A. Mark Ratner (born November 1948 in New Jersey, United States) is an American game designer, notable for his work on '' Space Marines'' and

Space Opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and soci ...

Early life

Ratner lived in New Jersey until he joined the Army in 1972. Dissatisfaction with existing games, such as Star Guard and

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, and his military experience led to the creation of Space Marines.

FanTac

In 1977 Mark formed FanTac Games primarily to market Space Marines. FanTac published 3 titles; Space Marines (a science-fiction wargame), Gi'ac My (a Vietnam wargame), and Orbit War (an interplanetary combat wargame). Mark was the author of Space Marines and he collaborated with Fitzhugh MacCrae and Bruce Lutz on Gi'ac My. He met

Scott Bizar Scott B. Bizar is the founder of Fantasy Games Unlimited, a game publisher which contracts writers and artists that work primarily on role-playing games. Career Scott Bizar, dissatisfied with TSR's ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (1974) and '' Warriors ...

, the founder of

Fantasy Games Unlimited Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) is a publishing house for tabletop and role-playing games. The company has no in-house design teams and relies on submitted material from outside talent. History Founded in the summer of 1975 in Jericho, New York b ...

, at Gen Con in 1977, and that meeting eventually led to the sale of the rights for Space Marines to FGU.

Fantasy Games Unlimited

After selling rights to FGU, Mark wrote a second edition of Space Marines.

wanted to produce a science-fiction role-playing game, and asked

Edward E. Simbalist Edward E. Simbalist (5 September 1943 – 12 March 2005) was a role-playing game designer. Career Edward E. Simbalist and Wilf K. Backhaus designed a role-playing game called ''Chevalier'', which they brought to Gen Con IX in 1976 with hopes ...

, Phil McGregor, and Ratner to develop it. Prior to publication the three had never met and the development was done by correspondence. However the collaboration with Mark turned out to be mostly Ed drawing on the material in Space Marines. While Mark was listed as an author for Space Opera and the Space Opera supplement "Ground & Air Equipment", he had very little input into the final product and seriously considered asking for his name to be removed from Space Opera entirely.

Academia

Ratner spent much of the 1980s as a college professor. His degrees include Bachelor of Engineering, Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Science in Civil Engineering, and a PhD in Civil/Structural Engineering.

Books written or co-authored

* Space Marines (1977), FanTac Games * Gi'ac My (1978), FanTac Games * Space Marines, 2nd edition (1979), Fantasy Games Unlimited * Space Opera (1980), Fantasy Games Unlimited * Ground & Air Equipment (Space Opera) (1981), Fantasy Games Unlimited * Star Sector Atlas 6 The Invincible Realm of Hissss'tah (Space Opera) (2018), Fantasy Games Unlimited

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratner, A. Mark 1948 births Living people People from New Jersey Role-playing game designers