RPG a Day 2015 Challenge – Day 11

Hello, again, thanks for reading these posts. I love participating in #RPGaDay2015 since  it is a great excuse and motivator to get back to blogging. Hope you are enjoying these as much as I am enjoying writing them.

This is another one of those categories that are very difficult. Picking favorites is always hard, so I’m going to do a little cheating and do a countdown!

Day 11 – Favorite RPG writer

There are probably far more great RPG creators that I could list here, many I’m probably missing, so I’m going to do a countdown of five to get to my favorite RPG writer:

Number 5 – Owen K C Stephens

In recent years Owen K C Stephens work has been consistently great and fun! His work for Green Ronin and Paizo has been terrific and the stuff he publishes through Rogue Genius Games is among the best third party content for Pathfinder. I also follow him on Facebook and he’s amazingly candid and fun. I’m a fan!

Number 4 – Steve Kenson

What can I say about the guy who’s written my two favorite superhero role playing games? Mutants & Masterminds and Icons! Not only that, before I played those games I used to play Silver Age Sentinels, which he worked on, and True20, also one of his creations, was one of my favorite applications of the d20 OGL. He also gave me the first interview I did here in the blog over five years ago. He’s an all around nice guy and I got to met him at GenCon back in 2011.

Number 3 – Sean K. Reynolds

and talking about nice guys, I’m hard pressed to think of a nice guy. He was so amicable when I took this picture with him back at GenCon. Since I added him on FB, I’ve been lucky enough to interact with him through social media, a treat since I’ve been a fan of his work since Alternity, all through his D&D 3.5 and Paizo work, and his Kickstarters, including his Five Moons RPG. Looking forward to whatever new project he comes out with!

Number 2 – Gary Gygax

How could I not have him in the list? Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson created a hobby that has changed my life. I’ve made more friends thought RPGs than any other endeavour in my life. While his style is not for everyone, and when I got to read them I was a little turned off by some of his Dragon Magazine columns, as an adult I’ve rediscovered the joy of reading his work. I’ve discussed the one time I saw him on a post we all contributed to in his memory, you can read it here.

Number 1 – Bruce Heard

And this one should be no surprise! From all my mentions of Mystara and the Gazetteer series, to my fawning over the Voyage of the Princess Ark, to my interview of Bruce Heard and to my love of Calidar, this number 1 spot should have been obvious! Every month his column was the first thing I read in my copy of Dragon Magazine, he stewarded my favorite series of supplements for any setting, and he happens to be swell guy too. Bruce has been responsible for so many hours of fun in my life, for me and many of my friends, that all I can do is say, thank you!

Well those are the top 5, but there are some honorable mentions as well. Kenneth Hite, because he writes some wonderfully cerebral, amazing games that blur the line between game and literature. Monte Cook because he was such a driving force in the d20 movement, and now is doing so much more. Gareth Skarka, because knowing him, his work and his passion is a pleasure and finally, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman because their writing and the gaming content related to it was so pivotal in my love of fantasy fiction and RPGs.

(See how I weaseled my way out of just picking one favorite?)

So who is your favorite, or favorites? Let us know in the comments. See you all tomorrow!