Christian T. Petersen is a

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

who has worked primarily on

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

s and

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

Early life

Christian T. Petersen was born in the United States, but grew up in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

; he was still in high school there when he founded Pegasus Spil Import – a company that imported

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company' ...

games into Scandinavia – and Games Weekend – Denmark's second gaming convention. Petersen returned to the United States in 1991 and began studying for his BA in Economics at

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and the Patron Saint Olaf ...

in Northfield, Minnesota.

Fantasy Flight Games

In June 1995, after four years of college, Petersen founded Fantasy Flight Publishing. The name for Fantasy Flight originates with Petersen's first company, Pegasus Spil Imports; Petersen originally wanted to call his new company Pegasus Publishing but he found Pegasus used too often by other companies and instead he chose a name that was representative of the pegasus: a fantasy flight. The original idea for the Fantasy Flight Games company came from Petersen's love of European comics, and by negotiating with European publishers Petersen came up with the rights to three comic books: ''

Lucky Luke ''Lucky Luke'' is a Western ''bande dessinée'' series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborating with French writer René Goscinny. Their par ...

'', ''

Spirou & Fantasio ''Spirou & Fantasio'' (french: Spirou et Fantasio, wa, Spirou eyet Fantasio) is one of the most popular classic Franco-Belgian comics. The series, which has been running since 1938, shares many characteristics with other European comics, European ...

'' and '' Percevan''. He started off publishing the comics he had licensed, and when he found out that people wanted more popular European comics like ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...

'' and ''

Tintin Tintin or Tin Tin may refer to: ''The Adventures of Tintin'' * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', a comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), a fictional character in the series ** ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (film), 2011, ...

'', he started importing and distributing those and when he discovered that people were interested in him distributing even more books, he started doing that too, creating Downtown Distribution. From reading ''

Comics & Games Retailer ''Comics & Games Retailer'' was the longest-running periodical serving retailers who sell comic books, collectible card games, and role-playing games until it ceased publication in 2007. The headquarters was in Iola, Wisconsin. History and profil ...

'', Petersen had good data about the gaming field available to him, so, combining this with his Danish gaming expertise, Petersen started getting into game publication by designing ''

Twilight Imperium ''Twilight Imperium'' is a strategy board game produced by Fantasy Flight Games in the genre of science fiction and space opera. It was designed by Christian T. Petersen and was first released in 1997. The game is in its fourth edition (2017), wh ...

'' (1997). Fantasy Flight Publishing became known as

Fantasy Flight Games Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is a game company based in Roseville, Minnesota, United States, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, card, and dice games. As of 2014, it is a subsidiary of Asmodée Éditions. History Fantasy Flight Publish ...

(FFG), and by early 1998 Fantasy Flight sold off Downtown Distribution – which represented the last remnant of its comic business – and thereafter focused almost entirely on the gaming market. Petersen was a long-time fan of

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon'' ...

's '' Call of Cthulhu'', and because of this interest, Petersen decided that he would like his new publishing company to produce ''Call of Cthulhu'' material – and so he acquired a license from Chaosium to publish a series of supplements. With

Darrell Hardy Darrell Gene Hardy (born 1944) is an American retired basketball player. Hardy played college basketball at Baylor University. He was selected in the third round of the 1967 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons and in the 1967 American Basketball As ...

, Petersen wrote the ''

Nocturnum "Nocturnum" is a campaign setting in the '' Call of Cthulhu'' role-playing game. It is one of the few materials produced for the ill-fated d20 version of the game, although it was first published for the standard CoC rules. It was published by ...

'' trilogy of adventures for ''Call of Cthulhu'': ''Long Shades'' (1997), ''Hollow Winds'' (1998) and ''Deep Secrets'' (1999). Petersen and Kevin Wilson designed the ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...

'' (2003) wargame, and '' Doom: The Boardgame'' (2004). As CEO of Fantasy Flight Games, Petersen led the company to publish more than 400 titles, making it one of the most successful publishers in the hobby games industry. In addition to his responsibilities as CEO, Petersen managed the day-to-day operations of Fantasy Flight's development and design department. Petersen designed many of Fantasy Flight's games throughout the years, including ''Twilight Imperium'' (all editions), the ''

A Game of Thrones ''A Game of Thrones'' is the first novel in ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. It was first published on August 1, 1996. The novel won the 1997 Locus Award and was nominated for both ...

'' board game, '' World of Warcraft: The Board Game'', and ''The Lord of the Rings Trivia Game'', and his credits as co-designer include '' Diskwars'' and ''Vortex'' (also entitled ''Maelstrom'') with

Tom Jolly Tom Jolly is a board game inventor. Career Tom Jolly's games include ''Wiz-War'', ''Drakon'', '' Cavetroll'', ''Light Speed'', ''Camelot'', ''Cargo'', and he co-designed '' DiskWars'' and ''Vortex/Maelstrom''. Additional games he has designed incl ...

, the ''

'' CCG with Eric Lang, and '' The StarCraft Board Game'' with Corey Konieczka. Christian T. Petersen served as its CEO until FFG's merger with

Asmodee Asmodee is a French publisher of board games, card games and role-playing games (RPGs). Founded in 1995 to develop their own games and to publish and distribute for other smaller game developers, they have since acquired numerous other board game ...

in 2014, at which time he moved into his role as CEO of Asmodee North America. On July 30, 2018, it was announced that Petersen would be stepping down from his role as CEO of Asmodee North America at the end of 2018.

References

External links

Christian T. Petersen :: Pen & Paper RPG Databasearchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Christian T. Board game designers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Role-playing game designers St. Olaf College alumni Year of birth missing (living people)