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Lynn Willis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lynn Willis
Born
United States
DiedJanuary 18, 2013
United States
Occupation(s)Game designer, writer

Lynn Willis (died January 18, 2013) was a wargame and role-playing game designer, best known for his work with Metagaming Concepts, Game Designers' Workshop (GDW), and Chaosium.

Biography

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Willis began by designing science fiction wargames for Metagaming Concepts, starting with Godsfire in 1976.[1]: 78  He designed the MicroGames Olympica (1978) and Holy War (1979).[1]: 79  Chaosium published Lords of the Middle Sea (1978),[1]: 82  and Willis joined Chaosium in 1978.[1]: 83  GDW published Bloodtree Rebellion (1979). Willis's relationship with Chaosium proved the most enduring; he would turn to role-playing games. He helped founder Greg Stafford trim and refine the RuneQuest rules into Basic Role-Playing, the rules that would serve as the base for many of Chaosium's RPG lines.[1]: 85  He wrote the Call of Cthulhu campaign The Masks of Nyarlathotep (1984) with Larry DiTillio.[1]: 86  He was included in the design credits for Worlds of Wonder (1982) and the Ringworld RPG (1984).

With other members of Chaosium, he co-wrote the Ghostbusters RPG for West End Games, which won the H.G. Wells Award for Best Role-playing Rules of 1986.[2] Willis co-designed the fifth edition of Call of Cthulhu with Sandy Petersen, and when Keith Herber departed from Chaosium in 1994, Willis replace him as the editor of the Cthulhu line.[1]: 90  He worked with Petersen again for the sixth edition of Call of Cthulhu.[3] Willis created the game Elric! with Richard Watts as a new Basic Role-Playing version of Stormbringer.[1]: 91  After Greg Stafford left the company in 1998, Willis stayed on with Chaosium as its editor-in-chief.[1]: 94 

Willis left Chaosium in late 2008 due to ill health; at the time, he was the longest serving employee at Chaosium, having 30 years of experience with the company.[1]: 95 

Death

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On September 11, 2008, the President of Chaosium, Charlie Krank, informed the public that Willis had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.[4] Willis died on January 18, 2013.[5][6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  2. ^ "Charles S. Roberts/H.G. Wells Award Winners (1986)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  3. ^ "Chaosium Inc. (Nameless Cults: The Cthulhu Mythos Fiction Of Robert E. Howard) (Secrets of Japan: Surviving the Mythos in Present-Day Japan)(Call Of Cthulhu, 6th ed.)". Library Bookwatch. May 1, 2005. Archived from the original on March 29, 2015 – via HighBeam Research.
  4. ^ Chaosium.com Archived 2012-08-05 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Lynn Willis: Rest In Peace Archived 2013-01-22 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Harris M. Lentz III (29 May 2014). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2013. McFarland. p. 401. ISBN 978-0-7864-6953-6.
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