I've never posted before, and I'm a long time player of Greyhawk. I guess I just don't get out there as much as others, but has anybody heard what Carl Sergeant is up to lately? Writing d20? Off and away from gaming? If there is a common answer, sorry I'm just out of the loop. I really liked his Greyhawk stuff, and just wonderin' what the guy is up to.
Thx.
.............................Omote _________________ Prince Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Castles and Crusades Society
So far as I know (and I've looked into it extensively), there are NO printed versions of Ivid the Undying. There was a cover (later used for Birthright: Blood Enemies of Cerelia), but the book never got to the stage where internal art and maps had been ordered. When Dave Gross (then Dragon editor) printed some excerpts from the book, he had to have the maps generated specifically for the article--they weren't just sitting around like they would have been had the product been printed in any fashion whatsoever.
I know nothing more about Sargent than what's been posted here. It's too bad, too, because I'm sitting on piles of money I'd happily send someone like him to write articles for the magazines.
--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dungeon Magazine
I completely agree with the rest of the thread, CS was probably the best writer for GH material there was... some inspired stuff if you ask me. hopefully he will make an apprearence in the future... even if it isn't GH, but simply stuff for DUNGEON (GO IQUANDER! Get 'em!)
Thanx MTG for the info. I never crusie those boards so, I apprecaite the link.
..........................Omote _________________ Prince Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Castles and Crusades Society
IIRC, Carl used to teach psychology at Cambridge. Here's a short bio I found on the web:
Carl Sargent: Gained his PhD in Experimental Parapsychology in 1979. His post-doctoral research was concerned with ESP in the ganzfeld. He was a member of the Parapsychological Association and author on numerous papers on parapsychology. He was widely regarded as an authority on the paranormal.
I also found this 1997 message on a Warhammer mailing list:
Carl dropped out of writing altogether about two and a half years ago. Nobody -- not his old publishers, nor his friends nor his old writing partners, of whom I am one -- seems to know where he is these days, or what he's doing.
MAJOR DESIGN CREDITS:
- (TSR) City of Greyhawk boxed set*, Complete Thieves Handbook*, From the
Ashes boxed set [Greyhawk revision], The Marklands, Iuz the Evil, Monster
Mythology, Night Below [Oct. 1995], Faerie Queen and Country*.
- (GW) Warhammer City*, Power Behind the Throne, Empire in Flames, Death's
Dark Shadow, Castle Drachenfels.
- (FASA) London Sourcebook, Tir Na Nog, Paranormal Animals of Europe,
Prime Runners, Harlequin's Back*, Viviane/Skypoint [Gen Con 1995].
* = a collaborative work
NOVELS: (Shadowrun) Blood on the Streets, Nosferatu, Black Madonna
[1996]. (Earthdawn) Shroud of Madness [later 1995]. All with Mark
Gascoigne.
HOBBIES: Very academic, I have to say: historical and mythological
reading/research for the most part. I am one of those hideous serious
people who regards "fun" as a wholly alien concept, but I am a fan of the
Patriots so I do have a mitigating sense of humour.
BEST BOOK YOU'VE READ LATELY: (Fiction) The Information, by Martin Amis.
(Non-Fiction) Vicars of Christ: The Dark Side of the Papacy by Peter de
Rosa.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN GAMING?
I started playing D&D in 1978 through friends and just wondering "what are
these people doing playing this game that has no board, hacking zombies?
What are experience points?" and the usual hundred question that occur to
an onlooker.
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE GAMING INDUSTRY?
I researched and taught Psych. at the University of Cambridge, and TSR UK
were based in that town. They asked me down for a drink after I'd sent an
article to the late lamented 'Imagine' magazine and everything went on
from there. The TSR UK crew decamped to Games Workshop, so I started
working for them and kept links to TSR UK. All done from personal contact,
but the UK is much smaller geographically than the US, so this may be
somewhat easier here.
FUTURE PROJECTS: [Now with FASA, see above.]
I've just completed "Night Below," which is a huge boxed dungeon set due
for September or October 1995. My brief for this was to give it the
flavour of the old GDQ modules, and to make it generic but suitable for
placement in the Realms or Greyhawk (so it may not be dead - hence the
need to keep letters coming in to TSR!) This turned out to be good, and at
800+ words per page you will get good value for your money.
THIS MUST BE A VERY COMMON QUESTION FOR YOU, BUT WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS?
As to ideas, I read very widely, almost all non-fiction and usually
historical material. I have a Psych. Ph.D. which helps with understanding
theories of human motivation and personality. Where I can say I don't get
anything is from movies or contemporary fiction, though factual TV
programs are useful. For instance, the Gwydiesin character from "Ivid the
Undying" is based on the Welsh bard Taliesin and a Japanese
environmentalist I saw a documentary about. Hopefully the relevant
chapter, on the Grandwood, will get into Dragon because it's fairly
self-contained.
I've always thought that non-fiction sources for RPG characters and
plotlines are superior to fictional ones, for many reasons. Truth is
stranger than fiction; plot devices in fiction often don't work in RPG
settings; fiction is often too "clean" in construction; and researching
non-fiction sources can offer up a dozen tangents for every theme you
wanted to get into in the first place.
For example, I've just been reading a sociological monograph, "Poverty and
Deviance in Early Modern Europe," which gives some very simple information
on the lives of the poor. Mapping causal chains for the circumstances of
their lives, a neat little flow diagram simply shows causations such as
wet weather produces fungal growth produces disease of people and crops
[Ed. Note: also hanatavirus - ask the Navajo]. Now, you can say (in a
fantasy campaign) "people are starving, there's been a famine," but how
much more impactful and "fantasy realistic" to say "after a long wet
summer that only rotting fungi and insects liked, many people have disease
and the crops have failed, rotted by blight - the King and his nobles have
real problems." I don't think you can pick up that kind of logic of
explanation from fiction (unless it's awfully good).
DO YOU PLAY AD&D REGULARLY, AND IF SO IS YOUR CAMPAIGN SET IN GREYHAWK?
I do have a Greyhawk campaign, of some 11 years standing. My first two
characters still survive; one of them is the template for Artur Jakartai
of Furyondy on Oerth.
I am indeed a freelancer [Ed. note: was a freelancer], and in a sense I
was brought in to do Greyhawk. I had done a lot of work before I was given
Greyhawk, having let it be known for some time that I was eager to write
for this game world.
ADVICE FOR WOULD BE DESIGNERS:
Find out what the company wants, get writer's guidelines and check them
out. Get familiar with the background of the game world you hope to write
for. Check how the company works: TSR doesn't accept proposals while FASA
does, for example. If a company is interested in proposals, keep them
short, and don't send complete manuscripts on spec - companies don't have
time to read them. Advance inquiry can also avoid the possible problem of
you going ahead with something the company is already doing itself.
Start small and get writer's credits with magazines in the first instance,
this is important. Dungeon/Dragon remain the best bets. There's no career
path here and no qualifications of relevance other than experience - game
designers come from all kinds of backgrounds. Zeb Cook was a teacher, Tim
Brown was a rock musician, I was a psychologist, for example.
Experienced designers are currently being lost to the industry (Cook,
Murphy, Rolston, Findley) and quality replacements are hard to find. If
you can get your act together, there is a market out there for these
skills.
Finally, one summary sentence on what makes a good product: get your
explanatory and connecting logic right, and check that your adventure
premises are plausible and coherent.
CONTACT ADDRESS?
Carl Sargent,
c/o FASA Corporation
1100 W Cermak B 305
Chicago, Il. 60608
U.S.A.
(No e-mail address as yet.)
CAVEAT RE: FANS SENDING HIM MATERIAL
As a rule..., I don't read anything sent to me. That's just because I need
to be able to say to the people I work for that what I write for them is
original. With the best will in the world, if I read lots of unpublished
material it's always possible that some interesting idea or image will pop
back into my head from it some years afterward and end up in something I
write for publication. It's an occupational hazard which I have to protect
against as best I can. Sorry if this seems a bit formal and aloof, but
it's really something I need to do.
FINAL COMMENTS:
It's good to know that you use what I wrote as a springboard for your own
ideas. That's what it was originally written for, after all.
A little known, but entirely public fact, is that Carl Sargent is also an expert in the occult and not necessarily from the degrees in parapsych. He has written books on practicing the occult.
I believe, though I could be mistaken, that the Carl Sargent who is involved in Parapsychology and has authored books related to that field is not the Carl Sargent who authored Greyhawk material.
Perhaps someone can clarify? _________________ What would Raxivort do?<br />
The Carl Sargent who's picture is on the parapsychology looks very similar to the Carl Sargent photographed in some of the old WFRP supplements (it's the balding hair etc.) so I believe they are the same. James Wallis, also of WFRP fame, confirmed he once held an academic chair at Edinburgh.
cwslyclgh wrote:
I have heard that as well rich, but like you I am unable to verify it.
The Carl Sargent who's picture is on the parapsychology looks very similar to the Carl Sargent photographed in some of the old WFRP supplements (it's the balding hair etc.) so I believe they are the same. James Wallis, also of WFRP fame, confirmed he once held an academic chair at Edinburgh.
That is correct, I mean they are one and the same person, I had verified that back at the time (I did a web search with his name and found both Greyhawk texts and paranormal texts authored by him) when this thread was initiated. It is true that people that have worked for the IP owner have mendled with the paranormal as well.
Where is he now? Ask the IP owner, any proxy?
PS. I think he was also visiting Prof. at Cambridge Univ. _________________ "It is easier to milk a cow that stands still." Tzeliobas-Aristomenes, General Cleaning, Greyhawk Construction Company.
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