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Originally posted by Fillow

Congratulations to both of you Brian and James !

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Originally posted by freyar

Congratulations on the Silver ENnie win for Hobby Games!

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Originally posted by Brian R. James

Great to meet you again this year Jim, even if it was only for a few minutes on the street corner. Congratulations on all your success this year!

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Originally posted by Pierre-Luc

Hi Mr. Lowder, I read your story "Laughter in the flames" and it was great! I'd like to know when, more precisely, does it take place? Thank you very much.

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Originally posted by Kyrene
In my copy of The World of Sungeons & Dragons: Volume 2, pages 6, 7 and 8 of Elminster at the Magefair are transposed. Was that a common error as the books came from the printers, or do I have a rarer copy?

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Originally posted by Azuth


Jim,

Any upcoming FR products about which you can share any details? Maybe you and [b]Scott[/i] are planning additional tomes in the Avatar series?

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Originally posted by Azuth


Based on many comments I have heard, it would seem that Wizards is not a company that focuses on historical fiction in the same was as, say, CBS/Paramount/Pocket Books does with Star Trek, where new novels are published on shows (lines) that are no longer actively being produced on television or for the cinema. Would you agree with that general assessment, Jim? There are many great threads in the Realms in past editions that are excellent candidates for new novels, but for which it seems Wizards' policies won't allow authors to touch.

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Originally posted by Azuth


On a separate note: could you comment on how you fleshed out Midnight's transformation to divinity in your mind's eye before committing it to parchment? I hadn't given her (or Cyric, really) much thought after the Avatar Trilogy and never contemplated the differences between Mystra and Midnight until your book was published. I'm not certain how much, if any, involvement you had with the creation of Midnight in the original trilogy, but I really liked how you handled her...conflict...between her mortal desires and her divine duties. If I'm not being too greedy in asking, I'll ask you to expound on Kelemvor as well, although you didn't have a many pages to discuss his divinity in your novel.

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Originally posted by JamesLowder

Scott Ciencin and I scrambled to create character backstories, which were needed for the Hall of Heroes supplement, even as the first novel was being plotted.

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Originally posted by JamesLowder

From what I've heard, WotC has not been considering novels set in any era but the one linked to 4E. That could change, of course, and I hope it does. The fewer the restrictions, the more likely a shared world book line is to generate interesting, creative work. It's not impossible for there to be superior Realms books with the 4E-era restriction in place; it just makes it harder for the writers to do something interesting and unexpected.

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Agreed. Admittedly, I've always been rather surprised at the lack of significant time-travel spells in D&D. That being said, I can imagine the foundations of a really great story where the protagonist has to tell his/her younger self to do something different that is dire to the future of the Realms, but cannot change any other points in history.

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I was the editor for the original three Avatar novels and the project coordinator for all the Avatar-related RPGs and comics, so I was very much involved in the development of the characters. When I was assigned to the trilogy, the characters had names and classes (Adon is a cleric, etc, etc), and it had been established that two would become gods at the end of the trilogy. All the other details about the characters were completely open. (There was, however, a laundry list of plot elements and setting details that needed to be included in the novels, to help explain the transition from the 1E Realms to the 2E Realms.) Scott Ciencin and I scrambled to create character backstories, which were needed for the Hall of Heroes supplement, even as the first novel was being plotted. And I coordinated things with all three authors involved in the novels throughout the process (and re-plotted and wrote parts of Tantras after the original author left the book).

As the series was wrapping up, Scott, Troy Denning, and I had several conversations about what the characters would be like post-Waterdeep. The main difference between Midnight and Cyric is the one you already noted--Midnight would find it difficult to completely abandon her humanity, while Cyric would embrace his, well, mortal inhumanity. In some ways, Cyric was a god in his own mind well before he got the actual power, but was never capable of dealing with the power.

I saw Kelemvor as being the most stable in his eventual role as god, the one most able to move past his human issues, where Midnight and Cyric both had trouble doing so. But, as you say, I didn't really get many pages to develop that in Prince. Kelemvor ascending was not part of the plan from the original Avatar project; I added that twist for Prince, along with the Godsbane-Mask subplot.

If anyone had ever offered Adon divinity, Troy, Scott, and I concluded that he would have run screaming from the room. He was self-aware enough to know that such a fate was not for him.

I don't recall if I've mentioned this before, but the original proposal for the follow-up to the first Avatar Trilogy was a second trilogy titled Godswar. The plan was: Scott, Troy, and I would each write a book, each focused on the individual character(s) we'd come to consider "ours." But Scott and Troy moved on to other projects, so the idea of doing three books, with a structure a lot like Empires (three very different perspectives on a central plotline) became one book. The change didn't impact what I wanted to write much at all, since I was always supposed to be the one to do the Cyric book. The title didn't even have to change from the one I first proposed.

As far as writing the Avatar characters in Prince, it was an easy and somewhat seamless transition from the trilogy, since I'd been involved in their development from the very early stages. Plus, there were not external dictates about what had to happen in the novel; I could propose the story I wanted to tell and then it was up to me to convince the people in books and games that it would work.

Hope that answers your question. If not, let me know and I'll give it another try.

All best,
Jim Lowder

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

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Originally posted by JamesLowder

Scott Ciencin and I scrambled to create character backstories, which were needed for the Hall of Heroes supplement, even as the first novel was being plotted.

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This brings up a question for me... Hall of Heroes had listed, as a major character, a guy named Doin Sanehiro. I've never seen anything else about this guy, and I've long wondered about his inclusion in that tome.

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Originally posted by Azuth

First, when you discuss what was predetermined for the original trilogy, was it predestined that Bane, Bhaal, Myrkul, and Mystra had to go? With two characters assuming divinity in an already-crowded pantheon, it would seem that they'd have to replace an extant deity. If you could illuminate on how the deities who would die were selected, that'd fill in a decades-old question I've had.

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Originally posted by Azuth

Second, to my knowledge, yours is the only book (with Troy's sequel included) that was illustrated. Did you have any input into that decision and/or get to review the pictures prior to publishing? While I'm generally easily able to picture characters in my own mind's eye, I found it a nice touch to the novels. It would be nice if they included this in more novels; I'm curious as to why they haven't.

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Originally posted by Azuth

Third, and in this I'm just asking a general question of you, not necessarily a Realmslore-binding answer is required: With the death of Midnight/Mystra in 4E, to name just one god, what would happen to her worshippers both awaiting salvation on the Fugue Plain and already in Nirvana?

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Originally posted by Azuth

I'm not asking you to trash Troy or his work, but rather I'm interested how you might have handled Kelemvor's final transition into his divinity. If this is too personal a question, I'll respect that.

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Originally posted by Azuth

I hope you'll pardon a twinge of jealousy in your ability to tell any story you wanted and then "selling" it rather than the reverse. A lucky man you are, indeed.

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Originally posted by Azuth

Thanks much for the reply, Jim! At the time of the transition to 2E, I was playing a Priest of Bane, and given how I'd developed the character, there was just no way he'd have converted to Cyric.

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Originally posted by Azuth


Yet another random question for you, Jim. Having just reread Ring of Winter I can't help but note that they style of writing seems very different from Prince of Lies. Aside from the fact that we become better authors as we have more practice writing, is there any insight you can share or illuminate upon the writing of Ring regarding your creative decisions? I have felt that the book was begging for a sequel, given the power the ring possesses, but I also know that wanting to write and being granted the luxury of writing a sequel are two different things.

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