David James Ritchie (October 6, 1950 - September 6, 2009) was a

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 ...

and author.

Early life and education

David Ritchie was a native of Canton, Ohio. He was a graduate of Lehman High School in Canton and attended

Grove City College Grove City College (GCC) is a private, conservative Christian liberal arts college in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1876 as a normal school, the college emphasizes a humanities core curriculum and offers 60 majors and 6 pre-profession ...

in Pennsylvania where he met his wife, Deborah.

Career

David Ritchie was working for Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) when it was taken over by TSR in March 1982. In the following months, as SPI employees either quit or were fired, Ritchie became the final holdover from SPI. He designed ''

The Omega War ''The Omega War'' is a science fiction-themed board game published by TSR through its subsidiary Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1983. Description ''The Omega War'' is a two-player game of strategic warfare for control of a post-apocaly ...

'' in his final months at SPI, before leaving in late 1983 to work for

Coleco Coleco Industries, Inc. was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as The Connecticut Leather Company. It was a successful toy company in the 1980s, mass-producing versions of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game conso ...

. Ritchie, along with

Jon Pickens Jon Pickens is an American game designer and editor who has worked on numerous products for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game from TSR and later Wizards of the Coast. Early life and education Jon Pickens was born in Mishawak ...

David "Zeb" Cook David "Zeb" Cook is an American game designer, best known for his work at TSR, Inc., where he was employed for over fifteen years. Cook designed several games, wrote the '' Expert Set'' for ''Dungeons & Dragons'', worked as lead designer of the ...

, Harold Johnson,

Rick Swan Rick Swan is a game designer and author who worked for TSR. His work for TSR, mostly for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, appeared from 1989 to 1995. Swan also wrote ''The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' (1990), published by St. Martin's Pr ...

, and Ed Carmien, co-wrote the adventure module OA2 '' Night of the Seven Swords''. Pickens, Jon,

, Harold Johnson,

, Ed Carmien, and David James Ritchie. ''Night of the Seven Swords'' ( TSR, 1986) Ritchie and

Dave Arneson David Lance Arneson (; October 1, 1947Minnesota Department of Health. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004. – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer best known ...

detailed Arneson's world of Blackmoor in a series of four adventure books from TSR, ''DA1: Adventures in Blackmoor'' (1986), ''DA2: Temple of the Frog'' (1986), ''DA3:

City of the Gods ''City of the Gods'' is a 1987 adventure module for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Its module code is DA3 and its TSR product code is TSR 9191. Plot summary In this scenario, the player characters (PCs) are sent to the City of ...

'' (1987) and ''DA4: The Duchy of Ten'' (1987). Ritchie wrote the 1991 book ''Connecticut: Off the Beaten Path'' with his wife, Deborah. Ritchie died in his Connecticut home on September 6, 2009, at the age of 58.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, David 1950 births 2009 deaths Board game designers Dungeons & Dragons game designers Grove City College alumni Writers from Canton, Ohio