Jim Ward (game designer)

James M. Ward (born May 23, 1951),[1] is an American game designer and fantasy author. He worked as a game developer and writer for TSR, Inc. for more than 20 years.

James M. Ward
Born (1951-05-23) May 23, 1951
United States
OccupationWriter, game designer, author
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
GenreFantasy, role-playing game
Notable worksDeities & Demigods, Greyhawk Adventures, Pool of Radiance, Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World

Career

Dungeons & Dragons and TSR

Ward was one of the players in Gary Gygax's early Greyhawk games as Gygax developed the Dungeons & Dragons game.[2]:24 The Dungeons & Dragons character Drawmij was named after him; "Drawmij" is simply "Jim Ward" spelled backwards. Rob Kuntz and Ward's Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976) expanded the original D&D game by introducing gods.[2]:8 Ward designed Metamorphosis Alpha (1976), which was the first science-fantasy role-playing game, and published as TSR's fourth role-playing game.[2]:9 Ward co-authored Deities & Demigods (1980) .[2]:382 In the early 1980s, Ward and Rose Estes formed an education department at TSR, intended to sell classroom modules to teachers.[2]:14 Ward ran Kuntz's adventure "The Maze of Xaene" as the D&D tournament module at EastCon in 1983, although the module never saw print at TSR.[2]:240 Ward wrote Greyhawk Adventures (1988), a hardcover volume that presented new rules for the Greyhawk setting.[2]:19 Ward, with David Cook, Steve Winter, and Mike Breault, co-wrote the adventure scenario that was adapted into the game Pool of Radiance.[3]

In 1989 he was inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame.[4] When TSR produced a second edition of AD&D (1989), Ward instituted changes such as removing assassins and half-orcs from the game, explaining in Dragon #154 (February 1990) that "[a]voiding the Angry Mother Syndrome has become a good, basic guideline for all of the designers and editors at TSR, Inc"; Ward printed many upset readers' replies in Dragon #158.[2]:23 Ward can be glimpsed early in the Dragon Strike tutorial video playing the man who is slapped in the face at the king's party.[5] Ward designed the Spellfire collectible card game.[6] Ward was eventually made the VP for Creative Services, but left TSR over disagreements about how the company's crisis involving book sales in 1996 was handled.[2]:30

After TSR

Ward designed the Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game.[6] Ward founded the d20 company Fast Forward Entertainment with Timothy Brown, Lester Smith, John Danovich, and Sean Everett.[2]:351 From 2000 - 2005, he was President of Fast Forward Entertainment, an independent game development company. Ward wrote Sete-Ka's Dream Quest (2006), an adventure gamebook published by Margaret Weis Productions.[2]:353 He wrote the Halcyon Blithe novel Dragonfrigate Wizard (Tor, 2006), which he considered one of his better and prouder creations.[6] Ward joined Troll Lord Games, writing books such as the Towers of Adventures (2008) boxed set and the Of Gods & Monsters (2009) supplement for Castles & Crusades; Ward also became the editor for Troll Lord's C&C magazine, The Crusader Journal.[2]:382 Ward also wrote the horror fantasy game Tainted Lands (2009), based on C&C's "SIEGE" system.[2]:382

In 2010, Ward was diagnosed with a serious neurological disorder that required treatment at the Mayo Clinic. His friend Tim Kask has helped to establish a fund to help Ward offset some of the medical bills.[7]

Personal life

James Ward married his wife Janean in the early 1970s, and they have three sons together, Breck, James, and Theon.[6]

Selected works

Fiction

Role-playing games

Other
  • Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game.
  • Westeros GAME OF THRONES Miniatures rules (2007).
  • Astrobirdz Concept card game, RPG, board game, coin game, YA novels.
  • My Precious Presents card game
  • Dragon Lairds board game, created by Ward and Tom Wham, was published in 2008 by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd.[10]
  • In 2008, Ward became the Managing Editor of and a contributor to The Crusader magazine published by Troll Lord Games.[11]
gollark: @​everyone ​vote gibson
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References
  1. "Jim Ward". Eldritchent.com.
  2. Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  3. The Dragon editors (September 1989). "The Envelope, Please!". Dragon (149): 20–21.
  4. "The 1989 Origins Awards". The Game Manufacturers Association. Archived from the original on 2012-12-16.
  5. Moore, Roger E. (October 1993). "Editorial". Dragon. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, Inc. (#198): 14.
  6. Ward, James M. (2007). "The Great Khan Game". In Lowder, James (ed.). Hobby Games: The 100 Best. Green Ronin Publishing. pp. 138–141. ISBN 978-1-932442-96-0.
  7. Friends of Starship Warden: "the James M. Ward Relief Fund". Archived from the original on 2010-11-25.
  8. "Dragon Magazine #42" (PDF). Dragon.
  9. Ward, James M. (August 2008). Towers of Adventure. ISBN 978-1-929474-19-6.
  10. Ward, James M.; Wham, Tom (2008). Dragon Lairds. ISBN 978-1-931567-60-2.
  11. "The Crusader". The Crusader. Troll Lord Games. 4 (8). March 2008.
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