Thomas Steven Moldvay (Nov. 5, 1948 – March 9, 2007) was 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 author, best known for his work on early materials for the fantasy role-playing game ''

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 ...

'' (D&D).

Career

During the 1970s while a student at Kent State University in Ohio, Moldvay was a writer for the

science fiction fanzine A science-fiction fanzine is an amateur or semi-professional magazine published by members of science-fiction fandom, from the 1930s to the present day. They were one of the earliest forms of fanzine, within one of which the term "''fanzine''" wa ...

''Infinite Dreams''. Moldvay was a ''Dungeons & Dragons'' player brought into TSR by the head of design and development,

Lawrence Schick Lawrence Schick is a game designer and writer associated with role-playing games. Early life and education Schick attended Kent State University in Ohio. Career Schick, as the head of design and development at TSR, brought aboard Tom Moldvay ...

, during a time of substantial growth at TSR. After the publication of the core handbooks for ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'', Moldvay wrote a second edition of the ''

Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set The ''Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set'' is a set of rulebooks for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. First published in 1977, it saw a handful of revisions and reprintings. The first edition was written by J. Eric Holm ...

'' (1980). As an employee of TSR, Moldvay authored or co-authored landmark D&D adventure modules such as '' Castle Amber'', '' Isle of Dread'', the rewrite of '' Palace of the Silver Princess'', and ''

Secret of the Slavers Stockade ''Scourge of the Slave Lords'' (A1–4) is an adventure module for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, published by TSR, Inc. in 1986. It combines the contents of four earlier modules, all set in the World of Greyhawk campaig ...

'', all published in 1981. Of these, X1 – ''Isle of Dread'' was one of the most widely played modules of the time because it was distributed inside the D&D '' Expert Set'' rules. Other Moldvay adventure modules for D&D include '' The Lost City'' (1982) and '' Twilight Calling'' (1986). In the years between 1980 and 1988, he also penned several articles in '' Dragon'' magazine. The fictional city of Yavdlom in the ''D&D''

Mystara Mystara is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role playing game. It was the default setting for the "Basic" version of the game throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Most adventures published for the "Basic" edition of ''D&D'' ...

setting – which in the following years included many locations featured in old D&D material – is an homage to him (Yavdlom being the backward reading of Moldvay). Moldvay also co-developed TSR's '' Gangbusters'' role-playing game and wrote adventures for TSR's '' Star Frontiers'' game. Moldvay developed ''

Lords of Creation ''Lords of Creation'' is a science fiction novel by American author Eando Binder (combined pseudonym for American brothers Earl and Otto Binder). It was first published in book form in 1949 by Prime Press Prime Press, Inc. was a science fiction ...

'', a role-playing game published by

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the company ...

. In 1985 he created the one-shot game "The Future King" based on Arthurian legend. In 1986 he created ''The Challenges Game System'', essentially a streamlining of the AD&D players handbook down to 8 pages, and the single adventure published for the system, "Seren Ironhand." Tom Moldvay died at the age of 58 on March 9, 2007. After Moldvay's death in 2007,

Steve Winter Steve Winter (born December 8, 1957) is an American game designer who worked on numerous products for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, which was originally published by TSR and later Wizards of the Coast. Early life Winter ...

called ''Isle of Dread'' "Tom's work that had the widest impact", as its inclusion in the ''Expert Set'' "made it one of the most widely known and played adventures for years".

References

Resources

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Dragonsfoot Tom Moldvay Bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moldvay, Tom 1949 births 2007 deaths Dungeons & Dragons game designers