| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| pyro894 |
Posted - 20 Jan 2026 : 05:15:29
I saw where Jean Rabe died. She was a big part of TSR. I've never understod why Sauter the city she wrote about in FR8 Cities of Mystery was never placed anywhere by later authors and thus given canon. It should be. |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 30 Jan 2026 : 14:11:00
quote:
Originally posted by Delnyn
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
ah, she wrote Red Magic, the first Thayan novel. I very much enjoyed that work at the time.
Did Ms. Rabe inspire you to create Sleyvas?
No, but I already loved the idea of Thay as it was originally. Sleyvas actually came about rather oddly first as an NPC. I stole the name from the thieve's world shared world stories for some reason. I then created a dual classed fighter/magic user named Sleyvas to challenge my players on some adventure. Later, when the Ravenloft campaign came out, with some new players, I dusted off the NPC and rebuilt him as a bounty hunter against the pary in whatever the land was that had Bane in it being worshipped. I then used him in some one offs at conventions, started using him in some stories I was writing, created some entries for the then unpublished "King's Reach" city on the edge of Impiltur (I still like my version better than the official one). I then had an idea that seemed to me at the time to be intriguing, but looking back, it was much like the alias clones... and had Sleyvas "making" clones of himself which he considered "his children" using DNA of his dead wife... just to explain away anomalies of using "Sleyvas" rebuilds as an NPC who then died against parties.
Eventually, I started writing stories with a friend I met online where we "shared" characters (his then PC Alefian Malnagrane "became" a son of Sleyvas, from when Sleyvas had "escaped" from the spinoff "Mask of the Red Death" campaign setting for Ravenloft in which you were on "earth"). That was entirely me and him having fun writing stories, as I didn't actually play in that campaign setting, but rather used it to explain why Sleyvas had six shooters and knew how to make gunpowder. In that storyline, I also had his character Alefian (my son) and my other favorite NPC (the detective mage-priestess, Lady Jillian Doncastle of Neverwinter and her "sai psion cyclopedia" Lorey Hisstory) have a bried affair that ended up producing children ... and these children became a story link between Jillian and Sleyvas, as he sought to protect "his grandchildren" and their mother after he was forced to flee Thay.
I then used him in some one off campaigns where I got to actually play instead of DM, but for the last 20+ years, more often than not he's just an NPC that I use or write about, and eventually I turned him into essentially a shapechanging magical sentient spellbook, that can also been a wheel of spells deck, and a one handed magic weapon. Storywise, he serves the gods of magic and the Red Knight, and in many ways might be considered a "chosen" of the Red Knight in the aspect of "Goddess of Spell Strategy". |
| Delnyn |
Posted - 29 Jan 2026 : 13:27:49
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
ah, she wrote Red Magic, the first Thayan novel. I very much enjoyed that work at the time.
Did Ms. Rabe inspire you to create Sleyvas? |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 29 Jan 2026 : 01:14:02
ah, she wrote Red Magic, the first Thayan novel. I very much enjoyed that work at the time. |
| redking |
Posted - 26 Jan 2026 : 13:47:47
Rest In Peace, Jean Rabe. |
| Delnyn |
Posted - 21 Jan 2026 : 20:21:36
Unfortunately, that is a solid winning bet. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 21 Jan 2026 : 03:32:35
I'd be willing to bet that few working at WotC right now have even seen Cities of Mystery |
| pyro894 |
Posted - 20 Jan 2026 : 05:39:44
Seems like it would be a fitting tribute to correct this. |
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