Marc Gascoigne (born 5 July 1962 at Temple Ewell with River, near

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

, Kent) is a British author and editor. He is the editor, author or co-author of more than fifty books and gaming related titles, notably various ''

Fighting Fantasy ''Fighting Fantasy'' is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982. The series distinguished itself by mixing Choos ...

'' books, ''

Shadowrun ''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic in fiction, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime fiction, crime, with ...

'' novels and adventures, ''

Earthdawn ''Earthdawn'' is a fantasy role-playing game, originally produced by FASA in 1993. In 1999 it was licensed to Living Room Games, which produced the ''Second Edition''. It was licensed to RedBrick in 2003, who released the Classic Edition in 200 ...

'' novels and adventures, the original

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are '' Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and '' Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake, ...

''Judge Dredd'' roleplaying game, and material for ''

Paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy c ...

'', '' Call of Cthulhu'' and many others listed below.

Biography

Marc Gascoigne co-wrote

's original '' Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game'' and

Puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

's mass-market ''

Advanced Fighting Fantasy ''Advanced Fighting Fantasy'' (AFF) is a British roleplaying game based on the ''Fighting Fantasy'' and ''Sorcery!'' gamebooks, first published in 1989. Just as the gamebooks, AFF is set in the world of Titan. A second edition of AFF was publishe ...

'' trilogy. Gascoigne also published ''

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay ''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'' or ''Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play'' (abbreviated to ''WFRP'' or ''WHFRP'') is a role-playing game set in the ''Warhammer Fantasy'' setting, published by Games Workshop or its licensees. The first edition of ''WF ...

''. He has also written and edited for

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon ...

West End Games West End Games (WEG) was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product lines included ''Star Wars'', ''Paranoia'', ...

, and

FASA Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city date ...

. Gascoigne was the developer or editor of several of GW's classic

boardgames Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...

in the mid-1980s, including the first two editions of ''

Blood Bowl ''Blood Bowl'' is a miniatures board game created by Jervis Johnson for the British games company Games Workshop as a parody of American football. The game was first released in 1986 and has been re-released in new editions since. ''Blood B ...

'', and created the background for ''

Dark Future ''Dark Future'' is a post-apocalyptic miniatures wargame published by Games Workshop in 1988. Description ''Dark Future'' is a ''Mad Max''-like game of vehicular combat set in an alternate world. Setting The game is set in a fictional alternate ...

'', ported onto the car-based boardgame after the cancellation of an original

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and ...

-themed roleplaying game. Although he worked on the popular children's series ''

'' as an editor, he only ever published one gamebook as author, which was called ''Battleblade Warrior'' (1988). It was number 31 of 59 in the original series and was released in early 1988. However, he also wrote two related novels, and five books under the ''

'' banner, including ''

Titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

'' (1986), an encyclopedia of the fictional world in which most of the gamebooks are set. He edited issues 10 to 13 of ''

Warlock A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives '' warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver" and was given special applicati ...

'', the FF magazine, in 1986. After ten years as a freelance editor, he returned to Games Workshop in 1997 to help establish the

Black Library The Black Library is a division of Games Workshop (formerly a part of BL Publishing) which is devoted to publishing novels and audiobooks (and has previously produced art books, background books, and graphic novels) set in the ''Warhammer Fantasy ...

fiction imprint. Starting as editor he became publisher and overall manager of the

BL Publishing BL Publishing was a division of Games Workshop, and was split into three sections: * The Black Library publishes novels, art books, background books and graphic novels set in the Warhammer Fantasy world and the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Black Li ...

family of imprints, that during a time also included

Black Industries Black Industries was the role-playing game imprint of BL Publishing, the publishing arm of Games Workshop. It was announced on January 28, 2008 that it would cease operations after its products currently scheduled for release are published. His ...

and

Solaris Books Solaris Books is an imprint which focuses on publishing science fiction, fantasy and dark fantasy novels and anthologies. The range includes titles by both established and new authors. The range is owned by Rebellion Developments and distribute ...

. Gascoigne, with

Rick Priestley Rick Priestley (born 29 March 1959) is a British game designerSlingshot, No279, Nov 2011, p1 and author mainly known as the creator of ''Warhammer'' miniature wargame. Career Rick Priestley, with Bryan Ansell and Richard Halliwell, designed t ...

and Andy Jones of ''Warhammer'', developed the idea for the

which produced the magazine ''

Inferno! ''Inferno!'' (originally ''Carnage'') was a bi-monthly magazine published from 1997 to 2004 by Games Workshop's publishing division, Black Library, which was initially just the name of the team brought together to work on ''Inferno!''.

'' as a result beginning in July 1997. Gascoigne was the general manager of Games Workshop's

division, making books, board games, and RPGs. He left this post at the end of March 2008 when Games Workshop downsized its staff. It was announced on 11th Sept 2008 that he had joined

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

to create a new science fiction & fantasy imprint to be called

Angry Robot Angry Robot is a British-based publishing house dedicated to producing modern adult science fiction and fantasy, or as they call it “SF, F and WTF?!?”. The Nottingham-based company first released books in the UK in 2009, and since September 2 ...

was acquired by

Osprey Publishing Osprey Publishing is a British, Oxford-based, publishing company specializing in military history. Predominantly an illustrated publisher, many of their books contain full-colour artwork plates, maps and photographs, and the company produces ov ...

in September 2010. In October 2011, Gascoigne won the

World Fantasy Special Award—Professional The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction and art published in English during the preceding calendar year. The awards have been described by sources such as ''The Guardian'' as a ...

for Angry Robot, presented at the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego, California.Science Fiction Awards Database: Marc Gascoigne
(retrieved 9 July 2018) In 2014 Angry Robot was sold by Osprey to Watkins Media. In 2016 Gascoigne won the

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of ...

in the category Best Independent Press, again for Angry Robot. In 2019 Gascoigne was hired to launch a new imprint, Aconyte Books, for Asmodee Entertainment Ltd.

Bibliography

Fighting Fantasy

* ''Out of the Pit'' (

1985, monster book, author but credited as editor) * '' Titan: the Fighting Fantasy World'' (Puffin 1986, world guide, author but credited as editor) * ''#31: Battleblade Warrior'' (Puffin 1988, gamebook) * ''Advanced Fighting Fantasy:

Dungeoneer ''Dungeoneer'' (ISBN 0-14-032936-6) is the first of the three rule books that make up the Advanced Fighting Fantasy roleplaying game. It was written by Marc Gascoigne and Pete Tamlyn, illustrated by John Sibbick and was originally published in 19 ...

'' (Puffin 1989, rpg rules, with Pete Tamlyn) * ''Advanced Fighting Fantasy: Blacksand!'' (Puffin 1990, rpg rules, with Pete Tamlyn) * ''Demonstealer'' (Puffin 1991, novel) * ''The Fighting Fantasy 10th Anniversary Yearbook'' (Puffin 1992, compiler) * ''Shadowmaster'' (Puffin 1992, novel, with

Ian Livingstone Sir Ian Livingstone (born 29 December 1949) is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of a series of role-playing gamebooks, ''Fighting Fantasy'', and the author of many books within that s ...

) * ''Advanced Fighting Fantasy: Allansia'' (Puffin 1994, rpg rules, with Pete Tamlyn)

Shadowrun

* ''#8: Streets of Blood'' (Roc 1993, with

Carl Sargent Carl Lynwood Sargent (11 December 1952 – 12 September 2018) was a British parapsychologist and author of several roleplaying game-based products and novels, who used the pen name Keith Martin to write ''Fighting Fantasy'' gamebooks. Early life ...

) * ''#14: Nosferatu'' (Roc 1994, with Carl Sargent) * ''#20:

Black Madonna The term ''Black Madonna'' or ''Black Virgin'' tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. The Black Madonna can be found both ...

'' (Roc 1996, with Carl Sargent)

Earthdawn

* '' Shroud of Madness'' (Fasa 1995, with Carl Sargent)

Warhammer 40,000

* ''Into the Maelstrom'' (Black Library 1999, editor, with Andy Jones) * ''Dark Imperium'' (Black Library 2001, editor, with Andy Jones) * ''Eternal War'' (Black Library 2001, graphic novel, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''Status: Deadzone'' (Black Library 2000, editor, with Andy Jones) * ''Words of Blood'' (Black Library 2002, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''Crucible of War'' (Black Library 2003, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''Eternal Damnation'' (Black Library 2003, graphic novel, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''What Price Victory'' (Black Library 2004, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''Bringers of Death'' (Black Library 2005, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''Flames of War'' (Black Library 2005, graphic novel, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''Let the Galaxy Burn'' (Black Library 2006, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''The Art of Warhammer 40,000'' (Black Library 2006, compiler, with Matt Ralphs) * ''Tales of the Dark Millennium'' (Black Library 2006, editor, with Christian Dunn)

Warhammer

* ''Realm of Chaos'' (Black Library 2000, editor, with Andy Jones) * ''Lords of Valour'' (Black Library 2001, editor, with Andy Jones) * ''Way of the Dead'' (Black Library 2003, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''Swords of the Empire'' (Black Library 2004, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''The Call of Chaos'' (Black Library 2004, graphic novel, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''The Cold Hand of Betrayal'' (Black Library 2006, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''Tales of the Old World'' (Black Library 2007, editor, with Christian Dunn) * ''The Art of Warhammer'' (Black Library 2007, compiler, with Nick Kyme) * ''Invasion!'' (Black Library 2007, editor, with Christian Dunn)

Other fiction

*'' Sonic the Hedgehog novels'' (with

& James Wallis, as "Martin Adams"): ** ''Sonic in the Fourth Dimension'' (

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

1993) ** ''Robotnik's Laboratory'' (Virgin 1993) ** ''Sonic & the Silicon Warriors'' (Virgin 1993) ** ''Castle Robotnik'' (Virgin 1994) *'' Sonic the Hedgehog gamebooks'' (with Jonathan Green): ** ''#5: Theme Park Panic'' (Puffin 1995, ) ** ''#6: Stormin' Sonic'' (Puffin 1996, ) *Others ** ''

Ren & Stimpy ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' (also known as ''Ren & Stimpy'') is an American animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi. Originally produced by Spümcø for Nickelodeon, the series aired from August 11, 1991, to Decemb ...

's Happy Happy! Joy Joy! Book'' (Puffin 1994, with James Wallis) ** ''The Bill: Killjoys'' (Puffin 1997) ** ''The Bill: Never Too Young'' (Puffin 1997)

Roleplaying games

* Judge Dredd: The Role-Playing Game ** ''The Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game'' (Games Workshop 1985, with Rick Priestley) ** ''The Judge Dredd RPG Companion'' (Games Workshop 1987, compiler) *

** ''London and Great Britain'' (Fasa 1991, ''Shadowrun'' sourcebook, with Carl Sargent) ** ''Tir na nÓg'' (Fasa 1993, ''Shadowrun'' sourcebook, with Carl Sargent) ** ''Celtic Double Cross'' (Fasa 1993, ''Shadowrun'' adventure, with Carl Sargent) ** ''Prime Runners'' (Fasa 1994, ''Shadowrun'' sourcebook, with Carl Sargent) *

** ''Skypoint & Vivane'' (Fasa 1995, ''Earthdawn'' sourcebook, with Carl Sargent)

As contributor

* ''

'' 1st & 2nd editions (Games Workshop 1986 &1988) * ''Blood Bowl: Death Zone'' (Games Workshop 1987) * ''Blood Bowl: Star Players'' (Games Workshop 1989 * ''Chainsaw Warrior'' (Games Workshop 1986) * ''The Crash Course Manual'' (West End 1989, ''

'' sourcebook) * ''Green & Pleasant Land'' (Games Workshop 1987, '' Call of Cthulhu'' UK sourcebook) * ''Hobby Games: The 100 Best'' (

Green Ronin Green Ronin Publishing is an American company based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Chris Pramas and Nicole Lindroos, they have published several role-playing game–related products. They won several awards for their games includin ...

2007) * ''Family Games: The 100 Best'' (

2010)

Non-fiction

* ''Pog Off!'' (Puffin 1995) * ''You Can Surf the Net'' (Puffin 1996, revised US edition 1997) * ''The UFO Investigator's Handbook'' (Puffin 1996) * ''The Ghost Investigator's Handbook'' (Puffin 1997) * ''The Dinosaur Investigator's Handbook'' (Puffin 1997)

Magazines

* '' DragonLords'' (1980–present, RPG fanzine, with Ian Marsh & Mike Lewis) * ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

'' (1984–1987, various editorial roles) * ''

'' (1985–1986, contributor then editor) * ''

'' (1997–2004, assistant editor/designer, then editor, then publisher) * ''Warhammer Monthly/Warhammer Comic'' (1998–2004, as ''Inferno!'')

References

External links

Black Library profileThe Black LibraryBlack IndustriesSolarisAngry Robot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gascoigne, Marc 1962 births Living people People from Dover District British gamebook writers Role-playing game writers 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists English comics writers Fighting Fantasy People educated at Chatham House Grammar School English male novelists 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers