Dinner with Anne McCaffrey

For the last three years UbiStudios UK, the developer formerly known as Grolier Interactive, have been working on a role-playing game based on the best-selling fantasy novels of Anne McCaffrey. Now known as "Dragonriders : Chronicles Of Pern", the game benefits from the rich background developed by Anne over the last thirty years, but that's not the only advantage of working with the author. "The majority of us have been to see her and discussed ideas and concepts with her", lead designer Oliver Sykes told RPGVault in a recent interview, before admitting the real reasons for their frequent visits. "She puts on a great spread of food!"

As well as making sure that the team is kept well fed, Anne has also contributed to the storyline and artistic direction of the game. "Anne has given us a great amount of freedom on this project, and was involved more in the pre-development period than the stages we are at now. She had a great deal of input in the creation of the dragons and what she would like / not like to see happen with her world. I think she was very happy with that, and has left us pretty much to our own devices knowing that she can trust us not to go too awry as some licenses have a tendency to do!"

The developers themselves are making sure to remain immersed in the world of Pern as well, and "have a sort of unwritten rule that everyone must read at least one of her books". Some people go much further though. "We have some guys here that have read all of them and are walking encyclopedias - it's great to have people on hand to answer your Pern-related questions at the drop of a hat!"