Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
[Chaosium] Remembering Lynn Willis, ten years after his passing
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Michael O'Brien" data-source="post: 8905540" data-attributes="member: 6807727"><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/lnisinwyll.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p>Today marks the 10th anniversary of the passing of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Willis" target="_blank">Lynn Willis</a>, Chaosium's third employee and a vitally important member of the team for much of the company's first four decades.</p><p></p><p>Lynn began in gaming as a board game designer, and entered Chaosium in 1978 with the board game <em>Lords of the Middle Sea</em>. He went on to become one of the longest-serving members of the Chaosium team, co-authoring or contributing to such revered titles as <em>Basic Roleplaying</em>, the second and third editions of <em>RuneQuest</em>, the original <em>Masks of Nyarlathotep</em> (with Larry DiTillio), <em>Worlds of Wonder</em>, <em>Ringworld</em>, <em>Elric</em>, and the fifth and sixth editions of <em>Call of Cthulhu</em>.</p><p></p><p>With Greg Stafford and Sandy Petersen, Lynn also co-wrote the <em>Ghostbusters</em> RPG for West End Games, pioneering the d6 dice pool mechanic seen today in such games as <em>Star Wars</em>.</p><p></p><p>Lynn was editor-in-chief for the whole company when he retired due to ill health in 2008. He passed away on the 18th of January 2013. In the tribute posted at the time of his passing, Greg Stafford and Charlie Krank said, "He loved his work and brought all his abilities to the job. He was incredibly smart, astonishingly widely read, detail oriented, and capable. He is largely responsible for the high quality, playability, and popularity of the leading horror RPG in our field."</p><p></p><p>Lynn Willis's creative legacy lives on in the many well-known games he contributed to, and with the forthcoming <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/blogchaosium-announces-lords-of-the-middle-sea-roleplaying-game-is-in-development/" target="_blank">Lords of the Middle Sea - The RPG</a> which is inspired by his board war game. In the roleplaying game the player characters take on the roles of explorers, traders, adventurers, or others seeking to survive and thrive in an Earth barely recovering from world-wide collapse, nuclear war, and environmental catastrophe.</p><p></p><p>"As a sort of futuristic proto-Steampunk – before Steampunk proper existed as a genre – <em>Lords of the Middle Sea</em> was Chaosium's second original IP, after Greg Stafford's Glorantha. It's a pleasure to be bringing Lynn Willis's original creation back for a new gaming audience", said Chaosium president Rick Meints.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/lords-of-the-middle-sea-cover.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p>ART</p><p>top: Lynne Willis as depicted in Chaosium's CCG <em>Mythos</em>, by Roger Raupp.</p><p>bottom: cover art for <em>Lords of the Middle Sea: The Roleplaying Game</em>, by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/ossihiekkala" target="_blank">Ossi Hiekkala</a>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Michael O'Brien, post: 8905540, member: 6807727"] [CENTER][IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/lnisinwyll.jpeg[/IMG] [/CENTER] Today marks the 10th anniversary of the passing of [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Willis']Lynn Willis[/URL], Chaosium's third employee and a vitally important member of the team for much of the company's first four decades. Lynn began in gaming as a board game designer, and entered Chaosium in 1978 with the board game [I]Lords of the Middle Sea[/I]. He went on to become one of the longest-serving members of the Chaosium team, co-authoring or contributing to such revered titles as [I]Basic Roleplaying[/I], the second and third editions of [I]RuneQuest[/I], the original [I]Masks of Nyarlathotep[/I] (with Larry DiTillio), [I]Worlds of Wonder[/I], [I]Ringworld[/I], [I]Elric[/I], and the fifth and sixth editions of [I]Call of Cthulhu[/I]. With Greg Stafford and Sandy Petersen, Lynn also co-wrote the [I]Ghostbusters[/I] RPG for West End Games, pioneering the d6 dice pool mechanic seen today in such games as [I]Star Wars[/I]. Lynn was editor-in-chief for the whole company when he retired due to ill health in 2008. He passed away on the 18th of January 2013. In the tribute posted at the time of his passing, Greg Stafford and Charlie Krank said, "He loved his work and brought all his abilities to the job. He was incredibly smart, astonishingly widely read, detail oriented, and capable. He is largely responsible for the high quality, playability, and popularity of the leading horror RPG in our field." Lynn Willis's creative legacy lives on in the many well-known games he contributed to, and with the forthcoming [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/blogchaosium-announces-lords-of-the-middle-sea-roleplaying-game-is-in-development/']Lords of the Middle Sea - The RPG[/URL] which is inspired by his board war game. In the roleplaying game the player characters take on the roles of explorers, traders, adventurers, or others seeking to survive and thrive in an Earth barely recovering from world-wide collapse, nuclear war, and environmental catastrophe. "As a sort of futuristic proto-Steampunk – before Steampunk proper existed as a genre – [I]Lords of the Middle Sea[/I] was Chaosium's second original IP, after Greg Stafford's Glorantha. It's a pleasure to be bringing Lynn Willis's original creation back for a new gaming audience", said Chaosium president Rick Meints. [CENTER][IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/lords-of-the-middle-sea-cover.png[/IMG] [/CENTER] ART top: Lynne Willis as depicted in Chaosium's CCG [I]Mythos[/I], by Roger Raupp. bottom: cover art for [I]Lords of the Middle Sea: The Roleplaying Game[/I], by [URL='https://www.artstation.com/ossihiekkala']Ossi Hiekkala[/URL]. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
[Chaosium] Remembering Lynn Willis, ten years after his passing
Top