Big Huge Games - R.A. Salvatore Interview @ Gamasutra

Gamasutra caught up with fantasy author R.A. Salvatore to discuss his role in the development of Project Copernicus and Project Mercury for 38 Studios.  As a reminder, 38 Studios is the company founded by baseballer Curt Schilling to make an MMO, who then bought Big Huge Games with their Ken Rolston RPG:

So, what is your role on the Copernicus and Mercury  projects? Are you world-building? Are you getting down into the nitty-gritty of actually writing the script?

R. A. Salvatore: At this point I'm world-building. When I came in, I took the basic idea that Curt and his gang wanted to do an MMO, and I turned it into an MMO for them. I created a very detailed history of the world and created all the different regions with a team.

And then of course we hired in a bunch of people: Steve Danuser (EverQuest II), Ryan Shwayder (EverQuest II), and Mike Woods were the first three to come. And we built this world, race by race, and made everything make sense in the world.

My actual title was Creator of Worlds, which I thought was pretty cool. I was a COW. So, when Big Huge Games came along, my job, along with some of the other guys, was to show them what we were doing and give them a ton of information. Then Ken Rolston (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion) and Mark Nelson (The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind) created a story that would fit within that world.

I went down and worked with them a little bit on the story but my job, right now, more than anything else, is making sure the world smells the same no matter which part of the world you're in, whether you're talking about the art, the music, whatever.

When they show me what they're doing, I always say, "Does this fit? Where does this fit? How does this fit?" Right now, I'm like a kind of den mother to all these creative people more than anything else.