François Marcela-Froideval (10 December 1958 – 17 June 2025) was a French

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as 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 ...

creator,

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game 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 generate visual fe ...

producer, and

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

scenarist A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. Froideval had a major influence on the introduction of role-playing games in France, mainly as

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the ''

Casus Belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one bou ...

'' role-playing magazine. During this time, he was one of the three authors who established the French term for a "

munchkin A Munchkin is a native of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. Although a common fixture in Germanic fairy tales, they are introduced to modern audiences with the first appearance in the classic c ...

", ''Gros Bill'', from the nickname of an overly

powergaming Powergaming (also known as power gaming, min maxing, or optimization) is a style of interacting with games or game-like systems, particularly video games, boardgames, and role-playing games, with the aim of maximizing progress towards a specific ...

player once in Froideval's group. He left for the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1982 to join

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 bee ...

, where he worked for four years. His writing contributions include several ''

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Several different editions of the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of ''D&D'', Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the ...

'' rules and monster manuals in collaboration with

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 tabletop role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax creat ...

, like ''

Oriental Adventures ''Oriental Adventures'' (abbreviated OA) is the title shared by two hardback rulebooks published for different Editions of Dungeons & Dragons, versions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy roleplaying game. Each version of ''Oriental ...

''. Gygax credited Froideval with the idea to add a seventh

ability score In the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game, game mechanics and dice rolls determine much of what happens. These mechanics include: * Ability scores, the most basic statistics of a character, which influence all other statistics * Armor cla ...

to the game tracking the appearance of characters, called '' comeliness''. Back in France, he focused on translating and publishing TSR games until 1989. He wrote the scenario of several French videogames, working for

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA ()), also known as Atari Group, is a French holding company headquartered in Paris that owns mainly video gaming-related interactive entertainment properties. Atari SA's core subsidiaries include ...

(''

Drakkhen ''Drakkhen'' is an early-3D computer graphics, 3D role-playing video game, initially developed and published by Infogrames for the Amiga and Atari ST, and subsequently ported to several other platforms, including MS-DOS and Super Nintendo Enterta ...

'') and

Cryo Interactive Cryo Interactive Entertainment was a French video game developer, video game development and video game publisher, publishing company founded in 1990, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo. The company gai ...

('' Dragon Lore'' series). In 1989, he wrote the scenario of the first '' Black Moon Chronicles'' comic album with drawer

Olivier Ledroit Olivier Ledroit (born 3 June 1969) is a French comic book artist, perhaps best known for his work on the '' Black Moon Chronicles'' series. He has also worked on art designs in the ''Might and Magic'' franchise. He has also provided the art for ...

. He kept on writing the scenario until the end of the series in 2008. Froideval dedicated the ''Black Moon Chronicles'' series to Gary Gygax in the last album ''End of Times'' through these words: He wrote scenarios for ''Black Moon'' spin-off series, and other French comic series.Comic biography
at ''Bedetheque''

References

External links

*

at Black Moon Chronicles

Dargaud Société Dargaud (), doing business as Les Éditions Dargaud, is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics series, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. It was founded in 1936 by Georges Dargaud, publishing its first comics in 1943. ...

website
Francois Froideval
at

Lambiek Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi region in the south east of the prov ...

Francois Froideval
at ''Bedetheque'' * 1958 births 2025 deaths Dungeons & Dragons game designers French graphic novelists French scenic designers {{comics-writer-stub