System Folks

Leonard Balsera: System Guru

Leonard Balsera has done instrumental work with Evil Hat Productions on other products, most notably as a lead developer for the pulp-themed Spirit of the Century, which he hopes will build up a better Google result for his real name. He is also working on his own game, tentatively called Threads, and trying to remember where he put the money for the beer. He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, which isn’t good for his liver.  “Lenny”, as he’s called around the Hat, is the lead system developer for the Dresden Files RPG.

Clark Valentine: The Glue What Binds Us

If we weren’t talking about Clark Valentine here, he’d still be the great (if unsung) hero of the Dresden Files RPG project.  Clark is a recent addition to our team, combining a long-standing friendship with Jim and knowledge of the source material, Clark is helping to round out the system implementation effort, doing core work on the sample setting of Baltimore and a lot of heavy lifting with connecting the system implementation to the setting material.

Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue: Evil Haberdashers

Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue from Evil Hat Productions have also laid groundwork on the Dresden Files RPG. Both been playing roleplaying games for the past twenty years, together and separately. Joining forces, they authored Fate: Fantastic Adventures in Tabletop Entertainment, which won several awards at the 2003 Indie RPG Awards, including Best Free Game of the Year and Best Support. Fred is also the author of Pace, a quick diceless RPG conceived and written in 24 hours, and runs the Jim-Butcher.Com website and mailing lists. Both Rob and Fred call Maryland home, where they have stationed themselves and their amazing wives.

Aside from contributing to the system elements of the RPG, Fred will also be the layout guy on the project, “soloing” much of the work that gets the product to press once the text is complete.

Setting Folks

Jim Butcher: Why We’re Here

Jim Butcher is the author of the popular Dresden Files series of novels which form the setting for the Dresden Files RPG. Jim enjoys fencing, singing, bad science fiction movies and live-action gaming. He lives in Missouri with his wife, son, and a vicious guard dog.

Chad Underkoffler: Our Setting Guru

Chad Underkoffler is an award-winning RPG author and game designer (see his company website, Atomic Sock Monkey Press). He’s written for Pyramid Online and GURPS (Steve Jackson Games), Unknown Armies (Atlas Games), Gamma World (Sword & Sorcery Studios), and many other companies. On The Dresden Files RPG, he is serving as resident Loremaster of Minutiae, design kibbitzer, and contributing author.  Chad has written tens of thousands of words for the Dresden Files RPG, and has a sinking suspicion there’s more to come.

Kenneth Hite: Mister Chicago

A resident of Chicago and a man well-known for merging the occult world with the world of gaming, Kenneth Hite is on board to write the Occult Chicago chapter for the Dresden Files RPG, blending the locations and events of the novels together with Ken’s real-life research.  If his name sounds familiar to you, that’s because you play RPGs. You might have even heard about a little game he recently worked on titled Trail of Cthulhu.

Genevieve Cogman: The World View

Genevieve Cogman is a freelance RPG author, who has done work for White Wolf, Steve Jackson Games, and Guardians of Order. She has contributed to the Exalted, Orpheus, Vampire, In Nomine, and BESM lines, and is the author of the forthcoming GURPS Vorkosigan. As she is a longtime fan of Jim Butcher’s work, this project is going to be fun.  Genevieve’s work on the project has been primarily focused on the none-too-small effort of neatly summing up the Dresdenverse so it can be easily digested by newcomers.

The Folks Who Have Our Backs

Amanda Valentine,  Ryan Macklin, and Adam Dray

No RPG ever makes it to press without the efforts of a strong editorial staff.  Amanda Valentine heads up the editorial team as managing editor, with Ryan Macklin as head developer-wrangler and Adam Dray as assistant editor.  There would simply be no game without these people, and we owe them our thanks.