D&D General Industry Veteran Jennell Jaquays Passes

Jennell Jaquays was an important figure in the development of Dungeons & Dragons and the tabletop roleplaying game industry. She passed away today at the age of 68. Known for her work on Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia, she was a game designer and artist; she was responsible for many RPG covers, including Dragon Mountain. Jennell worked for TSR, Judges Guild, and Chaosium, amongst others, as well as video game companies, working on Quake and Age of Empires, and was also an activist for trans rights, instrumental in bringing about important legislation as creative director for the Transgender Human Rights Institute. Jenny had been suffering from Guillain-Barré syndrome in recent years.

Our condolences go out to Jennell's friends and family. The industry lost a legend today.

 

[Retreater]

Currently no PDF/POD option and I don't like to take my 1979 printing out of the storage box. So as much as I would love to run it, hard to do.

I'm fortune to have the 3.5 update that was released by Necromancer Games. That one might still be available at a reasonable price through secondary markets.

 

[Ghost2020]

My sincerest condolences.

I know she was working on a new version of Central Casting Legendary Heroes. I hope it can get published eventually.

The original ones were neat products.
(Even if they did have some cultural artifacts)

I had no idea how so many of her products were some of my favorites.

 

[General_Tangent]

My sincerest condolences.

I know she was working on a new version of Central Casting Legendary Heroes. I hope it can get published eventually.

The original ones were neat products.
(Even if they did have some cultural artifacts)

I had no idea how so many of her products were some of my favorites.

I remember seeing the adverts for Central Casting in the magazines of the time, and this lead me to trawl all the games shops in London until I found a copy of Heroes of Tomorrow. I did eventually track down the other books in the series and Heroes Now is still a favourite read.

I found that not only did it create some interesting character backgrounds but it turned the whole process into quite a mini-game!

 

[GDGD]

Jennell was one of the true greats. One of my favourites is her cover of Temple Tower & Tomb, which I've sadly never had a chance to play. I understand her model for the wizard was actually Jeff Grubb. Imagine being immortalized on the cover of a D&D book?

 

[Hatmatter]

Our condolences go out to Jennell's friends and family. The industry lost a legend today.

My condolences. I have an acquaintance also struggling with Guillain-Barré's.

 

[Giantrollorc]

RIP… She was such a titan in the rpg industry through many different eras. My group has been trying to decide on our next campaign for this upcoming spring,and we wanted to go ”old school”, so as DM my executive decision will be Dark Tower. One the best all time RPG game designers… tragic loss.

 

[GraphPaper Architect]

I will never forget her contributions to so many fantastic worlds I enjoy.
Good Journey

 

[Zardnaar]

Not tgat familiar with her work except Savage Frontiers which is very good.

o7 RIP

 

[Art Waring]

I think I remember her doing some work on the Quake games, (Quake 2?), not part of the ttrpg scene, but still a great contribution to gaming. An incredibly talented artist. You will be sorely missed.

R.I.P.

 

[Alphastream]

What an incredible design and artist career she had. Gave us gifts decade after decade. The Spelljammer art she created, with the nautiloid! Just amazing. It leaves the page and draws you in all at the same time. Her work on the Central Casting series of books was fantastic, and a recent inspiration for my work. So many firsts and so many incredible contributions.