Bill Webb (game designer)

Last updated
Bill Webb
Nationality American
Occupation Game designer

Bill Webb is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.

Contents

Career

Bill Webb and his long-time friend Clark Peterson formed Necromancer Games in the spring of 2000 to publish role-playing materials using the impending d20 license; Peterson and Webb published the free PDF adventure The Wizard's Amulet just after midnight on August 10, 2000, the same day that Wizards of the Coast released the new Player's Handbook at GenCon 33. [1] :365 Necromancer Games announced on September 13, 2000, that they had formed a partnership with White Wolf in creating their "Sword and Sorcery Studios" imprint, and Peterson and Webb produced many rulebooks for White Wolf including Creature Collection (2000), Relics & Rituals (2000), The Divine and The Defeated (2001), and Creature Collection II (2001). [1] :365

Webb has since cofounded Frog God Games focusing on adventures designed for both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Swords & Wizardry. [2] Webb created Frog God Games to continue his own publication; the parting with Necromancer was amicable and they passed all rights to Webb for the publication Slumbering Tsar, along with any related Necromancer IP. [1] :368 Frog God also purchased the remaining Necromancer backstock from White Wolf, Kenzer & Company and Troll Lord Games, with Webb warehousing the books in his garage and began selling them through eBay in May 2010. [1] :368

Sexual harassment allegations

Webb has admitted to "inappropriate and unprofessional interactions" at PaizoCon 2017 towards Paizo representative BJ Hensley, who interpreted his behavior as sexual harassment. [3] Public discussion of this behavior led to calls to boycott conventions hosting Webb as a guest and business partners publishing Frog God material; Webb withdrew from Gary Con 2019 and Steve Jackson Games offered partial refunds to backers of its The Fantasy Trip Kickstarter campaign (which contained a setting and adventures developed by Frog God) who wished to withdraw their support, though Steve Jackson indicated that future projects with the company were in progress and would not be canceled. [4] [5] [6] In response, Frog God Games instituted a policy that Webb be accompanied by a company associate at all future conventions, and in a joint statement with Ms. Hensley pledged a $1000 donation to RAINN, along with the charitable portion of "one of their next charity bundles". Frog God Games also "reiterate[d] [their] request to [their] fans that they not make attacks on BJ in any way." [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Dragon</i> (magazine) Magazine published by TSR

Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, along with Dungeon.

<i>Dungeon</i> (magazine) Magazine related to the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game

Dungeon was one of the two official magazines targeting consumers of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products; Dragon was the other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slaad</span> Fictional Dungeons & Dragons monster

The slaad is a fictional monster in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. They are extraplanar creatures (outsiders) that resemble giant humanoid toads of various colors, and other types, such as mud, and death slaadi.

<i>Expedition to the Barrier Peaks</i> Dungeons & Dragons module by Gary Gygax

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is a 1980 adventure module for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game written by Gary Gygax. While Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is typically a fantasy game, the adventure includes elements of science fiction, and thus belongs to the science fantasy genre. It takes place on a downed spaceship; the ship's crew has died of an unspecified disease, but functioning robots and strange creatures still inhabit the ship. The player characters fight monsters and robots, and gather the futuristic weapons and colored access cards that are necessary for advancing the story.

Sword and Sorcery Studios (S&SS) was an imprint of White Wolf, Inc., used to publish its d20 System & Open Gaming License material in from 2000 to 2008. The imprint also acted as publisher for other small press game developers, such as Monte Cook's company, Malhavoc Press, and Necromancer Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owlbear</span> Fictional monster from Dungeons & Dragons

An owlbear is a fictional creature originally created for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. An owlbear is depicted as a cross between a bear and an owl, which "hugs" like a bear and attacks with its beak. Inspired by a plastic toy made in Hong Kong, Gary Gygax created the owlbear and introduced the creature to the game in the 1975 Greyhawk supplement; the creature has since appeared in every subsequent edition of the game. Owlbears, or similar beasts, also appear in several other fantasy role-playing games, video games and other media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Living campaigns</span> Table-top role-playing game format

Living campaigns, or shared campaigns, are a gaming format within the table-top role-playing game community that provide the opportunity for play by an extended community within a shared universe. In contrast to traditional isolated role-playing games, living campaigns allow and encourage players to develop characters that can be played at games run by many different game masters, but which share a game world and campaign setting, as well as a plot line that is overseen by a central core of professional or volunteer editors and contributors. Many living campaigns serve a dual role of providing a creative outlet for highly involved volunteer contributors while also serving as a marketing tool for the publisher of the game system that is the focus of the living campaign. While the earliest living campaigns were run by the now defunct RPGA, many groups around the world run active living campaigns which are independent or sponsored by other publishers.

<i>Mordenkainens Fantastic Adventure</i> Dungeons & Dragons adventure module

Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure by Robert J. Kuntz and Gary Gygax is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, published by TSR, Inc. in 1984. It originally bore the code "WG5" and was intended for use with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition rules. Because it is one of the WG modules, it is a module intended for the World of Greyhawk campaign setting. It was later updated in 2004 to the Third Edition Revised rules in Dungeon magazine, issue #112, as Maure Castle. There were subsequently two additional installments in issues #124 and #139.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iggwilv</span> Fictional wizard in Dungeons & Dragons

Iggwilv is a fictional wizard from the Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. She was created by Gary Gygax.

Goblin (<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>) Fictional monster from Dungeons & Dragons

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, goblins are a common and fairly weak race of evil humanoid monsters. Goblins are non-human monsters that low-level player characters often face in combat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Necromancer Games</span> American role-playing game publisher

Necromancer Games was an American publisher of role-playing games. With offices in Seattle, Washington and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the company specialized in material for the d20 System. Most of its products were released under the Open Game License of Wizards of the Coast.

<i>Pathfinder</i> (periodicals) Several related series of roleplaying game books

Pathfinder is a line of roleplaying game supplements published by Paizo Publishing since 2007. Originally designed for use with the revised 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons, they transitioned to the first edition of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game in 2009, then to the second edition of Pathfinder in 2019.

The Game System License is a license that allows third-party publishers to create products compatible with and using the intellectual property from the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). It was released to the public by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) on June 17, 2008.

<i>Pathfinder Roleplaying Game</i> Tabletop role-playing game

The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) that was published in 2009 by Paizo Publishing. The first edition extends and modifies the System Reference Document (SRD) based on the revised 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) published by Wizards of the Coast under the Open Game License (OGL) and is intended to be backward-compatible with that edition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Pramas</span> American game designer

Chris Pramas is an American game designer and writer, as well as a founder of Green Ronin Publishing. He is best known as the designer of the Dragon Age RPG, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and Freeport: The City of Adventure.

Clark Allen Peterson is the co-creator of Necromancer Games and founder of Legendary Games, and an Idaho state magistrate judge in Coeur d'Alene.

<i>The Forge of Fury</i> Dungeons & Dragons adventure module

The Forge of Fury is an adventure module for the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy tabletop role-playing game.

Greg A. Vaughan is an American writer who creates material for roleplaying games.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN   978-1-907702-58-7.
  2. "Welcome to Frog God Games". 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  3. Webb, Bill. "Statement by Bill Webb". Archived from the original on 2022-11-29.
  4. Girdwood, Andrew (2018-12-13). "Gary Con faces boycott calls". Geek Native. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
  5. Metcalf, Lloyd (2018-12-18). "Gary Con: A Safe, Inclusive and Friendly Gathering". Gary Con.
  6. Girdwood, Andrew (2019-04-14). "Steve Jackson Games offer partial refunds after gamers raise ethical concerns". Geek Native.
  7. "Joint Statement of BJ Hensley and Frog God Games". Archived from the original on 2022-12-08.