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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 second edition of ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'', and invented the Planescape setting for ''AD&D''. He is a member of the Origins Hall of Fame. Early life Cook was born in East Lansing, Michigan, and grew up on a farm in Iowa. His father was a farmer and college professor. In junior high school, Cook played wargames such as Avalon Hill's '' Blitzkrieg'' and '' Afrika Korps'': "I was primarily a wargamer, but there wasn't any role-playing available then." In college, he was introduced to the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game through the University of Iowa gaming club. Cook earned his B.A. in English (with a Theater minor) in 1977. He married his high school sweetheart, Helen, with whom he had one son, Ian. Cook became a high sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucca Comics & Games
Lucca Comics & Games is an annual Comic book convention, comic book and gaming convention in Lucca, Italy, traditionally held at the end of October, in conjunction with All Saints' Day. It is the largest comics festival in Europe, and the second biggest in the world after the Comiket. History The Salone Internazionale del Comics ("International Congress of Comics") was launched by a Franco-Italian partnership, consisting of Italians Rinaldo Traini and Romano Calisi and Frenchman (forming the International Congress of Cartoonists and Animators) in 1965 in Bordighera. In 1966, it moved to a small piazza in the center of Lucca, and grew in size and importance over the years. Funding issues reduced the frequency of the festival to every two years, beginning in 1977. In the 1980s, the festival was moved to a sports center outside the city walls, where it remained until 1992, when it was moved to another city. (Funding issues also forced the cancellation of the 1988 festival.) A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Iowa
The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 colleges offering more than 200 areas of study and seven professional degrees. On an urban 1,880-acre campus on the banks of the Iowa River, the University of Iowa is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". In fiscal year 2021, research expenditures at Iowa totaled $818 million. The university is best known for its programs in health care, law, and the fine arts, with programs ranking among the top 25 nationally in those areas. The university was the original developer of the Master of Fine Arts degree and it operates the Iowa Writers' Workshop, which has produced 17 of the university's 46 Pulitzer Prize winners. Iowa is a member of the Association of American Universities, the Universities Research A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Isle Of Dread
''The Isle of Dread'' is an adventure for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. The adventure, module code ''X1'', was originally published in 1981. Written by David "Zeb" Cook and Tom Moldvay, it is among the most widely circulated of all ''Dungeons & Dragons'' adventures due to its inclusion as part of the ''D&D Expert Set''. In the adventure, the player characters search for a lost treasure, journey to the prehistoric Isle of Dread, and there meet new nonhuman races. Plot summary ''The Isle of Dread'' is meant to introduce players and Dungeon Masters familiar with only dungeon crawl-style adventures to wilderness exploration. As such, the adventure has only a very simple plot, even by the standards of its time. The module has been described as a medium- to a high-level scenario, which takes place on a mysterious tropical island divided by an ancient stone wall.preview The characters somehow find a fragment from a ship's log, describing a mysterious island on which man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dwellers Of The Forbidden City
''Dwellers of the Forbidden City'' is an adventure module, or pre-packaged adventure booklet, ready for use by Dungeon Masters in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. The adventure was first used as a module for tournament play at the 1980 Origins Game Fair, and was later published by TSR in 1981 for use with the first edition ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' rules. The module was written by game designer David "Zeb" Cook, who partly ascribes his hiring by TSR to his work on this module. In the adventure, the characters are hired to find an object taken to a lost oriental-style city, which has been taken over by a cult of snake-worshipers, the yuan-ti, and their servants, the mongrelmen and tasloi. The module was ranked as the 13th greatest ''Dungeons & Dragons'' adventure of all time by ''Dungeon'' magazine for the 30th anniversary of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' game in 2004. Plot summary The adventure begins when the player characters hear reports ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slave Pits Of The Undercity
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perform some form of work while also having their location or residence dictated by the enslaver. Many historical cases of enslavement occurred as a result of breaking the law, becoming indebted, or suffering a military defeat; other forms of slavery were instituted along demographic lines such as race. Slaves may be kept in bondage for life or for a fixed period of time, after which they would be granted freedom. Although slavery is usually involuntary and involves coercion, there are also cases where people voluntarily enter into slavery to pay a debt or earn money due to poverty. In the course of human history, slavery was a typical feature of civilization, and was legal in most societies, but it is now outlawed in most countries of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escape From New York
''Escape from New York'' is a 1981 American science fiction film, science fiction action film co-written, co-scored and directed by John Carpenter. It stars Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Adrienne Barbeau, and Harry Dean Stanton. The film's storyline, set in the near-future world of 1997, concerns a crime-ridden United States, which has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into the country's sole Types of US federal prisons, maximum-security prison. Air Force One is hijacked by anti-government insurgents who deliberately crash it into the walled borough. Ex-soldier and current federal prisoner Snake Plissken (Russell) is given just 24 hours to go in and rescue the President of the United States, after which, if successful, he will be pardoned. Carpenter wrote the film in the mid-1970s in reaction to the Watergate scandal. After the success of ''Halloween (1978 film), Halloween'' (1978), he had enough influence to begin produc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Frontiers
''Star Frontiers'' is a science fiction role-playing game produced by TSR from 1982 to 1985. The game offered a space opera action-adventure setting. Fictional setting ''Star Frontiers'' takes place near the center of a spiral galaxy (the setting does not specify whether the galaxy is our own Milky Way). A previously undiscovered quirk of the laws of physics allows starships to jump to "The Void", a hyperspatial realm that greatly shortens the travel times between inhabited worlds, once they reach 1% of the speed of light (3,000 km/s). The basic game setting was an area known as "The Frontier Sector" where four sentient races (Dralasite, Humans, Vrusk, and Yazirian) had met and formed the United Planetary Federation (UPF). A large number of the star systems shown on the map of the Frontier sector in the basic rulebook were unexplored and undetailed, allowing the Gamemaster (called the "referee" in the game) to put whatever they wished there. Players could take on any num ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Adventures Of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game
''The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game'' is a licensed pulp style action-adventure role-playing game published by TSR in 1984 that is based on the ''Indiana Jones'' movie franchise. Publication history In 1984, TSR gained the license to make a role-playing game based on ''Indiana Jones''. It was released as a boxed set designed by John Byrne and David "Zeb" Cook, with artwork by Robert Amsel, Larry Elmore, Dennis Kauth, and Dave "Diesel" LaForce. A set of pewter miniatures was also marketed in 1984 for use with the game, which the players could choose to use instead of the cardboard cutouts that were provided with each book. Although a number of adventures and supplements were published in 1984 and 1985, the game did not sell well. The company eventually allowed the license to expire, and publication stopped. All unsold copies of the game were destroyed at that time. (Employees at the UK office of TSR Hobbies mounted a portion of the burnt remains of the las ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crimefighters
''Crimefighters'' is a 1981 TSR pulp-themed tabletop role-playing game created by game designer David Cook. ''Crimefighters'' was originally released in issue 47 of the March 1981 edition of '' Dragon'' magazine. This issue of ''Dragon'' magazine also contained an introductory ''Crimefighters'' adventure called ''The Case of the Editor’s Envelope''. The game featured artwork by artist Jeff Dee who also drew the ''Crimefighters'' game character Dark Night Dan. ''Crimefighters'' was included in the '' Dragon Magazine Archive'', a collection of five CD-ROMs comprising the first 250 issues of ''Dragon'' magazine. Game overview ''Crimefighters'' emulates the 1930s pulp adventures of characters such as Doc Savage, The Spirit, The Spider and The Shadow. Character classes players can choose from are Defender, a law-abiding crimefighter, Avenger, a vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authorit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conan Role-Playing Game
The ''Conan Role-Playing Game'' was published by TSR, Inc. in 1985. Contents This boxed game was designed for players age 10 and up contained a full-color map, a 32-page rule book, a 16-page reference guide of talents, weaknesses, and charts, and a 48-page notebook about the land of Hyboria plus two 10 sided dice. Game mechanics The game's main rules are adapted from the '' Marvel Super Heroes'' rules, a role-playing game first published by TSR in 1984 and mainly designed by Jeff Grubb, although Zeb Cook brought some help, as stated by Grubb himself. The system refers D100 dice rolls to a resolution table. Mark Krawec, a member of the RPGnet community, recovered the system from the past in 2007, named it ZeFRS (Zeb's Fantasy Roleplaying System) and published a free PDF document where the game mechanics had been completely expurgated from any licensed Conan material. Two years later, in 2009, a ZeFRS paperback book was printed and distributed. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Games (magazine)
''GAMES World of Puzzles'' is a puzzle magazine formed from the merger of Games and World of Puzzles in October 2014. The entire magazine interior is now newsprint (as opposed to the part-glossy/part-newsprint format of the original ''Games'') and the puzzles and articles that originally sandwiched the "Pencilwise" section are now themselves sandwiched ''by'' the main puzzle pages, replacing the "feature puzzle" section. (They are still full-color, unlike the two-color "Pencilwise" sections.) Like the original ''World of Puzzles'' (which is now discontinued), the answer key is now at the rear of the magazine. The new combined title remained on the same 9-issue-per-year publication schedule as the original ''Games''. Games ''Games'' magazine (ISSN 0199-9788) was a magazine devoted to games and puzzles, and it was published by Games Publications, a division of Kappa Publishing Group. History Games was originally published by ''Playboy'' (debuting with the September/October 1977 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrence Schick
Lawrence Schick is a game designer and writer associated with role-playing games. Early life and education Schick attended Kent State University in Ohio. Career Schick, as the head of design and development at TSR, brought aboard Tom Moldvay and David Cook and many other new employees as TSR continued to grow in the early 1980s. Schick created ''White Plume Mountain'' in 1979, an adventure module for the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, published by TSR in 1979; the adventure was incorporated into the Greyhawk setting after the publication of the ''World of Greyhawk Fantasy Game Setting'' (1980). ''White Plume Mountain'' was ranked the 9th greatest ''Dungeons & Dragons'' adventure of all time by ''Dungeon'' magazine in 2004; one judge, commenting on the ingenuity required to complete the adventure, described it as "the puzzle dungeon to end all puzzle dungeons." In 1981, he contributed to Chaosium's multi-system box set ''Thieves' World'' based on Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
