Loren Wiseman
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Loren Keith Wiseman (March 7, 1951 – February 14, 2017) was an American
wargame A normal wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for Recreational wargaming, recreation, to train military officers in the art of milit ...
and
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 ...
designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...
, game developer and
editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
.


Career


Game Designers' Workshop

After graduating from
Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...
, Loren Wiseman co-founded
Game Designers' Workshop Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a Board wargame, wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers. History Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973. ...
with
Frank Chadwick Frank Chadwick is an American game designer and ''New York Times'' best selling author. He has designed hundreds of games, his most notable being the role-playing games '' En Garde!'', '' Space: 1889'' and '' Twilight 2000'', and the wargame s ...
, Rich Banner, and Marc Miller on June 22, 1973. Wiseman published ''
Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
'' (later published by
Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the compan ...
as '' Caesar's Legions''), his first wargame, and the fifth game published by
Game Designers' Workshop Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a Board wargame, wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers. History Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973. ...
, in 1974. As a partner at GDW, his primary responsibilities were
game development game development (sometimes shortened to gamedev) is the process of creating a video game. It is a multidisciplinary practice, involving programming, design, art, audio, user interface, and writing. Each of those may be made up of more specialize ...
– editing and revising game manuscripts and preparing them for
publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Convention, articl ...
. During this period he designed the wargame ''
Pharsalus Pharsalus may refer to: * ''Pharsalus'' (planthopper), a genus of insects in the family Ricaniidae * Farsala Farsala (), known in Antiquity as Pharsalos (, ), is a town in southern Thessaly, in Greece. Farsala is located in the southern part ...
'' (1977), and wrote the award-winning '' Twilight: 2000'' role-playing adventure ''
Going Home Going Home or Goin' Home may refer to: Film and television Films * Going Home (1944 film), ''Going Home'' (1944 film), an unreleased entry in the Private Snafu series * Going Home (1971 film), ''Going Home'' (1971 film), starring Robert Mitchum ...
''. Wiseman helped Frank Chadwick, John Harshman, and Marc Miller design '' Traveller'' (1977). Wiseman was editor of the '' Journal of the Travellers Aid Society'' (24 issues), and its successor '' Challenge'' magazine (53 issues). Wiseman brought on J. Andrew Keith and
William H. Keith Jr. William H. Keith (born August 8, 1950) is an American author mainly contributing to military science fiction and military fiction and related game design, who writes also under several pen names, such as Ian Douglas, Robert Cain and H. Jay R ...
to GDW to start freelancing in either 1978 or 1979, and author Shannon Appelcline noted that "Together the three would end up setting a lot of the early tone for the ''Traveller'' universe. Wiseman became the line developer for '' Twilight: 2000''. The process at GDW was for the designer to write the text, but the developer brought together that text, plus draft diagrams and art into a manuscript, typeset it, and then made sure it was properly published. It also fell to him to design titles in the series (out of 46 supplementary titles for the series, he is credited with designing 20).


Steve Jackson Games

When GDW closed in 1995, Wiseman was unemployed for a short time and then worked a succession of part-time jobs, before being offered a job at
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 cr ...
as Art Director and ''Traveller'' Line Editor. Steve Jackson brought on Wiseman to produce the '' GURPS Traveller'' (1998) line. He wrote ''GURPS Traveller'' and several supporting products, including ''GURPS Traveller Nobles'' and '' The Interstellar Wars''.


Awards and recognition

Wiseman was recognized for his excellence and expertise with the H. G. Wells Award for '' Twilight: 2000 Going Home'' (1986), and the H. G. Wells Award three years running for the '' Journal of the Travellers Aid Society'' (1979-1980-1981). In 2003 Wiseman was Gaming Guest of Honor at the 26th CoastCon
science fiction convention Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction subgenre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of ex ...
. In 2004, Loren received perhaps the highest of honors within the gaming community: he was inducted into the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame, and the above recounting of his credits gives some insight into the rationale. He was honored as a "famous game designer" by being featured as the king of clubs in
Flying Buffalo Flying Buffalo Inc. (FBI) is a game company with a line of role playing games, card games, and other gaming materials. The company's founder, Rick Loomis, began game publishing with '' Nuclear Destruction'', a play-by-mail game which started th ...
's 2010 Famous Game Designers Playing Card Deck.


Death

Reports on Facebook and at Steve Jackson Games report that Loren Wiseman died of a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
on February 14, 2017.


Posthumous Work

Loren had written "The City of Ascalon" for publication as part of the
Dangerous Journeys ''Dangerous Journeys'' was a roleplaying game created by Gary Gygax, the cocreator of the original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' system. The game was originally announced as ''Dangerous Dimensions'' but was changed to ''Dangerous Journeys'' in response ...
RPG, but work was halted by the settlement GDW made with TSR. Since Loren retained the rights to Ascalon, it could still be published as a standalone generic RPG supplement. He sold the rights to Donald Eccles, who later formed FGG Games, LLC in 2023 to publish Ascalon and other works. Ascalon was finally published on July 10, 2023, six years after Loren's death.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiseman, Loren 1951 births 2017 deaths GURPS writers Illinois State University alumni People from Bloomington, Illinois American role-playing designers Wargame designers