Jon Pickens
Born | Jon Pickens August 12, 1954 Mishawaka,Indiana,United States |
---|---|
Occupation | Game designer, editor |
Nationality | American |
Genre | Role-playing games |
Jon Pickensis an Americangame designerandeditorwho has worked on numerous products for theDungeons & Dragonsfantasyrole-playing gamefromTSR[1]and laterWizards of the Coast.
Early life and education
[edit]Jon Pickens was born inMishawaka,Indianaon August 12, 1954.[2]In 1968, he was introduced to miniatureswargaming,and his parents bought him theBlitzkriegwargame for Christmas that year. A couple of months later, Pickens responded to an ad inPopular Mechanicsfor a magazine titledStrategy & Tactics.He wrote in for a sample copy, and “spent the rest of the summer mowing lawns to get enough money to buy some wargames advertised in the magazine, and to get all the back issues.”[2]The publishers did not carry back issues, “So I wrote a letter to this collector, whose name was Gary Gygax, and arranged to buy the back issues from him. Gary invited me to attend a gaming convention in Madison. By a coincidence, my father had a speaking engagement inDelavan,which is near Lake Geneva, on the same weekend, so he took me up.”[2]Pickens andGary Gygaxdrove up toMadison,and Gygax later invited him to theGen Conconvention; Pickens attended beginning with Gen Con 3 and for many years after that.[2]
Pickens attendedValparaiso University,and in 1976 he earned aB.A.degree in English and Economics. He continued to attend conventions while in college, and discoveredTSR's newChainmailminiatures game at the 1973 Gen Con; the following year, TSR debuted theDungeons & Dragonsfantasyrole-playing game.After college, Pickens began writing occasional articles forDragonmagazine, and was active in theAlarums & Excursionspublication.[2] [3][4]
Career
[edit]Pickens eventually applied for a job at TSR, taking both the designer and editor tests, and was hired as an editor. “They didn’t think much of the design work, probably because I wrote it in a few hours late at night, but the editing part was OK,” said Pickens.[2]Pickens later became the Acquisition Editor for TSR, Inc., reviewingmodulesfor possible publication. He was also the Games Editor forStrategy & TacticsMagazine for several years while the magazine was published by TSR, and later the Managing Editor as well, commenting “In a way, this completes a circle in my life.”[2]
Jon Pickens has worked on many game products for theDungeons & Dragonsgame since 1978, as an editor, designer, coordinator, and creative director. Some of his works as a game designer include the originalArms & Equipment Guide,and design contributions to the third editionPlayer's Handbook,Monster Manual,andDungeon Masters Guide.He has edited manyDungeons & Dragonsbooks, including notably theCastle Greyhawkmodule, and theRules Cyclopedia.
Pickens andDavid "Zeb" Cookoversaw the development of the bookNight of the Seven Swords(1986).[5]Pickens was known for often being a "go-to research guy" at TSR.[6]ForAurora's Whole Realms Catalog(1992) he assistedJ. Robert King's research by providing his own personal library.[7]In preparing the campaign setting bookAl-Qadim: Arabian Adventures(1992), Pickens providedJeff Grubbwith three boxes of reference and research material.[8]
While Pickens left the gaming industry in the early 2000s, his nephew,Robert DeHoff,remains in that field and acts as a playtester and writer forCatalyst Game Labs'sBattleTech,Cosmic Patrol,andLeviathansgame lines.
References
[edit]- ^Tianen, Dave (August 20, 1993). "GEN CON: Where dragonmasters, Star Fleet admirals come to play",Milwaukee Sentinel,p. D14.
- ^abcdefg"TSR Profiles".Dragon(#106).Lake Geneva, Wisconsin:TSR, Inc.: 60 February 1986.
- ^Peterson, Jon (2012).Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People and Fantastic Adventures, from Chess to Role-Playing Games.Unreason Press.ISBN978-0615642048.
This same Jon Pickens provided the Alchemist class in the Dragon #2 and the Berserker subclass in #3, among with other early rule proposals.
- ^
Stratton, Jerry (September 23, 2006). "Rewards and improvement in Dungeons & Dragons".Biblyon Broadsheet.
In "D&D Options: Orgies, Inc." in Dragon 10 (October 1977), Jon Pickens suggested awarding treasure experience when the treasure was spent rather than when acquired, so as to encourage players to get rid of it.
{{cite web}}
:Missing or empty|url=
(help) - ^"OA2 Night of the Seven Swords (1e) - Wizards of the Coast - AD&D 1st Ed. - Oriental Adventures - AD&D 1st Ed. - DriveThruRPG.com".Retrieved3 March2017.
- ^"DMGR3 Arms and Equipment Guide (2e) - Wizards of the Coast - AD&D 2nd Ed. - AD&D 2nd Ed. - DriveThruRPG.com".Retrieved3 March2017.
- ^"Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue (2e) - Wizards of the Coast - AD&D 2nd Ed. - Forgotten Realms - AD&D 2nd Ed. - DriveThruRPG.com".Retrieved3 March2017.
- ^"Al-Qadim: Arabian Adventures (2e) - Wizards of the Coast - AD&D 2nd Ed. - Al-Qadim - AD&D 2nd Ed. - DriveThruRPG.com".Retrieved3 March2017.
External links
[edit]- "Jon Pickens:: Pen & Paper RPG Database".Archived fromthe originalon May 19, 2007.RetrievedJune 15,2009.