Who is the coolest game designer?

[beeber]

sorry but i've got to go outside the box for this one--steve jackson (u.s.), sandy petersen & marc miller. robin laws gets kudos for feng shui. whoever (i forget) did paranoia.

d&d/d20-wise? egg, arneson, monte, bill slaviscek, skip williams. a grudging nod to ed greenwood for starting the whole FR thing. can't stand the setting, but boy does it have detail out the wazoo with all those releases.

 

[T. Foster]

Since EGG is getting enough votes without my help, my vote goes to Sandy Petersen. In addition to Call of Cthulhu (for which he is, justly, most famous) he also co-authored a lot of the best RuneQuest/Glorantha material (Trollpak, Gods of Glorantha, Genertela: Crucible of the Hero Wars, Elder Secrets of Glorantha, Dorastor: Land of Doom, Missing Lands) and had a style that was (at least IMO) more accessible and fun that Greg Stafford's more serious/intellectual work, and after leaving the pen & paper rpg field he went on to be one of the chief designers at iD software (Doom, Quake, etc.). Plus, if you've ever met/interacted with him either online or in person, he's very personable and a great raconteur. Very cool indeed.

 

[Erik Mona]

Clearly my family has access to this poll.

Thanks for the 4 votes, mom!

--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dungeon

 

[RFisher]

Some of the people I have great respect for include:

Gary Gygax
Dave Arneson
Marc W. Miller
Steve Jackson (The Austin one.)
Tom Moldvay
Rob Kuntz
Chris Pramas
Steffan O'Sullivan
Paul Elliot
Simon Washbourne
S. John Ross
Sean Punch

Besides the many that are probably slipping my mind at the moment, there are probably many more that I just don't know by name.

 

[Jason Bulmahn]

Clearly my family has access to this poll.

Thanks for the 4 votes, mom!

--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dungeon

Don't worry Erik, I got your back!

-Jason

 

[MulhorandSage]

"Great" or "respected" designer is one thing. But the coolest? The guy you'd hang around with at a bar just to watch chicks gravitate toward your space? Someone who could talk for five hours without boring you for a second? Ken Hite.

 

[qstor]

I vote for Erik Mona for keeping the Hawk flame alive. I think EGG would be next then Monte Cook.

Mike

 

[Gothmog]

#1 Jonathan Tweet- the guy gave us Ars Magica, and D&D 3E.
#2 EGG- nobody has had as big of an impact as he has.
#3 Shane Lacy Hensley- Deadlands- enough said.

 

[Mercule]

What, no James Wyatt?

Well, dismissing that gross oversight, I went with Andy Collins. It's a strange dichotomy, though. I hate the average save, that is apparently his brain-child, but some of the sidebars in UA that were attributed to him got my notice -- as have some of his comments on a couple of other things. He seems to really have an eye toward interesting and fun ideas.

That said, I don't think there's anyone on that list that I don't think is a good designer. Other names that I think highly of, but don't see are Jeff Grubb, Justin Achilli, and Ethan Skemp(yeah, those last two are at WWGS, but there's a reason that company does well in the industry).

 

[BastionPress_Creech]

Unfortunately with polls like this, a lot of truly gifted people get left off or aren't thought of. Besides those people on the list, designers who are "cool" are: Mike Mearls, Will Hindmarch, Darrin Drader, Sam Witt, Matt Forbeck, Shane Hensley, Wil Upchurch, August Hahn, Kevin Ruesch, Steve Kenson, James Maliszewski, Chris Sims, Sean Reynolds, Ed Stark, Charles Ryan, James Wyatt, Tom Knauss, Todd Laing, Kevin Melka, Ken Hite, Phil Reed, Jason Parent, Lizard, Spike Jones, Ari "Mouseferatu" Marnell, Justin Achilli, and Patrick Kapera, just to name the ones that immediately come to my mind. There are many others who also qualify, not to mention several new talents who will be the shining stars of the future in due time. So many names, so little recognition...