David John Morris (born 19 March 1957) is a British author of

gamebooks A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does no ...

, novels and comics and a designer of

computer games A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-d ...

and

role-playing games 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 ...

Education

Dave Morris graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read Physics from 1976 until 1979.

Writer

Morris began his writing career in 1984 by writing the fantasy

adventure gamebook A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not ...

''Crypt of the Vampire'', part of the ''Golden Dragon'' series published by

Grafton Books Grafton was a British paperback imprint established 1981 by Granada Publishing Ltd, a subsidiary of media company Granada Group Ltd. It was named after the publishing company's then address, 8 Grafton Street, in central London. Other paperback i ...

in the UK and

Berkley Books Berkley Books is an imprint of the Penguin Group. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Company" by Charles Byrne and Frederick Klein, who had worked for Avon; they quickly renamed it Berkl ...

in the US. The following year, Morris and Oliver Johnson created the ''

Dragon Warriors Dragon Warriors is a fantasy role playing game system written by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson and published by Corgi Books between the years 1985 and 1986. In 2009, it was re-collected in a new hardcover edition by Mongoose Publishing. This ...

'' role-playing game. ''Dragon Warriors'' was an attempt at releasing a

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 ...

in a series of

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, le ...

books. In a 1996 reader poll conducted by ''Arcane'' to determine the fifty most popular roleplaying games of all time, ''Dragon Warriors'' was ranked 48th. In 2008, the game was licensed by Morris to James Wallis of Magnum Opus Press, and Serpent King Games acquired the ''

'' license afterwards. In 1987, Morris and Johnson created the '' Blood Sword'' series, five adventure gamebooks published by Knight Books. In 1990, Morris and Jamie Thomson wrote ''The Keep of the Lich-Lord'' for the popular ''

Fighting Fantasy ''Fighting Fantasy'' is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982. The series distinguished itself by mixing Choo ...

'' series of adventure gamebooks.

''Fabled Lands''

In 1995, Morris and Jamie Thomson wrote the first of several adventure gamebooks in the ''

Fabled Lands Fabled Lands is a series of fantasy gamebooks written by established gamebook authors Dave Morris (writer), Dave Morris and Jamie Thomson (author), Jamie Thomson and published by Pan Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers, Macmillan in the mid 1 ...

'' series. It received positive reviews, including 20 years later. Although well-received, the books were published when, as Sylvio Konkol noted, "the golden age of adventure gamebooks was actually over." Morris and Thomson originally envisioned twelve books in the series, but various publishing problems, including underpricing the expensive books and a shrinking market, meant the series was curtailed after only six volumes. As

Massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are ...

s (MMOs) became popular in the early 2000s, Morris and Thomson hired the French firm Eidos to convert their books into an MMO. However, Eidos ran out of money before the project was completed. Twenty-five years after the ''Fabled Lands'' books were published, Morris and Thomson granted a license to Prime Games to develop a ''Fabled Lands'' computer role-playing game.

Other works

Morris also co-authored a number of other books, including '' Virtual Reality: Necklace of Skulls'' with Mark Smith (1993), '' Blood Sword: The Battlepits of Krarth'' with Oliver Johnson (1987), the ''Golden Dragon'' series, and a number of TV and movie novelisations. His original novels include ''

Knightmare ''Knightmare'' is a British children's adventure game show, created by Tim Child, and broadcast over eight series on CITV from 7 September 1987 to 11 November 1994. The general format of the show is of a team of four children – one who take ...

'' (a historical fantasy adventure series set in the early 13th century that ties in with the television series of that name), ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'' and the contemporary horror novel ''Lost Souls''. Another horror novel, ''Florien'', was published as an ebook in 2010. In 2008 his episodic comic strip ''Mirabilis'' began weekly publication in Random House's subscription-based magazine

The DFC ''The DFC'' was a weekly British children's anthology comic, published by David Fickling Books (an imprint of Random House). The first issue was published at the end of May 2008. The title stood for "David Fickling Comic". Its successor, '' The ...

. Working with artist Leo Hartas, Morris founded electronic publisher Mirus Entertainment and published ''Mirabilis'' for the iPad in December 2010. In addition to his more than seventy published books, Morris is a leading developer of the ''

Empire of the Petal Throne ''Empire of the Petal Throne'' is a fantasy role-playing game designed by M. A. R. Barker, based on his Tékumel fictional universe. It was self-published in 1974, then published by TSR, Inc. in 1975. It was one of the first tabletop role-pla ...

'' gaming system (created by MAR Barker and published by TSR), creating a playable rules system (''Tirikelu'') and editing a fanzine. Morris also co-authored a book on the computer gaming industry, having worked as a game designer for Eidos and Microsoft, and is a former mentor in the American Film Institute's Digital Content Lab. In April 2012, he published an interactive reworking of

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific exp ...

in which the reader is able to give advice to the

first-person narrator A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller, ...

of the story.

Bibliography

Dave Morris's published works include:

Blood Sword series

* ''The Battlepits of Krarth'' (1987,

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publishe ...

, ) * ''The Kingdom of Wyrd'' (1987,

, ) * ''The Demon's Claw'' (1987,

, ) * ''Doomwalk'' (1988,

, ) * ''The Walls of Spyte'' (1988,

, )

Chronicles of the Magi

* ''The Sword of Life'' (1997,

Hodder Headline Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Headline was acqu ...

, ) * ''The Kingdom of Dreams'' (1997,

, ) * ''The City of Stars'' (1997,

, )

Crystal Maze

* ''The Crystal Maze'' (with Jamie Thomson, 1991) * ''Crystal Maze Challenge!'' (with Jamie Thomson, 1992)

Dragon Warriors series

* ''Dragon Warriors'' (1985, Transworld, ) * ''The Way of Wizardry'' (1985, Transworld, ) * ''Out of the Shadows'' (1986, Transworld, ) * ''The Lands of Legend'' (1986, Transworld, ) * ''Dragon Warriors'' (revised edition 2008, Magnum Opus Press, ) * ''Sleeping Gods'' (2008, Magnum Opus Press, ) * ''Bestiary'' (2008, Magnum Opus Press, )

Fabled Lands series

* ''The War-Torn Kingdom'' (1995,

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

, ) * ''Cities of Gold and Glory'' (1995,

, ) * ''Over the Blood-Dark Sea'' (1995,

, ) * ''The Plains of Howling Darkness'' (1996,

, ) * ''The Court of Hidden Faces'' (1996,

, ) * ''Lords of the Rising Sun'' (1996,

, )

Fighting Fantasy series

*''The Keep of the Lich-Lord'' (1990,

Puffin Books Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs ...

, )

Golden Dragon series

*''Crypt of the Vampire'' (1984, Transworld, ) *''Temple of Flame'' (with Oliver Johnson) (1984, Transworld, ) *''The Eye of the Dragon'' (1985, Transworld, ) *''Castle of Lost Souls'' (with Yve Newnham) (1985, Transworld, )

Heroquest series

* ''The Tyrant's Tomb'' (1993,

Corgi Books Transworld Publishers Ltd. is a British publishing house in Ealing, London that is a division of Penguin Random House, one of the world's largest mass media groups. It was established in 1950 as the British division of American company Bantam ...

, ) * ''The Screaming Spectre'' (1993,

, ) * ''The Fellowship of Four'' (1993,

, )

Knightmare series

* ''Knightmare'' (1988, Transworld, ) * ''The Labyrinths of Fear'' (1989, Transworld, ) * ''Fortress of Assassins'' (1990, Transworld, ) * ''The Sorcerer's Isle'' (1991, Transworld, ) * ''The Forbidden Gate'' (1992, Transworld, ) * ''The Dragon's Lair'' (1993, Transworld, ) * ''Lord Fear's Domain'' (1994, Transworld, )

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series

* ''Buried Treasure'' (1990, Transworld, ) * ''Sixguns and Shurikens'' (1990, Transworld, ) * ''Sky High'' (1990, Transworld, ) * ''Red Herrings'' (1990, Transworld, ) * ''Dinosaur Farm'' (1991, Transworld, ) * ''Splinter to the Fore'' (1991, Transworld, )

Virtual Reality series

* ''Down Among the Dead Men'' (1993,

Reed Consumer Books Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

, ) * ''Necklace of Skulls'' (1993,

, ) * ''Heart of Ice'' (1994,

, ) * ''Twist of Fate'' (1994,

, )

Other works

*''Game Architecture and Design'' (with Andrew Rollings, 2003,

Pearson Education Pearson Education is a British-owned education publishing and assessment service to schools and corporations, as well for students directly. Pearson owns educational media brands including Addison–Wesley, Peachpit, Prentice Hall, eColleg ...

, ) *''Game Guru: Role-Playing Games'' (with Leo Hartas, 2004,

ILEX Press ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

, ) *''Game Guru: Strategy Games'' (with Leo Hartas, 2004,

, ) *''Machinima : Making Animated Movies in 3D Virtual Environments'' (with Dave Lloyd and Matt Kelland, 2005,

, ) *''A Minotaur at the Savoy'' (2011, Mirus Entertainment, ) *''Mirabilis: Year of Wonders, Volume One'' (2011, Printmedia Productions, ) *''Frankenstein'' (2012,

Profile Books Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current affairs, travel and popular science. Profile Books is distributed in the UK by ...

, ) *''Can You Brexit? Without Breaking Britain'' (with Jamie Thomson, 2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Dave 1957 births Living people People educated at Royal Grammar School, Guildford Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford British comics writers British gamebook writers