ABOUT THAT...

 

The Laughing Moon world has been a part of my life for more than twenty years. The world itself was born much in the same way that my very first short story was written—I ran out of other people’s work, so I decided to create my own. Granted, you can’t really “run out” of D&D, but my aspirations began to grow beyond the borders that someone else had built. I needed my own sandbox, and over my newly made castles I hung a sickle moon. A lot of time and a lot of energy went in to those castles, and I was fortunate to rarely be building them alone.

 

So it came as some surprise to gamers and readers familiar with Laughing Moon when I quietly decided to leave that world.

 

After all these years, I’m saddened and a little embarrassed to admit that, in short, I lost my way. I can’t exactly put a finger on it, but I think it is fair to say that for whatever reason, I no longer had stories to tell in that world. It’s not that I didn’t love it, I did, and do, and always will, but in my older age, the setting itself began to reveal some ugly truths to me. I mentioned that the world was created because I wanted to grow beyond the borders of other fantasy stories or games. Looking back, in truth, I think that Laughing Moon was more of a love-song to all those far off places. As much as I wanted to offer up my own ideas (and for the record, I think I did to some degree) the world itself wasn’t really all that different or original.

 

But a lot of years and a lot of love went into it, and after having walked away, I felt that I needed to offer up some form of resolution. Conclusion, might be a better word.

 

So...I blew up the moon and watched my world crumble.

 

That’s a little dramatic, to say the least, but contrary to T.S. Eliot, I wanted my world to go out with a bang rather than a whimper. I imagined a story of unbridled ambition, selfishness, and greed. I imagined a backstory where, ultimately, the protagonist became the antagonist, and in the end, in an effort to shape the world around him, he destroyed all that he loved the most. And in so doing, he brought an end to Mythren. My inspiration was deeply personal. Art imitates life, after all, and I did some ugly soul-searching through this long process. I deconstructed myself and my fictional world all at once, I guess. At the end of that path, however, all of this felt right. The destruction of the moon was symbolic and felt fitting as a final chapter for many reasons. I thought I could wash my hands of these twenty-plus years and move on.

 

And that’s when something unexpected happened.

 

Out of all this destruction I had an image sink into my head that I just couldn’t shake. I saw an apocalyptic world, and in the sky overhead was what remained of a sickle-shaped moon. I saw the Wheelhouse tower looming huge and god-like, and for the first time in a very long while, I felt the tiny flicker of a creative spark once again.

 

Ironically, by destroying everything I had spent years building gave me the freedom to finally create something that felt fresh. This broken, post-apocalyptic fantasy setting that lingered has stories left in it after all. There’s beauty in the breakdown, so it seems.

 

It is in the dawning of this new setting, Laughing Moon: Wheelhouse, that I invite you to join me. We’ve dreamed ourselves back into the world under the Laughing Moon...what’s left of it...and here we find not only the broken moon grinning from the sky, but the shadow of a great tower cast over the remains of a place we used to know.

 

To answer the question I get most often, yes, this is still the same world under the Laughing Moon. And while you may hear some familiar names or see familiar places, things have certainly changed. In the end, I hope you like what we’ve done with the place.

 

In the following pages, we see our first glimpse of the world of Mythren following what is known as the Breaking. It is a shattered landscape with a tragic history, full of unique locales and dangerous new corners to explore. After all these years I think I’ve finally designed a truly interesting and complex world of my own. What’s more, this is a setting that provides a rich new context for story-telling—both for me and for you.

 

We have a new world to shape. Fresh stories to tell. More dice to roll.

 

I’d like to invite you along for the adventure.

 

-Todd VanHooser