Chaosium founder and creator of King Arthur Pendragon Greg Stafford passed away suddenly yesterday at his home in Arcata, CA, according to a report on the Chaosium blog. He was 70 years old.
Greg Stafford was a visionary designer of role-playing games, and one of the early pioneers of the medium whose ideas continue to influence the design of role-playing games to this day.
Greg Stafford entered the game publishing field in 1975 when he created the Chaosium company to publish his first game design, White Bear and Red Moon, set in the fantasy world of his own making called Glorantha. Glorantha would be used as the setting for the RuneQuest role playing game, which he published in 1978. Stafford designed a number of role-playing games, including his personal favorite King Arthur Pendragon, which he described as his "favorite game, and after 35 years of game design, my masterpiece," on his personal website.
Stafford eventually left Chaosium and founded Issaries in 1998 to focus on producing games set in Glorantha. There he worked with Robin Laws to create Hero Wars, which would later be renamed HeroQuest.
In 2015, he returned to Chaosium, assuming the duties of President and CEO and teaming up again with Sandy Petersen, who designed Call of Cthulhu for Chaosium in 1981, perhaps the company’s best-known line (see "Stafford, Petersen Back at Chaosium").
Greg Stafford was an avid student of Arthurian lore, mythology, and shamanism. He became a practicing shaman as well as a member of the board of directors of the shamanism journal Shaman’s Drum.
Chaosium Founder, 'King Arthur Pendragon' Creator
Posted by William Niebling on October 12, 2018 @ 5:21 pm CT
MORE GAMES
Showbiz Round-up
December 23, 2024
There’s no slowdown in Hollywood news as we approach the holiday break, and we round it up here.
Column by Scott Thorne
December 23, 2024
This week, columnist Scott Thorne reports on holiday sales to date and looks at second bites of the apple on hot games.
MORE NEWS
Third Crossover Miniseries by Benjamin Percy will Launch in April
December 23, 2024
Following crossovers with Wolverine and Black Panther, this is the third miniseries by writer Benjamin Percy featuring a Predator invading the Marvel Universe.
Of Space Ghost and Jonny Quest
December 22, 2024
Dynamite Entertainment will release a comic crossover of two Hanna-Barbera properties: Space Ghost and Jonny Quest.