Mike Nystul (born March 22, 1966 in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

) created and wrote numerous role-playing game products in the 1990s.

Career

Nystul got his start in the RPG industry writing ''

Fantasy Hero ''Fantasy Hero'' is a role-playing game book originally published by Hero Games in 1985 that allows gamemasters to plan and present fantasy role-playing games using the Hero System rules. Several revised editions of the book have subsequently be ...

'' books for

Hero Games Hero Games (''DOJ, Inc dba Hero Games'') is the publisher of the Hero System, a generic roleplaying rules set that can be used to simulate many different genres, and was the co-developer of the ''Fuzion'' system. History In 1981, George MacDon ...

, and then worked for

FASA Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city date ...

and Mayfair Games in the early 1990s. Nystul self-published a limited edition of a new horror role-playing game called '' The Whispering Vault'' (1993), which he debuted at

GenCon Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

26. The following year, he released an expanded and more professional version of the game through his new company, Pariah Press, and also published the supplements '' Dangerous Prey'' (1995) and a three-panel

GM screen A gamemaster's screen, also called a GM's screen, is a gaming accessory, usually made out of either cardboard or card stock, and is used by the gamemaster to hide all the relevant data related to a tabletop role-playing game session from the playe ...

(1995). He then worked at TSR for a short time, which ended in 1996. In early 1996, Chris Pramas acquired the rights to ''The Whispering Vault'' from Nystul, and Pramas formed

Ronin Arts Ronin Arts is a role-playing game company founded as a join venture by Philip J. Reed and Christopher Shy in 2003, to some degree a successor to Shy's Studio Ronin and Reed's selling of role playing games PDFs from his blog. Ronin Arts publ ...

to publish the game. Nystul wrote several products for

's ''

Shadowrun ''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic in fiction, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime fiction, crime, with ...

'' line, and the ''

Role Aids A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, obligations, beliefs, and norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behavior and may have a given indi ...

'' series published by Mayfair Games, among other material.

References

1966 births Living people Role-playing game designers {{US-writer-stub