Laura Hickman

Laura Curtis Hickman (born December 7, 1956, in Long Beach, California) is an American fantasy author, best known for her works in game design and fantasy novels cowritten with her husband, Tracy Hickman. She was one of the first women to write and publish a tabletop adventure.

"Laura Curtis" redirects here. For the eponymous person who was part of the Welsh musician duo, see Laura Curtis (musician).
Laura Curtis Hickman
Laura Hickman
Laura Hickman
BornLaura Curtis
(1956-12-07) December 7, 1956
Long Beach, California, U.S.
OccupationNovelist, game designer
NationalityAmerican
Period1984–present
GenreFantasy fiction
Spouse
​
(m. 1977)​
Children4
Website
www.bakingoutsidethebox.com

Early life

Laura Curtis was born on December 7, 1956, in Long Beach, California.[1] She married Tracy Hickman in 1977.[2] They have four children. Laura Hickman is a member of the LDS Church.[1]

Career
a blonde woman in a pink shirt sits between a man in a black shirt and a goatee (left) and a man with brown hair wearing tan (right)
Hickman with husband Tracy Hickman (left) and Nathan Fillion (right)

Early on in her marriage, Hickman introduced her husband, Tracy, to the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.[3] The two co-wrote modules for the game while living in Provo,[4] resulting in the original versions of the modules Rahasia and Pharaoh,[5] which the Hickmans self-published through DayStar West Media in 1980.[6]: 15  Their adventure modules began as "photocopied pages with covers [they] would staple together on the card table in [their] kitchen."[3] These early modules were a significant innovation for fantasy RPG modules, since they had an interesting story with an objective that was achievable in one or two sessions, as well as dungeons that were based in the architecture of a possible location.[6]

a blonde woman wearing a purple-and-white shirt and a red lanyard
Hickman at Lucca Comics & Games 2008

During the early 1980s, the Hickmans were living in Logan, Utah, and were struggling financially[3] after Tracy's business associate left him with $30,000 in debt.[5] Upon hearing that the Dungeons & Dragons publisher, TSR, would pay $500 for new modules,[3] the Hickmans decided to send Rahasia and Pharaoh to the company.[5] TSR agreed to publish the Hickmans' modules.[5] Laura Hickman was one of the first women to write tabletop adventures.[7]

The Hickmans started working at TSR and moved to Wisconsin, developing their idea for Dragonlance during the drive there.[3][5] Laura was the inspiration for the character Laurana Kanan. Dragonlance became "the first project TSR, Inc. had undertaken that would include adult novels as well as games, calendars, and other spin-off products."[5] The Dragonlance universe, supported by many writers and artists at TSR, become very popular, with half a million game modules and two million books sold by 1987.[5] While at TSR, the Hickmans wrote the popular and innovative Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Ravenloft (1983) module.[2] Polygon writer Charlie Hall described the module as "the first story-based D&D campaign".[8] The book Dungeon Master For Dummies chose the module as one of the ten best classic adventures and praised the detailed yet concise plot and isometric maps. The book also claims that Ravenloft "inspired game designers and Dungeon Masters to take the art of adventure to the next level." Ravenloft inspired a campaign setting of the same name.[9]

The Hickmans published the Bronze Canticles series together, starting with Mystic Warrior in 2004.[10] Tracy and Laura hosted a podcast called DragonHearth until December 2010.[11] They also wrote the adventure Out in the Black (2006) for the Serenity Role Playing Game for Margaret Weis Productions.[6]: 353  The Whitney Awards gave an Outstanding Achievement award to the Hickmans for having "paved the way in out-of-the-box publishing methods".[12] Hickman has been involved at writing conferences such as Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers.[12]

In 2010, Tracy and Laura Hickman launched a direct-to-internet serialized fantasy series, "Dragon's Bard".[13]

Works

Game supplements

Co-written with Tracy Hickman.
For Dungeons & Dragons:

For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons:

For the Serenity Role Playing Game:

  • Out in the Black (2006)[16]

Fiction

Co-written with Tracy Hickman
  • Bronze Canticles series [18]
    • Mystic Warrior (2004)
    • Mystic Quest (2005)
    • Mystic Empire (2006)
  • Tales of the Dragon's Bard series[18]
    • Eventide (2010)
    • Blackshore (2013)
    • Moredale (unpublished)[19]
    • St. Nicholas and the Dragon (2012)
  • Swept Up By the Sea: A Romantic Fairy Tale (2013) [20]
  • Sojourner Tales (2014)
  • The Nightbirds series[18]
    • Unwept (2014)
    • Unhonored (2016)

Non-fiction
  • Baking Outside the Box: Volume 1 The Goody Mix

References
  1. "Laura Curtis Hickman". Mormon Literature and Creative Arts Database. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
  2. Varney, Allen (August 1998). "ProFiles: Tracy Hickman" (PDF). Dragon. Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast (#250): 120.
  3. Nahrung, Jason (2008-06-28). "Dragonlance duo step in". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane.
  4. Hickman, Tracy. "Tracy Hickman's Works with Laura Curtis". TRHickman.com. Archived from the original on July 26, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  5. Weis, Margaret (April 1987). "TSR Profiles" (PDF). Dragon. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, Inc. (#120): 91.
  6. Appelcline, Shannon (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  7. "Tracy and Laura Hickman". Shadow Mountain Publishing. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  8. Hall, Charlie (18 January 2016). "D&D's Ravenloft returns with the help of its original creators". Polygon.
  9. Slavicsek, Bill; Baker, Rich; Grubb, Jeff (2006). Dungeon Master For Dummies. For Dummies. pp. 10, 320. ISBN 978-0-471-78330-5. Retrieved February 12, 2009.
  10. Hickman, Tracy (2007). "Battle Cry". In Lowder, James (ed.). Hobby Games: The 100 Best. Green Ronin Publishing. pp. 21–23. ISBN 978-1-932442-96-0.
  11. "DragonHearth Podcast Feed". Listen Notes. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 2021-08-16.
  12. "Outstanding Achievement Winners: Tracy and Laura Hickman". Whitney Awards. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
  13. "Dragons Bard". Dragon's Bard Website. 2010. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014.
  14. "Dragons of War catalog record". BYU Library.
  15. Rateliff, John D. (2004). "Introduction to Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2007.
  16. "Out in the Black - Serenity from Margaret Weis Productions". Noble Knight Games.
  17. "Title: Heart of Goldmoon". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
  18. "Summary Bibliography: Laura Hickman". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
  19. "Title: Moredale". www.isfdb.org.
  20. "Title: Swept Up By the Sea: A Romantic Fairy Tale". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2021-07-30.
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