Hogshead Publishing was a British game company that produced

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 ...

s and game supplements.

History

In October 1994, James Wallis founded Hogshead Publishing, a company which specialised in

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...

and

storytelling game A storytelling game is a game where multiple players collaborate on telling a spontaneous story. Usually, each player takes care of one or more characters in the developing story. Some games in the tradition of role-playing games require one pa ...

s. Wallis based the company in the UK, and got a license from

Phil Gallagher Phil Gallagher is a British children's television presenter who is best known for playing the title character in the CBeebies children's television show ''Mister Maker''. Early life Gallagher attended Rainham Mark Grammar School in Rainh ...

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...

to publish books for ''

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay ''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'' or ''Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play'' (abbreviated to ''WFRP'' or ''WHFRP'') is a role-playing game set in the ''Warhammer Fantasy'' setting, published by Games Workshop or its licensees. The first edition of ''WFR ...

''. Wallis and

Andrew Rilstone Andrew Rilstone is a game designer and blogger who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Andrew Rilstone was the editor of the influential fanzine Aslan in the 1980s and early 1990s. James Wallis, Rilstone and Richard Lambert auth ...

changed the name of the magazine ''Inter*action'' to ''

Interactive Fantasy ''Interactive Fantasy'' is a magazine was published in England by Hogshead Publishing that focused on role-playing games, especially game theory. Publication history Paul Mason, in his paper ''In Search of Self: A Survey of the First 25 Years of ...

'' due to trademark concerns beginning with its second issue, which was also Hogshead's first publication; the magazine only lasted two more issues after that. ''Warhammer'' sold well, but Hogshead had problems with their distributor, and Wallis had to let go of all the company's staff. By the end of 1997, cashflow had improved so Wallis moved the company to an office, and hired Matthew Pook.

Phil Masters Phil Masters is a British role-playing game designer and author. Career Phil Masters' writing credits in role-playing games go back to ''White Dwarf'' Magazine #20 and the ''Fiend Folio'' of ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons''. Masters wrote about ...

contributed adventures to Hogshead Publishing's licensed version of ''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'' in the mid-1990s. ''

Shadows Over Bögenhafen ''Shadows Over Bögenhafen'' is a 1987 role-playing game adventure for ''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'' published by Games Workshop. Contents ''Shadows Over Bögenhafen'' follows the first adventure, '' The Enemy Within'' as the player character ...

'' (1995) was the first in a series reissuing GW's well-respected

The Enemy Within Campaign ''The Enemy Within'' campaign (abbreviated to TEW) is a series of adventures for ''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'' originally published by Games Workshop in the late 1980s. The campaign was voted the best RPG campaign of all time by ''Casus Belli'' m ...

; Hogshead's updated Enemy Within campaign (1995-1999) was very well received. Wallis was able to publish his game ''

The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen ''The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' is a tabletop role-playing game, written by James Wallis, and published by Hogshead Publishing in 1998. Description ''The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' is a multi-player sto ...

'' in 1998, the first of what would later be called the company's "New Style" RPGs.

John Scott Tynes John Scott Tynes (born 1971) is an American writer best known for his work on role-playing games such as ''Unknown Armies'', ''Delta Green'', ''Puppetland'', and for his company, Tynes Cowan Corporation. Under its imprint, Pagan Publishing, Tyne ...

designed ''

Puppetland ''Puppetland: A Storytelling Game with Strings in a Grim World of Make-Believe'' is a role-playing game written by John Scott Tynes. The game was first published in Arcane magazine issue 16 in early 1997, then later by Hogshead Publishing togeth ...

'' (1999), the next New Style game. ''

Violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...

'' (1999), by

Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959, in New York City), sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X", is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wa ...

(aka Designer X), was, according to Shannon Appelcline, "probably the least well-loved of the ''New Style'' games".

Robin Laws Robin D. Laws (born October 14, 1964 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of a number of novels and role-playing games as well as an anthologist. Career Robin D. Laws ...

designed '' Pantheon and Other Roleplaying Games'' (2000) as one of the company's "New Style" RPGs. '' De Profundis'' (2001), by Michael Oracz, was the last of the New Style role-playing games published by Hogshead Publishing. In 2002 Hogshead Publishing printed the second edition of ''

Nobilis ''Nobilis'' is a contemporary fantasy tabletop role-playing game created by Jenna K. Moran, writing under the name R. Sean Borgstrom. The player characters are "Sovereign Powers" called ''the Nobilis''; each Noble is the personification of an ...

''. Hogshead Publishing published ''Realms of Sorcery'' (2001), which finally updated the rushed

magic system Magic System is an Ivory Coast, Ivorian coupé-décalé band from Abidjan. It was founded in 1996 and comprises Asalfo, Goude, Tino, and Manadja. Magic System's recordings in the Zouglou dance style have featured in the charts throughout Africa ...

in the original ''Warhammer'' rulebook.

Mike Mearls Michael Mearls is a writer and designer of fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction. He was the senior manager for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' research and design team. He co-led design for the 5th edition of the game. He also worked ...

wrote the last product from Hogshead Publishing, a ''Warhammer'' adventure titled ''Fear the Worst'' (2002) that Hogshead released for free on the internet. On 26 November 2002, Wallis announced that he was ending Hogshead Publishing, and Mark Ricketts bought the company name in February 2003. In early 2003, after Wallis closed down Hogshead Publishing, the rights to ''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'' reverted to Games Workshop. ''

SLA Industries ''SLA Industries'' (pronounced "slay") is a role-playing game first published in 1993 by Nightfall Games in Glasgow, Scotland. The game is set in a dystopian far-flung future in which the majority of the known universe is either owned or indir ...

'' returned to

Dave Allsop Dave Allsop is a Scottish game designer and artist for role-playing games and video games. Career Dave Allsop developed the role-playing game ''SLA Industries'' (1993); the Scottish company Nightfall Games was founded solely to publish the game. ...

. Hogshead returned the rights of the New Style games to their creators.

References

{{reflist Role-playing game publishing companies