The Sigil
Mr. 3000 (Words per post)
I'll throw in my votes... in no particular order...
Dave Arneson - "Adventures in Blackmoor" still resonates with me as the perfect module - one rich in backstory, which gives great insight into all of the NPCs... and then spends just 20 or so pages (of 48) on the actual adventure. You really have all the info you need to *run* this adventure.
Benjamin Durbin - The Heroes of High Favor series have, to me, been the best third-party d20 products published, period. In some ways they surpass the Core Rules.
Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, et al (Core Design team for 3e) - It's hard to tell exactly who contributed what, but the d20 engine is a very flexible and stable one, and I think it's a good one. Thus, all of its designers get lumped together since you can't attribute the entire system to any one of them. Monte's work since is nice, and I love it to death, but I can't call his Malhavoc work "genius" and "groundbreaking" to the degree the d20 system itself was.
Kevin Siembieda - His best days are behind him, IMO, and his game balance is not that good, but the man has penned perhaps the widest variety of ideas I have seen in a game authored more or less by one person (Rifts). I can't stand the (lack of) balance in Rifts, but the ideas and themes presented there... I haven't seen its equal.
Myself - Not in the sense of my limited PDF publishing, but in the sense of tweaking hundreds of systems and playing for 20 great years with friends of all types. I haven't gotten much entertainment mileage from any one other person out there as I have from myself. That's not egotism, that's simply a fact... no one person has contributed as much enjoyment to *my* 20-ish years of RPGing as I have.
--The Sigil
Dave Arneson - "Adventures in Blackmoor" still resonates with me as the perfect module - one rich in backstory, which gives great insight into all of the NPCs... and then spends just 20 or so pages (of 48) on the actual adventure. You really have all the info you need to *run* this adventure.
Benjamin Durbin - The Heroes of High Favor series have, to me, been the best third-party d20 products published, period. In some ways they surpass the Core Rules.
Monte Cook, Jonathan Tweet, et al (Core Design team for 3e) - It's hard to tell exactly who contributed what, but the d20 engine is a very flexible and stable one, and I think it's a good one. Thus, all of its designers get lumped together since you can't attribute the entire system to any one of them. Monte's work since is nice, and I love it to death, but I can't call his Malhavoc work "genius" and "groundbreaking" to the degree the d20 system itself was.
Kevin Siembieda - His best days are behind him, IMO, and his game balance is not that good, but the man has penned perhaps the widest variety of ideas I have seen in a game authored more or less by one person (Rifts). I can't stand the (lack of) balance in Rifts, but the ideas and themes presented there... I haven't seen its equal.
Myself - Not in the sense of my limited PDF publishing, but in the sense of tweaking hundreds of systems and playing for 20 great years with friends of all types. I haven't gotten much entertainment mileage from any one other person out there as I have from myself. That's not egotism, that's simply a fact... no one person has contributed as much enjoyment to *my* 20-ish years of RPGing as I have.
--The Sigil
