Allen Varney
Allen Varney | |
---|---|
St. Louis, Missouri, United States | |
Genre | Role-playing games |
Spouse | Beth Fischi[1] |
Allen Varney (born 1958)
Early life
Varney was born in
Gaming career
Roleplaying games
Varney designed the game Necromancer (1983), which was published by Steve Jackson Games.[2]: 103 Varney wrote Son of Toon (1986), the third supplement to the Toon RPG.[2]: 104 From 1984 to 1986 he worked as Assistant Editor at Steve Jackson Games[1] (with Warren Spector, then Editor-in-Chief) editing Space Gamer magazine.
Varney did work for TSR from 1987 to 1992, including the "Blood Brethren" trilogy (Nightwail, Nightrage, Nightstorm) and Five Coins for a Kingdom, Wildspace for Spelljammer, Veiled Alliance for Dark Sun, and several gamebooks, the Ariya, Binsada, and Talinie realm packs for Birthright. He also edited modules for the Ravenloft, Planescape, and Forgotten Realms settings, and was a game reviewer and news columnist for Dragon magazine.
Varney wrote the AD&D Gamebook The Vanishing City in 1987, and the Endless Quest gamebook Galactic Challenge for Amazing Engine in 1995.
Varney served as the line editor for a new version of the roleplaying game Paranoia, published in 2004 by Mongoose Publishing.[2]: 398 He wrote the new rules and packaged the game's support line with the help of his "Traitor Recycling Studio" until 2006 when Mongoose put the game line on hold.[2]: 398
Most recently, Varney has operated the Bundle of Holding site, distributing bundles of licensed but DRM-free role-playing game files in a series of time-limited offers.
Computer games
Enspire Learning produces a computer version of Varney's multiplayer business ethics and leadership simulation, the Executive Challenge.[1][3] Executive Challenge was covered in The Wall Street Journal.[4]
Varney has long been involved in the game design and documentation for companies such as
Varney also writes for The Escapist.[7]
Card games
In 1993, Varney designed an expansion set for Magic: The Gathering. This was not published, but the design concepts later surfaced in the web-based Vanguard format of the game,[8] with Varney credited for the original concept.
Personal life
Varney has participated in the Texas Juggling Society at the
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Brandy Dela Vega (August 2, 2004). "Childhood fantasies become profitable career". Reno Gazette-Journal. p. 1E.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
- ^ "The Wall Street Journal covered the Executive Challenge in its May 10, 2004 issue". Enspire.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2008.
- ISBN 978-1-932442-96-0.
- ^ Omar L. Gallaga (November 28, 2010). "Game guru's Disney title a tale of 2 pasts". Austin American-Statesman. p. A1.
- ^ Brian Gaar (November 28, 2010). "Redrawing Mickey". Austin American-Statesman. p. E1.
- Massively. Archived from the originalon August 9, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
- ^ "Magic Online Vanguard : Wizards of the Coast". Wizards.com. 2006-04-06. Archived from the original on May 1, 2005. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
- ^ Julie Ardery (July 31, 2000). "Join the club". Austin American-Statesman. p. E1.
External links
- Allen Varney's website
- "Pen & Paper RPG Database Bibliography for Allen Varney". Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
- Allen Varney at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database