Pete Fenlon (born 1955) is an American role-playing game cartographer, game designer, game developer, graphics designer and publisher. His works include stories, art and games (electronic and non) in the genres of science fiction, mystery, fantasy and historical fiction.
He was born in Japan to an Air Force Colonel (Peter C. Fenlon) and Captain (Melba S. Fenlon, RN). He also lived in Germany and the US before settling in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School (1964–1987), where he served as Executive Officer of the Simulations Club. [1] Fenlon began playing Dungeons & Dragons when it was introduced in 1974. After obtaining a degree in history and anthropology at the University of Virginia, he earned a Juris Doctor degree at the College of William & Mary Law School and passed the Virginia State Bar exam.
In 1982, Fenlon married Olivia Johnston and moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. He has since worked as a game publisher. [2] Fenlon is very active in the Boy Scouts of America, [3] serving as the Council President to the Virginia Headwaters Council from 2018 to 2021. [4]
He began his career by creating custom fantasy role playing game rules and drawing detailed, full-color Middle-earth maps after passing the Bar exam.[ citation needed ] He has created and published games and fiction since 1980.
Fenlon began playing Dungeons & Dragons when it was introduced in 1974, and Fenlon, S. Coleman Charlton and Kurt Fischer were developing house rules for their six-year campaign set in Middle-earth, starting Iron Crown Enterprises in 1980 to make a business with their unique rules. [5] : 133 Fenlon's first Middle-earth map was printed in A Campaign and Adventure Guidebook for Middle-earth in 1982, and his maps continued to appear in ICE's Middle-earth Role Playing supplements for about 15 years. [5] : 134 He also worked on ICE's Rolemaster and Shadow World games. [6] Fenlon announced in October 2000 that Iron Crown Enterprises had entered chapter 7 bankruptcy. [5] : 141
In 2000–01, Fenlon became involved in development of alternate reality game The Beast , for which he served as Content Lead and Producer. Together with Jordan Weisman, Sean Stewart, and Elan Lee, he was one of The Beast's four "Puppetmasters" and awarded a Peabody Award for Transmedia Storytelling on March 24, 2022. [7]
In 2007, Fenlon was appointed CEO of Mayfair Games, the worldwide English-language publisher of Catan (from 1997 until 2015 The Settlers of Catan ). [8] In 2016, he became CEO of Catan Studio, Inc., an independent studio with the Asmodee Group (see Asmodée Éditions). [9] [10]
Rolemaster is an extremely complex fantasy tabletop role-playing game published by Iron Crown Enterprises in 1980. The game system has undergone several revisions and editions since then.
Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) is a publishing company that has produced role playing, board, miniature, and collectible card games since 1980. Many of ICE's better-known products were related to J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, but the Rolemaster rules system, and its science-fiction equivalent, Space Master, have been the foundation of ICE's business.
Klaus Teuber was a German board game designer best known as the creator of Catan. Originally working as a dental technician, he began designing games first as a hobby then as a full-time career.
Monte Cook is an American professional tabletop role-playing game designer and writer, best known for his work on Dungeons & Dragons.
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the gaming industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so the 1979 awards were given at the 1980 Origins.
Mayfair Games was an American publisher of board, card, and roleplaying games that also licensed Euro-style board games to publish them in English. The company licensed worldwide English-language publishing rights to The Settlers of Catan series between 1996 and 2016.
Aaron Dale Allston was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the X-Wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill. He wrote two entries in the New Jedi Order series: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: Betrayal, Exile, and Fury, and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: Outcast, Backlash, and Conviction.
The Beast is an alternate reality game developed by Microsoft to promote the 2001 film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Entry points to the game embedded into the film's promotion centered on the fictional Jeanine Salla and the death of her friend Evan Chan. In 2142, Jeanine learns that Evan was murdered and her investigation uncovers a network of murders of humans and artificial intelligences. The game launched on March 8, 2001 and continued running past its initially scheduled end date on June 29, the film's release date.
Asmodee is a French publisher of board games, card games and role-playing games (RPGs). Founded in 1995 to develop their own games and to publish and distribute for other smaller game developers, they have since acquired numerous other board game publishers. A division, Twin Sails Interactive, publishes video game adaptations of Asmodee games.
Shadow World is a high-fantasy campaign setting situated on the fictional planet of Kulthea. Originally produced for the Rolemaster role-playing game system, Shadow World is fairly compatible with other d100 games such as High Adventure Role Playing (HARP), Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP) or Against the Darkmaster. The setting blends traditional fantasy elements, such as elves, dwarves, and magic, with science fiction, including such elements as space and time travel, and, to a degree, futuristic technology.
S. Coleman Charlton was one of the founders of Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE).
Michael Mearls is an American writer and designer of fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction. He was the senior manager for the Dungeons & Dragons research and design team. He co-led design for the 5th edition of the game. He also worked on the Castle Ravenloft board game, and various compendium books for 3rd, 4th, and 5th editions Dungeons & Dragons.
Richard H. "Rick" Britton is a historian and former game publishing executive in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Mjolnir LLC was a company that produced licensed products of the defunct game company Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.) under an agreement with Aurigas Aldebaron LLC, who had purchased I.C.E.'s assets following its bankruptcy.
Heike A. Kubasch is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
Terry K. Amthor was an American game designer who worked primarily on role-playing games, and as a fantasy author.
Spell Law is a role-playing game supplement first published by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) in 1981 and written by Peter C. Fenlon, Jr., S. Coleman Charlton, and Terry K. Amthor, with Steven E. Moffat. It was originally published as a separate boxed set of four books, but was included in the initial 1984 release of the fantasy role-playing game Rolemaster, and a separate third edition Spell Law book for Rolemaster was published in 1986 and a fourth edition book in 1989. Spell Law contains over 2,000 spells for role-playing game characters. It received mixed reviews in game periodicals including Ares, Different Worlds, The Space Gamer, and Dragon.
Campaign Law is a 1984 role-playing game supplement published by Iron Crown Enterprises for Rolemaster.
Character Law is a supplement published by Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) in 1982 for the fantasy role-playing game Rolemaster.
Lords of Middle-earth, Volume II is a 1987 role-playing game supplement published by Iron Crown Enterprises for Middle-earth Role Playing.