[Cerek the Barbaric]

<font color=deepskyblue>I actually had the distinct pleasure of corresponding with R.A. Salvatore back in the early 90's shortly after the Icewind Dale Trilogy was released. Believe it or not, Drizzt, Breunor, Cattie-Brie and Wulfgar were NOT based on actual characters or games he and his friends had played. Unlike Wickmann and Heiss, whose gaming group actually roleplayed the characters in the Dragonlance series, Salvatore created the characters for his novels from his own imagination. He and his buddies were avid gamers and did get together every Sunday to play a game of some kind..and it is reasonable to assume that their various AD&D adventures may have inspired some of the events in his various books....but none of them were based directly on specific games they had roleplayed.

Oh, and yes I DO still have a couple of the letters he wrote to me back then. He was very friendly and personable and even sent a couple of handwritten letters during the year or so that we corresponded. I eventually stopped reading his books (and stopped writing to him) as other events occurred in my life (such as wife and kids), but he will always be one of my favorite authors. </font>