Robert J. Kuntz

TSR Veteran

Recent & Upcoming Releases

January 14 2025

Gate Pass Gazette Annual 2024

(Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition)
Hardcover magazine compilation of the last year!
Replies (8)
February 18 2025

D&D Monster Manual (2025)

(Dungeons & Dragons)
Revised 2025 Monster Manual.
Replies (1170)
July 8 2025

Dragon Delves

(Dungeons & Dragons)
A book of 10 dragon-themed adventures.
Replies (51)
August 1 2025

Companions Compendium

(Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition)
Pets and companions for your Level Up characters!
Replies (3)
August 19 2025

Eberron: Forge of the Artificer

(Dungeons & Dragons)
Companion book to Eberron: Rising From The Last War
Replies (90)
September 16 2025

Heroes of the Borderlands

(Dungeons & Dragons)
New D&D starter set.
Replies (611)
November 1 2025

Forgotten Realms Player Guide

(Dungeons & Dragons)
First 5E player's guide for the setting.
Replies (366)
November 1 2025

Forgotten Realms Adventure Guide

(Dungeons & Dragons)
DM’s book digs into different parts of the Realms.
Replies (41)

Robert J. Kuntz landed on the designer's pad at Gary Gygax's house in 1968 and never looked back. Quick "peak" accomplishments: LGTSA President, 1970-1976, "King" and last editor of the Domesday Book, 1970-1972, TSR founding era employee, nearly 100 publishing credits to date including for D&D, Advanced D&D, D&D 3.0, etc. Charles Roberts Award Winner for board game design (Kings and Things); Golden ENnie Award winner for Maure Castle (Dungeon Magazine #112); and the taxi-meter of design and writing is still running with his Three Line Studio enterprise. This column is part of the D&D/RPG History series.

BURMANIA! Part 2: "Keep on Going!"

Feb 11, 2020
Rob Kuntz

As the neutral DM I was positioned to see how the opposition to Bob Burman had manifested, especially among two primary players in my campaigns and games, James Goodfellow and Eric Shook. Where does this animus derive from?

BURMANIA! Part 1: Check Your Sanity at the Door

Jan 2, 2020
Rob Kuntz

Every game club or group has one. A person who stands out from the rest mostly due to some recurring oddity, a facet of their unchanging personality if you will, and their sublime belief in their own invincibility in life as well as at the game table. Add to this a penchant for vocalizing the above as well as an energy reserve bordering on the superhuman and you have what others could view...

GENCON IX: When Many Sought Adventure

Dec 9, 2019
Rob Kuntz

GECON IX, Baby! It was happening. TSR was on a roll. The last supplement for OD&D had just been released, Empire of the Petal Throne was a reality, and Fritz Leiber’s board game, Lankhmar (based off his original cork board-game that he and Harry O. Fischer had designed and played far back in the day), was being released at the convention. As I had helped co-design the latter (see 1st link...

Gary’s Immersion in Castle El Raja Key: The Four-Way Footsteps

Nov 12, 2019
Rob Kuntz

(Very early 1973, 1st level of my Castle El Raja Key) -- In November of 1972 four stalwarts of the LGTSA (Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association; of which I was then its current president)--namely Gary Gygax, myself, Ernie Gygax and my brother Terry Kuntz--experienced our first, and also comprehensive, RPG adventure via Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor setting. During it we also experienced the...

Greyhawk Theatrics, Comments and Quips in Play: Snippets, Funny Lines and Outbursts from the Lake Geneva Gamers

Oct 21, 2019
Rob Kuntz

What follows are some dear and treasured memories—snippets, funny lines, and outbursts recalled from play. Many eluded both myself and Gary over the years. But these few should serve to indicate how the majority of us gamed in those days, and especially how we gamed while the original D&D game was still in the midst of being play-tested.

The Beginning: 1968 and Meeting Gary Gygax and the Gygax Family

Sep 27, 2019
Rob Kuntz

Roughly two years before Luke Gygax was born I walked through the front door of the Gygax residence at 330 Center Street in Lake Geneva. This was at the invite of Gary through his gamer friend and a very recent acquaintance of mine, Larry Zirk. Very few people from that time know of Larry Zirk, so I will tell the story of our meeting and how that would, soon thereafter, lead me to Gary's doorstep.