Russ Morrissey - also known as Morrus - is a British reporter,

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 ...

podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files that users can download to a personal device or stream to listen to at a time of their ...

, author, and owner of

EN World EN World, also known as Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG News, is a British-owned tabletop role-playing game news and reviews website. The website is run and owned by Russ Morrissey ("Morrus"). It reports current news and provides insight into ma ...

. Morrissey founded the

ENnie Awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...

in 2001, which he ran until 2018. He also founded the book publisher EN Publishing, and the tabletop-gaming news website

, both of which he runs currently.

Career

EN World and EN Publishing

Morrissey wrote his first tabletop RPG at the age of 14 in 1984. He founded d20reviews.com in 1999, which was renamed EN World, also known as ''Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG News'' in 2001, a tabletop RPG news website and community. In 2001, Morrissey founded the publishing company EN Publishing and has gone on to publish over 300 books under the brand. In 2014 under EN Publishing, Morrissey wrote and published the W.O.I.N. Roleplaying Game System (''What's O.L.D. IS N.E.W.''). In 2014, he was a judge on the

Paizo Paizo Inc. (; originally Paizo Publishing) is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing games ''Pathfinder'' and '' Starfinder''. The company's name is derived from th ...

design competition ''RPG Superstar''. In February 2017 Morrissey announced that he would be creating the new officially licensed

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of the British weekly anthology Comic book, comic ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977). He is the magazi ...

roleplaying game. This was later crowdfunded on

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

in late 2018 and successfully funded with over 2000 backers. ''The Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD'' roleplaying game was released immediately after the Kickstarter campaign and uses the W.O.I.N. system developed by Morrissey several years earlier. In October 2020 Morrissey's company announced the ''Awfully Cheerful Engine'', a comic-book inspired tabletop game. In August of the same year, he announced a project codenamed ''Level Up'', an advanced take on ''

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 ...

'' 5th Edition. The game was published in 2021. In February 2024 Morrissey wrote the article 'The Rise And Fall Of Evil Genius Games' which investigated the sudden resignation of multiple staff members, the lawsuit between EGG and

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

over the official

Rebel Moon ''Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire'', or simply ''Rebel Moon'', is a 2023 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Zack Snyder from a screenplay he co-wrote with Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten. Its ensemble cast features S ...

tabletop roleplaying game, the use of Web3 technology, and problems with the company's work environment.

The ENnies

Morrissey founded the Gen Con EN World RPG Awards (the

) in 2001, which he ran until 2018. The ENnies were created as an annual fan-based award for tabletop

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 ...

products, and since 2002 were hosted at

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, Indiana.

The Perturbed Dragon and Battle of the Bards

In 2012, Morrissey and his brother Darren Morrissey co-wrote a six-part animated cartoon series called ''The Perturbed Dragon''. This comedy series played on the tropes and cliches of tabletop gaming, and culminated in a music competition called ''Battle of the Bards''.

Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk

In 2018 Morrissey launched a tabletop news and sketch comedy podcast called ''Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk'', which has run for over 300 episodes. The show is presented by Morrissey and his co-hosts Peter Coffey and Jessica Hancock, and features weekly guests and topics. ''Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk'' is currently funded through Patreon. The podcast has include guests such as

Keith Baker (game designer) Keith Baker is an American game designer and Fantasy literature, fantasy novel author. In addition to working with Wizards of the Coast on the creation of Eberron, he has also contributed material for Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Green Ro ...

Sean K. Reynolds Sean K. Reynolds is an American professional game designer, who has worked on and co-written a number of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' supplements for Wizards of the Coast, as well as material for other companies. Early life and inspiration Sean Reyno ...

Jason Bulmahn Jason Bulmahn is an American game designer especially known for his work on the fantasy role-playing game ''Pathfinder''. Early life & education Jason Buhlman was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended Milwaukee High School of the Arts, and b ...

Jonathan Tweet Jonathan Tweet (born 1965) is an American game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games ''Ars Magica'', '' Everway'', '' Over the Edge'', ''Talislanta'', the third edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and '' 13th A ...

, Robert Marriner-Dodds, Owen K.C. Stephens,

Dominic McDowall-Thomas Dominic McDowall-Thomas is a game designer and publisher who has worked primarily on role-playing games and card games. Career Dominic McDowall-Thomas is a consultant specializing in leadership and communications. McDowall-Thomas and Angus Abran ...

, Chris Spivey,

Monte Cook Monte Cook (born January 29, 1968) is an American professional tabletop role-playing game designer and writer, best known for his work on ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Role-playing industry career Early years Cook has been a professional game d ...

, and

Ryan Dancey Ryan S. Dancey is a businessman who has worked primarily in the collectible card game and role-playing game industries. He was vice president in charge of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' at Wizards of the Coast. When the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons ...

The Cauldron

Morrissey's science fiction novel ''The Siege of Concordant'', set in a galaxy called The Cauldron, was released in 2020.

Bibliography

* 2000-pr Editor-in-Chief, EN World * 2000-pr Publisher, EN Publishing * 2001–19 Founder, Gen Con EN World RPG Awards (“ENnies”) * 2002 Co-author, ''Tournaments, Fairs, and Taverns'' * 2002 Co-author, ''Four-Color to Fantasy'' * 2008 Author, ''Advanced Rules for Beginners'' * 2008 Co-author, ''War of the Burning Sky #12: The Beating of the Aquiline Heart'' * 2010 Author, ''Paragons of the Burning Sky'' * 2011 Author, ''Space Fight!'' * 2012 Co-writer, ''The Perturbed Dragon'' cartoon series * 2013 Co-author, ''Russ Morrissey’s To Slay A Dragon'' * 2015 Co-author, ''Russ Morrissey’s To Stake A Vampire'' * 2015 Author, ''Starship Construction Manual'' * 2016 Author, ''What’s OLD is NEW Starter Kit'' * 2016 Author, ''N.E.W. The Science Fiction Roleplaying Game'' * 2016 Author, ''Real Solspace: A Guide to our Stellar Neighbourhood'' * 2016-pr Publisher, EN5ider Magazine * 2016–20 Publisher, TRAILseeker Magazine * 2017-pr Publisher, EONS Magazine * 2017 Author, ''Universal Upgrades'' * 2017 Author, ''O.L.D. The Fantasy Heroic Roleplaying Game'' * 2017 Author, ''Trappist'' * 2017 Author, ''The Moons of Boria'' * 2017 Co-author, ''Xenomorphs: The Fall of Somerset Landing'' * 2018–present Co-presenter, ''Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk'' podcast * 2018 Co-author, ''Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD'' * 2018 Co-author, ''Starship Recognition Manual'' * 2018 Co-author, ''N.O.W. The Modern Action Roleplaying Game'' * 2018 Co-author, ''Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD Quickstart'' * 2018 Co-author, ''The Dark Decade: From Dust Till Dawn'' * 2018 Author, ''Galactic Sentience Catalog'' * 2018 Co-author, ''Spirits of Manhattan'' * 2018 Author, ''Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future'' * 2019 Author, ''Simply6: The Fast, Universal RPG'' * 2020 Co-author, ''SolSpace: The Spartan Gambit'' * 2020 Co-author, ''Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters'' * 2020 Author, ''The Siege of Concordant'' * 2020 Project Lead, ''Level Up'' * 2020 Author, ''Awfully Cheerful Engine'' * 2021 Co-author, ''Spirits of Manhattan'' * 2021 Co-Lead Design, ''Adventurer's Guide'' * 2021 Co-Lead Design, ''Trials & Treasure'' * 2021 Co-Lead Design, ''Monstrous Menagerie'' * 2022 Co-author, ''To Save A Kingdom'' * 2023 Co-author, ''What's OLD is NEW Starter Box'' * 2023 Co-author, ''Level Up Starter Box'' * 2024 Co-author, ''Voidrunner's Codex'' * 2024 Co-author, ''Star Captain's Manual''

Media mentions

Russ Morrissey has appeared on the following podcasts, radio shows, videos, and articles. * Keith Baker: Six Questions: Russell Morrissey * Mud & Blood Podcast: Judge Dredd Interview With Russ Morrissey * Shane Plays Radio Show: Full Version Of W.O.I.N. RPG Interview With Russ Morrissey * Tabletop Babble Podcast: Morrus * Farsight Blogger: Russell Morrissey of EN World * Shane Plays Radio Show: EN World & The ENnies with Russ Morrissey * Shane Plays Radio Show: D&D Gets Classier with Morrus & Peter! * Gamers Web: The British Are Coming AGAIN: Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000AD Roleplaying Game Interviews and Insights * Rand Roll: On Random Generators with Russ Morrissey of EN World * Mildra: Interview with Russ Morissey of EN World * Design Notes: 10 Questions plus 1! Russ Morrissey * The Bedrock Blog: Russ Morrissey Interview: O.L.D. and N.E.W. RPGs * RPGnet: Russell Morrissey, What Is Old Is New * BJ Geek Nation Podcast: Russ Morrissey with What's Old Is New RPG * The Tome Show: New Ranger and Evolution of RPGs Podcast * The Smart Party: Judge Dredd and the Worlds of 2000AD (Interview with Russ Morrissey) * Plot Points: Maleficent Mythological Monsters For 5E * Shane Plays: Mythological Figures & Maleficent Monsters for 5E * Tabletop Babble: Morrus * RPG Publisher Spotlight: EN Publishing * Bald And Board: 5th Edition * Shane Plays Geek Talk: Advanced 5E RPG Sneak Preview * Polygon

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrissey, Russ Role-playing game designers 1974 births Living people