Tracy Hickman

SueTracy Hickman is an author and sometime LDS missionary, and one of the major talents responsible for D&D as we know it. He is a great-grandchild of no less than that Danite, Wild Bill; who had turned around and totally blasted that Salt Lake caliph in his Brigham's Avenging Angel autobiography. Despite his gurly first name Tracy ain't exactly a little bitch himself.

Hickman did his missionising in Indonesia. His best work has infused Islamic, Indian, and - yes - Mormon themes to varying degrees of success. Mostly success.

Hickman's credits include the I3-5 Desert of Desolation series, Indian-influenced Rahasia which became one of the best-received of the B series, Ravenloft, and Dragonlance. He also wrote or co-wrote (often with Margaret Weis) many of the novelisations.

That said, he has his ups and downs. For one, he really dislikes "crossover" campaigns that cover multiple settings, and is on record as despising what Ravenloft has become because of this. Perhaps this paradox is nowhere better displayed than one of the most famous D&D villains of all time, the iconic Death Knight Lord Soth, whom he created in Dragonlance, hated when he came to Ravenloft to the point of having the death knight cameo in his novels almost specifically to fuck up continuity on that front, and ultimately killed off so no one could have him... but, you know, in a way that was still oddly consistent with Soth's character arc, so it could've hurt worse.

Hickman every now and again returns to comment on this hobby. He bashed Monte Cook for the Book of Vile Darkness, claiming that it was giving air to the Satanic Panic moralfaggotry. The complaint didn't go anywhere because duhhh vile darkness is for bad guys.

In sum, kind of a big deal.