Steve Wieck (also credited as Stephan Wieck) is best known as one of the founders of the publishing company White Wolf, Inc. He is also one of the original writers of ''

Mage: The Ascension ''Mage: The Ascension'' is a supernatural fiction tabletop role-playing game first published on August 19, 1993, by White Wolf Publishing. It is set in the World of Darkness universe. History Following the success of '' Vampire: The Masquerade ...

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

OneBookShelf Wolves of Freeport, Inc, formerly named OneBookShelf, Inc, is a digital marketplace company for both major and indie games, fiction and comics. In 2023, OneBookShelf merged with Roll20 to become Wolves of Freeport. OneBookShelf itself was formed ...

. 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 1 ...

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 in fiction, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy, and crime fiction, crime, wit ...

'' 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-Christi ...

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

White Wolf Game Studio White Wolf Entertainment AB, formerly 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 game, role-playing, card game, card, video game, video and board game designer best known as the creator of ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' and its associated '' ...

as co-owners. Wieck graduated from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

in 1991 and left White Wolf to start MBA-equivalent training at

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

. Wieck returned from GE after completing two years of training in business, and Stewart made Wieck the CEO of White Wolf in 1993. The company encountered economic problems in 1995–1996, which resulted in a falling out between Rein-Hagen and the Wiecks, and Rein-Hagen leaving White Wolf. Wieck 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, a ...

'' role-playing game with Robert Hatch 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 Publishing, White Wolf in 1995. Achilli has contributed as an author for numerous ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' and ''Vamp ...

, and the game was published in 2001. Wieck left his role as President of White Wolf in 2002, and Mike Tinney became the new president.

CCP Games

In November 2006, it was announced that

CCP Games CCP ehf., doing business as CCP Games (short for Crowd Control Productions), 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 ...

had entered a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

agreement with White Wolf Publishing. Wieck left White Wolf in 2007 for a seat on the board of directors at CCP. He served on CCP's board of directors for 9 years.

DriveThruRPG and OneBookShelf

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

DriveThruRPG Wolves of Freeport, Inc, formerly named OneBookShelf, Inc, is a digital marketplace company for both major and indie games, fiction and comics. In 2023, OneBookShelf merged with Roll20 to become Wolves of Freeport. OneBookShelf itself was formed ...

, 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 success ...

and OneBookShelf announced a merger between the two companies. This merger combined the content libraries of both companies. Ankit Lai, CEO of Roll20, become the new company's CEO and Wieck become president of the new company and joined Roll20's board of directors. In 2023, the company's name became Wolves of Freeport, which is a reference to Wieck's ''

EverQuest ''EverQuest'' is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North America, ...

'' guild.

References

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