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James Wallis is a British designer and publisher of tabletop and role-playing games.
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James Wallis is a British designer and publisher of tabletop and role-playing games.
James Wallis began roleplaying in 1981 through Dungeons & Dragons and Traveller , which were both licensed in the UK by Games Workshop at the time. [1] : 304 Wallis began self-publishing fanzines, starting with WEREMAN and then Sound & Fury, and got to know game designer Erick Wujcik thanks to the latter; Wallis met Kevin Siembieda through Wujcik at Gen Con 22 in 1989, resulting in Wallis writing Mutants in Avalon (1990) and Mutants in Orbit (1992) for Palladium Books. [1] : 304 Wallis also began developing his own role-playing game based on the Bugtown comics, and in 1992 he brought the game to Wujcik at Phage Press, where it went nowhere for two years and remained unpublished due to creative differences. [1] : 304 Once Upon a Time , a game designed by James Wallis, Andrew Rilstone and Richard Lambert, was published by Atlas Games in 1993, where Wallis met Jonathan Tweet, who soon became head of role-playing games at Wizards of the Coast; Wallis brought his Bugtown game to Wizards, but cartoonist Matt Howarth was unable to agree with Wizards of the Coast regarding royalties so they did not publish the game either. [1] : 304 Walls co-founded the RPG magazine Inter*action with Andrew Rilstone, the first issue of which was published in Summer 1994. [1] : 304
In October 1994, Wallis founded Hogshead Publishing, [1] : 305 a company which specialised in role-playing and storytelling games. [2] Wallis based the company in the UK, and got a license from Phil Gallagher at Games Workshop to publish books for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay . [1] : 305 Wallis and Rilstone changed the name of Inter*action to Interactive Fantasy to resolve trademark concerns beginning with its second issue, which was also the first publication by Hogshead; the magazine only lasted two more issues after that. [1] : 305 Warhammer sold well, but Hogshead had problems with their distributor, and Wallis had to lay off the entire staff of Hogshead. [1] : 305 Matt Howarth eventually pulled the license for Bugtown from Wallis, and the game was never published. [1] : 305 By 1996, Wallis had also begun working in the computer industry and soon after he went into magazine publishing, working on Warhammer on evenings and weekends. [1] : 306 By late 1997, there was an improvement in cashflow so Wallis moved the company from his spare bedroom to sharing an office with ProFantasy Software, and hired Matthew Pook. [1] : 306 Wallis was able to publish his game The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen in 1998. [1] : 306 He helped the principals of ProFantasy Software resurrect the Dragonmeet convention in 2000. [1] : 383
Wallis announced on 26 November 2002 that he was ending Hogshead Publishing, and Mark Ricketts bought the company name in February 2003. [1] : 307 Wallis started the company Magnum Opus Press in 2007 by obtaining licensing for the Dragon Warriors role-playing game; Magnum Opus Press published a new Dragon Warriors 1.1 edition with supplements starting in 2008 before problems with the licensor ended publication on 1 April 2011. [1] : 307 Wallis released more books through Magnum Opus, including the debut novel Game Night (2007) by Jonny Nexus, and a new edition of The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen (2008). [1] : 307
Wallis is a narrative media consultant, creating online games for clients including the BBC, the U.K. Home Office, and Endemol Television. [3] He lives in London with his wife and children. [3]
He has also created games and books for other publishers, including the award-winning card game Once Upon A Time , which he co-authored with Richard Lambert and Andrew Rilstone. In 2001, he founded the annual Diana Jones Award for "excellence in gaming". He currently runs the gaming consultancy Spaaace, which includes the publishing subsidiary Magnum Opus Press, and his personal blog, Cope .
In January 2013 Wallis launched a Kickstarter for a RPG called Alas Vegas. [4] A PDF download was released to backers in December 2016, and the physical book was published in November 2017. [5]
James Wallis's published games include:
Games he has edited and/or published include:
In 1994 he founded and published Interactive Fantasy (IF), an early journal of 'games design and criticism'. The editor was Andrew Rilstone. The second issue included the first printing of the essay 'I Have No Words And I Must Design' by Greg Costikyan.
He wrote for the British Sunday Times newspaper from 2000 to 2001.
He also co-wrote scripts for the television show 404 Not Found .
On October 17, 2023, Wallis released an enhanced audio edition of Everybody Wins [9] in collaboration with Recorded Books, Inc., further establishing his prominence in board game culture and design. The book examines the transformative impact of tabletop gaming over the past 45 years, providing insights for enthusiasts, newcomers, and those seeking game recommendations. [10]
Violence: The Role-Playing Game of Egregious and Repulsive Bloodshed is a short, 32-page role-playing game written by Greg Costikyan under the pseudonym "Designer X" and was published by Hogshead Publishing in 1999 as part of its New Style line of games.
Black Industries was the role-playing game imprint of BL Publishing, the publishing arm of Games Workshop. It was announced on January 28, 2008 that it would cease operations after its products currently scheduled for release are published.
The Enemy Within campaign is a series of adventures for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay where hidden powers of Chaos plot the destruction of the Empire. It was originally published by Games Workshop in the late 1980s. Praised as a detailed campaign that actually told a story, it was voted the best RPG campaign of all time by Casus Belli magazine.
De Profundis: Letters from the Abyss is a correspondence-based role-playing game created by Michał Oracz that was originally published by Polish game company Portal in 2001, then translated to English and published by Hogshead Publishing in 2002. Unusually, the game is not played via dialogue, but rather by the exchange of letters between players.
Once Upon a Time is a card game produced by Atlas Games in 1994 in wich the entire group of players collaborate to tell a story, each to use up all of the storytelling cards in their hand first.
Marc Gascoigne is a British author and editor. He is the editor, author or co-author of more than fifty books and gaming related titles, including Fighting Fantasy books, Shadowrun novels and adventures, Earthdawn novels and adventures, the original Games Workshop Judge Dredd roleplaying game, and material for Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu and many others listed below.
Graeme Davis is a game designer, writer, and editor in the tabletop role-playing game industry.
Andy Chambers is an English author and game designer best known for his work on over 30 Games Workshop rulebooks and sourcebooks.
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.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play is a role-playing game set in the Warhammer Fantasy setting, published by Games Workshop or its licensees.
Phil Masters is a British role-playing game designer and author.
Phil Gallagher is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) is a tabletop role-playing game design framework developed by Meguey Baker and Vincent Baker for the 2010 game Apocalypse World and later adapted for hundreds of other indie role-playing games.
Hogshead Publishing was a British game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a tabletop role-playing game published by Hogshead Publishing in 1998 that is based on the fictional character Baron Munchausen.
Andrew Rilstone is a game designer and blogger who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
The Cortex System is a collection of related roleplaying games. Its most recent iteration, Cortex Prime, was designed by Cam Banks and initially published by Fandom Tabletop, then acquired by Dire Wolf Digital. Prior versions appeared in the licensed roleplaying games published by Margaret Weis Productions, where it was used as the house system. Cortex is an adaptable game system focusing on characterization and story development.
Interactive Fantasy is a magazine was published in England by Hogshead Publishing that focused on role-playing games, especially game theory.
Grant Howitt is a tabletop role-playing game designer, publisher, and journalist. He won six ENNIE Awards for his game Heart: The City Beneath. His game Honey Heist, which inspired an online trend of self-published games with one-page rulesets, has been featured on Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Friends at the Table. Through his publishing company Rowan, Rook and Decard, Howitt is a co-designer on Kieron Gillen's DIE: The Roleplaying Game.
Power Behind the Throne is a supplement published by Games Workshop in 1988 as the fourth installment of The Enemy Within Campaign created for the fantasy role-playing game Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.