Clark Allen Peterson is the co-creator of

Necromancer Games Necromancer Games was an American publisher of role-playing games. With offices in Seattle, Washington and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the company specialized in material for the d20 System. Most of its products were released under the Open Game Li ...

, founder of

Legendary Games Legendary may refer to: * Legend, a folklore genre * Legendary (hagiography) ** Anjou Legendarium * J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium Film and television * Legendary (film), ''Legendary'' (film), a 2010 American sports drama film * ''Legendary'' ...

, and an Idaho state magistrate judge in Coeur d'Alene.

Role-playing games industry

Peterson and his friend Bill Webb formed

in spring 2000 to publish role-playing materials using the d20 license; on August 10, 2000, the day

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidia ...

released their new edition of the ''

Player's Handbook The ''Player's Handbook'' (spelled ''Players Handbook'' in first edition ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' (''AD&D'')) is a book of rules for the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). It does not contain the complete set of ru ...

'' at

GenCon Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

33, Peterson and Webb published their free PDF adventure ''The Wizard's Amulet'' just after midnight. On September 13, 2000, Necromancer Games announced a partnership with

White Wolf Publishing White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant

in helping them form their " Sword & Sorcery" imprint; Peterson and Webb produced numerous rulebooks for White Wolf, such as ''Creature Collection'' (2000), ''Relics & Rituals'' (2000), ''The Divine and The Defeated'' (2001), and ''Creature Collection II'' (2001). Peterson ran the tournament adventure "Return to the Caverns of Thracia" at GenCon XXXV in 2002, after Necromancer Games formed a partnership with

Judges Guild Judges Guild is a game publisher that has been active since 1976. The company created and sold many role-playing game supplements, periodicals and related materials, but became best known during the late 1970s and early 1980s as one of the leadin ...

whereby they would begin to release products from Judges Guild in 2003. Peterson was initially supportive of the GSL for fourth edition ''D&D'' when

announced the license in April 2008, but after seeing the new license applied he declared in July that it was "a total unmitigated failure". In March 2010, Peterson declared that Necromancer Games was on indefinite hiatus. The next year Peterson created Legendary Games, focusing on plug-in material for ''

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game The ''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game'' is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) that was published in 2009 by Paizo Publishing. The first edition extends and modifies the System Reference Document (SRD) based on the revised 3rd edition ''Dungeon ...

'' adventure paths and sourcebooks.

Career in law

Peterson attended

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexington ...

for his undergraduate education and graduated from

Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Catholic university in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Academics Degrees offered include the Juris Doctor (JD); Master of Science in Legal ...

. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1994 and the Idaho Bar in 2001. He was a deputy district attorney in Las Vegas. He was a defense attorney at Amendola Doty & Brumley PLLC in Coeur d'Alene. Peterson was selected to fill a vacant judge magistrate's seat in Idaho's First District Court (

Kootenai County Kootenai County ( ) is located in the U.S. state of Idaho. In 2020, the United States Census Bureau estimated the county's population at 171,362, making it the third-most populous county in Idaho and by far the largest in North Idaho, the coun ...

) in 2010. Peterson retained his position as magistrate with 81% of the vote in 2012. In December 2013, two litigants in cases over which Judge Peterson had presided made claims that Peterson's recent financial and marital problems and role-playing hobby distracted him from his duties. Administrative District Judge Lansing Haynes defended Peterson, describing him as "extraordinarily engaged in his work," "a real agile thinker," "a great resource to other judges", and "hard-working" with a "sharp focus". He saw no problem with Peterson posting on message boards during breaks from work. Peterson asserted that his hobby has never delayed a hearing or prevented him from doing work. In response to the concerns, Peterson announced plans to not post during business hours and to use caution in commenting about products. He also deleted his online avatar to focus on his judicial activities. Peterson was the target of protesters prior to his 2016 reelection. Despite this, he won 73% of the vote to retain his position as a magistrate. The 1st district's domestic violence court set up in 2013 was selected as a model of leadership by the U.S.

Office on Violence Against Women The United States Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) was created following the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994.

References

External links

Necromancer Games product page on Frog God Games web site

Legendary Games home page
ref>Not to be confused with anothe
Legendary Games
/ref> {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Clark A. Idaho state court judges Living people Loyola Law School alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Role-playing game designers Washington and Lee University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)