Tom Wham (born 1944) is a

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

s who has also produced artwork, including that for his own games.

Career

Early life and Guidon Games

Born in

Chester, Illinois Chester is a city in and the county seat of Randolph County, Illinois, United States, on a bluff above the Mississippi River. The population was 7,640 at the 2020 census. It lies south of St. Louis, Missouri. History Founding Samuel Smith is s ...

, Wham worked a variety of odd jobs during his early adult life. After serving four years in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

, he worked for the

Guidon Games Guidon Games produced board games and rulebooks for wargaming with miniatures, and in doing so influenced Tactical Studies Rules (later TSR, Inc.), the publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The ''Guidon Games'' publishing imprint was the propert ...

hobby shop in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

where he got his first game, a variant on a

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

naval miniatures campaign, published. One of Wham's books was published in the same series of "Wargaming with Miniatures" books from Guidon Games that began in 1971 with ''

Chainmail Mail (sometimes spelled maille and, since the 18th century, colloquially referred to as chain mail, chainmail or chain-mail) is a type of armour consisting of small metal rings linked together in a pattern to form a mesh. It was in common milita ...

''. In 1972, Wham got a job with

Don Lowry Don Lowry is a wargamer, businessman, illustrator, and game designer who is best known as the publisher of '' Chainmail'' and the editor of ''Panzerfaust Magazine''. Lowry was active in the International Federation of Wargaming in the late 1960s ...

at Guidon Games, in the shipping/layout department of ''Campaign'' magazine; there, he co-authored a set of Civil War naval miniature rules, ''

Ironclad An ironclad was a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by iron armour, steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or ince ...

''. Afterwards he became a prison guard in his hometown, then held an office job in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

TSR

In May 1977 he began working for

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

at their

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Lake Geneva is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Walworth County and situated on Geneva Lake, it was home to 8,277 people as of the 2020 census, up from 7,651 at the 2010 census. It is located southwest of Milwaukee and no ...

headquarters as a general office worker, the company's 13th employee. After running the Dungeon Hobby Shop for a summer, he was moved upstairs to the company's art department. Wham worked with Dave Sutherland and his brother-in-law Dave Trampier on the original ''

Monster Manual The ''Monster Manual'' (''MM'') is the primary bestiary sourcebook for monsters in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1977 by TSR. The ''Monster Manual'' was the first hardcover ''D&D'' book and ...

''. Wham began doing some creative work for the company, contributing a handful of illustrations for the original AD&D ''

'', including the creature called the beholder. Other work included co-editing (with Timothy Jones, Mike Carr, and Brian Blume) the first edition of ''

Gamma World ''Gamma World'' is a post-apocalyptic science fantasy role-playing game in which player characters explore Earth centuries after the collapse of civilization, searching for artifacts from the time before "The Great Upheaval". The game was origi ...

''. He also made a deal with

Tim Kask Timothy James Kask (born January 14, 1949) is an American editor and writer in the role-playing game industry. Kask became interested in board games in his childhood, and later turned to miniatures wargames. While attending university after a sti ...

, editor of '' The Dragon'', to do a game in the centerfold, called ''Snit Smashing''; this led to other games in ''Dragon'', including '' The Awful Green Things from Outer Space''. These games, printed on cardstock and included in the centerfold of the magazine, usually featured artwork supplied by Wham. Notable games published this way include: * ''Snit Smashing'': Originally published in ''Dragon'' #10 (October 1977). In Wham's first game for ''Dragon'', tiny creatures known as Snits run out from the sea and try to procreate while avoiding the giant blob-like Bolotomi, who smash the Snits out of boredom. Players alternate control between the Snits and the Bolotomus, attempting to make their own Snits reproduce faster than those of their opponent. * '' Snit's Revenge'': Originally published in ''Dragon'' #11 (December 1977). In the more famous follow-up to ''Snit Smashing'', the Snits set out to finally kill the elephantine Bolotomi who are smashing them, by invading their bodies and shutting down all their internal organs. This was published as a separate boardgame by TSR in 1978, and is now published by

Steve Jackson Games Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the cr ...

. * '' The Awful Green Things from Outer Space'': Originally published in ''Dragon'' #28 (August 1979). A game of green aliens invading a spaceship. This too was eventually published as a separate game by TSR and later published by Steve Jackson Games as well. * ''Search for the Emperor's Treasure'': Originally published in ''Dragon'' #51 (July 1981). Players take the roles of adventurers searching a fantasy empire for the emperor's scattered magical treasures. A revised edition was included in a box set called "The Best of Dragon Games", 1990. * ''File 13'': Originally published in ''Dragon'' #72 (April 1983). A game about designing board games. A second edition was reissued in "The Best of Dragon Games". * ''King of the Tabletop'': Originally published in ''Dragon'' #77 (September 1983), this is a game in which people create their own kingdom from little cardboard chits representing land, characters, and events. Also expanded and published commercially as ''Kings and Things'' by

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' ...

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer (game), Warhammer'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake ...

, and later, in a German edition, Pegasus Spiele. * ''Elefant Hunt'': Originally published in ''Dragon'' #88 (August 1984). Great White Hunters travel through deepest, darkest "Aferca" with the help of natives to capture as many live animals and much ivory as they can to sell for profit.

After TSR

After TSR, Wham collaborated on books with Rose Estes, and did his own novelette in Christopher Stasheff's '' The Exotic Enchanter''. More games followed, including '' Kings & Things'' (with Rob Kuntz), the ''

SimCity ''SimCity'' is an open-ended city-building video game franchise originally designed by Will Wright. The first game in the series, '' SimCity'', was published by Maxis in 1989 and was followed by several sequels and many other spin-off ''S ...

'' card game, and '' Iron Dragon''. Later efforts include a reprint of ''Snits'' and ''Awful Green Things from Outer Space'' from

, and ''Planet Busters'' by Troll Lord Games. Wham designed the board game "King of the Tabletop" with Robert J. Kuntz, which was published in ''Dragon'' #77 (September 1983); the game was expanded and published separately as the Origins award-winner '' Kings & Things'' (1986) by

. Since leaving TSR, Wham has designed many more games, including collaborating with James M. Ward on the board game ''Dragon Lairds'', published in April 2008, and ''Feudality'' published by Z-man Games Inc. in 2011.Tom Wham.com
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References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wham, Tom 1944 births American board game designers American fantasy artists American game artists American role-playing game artists Living people People from Chester, Illinois People from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin