Bill Slavicsek | |
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| Born | Bill Slavicsek October 6, 1971 [1] New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Game designer |
| Genre | Role-playing games |
| Spouse | Michelle Carter |
Bill Slavicsek (born October 6, 1971 [1] ) is an American game designer and writer who served as the Director of Roleplaying Design and Development at Wizards of the Coast. He previously worked for West End Games and TSR, Inc., and designed products for Dungeons & Dragons , Star Wars , Alternity , Torg , Paranoia and Ghostbusters .
Bill Slavicsek was born and raised in New York City. [2] Slavicsek was a comic book, horror, and science fiction fan as a boy: "Some of my earliest memories involve looking at issues of Marvel Comics, drawing my own comics, and watching old SF and horror movies on TV". [2] Interested in gaming from an early age, Slavicsek was introduced to role-playing games in 1977 when he discovered Dungeons & Dragons . [3] Originally intending to pursue a career as a comic book artist, Slavicsek switched to journalism and communication at St. John's University. [4]
After working for a year at a community newspaper, Slavicsek was hired by West End Games as an editor in 1986. [4] In 1987 the company secured the license to publish a Star Wars roleplaying game, a project which Slavicsek oversaw as an editor and developer. [4] Slavicsek supervised the Star Wars line for the first year of its publication. [5] : 190 In 1988 he was promoted to Creative and Editorial Director for WEG. [4] He co-created the Torg game with Greg Gorden, [2] published in 1990, and co-authored the novel Stormknights, which was set in the Torg universe.[ citation needed ] Slavicsek left West End later in 1990. [5] : 193
In 1991, Slavicsek began working as a freelancer, and was hired as a designer/editor by TSR in 1993. [2] At TSR, he designed the Alternity game with Rich Baker, as well as the Revised Dark Sun Campaign Setting, and The Nightmare Lands for the Ravenloft setting. [2]
"Some of my personal bests include the pair of Planescape adventures I wrote - The Deva Spark and Harbinger House... Planescape brought out the best in the people who worked on it. I'm also extremely proud of the Alternity game system. I worked with a great team that featured my co-designer Rich Baker, editor Kim Mohan, David Eckelberry, Jim Butler, and the great visual contributions of rk post." [2]
For much of the 1990s he was working simultaneously for both WEG and TSR as an editor and designer on various projects.[ citation needed ] He wrote A Guide to the Star Wars Universe , a definitive reference to Star Wars movies, books, and games, which was published by Del Rey in 1994. [2] Slavicsek is considered one of the world's leading experts on Star Wars, [4] and has written the second and third editions of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe .
By the end of 1997, Slavicsek was the Director of the TSR Product Group for Wizards of the Coast; that job was later divided in two, making him the Director of Roleplaying Game design. [2] Peter Adkison selected Slavicsek to be the head of role-playing game research and development. [5] : 282 Richard Baker and Slavicsek designed the Alternity sci-fi role-playing game for TSR to replace their Amazing Engine game, and Wizards published the game in 1997. [5] : 284 Peter Adkison left the third edition Dungeons & Dragons design work for Wizards of the Coast to Slavicsek and a group of other former employees of TSR. [5] : 286 Hasbro told Wizards in December 2000 to cut 10% of its staff; Slavicsek was the "Director of Category" in charge of a team of roughly 60 people, and he made the decision to shut down the Los Angeles office of the remaining Last Unicorn Games division. [5] : 317 By the time of the publication of the d20 edition of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game in 2000, Slavicsek held the title of Vice President and Director of RPG R&D for Wizards of the Coast.[ citation needed ] Keith Baker produced the Eberron Campaign Setting (2004) with James Wyatt and Slavicsek. [5] : 294 As the Director of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons, Slavicsek began looking into a fourth edition of D&D as early as 2005, when he created a team to begin work on early designs, led by Rob Heinsoo working with Andy Collins and James Wyatt. [5] : 297 Slavicsek and Mike Mearls designed the Castle Ravenloft Board Game (2010). [5] : 302 Slavicsek left Wizards of the Coast in 2011. [6]
Slavicsek became a writer and content designer at ZeniMax Online Studios, which developed and released The Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG. [7]
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Bill Slavicsek has appeared in the following newspaper and magazine articles, websites and podcasts.
Jeff Grubb is an author of novels, short stories, and comics, as well as a computer and role-playing game designer in the fantasy genre. Grubb worked on the Dragonlance campaign setting under Tracy Hickman, and the Forgotten Realms setting with Ed Greenwood. His written works include The Finder's Stone Trilogy, the Spelljammer and Jakandor campaign settings, and contributions to Dragonlance and the computer game Guild Wars Nightfall (2006).
Ravenloft is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. The American game publishing company TSR, Inc. released it as a standalone adventure booklet in 1983 for use with the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. It was written by Tracy and Laura Hickman, and includes art by Clyde Caldwell with maps by David Sutherland III. The plot of Ravenloft focuses on the villain Strahd von Zarovich, a vampire who pines for his lost love. Various story elements, including Strahd's motivation and the locations of magical weapons, are randomly determined by drawing cards. The player characters attempt to defeat Strahd and, if successful, the adventure ends.
Richard Baker is an American author and game designer who has worked on many Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings.
James Wyatt is a game designer and a former United Methodist minister. He works for Wizards of the Coast, where he has designed supplements and adventures for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) roleplaying game. He is the author of sci-fi and fantasy novels, including Forgotten Realms books, and the 4th edition Dungeon Master's Guide.
Bruce Robert Cordell is an American author of roleplaying games and fantasy novels. He has worked on Dungeons & Dragons games for Wizards of the Coast. He won the Origins Award for Return to the Tomb of Horrors and has also won several ENnies. He lives in Seattle.
Peter D. Adkison is an American game designer and businessman who is the founder of Wizards of the Coast, where he held the role of CEO from 1993 to 2001.
Rob Heinsoo is an American tabletop game designer. He has been designing and contributing to professional role-playing games, card games, and board games since 1994. Heinsoo was the lead designer on the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons (2008), and is co-designer of the 13th Age roleplaying game along with Jonathan Tweet. He has also designed and contributed to role playing, miniatures and card games, and a computer game.
T. H. Lain was a collective pseudonym used by nine separate authors writing under Wizards of the Coast's Dungeons & Dragons novels imprint.
Colin McComb is an American writer and game designer, who is best known for his work designing the Planescape setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, and as the creative lead for the role-playing video game Torment: Tides of Numenera.
Sigil is a fictional city and the center of the Planescape campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Laura Curtis Hickman is an American fantasy author, best known for her works in game design and fantasy novels cowritten with her husband, Tracy Hickman.
Wolfgang Baur is an American game designer, best known for his work with Dragon magazine. He designs role-playing games and is known for his work at Wizards of the Coast. Baur is also the founder of Open Design LLC, later known as Kobold Press.
Andy Collins is a game designer whose writing credits include numerous books for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Rob Lazzaretti is an artist whose work has appeared largely as a cartographer for roleplaying games, particularly the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR.
Ray Winninger is a game designer who has worked on a number of roleplaying games, including the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. He is the former Executive Producer for the Wizards of the Coast Dungeons & Dragons studio.
Greg Gorden is an American game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Jim Butler is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
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 & 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.
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