Jean Wells: Difference between revisions
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* "Sage Advice" in ''[[dragmag|Dragon]]'' magazine | * "Sage Advice" in ''[[dragmag|Dragon]]'' magazine | ||
* [[In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords]] | * [[In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords]] | ||
* [[White Plume Mountain]] | |||
===Equality in D&D=== | ===Equality in D&D=== | ||
Latest revision as of 21:19, 6 July 2025
| Jean Wells | |
|---|---|
| Nationality: | American |
| Born: | July 25, 1955, Jacksonville, Florida, United States |
| Died: | January 25, 2012 (aged 56) |
| Notabale works: | Palace of the Silver Princess |
Jean Wells (born Oeva Jean Wells Koebernick) was the first female game designer hired by TSR. She was hired by Gary Gygax in 1979[1], after a short correspondence and subsequent visit to TSR headquarters in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Career
Her work began as an editor, artist, and player at TSR, with one of her player characters (the magic user Ceatitle Trodar Northman) later being memorialized in The Rogue's Gallery (1980), which she also edited. Jean was also the inaugural writer for Dragon magazine's "Sage Advice" column, which she ran from issues #31 to #39. However, controversy over her inaugural adventure, B3, Palace of the Silver Princess, resulted in the adventure being withdrawn from sale just before launch, and ultimately ended in her leaving TSR.
Some of the products to which Jean contributed are:
- Dungeon Master's Guide[2]
- Monster Manual[3]
- The Rogue's Gallery[4]
- Palace of the Silver Princess
- "Sage Advice" in Dragon magazine
- In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords
- White Plume Mountain
Equality in D&D
Together with Kim Mohan, Jean wrote an article in Dragon magazine [5] in which the authors discussed the problems experienced by women playing D&D, particularly from the "expectations" of their male peers; and how this not only is unfair, but is also sometimes "sexist", particularly with the depiction of women in popular fantasy as the "naked sirens who serve only as so much booty". They argue that the development of the game beyond "murder-hoboing" will require introducing balance in game design, story-telling, and playability, because the ultimate goal is to create "games that are supposed to be fun, and not just fun for men or fun for women, but fun for everyone."
Palace of the Silver Princess (Orange version)
Jean Wells was tasked by TSR to create one of the introductory series of "B" modules for the Basic version of Dungeons and Dragons in 1980[6]. For this, Jean created B3, Palace of the Silver Princess (Orange version). This adventure followed a pattern developed for B1, In Search of the Unknown, where rooms and encounters were intentionally left blank, to be filled in by the games' Dungeon Master for play. Although the adventure had passed editorial review, two of the illustrations included in the text were objected to by Will Niebling in upper management,[7] speaking for Kevin Blume.[8] After this, the adventure was passed on to Tom Moldvay, who removed the images and substantially changed the contents of the original module, for what became known as the "green version." All copies with the orange cover were removed from sale for destruction, although some copies were preserved.
External links
Disclaimer:Any lore presented through the following links does not necessarily adhere to established officially published content, and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of this wiki.
- B3: Palace of the Silver Princess; Wizards of the Coast (Archived on 20 September2000, retrived 8 May 2025)
- Jean Wells on Wikipedia
- Interview: Jean Wells (PartI)
- Interview: Jean Wells (PartII)
- Jean Wells in Dragon Magazine
References
Notes
Citations
- ↑ "The Melee in D&D". Dragon #24 (Apr 1979), p.19.
- ↑ "The Proper Place of Character Social Class in D&D". Dragon #25 (May 1979), p.33.
- ↑ Monster Manual (1977).
- ↑ The Rogues Gallery. 1980..
- ↑ "Women want equality—and why not?". Dragon #39 (Jul 1980), p.16-17.
- ↑ "http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DND_PSP.asp"
- ↑ https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/02/interview-jean-wells-part-ii.html
- ↑ Ciro Alessandro Sacco. The Ultimate Interview With Gary Gygax (interview). The Kyngdoms. Archived from the original on April 2, 2024. Retrieved on 12 November 2024. "Gygax: It was Kevin Blume who literally pitched a fit about the product, demanded it be recalled. I had no input into the matter and I would have quashed his objection had I been able to do so."
Bibliography
| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors). |
Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index
The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.
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