Wolfgang Baur (born 1968) 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 ...

, best known for his work with '' Dragon'' magazine. He designs role-playing games and is known for his work at

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 science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidia ...

. Baur is also the founder of Open Design LLC, later known as

Kobold Press Kobold Press, also known as Open Design, is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements. History Wolfgang Baur launched Open Design in 2006. Open Design funded projects using a crowdfunding model dubbed "patr ...

Biography

Wolfgang Baur was born in a suburb of Chicago, and later attended the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

and then

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

for graduate studies in biochemistry and molecular biology to pursue an academic career in research. When he ran out of funding in 1991, Baur took a temporary job as assistant editor to Barbara Young at ''

Dungeon A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from ...

'' magazine: "By the time my scholarship was reinstated, I didn't want to go back... I'd been writing for ''Dungeon Adventures'' and Iron Crown, but this was an opportunity to work in a field I loved." Baur was involved in many projects at TSR as either designer or editor, including ''Dungeon'' and '' Dragon'' magazines, the

Planescape ''Planescape'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, designed by Zeb Cook, and published in 1994. It crosses numerous planes of existence, encompassing an entire cosmology called the Great Wheel, as de ...

(''Planes of Law'', '' Planes of Chaos''),

Al-Qadim Al-Qadim is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game which was developed by Jeff Grubb with Andria Hayday for TSR, Inc., and was first released in 1992. Al-Qadim uses ''One Thousand and One Nights'' as a theme and is ...

('' Secrets of the Lamp'', '' Assassin Mountain''), and Birthright settings ('' Warlock of the Stonecrowns''), editing the '' Star*Drive'' setting, ''Dataware'', and '' Doom of Daggerdale''. Baur also worked for

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...

on books such as ''Treasures of Middle-earth''. Baur also worked on the '' Dark•Matter'' setting for the ''

Alternity ''Alternity'' is a science fiction role-playing game (RPG) published by TSR in 1998. Following the acquisition of TSR by Wizards of the Coast, the game was discontinued in 2000 as part of a broader rationalisation of TSR's business holdings, bu ...

'' science fiction role-playing game. His roleplaying game titles include ''

Frostburn ''Frostburn'' is a supplemental book to the 3.5 edition of the ''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 ...

'', ''

Expedition to the Demonweb Pits ''Expedition to the Demonweb Pits'' is a super-adventure module for the 3.5 edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game. The adventure is designed for characters of levels 9–12. It involves the machinations of the demon lords Lolth ...

'', ''Book of Roguish Luck'', ''Castle Shadowcrag'', and ''Empire of the Ghouls''. Baur was the "Kobold-in-chief" for Open Design LLC (which changed its name to

in 2012), and was editor-in-chief of its quarterly periodical '' Kobold Quarterly''. Open Design published ''Kobold Quarterly'' #1 (Summer 2007) before the final print issue of ''Dragon''. Baur stated on July 17, 2008, that the GSL was "absolutely terrible for ''Kobold Quarterly''," as the periodical would be unable to publish material for both ''D&D'' third edition and fourth edition. He won the eighth annual Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming in 2008. Kobold Quarterly and Open Design won five

ENnie Awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...

in 2009. Baur is a member of the Alliterates (a group of local and national authors), and serves as a judge for the RPG Superstar competitions, as part of a three-judge panel of respected figures from the field.

Media mentions

Wolfgang has appeared in the following newspaper and magazine articles, websites and podcasts.

Podcasts

* Atomic Array: Wolfgang appeared on these episodes: 009 (''Kobold Quarterly'' 007), 015 (''Kobold Quarterly'' 008), and 021 (''Kobold Quarterly'' 009). * Open Design: Co-host with Ed Healy and Rone Barton. The official podcast for Wolfgang's publishing company. * RPG Countdown: Wolfgang appeared on these episodes: April 22, 2009 (''Kobold Quarterly'' 009), November 6, 2009RPG Countdown (06 November 2009)
Retrieved November 6, 2009. (''Kobold Quarterly'' 011).

References

External links

Kobold Press
* *Interviews and Q&As **Podcast a
The Tome Show
**
Pulp Gamer, Inside Track

Writing for Pay

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baur, Wolfgang 1968 births American game designers Dungeons & Dragons game designers Living people