|
John D. Rateliff
John D. Rateliff (born December 9, 1958) is an American independent scholar of fantasy literature and author of roleplaying games. He specializes in the study of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, particularly his Middle-earth writings, and wrote and edited the 2007 book '' The History of the Hobbit''. Early life John D. Rateliff was raised in Magnolia, Arkansas. He moved to Wisconsin in 1981 to study Tolkien's manuscripts at Marquette University. Rateliff is an expert in Tolkien studies, and he earned a Ph.D in 20th-century British literature from Marquette. Career Rateliff has helped organize several major conferences on Tolkien. He contributed essays to '' Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth'' (2000) and to a volume marking the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of ''The Lord of the Rings'', and edited '' The History of The Hobbit'', containing drafts of Tolkien's '' The Hobbit'' with extensive commentary. Having written his dissertation on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Independent Scholar
A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a terminal degree, such as a master's degree or a doctorate (PhD). Independent scholars and public intellectuals work outside the academy yet may publish in academic journals and participate in scholarly public discussion. Definitions In contemporary English usage, the term ''scholar'' sometimes is equivalent to the term ''academic'', and describes a university-educated individual who has achieved intellectual mastery of an academic discipline, as instructor and as researcher. Moreover, before the establishment of universities, the term ''scholar'' identified and described an intellectual person whose primary occupation was professional research. In 1847, minister Emanuel Vogel Gerhart spoke of the role of the scholar in society: Gerhart argued ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lord Of The Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually developed into a much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, ''The Lord of the Rings'' is one of the List of best-selling books, best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold. The title refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who History of Arda#Second Age, in an earlier age created the One Ring, allowing him to rule the other Rings of Power given to Men in Middle-earth, men, Dwarves in Middle-earth, dwarves, and Elves in Middle-earth, elves, in his campaign to conquer all of Middle-earth. From homely beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit land reminiscent of the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth, following Quests in Middle-earth, the quest to destroy the One Ring, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaosium
Chaosium Inc. ( ) is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford (game designer), Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft''; RuneQuest Glorantha''; ''Pendragon (role-playing game), Pendragon'', based on Thomas Mallory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur''; and ''7th Sea (role-playing game), 7th Sea'', "swashbuckling and sorcery" set in a fantasy 17th-century Europe. Many of Chaosium's product lines are based upon literary sources. While Stafford himself has been described as "one of the most decorated game designers of all time" and "the grand shaman of gaming", multiple other notable game designers have written for Chaosium. These include David Conyers, Matthew Costello, Larry DiTillio, Paul Fricker (game designer), Paul Fricker, David A. Hargrave, Rob Heinsoo, Keith Herber, Jennell Jaquays, Katharine Kerr, Reiner Knizia, Charlie Krank, Rob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guardians Of Order
Guardians of Order was a Canadian company founded in 1996 by Mark C. MacKinnon in Guelph, Ontario. The company's business output consisted of role-playing games (RPGs). Their first game is the anime inspired '' Big Eyes, Small Mouth''. In 2006 Guardians of Order ceased operations due to overwhelming debt. Publication history The ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth'' game used the Tri-Stat System. The system would later be modified for use in other games and be more generally named the ''Tri-Stat dX'' system. Most of Guardians of Order's games use some form of the ''Tri-Stat dX'' system. After ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth'', Guardians of Order would go on to achieve significant success with '' The Sailor Moon Role-Playing Game and Resource Book''. The game was built on ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth'' but featured an extensive reference to the ''Sailor Moon'' universe. Guardians of Order acquired licenses and published ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth''-based RPGs for a number of other anime series including ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Wolf Publishing
White Wolf Entertainment AB, formerly White Wolf Publishing, was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant (game publisher), Lion RampantA Brief History of Game #10: Lion Rampant: 1987-1990 RPGnet (Retrieved 14 June 2007) and ''White Wolf Magazine'' (est. 1986 in Rocky Face, GA; it later became "White Wolf Inphobia"), and was initially led by Mark Rein-Hagen of the former and Steve Wieck and Stewart Wieck of the latter. White Wolf Publishing, Inc. merged with CCP Games in 2006. White Wolf Publishing operated as an imprint of CCP hf, but ceased in-house production of any material, instead licensing their properties to other publishers. It was announced in October ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 including multiple Origins, ENnie, Pen & Paper, and Inquest Fan Awards. History In early 1996, Chris Pramas secured the rights to '' The Whispering Vault'' from Mike Nystul as he was leaving the game industry, and together with his brother Jason Pramas and their friend Neal Darcy, the three of them founded the company Ronin Publishing. This initial company published two role playing game supplements, ''The Book of Hunts'' (1997) for ''The Whispering Vault'' and '' Blood of the Valiant'' for ''Feng Shui''. Ronin Publishing came to an end when Chris Pramas went to work for Wizards of the Coast in 1998. Pramas founded Green Ronin Publishing with his wife Nicole Lindroos in 2000. The first publication from Green Ronin published was ''Ork!'' in Ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decipher Inc
Decipher, Inc. is an American gaming company headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, US. The company began with three puzzles marketed as "Decipher," subsequently marketing party games and ''Pente'' sets. After 1994, Decipher produced collectible card and role-playing games — including their longest-running product, '' How to Host a Murder'' Mystery series. Other popular works have included many different card games. Since 2002, Decipher has released two licensed role-playing games: '' Star Trek RPG'' and ''The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game''. History Decipher was founded by Warren Holland in 1983 designing and marketing games. Their first project was the Decipher contest puzzle, a "contest" jigsaw puzzle that challenged buyers to solve four cryptograms printed on the jigsaw puzzle and enter to win a prize. This was followed by Decipher II, of which all four embedded puzzles were solved, though the solution to the last puzzle has since been lost; and Decipher III, whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alibris
Alibris is an online store that sells new books, used books, out-of-print books, rare books, and other media through an online network of independent booksellers. History Martin Manley founded Alibris in 1997 with the team behind early online book marketplace Interloc, which Alibris purchased. Interloc was founded by book seller Richard Weatherford, programmer Tom Sawyer and computer tech Brad Councilman in 1994. Interloc was one of the earliest successful efforts to centralize used book data online. It remained a private network until 1996, when the company launched its website built in Thunderstone Texis by Senior Engineer Michael Warchut. The Alibris website was launched on October 23, 1998 at 14:30PM EST also built by Michael Warchut. Alibris was incorporated in 1998. Alibris acquired Bibliocity in October 1999. The company was backed by venture capital until 2006, when it was purchased by Oak Hill Capital Partners, a private equity firm. In February 2010, Oak Hil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules, Tactical Studies Rules (TSR). It has been published by Wizards of the Coast, later a subsidiary of Hasbro, since 1997. The game was derived from miniature wargaming, miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game ''Chainmail (game), Chainmail'' serving as the initial rule system. ''D&D'' publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, which also deeply influenced video games, especially the Role-playing video game, role-playing video game genre. ''D&D'' departs from traditional wargame, wargaming by allowing each player to create their own Player character, character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon adventures wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herman Hassenfeld and is incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of Kenner Products, Kenner, Milton Bradley Company, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and Wizards of the Coast, among others. As of August 2020, over 81.5% of its shares were held by large financial institutions. Among Hasbro's products are ''Transformers'', ''G.I. Joe'', ''Power Rangers'', Rom the Space Knight, Micronauts, ''M.A.S.K. (franchise), M.A.S.K.'', ''Monopoly (game), Monopoly'', Furby, Nerf, Mr. Potato Head, Potato Head, ''Bop It!'', Play-Doh, ''Twister (game), Twister'', and ''My Little Pony'', and with the Entertainment One (now Lionsgate Canada) acquisition on December 30, 2019, franchises like ''Peppa Pig'' a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wizards Of The Coast
Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy manufacturer Hasbro acquired the company and currently operates it as a subsidiary. During a February 2021 reorganization of Hasbro, WotC became the lead part of a new division called "Wizards & Digital". WotC was originally a role-playing game (RPG) publisher that in the mid-1990s originated and popularized collectible card games with ''Magic: The Gathering''. It later acquired TSR (company), TSR, publisher of the RPG ''Dungeons & Dragons'', and published the licensed ''Pokémon Trading Card Game'' from 1999 to 2003. WotC's corporate headquarters is located in Renton, Washington, which is part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The company publishes RPGs, board games, and collectible card games. It has received numerous awards, includin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 been unable to find a publisher for ''D&D'', a new type of game he and Dave Arneson were co-developing, so he founded the new company with Kaye to self-publish their products. Needing financing to bring their new game to market, Gygax and Kaye brought in Brian Blume in December as an equal partner. ''Dungeons & Dragons'' is generally considered the first tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), and established the genre. When Kaye died suddenly in 1975, the Tactical Studies Rules partnership restructured into TSR Hobbies, Inc. and accepted investment from Blume's father Melvin. With the popular ''D&D'' as its main product, TSR Hobbies became a major force in the games industry by the late 1970s. Melvin Blume eventually transferred his shares to his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
