Troll Lord Games is an American publisher of

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 (based on

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 ...

and swords & sorcery themes), ''The Crusader'' magazine and other board/dice/card games. They are best known for the ''

Castles & Crusades ''Castles & Crusades'' (''C&C'') is a fantasy role-playing game published in 2004 by Troll Lord Games based upon a stripped-down variant of the d20 System by Wizards of the Coast. The game system is designed to emulate the play of earlier edit ...

'' role-playing game. They served as

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 ...

's primary publisher from 2001–2008, publishing ''

Lejendary Adventure ''Lejendary Adventure'' (abbreviated as ''LA'') is a role-playing game created by Gary Gygax, the co-creator of ''Dungeons and Dragons'' and creator of ''Advanced Dungeons and Dragons''. Publication history Gygax originally devised ''Lejendary ...

'', ''Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds'' and other book lines.

History

TLG's first published products were a series of adventures designed for the Swords and Sorcery RPG. This RPG was developed by Davis Chenault and Mac Golden. TLG debuted these three adventures, the game system and Stephen Chenault's The After Winter's Dark campaign world at Gencon in 2000. These releases coincided with the release of d20

Dungeons and 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. (TSR). ...

. Within a very short while TLG republished the books under the d20 license. At about this time they signed

and committed to the Gygaxian Fantasy World series. The series was launched with The Canting Crew, by Gary Gygax, in 2001. Shortly thereafter TLG published the ''Codex of Erde'' (later Aihrde), a fantasy world

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 ca ...

and sourcebook for RPGs. It saw release in 2001 and was written by Stephen Chenault and Mac Golden with contributions by Davis Chenault and

. Stephen Chenault recounts the origins of the ''Codex of Erde'' and how they were enmeshed with the founding of TLG as a company, in ''The Crusader'' Magazine. In this book, Gary Gygax wrote an introductory adventure, ''Search for a Lost City''. It was a prelude to another TLG RPG book also released in 2001, called ''The Lost City of Gaxmoor'', written by Ernie Gygax and Luke Gygax. On June 11, 2001, Stephen Chenault and Davis Chenault announced that Gary Gygax would be writing books for Troll Lord Games. Gygax's early work for Troll Lord included a series of hardcover books that eventually came to be called "Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds"; the first was ''The Canting Crew'' (2002), a look at the roguish underworld. He also wrote ''World Builder'' (2003) and ''Living Fantasy'' (2003), generic game design books usable in many different settings. After the first four books in the series, Gygax stepped down from writing and took on an advisory role, though the series logo still carried his name. Troll Lord also published a few adventures as a result of their partnership with Gygax, including ''The Hermit'' (2002) an adventure intended for d20 and also for ''Lejendary Adventures''. TLG also produced and published a string of RPG adventure modules taking place in the fantasy campaign world of Erde. Another module written for the world of Erde was called ''Dark Druids'' written by

Robert J. Kuntz Robert J. Kuntz (born September 23, 1955) is a game designer and author of role-playing game publications. He is best known for his contributions to various ''Dungeons & Dragons''-related materials. Biography Early life Rob Kuntz was born Septe ...

, RPG author and ex-employee of

TSR, Inc TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been ...

. It was released in 2002. Also, in 2002 Gary Gygax and TLG continued to work together to produce the ''Gygaxian Fantasy Worlds'' series of RPG “world builder” books. In 2004 TLG broke away from D&D/d20 related titles to publish their own game

, named after Gary Gygax's original gaming club. In 2005 TLG took over the publishing of Gary Gygax’s

products and produced a boxed set with a scaled down version of the rules and monsters called ''Essentials''. Following this, came the release of ''Living the Legend'', a LA module written by Gygax. 2008 saw a new hard cover release and reprinting of the

Greyhawk Adventures ''Greyhawk Adventures'' is an accessory for the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' (''AD&D'') ''World of Greyhawk'' campaign setting. Contents ''Greyhawk Adventures'' contains information about Greyhawk deities, clerics, major non-player characters ...

book ''

Saga of Old City ''Saga of Old City'' is a 1985 fantasy novel by Gary Gygax, set in the world of Greyhawk, which is based on the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Plot summary ''Saga of Old City'' was the first novel to feature Gord the Rogue. ' ...

'', a

Gord the Rogue Gord the Rogue is the protagonist in a series of fantasy novels and short stories written by Gary Gygax. Gygax originally wrote the novels and short stories to promote his ''World of Greyhawk'' campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' ro ...

novel by Gary Gygax.

''Castles & Crusades''

The ''Castles & Crusades'' RPG Collector’s Box Set was produced in 2004. It contained a Players Handbook, a Monsters & Treasure booklet and an introductory adventure booklet; all were digest size like the original ''Dungeons and Dragons'' boxed set. The year 2005 proved to be a busy and productive year for TLG: * They released Gary Gygax’s 256 page, RPG campaign setting/adventures book called ''Castle

Zagyg This is a list of deities from the Greyhawk campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. A Al'Akbar Al'Akbar is the Baklunish demigod of dignity, duty, faithfulness, and guardianship. His symbol is a cup and eig ...

: Yggsburgh'' for the ''Castles & Crusades'' game. A large double-sided fold out color map of the city and environs was rendered by Darlene, the former TSR, Inc artist who drew the ''World of

Greyhawk Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game. Although not the first campaign world developed for ''Dungeons & Dragons''—Dave Arneson ...

'' hex map that was included with the WoG boxed set. * The first module written for ''Castle Zagyg: Yggsburgh'' was another one from

, called ''Dark Chateau''. * Davis Chenault wrote and TLG published the first full RPG module in the ''A'' series of adventures, for Castles & Crusades set in the fantasy world of Erde. It is titled ''Assault on Blacktooth Ridge'' (A1). (A2 through A5 have been released of the total 13 planned). Gary Gygax continued to work on the next ''Castle Zagyg'' volume (at that time Volume II) into 2006 and 2007. At

Gen Con 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 ...

40 in 2007, Gary Gygax was the Guest of Honor at the TLG booth. It would be his last Gen Con. The long-awaited Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works made its debut at the TLG booth the following year, 2008. In 2007 TLG published an update of the fantasy campaign World of Erde, changing the name to Aihrde and releasing a 48-page gazetteer called ''After Winter’s Dark'' which established Aihrde as the official Castles & Crusades adventure setting. A collection of alternate rules and guidelines for modifying the system, the Castle Keepers Guide, was released in February 2011.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite book, author=Shannon Appelcline, title=Designers & Dragons, publisher=Mongoose Publishing, year=2011, isbn= 978-1-907702-58-7 {{cite news , url = https://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/dungeon-masters/Content?oid=3998574 , title = Dungeon masters: Little Rock's Troll Lord Games is still going strong after 15 years. , work =

Arkansas Times ''Arkansas Times'', a weekly alternative newspaper based in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a publication that has circulated more than 40 years, originally as a magazine. Founded as a small magazine on newsprint in 1977 by publisher Alan Leveritt, ...

, author = A&E FEATURE , date = 2015-08-06 , access-date = 2018-07-13 , quote = but co-founder and CEO Stephen Chenault said Troll Lord has weathered the rise of digital video gaming by adapting and embracing the Internet rather than trying to fight against it. {{cite news , url = https://techraptor.net/content/interview-with-stephen-chenaul-of-troll-lord-games-mythos , title = Interview with Stephen Chenault of Troll Lord Games on Mythos , work = TechRaptor , author = Don Parsons , date = 2015-08-15 , access-date = 2018-07-13

External links

Troll Lord Games website
Role-playing game publishing companies