Jon Pickens
Born | Jon Pickens August 12, 1954 Mishawaka, Indiana, United States |
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Occupation | Game designer, editor |
Nationality | American |
Genre | Role-playing games |
Jon Pickens is an American
Early life and education
Jon Pickens was born in
Pickens attended Valparaiso University, and in 1976 he earned a B.A. degree in English and Economics. He continued to attend conventions while in college, and discovered TSR's new Chainmail miniatures game at the 1973 Gen Con; the following year, TSR debuted the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. After college, Pickens began writing occasional articles for Dragon magazine, and was active in the Alarums & Excursions publication.[2] [3][4]
Career
Pickens eventually applied for a job at TSR, taking both the designer and editor tests, and was hired as an editor. “They didn’t think much of the design work, probably because I wrote it in a few hours late at night, but the editing part was OK,” said Pickens.[2] Pickens later became the Acquisition Editor for TSR, Inc., reviewing modules for possible publication. He was also the Games Editor for Strategy & Tactics Magazine for several years while the magazine was published by TSR, and later the Managing Editor as well, commenting “In a way, this completes a circle in my life.”[2]
Jon Pickens has worked on many game products for the Dungeons & Dragons game since 1978, as an editor, designer, coordinator, and creative director. Some of his works as a game designer include the original
Pickens and David "Zeb" Cook oversaw the development of the book Night of the Seven Swords (1986).[5] Pickens was known for often being a "go-to research guy" at TSR.[6] For Aurora's Whole Realms Catalog (1992) he assisted J. Robert King's research by providing his own personal library.[7] In preparing the campaign setting book Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures (1992), Pickens provided Jeff Grubb with three boxes of reference and research material.[8]
While Pickens left the gaming industry in the early 2000s, his nephew,
References
- Milwaukee Sentinel, p. D14.
- ^ a b c d e f g "TSR Profiles". Dragon (#106). Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, Inc.: 60 February 1986.
- ISBN 978-0615642048.
This same Jon Pickens provided the Alchemist class in the Dragon #2 and the Berserker subclass in #3, among with other early rule proposals.
- ^
Stratton, Jerry (September 23, 2006). "Rewards and improvement in Dungeons & Dragons". Biblyon Broadsheet.
In "D&D Options: Orgies, Inc." in Dragon 10 (October 1977), Jon Pickens suggested awarding treasure experience when the treasure was spent rather than when acquired, so as to encourage players to get rid of it.
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(help) - ^ "OA2 Night of the Seven Swords (1e) - Wizards of the Coast - AD&D 1st Ed. - Oriental Adventures - AD&D 1st Ed. - DriveThruRPG.com". Retrieved 3 March 2017.
- ^ "DMGR3 Arms and Equipment Guide (2e) - Wizards of the Coast - AD&D 2nd Ed. - AD&D 2nd Ed. - DriveThruRPG.com". Retrieved 3 March 2017.
- ^ "Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue (2e) - Wizards of the Coast - AD&D 2nd Ed. - Forgotten Realms - AD&D 2nd Ed. - DriveThruRPG.com". Retrieved 3 March 2017.
- ^ "Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures (2e) - Wizards of the Coast - AD&D 2nd Ed. - Al-Qadim - AD&D 2nd Ed. - DriveThruRPG.com". Retrieved 3 March 2017.
External links
- "Jon Pickens :: Pen & Paper RPG Database". Archived from the original on May 19, 2007. Retrieved June 15, 2009.