Brett's Blog The Shout, Part 2 Jul 21, 2010 | 7:24 pm Here's another 7 game designers who made important contributions to the hobby. Steve Jackson: He created The Fantasy Trip, a predecessor to GURPS. After developing GURPS, a universal system now in its 4th edition, he released sourcebooks for various genres and settings. Even if you don't like the game system, you can probably gain some benefit from the supplements. Marc Miller: Not only did he create Traveller, but also board games set in the Traveller universe as well as 2300AD, one of my favorite settings. Greg Stafford: He brought us Glorantha and Pendragon. Most importantly (well, to me), he designed West End Games' Ghostbuster RPG and Chaosium's Prince Valiant. One evolved into D6 and the other was partial inspiration for Story Engine. Guy McLimore: He's responsible for the first Star Trek and Doctor Who RPGs. Enough said. Steve Perrin: He created RuneQuest, Superworld, and worked on several other games. Without him and Greg Stafford, there would be no RuneQuest. Kevin Siembieda: Most people either love or hate his games, but Kevin has published a wide variety of them, including Palladium Fantasy RPG, Heroes Unlimited, Robotech, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Rifts. Erick Wujcik: One of the better writers in my opinion, Eric has done a lot of work for Palladium Books, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ninjas and Superspies, and Mystic China. He is probably most famous for the Amber Diceless RPG. 6 Comments | Add Comment | Permanent Link | Return to Overview trekfanatic Commented: Jul 21, 2010 | 8:01 pm Great list. I still say Sandy Peterson needs a shout out for creating the first and most enduring horror RPG. I'd also like to nominate my personal favorite, Greg Gorden, who created the 007 RPG, Earthdawn, DC Heroes, and TORG- the game that serves as the root system for Masterbook and Shatterzone. :mrgreen: Brett Commented: Jul 21, 2010 | 8:22 pm I just don't think Call of Cthulhu has done enough. I mean it was a good game, but it's been pretty separate from other aspects of the hobby. CrazyBlend Commented: Jul 22, 2010 | 12:54 pm For your consideration: M.A.R. Barker, creator of Empire of the Petal Throne (1975), "the first role-playing game to present a detailed fantasy world beyond the Tolkeinesque or Robert E Howard models of swords and sorcery". Brett Commented: Jul 22, 2010 | 11:48 pm I don't know about that one. What else did it influence? CrazyBlend Commented: Jul 23, 2010 | 2:28 am I don't think Barker's contribution was that he influenced other authors so much as that he developed a richly detailed, non-combat-oriented campaign world that has a cult following to this day. (No, I'm not a member of the cult, but I remember that, back in the wargaming-focused 1970s, Petal Throne was like a breath of fresh air. It was unlike anything anyone had seen before.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A9kumel http://www.tekumel.com/ trekfanatic Commented: Jul 26, 2010 | 3:04 am Here's 3 others I'd shout at, all in the more recent category: Mark Rein*Hagen- Guy's a jerk and I'm not crazy about his games, but they changed the industry. Designer of the World of Darkness and Ars Magica. Mike Pondsmith- How did I forget the guy who designed Cyberpunk 2020? A classic game in every sense of the description. Mark C. MacKinnon- Another guy famously a jerk, though I've not met him so that's hearsay. However, Big Eyes Small Mouth has had a tremendous effect on modern games, opening the door for really innovative, rules lite games. Add Comment