Mike Mearls
| Mike Mearls | |
|---|---|
 Mike Mearls, attending the ENnies, 2012. | |
| Nationality: | United States |
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Michael Mearls is a writer and designer of RPGs and related fiction. He was the senior manager for the Dungeons & Dragons research and design team. He co-led the design for the 5th edition of the game. He also worked on the Castle Ravenloft board game, and various compendium books for D&D 3rd, 4th, and 5th editions.
Education
Mearls is an alumnus of Dartmouth College.[1] While at Dartmouth he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity, and became known for a satiric letter to the campus paper.[2]
Career
Mearls wrote the adventure To Stand on Hallowed Ground/Swords Against Deception (2001) for Fiery Dragon Productions[3]:226 and the last product from Hogshead Publishing, a Warhammer adventure titled Fear the Worst (2002) that Hogshead released for free on the internet.[3]:307 He also designed the game Iron Heroes (2005) for Malhavoc Press.[3]:226
In June 2005, Mearls was hired as a designer by Wizards of the Coast; he came to Wizards through the community of third-party d20 designers.[3]:301 At Wizards, he served as a lead developer for Dungeons & Dragons R&D working on the new 4th Edition.[4] Between the "Orcus I" and "Orcus II" design phases for fourth edition, Mearls spliced the encounter-power mechanics of fourth edition into Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords (2006), which was in process during development of the new edition.[3]:298
Along with Andy Collins, David Noonan, and Jesse Decker, Mearls was part of Rob Heinsoo's "Flywheel" design team for the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and did the final concept work from May 2006 to September 2006, before the first books for the edition were written and playtested.[3]:297 After Heinsoo was laid off in 2009, Mearls stepped up to become the new D&D Lead Designer.[3]:301 He co-designed the Castle Ravenloft Board Game (2010) with Bill Slavicsek.[3]:302
In 2014, Mearls was a senior manager for Dungeons & Dragons research and development.[5][6] Mearls was, together with Jeremy Crawford, Co-Lead Designer for the 5e.[7] [8][9] By 2018, Mearls had become the franchise's Creative Director.[10][11] He left the Wizards of the Coast tabletop RPG team in 2019 and was replaced by Ray Winninger as the Executive Producer in charge of the Dungeons & Dragons studio in 2020.[12][13]
Writing credits
- Iron Heroes role playing game.
- "The Siege of Durgham's Folly," from Necromancer Games
- Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Player's Handbook 2[14]
- Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Monster Manual 3[15]
- Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Keep on the Shadowfell, Adventure Book
- Playtest: New Hybrid and Multiclass Options, Dragon magazine #400[16]
- Dragon magazine #360[17]
External links
References
Notes
Citations
- ↑ TheDartmouth.com | Graduation List as of June 5, 1997.
- ↑ College Should Look Into Robot Workers, Cloning and Zombies.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Shannon Appelcline (2011) Designers & Dragons, Mongoose Publishing ISBN: 978-1-907702-58-7.
- ↑ Homepage. Wizards Corporate.
- ↑ Frum, Larry. Digital-age 'Dungeons & Dragons' more than rolling dice. CNN.
- ↑ Mike Mearls | Dungeons & Dragons. dnd.wizards.com.
- ↑ Wizards RPG Team (2014) Players Handbook, Wizard of the Coast ISBN: 978-0786965601.
- ↑ Bolding, Jonathan. Inside the Launch of the New Dungeons & Dragons With Designer Mike Mearls (in en). The Escapist.
- ↑ Bolding, Jonathan. An Interview With Jeremy Crawford, Co-Designer and Editor of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (in en). The Escapist.
- ↑ Brodeur, Nicole. Behind the scenes of the making of Dungeons & Dragons (in en-US). The Seattle Times.
- ↑ Hoffer, Christian. Exclusive: 'Dungeons & Dragons' to Announce New Settings for Fifth Edition Later This Year (in en). ComicBook.com.
- ↑ Thomas, Jeremy. Dungeons & Dragons' Design Team Has a New Head, Mike Mearls Exited Last Year (in en-US). 411MANIA.
- ↑ Crawford, Jeremy. He no longer works on the tabletop RPG team and hasn't since sometime last year. (in en). Twitter. Jeremy Crawford, 2020-04-28.
- ↑ Contents. Player's Handbook 2. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mike Mearls | Dungeons & Dragons (in en). dnd.wizards.com.
- ↑ Mearls, Mike. Playtest: New Hybrid and Multiclass Options. Dragon magazine #400. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mearls, Mike. Encounter Design in 4th Edition. Dragon magazine #360. Wizards of the Coast, 2007-09-21.
Bibliography
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