Live Interview With Jess Lebow on PotBS!

After touring Pirates of the Burning Sea with the Flying Labs Software team earlier this week, I had an opportunity to chat with Jess Lebow, who is the Content Director for the title. With me, I had Becky "Tovin" Simpson, who is not only one of my news editors, but also a big fan of Mr. Lebow's.

It is interesting to note that while Jess is rather well known in the industry, as well as an author, he is very down-to-earth and humbled by the thought that people are in awe of him. The experience of spending an afternoon with Jess was definitely a treat both for myself and Becky, and I hope you enjoy the results as much as we do.

Maggie: Welcome, Jess! We are very honored to meet with you today, and are excited to hear about you and your current projects, especially Pirates of the Burning Seas with Flying Labs Software and Sony Online Entertainment!

Jess
: Thanks. Good to be here.

Maggie: First, I’d like to begin with some of your early works, and your life growing up. These are the times that make our destinies, and I have always found it interesting to get inside the history of creative people such as yourself. So, can you tell us a bit about where you grew up and what first inspired you to write fantasy/fiction?

Jess: Sure

Jess: I was born here in Seattle and grew up in the surrounding suburbs. I'm a 4th generation Seattlite actually. My Great-grandmother was born here. For those of you who know the area, I'll just say, I'm so Seattle that I worked at the Pike Place Market at age 15 and by 18 I was watching Nirvana play all-ages shows to a crowd of no more than 100.

Jess: As far as the beginning of my writing career, there are a handful of things that I think are the largest contributors to pushing me in this direction. I majored in creative writing in college, mostly because I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I figured I might as well enjoy myself while I was trying to figure it out.

Jess: Who would have known that doing what you love to do would actually lead you to a career.

Jess: Also while I was in college, I was introduced to a new card game called Magic: The Gathering. My friends and I played every day. I mean EVERY day. One day several years later, someone pointed me at a posting for a job at Wizards of the Coast as the line editor for the Magic novels.

Jess: I got the job, and that was the beginning of the end, so to speak. Though I no longer work there, I sill write for Wizards.


Maggie
: You are very lucky indeed… having lived in Seattle myself for a few years, I can honestly say I’m almost jealous of you working in Pike Place. That area is the heart of Seattle, and with the exception of the fishiness… well, it’s very cool! And Nirvana?!? Talk about some great pop culture!

Maggie: According to your website, your first story involved a young boy and a pair of strong-willed tennis shoes (they’d gone off by themselves, making the boy late for class). Was there some personal history involved in this story – about you and school, or maybe a friend of a friend who was always late? Or maybe this was your first step towards entering the fantasy genre later in life?

Jess: That story was written in grade school. It's handwritten on a worn piece of wide-lined paper that my mother keeps in a big box in her attic. I wrote it for extra credit, as part of an assignment on personification. I remember at the time that my grandmother was dabbling with writing fiction.

Jess: She had just published a short story in a chapbook, the name of which I do not recall. I think I was just trying to be like her by trying my hand at writing my own story.

Jess: I don't honestly remember if I had trouble making it to school on time or not. As far as I remember, I was a perfect little child. I never did anything wrong.

Maggie: Uh-huh… riiiight.

Maggie: Let’s discuss your books. You currently have four titles under your belt (with another on the way), one of which you wrote under an assumed name. I’ve often wondered why authors choose to publish under a pseudonym. What was the reasoning for you behind this choice, and is there some significance to the name “T.H. Lain”?

Jess: I like how you say that: "wrote under an assumed name" makes me sound way cooler than I actually am. Haha.

Maggie: Hehe!

Jess: Actually, the publisher chose the name. It was part of an experiment to try to create a single persona to market books with. They figured if they could spend marketing money on promoting a single name, they could get more bang for their buck if you will.

Jess: I've also heard of authors who write in two vastly different genres using a pseudonym. For example, if I suddenly decided that I wanted to write romance novels, I might come up with a new name to use on the books.

Jess: I mean, who wants to read a romance novel written by a guy who pens videogames and stories about dragons eating people. Not exactly stellar qualifications for telling romantic stories of falling in love.

Jess: Just for the record, I have no intention of ever writing a romance novel, so you can quit holding your breath now.

Maggie: Awww, there went Christmas!

Maggie: Your series beginning with Master of Chains is based upon the Dungeons & Dragons genre. Were you a D&D player when you were young… or are you still now? What is your favorite part of D&D?

Jess: Master of Chains is the first in the Fighters Series, but I only wrote that one book. The rest of the books in the series are written by other authors.

Jess: I was a D&D player when I was young. Though, we didn't follow the rules. We didn't even use dice. In grade school we would walk around on the playground and the "Dungeonmaster" would decide if we succeeded or failed based on how cool our decisions were. If we were telling cool stories, then it was like rolling well.

Jess: I do play now. I'm actually involved in three games at the moment, which is a lot. One is at work during lunch. Another is on Thursday nights. Both of those are with the current rule set. The last game is every other Sunday, and we've gone back to our youth.

Jess: It's a bunch of industry veterans, and we're using the Rules Cyclopedia—old school.

Jess: I think my favorite part is the camaraderie. Most games you play against other people. In D&D you play with people trying to conquer a common goal. I guess that's also why I like making MMOs. You get to make games where people team up.

Maggie: Wow - a true D&D fan! I must say, that's impressive to hear... 3 simultaneous games with everything else you've got going on! Not sure how you find the time!

Jess
: I'm a geek, what can I say.

Maggie: I’d like to switch gears here… when it comes to Guild Wars, what inspired you the most in your creative designs? Is there any one aspect of that world that you enjoy the most?

Jess: We were always very focused on trying to get emotional responses from the players. That's one of the reasons why there is so much betrayal in the storyline for Prophecies. We spent a lot of time examining the games we'd played that had moved us emotionally (and by we I mean the entire design team, which at the time was very small).

Jess: Games like Chrono Trigger and the Final Fantasy series kept coming up because of the characters and the twists in the storylines. I think trying to replicate those early gaming experiences was the largest driving factor in the creative process at that time.

Jess: It's hard to say what one aspect of that game I'm most proud of or satisfied with. There is one cut scene that will always hold a special place in my heart. One of the villains is standing on top of this huge magical stone, and he's about to sacrifice a group of prisoners as part of his evil plan.

Jess: The cinematic director at the time, Joe Mullenix, asked me, as he was putting the scene together, if I could write something for that character to say that resembled the speech Samuel Jackson gives in Pulp Fiction, just before he shoots the young men with the mysterious case.

Jess: If you remember that scene, you'll know that the words Mr. Jackson speaks are directly quoted from the Bible. I was like, "You want me to write something about death that is as powerful as a quote from the Bible?" Without blinking, Joe just nodded and said, "Yep."

Jess: So I spent a complete day researching and writing, just to come up with 4 lines of text. It was pretty intense, but the final result was very satisfying. I'm not sure my words rivaled the Bible, but they were pretty good.

Maggie: Having not played... what were those 4 lines?

Jess: I am the scythe, the bringer of salvation
And I shall harvest the souls of the Unbelievers
For their stench will linger
Until the false gods have been cast from this world

Maggie: Wow, those are very good!

Maggie
: And on Guild Wars: Factions, when you were the Story Creator, where did you look for new and intriguing storylines? Did you sit outside at a Seattle Starbucks and use the people as your inspiration?

Jess: Haha. You know, I wrote my first four novels in Seattle coffee houses. I say "houses" because once the baristas get to know you, and know that you're writing, they all want to be in the book and they bug you constantly.

Jess: I learned that I get far more work done where nobody knows me, so whenever they started to get too talkative, I'd move to another location.

Jess: For Factions, I was actually inspired by reading English translations of Korean Manga. The stories they tell in Korea are very different than the ones we tell here. Factions was set in a fantasy Asian world, so I thought it was fitting to work with a story that had influences from the same place that influenced the art.

Maggie: Now on to the current project at hand… the anticipated title, Pirates of the Burning Seas. How did you get involved in this project, and coming into it, what was your singular overall goal?

Jess: After Guild Wars and four novels, I was looking to take a break from fantasy fiction. Or, maybe I should say, not write fantasy all day AND all night, because I still write fantasy novels in my off time.

Jess: Pirates seemed like just the thing. I emailed a couple of friends, and they put me in touch with John Tynes, who is now the producer on PotBS. He gave me a tour through the world, or what there was of it at the time, and I was really impressed.

Jess: They were doing some things that I wished we had done with Guild Wars. So I joined up.

Jess: At that point, there were lot and lots of goals, but one thing I'm really focused on no matter what project I'm working with is telling a good story. Pirates was no exception. I wanted to make sure we entertained our players with our storytelling.

Jess: And I think we've succeeded. The writing in PotBS is really, really good.

Maggie: I agree... the writing is fantastic, and the storylines do draw you in.

Jess: Thank you

Maggie: When looking at PotBS, naturally the first thing everyone thinks of is pirates. Now, I’ve briefly been able to take a look at the title… and while I could choose to be a pirate, I wanted to be a French pirate. It seems at this point the flexibility is a bit limited; are there plans to change that in the future, and if so, can you give us any insight into what’s coming?

Jess: Well, you can't be a French "pirate" but you can be a French Privateer, which is sort of like a state-sponsored pirate. The nations are really a mechanism for us to give players a side to work for, a team if you will, who benefits from the successes of each person.

Jess: The history of the Caribbean at this time makes a great setting for players to help bring glory to their nation/side.

Jess: The real reason for not letting players "turn pirate" is so that we can keep a level playing field for PVP and the conquest of the Caribbean. We don't want to give griefers any more tools to make other people's lives unhappy.

Jess: That having been said, you can look forward to many new playable careers, and perhaps even specializations within your current career. At some point we'll expand the world map, perhaps giving players access to the east coast of the American colonies.

Jess: We've even talked about adding other nations, but I suspect if that ever happens it'll be a long way off.

Maggie: The lore behind PotBS is not as of yet very detailed. Did you have any hand in writing what is available, and should we take the lack of stories to be an indication of future tales to be told? Are there any hints you can provide?

Jess: I do have a hand in it, but there are two other writers on the game as well as a team of content designers, and all of them have a direct influence on the missions and lore of the game.

Jess: Stories in PotBS take place on a variety of different levels. There are over 80 ports in the game, and the people who live in each of them all have different problems and concerns that plague their daily lives.

Jess: On a larger level, there are narratives about what's happening to each nation and even individual regions within the world. And of course, at the highest level there is the story of each nation trying to take over the entire Caribbean.

Jess: In the future, we have big plans for what we're calling a serial storyline. It's going to be one long plot that will play itself out over several episodes or acts. I don't really want to give away too much, but I will tell you that there might be an appearance from a certain well-known pirate who has very dark facial hair.

Maggie: Hrmmm… wonder who that could be? *Dusts off more bottles of rum*

Maggie: With all of your experience in fiction, story-telling, and gaming, if there was one piece of advice you would share with our readers on how to get the most out of their online entertainment, what would it be, and why?

Jess
: Online games are meant to be enjoyed with other people. Working on MMOs for nearly 7 years now, I've played a lot of games both solo and with a group, and by far my favorite memories are of tight battles and close calls while playing with a group of people. That shared experience adds a whole new dimension to an online game.

Tovin
: How familiar with the lore were you before you started writing, and how familiar are you now? And how deep do you really have to get before you start writing these characters that really fit?

Jess: It depends on the world I'm writing in. With Magic, I was the line editor for many years. So I knew a lot about the world beforehand. In the Forgotten Realms, there's just too much info to be able to know it all. I do a lot of research through old game material, but to say that I have a grasp over everything that's ever happened would be untrue.

Jess: I'm probably better versed in the lore of my particular areas in FR than anyone else, but the Realms are a very big place. I think fans really want to see that you care about their setting, so it's important to be educated about the world you are writing in. Mostly I think they just want to know that the author is a fan as well, and that we will take good care of their world.

Tovin
: I just love that everything fits really well in your books. It's a hard thing to find, with such a huge frame of reference to call from, from so many different authors!

Maggie
: Last, but not least… what character do you favor in PotBS, and can you give us your best pirate phrase? Jess: I'm rather partial to playing Navy characters. I like blowing stuff up, and naval officers get the biggest ships and the biggest cannons.

Jess: Best pirate phrase? I have a better idea: How about the most amusing story that has to do with someone not understanding a pirate phrase.

Maggie: Awesome!

Jess: So, we were writing up scripts for the first round of voiceover work we were going to do in the sounds studio, and our sound designer discovered the phrase "octopus nuggets." We all loved it of course, and we recorded it with different actors, using the line "Leave me octopus nuggets alone." It was one of the first voice files to make it into the game, and I had almost forgotten about it.

Jess: Until we had to do an ESRB review with the lawyers from our publishing partner. They very gingerly tried to ask us to take the phrase "octopus nuggets" out because clearly it was going to taint our Teen rating.

Jess: The person asking was rather embarrassed and sort sounded as if he was scolding us for using such a term—but he was even more embarrassed when I explained to him that said "nuggets" were in fact just a slang term for gold coins.

Maggie: Hahaha! That's hilarious! Of course, I had the same initial thought as the lawyer did!

Jess
: Haha

Jess: I suspect there will be others, but it is funny

Maggie
: Well, Jess, thank you again for taking time out of your very busy schedule to chat with us. You guys are doing a fantastic job with Pirates, and we are anxiously awaiting to see the growth and expansion of this title.

Jess: Thank you so much.
Jess: It was my pleasure
Jess: Good night!

By: Maggie "AutumnKiss" Olsen

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