Lawrence Schick is an editor and writer who served as Vice-President for Production and Design at TSR Hobbies from 1979 to 1981. He is best known for his work on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition adventure modules, including S2 White Plume Mountain (1979) and the Slavers series. He is also the original designer of D&D's aarakocra and kelpie, tabaxi, and other creatures.
Following his work at TSR, he wrote Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games (1991), and was principle narrative designer on critically acclaimed Baldur's Gate 3 (2023).
Life and career[]
Early gaming history[]
Lawrence Schick was introduced to science fiction and fantasy at a young age, reading pulp paperbacks purchased by his father in the 1960s. Early writers whose works he read included Harold Lamb, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard.[1]
Schick attended Kent State University in Ohio, where he was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons by friend Tom Moldvay, who acquired an incomplete photocopy of the Dungeons & Dragons 3-Volume Set at a science fiction convention.[2]
Schick's gaming group advertised in Dragon #22 (Feb 1979), located in Kent, Ohio. He attended Gen Con XI, where he met Dragon editor Tim Kask, discussing the problems with the game's alignment system. At that time, he had already worked with Moldvay on a Dragon magazine article series Giants in the Earth, which would be published in later issues.
Employment with TSR[]
In 1978, Gary Gygax decided that TSR needed to hire some in-house designers, and put out a call for applicants. Lawrence Schick impressed him by writing an adventure module, S2 White Plume Mountain (1979), which he included with his application.[3] The work consisted of elements from dungeons Schick had written during the previous four years, and he did not expect it would be published. The magic sword Blackrazor was inspired by Elric of Melniboné's Stormbringer.[2]
Schick was employed by TSR between January 1979 and 1981.[2] His beginning employment at TSR was mentioned in the editorial of Dragon #26 (Jun 1979), a position later described as a full-time designer. His first major task was as editor of the Dungeon Masters Guide (1e) (1979), where he was given the mammoth task of organizing Gygax's disorganized sections. Schick also contributed some text to that work, such as the example of play and some advice for Dungeon Masters.[2]
In the summer of 1979, Schick was assigned with Dave Cook to create Star Frontiers, TSR's sci-fi RPG.[4] It would subsequently be re-written by other writers, who adapted it to reduce complexity and realism in favor of playability.[5]
In August 1979, Schick attended Gen Con XII, where he took place in the Second Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Masters Tournament, or "Masters II". He placed 4th out of 36 entrants. Schick was part of Team 11, alongside fellow TSR employees Ralph Williams (6th place) and Gary Jaquet (7th place). This was Schick's first year entering the tournament.[6]
Schick entered Masters III, held from September 1979 to January 1980. He placed 30th out of 50, with a score of 285,950. under TSR's AD&D National Player Rating System, Schick was rated with 64 points, making him joint 12th.[7]
By July 1980, Schick was Vice-President for Production and Design at TSR Hobbies.[8] Most TSR management at the time consisted of hardcore gamers who enjoyed competitive tournament play, and Schick himself was no exception. However, he felt that it was a niche mode of play, and that TSR was investing disproportionate amounts of effort to support tournament play, rather than expanding the game's reach to a broader audience of more casual players. His goal during this period to ensure that tournament scenarios could be re-purposed as adventure modules, resulting in such works as the A1-4 Slavers series.[2]
Schick would later criticize TSR management at this time for what he perceived as "cronyism" and "callous exploitation of the D&D fan base".[2] During work on the Fiend Folio (1e) (1981), he disregarded Gygax's instructions to remove a quarter of the monster entries which Gygax found unsuitable or too silly. Gygax would credit this to Schick's desire to leave the company, which he did shortly thereafter.[9][10]
At Gen Con XIII, Schick once again entered the Masters Tournament, placing joint fifth alongside Basic D&D creator J. Eric Holmes.[11]
Post-TSR career[]
In the mid-1980s, Schick moved into the video games industry. His earliest credits include writing documentation for the Apple II game Silent Service (1985), with his earliest game design credit on Airborne Ranger (1987) for the Commodore 64, and a position as Project Leader on the DOS version of that game in 1988.[12]
From 1987 to 1993, Schick worked for MicroProse, initially as a game deisgner and moving on to Producer of Role-Playing Games.[2] MicroProse's 1993 PC game Bloodnet, on which worked as producer, was reviewed by Sander Petersen in Dragon #204 (Apr 1994), who rated it three out of five stars.[13]
This would be his last release for MicroProse before leaving the company in 1994. In Dragon #207 (Jul 1994) it was reported that he had joined Magnet Interactive Systems at a producer and designer. He was joined at that company by Zeb Cook, who had worked for TSR until that point, and Dragon columnist Ken Rolston. Schick would work as managing director on their 1995 game Chop Suey before leaving the company.
From 1990 to 1994, as a side project, he also led Cruel Hoax Productions, a troupe of six people who held LARP events for groups of 50 to 100 players.[2] One such event was Cafe Casablanca, held on September 27-29, 1991, in the Days Hotel in West Haven, CT.[14]
From 1995 to 1999, Schick worked at America Online as general manager, and later executive director for all games. AOL's online RPGs during this time included the original Neverwinter Nights, and Ultima Online.[2]
From 2007 to 2009, he was employed by Big Huge Games, where he worked again with Ken Rolston, lead designer on Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002) and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006). Schick was lead narrative designer on Ascendant, which was canceled following the company's acquisition by THQ in January 2008. The company later worked on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (2012), on which Schick was credited under Additional Thanks.[12]
In June 2009, Schick was hired by Zenimax Online Studios as Lead Content Designer for an unannounced MMORPG.[2] In 2012, the company would announce The Elder Scrolls Online, which released in 2014. Schick served in the position of lead loremaster on this game and various DLCs released between 2015 and 2018. TSR veteran Zeb Cook also worked as a designer on these games.
Schick worked as principle narrative designer on critically acclaimed Baldur's Gate 3 (2003), a computer RPG based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition core rules and set in the Forgotten Realms setting. Baldur's Gate 3 received overwhelmingly positive feedback, including a 10/10 score from IGN, six awards at The Game Awards 2023 including Game of the Year including Game of the Year, and as of December 2023, a 96% positive user rating at Steam with 439,995 reviews.[15]
Personal life[]
Schick currently lives in Dublin, Ireland. He has three children, named Wyatt, Sanderson, and Honor.
Bibliography[]
Basic D&D[]
Schick worked on the Basic Set (B/X) (1981), one of several contributors responsible for editing and continuity, as well as edits and revisions to Gygax's B2 The Keep on the Borderlands (1981) included in the boxed set. He also handled production/layout on the Expert Set (B/X) (1981) and assisted with the accompanying module X1 The Isle of Dread (1981).
His work on B/X was later acknowledged in Mentzer's Basic Rules (BECMI) (1983) and Master Rules (BECMI) (1985), Allston's Rules Cyclopedia (1991), and in Keep on the Borderlands reprints including B1-9 In Search of Adventure (1987). He was also a credited playtester on X2 Castle Amber (1981).
AD&D 1st edition[]
Schick wrote the adventure module S2 White Plume Mountain (1979), originally as a submission accompany a job application to TSR. It remains perhaps his best known D&D work.
Schick worked as a developer on A2 Secret of the Slavers Stockade (1981), and for Able Asstance on its sequels A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity (1980) and A3 Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords (1981). He went on to write and edit the fourth instalment in the series, A4 In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords (1981), and was later credited on the compilation.A1-4 Scourge of the Slavelords (1986).
Schick is credited as an editor on a number of TSR's AD&D modules: C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (1980), C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness (1980), D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth (1981), D3 Vault of the Drow (1978), and G1-3 Against the Giants (1981). He was involved in development and playtesting of I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City (1981), assistance on S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1980). and assistance and playtesting on Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits (1980),
Other than adventure modules, he is credited as an editor on The Rogues Gallery (1980), Deities & Demigods (1e) (1980). He is acknowledged as a contributor to the Dungeon Masters Guide (1e) (1979), the The World of Greyhawk Fantasy World Setting (1980), and the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting (1983).
He worked on the original Fiend Folio (1e) (1981), where he contributed the aarakocra, kelpie (from White Plume Mountain), khargra, and tabaxi. He also created the sea wolf and obliviax moss for the AD&D Monster Cards.[16]
He worked on the development of L3 Deep Dwarven Delve (1999), which he also originally edited before the module was shelved. It would later be released by Wizards of the Coast, who re-edited the work but preserved Schick's credit. In a similar circumstance, he is credited and with assistance on A0 Danger at Darkshelf Quarry (2015), written and published many years later by Wizards of the Coast.
He also contributed articles to D&D's official magazines, beginning with Choir Practice at the First Church of Lawful Evil (Orthodox): The Ramifications of Alignment, Dragon #24 (Apr 1979), an article based on a discussion he had with Tim Kask at Gen Con.
He later wrote The official word: 'Grey' areas were made that way, Dragon #46 (Feb 1981), TSR's official response to criticisms of the World of Greyhawk Folio; Dinosaurs: New Theories for Old Monsters, Dragon #55 (Nov 1981); and Don't Take Spawn of Fashan Seriously, Dragon #60 (Apr 1982), a review of a fantasy RPG praised for its humor but criticized for its sexism and unnecessary complexity.
His longest-running article series was Dragon Magazine's Giants in the Earth series, which he co-authored with Tom Moldvay. These appeared in Dragon #27 (Jul 1979), Dragon #28 (Aug 1979), Dragon #29 (Sep 1979), Dragon #30 (Oct 1979), Dragon #35 (Mar 1980), Dragon #36 (Apr 1980), Dragon #37 (May 1980), and Dragon #30 (Oct 1979).
AD&D 2nd edition[]
He was given special thanks in Player's Option: Spells & Magic (1996), The Magic Encyclopedia Volume One (1992), the Players Handbook (1e) (1978), Dungeon Master Guide (2e) (1989), the Monstrous Manual (1993) (which incorporated his aarakocra and tabaxi; The Adventure Begins (1998),
In magazine articles during the AD&D 2e era, he wrote Down with the Titanic, Dragon #159 (Jul 1990), and The Heroic Worlds Role-Playing Game Quiz, Dragon #177 (Jan 1992) advertising his RPG history book Heroic Worlds.
He worked on development for the rules of Dino Wars, Dragon #166 (Feb 1991), Tom Moldvay's game of battles between the US Army and dinosaurs.
D&D 3rd edition[]
A D&D 3.5 revision of White Plume Mountain was published, White Plume Mountain (3e) (2005). Wizards of the Coast subsequently added a web enhancement, Outside the Mountain is Just as Dangerous as Inside.
D&D 5th edition[]
The adventure module compendium Tales from the Yawning Portal (2017) featured a D&D 5e adaption of White Plume Mountain. It also featured adaptions of two other modules that Schick worked on: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, and 1981's Against the Giants.
Other works[]
In 1991, Schick wrote Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games.[17]
He publishes swashbuckling fiction under the alias Lawrence Ellsworth. He learned French in order to read the works of Alexandre Dumas in the original language, and published new English translations of the Musketeers Cycle, including the lost sequel The Red Sphinx.[18]
Reception and influence[]
Schick's White Plume Mountain was published during the initial surge of popularity of D&D, with the result that most D&D groups owned a copy. It was therefore one of the most well-known and widely played adventure modules at the time, and was highly influential.[19] It later served as inspiration for the RPGA module Dragotha's Lair, the Silver Anniversary Return to White Plume Mountain (1999), and the D&D 4th edition module Never Say Die, Dungeon #212 (Mar 2013).
In From the Sorcerer's Scroll, Dragon #30 (Oct 1979), Gary Gygax criticized Schick's Giants in the Earth series for making the characters too powerful.
In 2004, Dungeon Magazine rated White Plume Mountain the 9th greatest D&D adventure of all time.
In 2007, Gary Gygax credited Schick with the invention of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, creators of the Rod of Seven Parts, an iconic D&D artifact originally introduced in Eldritch Wizardry (1976). The Wind Dukes went on to play a role in Dungeon Magazine's Age of Worms Adventure Path.[20] In a 2009 interview, Schick said that he had written for the DMG, he could not recall exactly which additions were his.
Schick was one of a number of exceptional D&D writers thanked by Richard Baker in his introduction to Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition for Dummies and Dungeons Master 4th Edition for Dummies.
External links[]
- Swashbuckling Adventure, Lawrence Schick's writer page (as Lawrence Ellsworth)
References[]
- ↑ https://swashbucklingadventure.net/bio/
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 An Interview with Lawrence Schick. Grognardia, May 16, 2009.
- ↑ Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 237. ENWorld, Sep 29, 2005.
- ↑ Dragon #65 (Sep 1982), p.8.
- ↑ Dragon #85 (May 1984), p.82.
- ↑ Dragon #34 (Feb 1980), p.M10.
- ↑ Dragon #35 (Mar 1980), p.25.
- ↑ Dragon #39 (Jul 1980), p.31.
- ↑ Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 409. ENWorld, Sep 20, 2007.
- ↑ Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 422. ENWorld, Nov 2, 2007.
- ↑ Dragon #43 (Nov 1980), p.14.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lawrence Schick - Credits. MobyGames.
- ↑ Dragon #204 (Apr 1994), p.60.
- ↑ Dragon #172 (Aug 1991), p.84.
- ↑ Tweet. December 7, 2023.
- ↑ Dragon #61 (May 1982), p.51.
- ↑ Dragon #207 (Jul 1994), p.80.
- ↑ https://swashbucklingadventure.net/
- ↑ Return to White Plume Mountain (1999), p.3.
- ↑ Q&A with Gary Gygax, page 385. ENWorld, May 31, 2007.