
John Wick is an American
role-playing game designer best known for his creative contributions to the
tabletop role playing game
A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participan ...
s ''
Legend of the Five Rings'' and ''
7th Sea''. He self-published ''
Orkworld
Orkworld is a fantasy role-playing game featuring orc, orks. It was designed by John Wick (game designer), John Wick, illustrated by Thomas Denmark and released by Wicked Press.
Game setting and mechanics
According to Wick, ''Orkworld'' breaks f ...
'' under the Wicked Press banner, and later co-founded the Wicked Dead Brewing Company with
Jared Sorensen. His games under that company include ''
Cat
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
'', ''Schauermärchen'', ''Enemy Gods'', and ''Thirty''. He has won the
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...
for Best Role-Playing Game and Best Collectible Card Game twice (for both the ''
Legend of the Five Rings'' and ''
7th Sea''
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 ...
and
collectible card games).
He has also written for
White Wolf, Inc.,
Pinnacle Entertainment Group, and worked for various video game companies, providing storyline and dialogue. He has written two regular online columns: The Game Designer's Journal (for ''
The Gaming Outpost'') and Play Dirty (for ''
Pyramid Magazine
''Pyramid'' was a gaming magazine, publishing articles primarily on role-playing games, but including board games, card games, and other sorts of games. It began life in 1993 as a print publication of Steve Jackson Games for its first 30 iss ...
'').
Legend of the Five Rings
In 1995, Wick was a freelance writer living in Southern California. He had submitted articles to ''
Shadis Magazine
''Shadis'' is an independent gaming magazine that was published in 1990–1998 by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). It initially focused on role-playing games.
Publication history
Shadis was conceived and started by Jolly Blackburn as an indepe ...
'',
Alderac Entertainment Group's independent game magazine, attracting the attention of the magazine's assistant editor, D.J. Trindle. He was brought on as a staff writer at D.J.'s request. Soon after joining AEG, he got involved with the production and design of the ''
Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game
''Legend of the Five Rings'' (''L5R'') is an out-of-print collectible card game created by a joint venture featuring Alderac Entertainment Group and ISOMEDIA in 1995 and published until 2015, when it was announced that the game would be discon ...
'', along with the rest of the company.
He worked with
Matthew D. Wilson, the game's art director and David Williams, the game's lead designer. He served as "Continuity Editor", which meant that he was responsible for the game's characters and plot details.
Wick served as L5R's Continuity Editor for the Emerald Edition, Obsidian Edition, and Jade Edition sets, including the Shadowlands, Forbidden Knowledge, Anvil of Despair, Crimson & Jade, and Time of the Void expansions. He was also the primary source for storyline, flavor text and character for The Scorpion Coup set.
Wick also led the design team that created the ''
Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game'' (1997).
Wick left the L5R design team shortly thereafter to work on AEG's forthcoming ''
7th Sea'' project.
7th Sea
''
7th Sea'' (1998), the second RPG published by AEG, was designed by John and Jennifer Wick, and
Kevin Wilson.
''7th Sea'' is AEG's swashbuckling setting. Initially proposed by Wick and his wife Jennifer, the game was intended to be self-contained, but quickly evolved into a much larger project. Telling the story of the world of
Théah, a fantasy amalgam of
Restoration Age Europe, ''7th Sea'' included pirates, musketeers, explorers and magic.
Wick wrote and developed much of the project, including the ''7th Sea Players Guide'', ''Game Masters Guide'', ''
Avalon
Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in th ...
Sourcebook'',
GM screen, and ''
Knights of the Rose and Cross'' sourcebook. He left AEG after his work on the ''Avalon Sourcebook'' was finished.
On November 3, 2015, AEG announced that it had sold the rights to the ''7th Sea'' property back to Wick, and entered a partnership with him to publish certain licensed games using the property.
On April 2, 2019,
Chaosium
Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', R ...
announced on their official blog their acquisition of the rights to the ''7th Sea'' product line from John Wick.
''Orkworld''
After leaving AEG, he acquired a position at
Totally Games
Totally Games was a video game developer located in Marin County, California. Their titles included the ''X-wing'' series of games based on the Star Wars universe, a series of PC-based World War II flight combat simulations (''Battlehawks 1942'', ...
, helping develop an
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...
launch title. He also wrote, designed, and developed ''
Orkworld
Orkworld is a fantasy role-playing game featuring orc, orks. It was designed by John Wick (game designer), John Wick, illustrated by Thomas Denmark and released by Wicked Press.
Game setting and mechanics
According to Wick, ''Orkworld'' breaks f ...
'',
a reverse-fantasy game where orks are the heroes and the "monsters" are humans, dwarves, and elves. The game was released the same year as ''
Dungeons and Dragons'' 3rd Edition and garnered an Origins Award nomination for Best Game Fiction.
The game was illustrated by
Thomas Denmark.
Neopets
After spending time in San Francisco, he returned to Los Angeles and began working at
Neopets, writing stories for the
Neopedia
''Neopets'' is a virtual pet website. Users can own virtual pets ("Neopets") and buy virtual items for them using one of two virtual currencies. One currency, called Neopoints, can be earned within the site, and the other, Neocash, can eithe ...
. He also helped develop the Neopets CCG.
Upper Deck
Wick was also a major contributor to the award-winning Vs. System CCG (Marvel TCG and DC Comics TCG) published by The
Upper Deck Company.
The Wicked Dead Brewing Company
Wick began a new publishing venture with his friend Jared Sorensen.
Calling their joint venture the Wicked Dead Brewing Company (based on Wick's previous publishing venture
Wicked Press
Wicked may refer to:
Books
* Wicked, a minor character in the ''X-Men'' universe
* ''Wicked'', a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name
* ''Wicked'', the fifth novel in Sara Shepard's ''Pretty Little Liars'' ser ...
and Sorenson's
Memento Mori Theatricks), they began in 2004 and have published over a dozen roleplaying games, board games, and books. He self-published a novel titled ''
No Loyal Knight'' through the Wicked Dead Brewing Company.
Wick published a number of fantasy
indie role-playing games using dice-pool mechanics, including ''Enemy Gods'' (2004) and ''
Cat
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
'' (2006).
John Wick Presents
Wick started a new company—
John Wick Presents—in 2009 when he kicked off his partnership with
Cubicle 7 by reissuing his 2008 RPG ''
Houses of the Blooded
{{italic title
''Houses of the Blooded'' is a roleplaying game designed by John Wick released in July 2008. Its author has described it as the "anti-Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game," emphasising elements of the fantasy genre that D&D overlo ...
''.
He also released ''Curse of the Yellow Sign'' and ''Blood & Honor through'' this company.
''Houses of the Blooded''
In 2007, Wick announced a return to "big game design" in his LiveJournal. The game, called ''
Houses of the Blooded
{{italic title
''Houses of the Blooded'' is a roleplaying game designed by John Wick released in July 2008. Its author has described it as the "anti-Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game," emphasising elements of the fantasy genre that D&D overlo ...
'', was released at the 2008
Origins Game Fair. The game focuses on "the ven" (a race of magically created humanoids) and the world of Shanri (both of which have showed up in a previous game, ''Enemy Gods'').
The pre-order for the limited edition version of ''
Houses of the Blooded
{{italic title
''Houses of the Blooded'' is a roleplaying game designed by John Wick released in July 2008. Its author has described it as the "anti-Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game," emphasising elements of the fantasy genre that D&D overlo ...
'' sold out in exactly one week. There were 100 copies available on the
Indie Press Revolution website on May 5, 2008 and they were all gone by May 12. Wick was apparently surprised by this turn of events.
Wick released a soundtrack with the new game, focusing on "ven blood opera," an in-game element. Songs from the opera can be heard on the Houses of the Blooded website.
Wick is keeping an open log of his design of this game in his LiveJournal.
He has stated his intention to release several stand alone supplements that will detail various aspects of the world of Shanri. Each book would allow players to play a different role in Shanri and, as he stated in his livejournal, "almost feel as if they're playing a different game." The books mentioned so far are a 'Slumming' book where players play ven nobles from cities (as opposed to 'country' ven detailed in the main book), a Wilderness book where vassals of the ven nobles fight off ork, explore dungeons, and possibly kill dragons, as well as a Suaven book where details regarding the Ancestor worship religion of the ven will be revealed.
Wick teamed up with British games publisher
Cubicle 7 Entertainment for a mass market release of the game in September 2009.
Freemasonry
In November 2005, Wick became a
Freemason, joining Liberal Arts Lodge of Los Angeles, California. He is a Master Mason.
The Awful Lot
Wick was a founding member and the drummer for the band
The Awful Lot
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
.
Awards
Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game (Author and Lead Designer)
1997 Origins Award Best Roleplaying Game
1997 RPGA Gamer's Choice Award Best Roleplaying Game
Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game (Design Team and Story Editor)
1996 Origins Award Best Collectible Card Game (Battle at Beiden Pass)
1997 Origins Award Best Collectible Card Game Expansion (Time of the Void)
7th Sea Roleplaying Game (Creator, Co-Author, Lead Designer)
1999 Origins Award Best Roleplaying Game
7th Sea Collectible Card Game (Co-Creator, Design Team, Story Editor)
1999 Origins Award Best Collectible Card Game
Orkworld (Author and Designer)
2000 Best Game Fiction (How Bashthraka Lost His Spear) (nominated)
2017 Ennies
7th Sea: Best Game (Silver), Best Rules (Gold), Best Free Product Free Rules (Gold), Best Supplement Pirate Nations (Silver), Product of the Year (Silver)
References
External links
Personal sites
The Tao of Zen Nihilism(LiveJournal blog)
John Wick's YouTube Channel(vlog)
Commercial and professional sites
John Wick Presents(Official Website and Webstore)
Houses of the Blooded website and forumsThe Awful Lot(MySpace)
The Wicked Dead Brewing CompanyPen & Paper listing for John Wick
Interviews
Interview with Sons of Kryos and Game Design SeminarInterview with Paul TevisInterview on EndgameradioInterview with Mark Kinney for GenCon (Almost) LiveInterview on Pulp GamerInterview at Theory from the ClosetThe Game's the Thing RandomCon 2009The Game's the Thing RinCon 2008 Wrap Up
Articles
Hit 'em Where It HurtsFive Favorite Roleplaying Games
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wick, John
Indie role-playing game designers
Role-playing game designers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people