Sean K. Reynolds is an American professional

game design Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

er, who has worked on and co-written a number of ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'' supplements for

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidia ...

, as well as material for other companies.

Early life and inspiration

Sean Reynolds was born in

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh largest city in Southern California, the fifteenth largest city in the state of California, and the 78th-largest city in the United States. The popu ...

, and grew up there. He was introduced to the ''

'' game (with the red '' Basic Set'' and the blue '' Expert Set'') in 1980 by his cousin, and soon began playing the ''AD&D'' game.

TSR and Wizards of the Coast

Reynolds began working for

Time Warner Interactive Time Warner Interactive (Group) (TWI) was a studio within Time Warner and a predecessor of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It was formed in 1993 after Time Warner bought a controlling interest in Atari Games, and was active until 1996 w ...

in 1994, to develop their

America Online AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

and websites. Reynolds first entered the

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

industry in 1995, when he was hired by TSR as their online coordinator, beating out

Bruce Cordell Bruce Robert Cordell (born 1968) is an American author of roleplaying games and fantasy novels. He has worked on ''Dungeons & Dragons'' games for Wizards of the Coast. He won the Origins Award for ''Return to the Tomb of Horrors'' and has also wo ...

for the same position. According to Reynolds, "I had two goals: to get TSR a website, and to change the company's then-restrictive online policy to something more reasonable." When TSR was bought out by

, Reynolds moved to Washington and worked on Wizards' pre-existing website. Reynolds considers one of his greatest achievements of this time to be the fact that he got TSR/Wotc to relax its "draconian" online policy—enforcement of which in the past was the cause of much bad blood between the company and fans. Wizards of the Coast had a much more open online policy, so Reynolds applied for a job in the company's R&D division as a game designer. He designed such products as ''

The Scarlet Brotherhood ''The Scarlet Brotherhood'' is a regional sourcebook for the Greyhawk campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Contents ''The Scarlet Brotherhood'' detailed the Scarlet Brotherhood lands, the Tilvanot Peninsula ...

'' for ''AD&D'', ''Beyond Science: A Guide to FX'' for the ''

Alternity ''Alternity'' is a science fiction role-playing game (RPG) published by TSR in 1998. Following the acquisition of TSR by Wizards of the Coast, the game was discontinued in 2000 as part of a broader rationalisation of TSR's business holdings, bu ...

'' game, and ''The Green Goblin's Guide to Crime'' for the ''Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game''. Reynolds also did some design work such as writing

RPGA The RPGA (also called the Role Playing Game Association and the RPGA Network at various times), was initially part of the organized play arm of TSR, Inc and later of Wizards of the Coast. From 1980 to 2014, it organized and sanctioned role-playing ...

adventures and contributing to ''Children of the Night: Ghosts''. By 1998, Reynolds had left his web position and was working full-time for WotC as a designer as part of "Team Greyhawk," the creative team tasked with revitalizing TSR/WotC's oldest

campaign setting A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A '' campaign'' is a series of individual adventures, and a ''campaign setting'' is the world in which such adventures and c ...

. Reynolds also contributed to the 3rd edition ''D&D'' ''

Monster Manual The ''Monster Manual'' (''MM'' is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'' fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1977 by TSR. The ''Monster Manual'' was the first hardcover D&D book and includ ...

'', introducing some new creatures such as the krenshar.

After Wizards of the Coast

Reynolds was laid off from WotC in 2002, and afterwards formed his own self-publishing company, "Sean K Reynolds Games." He continued to freelance in the d20 industry while working as an IP developer at

Upper Deck The Upper Deck Company, LLC (colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated, Ltd. in the UK), founded in 1988, is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United State ...

. Reynolds was let go from Upper Deck in 2008 and contacted Erik Mona at Paizo Publishing looking to do freelance work, and learned there was a job opportunity due to developer Mike McArtor leaving. In July 2008, Paizo hired Reynolds as a developer on the ''

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game The ''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game'' is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) that was published in 2009 by Paizo Publishing. The first edition extends and modifies the System Reference Document (SRD) based on the revised 3rd edition ''Dungeo ...

''.

Jason Bulmahn Jason Bulmahn is an American game designer who has written or contributed to several works. Career Jason Bulmahn coordinated the world's largest organized play ''D&D'' campaign for the RPGA (Living Greyhawk), and then joined Paizo Publishing as ...

has described him as a "critical part of the design team". In March 2014, Sean left Paizo to move to

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and in May 2014 he announced that he was returning to Seattle and Wizards of the Coast for a contract position managing their third-party licensing.

Publications

Books he has worked on for the d20-based 3rd edition include the ''

Living Greyhawk Gazetteer The ''Living Greyhawk Gazetteer'' (''LGG'') is a sourcebook for the ''World of Greyhawk'' campaign setting for the 3rd edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game. Despite the title, the ''Living Greyhawk Gazetteer'' is not exclusive ...

'', ''

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting The ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting'' is a role-playing game sourcebook first published by TSR in 1987 for the first edition of the fantasy role-playing game ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' that describes the campaign setting of the Forgott ...

'', ''

Savage Species ''Savage Species'' is a sourcebook for use as a supplement in the 3rd edition of the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' game, detailing the use of monstrous races as PC races. Contents ''Savage Species'' introduces classes and outlines rules for playi ...

'', and ''

Ghostwalk ''Ghostwalk'' is a book that introduced a campaign setting for the 3rd edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' game, similar to Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance. Unlike most other ''D&D'' settings, ''Ghostwalk'' was designed to be released as a ...

'' (co-written with

Monte Cook Monte Cook is an American professional tabletop role-playing game designer and writer, best known for his work on ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Role-playing industry career Early years Cook has been a professional game designer since 1988, worki ...

). The ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting'' won the

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 aw ...

for Best Role-Playing Game Supplement of 2001. It made the Amazon.ca bestseller list at number 47 in September 2002. Reynolds identified the ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting'' as his favorite individual product that he had worked on as of 2009, stating that it "was a huge amount of work but was so worth it because it is a great product". In May 2003 his book ''

Races of Faerûn ''Races of Faerûn'' is an optional supplemental sourcebook for the ''Forgotten Realms'' campaign setting for the 3rd edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons.'' Contents This book centers on the races which inhabit Faerûn, the fictional continent whe ...

'' (co-authored with

Matt Forbeck Matt Forbeck (born August 4, 1968) is an American author and game designer from Beloit, Wisconsin. Biography Forbeck first became interested in role-playing games at age 13 when he started playing ''Dungeons & Dragons''. He earned a degree in crea ...

, James Jacobs, and

Eric L. Boyd Eric L. Boyd is a software engineer who also writes material for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Career Eric L. Boyd has written articles and books for the Greyhawk setting, and has co-authored a number of Forgotten Realms campaign ...

) landed on the same bestseller list at number 42.(May 2003). "Amazon.ca/Books in Canada bestsellers lists", ''

Books in Canada ''Books in Canada'' was a monthly magazine that reviewed Canadian literature, published in print form between 1971 and 2008. In its heyday it was the most influential literary magazine in Canada. Foundation One of the co-founders of ''Books in Ca ...

'' 32 (4): 12.

References

External links

Personal homepage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Sean K American non-fiction writers Dungeons & Dragons game designers Living people People from Chula Vista, California Year of birth missing (living people)