Skirmisher Publishing LLC is a publisher of wargames, roleplaying games and historic reprints based in Spring Branch,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, USA. It was founded by the author, editor and game designer

Michael J. Varhola Michael O. Varhola (born September 24, 1966) is an author, publisher, and lecturer. He has written numerous books, games, and articles, and founded game development company and manufacturer Skirmisher Publishing LLC. He also served as the assista ...

and is co-owned by Robert "Mac" McLaughlin, Oliver Cass and Geoffrey Weber. About half of Skirmisher's products have been published under the d20 System, a system of game mechanics for

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

s published in 2000 by

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 List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

, that is based on the third edition 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 TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'' and named after the 20-sided

die Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

which is central to the core mechanics of the system. Skirmisher products created for the d20 system include the books ''Experts'' (2002), ''Warriors'' (2003), ''Tests of Skill'' (2004), ''Nuisances'' (2005) and ''Experts v.3.5'' (2005). Artists whose work appears in these books include Brendan Cass, Dragan Ciric
Sharon L. Daugherty
William Hazzard II, Phil "Shade" Kightlinger and Lissanne Lake, noted for her numerous ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

''magazine covers, and Geoffrey Weber. Other notable Skirmisher publications include a reprint of the H.G. Wells 1913 wargaming classic ''

Little Wars ''Little Wars'' is a set of rules for playing with toy soldiers, written by English novelist H. G. Wells in 1913. The book, which had a full title of ''Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for t ...

'' (2004) — which the company republished in a self-standing form for the first time in 27 years, a reprint of Wells' 1911 work ''

Floor Games ''Floor Games'' is a book published in 1911 by H. G. Wells. This light-hearted volume argues in a humorously dictatorial tone that "The jolliest indoor games for boys and girls demand a floor." Illustrated with photographs and drawings, it brief ...

'' (2006), which includes a foreword by the game designer

James F. Dunnigan James F. Dunnigan (born 8 August 1943) is an author, military-political analyst, Defense and State Department consultant, and Wargaming, wargame designer currently living in New York City. Career Dunnigan was born in Rockland County, New York. A ...

, and the third edition of the ''

Cthulhu Live ''Cthulhu Live'' is a live-action roleplaying game (LARP) version of the popular horror roleplaying game '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the works of horror author H. P. Lovecraft. Publication history Created by game designer Robert "Mac" McLaug ...

'' live-action roleplaying game. The company also has a line of

Orc An Orc (or Ork) is a fictional humanoid monster like a goblin. Orcs were brought into modern usage by the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially '' The Lord of the Rings''. In Tolkien's works, Orcs are a brutish, aggressive, ugl ...

miniatures that it has dubbed the "Orcs of the Triple Death" and which it supports with a series of products that include d20 game statistics and descriptive text.

History

Skirmisher Publishing LLC was incorporated in early 2005, but before then had simply been "

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

" Skirmisher Publishing since mid-2001. According to information posted on the company website,www.skirmisher.com
/ref> however, its origins are much older, and date immediately to a

miniature wargaming Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which military units are represented by miniature physical models on a model battlefield. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use ...

development group founded by Varhola and Weber in the mid-1990s and ultimately to the gaming circle based in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in the early 1980s that included Varhola, McLaughlin and friends Paul Knorr and George Sieretski. The latter helped to develop the "skirmish wargaming" rules from which the company derived its name. When Skirmisher published its first d20 book, ''Experts'', in 2002, publisher Varhola decided to dedicate it to the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' creator

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...

and to ask him to write a foreword to the book, believing that such an implicit endorsement would be an auspicious sign for his fledgling venture. "No reader should be surprised at finding this prefatory piece herein," wrote Gygax in the first paragraph of this foreword. "As the principle one to whom this book is dedicated, there was no conceivable way I could refuse writing a short introduction for it without seeming to be a total ingrate. I mention this merely to point out the clever tactics of the authors, for the same ingenuity is certainly applied to the contents of the work proper." Skirmisher retained the same dedication and foreword in the revised, expanded and redesigned ''Experts v.3.5'', which it released in 2005. In 2004, Skirmisher became the first gaming company to publish in its books maps created using digital images of three-dimensional models. Publications using this technique include ''Tests of Skill'' and ''Experts v.3.5'', examples of which are available as free downloads on the company website. After the rights to '' Call of Cthulhu'' was transferred from

Fantasy Flight Games Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is a game company based in Roseville, Minnesota, United States, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, card, and dice games. As of 2014, it is a subsidiary of Asmodée Éditions. History Fantasy Flight Publish ...

to Skirmisher Publishing, Skirmisher produced a third edition in 2006. Fantasy Flight Games and Skirmisher Publishing also kept the ''

'' live-action role-playing game going.

The Skirmisher Game Development Group

The Skirmisher Game Development Group is composed of several writers, artists and filmmakers and one current and several former military intelligence officers. Its functions include creating, playtesting and evaluating games of all sorts for Skirmisher Publishing LLC, particularly role-playing games and tactical-level miniature wargames, exploring the principles of game theory and applying those principles and the concept of role-playing to problem solving.

References

{{reflist

External links

Skirmisher Online Gaming magazine
Game manufacturers Role-playing game publishing companies