American writer and game designer
Larry DiTillio |
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| Born | Lawrence G. DiTillio
(1948-02-15)February 15, 1948 |
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| Died | March 16, 2019(2019-03-16) (aged 71) |
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| Nationality | American |
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| Occupation | Television writer |
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| Years active | 1970–2009 |
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Lawrence G. DiTillio (February 15, 1948 – March 16, 2019) was an American film, TV series, and tabletop role-playing game writer. His creations include He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword and the award-winning Masks of Nyarlathotep.
Education
Larry DiTillio attended the film school at New York University for four years. He then spent an additional two years at UCLA's film school.[1]
Career
After graduating, DiTillio decided to make a career as a Hollywood writer. He knocked on agency doors until he was able to find an agent willing and able to find him work as a film writer.[1] DiTillio wrote for both television and movies in the 1970s, including a stint on Filmation's Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. He then became a staff writer for the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series and over its two seasons, wrote 17 episodes, more than anyone else. He also directed one episode.
During a writers' strike in 1983, DiTillio searched for other ways to generate income through writing, so he was hired by Flying Buffalo.[2] DiTillio wrote The Isle of Darksmoke (1984), the final multiplayer Tunnels & Trolls adventure that Flying Buffalo published.[3] DiTillio also collaborated with Lynn Willis to create the world-spanning campaign Masks of Nyarlathotep (1984) for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, which author Shannon Appelcine states is considered one of the best roleplaying adventures of all time,[4] and won an Origins Award.[5] For a few months, DiTillio was also a contributor to Chaosium's Different Worlds magazine, writing about news from the world of film and television in his "The Sword of Hollywood" column.[6] Other Chaosium titles he wrote or contributed to, include; The Grey Knight, the first adventure for the Pendragon role-playing game, Demon Magic: The Second Stormbringer Companion for the Stormbringer fantasy role-playing game, and the Call of Cthulhu supplement Terror Australis.[7]
Despite his success in the role-playing games industry, once the screenwriters' strike ended, DiTillio went back to screenwriting.[8]
In 1985, he wrote the feature-length film He-Man and She-Ra: Secret of the Sword. Following its release, he and J. Michael Straczynski became writers for Filmation's spin-off show She-Ra: Princess of Power.[1] DiTillio created the show bible for the spinoff show and invented most of the character names.[9][page needed] Straczynski later recalled the considerable time DiTillio spent writing character background for the show. "One of the things Larry and I decided, very early on, was that She-Ra couldn't just be 'He-Man with boobs.' The show had to go deeper than that, especially given that we were creating this for a female lead character."[1] However, when Filmation refused to give them credit on-screen, both left, finding work with DIC Entertainment on Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors.
In 1993, DiTillio worked with Straczynski again, this time on the science-fiction series Babylon 5, with Straczynski as producer and DiTillio the executive story editor.[8][10] DiTillio also worked on the animated series Beast Wars, writing or co-writing most of the episodes.[10] In 2002, he was a writer for the updated He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series.
DiTillio died at the age of 71 on March 16, 2019.[1]
