Cerise Magazine

After reading her book last month, I contacted Shelly Mazzanoble, author of Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress: A Girl’s Guide to the Dungeons & Dragons Game and employee of Wizards of the Coast, to ask if she might like to do an interview for Cerise. Happily, her answer was yes. I hope you all will enjoy reading what she has to say as much as I did.

Robyn Fleming: Before I ask you anything else, I have to know – how’s Astrid? Still alive and well?

Shelly Mazzanoble: Yes! Astrid is relaxing on a much-deserved hiatus. In fact, she plans on retiring from this whole adventure business to take up teaching sorcery at the local charm school.

RF: So how did Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress come about? Did you think you’d be writing a book about it when you first started playing D&D?

SM: If someone told me two years ago that I would write a book about D&D I would have thought it the most preposterous thing I had ever heard. I’m still surprised I wrote a book–let alone a book about D&D. I keep thinking back to that fateful day when Teddy asked me to join the group. What if I had said no?

I was a theater major in college so roleplaying isn’t completely foreign to me and I’ve worked at Wizards long enough to have a basic understanding of what D&D is but even so, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my first few sessions. I wrote an essay for an editor I had worked with at The Seattle Times about “my secret life as a dragon slayer.” Although she was amused, the editor had a hard time grasping the whole “I’ve got a Balenciaga mace and I’m not afraid to use it” story angle. I showed it to some people at work who unbeknownst to me where already exploring ways to reach out to women—gamers and non-gamers. Someone thought my essay could be expanded upon so I wrote up a proposal for a “How to” book written for the woman who has no concept of roleplaying games or the fact you could actually role a fifteen on a single die. Realizing that so much of D&D’s core comes to most women so naturally—storytelling, socializing, even roleplaying—I wanted to highlight that aspect. I tried to write the book that would have helped me learn. A lot of people are turned off by D&D because they think it’s too complicated but it’s really not. I firmly believed that if more women knew what D&D was really about, they’d be inclined to give the old d20 a spin.

RF: What was it like to work on the book? Did you find it very different from your past writing experiences?

SM: One very big difference was that I was writing a book actually scheduled to be published. What a luxury! But I have to say it’s a very odd experience to be writing a book that will be published by the company you work for. It definitely had its advantages like I got to weigh in on selecting the illustrator for the cover and interior art and the marketing team are actually people I play D&D with. Talk about metagaming. How about “Astrid’s going to fireball you in your sleep if she doesn’t get an ad campaign!”

But there is also such as thing as too much information. It’s a fine line between co-worker and ubiquitous, annoying author and one I’m sure I crossed often.

RF: There’s a lot of focus on making D&D more appealing to “girly-girl” types in Confessions – can you explain a little bit about why you think this is important?

SM: My intention was to appeal to all women who have the slightest interest in D&D—girly-girls, girls who like video games but who had never heard of D&D, my friends . . . my mom! I am a girly-girl so that part of me can’t help but seep through. But that’s also just one part of who I am. I volunteer for women’s organizations and animal shelters. I’m a homeowner. I enjoy rearranging my 401K plan almost as much as I do my closets. Almost.

Learning D&D can be information overload so I wanted to outline the basics in an entertaining, less daunting way. I figured comparing daily spells to M&M intake is more entertaining than explaining the game theory behind it.

Sure I said those things in my game about having a designer haversack and getting our food rations at Costco but that was all very tongue in cheek. I know there wasn’t a Cheesecake Factory back in the Middle Ages. Come on! They couldn’t possibly have had enough variety of cheesecake to warrant one.

RF: I’ve noticed that the girly aspects of the book are coming in for some pretty harsh criticism, from both traditional, boy’s-club-mentality gamers and feminist critics. Were you expecting this kind of reaction at all when you were writing? What do you think about it?

SM: I think if you’re writing anything that a lot of people will have access to, you should expect some level of criticism. Up until this, anything I written for public consumption was about bad dating experiences or sugar cookies gone awry. Certainly nothing that warranted debate on a message board! I remember the day the book showed up on Amazon and every D&D message board was a flutter with “What the *&$% is this???” Understandably so, considering all anyone had to go on was the title and the author. That was an enlightening and somewhat terrifying experience. D&D players are a passionate bunch. I fully understand their hesitation. And Confessions is a completely new departure for Wizards so there was nothing to compare it to.

RF: What goals did you have in mind when you were writing Confessions? Do you think you were successful?

SM: First and foremost I wanted to take away the stigma associated with roleplaying games and the people who enjoy them. I know that people who play roleplaying games are often stereotyped and made fun of. I’ve worked in the gaming industry for 8 years. I’ve had gamer friends long before I got into playing D&D and I wanted people to realize gaming is for everyone. You’re not a social outcast without any friends if you play. Quite the contrary as D&D is a game that requires social interaction. You can’t play it alone. I tried.

I also wanted to give gamers something to show their girlfriends, boyfriends, mothers, best friends, sons and daughters what it is they’ve been doing every week for the last 15 years. Here is D&D without the stigma, broken down in an easy-to-digest, hopefully entertaining handbook. You may not be ready to DM your first campaign after reading Confessions but hopefully you’ll understand why this person in your life loves playing it so much.

In terms of success, I’ve gotten some really nice emails from people who tell me their wife/girlfriend wants to give it a try and from women who tried to play once before and didn’t “get it” until they read Confessions. One of the funniest experiences I had was at GenCon when a girl came to my signing and slammed the book down in front of me. She said she was “being forced to learn” presumably by the guy standing behind her nodding his head. I don’t know if she ended up playing or even liking it but she’ll at least understand a little more what he’s talking about. And really, there are worse things he could be doing with his buddies once a week, right?

RF: Do you think there will be more gaming books targeted at women coming out in the future?

SM: I do, yes. And hopefully these will be books written by and for many different types of women. I know Wizards is taking great strides in broadening their audience and giving a voice to a blossoming segment of roleplayers. It’s great to see these online communities that support women in gaming thriving. I think that alone says quite a bit.

RF: I understand that you’re writing a column for Dragon now called “Confessions of a Full-Time Wizard.” Can you tell us a little about it?

SM: The editors came to me asking if I’d be interested in writing a monthly column from a “women’s point of view.” They had both read Confessions so I assumed they knew what kind of “point of view” they would be getting. Fortunately they wanted something that focused on the social aspect of D&D—an important aspect that often gets under-represented. That I can do. Crunchy rules talk? Not really my style. I hope to treat this column as an extension of the parts in Confessions where I talk about my gaming sessions but for some reason every time I sit down to write something, I find myself regressing to 5th grade. Not sure what the connection is between D&D and my adolescence although I’m sure Dr. Phil would have a field day with it.

RF: When you’re not writing books and columns for Wizards of the Coast, what do you do there? How did you get started working there?

SM: I started at Wizards over 8 years ago working on the promotions teams for Magic: The Gathering. From there I moved to marketing/brand working on various trading card games until I was eventually moved to the publishing team where I do marketing for our children’s book imprint, Mirrorstone.

RF: What are some of the best things about your job? The worst?

SM: I can honestly say I love my job. Working in publishing is a great place for a writer because the industry knowledge is invaluable.

So many people who work at Wizards can honestly say they do what they love. They grew up playing D&D and now they’re working in R&D. People who played on the Magic Pro Tour are now working in marketing. That’s what is so unique about working here. The people who are bringing you the games you love, truly have a vested interest in making them the best games they possibly can be. When you work for a game company it’s kind of your job to have fun. People who aren’t any fun don’t last for too long here.

The worst? At the risk of getting a scolding from HR let’s say it’s the commute. And dogs aren’t allowed in the building. I think dogs would add a lot to the culture.

RF: Do you have any advice for women who are interested in working in the gaming industry?

SM: Game companies don’t run on just R&D and marketing. There are departments dedicated to hiring, paying the bills, running events, etc. If your ultimate goal is to be a game designer but you have experience in sales, there is probably still a place for you in the company. If you live near a company you’re interested in working for, try to get an informational interview with someone who works in the department you’re interested in. We do that all the time at Wizards. If you don’t live near a company you’re interested in, email will work too. I don’t know anyone I work with that wouldn’t be willing to talk about how they got into the industry and offer advice. Try to attend as many conventions as you can. Attend seminars and workshops. Look for freelance opportunities when possible.

There are lots of new faces at Wizards right now and many of them are women.

RF: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

SM: I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you and your readers. I’d like to stress the fact that although D&D is reaching new audiences, the way you already play the game isn’t changing. I know there’s a lot of change coming at one time but hopefully fans of the game will see this as a positive. Wizards wouldn’t invest so much energy in trying to bring new people into the game if they weren’t invested in making and keeping D&D the game its players know and love.

If you want to learn more about Shelly Mazzanoble and her work, check out her website, www.shellymazzanoble.com, her column, “Confessions of a Full-Time Wizard,” or the Wizards of the Coast product page for Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress.