Allen Varney | |
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 Allen Varney in 2006 | |
| Born | 1958 (age 63–64) St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
| Genre | Role-playing games |
| Spouse | Beth Fischi [1] |
Allen Varney (born 1958) [1] is an American writer and game designer. Varney has produced numerous books, role-playing game supplements, technical manuals, articles, reviews, columns, and stories, as well as the fantasy novel Cast of Fate (TSR, 1996). Since the 1990s, he has worked primarily in computer games.
Varney was born in St. Louis, Missouri and was raised by his mother, Marcelene Varney. He graduated from Reno High School in 1976 and has a dual B.A. in English and history from the University of Nevada, Reno. [1]
Varney designed the game Necromancer (1983), which was published by Steve Jackson Games. [2] : 103 Varney wrote Son of Toon (1986), the third supplement to the Toon RPG. [2] : 104 From 1984 to 1986 he worked as Assistant Editor at Steve Jackson Games [1] (with Warren Spector, then Editor-in-Chief) editing Space Gamer magazine.
Warren Spector and Varney wrote the supplement Send in the Clones (1985) for the Paranoia role-playing game from West End Games. [2] : 189 In 1986, he left Steve Jackson Games to freelance. [1] From this time onward, he wrote a large body of game supplements for companies like TSR, Inc., FASA Corporation, West End Games, and White Wolf.
Varney did work for TSR from 1987 to 1992, including the "Blood Brethren" trilogy (Nightwail, Nightrage, Nightstorm) and Five Coins for a Kingdom , Wildspace for Spelljammer, Veiled Alliance for Dark Sun, and several gamebooks, the Ariya , Binsada , and Talinie realm packs for Birthright . He also edited modules for the Ravenloft , Planescape , and Forgotten Realms settings, and was a game reviewer and news columnist for Dragon magazine.
Varney wrote the AD&D Gamebook The Vanishing City in 1987, and the Endless Quest gamebook Galactic Challenge for Amazing Engine in 1995.
Varney served as the line editor for a new version of the roleplaying game Paranoia, published in 2004 by Mongoose Publishing. [2] : 398 He wrote the new rules and packaged the game's support line with the help of his "Traitor Recycling Studio" until 2006 when Mongoose put the game line on hold. [2] : 398
Most recently, Varney has operated the Bundle of Holding site, distributing bundles of licensed but DRM-free role-playing game files in a series of time-limited offers.
Enspire Learning produces a computer version of Varney's multiplayer business ethics and leadership simulation, the Executive Challenge. [1] [3] Executive Challenge was covered in The Wall Street Journal . [4]
Varney has long been involved in the game design and documentation for companies such as Origin Systems, [5] Interplay, Prodigy, Acclaim Entertainment, Looking Glass Technologies, MicroProse, and Sony Online Entertainment. He wrote character dialogue for Star Wars Galaxies , [1] and worked again with Warren Spector on Epic Mickey . [6]
Varney also writes for The Escapist . [7]
In 1993, Varney designed an expansion set for Magic: The Gathering . This was not published, but the design concepts later surfaced in the web-based Vanguard format of the game, [8] with Varney credited for the original concept.
Varney has participated in the Texas Juggling Society at the University of Texas since 1985. [9]
Marvel Super Heroes (MSHRPG) is a role playing game set in the Marvel Universe, first published by TSR as the boxed set Marvel Super Heroes: The Heroic Role-Playing Game under license from Marvel Comics in 1984. In 1986, TSR published the Marvel Superheroes Advanced Game, an expanded edition. Jeff Grubb designed both editions, and Steve Winter wrote both editions. Both use the same game system.
Sir Ian Livingstone is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of a series of role-playing gamebooks, Fighting Fantasy, and the author of many books within that series. He is also one of the co-founders of prominent games company Games Workshop.
Paranoia is a dystopian science-fiction tabletop role-playing game originally designed and written by Greg Costikyan, Dan Gelber, and Eric Goldberg, and first published in 1984 by West End Games. Since 2004 the game has been published under license by Mongoose Publishing. The game won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984 and was inducted into the Origins Awards Hall of Fame in 2007. Paranoia is notable among tabletop games for being more competitive than co-operative, with players encouraged to betray one another for their own interests, as well as for keeping a light-hearted, tongue in cheek tone despite its dystopian setting.
Warren Evan Spector is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how to progress. Consequences of those choices are then shown in the simulated game world in subsequent levels or missions. He is best known for the critically acclaimed video game Deus Ex that embodies the choice and consequence philosophy while combining elements of the first-person shooter, role-playing, and adventure game genres. In addition to Deus Ex, Spector is known for his work while employed by Looking Glass Studios, where he was involved in the creation of several acclaimed titles including Ultima Underworld, Ultima Underworld II, System Shock, and Thief: The Dark Project. He is employed by OtherSide Entertainment, where he was part of the development team for now-cancelled System Shock 3. He is currently working on a new immersive sim based on an original intellectual property.
Jeff Dee is an American artist and game designer. He was the youngest artist in the history of pioneering role-playing game company TSR when he began his work at the age of eighteen. He also designed the Villains and Vigilantes superhero game. He was a co-host on The Atheist Experience and Non-Prophets atheism advocacy podcasts.
Toon is a comedy tabletop role-playing game in which the players take the roles of cartoon characters. It is subtitled The Cartoon Roleplaying Game. Toon was designed by Greg Costikyan and developed by Warren Spector, and first published in 1984 by Steve Jackson Games.
Greg Costikyan, sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X", is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wargames, role-playing games, boardgames, card games, computer games, online games and mobile games. Several of his games have won Origins Awards. He co-founded Manifesto Games, now out of business, with Johnny Wilson in 2005.
Stephen Herbert Perrin was an American game designer and technical writer/editor, best known for creating the tabletop role-playing game RuneQuest for Chaosium.
Hacker is a card game for 3–6 players published by Steve Jackson Games (SJG) in 1992.
A role-playing game system is a set of game mechanics used in a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) to determine the outcome of a character's in-game actions.
James M. Ward is an American game designer and fantasy author who worked for TSR, Inc. for more than 20 years.
David Ladyman is an American game designer of board games such as Car Wars, and role-playing games such as GURPS.
Jim Bambra is a British designer and reviewer of fantasy roleplaying games (RPG), and a former company director. He is particularly known for his contributions to Dungeons and Dragons, Fighting Fantasy, Warhammer, and Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game which was based on the Star Wars films. Later he became head of design at MicroProse, then managing director of Pivotal Games, a publisher of video games including Conflict: Desert Storm.
New Infinities Productions was an American game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements.
Eric Goldberg is an American game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan is an Irish game designer and novelist who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Toon Strikes Again is a 1985 comedy tabletop role-playing game adventure for Toon, written by Warren Spector, published by Steve Jackson Games.
Send in the Clones is an adventure written by Allen Varney and Warren Spector, published in 1985 by West End Games for the light-hearted science-fiction role-playing game Paranoia. It was written by Allen Varney and Warren Spector, and consists of three short adventure scenarios involving the broadcasting star Teela O'Malley. It received positive reviews in game periodicals including White Dwarf, Casus Belli, and Different Worlds.
Acute Paranoia, published in 1986 by West End Games, is the first supplement for the light-hearted science fiction role-playing game Paranoia.
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