Okay....I am a serious gamer geek. I have gamed for 26 years. I have played many many games. I have a podcast about gaming. To say I am a gamer geek may be an understatement. As a result i have taken an interest in games and the people who make them for a long time.
There are several brilliant known individuals from the gaming market. Most folks with a cursory knowledge of gaming has for instance heard of Gary Gygax, one of the people who made Dungeons and Dragons. Monte Cook is another well known name. He helped make the changes in third edition D&D. Robin D. Laws made several original game designs such as the Hong Kong action rpg called Feng Shui. I am confident a few of the folks I have known for years will be luminaries someday themselves.
I say all of that as preamble to this. One of my favorite game designers a man well known in the game industry is Erick Wujcik. He designed some of my favorite games like Amber Diceless RPG and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I briefly met the man after a game designers roundtable at Dragoncon years ago. At the roundtable most folks on the panel stated they thought the future of gaming lay in the direction of his product, Amber. I did not get to meet him enough to say I knew him but he seemed a nice man and he really is brilliant.
So it was announced on a couple of websites that he is dying of a very aggressive case of pancreatic cancer. They apparently decided not to wait till after Christmas to announce it because it is that short of time. The truth is this guy has had a huge impact on an activity that has made up a whole lot of my time for two and half decades. I am deeply saddened to hear of his impending passing.
http://www.erickwujcik.com/
http://www.palladiumbooks.com/press/erick.html
There are several brilliant known individuals from the gaming market. Most folks with a cursory knowledge of gaming has for instance heard of Gary Gygax, one of the people who made Dungeons and Dragons. Monte Cook is another well known name. He helped make the changes in third edition D&D. Robin D. Laws made several original game designs such as the Hong Kong action rpg called Feng Shui. I am confident a few of the folks I have known for years will be luminaries someday themselves.
I say all of that as preamble to this. One of my favorite game designers a man well known in the game industry is Erick Wujcik. He designed some of my favorite games like Amber Diceless RPG and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I briefly met the man after a game designers roundtable at Dragoncon years ago. At the roundtable most folks on the panel stated they thought the future of gaming lay in the direction of his product, Amber. I did not get to meet him enough to say I knew him but he seemed a nice man and he really is brilliant.
So it was announced on a couple of websites that he is dying of a very aggressive case of pancreatic cancer. They apparently decided not to wait till after Christmas to announce it because it is that short of time. The truth is this guy has had a huge impact on an activity that has made up a whole lot of my time for two and half decades. I am deeply saddened to hear of his impending passing.
http://www.erickwujcik.com/
http://www.palladiumbooks.com/press/erick.html