Mark C. MacKinnon is a Canadian politician, entrepreneur, and designer of roleplaying games. MacKinnon is the founder of Guardians of Order (GoO), and has produced work in the '' anime'' genre. His initial release, ''

Big Eyes, Small Mouth ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth'' (''BESM'') is a tabletop role-playing game originally produced by Guardians of Order in 1997 that was designed to simulate the action of anime and manga. The title alludes to the common anime drawing style of character ...

'', led the company to aggressively license anime properties. With the help of

David L. Pulver David L. Pulver (born 2 November 1965 in Kingston, Ontario) is a Canadian freelance writer and game designer, author of more than fifty role-playing game rulebooks and supplements, including the award-winning '' Transhuman Space''. Early life and ...

and others, MacKinnon gradually turned the Tri-Stat System into a universal system, including

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

, cyberpunk and urban fantasy games. MacKinnon shut down GoO on August 1, 2006, due to mounting financial difficulties, leaving many writers and artists unpaid.

Career

Mark C. MacKinnon wanted to create a general anime role-playing game system, to have the kind of game that he would like to run, so he formed Guardians of Order to publish his anime role-playing game. MacKinnon got the name "Guardians of Order" from one of his characters from an ''

Amber Diceless Roleplaying The ''Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game'' is a role-playing game created and written by Erick Wujcik, set in the fictional universe created by author Roger Zelazny for his ''Chronicles of Amber''. The game is unusual in that no dice are used in ...

'' game run by Jesse Scoble. Guardians of Order released the ''

'' (1997) anime game created by MacKinnon at Gen Con 30. With the success of BESM, MacKinnon wanted to try a licensed property and obtained the rights for ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...

'' in January 1998 and used most of that year to design ''

The Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book ''The Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book'' is a 1998 role-playing game written by Mark C. MacKinnon, published by Guardians of Order. Contents ''The Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book'' is a game in which Tri-Stat based ...

'' (1998). MacKinnon hired

to work for Guardians of Order in November 1998. MacKinnon developed the ''

Sailor Moon Collectible Card Game The ''Sailor Moon Collectible Card Game'' is an out-of-print collectible card game set in the fictional world of '' Sailor Moon''. The game, based on the English version of the anime and designed by Mark C. MacKinnon, Jeff Mackintosh, Karen Mc ...

'', which was published by Dart Flipcards. MacKinnon wanted to grow Guardians of Order in 2000, and started by hiring

John R. Phythyon, Jr. John R. Phythyon Jr. is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Phythyon ran a small-press role-playing game publishing company, Event Horizon Productions. Phythyon was hired as a partner in Guardians of Order i ...

MacKinnon decided in 2002 that Guardians would need to publish using the d20 System to stay in business, so MacKinnon,

Jeff Mackintosh Jeffrey Ian "Jeff" Mackintosh (January 22, 1971 – September 24, 2016) was a game designer who worked primarily on role-playing games. Early life Jeffrey Ian Mackintosh was born in 1971, the son of Ian and Dorothy Mackintosh. Career Jeff Mack ...

and Jesse Scoble wrote the superhero role-playing game '' Silver Age Sentinels'' (2002) with Steve Kenson and developed by Lucien Soulban. Guardians began having financial problems after the d20 crash in 2003, and on January 3, 2005, MacKinnon announced that the company had multiple problems resulting in Guardians being downsized to only himself.

George R.R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...

announced the end of Guardians of Order on July 28, 2006, which MacKinnon publicly confirmed on August 1. MacKinnon ultimately left the game industry and went into real estate sales. In 2013, MacKinnon founded Dyskami Publishing Company and returned to game publishing with a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

for the board game ''Upon a Fable''. MacKinnon later published under Dyskami additional original board games and other licensed tabletop games based on the '' Sailor Moon Crystal'' Japanese anime series. In 2014, MacKinnon was elected as Ward 6 Councillor for Guelph City Council for a four-year term. He was re-elected in 2018. June 2019, MacKinnon announced the return of ''BESM'' for a Fourth Edition under Dyskami Publishing Company. MacKinnon served as the primary author for the new edition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacKinnon, Mark C. Living people Canadian game designers Guelph city councillors Role-playing game designers Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)