Lynn Willis (died January 18, 2013) was a

wargame A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

and

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 ...

designer, best known for his work with

Metagaming Concepts Metagaming Concepts, later known simply as Metagaming, was a company that published board games from 1974 to 1983. It was founded and owned by Howard Thompson, who designed the company's first game, ''Stellar Conquest''. The company also invente ...

Game Designers' Workshop Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a 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. The founding m ...

(GDW), and

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 ...

Biography

Willis began by designing

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

wargames for Metagaming Concepts, starting with ''

Godsfire ''Godsfire'' is a science fiction board wargame published by Metagaming Concepts in 1976 that simulates planetary empire building, economics, and diplomacy. The game was reissued by Task Force Games in 1985. Description ''Godsfire'' is set in t ...

'' in 1976. He designed the

MicroGame {{Short description, Wikimedia disambiguation page The term microgame can refer to several subjects including: * MicroGame, line of board games by Metagaming Concepts * Microgame (board games), type of board game or wargame * Microgame (company), It ...

s '' Olympica'' (1978) and '' Holy War'' (1979). Chaosium published '' Lords of the Middle Sea'' (1978), and Willis joined Chaosium in 1978. GDW published '' Bloodtree Rebellion'' (1979). Willis's relationship with Chaosium proved the most enduring; he would turn to role-playing games. He helped founder

Greg Stafford Francis Gregory Stafford (February 9, 1948 – October 10, 2018), usually known as Greg Stafford, was an American game designer, publisher, and practitioner of shamanism. Stafford is most famous as the creator of the fantasy world of Gloranth ...

trim and refine the ''

RuneQuest ''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. It was first publis ...

'' rules into ''

Basic Role-Playing ''Basic Role-Playing'' (''BRP'') is a tabletop role-playing game which originated in the ''RuneQuest'' fantasy role-playing game. Chaosium released the ''BRP'' standalone booklet in 1980 in the boxed set release of the second edition of ''RuneQu ...

'', the rules that would serve as the base for many of Chaosium's RPG lines. He wrote the '' Call of Cthulhu'' campaign ''The

Masks of Nyarlathotep ''Masks of Nyarlathotep'', subtitled ''Perilous Adventures to Thwart the Dark God'', is an adventure campaign first published by Chaosium in 1984 for the second edition of the horror role-playing game '' Call of Cthulhu''. A number of revised e ...

'' (1984) with

Larry DiTillio Lawrence G. DiTillio (February 15, 1948 – March 16, 2019) was an American film, TV series, and tabletop role-playing game writer. His creations include ''He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword'' and the award-winning ''Masks of Nyarlatho ...

. He was included in the design credits for '' Worlds of Wonder'' (1982) and the ''

Ringworld ''Ringworld'' is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. ''Ringworld'' tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, a ...

'' RPG (1984). With other members of Chaosium, he co-wrote the ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, ...

'' RPG for

West End Games West End Games (WEG) was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product lines included ''Star Wars'', ''Paranoia'', ...

, which won the H.G. Wells Award for Best Role-playing Rules of 1986. Willis co-designed the fifth edition of ''Call of Cthulhu'' with

Sandy Petersen Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of '' RuneQuest'' and later creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game ''Cal ...

, and replaced

Keith Herber Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons i ...

as line editor of ''Cthulhu'' when Herber left Chaosium in 1994. He worked with Petersen again for the sixth edition of ''Call of Cthulhu''. Willis created the game ''Elric!'' with Richard Watts as a new ''Basic Role-Playing'' version of ''

Stormbringer Stormbringer is a magic sword featured in a number of fantasy stories by the author Michael Moorcock. It is described as a huge, black sword covered with strange runes, created by the forces of Chaos with its own will. It is wielded by the doo ...

''. After

left Chaosium in 1998, Willis stayed on as editor-in-chief. Willis left Chaosium in late 2008 due to ill health; at the time, he was the longest serving Chaosium employee, with 30 years of experience with the company.

Death

On September 11, 2008, the President of Chaosium, Charlie Krank, informed the public that Willis had been diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

. Krank later reported that Willis died on January 18, 2013.

References

External links

*
Official Chaosium Staff profile of Willis

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Lynn Board game designers 2013 deaths Year of birth missing Place of birth missing Chaosium game designers Role-playing game designers Neurological disease deaths in the United States Deaths from Parkinson's disease American game designers