François Marcela-Froideval (born 10 December 1958) is a French role-playing game creator,

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

producer, and comic

scenarist A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. T ...

. Froideval had a major influence on the introduction of role-playing games in France, mainly as editor in chief of the '' Casus Belli'' role-playing magazine. During this time, he was one of the three authors who established the French term for a "

munchkin A Munchkin is a native of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. They first appear in the classic children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900) where they welcome Dorothy Gale to their city in ...

", ''Gros Bill'', from the nickname of an overly

powergaming Powergaming (or power gaming or optimization) is a style of interacting with games or game-like systems, particularly video games, boardgames, and, role-playing games, with the aim of maximizing progress towards a specific goal. Other players may co ...

player once in Froideval's group. He left for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1982 to join

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

, where he worked for four years. His writing contributions include several ''

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Several different editions of the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of ''D&D'', Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the ...

'' rules and monster manuals in collaboration with

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

, like ''

Oriental Adventures ''Oriental Adventures'' (abbreviated OA) is the title shared by two hardback rulebooks published for different versions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy roleplaying game. Each version of ''Oriental Adventures'' provides rules for a ...

''. Back in France, he focused on translating and publishing TSR games until 1989. He wrote the scenario of several French videogames, working for

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. ...

(''

Drakkhen ''Drakkhen'' is an early-3D computer graphics, 3D role-playing video game, initially developed for the Amiga and Atari ST, and subsequently ported to several other platforms, including MS-DOS and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was a very ...

'') and

Cryo Interactive Cryo Interactive Entertainment was a French video game development and publishing company founded in 1990, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo. History Cryo was formed by members of ERE Informatique ...

(''

Dragon Lore ''Dragon Lore: The Legend Begins'' is a point-and-click adventure game released in 1994 by Cryo Interactive for MS-DOS, and later ported to the 3DO video game console. The game was a commercial success, with sales of 300,000 units by 1997. An em ...

'' series). In 1989, he wrote the scenario of the first ''

Black Moon Chronicles The ''Black Moon Chronicles'' (french: Chroniques de la Lune Noire) is an epic dark fantasy French comic series. Publication history Written by François Marcela-Froideval, the ''Black Moon Chronicles'' is an epic story offset by liberal doses of ...

'' comic album with drawer

Olivier Ledroit Olivier Ledroit (born 3 June 1969) is a French comic book artist, perhaps best known for his work on the ''Black Moon Chronicles'' series. He has also worked on art designs in the ''Might and Magic'' franchise. He has also provided the art for ' ...

. He kept on writing the scenario until the end of the series in 2008. Froideval dedicated the ''Black Moon Chronicles'' series to Gary Gygax in the last album ''End of Times'' through these words: He currently still writes scenarios for ''Black Moon'' spin-off series, and other French comic series.Comic biography
at ''Bedetheque''

References

External links

Dargaud Société Dargaud, doing business as Les Éditions Dargaud, is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics series, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1936 by Georges Dargaud (), publishing its first comics in 1943. ...

website
Francois Froideval
at Lambiek
Francois Froideval
at ''Bedetheque'' * 1958 births Dungeons & Dragons game designers French graphic novelists French scenic designers Living people {{comics-writer-stub