User:Wangthunder/Jeff Martin (Game Designer)

Jeff Martin (Born 1965) is an American Game Designer and Entrepreneur best known as the founder of True Adventures and President of Dwarven Forge.

Martin has numerous industry credits, not limited to having front page articles in Polyhedron, as well as being a finalist for the prestigious Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming. Martin has authored or co-authored dozens of modules for various platforms including AD&D, True Dungeon, and Marvel Superheroes. Martin has been the president of Dwarven Forge LLC since 2004, a company that specializes in hand painted miniature terrain. He has been the lead developer, or co-developer on several Dwarven Forge miniature terrain sets.

Personal Life

Martin was born in Mt. Carmel Illinois and currently lives in southern Illinois with his wife and two young children. His main hobby is presenting the True Dungeon event at Gen Con Indy every year, but he enjoys the company of his family and friends whenever possible. Martin grew up in a thriving gaming community, having a fond affinity for hobby games from a young age.

Martin has been attending the Gen Con gaming convention for over 20 years, and has been a part of the gaming community for just as long. Martin won the first ever RPGA D&D Masters Tournament at Gen Con 18, in 1985. He was also part of a small team of designers involved in the play testing of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons second edition.

When asked what his childhood heroes were:

"My heroes growing up were Col. Hogan and Capt. Kirk. I loved the fact that they could always think themselves out of a situation. It kind of set me up to love D&D since the game greatly promotes creative problem solving."

Martin started playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1978 when he happened upon a rulebook at a neighbor's house. He has been playing D&D pretty regularly since, as well as enjoying some classic war games like Third Reich and Dawn Patrol. Martin has dabbled in every trend that has hit the market except collectible card games, as he said "I was too long an old fart to play them (laugh)."

When asked what his favorite games are:

"Of course, there is D&D in all its incarnations as well as Third Reich, Dawn Patrol, Hyborian War(PBM), Car Wars, Battletech and Thief(PC). I have designed several home-brew games, with a slider dice game known as Regent being my favorite."

Publishing in Polyhedron

File:Polyhedronmag.jpg

Martin has been published in the gaming magazine Polyhedron numerous times, including front page articles. Martin authored the following Polyhedron articles:

"ARCANE ACADAME"

• Creating Adventure Locales - Issue 34

• Expanding the Thief's Abilities - Issue 41

• Four Rules for a Better Convention - Issue 32

• Playing Clerics and Druids - Issue 36

• Playing Fighters - Issue 39

• Playing Magic-Users and Illusionists - Issue 38

• Playing Thieves, Assassins and Monks - Issue 37

• Preventing the Death of a Campaign - Issue 33

• Using Magic and Mundane Items - Issue 40

"Adventure Among the Clouds"

• Adventure Among the Clouds - Issue 28

"The Investigators"

• The Investigators (module) - Issue 39

"Serendipity"

• Serendipity Marvel Superheroes module - Issue 31

"Beware the Golems"

• Beware the Golems - Issue 30

Dwarven Forge

File:Dfterrain.jpg

Martin has been closely involved with the design of the Dwarven Forge Miniature Terrain. Dwarven Forge is a company that specializes in hand painted, ultra high quality miniature terrain for tabletop gaming. While Dwarven Forge used to specialize in fantasy settings, it has branched out recently, releasing three unique science fiction terrain sets.

Martin started working in the Dwarven Forge booth at Gen Con as a volunteer in 2000, when he noticed Dwarven Forge creator Stefan Pokorny scrambling with others to get the booth open in time. He ended up giving up the rest of his time during Gen Con to help, due to the big response created by the release of D&D 3.0. Over the next few years Martin managed the Dwarven Forge booths at Origins and Gen Con Indy. Eventually in 2004 Pokorny asked Martin to manage the "chocolate factory" while Pokorny stepped back from the day-to-day operations. Since then, Martin has changed the Dwarven Forge business model from a classic "sold in store" approach, to a "direct to gamers" distribution via their website and game conventions. Martin has developed many sets inside his tenure at Dwarven Forge, and he is especially proud of the Den of Evil and Realm of the Ancient limited-edition product lines.

When asked about the creation of Dwarven Forge, Martin said:

"Dwarven Forge was the brainchild of a talented artist and DM Stefan Pokorny who wanted to make something really cool for his players. He dreamed up a modular 3D tile system and he chose polystone as the best medium for his sculptures. He took a huge risk placing an order for his creations, and the responses was incredible. It has been 13 years now, and the demand for his art continues to grow." " The pieces are first sculpted by Stefan and then cast in rock-hard polystone. He then paints the masters and sends them off to a casting house that mass produces the pieces based on the original masters. "

When asked about Dwarven Forge customers:

"They are incredibly loyal and patient! Stefan only produces sets when he sees fit and we don't follow a production schedule. Sometimes we can go almost a whole year without a new set. Yet our collectors patiently wait for us. I think they appreciate his level of commitment to quality. They also are very giving with feedback and product ideas, and I know Stefan reads our Forums all the time."

Martin has been the Lead Designer, or Co-Developer on the following Dwarven Forge sets:

Fantasy Floor Set - MM-021

Fantasy Starter Set - MM-022

Den of Evil Room and Passage Set - MM-023

Cavernous River and Walls Set - MM-024

Cavernous Lake Set - MM-025

Medieval Building Set - MM-026

Den of Evil Wicked Additions Set - MM-027

Medieval Building Expansion Set - MM-028

Den of Evil Room Set - MM-030

Cavernous Water Expansion Set -MM-031

Cavernous Chasm Set - MM-032

Realm of the Ancients Set - MM-034

Realm of the Ancients 2 Set - MM-035

Sci-Fi Alpha Expansion Set - SF-003

Sci-Fi Beta Expansion Set - SF-004

Sci-Fi Gamma Expansion Set - SF-005

True Dungeon

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Martin is the creator of True Dungeon, a life size 3d dungeon puzzle that occurs annually at Gen Con Indianapolis. Not only does he author every adventure to date, but he also builds most of the props and sets used for the event. True Dungeon started at Gen Con Indy in 2003, and has grown wildly since then. True Dungeon has held the record as the biggest event at Gen Con since 2005, selling over 4000 tickets a year for the annual event. In addition to the fantasy styled True Dungeon, Martin worked with Upper Deck Entertainment in 2004 and 2005 to produce True Heroes, an event similar in scale to True Dungeon, but with a superhero theme. Martin has authored the following True Adventures Modules, with synopsis:

TD1 - "The Five Aspects" 2003
• The party is lost in a savage land, and to survive, they must escape a druidical proving ground.

TD2 - "Return to Hommlet" 2004
• The adventurers must explore the wilderness north of Hommlet to find an evil wizard who has convinced a group of lizardmen to destroy Hommlet.

TH1 - True Heroes "Wanted: Wolverine" 2004
• The party must discover who is planning an evil attack on the United Nations.

TH2 - True Heroes "Avengers Assemble!" 2005
• The mighty Avengers must unite to save the world from a mysterious Super Villain.

TD3 - "Battle Below Greyhawk" 2005
• The adventurers must delve deep under Castle Greyhawk to find a clue to help the party in the opposite adventure "Assault Above Greyhawk"

TD4 - "Assault Above Greyhawk" 2005
• The adventurers must travel into the bizarre tower of Greyhawk to stop an evil artifact from destroying the city of Greyhawk

TD5 - "Escape the Spider Cult" 2006
• The first adventure in a three year story arc. The party must escape the clutches of an evil cult, and warn the city of a coming invasion.

TD6 - "Race Across Greyhawk" 2007
• The second adventure in a three year story arc. The adventurers must secretly travel across Greyhawk to the tower of an evil conspirator to learn more about the coming siege.

TD7 - "Hope for the Lost" 2008
• The third adventure in a three year story arc. The adventurers must infiltrate the headquarters of an evil army to banish their dark lord Iuz, and save the city of Greyhawk.

TD8 - "The Five Aspects (Revised)" 2009
• An new and fresh update to the classic 2003 module: "The Five Aspects" featured a new ending with two possible outcomes.

TD9 - "With Smoak Comes Fire" 2009
• The first adventure in a two year story arc. The wizard Bibwik sends the adventurers on a quest to construct a protective medallion that will give them the upper hand against the crafty red dragon, Smoak.

TD10- "DragonWard" 2010
• The second adventure in a two year story arc (1). The adventurers must construct a protective medallion to give themselves a chance against the crafty red dragon, Smoak.

TD11 -"The Evading Hilt" 2010
• The second adventure in a two year story arc (2). While the party in "Dragonward" distracts the dragon Smoak with a deadly melee, this party must sneak into his lair and recover an evil artifact.

Gen Con owner Peter Adkison has said about True Dungeon.,

"Simply put, True Dungeon is the coolest event in the gaming universe. It’s the largest event at Gen Con, in fact it’s so big that Gen Con has to open registration for it separate from the rest of the event listing or the system crashes. It’s so cool it has its own line of merchandise that is traded on the secondary market like collectibles. It must be seen to be believed! I am very proud to have True Dungeon as the Gen Con centerpiece.”

Martin is also the creator and designer of the unique True Dungeon game component known as True Dungeon Treasure Tokens. These have been printed in yearly editions since 2003, and have created their own secondary market on Ebay; One token went for over $1,000 at auction. Martin is the lead content designer and co-graphic designer for these full color in-game pieces. Every edition since 2004 has sold out.

Martin is also co-videographer and co-editor for the True Dungeon teaser trailers.

Awards and Nominations

Martin was one of five nominees for the 2004 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming, an annual award created to publicly acknowledge excellence in gaming. Martin has also received praise in numerous publications for his work with True Dungeon, including Dragon Magazine, and Knights of the Dinner Table.

References

"History of Dungeons and Dragons". Retrieved 19 March 2010. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)

"About Dwarven Forge". Retrieved 19 March 2010. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)

"True Dungeon FAQ". Retrieved 19 March 2010. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)

Staggs, Matt. "Countdown to worldwide D&D Gameday - Day Two - True Dungeon". Retrieved 18 March 2010.

"An interview with Jeff Martin". Retrieved 19 March 2010.

Staggs, Matt. "Countdown to worldwide D&D Gameday - Day Two - Dwarven Forge". Retrieved 19 March 2010.

Nelson, Randall (September 2006), "GenCon 2006: True Dungeon Recap", Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine, no. 119, Kenzer & Company, pp. 49–50, retrieved 19 March 2010 {{citation}}: |contribution= ignored (help)

External links

• True Dungeon Website
• Dwarven Forge Website
• True Dungeon Youtube Channel
• True Dungeon 2009 Token Guide
• Wired True Dungeon Article
• True Dungeon Players Guide
• True Dungeon Podcast
• True Dungeon Xplay Video
• Whil Wheaton article on True Dungeon

Category:Game designers