Darksword Adventures is a book by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman that was published by Bantam/Spectra in 1988. It describes the world of Thimhallen, the setting the Darksword trilogy written by Weis and Hickman. Most of the book describes the world and its history. The final chapter, "Phantasia", describes a fantasy role-playing game that is set in Thimhallen.
Darksword Adventures is a book that describes a role-playing game set in Thimhallen, the world of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Darksword novels. The rules for the game are largely found in the final chapter of the book, while the previous chapters give an in-depth background of the world:
The final part of the book, titled "Phantasia", contains the rules to a fantasy role-playing system. [2]
Characters are defined by only five "mysteries": Combat, Prowess, Information, Shape, and Life. [2] The game includes rules for movement, combat, and magic; statistics for important characters from the novels; and scenarios written in story form. [2] The resolution mechanics are based on a hand-signal system. [3] This system measures success according to a scale named for the in-universe game of Tarok: Total, Almost, Reasonable, Off, Canceled.[ citation needed ]
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman wrote the popular Darksword fantasy trilogy in 1987 and 1988. They then released a fourth book, Darksword Adventures, a mass market paperback published by Bantam/Spectra in 1988 that featured cover art by Larry Elmore and interior art by Stephen D. Sullivan. [2]
In his 1990 book The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games , game critic Rick Swan wondered at the concept behind the role-playing game, since "The rules are so closely tied to the novels that adapting the material to other systems such as AD&D or RuneQuest is all but impossible. Worse, they're so detailed and jargon-heavy that role-playing novices won't know where to begin." Swan was extremely critical of what he saw as an unnecessary invention of new words to describe ordinary concepts, using as an example the word for distance. "Movement rates are given in mila per hour; a mila is about the same as a mile, so why the new word?" Swan noted that "when all the verbiage is cleared away, 'Phantasia' is a pretty good little RPG ... featuring an especially nice magic system." Swan concluded by giving the game a rating of 2.5 out of 4, saying that by linking the game so closely to the novels, "they've limited the game's appeal to a very narrow group; namely, advanced role-players who've thoroughly digested all three of the novels and are willing to learn a difficult game system that's essentially useless in any setting other than the Darksword universe." [4]
Dragonlance is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived Dragonlance while driving in their car on the way to TSR for a job interview. Tracy Hickman met his future writing partner Margaret Weis at TSR, and they gathered a group of associates to play the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The adventures during that game inspired a series of gaming modules, a series of novels, licensed products such as board games, and lead miniature figures.
Bantam Spectra is the science fiction division of American publishing company Bantam Books, which is owned by Random House.
Tracy Raye Hickman is an American fantasy author and designer of games and virtual reality (VR) experiences. He co-authored the original Dragonlance novels with Margaret Weis as well as numerous other books. He also designed and created role playing game material while working for TSR and has cowritten novels with his wife, Laura Hickman. He is the author or co-author of over 60 books.
Margaret Edith Weis is an American fantasy and science fiction author of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the Dragonlance role-playing game (RPG) world. She is founding CEO and owner of Sovereign Press, Inc and Margaret Weis Productions, licensing several popular television and movie franchises to make RPG series in addition to their own.
Kender are a type of fantasy race first developed for the Dragonlance campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role playing game published by TSR, Inc. in 1984. The first kender character was created by Harold Johnson as a player character in a series of role-playing adventures co-authored by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis. Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance shared world novels introduced the kender to readers and players alike, largely through the character Tasslehoff Burrfoot, who became one of the main protagonists in the series.
Ravenloft is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. The American game publishing company TSR, Inc. released it as a standalone adventure booklet in 1983 for use with the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. It was written by Tracy and Laura Hickman, and includes art by Clyde Caldwell with maps by David Sutherland III. The plot of Ravenloft focuses on the villain Strahd von Zarovich, a vampire who pines for his lost love. Various story elements, including Strahd's motivation and the locations of magical weapons, are randomly determined by drawing cards. The player characters attempt to defeat Strahd and, if successful, the adventure ends.
Sturm Brightblade is a fictional character from the Dragonlance series of role playing games and novels, based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons franchise. The character was created by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and is published by Wizards of the Coast.
Goldmoon is a fictional character from the Dragonlance fantasy series of novels and role playing games, originally published by TSR, Inc. and later by Wizards of the Coast.
Serenity Role Playing Game is a science fiction tabletop role-playing game released in 2005 and set in the universe of the movie Serenity and the television series Firefly. It was produced by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd, and its mechanics were the first iteration of the Cortex System. It won an Origins Award for Best RPG in 2005. Margaret Weis's license came to an end on January 31, 2011.
The Darksword series consists of the initial three books of The Darksword Trilogy, a supplemental role-playing volume, and a single-volume sequel. It was written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman with cover art by Larry Elmore. It is the story of a young man, born without magic in a society where magic is life, who has been prophesied to destroy the world. The books are published by Bantam Spectra, the science fiction division of Random House. Each book of the trilogy reached the New York Times best seller list.
Riverwind is a fictional character appearing in the Dragonlance series of Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game supplements and novels, created by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman and published by TSR.
The Sovereign Stone series is a trilogy of fantasy novels: Well of Darkness (2000), Guardians of the Lost (2001), and Journey into the Void (2003), set in the same universe of the Sovereign Stone Role-playing game. Both the books and the game were primarily written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
The DL series is a series of adventures and some supplementary material for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. These modules along with the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy of novels, which follow one possible adventure series through the modules, were the first published items that established the Dragonlance fictional universe. The original DL series was released from 1984 to 1986, with the final two modules added to it in 1988. In the 1990s these roleplaying adventures from the original series were collected and revised for 2nd Edition AD&D as the three DLC Dragonlance Classics modules. There were also versions of the module series released in 1999, 2000 and 2006.
Dragons of a Fallen Sun is a fantasy novel by American writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It is the first novel published in The War of Souls trilogy and part of the large Dragonlance series.
Dragons of the Hourglass Mage is a fantasy novel by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, based on the Dragonlance fictional campaign setting. It is the third installment in the Lost Chronicles trilogy, which occurs between the storyline of the individual books which compose the Chronicles trilogy. The events of this novel entirely take place during the same time frame as the events described in Dragons of Spring Dawning.
The Dragonlance Chronicles is a trilogy of fantasy novels written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, which take place in the Dragonlance setting. This series is the first set of Dragonlance novels, and is followed by the Dragonlance Legends series.
This is a complete list of works by American science fiction and fantasy author Margaret Weis.
The Sylvan Veil is a role-playing game adventure published by TSR in 1999 for the Dragonlance: Fifth Age campaign setting using either the rules for the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, or the SAGA System rules.