An Interview With JD Wiker

By Jesse Decker

JD Wiker, the author of the Secrets of Tatooine accessory, became a game designer after serving on Wizards of the Coast's Customer Service team. He was 11 years old when Star Wars first came to theaters, and he recalls that, initially, he wasn't interested in seeing it. But while on vacation in Florida -- during which it rained day and night -- his father dragged him to the cinema to see it. After that, JD was hooked. Now, he works on the game every day and is slowly building an army of battle droids with which to seize control of his neighbor's garden.

Wizards of the Coast: Some of the most important scenes in the Star Wars movies occur on Tatooine. Did this affect how you thought about the project?
JD Wiker: Yes and no. Obviously, I needed to tell the story of those major events, but I also needed to cover the back stories of some of the locations and background characters as well. To get it all into 96 pages, I had to prune a bit here and there -- always keeping in mind the notion that Tatooine is "the planet that's furthest from the bright center of the galaxy." So I planned early on to give the most coverage to the people and places that are part of Tatooine -- not just passing through -- and to try to establish Tatooine's social environment as a place where dreams go to die. The scenes in the Star Wars movies that deal with Tatooine revolve around people who have lost all hope finding it again.

Wizards: Did you have any special design constraints of ideas before you began the writing?
JD: Before? No. But I did some rewrites late in the process after we got some feedback from Lucasfilm regarding various characters and locations. As you mentioned, Tatooine plays an important part in the movies, and there are still two movies yet to be seen, as well as the story of the Hutts moving to Tatooine during the New Jedi Order era. So I had to be careful not to give away too much of the future of Tatooine.

Wizards: What are the secrets of Tatooine?
JD: For one, it's the galactic capital of water parks. It just looks like a desert world, but it's crawling with water parks! You can't swing a dead womp rat without hitting a water park. They're extremely popular on Tatooine. The water park in Mos Eisley alone uses over 200 million gallons of water a day.

Wizards: C'mon . . . just tell us one.
JD: Okay, seriously . . . Most of Tatooine during the Rise of the Empire and Rebellion eras is pretty well documented -- not a whole lot of secrets there. But the story of the arrival of the Hutts and how they came to be in control, as well as the story of how Tatooine changed after Jabba's death in Return of the Jedi -- there are some new bits of information there. For sheer volume of new stuff, though, check out the section on Mos Entha.

Wizards: What did you enjoy most about working on Secrets of Tatooine?
JD: I really enjoyed writing the adventure, "Between the Sand and the Sky." I think I've really captured the flavor of Tatooine in a cinematic way. It's got Jawas, Sand People, a Hutt or two, crimelords, thugs, a cantina, deserts, sandstorms, explosions, shoot-outs -- everything that says "Tatooine."

Wizards: What sources did you use during the design?
JD: Everything I could find: The Star Wars Encyclopedia, The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons, A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, Tales from Jabba's Palace, Tatooine Manhunt and Galaxy Guide 7 from West End Games, the Visual Dictionaries, The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, and the Star Wars comic series from Dark Horse Publishing. Oh, and I found some movies that showed Tatooine, too.

Wizards: I know you're really into miniatures. [Check out his minis painting tips online! -ed.] When did that interest start, and how has it grown? Do you have any advice for players trying to use miniatures in their Star Wars games?
JD: I started using miniatures when I first decided to design a game, back when I was about 15 years old. I collected quite a few, and painted them using enamel model paints and a Testor's plastic brush! They were awful. But as I got more into gaming, I learned how to really paint, and eventually, when I started playing fantasy roleplaying games regularly, I started painting miniatures to have on hand every week for the game. It got to a point where I was painting upwards of 20 miniatures every week.

I haven't really used actual miniatures in my Star Wars gaming yet. I keep trying to bribe [miniatures creative director] Chris Pramas into letting me have some of the upcoming Star Wars miniatures early, for "playtesting," but it's like getting blood from a turnip. In the meantime, I'm using Legos -- one of my players has a full collection of the Star Wars Legos and re-tooled the Millennium Falcon to look like the ship their group uses. (That ship shows up in issue 3 of Star Wars Gamer, by the way.) In fact, we used those figures for playtesting "Between the Sand and the Sky." The "resting" Wookiee in the photo is actually recovering from wounds she sustained getting her hands on that bowcaster. You'll notice she's not letting it go, even while she sleeps.

Wizards: How did you get started in the gaming industry? Do you have any advice for those interested in becoming part of the industry?
JD: Well, when I first arrived in Seattle, I had only the clothes on my back and a handful of credits. Actually, I moved here from the Midwest to work at Wizards of the Coast as a customer service rep. I answered telephone calls, letters, and email for four years before Wizards purchased TSR, and for another year before a position opened up in RPG R&D (Roleplaying Games Research & Design) for me. I started out working on Alternity and Dark*Matter, then skipped around a bit before Star Wars presented itself.

My advice to aspiring game designers: Develop your math skills. When I was in school, I took the minimum number of courses and spent the rest of my time studying journalism and creative writing. I wish now that I had taken a more balanced approach, because I'm realizing that math -- odds, percentages, conversions -- is an important part of game design. Second piece of advice: Use the spellchecker and grammar-checker on your computer. I've seen swarms of editors strip a designer down to the bare bones over poor grammar. And finally: Give every game -- every kind of game -- a chance. Don't dismiss board games because you want to design card games. Don't dismiss card games because you want to design roleplaying games. Analyze what makes those games fun.

To learn more about the desert world of Hutts and water parks -- well, of Hutts, anyway -- check out the Secrets of Tatooine campaign pack!

Need a taste of Tatooine's secrets? Here's an overall impression of the harsh planet.