Next week we’ll be recording a new episode of Bone, Stone, & Obsidian and we need your help! This will be our first episode with a guest, none other than Bill Slavicsek. Bill was an author of several books as well as the line developer. Bill designed DSR1 Slave Tribes, DSS3 Elves of Athas, Beyond the Prism Pentad, Expanded & Revised Campaign Setting, DSQ2 Arcane Shadows, and had credits in City By the Silt Sea, 4e Campaign Setting, 4e Creature Catalogue, MCII Terrors Beyond Tyr. He also wrote a little game you may know called Star Wars D6 as well as Alternity and TORG.
If you could ask Bill any questions, what would they be?
I could be wrong, but “Elves of Athas” did not include any reference to Andropinis/Albeorn. As one of the few surviving Old Races (as in targeted during the Cleansing Wars), I’ve often wondered how elves feel about Balic or even how Anrodpinis/Albeorn feels about elves. Dwarves have lost their history and Borys is a little busy, giants live but Dregoth was killed/undead, Sielba (pterrans) and Kalid Ma (tari) are gone. Oronis is a regretful genocidal maniac and his chosen were hidden (lizard men), Even the Oba (aarakocra) probably hardly sees those guys. Yet the elves are a) one of the most populous race with a strong ancient culture and b) very common in cities as merchants and can be templars. Denning also includes Andropinis thinking fondly of those bygone days in Cerulean Storm.
In my own campaign I am working on, I feel that this enmity should carry on even into the “present”: no Elven Market within Balic, no elven Balician templars, the elves go out of their way to harass Balic merchants and client villages, etc.
Any thoughts from the guy who literally wrote the book on Athasian elves would be appreciated.
This is my question from the FB group: If Bill Slavicsek had complete creative control and Dark Sun hadn’t been cancelled, where would Bill personally have taken the storylines in Athas post Dregoth Ascending/Secrets of the Deadlands?
What was the design thoughts and process behind the metaplot that changed much of Dark Sun? Or what made TSR review, expand, and update the world of Athas? To my knowledge, it was the only setting with such drastic changes both lore-wise and mechanic-wise (Dragonlance: Fifth Age was another, but it used the SAGA system instead of D&D).
As a side note, I really look forward to the next Bone, Stone, Obsidian podcast
Suggestion to ask Bill -
By the end of the line, there were a tonne of supplements and source books - when developing new material how did you keep it all straight? (In order to not publish conflicting storylines or facts about locations or groups)
In the years since there have been many efforts to compile all the references to all the entities, even with two decades we can’t keep it completely straight.
Question to Bill : Let’s say the line wouldn’t have been cancelled. What could have been your personal project for the next Darksun product right after the last 2e supplement was release?
