Allen Varney

Allen Varney (born 1958) is an American writer and game designer. Varney has produced numerous books, role-playing game supplements, technical manuals, articles, reviews, columns, and stories, as well as the fantasy novel ''Cast of Fate'' ( TSR, 1996). Since the 1990s, he has worked primarily in computer games.

Early life

Varney was born in St. Louis, Missouri and was raised by his mother, Marcelene Varney. He graduated from Reno High School in 1976 and has a dual B.A. in English and history from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Gaming career

Roleplaying games

Varney designed the game ''Necromancer'' (1983), which was published by Steve Jackson Games. Varney wrote ''Son of Toon'' (1986), the third supplement to the '' Toon'' RPG. From 1984 to 1986 he worked as Assistant Editor at Steve Jackson Games (with Warren Spector, then Editor-in-Chief) editing ''Space Gamer'' magazine.

Warren Spector and Varney wrote the supplement '' Send in the Clones'' (1985) for the ''Paranoia'' role-playing game from West End Games. In 1986, he left Steve Jackson Games to freelance. From this time onward, he wrote a large body of game supplements for companies like TSR, Inc., FASA Corporation, West End Games, and White Wolf.

Varney did work for TSR from 1987 to 1992, including the "Blood Brethren" trilogy (''Nightwail'', ''Nightrage'', ''Nightstorm'') and '' Five Coins for a Kingdom'', '' Wildspace'' for Spelljammer, '' Veiled Alliance'' for Dark Sun, and several gamebooks, the '' Ariya'', '' Binsada'', and '' Talinie'' realm packs for '' Birthright''. He also edited modules for the ''Ravenloft'', ''Planescape'', and ''Forgotten Realms'' settings, and was a game reviewer and news columnist for ''Dragon'' magazine.

Varney wrote the AD&D Gamebook ''The Vanishing City'' in 1987, and the Endless Quest gamebook ''Galactic Challenge'' for Amazing Engine in 1995.

Varney served as the line editor for a new version of the roleplaying game ''Paranoia'', published in 2004 by Mongoose Publishing. He wrote the new rules and packaged the game's support line with the help of his "Traitor Recycling Studio" until 2006 when Mongoose put the game line on hold.

Most recently, Varney has operated the Bundle of Holding site, distributing bundles of licensed but DRM-free role-playing game files in a series of time-limited offers.

Computer games

Enspire Learning produces a computer version of Varney's multiplayer business ethics and leadership simulation, the Executive Challenge. ''Executive Challenge'' was covered in ''The Wall Street Journal''.

Varney has long been involved in the game design and documentation for companies such as Origin Systems, Interplay, Prodigy, Acclaim Entertainment, Looking Glass Technologies, MicroProse, and Sony Online Entertainment. He wrote character dialogue for ''Star Wars Galaxies'', and worked again with Warren Spector on ''Epic Mickey''.

Varney also writes for '' The Escapist''.

Card games

In 1993, Varney designed an expansion set for '' Magic: The Gathering''. This was not published, but the design concepts later surfaced in the web-based Vanguard format of the game, with Varney credited for the original concept.

Personal life

Varney has participated in the Texas Juggling Society at the University of Texas since 1985.

References

External links

Allen Varney's website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Varney, Allen
1959 births
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American novelists
American male novelists
American video game designers
Dungeons & Dragons game designers
GURPS writers
Living people