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Sean K. Reynolds

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For the Emmerdale character, see Sean Reynolds (Emmerdale).
Sean K. Reynolds
Reynolds in 2012
Reynolds in 2012
BornChula Vista, California
OccupationWriter, game designer
NationalityAmerican
GenreRole-playing games

Sean K. Reynolds is an American professional game designer, who has worked on and co-written a number of Dungeons & Dragons supplements for Wizards of the Coast, as well as material for other companies.

Early life and inspiration

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Sean Reynolds was born in Chula Vista, California, and grew up there.[1] He was introduced to the Dungeons & Dragons game (with the red Basic Set and the blue Expert Set) in 1980 by his cousin, and soon began playing the AD&D game.[1]

TSR and Wizards of the Coast

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Reynolds began working for Time Warner Interactive in 1994, to develop their America Online and websites.[1] Reynolds first entered the role-playing game industry in 1995, when he was hired by TSR as their online coordinator,[1] beating out Bruce Cordell for the same position.[2] According to Reynolds, "I had two goals: to get TSR a website, and to change the company's then-restrictive online policy to something more reasonable."[1] When TSR was bought out by Wizards of the Coast, Reynolds moved to Washington and worked on Wizards' pre-existing website.[1]

Reynolds considers one of his greatest achievements of this time to be the fact that he got TSR/Wotc to relax its "draconian" online policy—enforcement of which in the past was the cause of much bad blood between the company and fans.[2] Wizards of the Coast had a much more open online policy, so Reynolds applied for a job in the company's R&D division as a game designer. He designed such products as The Scarlet Brotherhood for AD&D, Beyond Science: A Guide to FX for the Alternity game, and The Green Goblin's Guide to Crime for the Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game.[1] Reynolds also did some design work such as writing RPGA adventures and contributing to Children of the Night: Ghosts.[citation needed]

By 1998, Reynolds had left his web position and was working full-time for WotC as a designer as part of "Team Greyhawk," the creative team tasked with revitalizing TSR/WotC's oldest campaign setting.

Reynolds also contributed to the 3rd edition D&D Monster Manual, introducing some new creatures such as the krenshar.[1]

After Wizards of the Coast

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Reynolds was laid off from WotC in 2002,[citation needed] and afterwards formed his own self-publishing company, "Sean K Reynolds Games."[citation needed] He continued to freelance in the d20 industry while working as an IP developer at Upper Deck.[citation needed] Reynolds was let go from Upper Deck in 2008 and contacted Erik Mona at Paizo Publishing looking to do freelance work, and learned there was a job opportunity due to developer Mike McArtor leaving.[3] In July 2008, Paizo hired Reynolds as a developer on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.[citation needed] Jason Bulmahn has described him as a "critical part of the design team".[4] In March 2014, Sean left Paizo to move to Indiana[5] and in May 2014 he announced that he was returning to Seattle and Wizards of the Coast for a contract position managing their third-party licensing.[6]

Publications

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Books he has worked on for the d20-based 3rd edition include the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Savage Species, and Ghostwalk (co-written with Monte Cook).

The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting won the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game Supplement of 2001.[7] It made the Amazon.ca bestseller list at number 47 in September 2002.[8] Reynolds identified the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting as his favorite individual product that he had worked on as of 2009, stating that it "was a huge amount of work but was so worth it because it is a great product".[9] In May 2003 his book Races of Faerûn (co-authored with Matt Forbeck, James Jacobs, and Eric L. Boyd) landed on the same bestseller list at number 42.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Kenson, Stephen (April 2000). "ProFiles: Sean Reynolds". Dragon (#270). Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast: 20–21.
  2. ^ a b "How I Got A Job At TSR". Seankreynolds.com. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  3. ^ Jeremy L. C. Jones (2009-05-21). "The Awesome-ication of the PATHFINDER RPG: The Grand Design of Sean K Reynolds / Kobold Press". Koboldquarterly.com. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
  4. ^ Bulmahn, Jason. "Warmest Wishes and Fondest Farewells to Sean K Reynolds". Paizo. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  5. ^ "Deities in D&D NEXT; Sean K Reynolds Leaves Paizo; and Top 4 RPG Superstars Announced!". ENWorld RPG News & Reviews. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  6. ^ "Late May Update—A Bit of Life Chaos". Kickstarter. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  7. ^ "Origins Award Winners (2001)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2008-02-02. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
  8. ^ (September 2002). "Amazon.ca/Books in Canada bestsellers lists", Books in Canada 31 (6): 11.
  9. ^ Jeremy L.C. Jones (2009-05-22). "The Secret to Paizo's Success, According to Sean K Reynolds / Kobold Press". Koboldquarterly.com. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
  10. ^ (May 2003). "Amazon.ca/Books in Canada bestsellers lists", Books in Canada 32 (4): 12.
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