My Interview with the Player-In-Chief, Shelly Mazzanoble Pt. 1

Being a playwright, author and overall creative persona are just pieces of what makes up the ever-entertaining Shelly Mazzanoble, whom I had the privilege of interviewing this past week!  Shelly is the Associate Brand Marketing Manager for Dungeons & Dragons.  She is also the author of “Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress”, the book that my husband bought me to initially introduce me to gaming.  It was my own personal brush with gaming fame

So please, without further ado, enjoy the interview in its first part!

1: What is your official job title at Wizards of the Coast?
I’m the Associate Brand Marketing Manager for Dungeons & Dragons.

2: What are your regular job duties?
I, along with my boss, am responsible for all of the marketing initiatives for Dungeons & Dragons across all platforms (novels, RPG, online, etc.) We work very closely with cross-functional teams, which include advertising, PR, sales, community, R&D. Really everyone in the company. Lucky for me I really like my co-workers.

3: I’ve heard you referred to as the “Player and Chief”, can you tell me what that means and how you got that title?
Yes! I gave myself that title and continue to force R&D to recognize me as such. It came from my Dragon column after feeling like R&D was getting a little power hungry and the players were suffering. So I went around demanding all sorts of changes “for the players” in an attempt to balance things out. For instance, it drove me nuts that magic missile was no longer “magic.” You had to roll to see if you hit. That’s not magic! So I tried to get R&D to change it back or rename it “missile.” I think they had some kind of lame excuse like “Oh, it does more damage now so it’s still cool.” Whatever. I wasn’t buying it. And guess what? Recently magic missile has regained its magic. No more rolling to see if you hit. I’m taking credit for that (although I suspect I had nothing to do with it. But still…)

4: How did you first get involved in gaming?
You can only work at Wizards for so long before gaming catches up to you, clobbers you on the head and drags you back to its lair!

While I’ve always liked playing cards and “party” games like Cranium, Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, etc. I never considered myself a gamer. That’s a term I reserved for hardcore video gamers, TCG or RPGers. In fact, I still feel like it’s wrong to refer to myself as a gamer. I’m relatively new to the whole D&D thing. I haven’t earned the title yet.

I’ve been at Wizards for 11 years now. The first 6 years I was doing marketing for various trading card games like Magic: The Gathering. Although I can see the appeal, it was way too competitive for my taste. When I moved to the publishing team, I was invited to join a D&D game that was just starting up. I’ve been playing every week (give or take) for the past five years now and loving it.

5: Was there any part of gaming that you felt came ‘naturally’ to you?
I’ve always loved creating characters so that part is my favorite. I spent a lot of time as a kid playing with stuffed animals and gave them all these very lavish backstories. They had jobs, kids, marriages and divorces. They drove specific cars, had friends and enemies, liked certain foods and baseball teams. My brother and I talked about them like they were part of the family. Even my parents still remember Froggy O’Hara, who owned a pillow shop, was married to Green Rabbito, drove a corvette (Barbie’s!), and loved the Atlanta Braves. Why didn’t my brother and I play D&D?

I also really love the stories and that everyone in the group has a chance to contribute to it.

6: Was there any part of gaming that you felt was more difficult to learn or do?
Yep. So much so that I wrote about this too. I still have some insecurities when it comes to the roleplaying aspect. While I love making up a character’s background I seldom use it in game. Tabitha, my tiefling wizard, is charismatic and intimidating. She’s the obvious choice to schmooze (or rough up) the guards outside a temple or try to get a bigger reward from the mayor who sent us on our adventure. And yet I can’t help thinking I’ll say the wrong thing or miss a totally obviously clue so poor Tabby never really says much of anything.

I think strategy is something that takes practice. I need to work on that both as a player and a fledging Dungeon Master. Things like “Where do I stand?” “Should I move even if I can make a ranged attack?” “Should I bring all the minions out at once?” Being honest with your group, asking for help and advice is all perfectly acceptable. I learned that even the seemingly most expert D&D players have their insecurities once in a while.

7: How did you come to write “Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress”?
I wrote an essay for an editor I had worked with at The Seattle Times about “my secret life as a dragon slayer.” I played up my “girly” side and the fact I never thought someone like me would be into a game like D&D because I really wanted to shoot down some of the stereotypes associated with the game. 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” concept. 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 a 20-sided die for that matter. I wanted to highlight the aspects I though came so naturally to some women — storytelling, socializing, even roleplaying. I believed that if more women knew what D&D was really about, they’d be inclined to give the old d20 a spin. Roleplaying is not a foreign concept to women. Little girls are naturals at it. They play house, tea party, dolls. Just imagine if Barbie’s dream house was invaded by hobgoblins.

Check out Pt. 2 of the interview here!

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