Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. is a games

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin,

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 territorie ...

and founded in 2004 after Margaret Weis and

Don Perrin Don Perrin (born 1 October 1964) is a Canadian writer and former military officer. Early life and education Born in Iserlohn, Germany, Perrin grew up in Kingston, ON, Canada, McMasterville, QC, Canada, Bromley, Kent, England, and Ottawa, ON, Can ...

, the two founders of

Sovereign Press Sovereign Press, Incorporated is a publisher and distributor of role-playing games based in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1998 by Margaret Weis and Don Perrin and is one of two companies that Weis owns. Games produced Sovereign P ...

divorced Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

Games

Margaret Weis Productions is principally a producer of

Tabletop role-playing games A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...

, although it also publishes some e-books by Margaret Weis and in 2008 published the Dragon Lairds boardgame, created by

James M. Ward James M. Ward (born May 23, 1951) is an American game designer and fantasy author who worked for TSR, Inc. for more than 20 years. Career ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and TSR Ward was one of the players in Gary Gygax's early Greyhawk games as Gygax ...

and

Tom Wham Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

. To date almost all their role-playing games have been licensed games using either the

Cortex System The Cortex System is a collection of related roleplaying games. Its most recent iteration, ''Cortex Prime,'' was designed by Cam Banks and published by Fandom Tabletop. Prior versions appeared in the licensed roleplaying games published by Margare ...

Cortex Plus The Cortex Plus System is a toolkit RPG system that evolved from Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd's Cortex System. It has been used for four published games and one published preview to date, and the design principles are in the ''Cortex Plus Hack ...

. In 2006, it took over production of Dragonlance d20 supplements from

. Both companies are run by many of the same people, and both are owned by Margaret Weis.

Cortex System games

MWP's first game was the ''

Serenity Serenity may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Serenity'' (2019 film), a thriller starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Diane Lane * Sailor Moon (character), also known as Princess Serenity and Neo-Queen Serenity, in the ' ...

'' in late 2005 to coincide with the release of

Joss Whedon Joseph Hill Whedon (; born June 23, 1964) is an American filmmaker, composer, and comic book writer. He is the founder of Mutant Enemy Productions, co-founder of Bellwether Pictures, and is best known as the creator of several television series: ...

's feature film ''

''. Due to licensing issues they couldn't use any of the characters that appeared exclusively in the television series ''

Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

''. The company received a Gamer's Choice Best Roleplaying Game of the Year Origins Award and the Gold Medal in the Best Production Values of the 2006

ENnie Awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World i ...

for this game. Two ''Serenity'' supplements have won Origins Awards for Best Roleplaying Game Supplement: ''Serenity Adventures'', in 2009, and ''Big Damn Heroes Handbook'', in 2010. In 2007 Margaret Weis Productions published the Battlestar Galactica role playing game, following it with Demon Hunters in 2008 and Supernatural Role Playing Game in 2009.

Cortex Plus games

In 2010 Margaret Weis Productions published the

Smallville Roleplaying Game The ''Smallville Roleplaying Game'' is a superhero-themed role-playing game published in 2010 by Margaret Weis Productions, and is set in the universe of the television series ''Smallville''. The ''Smallville Roleplaying Game'' was the first of ...

using the new

system, which won the Judges Spotlight award at the 2011 Ennies. This was followed in 2011 with the Leverage: The Roleplaying Game RPG, nominated for the 2011 Origins Award for best RPG. In February 2012, Margaret Weis Productions launched

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying ''Marvel Heroic Roleplaying'' (abbreviated as ''MHR'' or ''MHRP'') is the fourth role-playing game set in the Marvel Universe published by Margaret Weis Productions under license from Marvel Comics (after '' Marvel Super Heroes RPG'', ''Marvel Supe ...

, the fourth licensed role playing game in the Marvel.

went on to win the 2012

ENnie Award The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...

for Best Rules, and the silver awards for Best Game and Product of the Year. In 2013 the basic set won the Origins Award for the Best Roleplaying Game and the Civil War Event Book won Best Roleplaying Supplement. In April 2012, they announced that for economic reasons they would not be renewing the license. On November 8, 2013, Margaret Weis Productions announced that a new ''Firefly'' RPG would be available for pre-order, having previously launched a playtest version at Gen Con 2013. This will use a different system from the previous Serenity RPG. It also suffers a mirror of the Serenity license in that it only licenses characters that appeared in the Firefly TV series On November 1, 2016, Margaret Weis Productions released a statement announcing that Cam Banks and his new design studio

Magic Vacuum Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

had licensed the original

and

system and would be "taking over the design, development, and publishing of games based on these rules... for 2017 and beyond," coinciding with "Margaret’s retirement from RPG development to focus on her current novel and film projects." After a successful Kickstarter campaign which raised $84,430 for a new edition of Cortex, to be called 'Cortex Prime,' on May 29, 2017, it was announced on September 19, 2019, that Fandom had purchased the rights to the Cortex system from Margaret Weis publications and would be fulfilling all pledges from the crowdfunding effort.

List of games

* ''

Serenity Role Playing Game The ''Serenity Role Playing Game'' is a science fiction role-playing game released in 2005 and set in the universe of the movie '' Serenity''. It was produced by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd, and its mechanics were the first iteration of t ...

'' (2005) * '' Battlestar Galactica Role Playing Game'' (2007) * '' Cortex System Role Playing Game'' (2008) * '' Demon Hunters Role Playing Game'' (2008, based on the films ''Demon Hunters'' and ''Demon Hunters: Dead Camper Lake'' by

Dead Gentlemen Productions Dead Gentlemen Productions is an independent film company based in Seattle, WA. They have released a number of films, including the award-winning cult classic ''The Gamers (film), The Gamers'', ''The Gamers: Dorkness Rising'' and ''The Gamers: Han ...

) * '' Dragon Lairds'' (2008, a board game) * '' Supernatural Role Playing Game'' (2009) * '' Leverage: The Roleplaying Game'' (2010) * ''

'' (2010) * ''

'' (2012) * ''

Firefly Role-Playing Game The ''Firefly Role-Playing Game'' is a science fiction role-playing game released in 2014, written by Monica Valentinelli and set in the universe of the Joss Whedon television show ''Firefly''. It was produced by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd ...

'' (2014)

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Companies based in Wisconsin Publishing companies of the United States Role-playing game publishing companies