Creations Unlimited

Last updated

Creations Unlimited was a game publisher founded by Robert J. Kuntz, which published role-playing games in the 1980s.

Contents

History

Robert J. Kuntz left TSR when Gary Gygax was forced out of the company, and retained the rights to his intellectual property for his fictional world of Kalibruhn as he never signed them over to anyone. [1] :241 Kuntz started a new company of his own to hold the rights to his creations, and thus formed Creations Unlimited in 1986. [1] :241 Through this company he produced a linked set of four adventures known as The Maze of Zayene series: Part 1: Prisoners of the Maze (1987), Part 2: Dimensions of Flight (1987), Part 3: Tower Chaos (1987) and Part 4: The Eight Kings (1987); Kuntz created the first two adventures while he was at college, and he later ran them at EastCon in 1983. [1] :241 The company's fifth and final publication was Garden of the Plantmaster (1987); while Kuntz had other adventures he wanted to publish through Creations Unlimited (RPGA tournament adventure "(To the) City of Brass", and "Hidden Realms of Zayene"), these were never printed by the company. [1] :241

Releases

The company published five adventures/supplements before shutting its doors in 1988:

Kuntz had planned to publish a sourcebook on the City of Brass in 1988 (and commissioned cover art and flyers for distribution at game conventions), but it did not see print.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Gygax</span> American game designer and author (1938–2008)

Ernest Gary Gygax was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson.

Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. Although not the first campaign world developed for Dungeons & Dragons—Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign predated it by about a year—the world of Greyhawk closely identified with early development of the game beginning in 1972, and after being published it remained associated with Dungeons & Dragons publications until 2008. The world itself started as a simple dungeon under a castle designed by Gary Gygax for the amusement of his children and friends, but it was rapidly expanded to include not only a complex multi-layered dungeon environment, but also the nearby city of Greyhawk, and eventually an entire world. In addition to the campaign world, which was published in several editions over twenty years, Greyhawk was also used as the setting for many adventures published in support of the game, as well as for RPGA's massively shared Living Greyhawk campaign from 2000–2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Arneson</span> American game designer (1947-2009)

David Lance Arneson was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game (RPG), Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s. Arneson's early work was fundamental to the role-playing game (RPG) genre, pioneering devices now considered to be archetypical, such as cooperative play to develop a storyline instead of individual competitive play to "win" and adventuring in dungeon, town, and wilderness settings as presented by a neutral judge who doubles as the voice and consciousness of all characters aside from the player characters.

<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 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.

Erick A. Wujcik was an American designer of both pen-and-paper and computer role-playing games, and co-founder of Palladium Books.

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

Mordenkainen is a fictional wizard from the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. He was created by Gary Gygax as a player character, only months after the start of Gygax's Greyhawk campaign and is therefore one of the oldest characters continuously associated with Dungeons & Dragons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Greyhawk</span>

Castle Greyhawk is one of the central dungeon settings in the fictional World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. The Castle was originally developed by Gary Gygax, for his own campaign and later detailed for publication. Castle Greyhawk is also the name of a 1988 Dungeons & Dragons adventure module that created a treatment of the Castle for the public to use. In 2005, Gygax announced the release of "Castle Zagyg," his new treatment of the dungeon.

Robert N. Charrette is an American graphic artist, game designer, sculptor and author. Charrette has authored more than a dozen novels. His gaming materials have received many Origins Awards. Charrette was inducted in the Origins Hall of Fame in 2003. His work is known for a clean, realistic style that invokes themes from Feudal Japan and Chanbara films and in particular, historical and fantastic representations of Samurai culture. His early work in game design and miniature sculpting set the tone for depictions of Japanese mythology in American fantasy and science fiction. His 1979 role-playing game Bushido was one of the first role-playing games with a non-Western theme and remained in print for more than three decades. Charrette produced gaming products for Fantasy Games Unlimited, Grenadier Models Inc., Ral Partha Enterprises, FASA and currently operates Parroom Enterprises, LLC, a boutique miniatures game company.

James M. Ward is an American game designer and fantasy author who worked for TSR, Inc. for more than 20 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert J. Kuntz</span> Game designer

Robert J. Kuntz is a game designer and author of role-playing game publications. He is best known for his contributions to various Dungeons & Dragons-related materials.

<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.

Jamie Thomson is a British writer, editor and game developer, and winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2012.

The Studios Hergé were, between 1950 and 1986, a SARL company consisting of Belgian cartoonist Hergé and his collaborators, who assisted him with the creation of The Adventures of Tintin and derived products. Over the years, the studios had between 12 and 50 employees, including some prestigious artists like Jacques Martin, Bob de Moor and Roger Leloup.

<i>Prisoners of the Maze</i> Role-playing game adventure

Prisoners of the Maze is a fantasy role-playing game adventure module.

<i>Dimensions of Flight</i>

Dimensions of Flight is a fantasy role-playing game adventure module.

<i>Tower Chaos</i> Role-playing game supplement

Tower Chaos is a fantasy role-playing game adventure module.

<i>The Eight Kings</i> Tabletop fantasy role-playing game supplement

The Eight Kings is a fantasy role-playing game adventure module.

<i>Garden of the Plantmaster</i> Dungeons & Dragons module

Garden of the Plantmaster is a fantasy role-playing game adventure module.

Different Worlds Publications is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN   978-1-907702-58-7.