Richard Leonard Snider (August 29, 1953–November 17, 2009) was a

game designer Game design is the process of creating and shaping the mechanics, systems, rules, and gameplay of a game. Game design processes apply to board games, card games, dice games, casino games, role-playing games, sports, Wargame (video games), war ga ...

who worked primarily on

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 ...

Early life and introduction to role-playing games

Richard Snider was born to Leonard and Elizabeth Snider, one of ten children, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After moving to Minnesota, he and his brother John joined the

Midwest Military Simulation Association The Midwest Military Simulation Association (MMSA) is a group of wargamers and military figurine collectors active during the late 1960s and 1970s. History When wargaming was in its heyday and role-playing games were first developed, the group live ...

gaming group, where he met

Dave Arneson David Lance Arneson (; October 1, 1947 – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game (RPG), ''Dungeons & Dragons'', with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s. Arneson's fundamental ...

David Wesely David Wesely (born 1945) is an American wargaming, wargamer, board game designer, and video game developer. Wesely's developments, inspired by ''Kriegsspiel'' wargames, were important and influential in the early history of role-playing games. ...

, Ken Fletcher, Dave Megarry, and others. Snider was also one of the players in the original ''Blackmoor'' gaming group that Arneson ran. He contributed many suggestions for rule revisions and additions, and Arneson dedicated an entire section of his ''

The First Fantasy Campaign ''The First Fantasy Campaign'' is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games written by Dave Arneson and published by Judges Guild in 1977. Description Dave Arneson created a new type of game in 1970, something he called "Blackmoor". After he de ...

'', published by

Judges Guild Judges Guild is a game publisher that has been active since 1976. The company created and sold many role-playing game supplements, periodicals and related materials. During the late 1970s and early 1980s the company was one of the leading publish ...

in 1977, to Snider's contributions.

Career

In 1974, Richard's brother John designed '' Star Probe'', a science fiction role-playing game that was published by TSR. In 1977, Richard, John,

Brian Blume Brian John Blume (January 12, 1950 – March 27, 2020) was an American game designer and writer, principally known as a former business partner of Gary Gygax at TSR, Inc., original publishers of the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons' ...

and Greg Svenson co-authored an expansion to ''Star Probe'' titled '' Star Empires'', also published by TSR. In 1978, Snider coauthored the role-playing game '' Adventures in Fantasy'' with Arneson, published by Excalibre Games and then through Arneson's company Adventure Games. In 1981, Snider also contributed to ''

Thieves' World Thieves' World is a shared world fantasy series created by Robert Lynn Asprin in 1978. The original series comprised twelve anthologies, including stories by science fiction and fantasy authors Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Andrew J. Offutt, ...

'' by

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. ( ) is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford (game designer), Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fic ...

. Snider then designed a role-playing game for

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 ...

titled '' Powers & Perils''. It was scheduled to be released at

Origins Origin(s) or The Origin may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics and manga * ''Origin'' (comics), a Wolverine comic book mini-series published by Marvel Comics in 2002 * ''The Origin'' (Buffy comic), a 1999 ''Buffy the Vampire Sl ...

1983; however the convention instead featured empty rooms where demos for the game were supposed to be held, and the game was not released until early 1984. In addition to designing two supplements for ''Powers & Perils'' and the adventure '' Tower of the Dead'' that were all released in 1984 by Avalon Hill, Snider also authored several supplemental articles that appeared in Avalon Hill's shortlived role-playing game magazine ''Heroes'', including the adventure ''Doom Manor''. Sporting a much higher price tag than industry powerhouse ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'', ''Powers & Perils'' languished, and Avalon Hill dropped the project in 1985. Snider became a self-employed landscaper, and also wrote several novels, although only one, ''The Leather Rose'', was published.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Snider, Richard 1953 births 2009 deaths Role-playing game designers