Chris Birch (game designer)

Last updated
Chris Birch
Nationality British
Occupation Game designer

Chris Birch is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games (RPGs).

Contents

Early life

When Birch was 8, one of his brothers introduced him to Dungeons & Dragons . He then moved on to Ogre and other board wargames as well as Napoleonic wargames. [1]

Without many friends who shared his passions, Birch started to design solo rules for his various games. [1]

Birch worked in London in the music business. [2] He is married to Rita. [3]

Career

As a young adult, Birch had read the British comic series Starblazer: Science Adventure in Picture (1979–1991). In August 2006, Birch discovered that the Starblazer series had an RPG playing game license available. Years earlier, Birch had discussed a board game design with Angus Abranson of Cubicle 7, so he reached out to Abranson about creating a Starblazer RPG. Abranson was interested and encouraged Birch to create his first professional game, Starblazer Adventures with friend Stuart Newman. [4] : 428  Birch and Newman decided to use the Fate game system rather than try to invent a new game engine. [4] : 428  Cubicle 7 published the result in 2008.

Two years later, Birch worked with Sarah Newton to design Legends of Anglerre (2010), an RPG based on fantasy stories published in Starblazer. [4] : 431 

In 2012, Birch set up Modiphius Entertainment with himself as the Chief Creative Officer, and used Kickstarter to raise the funds for the production of Achtung! Cthulhu , which Birch produced and directed. [1] Birch co-founded the company with his partner Rita. [5] Birch was the publishing director for Modiphius, and also organised the Dragonmeet convention in 2017. [6]

Birch created the game Cohorts of Cthulhu. [7] Birch developed the universe of the Dreams and Machines role-playing game. [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Williams, Lee (Winter 2014). "Nazis, Cthulhu and Mutants, Oh My!". Protodimensional. No. 18. p. 8.
  2. ↑ https://gamingtrend.com/news/crazy-eights-chris-birch-modiphius-entertainment/
  3. ↑ https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/43343/icv2-interview-chris-birch-modiphius
  4. 1 2 3 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. pp. 428 & 431. ISBN   978-1-907702-58-7.
  5. ↑ https://screenrant.com/chris-birch-interview-modiphius-entertainment/
  6. ↑ Armstrong, Stephen (2017-12-17). "Dungeons & Dragons makes a comeback". The Times . Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  7. ↑ https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/features/chris-birch-and-doug-seacat-unveil-the-hidden-mysteries-of-cohorts-of-/
  8. ↑ https://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/modiphius-entertainment-announces-pre-order-for-dreams-and-machines-starter-set/


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