Joe Dever

Interview with Joe Dever   November 24 2001

When Joe Dever first contacted the Lone Wolf online community in 1998, all the fans were thrilled (of course). They quickly gathered some questions and sent them off to the creator of their beloved series. Here's what Joe had to say in return. (Thanks to the Kai Monastery for permission to republish this interview.)

Q: What sparked your interest in D&D when you first discovered it?

A: It was the first set of fantasy game rules to provide a structure for collaborative team play and unfettered creativity. Gygax and Arneson, the authors of the original three-pamphlet set, were historical wargamers with an interest in fantasy. At this time so was I, and so I guess I automatically empathized with what they had created and what they were trying to achieve.

Q: Was D&D the beginning of your interest in fantasy literature?

A: No. My interest began in my early teens when I started reading the works of Micheal Moorcock (Stormbringer, The Stealer of Souls), Tolkein (Hobbit, Lord of the Rings), H.P.Lovecraft (The Dunwich Horror, The Colour Out of Space), and Mervyn Peake (Titus Groan, Gormanghast). I was lucky to have an enlightened English tutor at High School who introduced me to Science Fantasy.

Q: Who's your favorite author? Favorite book?

A: My favorite author is probably Mervyn Peake -- his style is so original and his stories simply drip with gothic atmosphere.

Q: After college, you started out as a musician. What kind of music did you play?

A: I joined a studio-based record company orchestra (Pye Records) in London and most of the work we did was providing the accompaniment to well-known 1970's solo singers & artists who were signed to the record company. It was a 9-5 kind of job but it taught me a lot about the recording process. I was with the orchestra until is was disbanded eighteen months after I joined. I then freelanced for about a year or so before joining Virgin Records as a Recording Engineer at their Manor Studios in Oxfordshire. I was with Virgin for about five years and worked with some interesting artists, including Mike Oldfield, Frank Zappa, Peter Gabriel, The Sex Pistols, and Public Image Ltd.

Q: What projects do you have for the future?

A: Increasingly I've been working on computer game design and interactive scripting since January 1995. Sony also regularly use me as their European role-playing games consultant for relevant Playstation projects. I'm currently finishing some work on a project for Team 17 Software (the company who brought you Worms) called Twisted Union. It's a "point-and-click" detective adventure set in a cyberpunk-style near future. It's scheduled for release in October, 1998. Team 17 also want me to write a novel based on the game scripts. I'll start work on this in April. They plan to include the novel with the game. I've one other major project scheduled to start this summer. Unfortunately, I'm bound by a tight non-disclosure agreement with the publisher so I can't say anymore about it . . . for now!

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