John Wick (game designer)

John Wick is a 20th and 21st century role-playing game designer best known for his creative contributions to the Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) properties Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea. He self-published Orkworld under the Wicked Press banner, and later co-founded the Wicked Dead Brewing Company with Jared Sorensen. His games under that company include Cat, Schauermärchen, Enemy Gods, and Thirty. He has won the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game and Best Collectible Card Game twice (for both the Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea role-playing games and collectible card games).

He has also written for White Wolf, Inc., Pinnacle Entertainment Group, and worked for various video game companies, providing storyline and dialogue. He has written two regular on-line columns: The Game Designer's Journal [1] (for The Gaming Outpost) and Play Dirty (for Pyramid Magazine).

Legend of the Five Rings

In 1995, John was a freelance writer living in Southern California. He had submitted articles to Shadis Magazine, Alderac Entertainment Group's independent game magazine, attracting the attention of the magazine's assistant editor, D.J. Trindle. He was brought on as a staff writer at D.J.'s request. Soon thereafter, he got involved with the production and design of the Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game. He worked with Matthew D. Wilson, the game's art director and David Williams, the game's lead designer. He served as "Continuity Editor", which meant that he was responsible for the game's characters and plot details.

John served as L5R's Continuity Editor for the Emerald Edition, Obsidian Edition, and Jade Edition sets, including the Shadowlands, Forbidden Knowledge, Anvil of Despair, Crimson & Jade, and Time of the Void expansions. He was also the primary source for storyline, flavor text and character for The Scorpion Coup set.

John left the L5R design team shortly thereafter to work on AEG's forthcoming 7th Sea project.

7th Sea

7th Sea is the name of Alderac Entertainment Group's swashbuckling setting. Initially proposed by John and his wife Jennifer, the game was intended to be self-contained, but quickly evolved into a much larger project. Telling the story of the world of Théah, a fantasy amalgam of Restoration Age Europe, 7th Sea included pirates, musketeers, explorers and magic.

John wrote and developed much of the project, including the 7th Sea Players Guide, Game Masters Guide, Avalon Sourcebook, GM Screen, and Knights of the Rose and Cross sourcebook. He left AEG after his work on the Avalon Sourcebook was finished.

Orkworld

After leaving AEG, John acquired a position at Totally Games, helping develop an Xbox launch title. He also wrote, designed and developed Orkworld, a reverse-fantasy game where orks are the heroes and the "monsters" are humans, dwarves, and elves. The game was released the same year as Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition and garnered an Origins Award nomination for Best Game Fiction.

The game was illustrated by Thomas Denmark.

Neopets

After spending time in San Francisco, John returned to Los Angeles and began working at Neopets, writing stories for the Neopedia. He also helped develop the Neopets CCG.

Upper Deck

John was also a major contributor to the award winning Vs. System CCG (Marvel TCG and DC Comics TCG) published by The Upper Deck Company.

The Wicked Dead Brewing Company

In 2004, John began a new publishing venture with his long-time (and long-distance) friend Jared Sorensen. Calling their joint venture the Wicked Dead Brewing Company (based on John's previous publishing venture Wicked Press and Jared's Memento Mori Theatricks), they have published over a dozen roleplaying games, board games, and books. Most recently, John has self-published a novel titled No Loyal Knight through the Wicked Dead Brewing Company.

Houses of the Blooded

In 2007, John announced a return to "big game design" in his LiveJournal. The game, called Houses of the Blooded, has been announced for release at the 2008 Origins Game Fair. The game apparently focuses on "the ven" (a race of magically created humanoids) and the world of Shanri (both of which have showed up in a previous game, Enemy Gods).

The pre-order for the limited edition version of Houses of the Blooded sold out in exactly one week. There were 100 copies available on the Indie Press Revolution website on May 5th, 2008 and they were all gone by May 12th. John was apparently surprised by this turn of events. [2]

John also intends to release a soundtrack with the new game, focusing on "ven blood opera," an in-game element. Songs from the opera can be heard on his website.

John is keeping an open log of his design of this game in his LiveJournal. [3].

Freemasonry

In November 2005, John became a Freemason, joining Liberal Arts Lodge of Culver City, California.

The Awful Lot

John was a founding member and the drummer for the band The Awful Lot.

Awards

Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game (Author and Lead Designer)

1997 Origins Award Best Roleplaying Game

1997 RPGA Gamer's Choice Award Best Roleplaying Game

Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game (Design Team and Story Editor)

1996 Origins Award Best Collectible Card Game (Battle at Beiden Pass)

1997 Origins Award Best Collectible Card Game Expansion (Time of the Void)

7th Sea Roleplaying Game (Creator, Co-Author, Lead Designer)

1999 Origins Award Best Roleplaying Game

7th Sea Collectible Card Game (Co-Creator, Design Team, Story Editor)

1999 Origins Award Best Collectible Card Game

Orkworld (Author and Designer)

2000 Best Game Fiction (How Bashthraka Lost His Spear) (nominated)

"John Wick Dead at 33" Hoax

In 2002, a person claiming to be John Wick's (then) wife claimed that he was killed in a car accident. This news was posted on RPG.NET and quickly spread through internet gaming circles. A few hours later, John Wick himself announced he was not dead. Upon the announcement of the hoax, Wick's website was hacked and sabotaged.

External links

Interviews

Articles