Ken Rolston
Ken Rolston | |
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Nationality | American |
Occupation | Computer game and pen and paper role-playing game designer |
Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series The Elder Scrolls. In February 2007, he elected to join the staff of computer games company Big Huge Games to create a new role-playing game.[1]
Rolston has a master's degree from NYU, and is a member of the Science Fiction Writers Association. He has been a professional games designer since 1982.
Tabletop role-playing games[]
Ken Rolston spent twelve years as an award-winning designer of tabletop role-playing games. His credits include games and supplements for Paranoia, RuneQuest, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, AD&D, and D&D.[1][2][3][4]
Rolston was a Basic Role-Playing writer for Chaosium.[5]:187 Rolston had also done work for Chaosium's Stormbringer and Superworld lines.[5]:179 When Rolston was a new hire at West End Games in 1983, he became the fourth creator on Paranoia and was responsible for turning Greg Costikyan's dry rules into a highly atmospheric game, the results of which were published at GenCon in 1984.[5]:187 Rolston wrote a complete manuscript for a magic system for Games Workshop to use in their Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay RPG, but they rejected it; Rolston's manuscript thus circulated on the internet for years.[5]:49 Rolston left West End Games when Scott Palter decided to move the company from New York to rural Honesdale, Pennsylvania in 1988.[5]:191 Chaosium stopped writing material for RuneQuest at Avalon Hill in 1989, but RuneQuest returned in 1992 with Rolston as editor.[5]:91 Rolston's first publication as part of the "RuneQuest Renaissance" was Tales of the Reaching Moon contributor Michael O'Brien's (1992).[5]:179 In 1994, Avalon Hill dropped Rolston from their regular staff, relegating him to freelancer status; his last two manuscripts, Strangers in Prax and Lords of Terror saw print that year but afterward Rolston moved on to work for a multimedia company.[5]:179
Ken also was winner of the H. G. Wells Award for Best Role-playing Game, Paranoia, 1985,[6] and served as role-playing director for West End Games, Games Workshop, and Avalon Hill Game Company.
In 2016, Rolston joined to assist in editing their newest edition of Paranoia, which was Kickstarted in 2014, in order to "hit all the right notes for both veteran players and newbies alike."[7]
Video game industry[]
Rolston was the lead designer for Bethesda's role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, its expansions, and was also lead designer for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. He was lead designer for two Big Huge Games projects, both of which were canceled in 2009.[8]
Rolston went on to be the lead creative visionary for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a single player RPG designed by Big Huge Games, a Baltimore subsidiary of 38 Studios.[citation needed] The game was created for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC platforms and is set in the world of Amalur.[citation needed] An MMORPG codenamed "Project Copernicus", was being developed by Big Huge Games parent studio 38 Studios,[citation needed] until the company ceased operations in May 2012.[citation needed] The game would have been set in the world of Amalur and was planned to feature inter connectivity with future Amalur projects.[citation needed]
Selected works[]
Year | Title | Type | Role(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1987 | Paranoia, 2nd edition | Tabletop role-playing game | Writer |
1989 | Something Rotten in Kislev for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay | Tabletop role-playing game | |
1991 | Novel | ||
1997 | An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire | Video game | Design and Dialogue |
1998 | The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard | Additional Writing | |
2000 | Sea Dogs | Additional design and writing | |
2002 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | Lead designer | |
2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean | Additional design and writing | |
2006 | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | Lead designer | |
2012 | Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning | Executive design director | |
2017 | The Long Dark | Designer-in-residence |
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Veteran Designer Ken Rolston Joins BHG". Archived from the original on 22 February 2007.: 13 February 2007 press release
- ^ "RPG Legend Ken Rolston Retires". Joystiq. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- ^ "Oblivion's Ken Rolston Speaks". H Consumer. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- ^ "Masters of Narrative Design 6: Ken Rolston". narrativedesign.org. Archived from the original on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
- ^ "THQ Signs Oblivion Designer for a 'Big Huge' RPG". Gamedaily. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- ^ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1990654819/paranoia-rpg/posts/1483001?ref=backer_project_update
- ^ "What Were Big Huge Games Working On (And Have They Found A Buyer)?".: Status update
External links[]
- Ken Rolston at MobyGames
- "Ken Rolston :: Pen & Paper RPG Database". Archived from the original on 11 March 2005. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
- American video game designers
- Board game designers
- Chaosium game designers
- Dungeons & Dragons game designers
- Living people
- New York University alumni
- Role-playing game designers
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game designers