Bill Bridges (born September 17, 1965) is an American
role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as 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 ...
developer and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
Mage: The Ascension
''Mage: The Ascension'' is a supernatural fiction tabletop role-playing game first published on August 19, 1993, by White Wolf Publishing. It is set in the World of Darkness universe.
History
Following the success of '' Vampire: The Masquerade ...
'', and '' Promethean: The Created''. He additionally worked on a video game based on his ''
Fading Suns
''Fading Suns'' is a science fiction space opera role-playing game published by Holistic Design. The setting was also used for a PC game ('' Emperor of the Fading Suns''), a live action role-playing game (''Passion Play''), and for a space com ...
'' role-playing game ''
Emperor of the Fading Suns
''Emperor of the Fading Suns'' is a turn-based strategy 4X video game developed by Holistic Design, based on their in-house role-playing game setting ''Fading Suns''. It was released for Microsoft Windows in January 1997.
The game had a wide ar ...
''. He is currently a developer at
Holistic Design
Holistic Design, Inc. (HDI), is an American game company.
It was founded in 1992 as Several Dudes Holistic Gaming. The company has developed many computer games in its history, including '' Battles of Destiny'', '' Hammer of the Gods'', '' Final ...
.
Career
Early career
Bill Bridges was an original developer for
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 RampantWerewolf: The Apocalypse''. Bridges was the line editor for ''Werewolf'' and as one of the early
World of Darkness
''World of Darkness'' is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''Werewolf: The Apocaly ...
developers, he was a key figure in developing the look and tone of the productions for the setting. He worked on the Storytelling system rules for all the World of Darkness games. It was his goal to present werewolves as something besides accursed humans, an idea which has since been echoed in some popular contemporary novel series. He was a part of the original ''
Mage: The Ascension
''Mage: The Ascension'' is a supernatural fiction tabletop role-playing game first published on August 19, 1993, by White Wolf Publishing. It is set in the World of Darkness universe.
History
Following the success of '' Vampire: The Masquerade ...
'' design team. He has many writing credits encompassing most of the second edition
World of Darkness
''World of Darkness'' is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''Werewolf: The Apocaly ...
games, and helped design ''
Rage
Rage may refer to:
* Rage (emotion), an intense form of anger
Games
* Rage (collectible card game), a collectible card game
* Rage (trick-taking card game), a commercial variant of the card game Oh Hell
* ''Rage'' (video game), a 2011 first- ...
'', the ''Werewolf''
collectible card game
A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards. The genre was introduced with ''Magic: The G ...
.
1995 to 2000
He left White Wolf Publishing in 1996 to join
Holistic Design
Holistic Design, Inc. (HDI), is an American game company.
It was founded in 1992 as Several Dudes Holistic Gaming. The company has developed many computer games in its history, including '' Battles of Destiny'', '' Hammer of the Gods'', '' Final ...
(HDI), where he co-created ''
Fading Suns
''Fading Suns'' is a science fiction space opera role-playing game published by Holistic Design. The setting was also used for a PC game ('' Emperor of the Fading Suns''), a live action role-playing game (''Passion Play''), and for a space com ...
'' with
Andrew Greenberg
Andrew Greenberg is a game designer of tabletop role-playing games and role-playing video games.
Career
Greenberg was one of White Wolf Publishing's original developers on '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' (1991). He was the line editor for ''Vampi ...
. Bridges received inspiration for the setting from ''
The Book of the New Sun
''The Book of the New Sun'' (1980–1983, 1987) is a four-volume science fantasy novel written by the American author Gene Wolfe. The work is in four parts with a fifth novel acting as a coda to the main story. It inaugurated the "Solar Cycle" ...
'' by
Gene Wolfe
Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and no ...
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...
. Bridges' largest were his ''Alustro's Journals'', a series of "
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (; ; ; 8 January 1324) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known a ...
" style diaries featuring the travels of the pilgrim Alustro and his companions. He was the primary author of the ''War in the Heavens'' series, which revealed the secrets of the Symbiots and the Vau. Minor literary similarities can be seen between the Symbiots and the 'defenders of Gaia' Garou in ''Werewolf: the Apocalypse.''
His other work includes writing for
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 fic ...
Last Unicorn Games
Last Unicorn Games (or LUG) was a Pennsylvania based corporation with offices in Los Angeles, California. It was formed in 1994 by Christian Moore, Owen Seyler, Greg Ormand, and Bernie Cahill to publish the role playing game ''ARIA: Canticle of t ...
, ''
Emperor of the Fading Suns
''Emperor of the Fading Suns'' is a turn-based strategy 4X video game developed by Holistic Design, based on their in-house role-playing game setting ''Fading Suns''. It was released for Microsoft Windows in January 1997.
The game had a wide ar ...
'' for Segasoft (based on ''Fading Suns,''), co-writing scripts for
Viacom
Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to:
* Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate
* Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom
* Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...
's "interactive horror movie" ''
Dracula Unleashed
''Dracula Unleashed'' is a 1993 video game created by ICOM Simulations and published by Viacom New Media for the DOS, Macintosh and Sega CD platforms.
It was one of the earliest titles to make heavy use of full-motion video as an integral part of ...
,'' and work on ''
Starfleet Academy
Starfleet is a fictional organization in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for condu ...
Bridges moved back to White Wolf Publishing on February 12, 2002, replacing Jess Heinig as the developer for the revised edition of ''
Mage: The Ascension
''Mage: The Ascension'' is a supernatural fiction tabletop role-playing game first published on August 19, 1993, by White Wolf Publishing. It is set in the World of Darkness universe.
History
Following the success of '' Vampire: The Masquerade ...
.'' Bridges saw the game he created through to its conclusion in the
Time of Judgment
''Time of Judgment'' is a series of roleplaying game scenario books for the World of Darkness settings of White Wolf Game Studio. These scenarios are presented as the semi-canonical endings of the original World of Darkness, as preparation for ...
. Bridges and
Ken Cliffe
Ken Cliffe is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He is known primarily as the author and developer for the third edition of ''Ars Magica'', and as co-author and developer of the ''Trinity'', '' Hunter: The Reckoning'' ...
developed the book, '' The World of Darkness'' (2004), a single rulebook to cover the new version of the World of Darkness setting and rule system. For the new World of Darkness edition, he worked on the new core rules and was a designer, author, and developer on '' Mage: The Awakening.'' He later moved on to '' Promethean: The Created,'' which won several awards.
Bridges also co-chairs the presenter programming for the biannual myth-based academic
conference
A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...
and performance festival, Mythic Journeys. His published novels include ''The Silver Crown,'' and ''The Last Battle,'' both of which are set in the '' Werewolf: The Apocalypse'' setting.