Jeff Grubb

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Jeff Grubb
Born (1957-08-27) August 27, 1957 (age 55)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Occupation Writer
Spouse(s) Kate Novak (1983–)

Jeff Grubb (born August 27, 1957 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)[1] is an author and game designer. He is known for his work on computer and role-playing games such as Dragonlance. He has also published novels,[2] short stories, and comics. His credits include The Finder's Stone Trilogy with his wife, Kate Novak, the Spelljammer and the Jakandor campaign settings, and computer games such as Guild Wars Nightfall (2006).[3]

Contents

Role-playing games [edit]

A wargaming enthusiast since high school, Grubb began playing Avalon Hill wargames and later got interested in playing Panzerblitz, Blitzkrieg, and Frigate from Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI). He met Kate Novak in high school, and they were married in 1983.[1] He first learned of roleplaying games as a freshman majoring in engineering at Purdue University, when he happened upon a game of Dungeons & Dragons being played by members of the campus wargaming club.[1] Grubb says, "I walked up to a group of players to ask what they were doing. One turned to me, handed me three six-siders, and said, 'Roll these. We need a cleric.' It was all downhill from there."[4] Within a year, he had attended his first Gen Con and was running his own campaign set in Toril, a world of his own creation.[1]

Grubb graduated and worked as a civil engineer,[5] and spent a year working on air pollution control devices until he was laid off. Between jobs, he oversaw the design of the AD&D Open at Gen Con. This led to him being hired in 1982 as a game designer with TSR, Inc. [4][1] He was a design consultant on Gary Gygax's Monster Manual II for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.[6] The manual was first published in 1983. He was then retained at TSR as the principal architect of the Marvel Super Heroes game system,[7] first released in 1984. Grubb continued to work on role-playing games with TSR for many years, long enough to be regarded affectionately as an "old timer" by Scott Haring.[8] During this time he helped formulate the Dragonlance campaign setting, under Tracy Hickman,[9] and the Forgotten Realms setting with Ed Greenwood.[9] He was a consultant on the first edition of Unearthed Arcana,[1] and authored the first edition of the Manual of the Planes.[4] He is the designer of the Spelljammer campaign setting.[4] He also authored the original [[Marvel Super Heroes (role-playing game)|Marvel Super Heroes role-playing game, and the Al-Qadim setting.[9] He also wrote the supplement for the Jakandor setting.[citation needed] In the late 1980s, Grubb wrote four fill-in issues of DC Comics' licensed Advanced Dungeons & Dragons comic book, and wrote all 25 issues of DC's Forgotten Realms series.[4] Grubb left TSR in 1994, and went freelance.[4]

Grubb moved to Wizards of the Coast after they purchased TSR, and continued to work on games, settings, and source books such as Tempest Feud for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game,[10] d20 Modern[11] and Urban Arcana.[12]

Grubb has also authored The Memoirs of Auberon of Faerie for R. Talsorian Games and was one of the authors of the D20 Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game[13] for Sword & Sorcery Studios. He has also been involved with Sovereign Press, founded by Margaret Weis and Don Perrin in 2001.[14] He designed the Heroclix Unleashed set.[9]

Comics, novels and short stories [edit]

Grubb's first novel, Azure Bonds, was coauthored with his wife, Kate Novak, and first published in 1988 as part of The Finder's Stone Trilogy. The second and third books in the trilogy, The Wyvern's Spur and Song of the Saurials, were published by TSR in 1990 and 1991. Grubb and Novak continued to write novels in the Forgotten Realms setting over the years, releasing Masquerades, Finder's Bane, and Tymora's Luck. Other settings for his novels have included Magic: The Gathering, Warcraft and StarCraft. He also authored the 45th issue of Superman Adventures, "Mateless in Metropolis", which had a cover date of July 2000.

He has written a number of short stories in different fictional worlds, including Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft and Thieves' World. In general his short fiction has been well received, with his story "Malediction" being described as amongst the best of those included in Thieves' World: Enemies of Fortune,[15] while "Beowulf in the City of the Dark Elves" has been regarded as the best of the original fiction in The Further Adventures of Beowulf: Champion of Middle Earth.[16]

His favorites among his novels are Azure Bonds, Lord Toede, and The Brother's War, and his favorite short stories are "The Judgement of abd-al-Mammat" and "Lycanthrope Summer."[9]

Computer games [edit]

The novel Azure Bonds was developed into a computer game, Curse of the Azure Bonds, in 1989, and was published by Strategic Simulations, Inc.. ArenaNet hired Grubb to write the story for the third installment of their Guild Wars franchise, Guild Wars Nightfall.[3] Although credited as a designer under lead designer James Phinney,[17] in an interview with Gamespy he describes his role as more of an 'embedded writer' than a designer.[18] Grubb was involved in designing the Guild Wars: Eye of the North expansion pack. Primarily responsible for writing the storyline, he continues to describe himself as an 'embedded writer' rather than as a game designer.[19] He has also done worldbuilding and writing for Blue Byte Software.[9]

Bibliography [edit]

Novels [edit]

Dragonlance (shared universe) [edit]

Forgotten Realms (shared universe) [edit]

Magic: The Gathering (shared universe) [edit]

WarCraft (shared universe) [edit]

  • The Last Guardian (2001), ISBN 0-671-04151-7. This novel has been described as "an original tale of magic, warfare, and heroism based on the bestselling, award-winning electronic game from Blizzard Entertainment".[20]

StarCraft (shared universe) [edit]

Guild Wars (shared universe) [edit]

Comics [edit]

Forgotten Realms DC Comics [edit]

Main article: Forgotten Realms (comic)
  • DC Comics published 25 Forgotten Realms comics from 1 Sept 1989 to 25 Sept 1991 where Jeff Grubb was the author.

Role-playing books [edit]

  • Manual of the Planes (1987) Published by TSR Inc. ISBN 0-88038-399-2
  • d20 Modern Role-playing Game (with Bill Slavicsek, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan)[11]
  • Urban Arcana (with Eric Cagle, David Noonan, & Stan!, published by Wizards of the Coast)[12]
  • Eye of the Wyvern (TSR, Inc.) Part of TSR's "Fast-play Game" series for Dungeons & Dragons.[8] Scott Haring summarized his review stating "Eye of the Wyvern doesn't have very high aspirations; the adventure is simple and the ultimate in linear-ness. But designing a get-started-quick, anybody-can-play roleplaying module is a very high aspiration for the future of this hobby, and in that this book gets high marks."[8]
  • Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure (with Aaron Allston and Thomas M. Reid, part of the TSR Audio Games series, TSR, Inc.)[21]
  • D&D: Diablo II Adventure Game (with Bill Slavicsek, published by Wizards of the Coast)[22]
  • Tempest Feud (with Owen K.C. Stephens, published by Wizards of the Coast for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game) "Tempest Feud fails to rise to the exacting standards set by its predecessors."[10]
  • M2 Maze of the Riddling Minotaur[1]
  • DL7 Dragons of Light[1]

Boot Hill [edit]

  • BH4 Burned Bush Wells[1]

Marvel Super-Heroes [edit]

  • MARVEL SUPER HEROES game[1]
  • MARVEL SUPER HEROES Advanced Set[1]
  • Numerous modules[1]

Spelljammer [edit]

Miniatures games [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "TSR Profiles". Dragon (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, Inc.) (#111): 64. July 1986. 
  2. ^ Buker, Derek M. (2002). "The Science Fiction and Fantasy Readers' Advisory: The Librarian's Guide to Cyborgs, Aliens, and Sorcerers". ALA Readers' Advisory Series (ALA Editions). pp. 127–128. ISBN 0-8389-0831-4. 
  3. ^ a b Miller, Stanley A. (November 25, 2006). "A new tone in gaming". JS Online: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2008-02-15. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f Varney, Allen (May 1998). "Profiles: Jeff Grubb". Dragon (Renton, Washington: Wizards of the Coast) (#247): 120. 
  5. ^ "Jeff Grubb". The Alliterates. Retrieved 2008-02-17. 
  6. ^ Gygax, Gary (1983). Monster Manual II. TSR, Inc. 
  7. ^ Rowland, Marcus L. (February 1985). "Open Box". White Dwarf (review) (Games Workshop) (#62): 10–11. ISSN 0265-8712. 
  8. ^ a b c Haring, Scott D.; Kitchens, R. L.; Wolfbauer, G.; Albers, J. J.; Munford, R. S. (March 19, 1999). "Pyramid Pick: Eye of the Wyvern". Pyramid (online – subscription required) 68 (5): 2410. doi:10.1128/IAI.68.5.2410-2417.2000. PMC 97439. PMID 10768924. Retrieved 2008-02-17. 
  9. ^ a b c d e f "Jeff Grubb". Archived from the original on Jul 3, 2009. 
  10. ^ a b Kessler, Greg (July 5, 2002). "Pyramid Review: Tempest Feud (for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game)". Pyramid (online – subscription required). Retrieved 2008-02-17. 
  11. ^ a b Kohler, Alan D. (November 13, 2002). "d20 Modern Roleplaying Game (Review)". Pyramid (online – subscription required). Retrieved 2008-02-17. 
  12. ^ a b Vetromile, Andy (July 4, 2003). "Pyramid Review: Urban Arcana (for d20 Modern)". Pyramid (online – subscription required). Retrieved 2008-02-17. 
  13. ^ deMorris, Alex (2003-08-23). "Review of Warcraft The Role-playing Game". RPGnet. Retrieved 2008-02-17. 
  14. ^ "Jeff Grubb". Pen & Paper RPG Database. Retrieved 2008-02-17. 
  15. ^ Ward, Cynthia (February 11, 2008). "Thieves' World: Enemies of Fortune". Sci Fi Weekly. Retrieved 2008-02-17. [dead link]
  16. ^ Lott, Rod. "The Further Adventures of Beowulf: Champion of Middle Earth". Bookgasm. Retrieved 2008-02-17. 
  17. ^ Ephidel. "Guild Wars Nightfall Info". CNET Networks Entertainment (subscription required). Retrieved 2012-03-02. 
  18. ^ Rausch, Allen (August 13, 2007). "GameSpy: Guild Wars: Eye of the North – Story Time with Jeff Grubb". IGN Entertainment Games. Retrieved 2012-03-02. 
  19. ^ Hawkeye (August 15, 2007). "Guild Wars: Eye of the North – Interview with Jeff Grubb". Profantik. Retrieved 2008-02-15. [dead link]
  20. ^ "The Last Guardian (Warcraft, book 3) by Jeff Grubb". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 2008-02-15. 
  21. ^ Haring, Scott D. (January 11, 1995). "Pyramid Pick: TSR Audio Games". Pyramid #11. Retrieved 2008-02-17. 
  22. ^ Thompson, Jon (2000-05-06). "Pyramid Review: D&D: Diablo II Adventure Game". Pyramid (online). Retrieved 2008-02-17. 
  23. ^ Pook, Matthew (May 27, 2005). "Pyramid Review: Star Wars Miniatures: Rebel Storm". Pyramid (online). Retrieved 2008-02-17. 

External links [edit]

Authority control
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