Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a

wargame A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

and

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 ...

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 Frank Chadwick is an American multiple-award-winning game designer and ''New York Times'' best selling author. He has designed hundreds of games, his most notable being the role-playing games ''En Garde!'', '' Space: 1889'' and ''Twilight 2000' ...

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 ...

. GDW acquired the Conflict Games Company from

John Hill John Hill may refer to: Business * John Henry Hill (1791–1882), American businessman, educator and missionary * John Hill (planter) (1824–1910), Scottish-born American industrialist and planter * John Hill (businessman) (1847–1926), Austral ...

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 c ...

'' series and ''

Harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, seal hunting, 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 t ...

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

Products

Role-playing games

* ''

En Garde! ''En Garde!'' is a hybrid role-playing and tactical dueling game published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1975 that simulates the swashbuckling world of the Three Musketeers and Cyrano de Bergerac in 17th century Paris. Gameplay Each pla ...

'' (1975): Dueling game set in 17th-century France, often run as a

play-by-mail game A play-by-mail game (also known as a PBM game, PBEM game, or a turn-based game) is a game played through postal mail, email or other digital media. Correspondence chess and Go were among the first PBM games. ''Diplomacy'' has been played by m ...

. * '' Traveller'' (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 ''Twilight: 2000'' is a 1984 post-apocalyptic military tabletop role-playing game published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW). Set in the aftermath of World War III (the "Twilight War"), the game operates on the premise that the United States/NATO ...

'' (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, altern ...

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 w ...

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

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, 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 estima ...

. * ''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 Novem ...

roleplaying game, set 300 years after the Twilight War featured in ''Twilight: 2000''. ''Traveller: 2300'' was later renamed to ''

2300 AD ''2300 AD'', originally titled ''Traveller: 2300'', is a tabletop science fiction role-playing game created by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) and first published in 1986. Publication history GDW created the popular science fiction role-playing ...

'' in (1988) with the release of the second edition. * '' Space: 1889'' (1988): Victorian-era spacefaring game which provided for roleplay opportunities,

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...

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 ''Xenozoic Tales'' is an alternative comic book by Mark Schultz set in a post-apocalyptic future. Originally published by Kitchen Sink Press, the series began in 1986 with the story "Xenozoic!" which was included in the horror comics anthology ...

''. * ''

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 TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'' system.

Board games

Miniatures rules

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

computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

* ''

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 The Charles S. Roberts Awards (or CSR Awards) is an annual award for excellence in the historical wargaming hobby. It was named in honor of Charles S. Roberts the "Father of Wargaming" who founded Avalon Hill. The award is informally called a "C ...

, ''Avalanche'' *''Best Fantasy/Futuristic Game of 1978''

, ''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''

, ''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''

, ''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, ''

'' *''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 aw ...

, ''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''

, ''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