Jeff Dee is an American artist and game designer. He was the youngest artist in the history of pioneering role-playing game company TSR when he began his work at the age of 18. He also designed the Villains and Vigilantes superhero game. He was a co-host on The Atheist Experience and Non-Prophets atheism advocacy podcasts.[1]
Jeff Dee | |
|---|---|
 Jeff Dee on The Atheist Experience television series, January 4, 2009 | |
| Born | United States |
| Known for | Fantasy art, illustration |
Biography
editIn the late 1970s, while Dee was still a teenager, he and Jack Herman created Villains and Vigilantes, the first complete superhero role-playing game.[2] The game was published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1979.[3]: 73 Dee and Herman persuaded Scott Bizar to produce a second edition, which was published in 1982.[3]: 75 Dee came up with the idea of creating a role-playing game based on cartoons when he, Greg Costikyan, and other designers were discussing which genres had no role-playing game systems yet; although they agreed that it would be impossible for such a game to be designed, a few years later Costikyan designed Toon as a full game with the assistance of Warren Spector.[3]: 104
Dee was the youngest artist in TSR history when he began working for them at the age of 18.[4] In 1997, with his partner 'Manda, Dee founded UNIgames, a publisher of role-playing, board, and computer games.[citation needed] Dee designed a new superhero role-playing game originally titled Advanced Villains and Vigilantes, which was ultimately published as Living Legends in 2005.[3]: 77 In 2009, he co-founded Nemesis Games, developers of an MMO named Gargantua.[5]
Dee has long been an advocate for the role-playing game industry.[6]
Advocacy of atheism
editIn addition to his artistic and game-related work, Dee is an outspoken atheist and transhumanist.[7] He has been the host of a bi-weekly Internet podcast called The Non-Prophets and a former host of a live, weekly, public-access television program, The Atheist Experience.[8]
References
edit- ^ "People: Jeff Dee". The Atheist Experience. Atheist Community of Austin. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
- ^ Jebens, Harley (September 21, 1995). "Game central", Austin American-Statesman, p. 38.
- ^ a b c d Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
- ^ "Jeff Dee". blackgate.com. 2010.
- ^ "Nemesis Games web site". Nemesisgames.net. Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
- ^ "Art of the Genre: The Halflings of Jeff Dee – Black Gate". February 25, 2014.
- ^ Rahe, Emily (July 11, 2001), "Atheists blast faith-based initiative as an unconstitutional "religion tax"", The Washington Times, p. A9[dead link]
- ^ "The Atheist Experience". atheist-experience.com. Archived from the original on November 22, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2007.
External links
edit- "Jeff Dee". Pen & Paper RPG database. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
- Jeff Dee's profile at MobyGames
- A Jeff Dee art gallery, including most of his AD&D work
- What Worries Jeff Dee?, Dee's blog