Bill Webb 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 ...

who has worked primarily on

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 ...

Career

Bill Webb and his old friend Clark Peterson formed

Necromancer Games Necromancer Games was an American publisher of role-playing games. With offices in Seattle, Washington and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the company specialized in material for the d20 System. Most of its products were released under the Open Game Lic ...

in the spring of 2000 to publish role-playing materials using the impending d20 license; on August 10, 2000, the same day

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 ...

was to release the new ''

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 ...

'' at

GenCon Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

33, Peterson and Webb published a free PDF adventure called ''The Wizard's Amulet'' just a few minutes after midnight that same day. On September 13, 2000, Necromancer Games announced a partnership with White Wolf in forming their "

Sword & Sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the ...

" imprint, and Peterson and Webb produced many of White Wolf's rulebooks including ''Creature Collection'' (2000), ''Relics & Rituals'' (2000), ''The Divine and The Defeated'' (2001), and ''Creature Collection II'' (2001). Webb has since cofounded Frog God Games focusing on adventures designed for both the ''

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game The ''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game'' is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) that was published in 2009 by Paizo Publishing. The first edition extends and modifies the System Reference Document (SRD) based on the revised 3rd edition ''Dungeons ...

'' and ''Swords & Wizardry''. Webb created Frog God Games to do his own publication; the parting was amicable and Necromancer passed on all rights to one of their final pseudo-publications, ''Slumbering Tsar'', to Webb - complete with any Necromancer IP that might have been mixed in. Frog God also bought the existing Necromancer stock from White Wolf, Kenzer & Company and Troll Lord Games, with the books being warehoused in Webb's garage and started to sell the stock via eBay in May 2010.

Sexual harassment allegations

Webb has admitted to "inappropriate and unprofessional interactions" at PaizoCon 2017 towards

Paizo Paizo Inc. (originally Paizo Publishing.) is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing game '' Pathfinder''. The company's name is derived from the Greek word ''pa ...

representative BJ Hensley, who interpreted his behavior as sexual harassment. Public discussion of this behavior led to calls to boycott conventions hosting Webb as a guest and business partners publishing Frog God material; Webb withdrew from Gary Con 2019 and

Steve Jackson Games Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the c ...

offered partial refunds to backers of its ''The Fantasy Trip'' Kickstarter campaign (which contained a setting and adventures developed by Frog God) who wished to withdraw their support, though Steve Jackson indicated that future projects with the company were in progress and would not be canceled. In response, Frog God Games instituted a policy that Webb be accompanied by a company associate at all future conventions, and in a joint statement with Ms. Hensley pledged a $1000 donation to

RAINN The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is an American nonprofit anti-sexual assault organization, the largest in the United States. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, as well as the Department of Defense Safe Helplin ...

, along with the charitable portion of "one of their next charity bundles". Frog God Games also "reiterate heirrequest to heirfans that they not make attacks on BJ in any way."

References

External links

Bill Webb :: Pen & Paper RPG Databasearchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Bill Living people Role-playing game designers Year of birth missing (living people)