Jean Wells

**Greyhawk Creator**
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. 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controversy over her inaugural adventure module, B3, Palace of the Silver Princess, resulted in the module being withdrawn from sale just before launch, and ultimately ended in her leaving TSR.

Some of the products to which Jean contributed are:

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)

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Cover of original Palace of the Silver Princess, by Jean Wells

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 module 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 module 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 module 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.

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, p.(1977,1978).
↑ The Rogue's Gallery, p.(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

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.

Topic	Type	Description	Product	Page/Card/Image
Lockswells of the Gnarley Forest	People Group	Clan,	The Adventure Begins	71
Lord Lockswells Manor	Building	Manor,	The City of Greyhawk: Gem of the Flanaess	35
Saint Cuthbert, Shrine of, (Lord Lockswells Manor)	Building	Shrine,	The City of Greyhawk: Gem of the Flanaess	35
Wells of Darkness	Place		Dragon magazine #359	98
Wells of Darkness (73rd Layer of the Abyss)	Planar	Plane/Dimension,	Dungeon magazine #147	50, 58, 84
Wells of Darkness (Savage Tides)	Adventure	Located in: Abyss,	Dragon magazine #359	98
Wells of Darkness (Savage Tides)	Adventure	Located in: Abyss,	Dungeon magazine #148	52

[dragon-i24-p19-aThe_Melee_in_D&D-1] "The Melee in D&D". Dragon #24 (Apr 1979), p.19.

[dragon-i25-p33-aThe_Proper_Place_of_Character_Social_Class_in_D&D-2] "The Proper Place of Character Social Class in D&D". Dragon #25 (May 1979), p.33.

[sb-Monster_Manual-p(1977,1978)-s-3] Monster Manual, p.(1977,1978).

[sb-The_Rogue's_Gallery-p(1980)-s-4] The Rogue's Gallery, p.(1980).

[dragon-i39-p16-17-aWomen_want_equality_-_and_why_not?-5] "Women want equality - and why not?". Dragon #39 (Jul 1980), p.16-17.

[6] "http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DND_PSP.asp"

[7] ttps://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/02/interview-jean-wells-part-ii.html

[8] 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."

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