I've lost a close friend and I won't lie to you and say it hasn't hit me hard. It most certainly has. It's also hit Sigil hard – Keith had a lot of friends there. I see the pain, whether it's in a friend or family member. But we'll also recover quickly because he would demand no less.

Most of you know Keith from his art work. You may or may not like his work. I do. He's one of my favorites. I may have one artist who I think does dragons better, or something else specifically, but Keith can do it all, where the others often fail if you ask them to leave their safety zone. The man could simply do anything -- the most fantastic fantasy piece with lots of characters and action, but also simply beautiful scenery that could speak to you with its beauty. Look at Soul of the Fire by Goodkind. Compare that to Arcane Summons. It's unprecedented. Both classics, but also so completely different.

Back when I was producing EverQuest I was looking at the UO box and the work the Hildebrandt brothers did for it. It was a cut above, especially at the time. The idea of having a professional painter do a box cover certainly wasn't mainstream. But I approached Smed to see what he thought. I told him I wanted to go after a short list of the very best. He told me to go for it.