Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a wargame and

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 ...

publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers.

History

Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973. The founding members consisted of Frank Chadwick,

Rich Banner Paul Richard "Rich" Banner is an American game designer and graphic artist. Beginnings Rich Banner and Frank Chadwick formed the ISU Game Club at the Illinois State University (Normal, Illinois). Banner engineered a grant which funded the printin ...

, Marc Miller, and

Loren Wiseman Loren Keith Wiseman (March 7, 1951 – February 14, 2017) was an American wargame and role-playing game designer, game developer and editor. Career Game Designers' Workshop After graduating from Illinois State University, Loren Wiseman co-f ...

. GDW acquired the Conflict Games Company from John Hill in the early 1970s. GDW published a new product approximately every twenty-two days for over twenty years. In an effort to bridge the gap between role players, board wargamers and miniature wargamers, the company published RPGs with fantastic settings alongside games with realistic themes including rulesets for 15mm and 20mm miniatures set during the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the modern era; and boardgames involving these eras such as the ''

Air Superiority Aerial supremacy (also air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of com ...

'' series and ''

Harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target ani ...

''. The company disbanded February 29, 1996 after suffering financial troubles.

Products

Role-playing games

* '' En Garde!'' (1975): Dueling game set in 17th-century France, often run as a play-by-mail game. * ''

Traveller Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler(s), or The Traveller(s) may refer to: People Generic terms *One engaged in travel * Explorer, one who searches for the purpose of discovery of information or resources * Nomad, a member of a community wit ...

'' (1977): A science fiction game originally intended as a ruleset for generic space adventures. Revised and reissued as ''Megatraveller'' (1987) and with completely different rules and a greatly changed setting as ''Traveller: The New Era'' (1993) * '' Twilight: 2000'' (1984): An

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...

game set in a Europe devastated by

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...

, with adventures and supplements also dealing with the U.S. and

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

. * ''Traveller: 2300'' (1987): A

hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...

roleplaying game, set 300 years after the Twilight War featured in ''Twilight: 2000''. ''Traveller: 2300'' was later renamed to '' 2300 AD'' in (1988) with the release of the second edition. * '' Space: 1889'' (1988): Victorian-era spacefaring game which provided for roleplay opportunities, steampunk aerial gunboat engagements and "colonial" miniature warfare with

retro-futuristic Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipatin ...

elements such as Martian brave warbands and odd space creatures. * '' Cadillacs and Dinosaurs'' (1990): Based on the underground comic book '' Xenozoic Tales''. * ''

Dark Conspiracy ''Dark Conspiracy'' is a near-future horror role-playing game (RPG) originally written by Lester W. Smith and published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1991. Several newer editions have been published. Setting ''Dark Conspiracy'' is set i ...

'' (1991): a near-future horror role-playing game (RPG), created by Lester Smith * ''

Dangerous Journeys ''Dangerous Journeys'' was a roleplaying game created by Gary Gygax, the co-creator of the original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' system. The game was originally announced as ''Dangerous Dimensions'' but was changed to ''Dangerous Journeys'' in response ...

'' (1992): Roleplaying game created by

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 ...

, the co-creator of the original ''

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 ...

'' system.

Board games

Miniatures rules

* '' Fire & Steel'' (Napoleonic Wars, 1978) * ''Harpoon'' (modern naval combat), later developed into a computer game * ''

Johnny Reb Johnny Reb is the national personification of the common soldier of the Confederacy. During the American Civil War and afterwards, Johnny Reb and his Union counterpart Billy Yank were used in speech and literature to symbolize the common sol ...

'' (American Civil War) * '' Striker'' (science fiction, 1983), another ''Traveller'' based game. * '' Command Decision'' (20th century warfare, World War II. 1st and 2nd editions; a 3rd edition was written by Frank Chadwick and published in 1998 by EHQ and Old Glory) * ''Combined Arms'' (Cold War, post-WWII) * ''TacForce'' (20th century warfare) * ''Over the Top'' (20th century, WWI) * ''Star Cruiser'' (23rd century space warfare) a ''2300AD''-based game * ''Sky Galleons of Mars'' (''Space 1889'' aerial warfare, boxed board game with miniatures) * ''Cloudships and Gunboats'' (''Space 1889'' aerial Warfare, boxed board game with miniatures) * ''Soldier's Companion'' (''Space 1889'' land, air and sea warfare) * '' Striker II'' (science fiction, 1994), ''Traveller: The New Era''–based game. * ''Volley & Bayonet'' (big battles in black powder era, 1994)

''Grenadier'' Magazine

The Grenadier The Grenadier is a public house in Belgravia, London. It was originally built in 1720 as the officers' mess for the senior infantry regiment of the British army, the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards, and located in a courtyard of their barracks. It ...

'' was the house magazine from 1978 to 1990, with 35 issues. It started off as a quarterly magazine, but towards the end was published sporadically. Although it covered games from all companies, it gave most of the magazine space to GDW games.

''Journal of the Travellers Aid Society''

Journal of the Travellers Aid Society ''Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society'' is a role-playing game magazine devoted to Traveller (rpg), Traveller, commonly abbreviated JTAS. History In 1979 Loren K. Wiseman created a magazine to support ''Traveller (role-playing game), Travel ...

'' was a magazine dedicated to ''Traveller'' published by GDW between 1979 and 1985.

Challenge

'' Challenge'' was a role-playing game magazine that replaced ''

''. It covered all of GDW's role playing games, not just ''Traveller''. It was published between 1986 and 1996.

Video games

*'' The Battle of Chickamauga'' *'' Rommel: Battles for Tobruk''

Awards

*''Best Graphics of 1976'' Charles S. Roberts Award, ''Avalanche'' *''Best Fantasy/Futuristic Game of 1978'' Charles S. Roberts Award, ''Mayday'' *''Best Miniatures Rules of 1978'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Fire & Steel'' *''Best Historical Figure Series of 1979'' H. G. Wells Award, ''System Seven Napoleonics'' *''Best Miniatures Rules of 1979'' H. G. Wells Award, ''System Seven Napoleonics'' *''Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1979'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Kinunir'' *''Best Magazine Covering Roleplaying of 1979'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Journal of the Travellers Aid Society'' *''Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1980'' Charles S. Roberts Award, ''Azhanti High Lightning'' *''Best Miniatures Rules of 1980'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Tacforce'' *''Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1980'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Twilights Peak'' *''Best Professional Magazine Covering Roleplaying of 1980'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Journal of the Travellers Aid Society'' *''Best Pre-20th Century Boardgame of 1981'' Charles S. Roberts Award, ''House Divided'' *''Best Professional Roleplaying Magazine of 1981'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Journal of the Travellers Aid Society'' *''All Time Best Miniatures Rules for 20th Century Land Battles of 1981'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Tacforce'' *''Best Miniatures Rules of 1982'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Striker'' *''Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984'' H. G. Wells Award, '' Twilight: 2000'' *''Best Miniatures Rules of 1986'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Command Decision'' *''Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1986'' H. G. Wells Award, ''Going Home'' *''Best Boardgame Covering the Period 1900-1946 of 1987''

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 a ...

, ''Scorched Earth'' *''Best Boardgame Covering the Period 1947-Modern Day of 1987''

, '' Team Yankee'' *''Best Miniatures Rules of 1987''

, ''Harpoon'' *''Best Miniatures Rules of 1988''

, ''To The Sound of the Guns'' *''Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1988''

, ''Sky Galleons of Mars'' *''Best Graphic Presentation of a Boardgame of 1988''

, ''Sky Galleons of Mars'' *''Best Pre-World War Two Game of 1989'' Charles S. Roberts Award, ''House Divided'' (2nd edition) *''Best Roleplaying Rules of 1993''

, ''Traveller: the New Era''

References

{{Authority control Game manufacturers Role-playing game publishing companies Board game publishing companies Wargame companies Entertainment companies established in 1973 Companies disestablished in 1996