Interview - Author Luke T. Barnett
Several years ago, right around the release of 3e, I was living in Columbia MO and joined a sandbox game being played at Vallhala’s Gate called From the Ashes, or simply Ashes.
This was a game of multiple DMs, DMing seperate tables simultaneously - and the events of the each game impacted the overarching campaign, or even the table next to them. It was a great time and I made some really good lifelong friends.
One of those, Luke , was working on a novel while we played. Nobody thought anything of it, but Luke persisted - and now, today, he is a published author of several books across both the Fantasy and SciFi genres.
Seeing his success, I thought I would take the time to reach out to my old friend and see what he is up to.
I hope you enjoy, or at least check out his writings.
Luke T. Barnett
Q: I've known you for a long time, dating back to my days in Columbia Missouri, and us playing in the Ashes sandbox games together at Valhalla’s Gate. You were working on early drafts of your novel (Half-Orc Redemption ) then, so I decided to purchase the book to see if any of those games bled over into your writings. Before we start, any insight or hints there on crossovers from D&D game to Story.
A: Yeah, those are days and games I won’t soon forget. They were what spawned the novel in the first place. As far as mechanics, there wasn’t a lot of crossover. It’s more D&D inspired. There is one scene where Gash cleaves through three enemies at once and I can’t help but think of the Cleve ability from 3rd ED when I reread that.
Gash is, of course, a Half-Orc Barbarian. His look, at least in my mind, was modeled after the 3rd ED sketch of the Half-Orc in the Player’s Handbook and the Orc poster from Warcraft 3. In the game he carried a greataxe which is still his weapon in the book. His friend Mara is modeled loosely after the Monk character in 3rd ED.
From the sessions we had, we had a lot of Dwarves in our party especially with Brian and Randy. The stories we played through involving their dwarven society and heritage did a lot to inspire the Dwarves of my novel. I’ve considered writing the Ashes campaigns, or portions of them into the narrative, but I don’t want to infringe on anyone’s characters. They may get a reference later, more like Easter Egg type things.
Q: What do you remember of Ashes?
A: Too much to recount here. But I will recount some of it. Randy and Brian playing Dwarven brothers, one of them gaining some magic gauntlets that wouldn’t come off. I think you played their uncle Hade (DM Ed Note - Hade was played by Drunkard and Dragons own - Glenn Harvey) at one point, but I might be mixing up players. I remember a big split in the town of Haven as some of the party members wanted to start dealings with dark elves and the rest were vehemently against it (a lot of that happened in the forums). Jeromy played a monk, I think. He was a speardancer and very cool.
Brian mugging for the Camera and Randy with the Ponytail back in the day at “The Gate”
Our characters sitting in a circle, passing around a horn and drinking to those in their lives they held in high esteem but I think had passed on. Gash was the last to receive it and since he had no one, he drank to the other characters. Someone, you or someone else, replied to that with, “*sniff* Anyone got a hankey?”
I remember ascending a tower and Gash befriending a unicorn cause he was the only good aligned character in the party. Then he got turned to stone by a beholder and someone put a dress on him which he tore off once he was cured. Randy talked about carving the rune for dwarf friend into his shoulder, but decided Gash may not like it done without permission.
Q: Half-Orc Redemption is a unique take on the classic fantasy adventure story. What inspired you to write a story with a half-orc protagonist, and what do you hope readers take away from the character of Gash?
A: Unique take, huh? That’s cool. I just wanted to write Gash’s story. In those sessions we played, we took time to write up our characters’ origins on a message board (which was a lot of fun). I had written short stories before (those eventually became my short story collection Cryos & Jade), and when I wrote Gash’s origin, I decided to go all out and turn it into a novel. Gash himself was an act of intentional simplicity. I had come up with all these strange half-breed character concepts and for Ashes, I just decided to go with a simple half-orc barbarian. Standard D&D race/class. His name was inspired by Jared’s story of an Orc character named Bloodspray.
The fact that he was a half-orc wasn’t really what drew me to write his story, rather I just enjoyed writing and I liked Gash’s personality. His mindset started out as a simple: Destroy evil. But as I played him and wrote about him, it developed into a character doing his best to undo the evils of his Orcish kin by acting in honor towards those around him, no matter what it cost him.
What I hope readers take away from Gash is that taking that higher road will always be hard and lonely. But it is worth it and you will command more honor and respect by doing so than if you had gone the way the world goes. Stick to your convictions. Stand up for what’s right. But have a gentle heart toward those in need and honor the people in your life, especially those who do the same.
Q: You seem to be a fan of both science fiction and fantasy. How have these genres influenced your writing, and are there any particular authors or works that have inspired you?
A: Strange creatures and cool technology has always fascinated me as has the idea of chivalry and honor. I loved those stories with honorable heroes trying to do what’s right in the right way to save the realm or traveling to alien worlds. Ensemble casts, each with their own unique talents and personalities was also a staple I loved growing up. It was also a staple of a lot of 80s cartoons. Stories and characters like that, reflecting high morals and selfless heroism always attracted me. I never liked the depressing or grimdark stuff, nor horror of things like Cthulu. My influences were He-Man, Transformers, Bravestarr, and Star Wars (arguably my biggest). As I grew older I took inspiration from shows like Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop, shows where the protagonists weren’t as heroic or selfless, but gave me a more grounded sense of the human condition. These came together in my writing to form a style that honors the honorable while acknowledging that no one is perfect and we all fall short.
Star Wars and Final Fantasy were probably my biggest early influences. Dungeons & Dragons came along later but was wonderful for exercising my creative brain in forming my own characters and stories, though I had made up stories before then.
DM Ed - I had to include a BraveStarr pic because nobody talks about him.
Q: Your writing style is rich in descriptions and attention to detail. Can you speak to your process for crafting immersive worlds and bringing characters to life on the page?
A: The center of my writing has always been my characters. I love telling their stories and watching them grow. Gash, being the less talkative type, is very introspective, so, I got to play a lot with his inner dialogue. In addition, I use writing as an outlet, having my characters work through some of the struggles I’ve had to work through in my own life.
I grew up watching movies more than reading books, so I see every scene in my head and I want the reader to see what I see. Because I think it’s cool, and I want them to see how cool it is. On top of that, I’m very visual and tactile. I like to be in different environments and remember what the wind felt like, what the air was like, or the trees, or the ground under my feet.
Another fun thing for me to do is find reasonable explanations for things. I make up aspects of culture while I write the story, but then I go back later on and come up with a reason for those aspects. I came up with the idea of Gash being less than a slave. That led to him being labeled as an Un-Orc. So Un-orcs, or non-orc beings were considered of no more worth than a tool by the Orcs. This led to the phrase, The strong are worthy of honor, the weak are worthy of death, and the un-orc are worthy of nothing. I decided that as the Orcs are massively strong and warlike, it would make sense their society would be based around strength and battle. Everything they did, therefore would be influenced by these two concepts.
I like playing with history and prophecy. Why is this land shaped this way? Why is there a mountain missing? Why is this mountain collapsed? What role did the Dwarves play in the history of this land. I like playing in the history and cultures of the worlds I create and exploring their different aspects. This naturally bleeds out to my writing. It’s also the reason I have a glossary in the back for those native words spoken by the various characters.
Q: What upcoming projects do you have in the works, and are there any particular themes or ideas that you are excited to explore in your future writing?
A: I am currently revising the second Half-Orc book: Kindred. And I am loving this story as I get to explore more deeply the origins of the Orcish race (hint: they didn’t come from elves) and get to challenge my characters in new ways. I am also writing Galactic Core book 4. This is my space opera series heavily inspired by Star Wars and about a dozen other sci fi influences I’ve had over the years. I’m enjoying exploring the ideas of redemption and accepting help and friendship when you’ve been without it for so long. The idea of family is a big undercurrent theme in this series.
With my Cryos and Jade series, I’m looking forward to continuing to explore the themes of true friendship and loyalty. Eventually Cryos& Jade will intersect with the Half-Orc Saga. That’ll be a lot of fun.
Q: BONUS question, if you want to address it – How do you feel about WotC’s recent announcement of discontinuing the the mixed races in D&D, especially as you have written a book about a half-orc character?
A: Okay. I had to look this up because I hadn’t heard about this until you told me. So apparently, it isn’t just half-races they want to get rid of, but the term “race” altogether.Race is not a bad word. Inaccurate when pertaining to D&D, but not a bad word. Differences in people is a good thing. It’s making those differences a barrier rather than a thing to be embraced and celebrated that is bad.
Racism and discrimination are evils of our world. Naturally, those will be reflected in the stories we tell, ideally to show how they are evil and how they can be overcome. In Half-Orc Redemption, the ideas of racism and discrimination are very much explored and defeated. Gash has to rise above them and overcome his own racist thoughts towards his kin. This was a natural occurrence in a story of a half-orc, a being caught between two worlds, both of whom hated him for what he is. Stories, at least western stories, are about conflict and overcoming them. To have conflict, you need a source of evil for the protagonist to overcome. That is an oversimplification, but that’s the basic premise of storytelling. In short, as far as my stories go, I don’t shy away from addressing topics such as these, but I aim also, not to glorify evil. Show evil for what it is and show your character overcoming it. That’s the heart of a heroic character.
As far as D&D goes, it’s a ridiculous move. D&D has ALWAYS been all inclusive. You know as we grew up playing these games, people thought you were a weirdo or a freak if you played D&D. So anyone who came to the table was welcome. They were someone who would share in your weirdness and not bat an eyelash. For WotC to make this move in an attempt to be “more inclusive” or whatever they are trying to accomplish is ridiculous and stupid. Not to mention, restricting races is in itself exclusionary, divisive, and racist. They are basically saying that a being that is a mix of two races is not okay. So, I guess I should tell my kids that they can’t exist now, because they are half-black, and half-white. And I can’t exist either because I’m part Irish, part English, Welsh, German, and Swiss. Americans aren’t the only ones with prejudices and the racism door swings many ways.
My first D&D character started out as a simple half-elf. But over the course of playing her, the DM wove the story to have her include Drow and Hag in her heritage, giving her access to power she otherwise wouldn’t have had. That was an interesting character to play.
If you try to please everyone, you’ll wind up alienating those who truly care about what you’re doing and you’ll end up pleasing no one. There’s my two copper pieces on the matter. 😉
Thanks for the opportunity to ramble on about my stories and reminisce about Ashes. This was a lot of fun.
