Steve Wieck (also credited as Stephan Wieck) is best known as one of the founders of the publishing company,

White Wolf, Inc. White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant

He is also one of the original writers of ''

Mage: The Ascension ''Mage: The Ascension'' is a role-playing game based in the World of Darkness, and was published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1993. The characters portrayed in the game are referred to as mages, and are capable of feats of magic. Magic in ''Mag ...

''. Wieck is a co-founder of DriveThruRPG which later merged with RPGNow to become

OneBookShelf OneBookShelf is a digital marketplace company for both major and indie games, fiction and comics. OneBookShelf was formed by the merger of RPGNow and DriveThruRPG. The company's e-commerce platforms host content from individual sellers, indie cre ...

. Wieck is currently the CEO of OneBookShelf.

Career

White Wolf

Steve Wieck and his brother

Stewart Wieck Stewart Douglas Wieck (May 10, 1968 June 22, 2017) was one of the founders of the publishing company, White Wolf, Inc. He was also one of the original writers of Mage: The Ascension. Career Stewart Wieck was born in Freeport, Illinois in 1968. ...

had their first published work in 1986 as the adventure ''The Secret in the Swamp'' for ''

Villains & Vigilantes ''Villains and Vigilantes'' (abbreviated as ''V&V'') is a superhero-themed role-playing game which competed primarily with ''Champions'' and ''Superworld'' in the early to mid-1980s. Origin ''Villains and Vigilantes'' was the first role-playin ...

'' from FGU. Later that same year, while they were still in high school, the brothers began self-publishing their own magazine, ''Arcanum''; Stewart soon retitled the magazine as ''White Wolf'', publishing the first issue in August 1986. The Wiecks were fans of Elric, and named their magazine after him. Stephan Wieck wrote the ''

Shadowrun ''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspi ...

'' adventure ''Queen Euphoria'' (1990). The Wiecks had befriended the company

Lion Rampant The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts". The lion also carries Judeo-Christ ...

, and when that company encountered financial trouble, White Wolf and Lion Rampant decided to merge into the new

White Wolf Game Studio White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant

, with Stewart Wieck and

Mark Rein-Hagen Mark Rein-Hagen, stylized as Mark Rein•Hagen (born 1964), is an American role-playing, card, video and board game designer best known as the creator of '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' and its associated '' World of Darkness'' games. Along with ...

as co-owners. Steve graduated from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

in 1991 and left White Wolf to begin some MBA-equivalent training at GE. Steve returned from GE with two years of business training, and Stewart made Steve the CEO of White Wolf in 1993. The company encountered economic problems in 1995–1996, which caused a falling out between Rein-Hagen and the Wiecks, resulting in Rein-Hagen leaving White Wolf. Steve co-designed the ''

Exalted ''Exalted'' is a high fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally published by White Wolf Publishing in July 2001. The game is currently in its third edition. It was originally created by Robert Hatch, Justin Achilli and Stephan Wieck, and ...

'' role-playing game with

Robert Hatch Robert Hatch is a game designer and writer who developed key role-playing game releases for White Wolf Publishing from 1993 to 2001. He is known primarily for three games he co-created: the science fiction game ''Trinity'', the super-hero game '' ...

and

Justin Achilli Justin Achilli is best known as an author and developer for White Wolf, Inc. Career Justin Achilli began working at White Wolf in 1995. Achilli has contributed as an author for numerous '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' and '' Vampire: The Requiem'' ...

, and the game was published in 2001. Steve relinquished his role as CEO in 2002, and

Mike Tinney Mike Tinney is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Mike Tinney was running his own live action role-playing games and working as one of the editors for White Wolf's ''Mind's Eye Theatre'' when he became the lin ...

became the new president.

CCP Games

In November 2006, it was announced that

CCP Games CCP hf., doing business as CCP Games, is an Icelandic video game developer based in Reykjavík. Novator Partners and General Catalyst had previously collectively owned a majority stake in the company, and in September 2018, CCP was acquired ...

had entered a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

agreement with White Wolf Publishing. Steve left White Wolf in 2007 to take a seat on CCP's board of directors. He served on CCP's board of directors for 9 years.

DriveThruRPG and OneBookShelf

In 2004, Mike Todd, Chris McDonough, and Wieck created

DriveThruRPG OneBookShelf is a digital marketplace company for both major and indie games, fiction and comics. OneBookShelf was formed by the merger of RPGNow and DriveThruRPG. The company's e-commerce platforms host content from individual sellers, indie cre ...

, an online RPG PDF distributor. In 2006, DriveThruRPG merged with RPGNow, another online RPG distributor. The merger formed

. , Wieck remains the CEO of OneBookShelf. In July 2022,

Roll20 Roll20 is a website consisting of a set of tools for playing tabletop role-playing games, also referred to as a virtual tabletop, which can be used as an aid to playing in person or remotely online. The site was launched in 2012 after a successf ...

and OneBookShelf announced a merger between the two companies. This merger will combine the content libraries of both companies and make "OneBookShelf's PDF libraries accessible within Roll20". Ankit Lai, CEO of Roll20, will become the new company's CEO and Wieck will become president of the new company and join Roll20's board of directors. The combined company's name has not yet been announced.

References

Living people Mage: The Ascension Role-playing game designers White Wolf game designers Year of birth missing (living people) {{rpg-bio-stub