CM7: Q & A with Bruce Heard

In preparation for yesterday's post on CM7 "The Tree of Life", I reached out to Bruce Heard with a few questions, which he kindly took the time to answer.

Illustration by Larry Elmore

Q. Can you tell us about what sources of inspiration or concepts led to the development of CM7 "The Tree of Life"?

The source came from Frank Mentzer’s Companion Set and his descriptions of the elves.  Much of the rest came from adventures I ran while I was still in France, in 1981-1982.  The funny thing is that I recycled the Basic D&D idea of sentient, magical trees at the center of forest-dwelling clans in my later Calidar game world describing an elven kingdom.  It all goes back to the Companion set.

Q. Were there any significant changes made to the module before publication, on advice of the editor, or through playtesting?

Surely, you jest!  Playtesting at TSR rarely took place.  There just wasn’t enough time for this, given everyone’s production schedules.  Typically, editors focused on text clarity, grammar, spelling, formatting, and copyfitting.  They did not often address pure design issues with a writer.  So, no to your question.  Once I turned in my design, it disappeared into TSR’s black box and came back out on the other side, not looking too bad!

Q. The Star Map is a nice feature of the module.  Did you provide a detailed sketch to the artist, or does it represent more of a collaboration?

Yes, I drew a diagram for the star map.  Unfortunately, I do not remember who produced the chart’s final artwork.  I suspect it was Larry Elmore.  I was too new in the company to grasp all the production ropes or to go snooping around to see what other staffers were doing on the module.  As I said earlier, for me at that time, it was a black box until the “tah-dah” moment came.

Q. Looking back at CM7, one of your earliest works, is there anything you would now consider doing differently?

Nah!  It was as good as I could have written it at the time.  I wish the Gazetteers had already been published which would have helped me position the adventure in the Known World specifically.  GAZ1 came in 1987… too late for CM7.  This was part of the reason I started pushing for these Gazetteers when I earned enough influence on the D&D product line to do so.

Q. Any advice for those considering running the adventure?

No, not really.  I wrote most of this more than 40 years ago.  Been a while.  A note in passing as I flip through my copy: Page 3 introduces a druid named Cucurbita Pepo.  This was the name of a PC in a campaign I ran back in France (based in Greyhawk, using AD&D first edition rules).