Andy Collins is 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 ...

whose writing credits include numerous books for the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (T ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

Early life and education

Andy Collins grew up in

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. Europea ...

. His uncle gave him a copy of the original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' boxed set for his tenth birthday; although he did not know any other ''D&D'' players at the time, and found it hard to figure out how to play a game with no board or playing pieces, he said "my brother, a friend, and I sat down to play one day. Nine hours later, we'd missed both lunch and dinner, and we were all hooked." He was also a fan of the

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

franchise, having seen the original film several times while it was in the theater. Collins continued gaming throughout high school and college, and graduated from Stanford University in 1994 with a degree in English.

Career

Collins began working at

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidi ...

in April 1996, and after working for a time for Wizards' Organized Play division, he moved to the R&D division and worked as both an editor and designer. His first project was a new science-fiction game line, ''

Alternity ''Alternity'' is a science fiction role-playing game (RPG) published by TSR in 1998. Following the acquisition of TSR by Wizards of the Coast, the game was discontinued in 2000 as part of a broader rationalisation of TSR's business holdings, bu ...

'', for which he worked on a number of products, notably the ''

Dark•Matter ''Dark•Matter'' is a science fiction / conspiracy theory campaign setting that was originally published in 1999 by Wizards of the Coast as the second campaign setting for the ''Alternity'' role-playing game. It was written by Wolfgang Baur an ...

'' campaign setting. After Wizards cancelled the ''Alternity'' game, Collins was one of the people working on Wizards of the Coast's new '' Star Wars Roleplaying Game''. While working on that game, Collins commented "It's been interesting working with Bill lavicsek I know all the movies, and I've read several of the books, but he pretty much knows everything about Star Wars – all the books, all the movies, all the comics, all the source material. ''Everything.''" As a long-time gamer and Star Wars fan working on a Star Wars RPG, Collins summed up his feelings: "I could paraphrase Lou Gehrig. 'I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth to be working in this industry with as many great people as I have around me.' I sometimes still have to pinch myself when I'm walking down the hall." Andy Collins was also the author of the ''Sage Advice'' column in '' Dragon'', and later ''Sage Advice Online'' at Wizards of the Coast's website. Collins was a part of the revision team for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' version 3.5. Early in 2005,

Bill Slavicsek Bill Slavicsek is a game designer who served as the Director of Roleplaying Design and Development at Wizards of the Coast. He previously worked for West End Games and TSR, Inc., and designed products for ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Star Wars'', ...

organized a team to do some early designs for a fourth edition of ''D&D'', which was led by Rob Heinsoo and included Collins and

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

; Heinsoo, Collins, and Wyatt became the core team for fourth-edition ''D&D''. Collins,

Mike Mearls Michael Mearls is a writer and designer of fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction. He was the senior manager for the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' research and design team. He co-led design for the 5th edition of the game. He also worked ...

, David Noonan, and

Jesse Decker Jesse Decker is an author, designer, and editor of roleplaying game material. Biography Decker began playing '' Dungeons & Dragons'' in 1983 during recess at his elementary school. During the summer of 1996, he began doing "temp work" for Wiza ...

were part of Heinsoo's "Flywheel" design team for fourth edition ''Dungeons & Dragons'', and did the final concept work from May 2006 to September 2006, before the first books for the edition were written and playtested. Collins was one of the authors of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 4th edition ''

Player's Handbook The ''Player's Handbook'' (spelled ''Players Handbook'' in first edition '' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' (''AD&D'')) is a book of rules for the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). It does not contain the complete set of r ...

''.

Bibliography

Dungeons & Dragons

3rd edition

* ''

Complete Warrior ''Complete Warrior'' is a supplemental rulebook for the 3.5 edition of the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' role-playing game, published by Wizards of the Coast. It replaces and expands upon an earlier rulebook entitled '' Sword and Fist''. Contents '' ...

'' * '' Draconomicon'' * '' Epic Level Handbook'' * '' Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead'' * ''

Magic Item Compendium The ''Magic Item Compendium'' is a sourcebook written for the 3.5 edition of the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Contents The ''Magic Item Compendium'' contains over a thousand magic items used in '' Dungeons & Dragons''. Th ...

'' * '' Unearthed Arcana''

4th edition

* ''

Gamma World

* '' Gamma World Campaign Setting''

Star Wars Roleplaying Game

* '' Star Wars Roleplaying Game Revised Edition'' * ''Star Wars Gamemaster Screen'' * ''Living Force Campaign Guide''

References

External links

D&D 360
a '' Dragon'' article including an essay by Andy Collins.
Celebrity Game Table: Spelling is Everything
an essay by Andy Collins. {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Andy Dungeons & Dragons game designers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)