Chris Avellone is an American

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

and comic book writer. He worked for

Interplay Interplay may refer to: * Interplay (John Coltrane album), ''Interplay'' (John Coltrane album), 1957 * Interplay (Bill Evans album), ''Interplay'' (Bill Evans album), 1962 * Interplay (Al Haig album), ''Interplay'' (Al Haig album), 1976 * Interpla ...

and Obsidian Entertainment before working as a freelancer. He is best known for his work on

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

s such as '' Planescape: Torment'' and the ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioa ...

'' series.

Biography

Avellone is an alumnus of the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia. He studied at the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William II ...

, graduating with a major in English and a minor in fine arts, focused on architecture. Working initially as a freelancer in the two years after college, Avellone wrote campaigns for ''

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 ...

''-inspired

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 ...

s. After entering the video game industry through the company

in 1995, he briefly worked on the development of the 1997 title '' Star Trek: Starfleet Academy''. In 1997 he took over the development of '' Descent to Undermountain'', which he later called a disappointment. Avellone contributed to the 1998 game ''

Fallout 2 ''Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game'' is a 1998 role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Productions. It is a sequel to ''Fallout'' (1997), featuring similar graphics and game mechanics. The g ...

'' and continued to work on its franchise. Interplay acquired the rights to produce a role-playing video game set in the ''

Planescape ''Planescape'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, designed by Zeb Cook, and published in 1994. It crosses numerous planes of existence, encompassing an entire cosmology called the Great Wheel, as d ...

campaign setting A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A ''campaign'' is a series of individual adventures, and a ''campaign setting'' is the world in which such adventures and c ...

with development led by Avellone. The game, '' Planescape: Torment'' was released in 1999 and is frequently cited as among the best-written games in history. Avellone worked on all the games of the '' Icewind Dale'' series, which were released from 2000 to 2002. As a designer, Avellone contributed to the fantasy titles '' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance'' (2001), '' Champions of Norrath'' (2004) and led the design of the canceled ''Fallout'' title ''Van Buren'', after which he resigned from Interplay and co-founded Obsidian Entertainment. For the company, Avellone worked on the role-playing games '' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II'' (2004) and '' Neverwinter Nights 2'' (2006) and on the

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the playe ...

'' Alpha Protocol''. He also worked as a senior designer on '' Fallout: New Vegas''. He worked as the project director and lead creative designer on ''Dead Money'', ''Old World Blues'' and ''Lonesome Road'' ''Fallout: New Vegas''

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...

. Avellone worked as a narrative designer on '' Pillars of Eternity'' prior to leaving Obsidian Entertainment in June 2015. Avellone has since worked as a freelancer on games such as '' Pillars of Eternity'', '' Torment: Tides of Numenera'', ''

Prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

'', '' Divinity: Original Sin II'', '' Pathfinder: Kingmaker'', and '' Into the Breach''. In June 2020, Avellone was accused by three people of using his status for sexual misconduct and harassment towards women during industry conventions. Following these

allegation In law, an allegation is a claim of an unproven fact by a party in a pleading, charge, or defense. Until they can be proved, allegations remain merely assertions.

s, Techland announced that they and Avellone agreed to end his work on ''

Dying Light 2 ''Dying Light 2: Stay Human'' is a 2022 action role-playing game developed and published by Techland. The sequel to ''Dying Light'' (2015), the game was released on February 4, 2022, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox ...

''. Gato Studios also removed Avellone from '' The Waylanders''; according to lead writer Emily Grace Buck, Avellone had "very little writing" over that project, having only penned a few quests that they planned to rewrite.

Paradox Interactive Paradox Interactive AB is a video game publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company started out as the video game division of Target Games and then Paradox Entertainment (now Cabinet Entertainment) before being spun out into an indep ...

said that while Avellone had worked on an early version of '' Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2'', much of his work had since been overwritten. Avellone published a denial of the allegations through '' Medium'' in June 2021 and stated he had filed a

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

suit against his accusers in a California court.

Works

Video games

Comic books

''Star Wars'' comics: *''Unseen, Unheard'' (2005) *''Heroes on Both Sides'' (2006) *''Impregnable'' (2007) *''Old Scores'' (2007) *''Graduation Day'' (2007) ''Fallout'' comics: * ''Fallout: New Vegas, All Roads'' (2010, part of the '' Fallout: New Vegas'' collector's edition)

Fiction

* ''The House of Wael'' (2016, to ''Pillars of Eternity'' Kickstarter backers)

Tabletop role-playing game modules

* ''The Puzzle Box'' (2020, to ''Pathfinder: Kingmaker'' Kickstarter backers) * ''Dystopia'' (1994, ''Champions'' module published by Atlas Games)

References

External links

*
The Guardian interview with Chris Avellone

SugarBombed interview with Chris Avellone (part 1).Chris Avellone Interview
wit
Scripts & Scribes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avellone, Chris American comics writers American video game designers American writers of Italian descent Black Isle Studios Dungeons & Dragons video game designers Fallout (series) developers Interplay Entertainment people Living people Obsidian Entertainment people Place of birth missing (living people) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic developers Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology alumni Video game writers Year of birth missing (living people)