about trying to bring his Blackmoor game world to life as a television series when he passed on. I was honored to be invited to his funeral where I met so many of his personal friends, family, and fellow gaming luminaries. Like all who had the pleasure to know him well, I miss him often.
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