Michael Breault

Michael Breault (born May 28, 1958 in Central Falls, Rhode Island) is a game designer and editor, and an author of multiple products for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game from TSR.

Early life and education

Mike Breault was born in Central Falls, Rhode Island on May 28, 1958. As a young child, Breault lived in the Boston and Cape Cod areas, but his family moved to Warwick, Rhode Island when he began grade school. Breault developed an interest in science fiction and fantasy early in his childhood, and read ''The Hobbit'' at age eight. Breault commented: "I didn’t read the trilogy for three more years. I was afraid I wouldn't like it as much. I was right, but I still enjoyed it." Breault developed an interest in astronomy in high school, later earning a degree in physics and an astronomy minor from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1980. Breault was introduced to fantasy gaming at the end of his freshman year at RPI: "I joined a game club that had about 40 people in it. We played lots of '' D&D'' games, miniatures games, and ''Diplomacy''. However, disaster struck the club in my sophomore year — about half the club flunked out of school because they played games so much. The real hard-core players played all weekend and several hours each night. They were bound to flunk out."

Breault attended Indiana University's graduate Astronomy program from 1980 through 1984. As an associate instructor, Breault also taught astronomy courses on television that were broadcast to the regional campuses of Indiana University. Breault met Mary Elsbury at the university in 1982, and a couple of years later, they were married. During grad school, Breault spent a year as an editorial intern for ''The American Spectator''.

Career

In 1984, Breault noticed an ad in the Chicago Tribune for a position on the editorial staff at TSR, Inc., "Mary and I were at Marriott's Great America n amusement park north of Chicagoand picked up a copy of the newspaper. The classifieds had the TSR ad, so I immediately put my resume together, and I was hired in September of that year." In late July 1986, the Breaults' first child, Christopher Michael Breault was born. On January 3, 1989, their second child, Amelia Katherine Breault, was born.

Breault edited first edition ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' books including ''Oriental Adventures'', ''Dungeoneer's Survival Guide'', and the original ''Manual of the Planes'', as well as most of the early Dragonlance adventure modules. He also edited the second edition ''Player's Handbook.'' Breault and Jim Ward designed ''The Book of Lairs''.

In 1988, Breault co-designed the original ''Pool of Radiance'' computer game. In five years at TSR, he wrote, edited, and developed over 90 games, modules, and hardback books.

Breault left TSR in 1989 to start a freelance career. Initially continuing work with TSR, Breault gradually shifted over into computer and video games. His video game work started with re-writing the translated script, and writing the included hint-book for the 1989 Sega Genesis game ''Sword of Vermilion

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