James Desborough (game designer): Difference between revisions

{{more citations needed|date=June 2016}}

| image = James Grim Desborough Portrait.jpg

| caption = James Desborough

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|12|05}} <ref name="Subject's Website">{{cite web |url=https://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2023/02/18/im-the-subject-of-a-wikipedia-edit-war/ |title=I'm the Subject of a Wikipedia Edit War |last=Desborough |first=James |work=Postmortem Studios |date=2023-02-18 |accessdate=2023-02-18 }}</ref>

| birth_place = Winchester <ref name="Subject's Website">{{cite web |url=https://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2023/02/18/im-the-subject-of-a-wikipedia-edit-war/ |title=I'm the Subject of a Wikipedia Edit War |last=Desborough |first=James |work=Postmortem Studios |date=2023-02-18 |accessdate=2023-02-18 }}</ref>

| occupation = [[Game designer]], author, videographer, podcaster, [[blogger (person)|blogger]]

'''James "Grim" Desborough''' is a British [[game designer]], author and [[blogger (person)|blogger]] who has worked primarily on [[role-playing game]]s, as well as card games, board games and social computer games.

James Desborough wrote ''The Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming'' in 2000/2001,<ref>''The Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming'': {{ISBN|1-55634-347-7}}</ref> winning an [[Origins Award]] for that work along with his co-author Steve Mortimer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gama.org/originsawards/originsawardswinnersthe2000s/the2000originsawards/tabid/3245/default.aspx |archive-date=7 October 2014 |title=Origins Awards 2000 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007005721/http://www.gama.org/OriginsAwards/OriginsAwardsWinnersThe2000s/The2000OriginsAwards/tabid/3245/Default.aspx |url-status=dead |accessdate=2014-10-07 }}</ref> Desborough was a co-author of ''CS1: Cannibal Sector One'' he also briefly worked as the line editor for ''[[SLA Industries]]''.<ref name="designers">{{Cite book|author=Shannon Appelcline|title=Designers & Dragons|publisher=Mongoose Publishing|year=2011| isbn= 978-1-907702-58-7|page=430}}</ref> Desborough is also the owner of Postmortem Studios.<ref name="designers"/> Postmortem Studios was one of [[Cubicle 7]]'s first company partnerships thanks to Desborough's connections with [[Angus Abranson]].<ref name="designers"/> He later became creative director at Chronicle City, Abranson's new venture<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geeknative.com/37754/chronicle-city-appoints-grim-james-desborough/|title=Chronicle City appoints "Grim" James Desborough|date=13 February 2013|publisher=}}</ref> but this partnership ended in July 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2021/07/01/ttrpg-no-longer-associating-with-chronicle-city-or-angus-abranson/|title="Grim" James Desborough ends partnership with Chronicle city|date=1 July 2021|publisher=}}</ref>

In 2017 he released a licensed role-playing game based on [[John Norman]]'s fantasy series [[Gor]], which also included art by [[Michael Manning (fetish artist)|Michael Manning]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2017/04/23/rpg-the-gor-rpg-is-released/|title=#RPG – The Gor RPG is RELEASED!|last=grimachu|date=23 April 2017|website=Postmortem Studios|access-date=2017-04-27}}</ref>

Desborough's work was included in ''Red Phone Box'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwdbooks.com/red-phone-box.html|title=Ghostwoods Books|publisher=|access-date=2014-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528062923/http://www.gwdbooks.com/red-phone-box.html|archive-date=2014-05-28|url-status=dead}}</ref> and in ''The Mammoth Book of Erotic Romance and Domination''.<ref>{{Cite book|isbn = 978-0762452255|title = The Mammoth Book of Erotic Romance and Domination|last1 = Jakubowski|first1 = Maxim|date = 8 July 2014}}</ref> He also self-publishes.

Desborough's career has often been characterised by humour and adult content, leading to his role as Games Master for the adult stream 'Tabletopless'.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TableTopless Official Website |url=https://tabletopless.org/ |access-date=2023-03-15 |website=tabletopless.org}}</ref> While the stream primarily plays [[Dungeons & Dragons|Dungeons and Dragons]] they have also played [[Cyberpunk Red|Cyberpunk]], The Witcher and others.

Desborough is the author of a [[self-published]] August 2017 book which claimed that [[Gamergate (harassment campaign)|Gamergate]] was "a genuinely important battle in the [[Culture war#United States|ongoing culture war]]"<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Desborough |first=James |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1011256859 |title=Inside Gamergate: a social history of the gamer revolt |date=2017 |publisher=Postmortem Studios |isbn=978-0-244-62772-0 |location= |type=ePub |oclc=1011256859}}</ref>{{Rp|location=¶79.3}} and portrayed it as a necessary "[[social revolt]]" against a new [[Satanic panic|Satanic Panic]], rather than as a [[harassment campaign]]. In the book's introduction, Desborough writes that his distress regarding opposition and harassment related to Gamergate, as well as a sense of betrayal led him to [[attempt suicide]] in October 2014.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|location=¶3.9}}

==Reception==

Desborough has been quoted or used as a pundit on men's issues in various places, including [[The Stream (news programme)|The Stream]] on Al Jazeera.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201406031227-0023785|title=Through men's eyes|last=raisa|date=2 June 2014|publisher=}}</ref> Some of Desborough's work has been criticized for allegedly being "hateful, violent and misogynistic," leading critics to petition game companies to drop his work.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gridwood |first=Andrew |date=13 February 2013 |title=Chronicle City appoints "Grim" James Desborough |url=http://www.geeknative.com/37754/chronicle-city-appoints-grim-james-desborough/ |access-date=2022-04-13 |website= |publisher=Geek Native |location=[[Edinburgh]], Scotland}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Gridwood |first=Andrew |date=24 June 2012 |title=Interview with RPG designer James Desborough |url=http://www.geeknative.com/29098/interview-rpg-designer-james-desborough/ |access-date=2022-04-13 |publisher=Geek Native |location=Edinburgh, Scotland}}</ref> Desborough describes himself as having been "inside" Gamergate.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Desborough |first=James |date=3 June 2017 |title=Inside Gamergate—A 'gonzo' social history of Gamergate from inside the movement. |url= |website=[[Indiegogo]] |language=en}} Indiegogo Project ID #2109206. Retrieved 13 April 2022.</ref>

[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]