Douglas Niles | |
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 Douglas Niles atLucca Comics & Games 2018 | |
| Born | Douglas Niles (1954-12-01)December 1, 1954 (age 70) Brookfield, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Occupation | Game designer, novelist |
| Genre | Role-playing games |
| Spouse | Christine Schroeder Niles |
Douglas Niles (born December 1, 1954, inBrookfield, Wisconsin[1]) is afantasy author[2] andgame designer. Niles was one of the creators of theDragonlance world and the author of the first threeForgotten Realms novels, theStar Frontiersspace opera setting and theTop Secret S/I espionagerole-playing game.
Niles was born inBrookfield, Wisconsin, a suburb ofMilwaukee, and his family moved toNashotah, a small town to the north, when he was twelve years old. Niles developed an interest inheroic fantasy, as well aswargaming, and began writing short stories and making short films in high school. Niles attended theUniversity of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, where he majored in speech and minored in English. While there, he met Chris Schroeder, whom he married three years later.[1]
After graduation, Niles began teaching Speech and English atClinton High School, about 30 miles away fromLake Geneva, Wisconsin. “One day, one of my students came up and said she had a note to get out of class that afternoon because she was going to be interviewed byPeople magazine. Her name was Heidi Gygax. I asked her whyPeople wanted to interview her, and she told me that her father had invented theDungeons & Dragons game. Well, I had heard ofD&D, but didn’t know that the designer lived so close to me. The next day, Heidi brought me a copy of the originalD&D Basic Set, and two days later, I got some friends together and played my first game. I was the DM.”[1]
A few years later, one of the players in Niles'D&D campaign went to work forDragon magazine. According to Niles, “One day, he told me thatTSR was hiring editors, and I applied for a job. I took the editing test, which consisted of a 14 page manuscript I was supposed to mark up. I only found three things to change. . . and flunked the test. But TSR was also hiring game designers, and so, armed with a half-written novel and some notes from my campaign, I applied for a design job. I went through five interviews, and gradually convinced them that I could do the job.”[1] Niles was hired by TSR in January 1982, as agame designer. “For the first few weeks I reviewed and critiqued outside submissions, and I wasn’t too good at it. I kept pestering my boss, Al Hammack, for a design assignment, and finally he gave me an old brief for a novice-level module,Cult of the Reptile God, and told me to write it. I completed it in four weeks, and it was published. I don’t know whether they liked it because it was good, or because I did it in only four weeks.”[1] Niles worked on more than justD&D for TSR, “In the summer of 1982, I designed my first game, theKnight Hawks rules for theStar Frontiers game, with much help from my editor,Steve Winter.”[1]
Niles produced several modules for theD&D game, includingX3Curse of Xanathon,B5Horror on the Hill,CM1Test of the Warlords, andH1Bloodstone Pass, andDragonlance modulesDL2 Dragons of Flame,DL6 Dragons of Ice,DL9 Dragons of Deceit, andDL11Dragons of Glory.[1] Niles is the designer of 1985'sWorld War II: European Theatre of Operations, a grand strategic game.[3] Niles worked on theBattlesystem Supplement,Star Frontiers modulesSF4Mission to Alcazzar andSFKH1Dramune Run,Indiana Jones moduleIJ2 Raiders of the Lost Ark, theWorld War II Game, theSirocco Strategy Game (withZeb Cook), and theEndless Quest booksEQ #26 Tarzan and the Well of Slaves andSuper EQ #3 Escape From Castle Quarras for TSR.[1]Tracy Hickman had gottenHarold Johnson,Jeff Grubb,Carl Smith, andLarry Elmore in on the idea ofDragonlance beforeMargaret Weis and Niles joined them.[4]: 16 Niles authored the rulebookDungeoneer's Survival Guide (1986).[4]: 17 Niles was already working on a trilogy of novels with a Celtic theme to be published by TSR, Ltd., which he then modified to become the first novels set in theForgotten Realms, starting withDarkwalker on Moonshae (1987).[4]: 19 Niles also co-authoredThe City of Greyhawk boxed set withCarl Sargent, for which he designed the 96-page bookletGreyhawk: Gem of the Flanaess.[citation needed] Niles andPaul Lidberg designed the board gameA Line in the Sand (1991), which focused on theGulf War between the US and Iraq; it was one of the projects originating from TSR West, and was published the day the US started bombing becauseFlint Dille convinced the company president to move quickly.[4]: 23
Niles has written numerous novels, mainly for the Dragonlance series. Niles is one of the most prolific Dragonlance authors, and in addition toWizard's Conclave, his Dragonlance titles include The Icewall Trilogy (The Messenger,The Golden Orb,Winterheim),Emperor of Ansalon,The Dragons,The Puppet King,Fistandantilus Reborn,Flint the King (with Mary Kirchoff), andThe Last Thane.[5] He contributed nine novels to the Forgotten Realms line,[5] including the Moonshae trilogy and two further trilogies in the Forgotten Realms. He has won both the H.G. Wells award and the Origins award for his work in developing adventure games. In 1990, he left TSR to write fantasy fiction.
Niles has written two World War II alternate history novels,Fox on the Rhine andFox at the Front (co-authored withMichael Dobson). Released in hardcover byForge, a division ofTOR, "Fox" has been both a main selection of theMilitary Book Club and a Featured selection of theScience Fiction Book Club.[5] Niles and Dobson also later wrote the World War II alternate history novelMacArthur's War.[3]
Niles has created two fantasy worlds in books published by Ace Fantasy. The Watershed Trilogy (A Breach in the Watershed,Darkenheight,The War of Three Waters) was completed in the late 1990s, and it features a continent divided by mountains into three distinct basins: watersheds of pure, normal water; of magical liquid (Aura); and of vile, poisonous Darkblood.Circle at Center,Worldfall, andThe Goddess Worldweaver form the Seven Circles Trilogy, which details a cosmos in which historical characters from Earth can be drawn into the realms of magic, through sorcery both deadly and erotic.[5]
Niles has designed dozens of games for TSR, Inc. andSPI, including award-winning boardgames based onTom Clancy's novelsThe Hunt for Red October andRed Storm Rising, and has also created numerous historical military boardgames, including the massive gamesEuropean Theatre of Operations andPacific Theatre of Operations.[5]
Niles resides inDelavan, in the Wisconsin countryside, with his wife Christine and his son David.[5] His daughter, Allison, served overseas as part ofOperation Iraqi Freedom.[5] His hobbies include hiking, bicycling, playing the guitar, and spending time with his friends and family.[5]
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