Sue Weinlein Cook ( Weinlein) is an American

game designer 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 ...

and editor who has worked on a number of products for the ''

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 ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

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 ...

from TSR, and for

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 ...

's Malhavoc Press.

Biography

Sue Weinlein was born in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

, and grew up in the

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

area. Her first exposure to the ''

'' game was in junior high: "I'm embarrassed to admit this... I really didn't get it at first. I just couldn't make the transition from board games to roleplaying games." After living in Tennessee for a few years, she returned to Milwaukee and attended

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

, earning degrees in Journalism and Spanish. While in college, Weinlein made her first contact with someone from TSR. "I was at a science fiction convention where I attended a panel on writing and editing books in a shared world series.

James Lowder James Daniel Lowder (born January 2, 1963 in Quincy, Massachusetts) is an American author and editor, working regularly within the fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror genres, and on tabletop role-playing games and critical works exploring popular ...

, then an editor with the TSR book department, was on it. I talked with him afterward about his job, and he invited me to tour the TSR offices in Lake Geneva." Eighteen months after taking that tour, Weinlein applied for a position at TSR as an editorial assistant, and was hired in 1992. In addition to being the book department's editorial assistant, she also worked as a game editor and designer. Sue Cook became the assistant creative director for the

Dragonlance ''Dragonlance'' is a shared universe created by Laura and Tracy Hickman, and expanded by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis under the direction of TSR, Inc. into a series of fantasy novels. The Hickmans conceived ''Dragonlance'' while driving in t ...

line, and brand manager for the '' Dragonlance: Fifth Age'' and ''

Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game The ''Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game'' is a role-playing game published by TSR, Inc. that uses the '' SAGA System'' and features characters published by Marvel Comics. It should not be confused with the earlier '' Marvel Super Heroes Game'', ...

'' lines. Cook helped design the

SAGA System The SAGA System is a role-playing game system that uses "fate cards" to determine the effects of actions. The cards have numbers, suits, positive and negative states, and role-playing cues that guide the gamemaster in telling the story and administ ...

game rules, laying the foundation for the Fifth Age of Krynn: "I am extremely pleased to have been part of the Dragonlance team.

Margaret Weis Margaret Edith Weis (; born March 16, 1948) is an American fantasy and science fiction author, of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the ''Dragonlance'' role-playing game (RPG) world. She is ...

and

Tracy Hickman Tracy Raye Hickman (born November 26, 1955) is an American fantasy author. He wrote the ''Dragonlance'' novels with Margaret Weis. He also wrote role playing game material while working for TSR, Inc., TSR and has cowritten novels with his wife, ...

were a pleasure to work with". Cook was also involved with the production of the ''Dragonlance Fifteenth Anniversary Edition'' as one of her last projects in the Dragonlance line. She was also responsible for the invention of the

web enhancement A web enhancement is a bonus expansion to a role-playing game product, that can be read and/or downloaded from the website of the company that published the role-playing product it is associated with. Concept The web enhancement concept was create ...

concept, where bonus content would be put online to accompany a roleplaying book. In October 1998, Cook moved to the

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 ...

Periodicals division and became the managing editor of ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...

''. Of the move, she says "there are very few jobs that could have taken me away from Dragonlance, and this was one of them. It's an honor working on a publication with the history and reputation of ''Amazing Stories''."

Works

Sue Weinlein Cook has done editing work on many ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and other TSR and

game products from 1993 to 2002. She did some design work for the ''Dragonlance Fifth Age'' set. In 2001, she began doing production and editing work for Malhavoc Press. She edited the 2004 short story collection '' Children of the Rune''.

Personal life

Cook was married to fellow game designer

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weinlein Cook, Sue 21st-century American women American women writers Dungeons & Dragons game designers Living people Women science fiction and fantasy writers Year of birth missing (living people)