Harold Johnson | |
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 Harold Johnson in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (2000). | |
| Born | |
| Occupation(s) | Game designer, editor, author |
| Spouse | V.J. (1982–present) [1] |
| Children | Allison [1] |
Harold Johnson is an American game designer and editor, and author of several products and articles for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR.
Harold Johnson was born in Evanston, Illinois. Johnson attended Northwestern University and got his B.S. in Biology in 1977. Johnson played his first game of Dungeons & Dragons in 1976; he soon became an avid player, and attended his first Gen Con convention in Lake Geneva in 1977. "I was very surprised to find that TSR was located so close to Chicago." After graduating from college, Johnson continued to work odd jobs, and play games. [1]
In the fall of 1978, Johnson responded to an ad in Dragon magazine for a job as a games editor at the magazine's publisher, TSR. He was not selected for the job after the interview, but applied for another job with TSR as a game designer, but instead TSR hired him as an editor. His first assignment was as a copy editor on the original Dungeon Masters Guide , to which he also contributed some rules. He also began working on a tournament module which would later become C1, Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan . "That was to prove to the company I could write." [1]
Johnson was promoted to Manager of Production less than seven months after being hired by TSR. He had responsibility for editing, layout, and dealing with the printers—from design turnover to manufacturing turnover. In the following years, Johnson worked as Assistant to the Vice President for Research & Development, Manager of Game Design, and Manager of Editing. In 1982, Johnson was promoted to Director of Games Research & Development. The same year, Johnson married his wife V.J., and in 1984 they had their first child, Allison. [1]
Johnson supervised all of the staff game designers for TSR, and also managed the company's Acquisition Department. Johnson was responsible for hiring many new game designers during his tenure with TSR, including Frank Mentzer, Jon Pickens, and Tracy Hickman. His co-creation of the concept for the Dragonlance line is among his credited roles in many projects. [1] Johnson was the first to join in Hickman's "Project Overlord" and became the biggest proponent of the project to the upper management of TSR; he also convinced Hickman to expand Dragonlance beyond his initial concept of a being just a trilogy of adventures. [2]
Harold Johnson designed the modules The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (1980), and Secret of the Slavers Stockade (1981), and also wrote the IJAC1 Judge's Survival Pack , and IJ4 The Golden Goddess for the Indiana Jones role-playing game. [1] He was part of the design team for several early Dragonlance modules and products. He also worked on other product lines, such as Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, and Ravenloft, and worked as an editor and project coordinator on numerous D&D products throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and provided some design contributions early in the game's third edition.
Dragonlance is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived Dragonlance while driving in their car on the way to TSR for a job interview. Tracy Hickman met his future writing partner Margaret Weis at TSR, and they gathered a group of associates to play the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The adventures during that game inspired a series of gaming modules, a series of novels, licensed products such as board games, and lead miniature figures.
Tracy Raye Hickman is an American fantasy author and designer of games and Virtual Reality (VR) experiences. He co-authored the original Dragonlance novels with Margaret Weis as well as numerous other books. He also designed and created role playing game material while working for TSR and has cowritten novels with his wife, Laura Hickman. He is the author or co-author of over 60 books.
Margaret Edith Weis is an American fantasy and science fiction author of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the Dragonlance role-playing game (RPG) world. She is founding CEO and owner of Sovereign Press, Inc and Margaret Weis Productions, licensing several popular television and movie franchises to make RPG series in addition to their own.
Larry Elmore is an American fantasy artist whose work includes creating illustrations for video games, comics, magazines, and fantasy books. His list of work includes illustrations for Dungeons & Dragons, Dragonlance, and his own comic strip series SnarfQuest. He is author of the book Reflections of Myth.
Douglas Niles is a fantasy author and game designer. Niles was one of the creators of the Dragonlance world and the author of the first three Forgotten Realms novels, the Star Frontiers space opera setting and the Top Secret S/I espionage role-playing game.
Jacob Franklin Mentzer III is an American fantasy author and game designer who worked on early materials for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. He was an employee of TSR, Inc. from 1980 to 1986, spending part of that time as creative advisor to the chairman of the board, Gary Gygax. He also founded the Role-Playing Games Association (RPGA) during his time with TSR.
Laura Curtis Hickman is an American fantasy author, best known for her works in game design and fantasy novels cowritten with her husband, Tracy Hickman. She was one of the first women to write and publish a tabletop adventure.
The DL series is a series of adventures and some supplementary material for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. These modules along with the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy of novels, which follow one possible adventure series through the modules, were the first published items that established the Dragonlance fictional universe. The original DL series was released from 1984 to 1986, with the final two modules added to it in 1988. In the 1990s these roleplaying adventures from the original series were collected and revised for 2nd Edition AD&D as the three DLC Dragonlance Classics modules. There were also versions of the module series released in 1999, 2000 and 2006.
Dragons of Despair is the first in a series of 16 Dragonlance adventures published by TSR, Inc. (TSR) between 1984 and 1988. It is the start of the first major story arc in the Dragonlance series of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) role-playing game modules, a series of ready-to-play adventures for use by Dungeon Masters in the game. This series provides a game version of the original Dragonlance storyline later told in the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy of novels. This module corresponds to the events told in the first half of the novel Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Its module code is DL1, which is used to designate it as the first part of the Dragonlance adventure series.
Pharaoh is an adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The module was published in 1982 by TSR, Inc. for the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. It formed the first of the three-part Desert of Desolation module series. The module was written by Tracy and Laura Hickman; Tracy Hickman would later go on to help create the Dragonlance campaign setting.
In Search of Adventure is an abridged compilation adventure module published by TSR, Inc. in 1987, for the Basic Set of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. Its product designation was TSR 9190. This 160-page book features cover artwork by Keith Parkinson.
Michael Breault is a game designer and editor, and an author of multiple products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR.
Steve Winter is an American game designer who worked on numerous products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, which was originally published by TSR and later Wizards of the Coast.
Anne C. Gray McCready is a game designer and editor who has worked on a number of products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR.
Sue Weinlein Cook is an American game designer and editor who has worked on a number of products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR, and for Monte Cook's Malhavoc Press.
Dragonlance Classics is a series of adventure modules for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
The Dragonlance Chronicles is a trilogy of fantasy novels written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, which take place in the Dragonlance setting. This series is the first set of Dragonlance novels, and is followed by the Dragonlance Legends series.
Jean Blashfield Black is a game designer and author of gamebooks.
Bruce Nesmith is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He was Creative Director at TSR, working on a variety of games including Dungeons & Dragons, and is a senior game designer at Bethesda Game Studios, where he has worked on AAA titles such as Fallout 3, Fallout 4 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and was lead designer on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
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